A few days ago, a good friend asked me what book I was currently reading. Embarrassed, I admitted that I had been recently hyper-focusing on my business and hadn’t read any books in the past couple of months.

It’s funny because I know that reading and lifelong learning are habits that most of the world’s most successful business leaders engage in.

For instance, did you know Warren Buffet reads 500 pages a day? Mark Cuban reads about three hours a day. Bill Gates, one of the most wealthy people in the world, reads 50 books a year.

I left that meeting and immediately purchased Simon Sinek’s latest release: The Infinite Game. It was published just the day before.

I want to share some of my thoughts on this new leadership work by the man who brought us Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last. 

One of the biggest challenges I hear every week from business leaders across West Virginia is this: We can’t find good people who want to work at our company.

To which I usually reply: What does your recruitment marketing process look like?

So, I’ll ask you the same question. What does your recruitment marketing look like? Has it changed over the past five years? Or are you doing the same old – same old?

Recently I conducted a live workshop titled “How to use LinkedIn for Sales” to a group of successful business people in North Central West Virginia.  

I thought share some of my key take-aways for the first step of this process here with you. That first step is creating what LinkedIn designates as an “All-Star” profile.

Last week in my mastermind group, the question of “What does it take to be a great networker?” came up.  When the facilitator turned to me for my answer, without hesitation, I said: “Follow-through.”

So, now I’d like to elaborate on what I mean by follow-through.

Every week for the past 18 months on my podcast Positively West Virginia, I ask business leaders from around the state to give me their 30 second elevator pitch – in other words – I ask them what it is they tell people they do in their company. 

Sometimes, the answer is simple and clear.  My guests nail it. Other times, it’s a struggle for them to clearly articulate their message.   That’s understandable.  It’s hard sometimes for a business leader to describe to people what it is they do.

What I’ve found, is that the more simply and clear your brand or marketing message is, the better people will be able to understand and connect with your company.