ECONOMY
SECRET SAUCE
MORE THAN MY CV
Seedino. Urban Love
Executing a series of events in August, law student
Adam Blanck drives the effort to awaken Detroiters'
hometown pride.
Forget What You Thought You Knew
"You dream it up. I make it happen!'
"I keep people from dying!'
"I make your business boom:'
Your goal is to truly engage your
listener.
The second step is often the hardest
one — and that's to stop talking for a
couple of seconds. You need to give
your listener time to sort through the
confusion and to ask, "How do you do
that?"
The third step — the Reel — answers
the question, but in a way that elicits
more conversation. "Be sure that you
are always talking with people — not at
them, he says. What happens next is the
art of conversation.
"World-class conversationalists will
only talk about a third of the time;'
Suttle says."In networking situations,
this is important.There is no way you
can understand the needs of the lis-
tener if you're doing all the talking. Pay
attention to the listener's needs, and a
relationship is bound to follow!'
Suttle grew up in Livonia and now
lives in Novi. He founded and became
the president of ExciteYourAudience.
ecognizing that reinventing the
wheel is folly, Adam Blanck wants
to make Detroit revitalization top of
mind for young people — the same way
he galvanized local support for Israel
during the summer of 2010 — through
socializing.
Blanck, 24, has been working hard with
Federation's CommunityNEXT offshoot
to make Do It for Detroit flourish in three
cities nationwide — wherever Detroiters,
current or former, may be. Their plan is a
call-to-action series of events modeled
after last year's successful Pitch for Israel.
A month-long campaign, Do It for
Detroit has events planned in Chicago,
Los Angeles and Detroit. Its goal is raising
money for the Live Detroit Fund, a non-
profit rent-subsidy program to encourage
"next generation"Jewish leaders to move
downtown.
The Live Detroit Fund, which is admin-
istered by CommunityNEXT, is intended
to create a network of young Jewish
adults in the city who will be active in cre-
ating a dynamic urban environment.
"The point of this campaign is to say,
whatever you want to do ... do some-
thing for Detroit," Blanck said. "Do some-
thing to give back to the city you're from,
no matter where you live now:'
Blanck first brought Pitch for Israel to
Detroit last year after seeing its successful
Toronto execution in 2009. Emboldened,
he went to Federation leaders here and
corn, a company dedicated to world-
class business/audience communica-
tions.
btessing, and the help of Communi-
tyNEXT staffers, Detroit's version of Pitch
The anti-elevator speech sect weighs in on making
that first impression count.
By Allan Nahajewski
K, job seekers — and salespeople,
too — do you have your elevator
speech ready?
That scripted, finely honed, 30-sec-
ond, absolutely perfect summary of
your strengths and qualifications;
because, after all, you only have one
chance to make that all-important first
impression.
Here's what one man says to do with
it: Dump it.
"Elevator speeches don't work;' says
Cliff Suttle, author of The Anti-Elevator
Speech. "They actually repel people.
They're hard to memorize and even
more difficult to deliver in a way that
truly engages the listener;' he says.
The reason they don't work, Suttle ex-
plains, is that while you're laser-focused
on delivering your 30-second gem, your
listener is often thinking about how to
get away from you. "An elevator speech
is a pitch, and does anyone like to be
pitched?" he asks. "A pitch, especially an
unwelcome one, can seem like a punch
in the face:'
Yes, you probably need a formal pitch
in your sales and marketing arsenal, but
it should only be used in settings where
O
a formal pitch is expected — in a job
interview, for example — not at a net-
working event. "And you should never
use an elevator speech in an elevator;'
Suttle implores.
Where did the author get his idea
to write this book? Participating in an
elevator speech competition, of course.
"It was hard to sit through;' he says.
The better approach? A conversation.
"Your listener needs to be invested
in the conversation;'Suttle says."Before
you start talking, you need to be sure
he or she truly wants to hear what you
want to say."
The Anti-Elevator Speech is a simple
four-step system. It starts with the
"Confusion Hook"— a brief answer to
the question "What do you do?"that will
"create two seconds of stunned silence!'
Examples of Confusion Hooks:
Do It for Detroit
By Hannah Posen
Suttle offers this tip to job seekers at
networking events:
"Take your time. The classic mistake
made by many people is the idea that
you have to meet everyone. That mind-
set leads to shoving your business card
in people's faces and moving on. The
only thing you'll accomplish with this
tactic is to irritate everyone in the room.
It's much better to have a meaningful
conversation with 10 people than a
meaningless one with 100."
His other advice for job seekers:
"Be unique. Stand out. Don't be afraid
to be different. Employers are bombard-
ed with so many resumes these days
that you almost have to be different just
to get noticed:'
R
pitched the idea. With the organization's
for Israel raised $50,000.
