jim@2020dc.com

CHARM DANCE

C – Communications – without communications nothing happens.
H – Honesty – without honesty bad things happen.
A – Appropriate and consistent quality – without a consistent quality thing only happen twice.
R – Risk – without knowing your risk you are either taking too much or too little risk.
M– Markets – Without markets why are we even talking? You must be a student of the market.
D – Details – without attention to details you will miss something, and it can cost you future business.
A – Advantages – know your advantages and be ready to promote them.
N – Network – the network is where all the factors of CHARM DANCE come to play.
C – Customer relations – The customer is always right, even when they are wrong.
E – Execution – knowing CHARM DANCE is not enough. You must execute its principles!

CHARM DANCE – show training

Clients Multiple

Funding USAID, International Trade Center (ITC),
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development

Project Peru Poverty Reeducation and Alleviation (PRA) Program

Date 2001

Results thousands people taught the CHARM DANCE skills globally

Lead consultant Jim Krigbaum

Category Entrepreneurship, Training

Excerpt from the book CHARM DANCE by Jim Krigbaum, Founder and CEO of 20/20DC
I developed the “CHARM DANCE” concept in 2001 for an entrepreneur and export course that I developed for a program funded by the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Guyana (South America). In this course, I presented the course titled “10 Secrets to Export Success.” I presented a PowerPoint presentation where I outlined these concepts to an audience of entrepreneurs and exporters in Georgetown, the Capital City of Guyana.

Guyana is a small country on the North Atlantic Ocean between Surinam and Venezuela with a total population of about 750,000 residents about equal to the population of Alaska. The population is concentrated on the coast as much of the country is dense jungle with few roads and little economic activities.

Guyana would be unknown to most North Americans, unless they were geography or nature/rain forest experts or unaware of the cult leader Jim Jones and the mass murder-suicide of 918 of his followers including 304 children on November 18, 1978 that occurred in Jonestown Guyana (in the Western jungle of the country near the Venezuela border). Most of those who died were poisoned by cyanide poisoning hidden in a flavored water based drink – like Kool-Aid. This tragedy gave rise to the American term "drinking the Kool-Aid" for those who blindly follow the lead, advice or direction of someone in authority or a position of influence. By making the skills of CHARM DANCE part of your character you will have people drinking your Kool-Aid and achieving positive results.

Originally settled with an industrial base and focus on sugar cane production as part of the British Empire. Guyana was settled with sugar cane plantations and the accompanying slaves and indentured servants utilized until 1834 (31 years before the USA). Today Guyana’s population reflects this heritage with little influence from Brazil or Spain as found in most of South and Central America.

In 2012 the ethnic demographics of Guyana was nearly 40% East Indian and 30% of African family origin.

Beyond the tragic story of Jim Jones and Jonestown, Guyana is known globally for their prize-winning Demerara rum. This rum has been produced in Guyana since the 1670 and was given to the British Navy sailors as part of their pay. I recommend Guyanese rum to anyone who enjoys a Cuba Libre, and better yet someone who wants a great sipping and drinking rum! Their 15 - and 25-year rums are fantastic as is their “everyday El Dorado” rum.

The US Agency International Development (USAID) is engaged in Guyana for many reasons including support from the influence of the large number of Guyanese citizens in the USA (with NYC being a hub for many Guyanese.) It is often said, not accurately but a development myth, that there are more Guyanese in the USA than in Guyana. In addition to the migration and diaspora issues the US Government sees Guyana as a strategic partner in the region with a nearly 800 km (435 mile) border with Venezuela. Guyana is an important economic and military partner with the USA.
Over several trips to Guyana

Guyana facts
Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Mexico), Suriname and Venezuela.
77.4% Forest land (Jungle)
737,718 Population
Ethnic Groups
39.8% East Indian, 29.3% Black, 19.9% mixed, 10.5% Amerindian, .05 other. (2012)
Per Capita GDP $7,900 (2016 estimate)
Unemployment 11.1% (2013)
Exports – sugar, gold, bauxite, alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum, timber

