I Still Love Lucy

Happy 100th

Birthday to my favorite entertainer, businesswoman role model, innovator, television pioneer and style icon - Lucille Ball.

The world is celebrating, too -
Jamestown, NY (Lucy's hometown) is sponsoring a Lucy Look a Like contest; Hallmark Channel is running an I Love Lucy marathon, Google is running video and images. Check out http://www.facebook.com/hallmarkchannel; http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/07/us-lucy and more!

I was in Los Angeles in 1989 when Lucy died - she was in Cedars Sinai Medical Center for a week or so following heart surgery before she passed. There was a huge outdoor banner on the hospital building that said "We Love Lucy." Her home was just minutes away, in Beverly Hills. Even in a town of entertainment legends, she was the most legendary and there was a palpable sadness in the streets during that time. For me, a starry eyed, young communicator looking for greatness to emulate, her larger than life contributions to the industry and the business world meant so much.

Here's to legends living on and on!

Communicate well and often,
Jaya

When all else fails... SMILE!

We all want to have influence and power in our work lives. Turns out it could be as simple as turning that frown upside down! Yale psychology professor Marianne LaFrance, PhD, in her new book, Lip Service

, offers some insights into the power of the smile. Two of them especially caught my eye:

1. Smiles exert subliminal Powers. When study subjects are shown an image of a smiling face for just four milliseconds, they experience a mini emotional high. People who view smiling faces perceive the world in a better light. To them, boring material is more interesting; neutral images look more positive; even bland drinks seem tastier.
2. There are three degrees of happiness... An article in the British Medical Journal reported that within social networks, when one person is happy, the feeling migrates to two people beyond him or her. So if you smile, a friend of a friend - or a co-worker and a staff member - is more likely to smile, too.

Any applications for your next client presentation or staff meeting? Try it and let me know!

Communicate well today,
Jaya

-- Adapted from "The State of the Smile" by Jennifer Margulis in the August 2011 issue of The Oprah Magazine