Interview With Michael Virardi

By Edoardo Moreni - October, 28th 2013

Michael Virardi is a motivational speaker and inspiration coach who helps companies and individuals to dream big, achieve their goals, and transform themselves into whatever they wish to be.

With a solid background in sales and management, Michael speaks on such issues as true customer care, boosting sales through personality, and differentiation for success.

You can easily find Michael Virardi at michaelvirardi.com and you can also read his blog.

How do you think people get easily motivated?

Maybe the question should be an “if” rather than a “how” because there is rarely an “easy” or “easily” in life. “If” I think some people get easily motivated? Well, some people do and some others don’t. Inspiration, in my experience, lasts longer than motivation. Inspiring people is lighting a fire within them that might last a lifetime whereas motivation wears off easily. It was Zig Ziglar who said, “people often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing that’s why we recommend it daily!”

What would you say to an Entrepreneur that has failed several times, but who wants to start a new venture again?

What I would say to an entrepreneur is that it is not only how many times you have failed that matters but also how fast you have recovered (i.e. how fast you were on your ‘two feet’, motivated again to start over). It is my strong belief that when you lose you should not lose the lesson so in this case I would say to the entrepreneur to start again only if he (or she) has learned his ‘lessons’.

We meet a lot of people who think to have the best idea in the market, but who are scared to start their own company, leave their job and live a new life. What would you say to them?

People should be both carefree and careful when reaching for their ‘dreams’. Prior experience is always a great Mentor to have by your side when deciding to leave your job and start your own company. A person who has worked for other people, especially in the same or similar field that he wants to venture in will have an added advantage and that is the advantage of having “failed” and recovered or having learned from his ex-employers’ mistakes and experience.

What are the characteristics of a true leader?

Amongst many, the four (4) main characteristics of a true leader are in my opinion, the following:

• Have great listening skills (use your 2 ears and 1 mouth in the same proportion God has given them to you);
• Be willing to take a risk (the higher the risk the higher the ‘profit’);
• Be an example to his follower (the best example of leading is leading by example);
• Have a vision (as leadership expert, Simon Sinek, said in his famous “Golden Circle” discovery a leader needs to have a very clear ‘why’ i.e. a clear vision of what he/she has set out to achieve)

Have you ever heard of the Golden Circle? Do you think companies should sell a product or an idea?

Companies should ‘sell’ both. Companies should sell the “what”, the “how” and the “why”. Having a large enough “why” will enable you to sell your “what” more easily, give you a push to get up in the morning and finally give you a reason to be motivated and inspired to go perform your best at what you have chosen to sell.

The most difficult problem in a company is to build a culture and let people believe that it’s still day one. In large corporations people think they are just one out of thousands of employees. How can a company make that employee think there is value behind him/her?

Lead with a large enough “why” and make sure that this large enough “why” is communicated to your employees in order for them to feel special, appreciated and last but not least to know “why” they are there and “how” they are making a difference to the people they serve. This is, in my opinion, how a company will make that particular employee - out of the thousand others – feel special and valued.

How important is customer service when you need to face your first 100 customers?

Customer service is the life-blood of any organization. Customer service needs people that are willing to bend over for their customers and are capable of blowing them away with their service and pleasant personality irrespective if they are the 1st or 100th customer of the day.

When an Entrepreneur starts a company, he needs to recruit the best people to build the first core group of his own business. How do you think an Entrepreneur should effectively build a team in the short and long run?

I believe you have answered the first part of your question yourself and you did a very good job in answering it if I may say so! Hiring the ‘best’ people around is the most effective way, in the short run, in building a team. In the long term it is important and vital to maintain the same team and make sure they remain united, informed and updated. Last but not least, the entrepreneur/leader needs to be involved in guiding this team.