On Air Talent by Paul Kaye

The battle for success is going to be a battle fought around personality.

Working with talent in the media, it has quickly became apparent to me, that what separates those who are successful from those who don’t quite make it isn’t an innate talent but rather how much effort the talent chooses to put in

Being more empathetic requires you to be careful not to invalidate their feelings and experiences by diminishing or ignoring them. We may not share the same views or opinions but it doesn’t make another person’s any less valid. To them it is their reality and therefore it can’t be wrong. It may be wrong to us because of how we experienced the situation or maybe we have more information available to us to help see a different picture, but it isn’t wrong to them. If you dismiss their thoughts or views because they don’t reflect yours, you’re not coaching you’re managing (and maybe not even managing that well).

Our connected world is a huge distraction to us. We all know that. We all know that we have become addicted to knowing what is happening in the world. Many of us get anxiety at the thought of being disconnected. We need to invest in ‘quality thinking time’. Time where we can be alone with ourselves and our thoughts. Clarity comes in these moments — our mind is able to surface the deep thoughts that are usually suppressed by the noise generated by our connected world. When we have time alone with our thoughts we are able to do deeper problem solving and creative work. High performance requires some time alone – disconnected from the world – to focus on the important tasks at hand. Plan some time each week, often early in the day and at the start of the week (cause our energies are higher after the recharging that takes place on the weekends). During this time turn off all distractions.

When we are working with shows we can quickly identify whether someone is a good conversationalist or not. Bad conversationalists tend to present themselves in similar ways;

When we like someone or something we have a favourable opinion about them. It’s human nature. We have many predispositions hard wired into us. We are biased toward certain things. Although, there is one cognitive bias that we need to be aware of in particular if we want to be successful; the liking bias. Sometimes it’s referred to as the similarity bias. It has an immense influence over our thinking.

Last week I mentioned that I had been invited to speak at this year’s Canadian Music Week in Toronto about Talent Development. It is my belief that for talent to be successful there are two important areas (1) the talent has something distinctive or desirable about them and (2) they have a coach that helps accentuate their strengths and helps them realize their potential. For the presentation I chose to focus on the later. If we as coaches can improve the coaching environment then the talent we work with have a better chance of letting their uniqueness emerge

Last month I was invited to make a presentation at Canadian Music Week in Toronto. The loose subject matter I was asked to talk about was something that fell under the umbrella of “Building the Stars of the Future”

Curiosity helps us to evolve as individuals. It is the spark that helps us learn and grow. It compels us to discover not only the world around us but the wider world. Your creativity and imagination are tied to your curiosity. Creativity comes from asking questions and wondering 'what if?'

Now, I'm not advocating to ignore the future and simply burying your head in the sand. That would be foolish. I recognize that considering what your business needs to do now in order to advance your position in the future is an essential component of sustainability