something cool and free for you by Alison Green on February 15, 2011 I’m really impatient. As such, training sessions and I often don’t get along — I get really annoyed at workshops, webinars, and speeches that move too slowly, give me info that I could have gotten in half the time just by reading a handout, or otherwise feel like an unproductive use of my time. If you’re like me and wish you could find good training without the fluff, you’ll like this free thing that I’m able to offer exclusively to Ask a Manager readers and subscribers: G5 Leadership, which was voted one of Training Industry‘s top leadership training companies to watch in 2011, is giving Ask A Manager readers a free, one-year, all-access membership to their live online workshops and keynotes by some of the biggest names covering some of the most important topics in business. Normal mortals pay $129. For you? Free. These guys have New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling authors like Stanford’s Bob Sutton, Fast Company magazine cofounder Bill Taylor, organization guru David Allen, the brilliant Marshall Goldsmith, and lots of others — teaching topics like change, leadership, emotional intelligence, communication, and more. To register for G5’s leadership training free for one year, just use this special link set up exclusively for you, and enter the promo code askamanager. Complete the short sign-up form and you’re in free for a year. You may also like:my coworker thinks she trained me more thoroughly than she didwe're being put back in cubicles even though we're more productive in private officesI sent an angry response to a work email -- was I in the wrong? { 22 comments }
Anonymous* February 15, 2011 at 9:03 pm Going through the form, what an ‘incredible’ offering!! Would this apply to those of us currently ‘laid off’ or ‘unemployed’ as well? Going through the sign-up form it asks for ‘Company Name’ & ‘Job Title’… ugh Any ideas? :)
Ask a Manager* Post authorFebruary 15, 2011 at 9:05 pm Absolutely it applies to you as well! I think you could put anything you want in those boxes — unemployed, freelance, or whatever seems right.
Josh S* February 15, 2011 at 9:37 pm Thank you! This is fantastic! As a former sales-guy for Dale Carnegie Training’s seminars (greatest thing I learned: I do not have the self-motivation required for long-term success in sales), I know the value of such seminars. Just remember what GI Joe taught us: Knowing is (only) half the battle! You have to put it into practice for it to matter…
Anonymous* February 16, 2011 at 8:15 am After registering and providing G5 with my personal information, I found out that the “free” offer was simply the ability to pay $49 per workshop (the $129 membership includes all workshops). There’s no free training here at all.
Ask a Manager* February 16, 2011 at 9:21 am No, it’s 100% free. See Cassy’s explanation below of where to find your promo code when you’re signing up for a workshhop. There are zero costs to you. (Do you really think I’d mislead you like that?)
Anonymous* February 16, 2011 at 12:19 pm I see that now – I logged in before the email. Sorry. (and I didn’t think *you’d* mislead us – I thought you may not have been aware).
Cassy* February 16, 2011 at 8:22 am @Anon It will work and is wonderful. Thanks, Alison! Make sure you check you activation email, it gives you instructions, which include making sure you take note of your individual code on each event page, copying it and pasting it into the promo code box when you go to register for the event. Reading stuff sometimes helps.
Dawn* February 16, 2011 at 8:32 am I figured it out right after I posted my own comment. Thanks for posting what I was just going to post for everyone. :)
Mike C.* February 16, 2011 at 9:35 am I can’t wait to go through these talks, I think I’ll learn a great deal! Also, something I really appreciate is a Terms of Service Agreement that one can actually read and understand in a reasonable amount of time. It’s quite rare these days!
Polly Privatelife* February 16, 2011 at 10:17 am Cool offer but how does an individual sign up without being affiliated with a company? Because this is for me and not my company, and I do not wish to recieve sales calls anytime in the future, I entered the information on the form that I deemed necessary and I got a kick back that a company name, job title, and phone number (that,by the way, I never include on forms) “is required” and that my AOL email address is “not valid.” Not cool!
Ask a Manager* February 16, 2011 at 10:21 am Let me touch base with them and find a way around that. When I don’t want to provide a phone number, I tend to put in 555-555-5555, but if it won’t accept your email address, that’s not good. Stay tuned and we’ll get it resolved.
Ask a Manager* Post authorFebruary 16, 2011 at 11:02 am Okay, got you some information. It shouldn’t be rejecting your AOL address (i.e., it’s not set up to reject non-company emails or anything like that). It should only reject the email if the address were entered without a “@” sign. Maybe try inputting it again? Job title is not a required field. The company field is required so they can track registrations with their corporate clients and report numbers back to them, but for anyone unemployed, just enter “none.” Regarding future sales pitches from them, they say: “The only emails that people will receive over the next year are reminders for workshops, Insights and tools from the authors, and towards the end of their membership a reminder that if they liked what they saw they can pay for a 2012 membership with a new lineup of teachers/speakers. If not they can walk away. We honestly feel that by providing a great product and experience for people they will spread the word about us and return as customers with their friends. We never sell or rent out the addresses we receive.” Hope that helps!
Also struggling to take advantage of G5* February 17, 2011 at 10:48 am Hi Alison, I tried registering my account Feb. 15th, using the link and promo code provided. Have not received a confirmation email as of yet. SO I thought I’d try again with the further suggestions posted above: using ‘none’ for company, and leaving job title blank – turns out that the job title IS a required field… so… I filled in my last job title in desperation… hoping to receive a confirmation this time – I’ll let you know!! :)
Ask a Manager* Post authorFebruary 17, 2011 at 10:50 am I think you should feel free to put “none” or “private” or whatever in fields you prefer not to answer. However, if you (or anyone) continues to have problems, please email me and I’ll put you directly in touch with the G5 guys, who I know will be able to help you resolve it. (Sound like it’s working for most people but with a few hiccups.)
Chelsea* February 16, 2011 at 10:39 am This is fantastic! I have to complete a certain number of training webinars a near for my company and I often have to pay for them. Thanks!
Kathy* February 16, 2011 at 9:07 pm Me too – thanks! The seminars look wonderful and the people are the ones whose blogs I read. What a great opportunity!
Jamie* February 17, 2011 at 10:14 am Thank you – this is an excellent offer, there are some well respected names involved with this. This was a very cool thing you did for your readers.