I’m really, really busy. Is now the right time to join a Forum?

June 28, 2013 Leave a comment

Ironically, if you are so busy you don’t see how you can take on another obligation; this may be exactly the right time to commit to a monthly Forum meeting.

How can that be?

Many members share that it is the four hours they invest in Forum each month that helps them maintain the right priorities, focus, and balance during the remaining 29½ days of the month.

Consider this story: A member says to a fellow member, “I can’t make it to the next meeting due to my overwhelming commitments.” The other member responds, only half-jokingly, “Well, then it’s even more important for you to attend, and you should be the presenter!”

When the harried member shows up, he or she will find a group of peers who are often equally stressed over their many professional and personal obligations.  And he or she will learn from the experience of other executives who are also trying to make it all work and hold it all together.

The worst decision may be the opposite of what you think at first: NOT joining or NOT showing up at your monthly meeting.

Bob Halperin

Filed under Forum Values

How Far Will You Go? Questions to Test Your Limits

June 25, 2013 Leave a comment

At a recent multi-Forum meeting in New York, we distributed the book How Far Will You Go? Questions to Test Your Limits. The book includes hundreds of questions like these:

What is the strongest opinion you hold?  What is the biggest lie you have ever told?  Who have you most feared in your life?  What is the strongest craving you get?  What have you lost that you would most like to retrieve?

Use this book to help your Forum break the ice, go deeper, and get to know each other better. You can buy the book on Amazon here.

Two ideas, using this book or other similar collections of icebreakers:

– At the beginning of a meeting, invite a member of the group to open the book and ask a question of their choosing as an ice breaker/conversation starter.

– At a Forum dinner, pass the book around and invite anyone who wishes to select a question to ask the group.  (This works best if you are eating in a private dining room.)

Bob Halperin

Filed under Building Forum Relationships, Forum Tools