"People do go back to their hometown,
just not in Detroit;' Blanck said. "This was
a cool community gathering that brought
young people together, and we thought,
Aug. 3: Kickoff Party; Groves High
School Softball Fields, Beverly Hills
Aug. 4: Detroit Nation Bar Night; De-
clan's Irish Pub, Chicago
Aug. 20: Dodgeball in the D; Belle Isle
Aug. 21: Kick for Detroit; Cheviot Hills
Park, Los Angeles
Aug. 28: Pitch for Detroit; Inglenook
Park, Southfield
why not do it in Detroit? And we did!"
Rebranding the Pitch for Israel event to
benefit his hometown, Blanck, along with
his co-chair, Benjy Gordon, approached
to CommunityNext for help in organiz-
ing the various month-long activities in
Detroit, Chicago and L.A.
"After seeing the enthusiasm around
the city last year, we felt it would be more
exciting and encouraging to see people
doing stuff around Detroit, for Detroit;'
Blanck said.
Detroit activities include "Dodgeball in
the D" on Belle Isle and "Pitch for Detroit;'
which replicates last year's event with a
softball tourney in Southfield. Los Ange-
les will play host to a kickball tourney,
called "Kick for Detroit;' and there will be
a bar night in Chicago. All this, Blanck
hopes, will go toward changing how
Detroit is perceived.
"Detroit has an image problem;' Blanck
said. "People don't think there are people
or things to do there. We have to change
that image. People are surprised by the
people they reconnect with, all that there
is to do and the fun they can have in
Detroit!'
Gordon already sees all that the city
has to offer and is excited by all of the
possibilities.
"I love Detroit. The city has so much
character — in the architecture, in the
people, in everything,"Gordon said."I
think Detroit is wide open in terms of op-
portunity right now, and that bodes very
well for its future:'
Blanck, a second year law student at
the University of Michigan, has been a
proponent of community and Detroit
since he was in high school at Birming-
ham Groves.
"Anything that can be done in America
to make it better can be done in Detroit,
and Detroit needs it," he said. "Now is the
time to address problems in Detroit, not
just by the community at large but also
by the Jewish community." ET
PROFESSIONALS (ENCORE)
All the Right Moves
Social media startup lures 22-year-old home — as CEO.
By Allan Nahajewski
ntrepreneurial wunderkind Ryan Lan-
dau, a believer in the old trading floor
.maxim "buy low, sell high;' considers
Detroit the ultimate undervalued stock
and, after a year spent in Washington, D.C.,
has returned home to launch what he
hopes is the next big thing.
The 22-year-old West Bloomfield native
was hired away from tech behemoth IBM
to become the chief executive officer of
a new Birmingham-based startup called
PowerVoice, a digital marketing company
that plans to focus on social media's bur-
geoning economic muscle.
"You see so many people running away
from the city in search of better opportu-
nities," he says. "The time seemed right to
come back and build:'
PowerVoice is the brainchild of real
estate scion David Farbman, founder of
f
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www.redthreadmagazine.com
Outdoorhub.com , and Aaron Weitzman
and David Weinberg, who founded Internet
marketing company Cactus Media in 1999.
PowerVoice monetizes users' Facebook
and Twitter accounts, blogs and social net-
works by sharing promotions and deals
across different e-commerce websites.
Landau was recruited to spearhead
the venture after he was introduced to
Farbman by way of his cousin, venture
capitalist Jon Triest and Triest's friend,
ePrize founder Josh Linkner. He met with
PowerVoice's principals during a series of
interviews in D.C. and was hired last March.
"Ryan is a young entrepreneur full of
energy and can execute,"Weitzman, 37,
of Bloomfield Hills, said of the trio's pick.
"We interviewed several individuals before
committing to him and he fits the mold
perfectly!'
Landau notes, "D.C. is an exciting, vi-
brant place, and filled with young profes-
sionals, but Josh Linkner shared with me
his excitement for the city. I felt a calling.
I was deeply impressed by the passion
they had for the business and for the city
of Detroit:'
Landau's bona fides run fairly deep
given his age; he has nearly a decade of
business experience under his belt cour-
tesy of a concession catering business,
Carnical Extravaganza, that he and older
brother, Andrew, started when the two
were still in their teens.
The brothers jointly operated the con-
cern throughout high school and college;
they subsequently sold the company to a
competitor. Andrew, who now works for
Google, lives in Chicago.
Growing up in West Bloomfield, Landau
SUPPORT FOR THIS PAGE HAS BEEN UNDERWRITTEN, IN PART, BY
Quicken Loans
attended the Jewish Academy of Metro
Detroit there, now called Frankel Jewish
Academy. He went on to attend Michigan
State University where he studied supply
chain management with a focus on entre-
preneurship.
Landau adds his determination for an
urban renaissance to those countless
other Detroiters hoping to be a catalyst for
change: "I'm lucky and am enjoying every
second of it;' he says. RT
itm nu=
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