In 2001 and 2002 I delivered the first versions of CHARM DANCE to businessmen and women in Georgetown (the Capital of Guyana about 200,000 population) Liden (a town with about 29,000 residents) and other smaller towns and villages. The course was originally designed as Export 101 and 102 and the CHARM DANCE principles have been a staple of the 20/20 Development Company LLC (20/20DC) training efforts ever since. Through a train the trainer program I provided local staff with the course materials and case studies for the course and taught them to teach the course. I trained the trainers in 2001. Through utilization of the principles of CHARM DANCE (C – communication and N – networking) I maintained a relationship with these trainers. This was before LinkedIn and Facebook started (2002 and 2004) so maintaining relationships was a bit more manual than it is now. In November 2016 we learned that our “trainers” we had taught were still teaching the course. With outdated graphics and looking for an update in case studies they came to us and requesting an update from the original PowerPoint presentation. They felt that an update would keep the course fresh and more engaging with new graphics and case studies. It was very exciting to learn that the course was still being taught after nearly two decades from the original presentation. Since 2001 the 20/20DC team has presented the CHARM DANCE program to hundreds of students in different countries and languages as diverse as Paraguay and Bangladesh and Kazakhstan and Ethiopia and in states from Indiana and Missouri to Washington DC. The CHARM DANCE course, in one version or another has been taught in eleven countries and translated into seven languages.

Now this course is available to a you! This book covers the basis from which all these courses were developed and taught. For each country, our team at 20/20DC tailored the course to local requirements, case studies and time allocations for the presentation. No matter where the course was delivered nor how amount of time, we had to deliver the course the core principles remained the same. These core principles are presented here in the book for our readers in a manner allowing and encouraging them to tailor to their circumstances, experiences, and opportunities.

CHARM DANCE is born In 2001, when I presented CHARM DANCE for the first time to businessmen and women in Guyana the objective of the course was to provide the business leaders with tools for developing and expanding their export business. The course was attended by entrepreneurs and employees from companies large and small. After that presentation of the course my “handler” for the USAID project said, “You definitely know the material and are a joy to listen to, but we need to work on your teaching skills.” I am proud to say that over the 18 years since that first teaching experience I have improved my teaching skills including the flow and efficiency of the materials. In this book you get the tried and tested lessons based, in most cases, upon personal experience and in all cases applied with examples to provide the students with the tools they need to achieve success – the keys to CHARM DANCE.

During the first course in Guyana we had a keynote speaker at lunch time, a local businessman with a successful record of accomplishments including the building of a large textile company. This local entrepreneur’s story was like a fairytale of an individual with an underprivileged beginning with dirt floors and multiple siblings to care for who achieved great success through effort, grit, entrepreneurial vison and risk taking. His story it is the classical rags to riches story with local and global impact.

The executive, Dennis Morgan, was a local example of achieving success in a tough economy. He told of his history of dropping out of school to support his family, working endlessly to build a company based upon his vision and acceptance of risk (the R in CHARM DANCE) and through this effort over years of hard work, had built a business which employed about 1,000 local men and women in the production of garments for export to the USA and other global markets.

During Mr. Morgan’s speech, he hit on all 10 “Secrets” that I had outlined in my morning PowerPoint presentation to the students. More surprising is the fact that he hit the points (secrets) in almost the same order that I had presented them in the PowerPoint in the morning session. After lunch, back in the classroom, several of the students credited me with writing Mr. Morgan’s speech or talking with him about synchronizing the course with his speech to emphasize the same points.

That was not the case as I had not met or communicated with Mr. Morgan prior to lunchtime and he had not seen my presentation. It was at that time that I realized that the “10 secrets” were in fact not “secrets” but rather keys that everyone can utilize. These keys, when understood can be utilized by all. The frequency of using these keys is what makes the difference between degrees of success and failure.

