I got an email from someone two days ago from the shankman.com contact page – and true to what I preach, I responded – Me – no one else. (Took me a day, but I did.) This person simply asked, “How do you cultivate the seemingly endless energy you have to constantly meet new people and grow your network like you say you do?” I thought about it for a while – And it bothered me – Because I couldn’t come up with an answer immediately – I don’t think I’m full of energy – Quite the opposite – I see myself as constantly tired. As much business travel as I do, always up early for training for this stupid [...]

I spent a day last week speaking to a Fortune 100 company about the best ways to integrate social media into their marketing plans, and how best to use social media to help their marketing to continue to generate revenue. The majority of questions they asked me afterward fell into the following categories: 1) So how do we get more followers? 2) So how do we get more likes? 3) Should we hold a contest to get more followers/likes? 4) How do we get our followers/likes to spread the word about us? These are smart people. These people are the marketing force behind a company that interacts with millions of people through multiple brands every day. These people aren’t stupid [...]

I put my horrible body issues aside this month and was honored to be asked to participate in the Estee Lauder Breast Cancer Awareness Pledge Campaign. Fact is, I like women. And breast cancer is a deadly disease that affects women. But: It affects all of us – moms, sisters, girlfriends, daughters – and the people who love them. And guess what – It’s not only limited to women – breast cancer strikes men, as well. But more than that, I’ve seen what breast cancer can do to people I care about. And if that’s something that we can help prevent by encouraging early detection and the spread of information, to not do it is a crime. We all have [...]

Last week I tweeted that I’d come up with the perfect challenge for myself for September. So here it is. I’m going to try and go the entire month without using Mass Transit, Taxicabs, or car services within the five boroughs AT ALL. In other words, I’m going to become a pure, 100% walker. I live all the way on one side of Manhattan. (The West side. The good side.) Anyway… There’s a bus that stops right in front of my apartment, and makes it incredibly easy to get to the middle of the city, where I can grab any subway I want. While this is easy, it also lets me leave at like, 7:40 for an 8am meeting downtown, [...]

Today’s cheers goes to Cadbury, for creating a commercial entirely, 100%, completely about me. I just gotta be me.