The art of business is in fact built upon the characteristics of CHARM DANCE. Success in business is like being successful as an artist. While each of us can draw, write a poem or sing a song, only a few of us are true artists in these efforts.

Likewise, all of us can be in business but not all of us are artists at business. The use of the CHARM DANCE skills is a bit of an art lesson, or singing lesson, to make us better at the basic skills and to learn some of the artists’ secrets for moving from a paint by numbers painter to an artist in our own right.

What I also learned from listening to Mr. Morgan’s speech, when coupled with my presentation, is that the difference between Mr. Morgan and most of the students in my class, or for that matter most people, is that to achieve success Dennis Morgan used all 10 of these keys on a regular, habitual, basis.

As Ed Sheeran has said at his concerts that there is no “Can’t sing”, everyone can – even if it’s out of tune. It doesn’t matter because it’s his job to sing in tune not ours! In business there isn’t a stage for those who don’t make the skills of CHARM DANCE part of their characteristics. There is no “audience” as to succeed one must participate.

 Most of the students in my class, and businesspeople everywhere, know these keys and have access to them yet don’t use them as frequently as they could or rather as frequently as they should! They may utilize all of them 20% or 30% of the time or they may use some of them 100% of the time, while not utilizing others at all. There is a direct correlation between using the ten keys of CHARM DANCE and achieving success. The case of Mr. Morgan illustrates this point. He was skilled at using all these points and his success reflected the application of these skills. The correlation between CHARM DANCE characteristics and success can easily be applied by any businessman or businesswomen. I encourage you, upon completion of the study of the CHARM DANCE characteristics discussed in this book, to assess yourself and people you know to determine how the use of the CHARM DANCE characteristics impact the resulting success.

Understand that the art of CHARM DANCE requires attention to apply the principles. Like all lessons they are only as good as their application. The elements of CHARM DANCE have been proven to help the individual achieve success. Apply these skills in your life and achieve your greatest success.

The skills taught in this book, when applied by the reader will help them dance their way to business success. The practice of these skills will move the reader from someone who ties to someone who success (like moving someone who draws to someone who is an artist or signs alone in the shower to singing on the success stage of life.) Don’t sit and watch the world pass you by when you can apply the skills taught through CHARM DANCE and achieve success. By the time you are done with this book you will know these skills, have read examples of how these skills translate into action in the real world and can apply them to your own circumstances to achieve success.

Some people possess a special and unique skill or talent which allows them to by-pass the use of one of the keys of CHARM DANCE by virtue of their strength in another area. For example, a computer programmer can achieve success while not making the elements of CHARM DANCE a part of his daily life and character. They have the luxury of being very poor in some areas, say at communications (the C in CHARM DANCE and the first key to success) because their programming skills allow them to use their strength in programming as a free pass card (a get out of jail free card, without having to practice CHARM DANCE) on communications. We all know people like this that are good at one thing but bad at a basic element of CHARM DANCE starting with like communications.

How many great doctors, computer programmers, or actors, lack in “bedside manners” or communication skills? However, they survive and excel because of their overpowering strength in one or more highly demanded skills or disciplines. If you are like most people, you must possess some level of competency and consistent practices in all the keys of CHARM DANCE to survive and succeed. While we may be great at some things the margin of differentiation between us and others can be achieved through our execution of the elements of CHARM DANCE.

By assessing your skills in CHARM DANCE, you may learn of a weakness in one of its characteristics. To overcome this weakness, you can work on your skills and if you are proactive you can hire individuals or teams to lift you in that area. Therefore, it is not essential that you score 100% on your usage of all these characteristics and skills but it is essential that you understand your position on the CHARM DANCE spectrum and adjust your strategy accordingly.

After the first presentation in Guyana I realized that while the course was originally focused on “export success” that these keys were not just for export but can be applied to all businesses and most circumstances in daily life. As it turns out the tools for success in business is parallel to the tools for success in life, go figure. If one does things to succeed in business and applies these skills to their daily life, they will also achieve success, often in the form of happiness and confidence.

Put yourself in a position to succeed.

“Even a turtle can win a race, but it must first stick out its neck!” – Jim Krigbaum 1982

 Following the first presentation, and after fine tuning the delivery, I developed a mnemonic to remember the characteristics being taught and hence the CHARM DANCE principles were born. Since that time, I have taught CHARM DANCE to hundreds of students around the world. The course has been translated to Mongolian, Kazakhstani, Spanish, Amharic (Ethiopia), French, Ukrainian and Russian. We have found that while the mnemonic doesn’t always translate well, that no matter what the culture the concepts prevail and transcend across borders and cultures and the students learned a little English in the process. Based upon the acceptance of the course and concept I have written this book to provide the keys to others who may not have the time or ability to attend one of these seminars. I present this book as a tool for you to utilize in the execution of your business and encourage you to apply these tools to your daily life. By applying these tools and making them part of your habits and character, you will improve both your business and personal life. While everyone has access to these keys it is our hope that this book will help the reader understand how to use them and achieve their desired success and happiness in both business and more importantly in life. (My next book applies the CHARM DANCE principles to life outside of business, where the application of CHARM DANCE principles will improve your life outside of business.

Reading this book is a starting point. Remember that a key does no good unless matched with a lock, in this case the key opens a door, the door to success. Like all keys you must be able to reach the lock, you must put yourself in the position to succeed. With the use of these keys you can succeed. We all know the keys, or at least you will upon completion of this book, but like all skills they are of no value until applied.

The motivational trainer – Lou Tice – teaches that your mind cannot hold two conflicting ideas/pictures at the same time. Therefore, if you picture yourself as failing, your actions will lead you to fail. It is hard to succeed when you expect failure. When you picture yourself as succeeding you will achieve success, far more often than if you picture yourself failing. How many teams refuse to lose and achieve success despite great odds because they know they can win? Great come from behind victories are achieved by teams that picture themselves as winners. Comeback wins are impossible by the team that pictures themselves losing. For CHARM DANCE to succeed in your life, you must picture yourself using the keys to open the doors to achieve success.

USAID is often referred to as the fuzzy part of the State Department. Their programs bring food to hungry, medicine to the sick and relief to refugees. A lesser known part of their efforts is the effort that I have been involved in since 2000. This section is known as the Economic Growth efforts also referred to as “trade for aid” where our activities are designed to create jobs and cash economies which provides sustainable incomes which in turn provides those we support with income necessary to finance necessities including food, clothing, shelter and healthcare. When we first started these efforts around 2000 many within USAID and their contactors in the Beltway viewed business as the enemy that was only interested in making a profit from the poor. The successes that we, and others had, have helped USAID understand that removing the hurdles that prevent businesses from succeeding and only trade is sustainable in moving people from poverty to independence.

A “handler” is the person with local experience, knowledge and often security expertise, or subject matter expertise that is assigned to assist the consultant in localizing the materials and presentation style or in working with the local team to achieve the results.

Mnemonic - a device such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something. – Oxford Dictionaries

The skills of CHARM DANCE were designed for business but can be applied to most situations in life!

C – Communications – without communications nothing happens.
H – Honesty – without honesty bad things happen.
A – Appropriate and consistent quality – without a consistent quality thing only happen twice.
R - Risk – without knowing your risk you are either taking too much or too little risk.
M – Markets – Without markets why are we even talking? You must be a student of the market.
D- Details – without attention to details you will miss something, and it can cost you future business.
A – Advantages – know your advantages and be ready to promote them.
N - Network – the network is where all the factors of CHARM DANCE come to play.
C - Customer relations – The customer is always right, even when they are wrong.
E – Execution – knowing CHARM DANCE is not enough. You must execute its principles!