I recently found out about a 7-week course focused on building a business that was both profitable, engaging and fun. I couldn’t resist that combination, so I dropped the company a mail and asked for them to get in touch with me so I could find out more…to see if it would really be something that would address my needs and give me some tools and best practices. I was contacted within the day and the owner asked if we could have a call to talk about it. I agreed.
Continue reading
Leadership
Hire for Nice
If the heart of all really valuable business is referrals, then “Hire for Nice” makes sense. Consider it the foundational policy for any company wishing to survive in the blizzard of noise that is the competition for customers and clients.
Scary and Hard To Do
Scream Cropped (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I read an article recently by Laura Cioca, Director of Media & Engagement at W2O, about something she calls ‘Fauxthenticity’. She defines this as ‘the tendency some brands have towards assuming we’re all complete idiots.’
She goes on to describe it as a kind of creative laziness that ‘pretends that a brand’s participation in community has anything to do with people.’ She then lists a number of examples, all of which I have seen before and recently. It’s sad really….
It seems to be a gospel truth in social business and so-called ‘thought leader’ articles that treating your customers and others in your interactions as Human Beings (that is, people with which you have and nurture relationships) is the competitive path to better business, greater earnings, products of higher quality and greater relevancy, and a degree of innovation not possible within the closed confines of the conference room. So, if this is the Actual Truth, why is it generally ignored?
Well, to boil it right down, it’s hard to do.
Get out of your way
Ego suspension. There it is. What does it mean?
listening (Photo credit: Leonard John Matthews)
I have been doing quite a bit of research and consideration of the skills required to be a truly effective listener, collaborator, influencer (more on that later) and generally a better human being. It turns out that ego suspension is critical to this direction of growth and one of the hardest things to do. Ever.
Listening is Visual
Recently I had the privilege of spending several hours with some new members of the community I work with. The scenario was a bit backwards, as
Listening (Photo credit: elycefeliz)
their particular community is a couple of decades old and I’ve only really known them for several months, but we are “new to each other”, so to speak. It was a LOT of fun and extremely educational.
The first part of the meeting consisted of time set aside for me to make a presentation that I had worked on for a couple of weeks and spent some time rehearsing. I went over it again on the plane to the meeting and once more for good measure a half hour before the meeting began. Upon entering the meeting room, I noticed no projector….um…..OK. The lead at the meeting told me that, since I was the only person with an actual presentation, they had decided not to have a projector.
Doctor Who and Abrupt Change
Doctor #11 and Amy with new TARDIS (Photo credit: ChocolateFrogs)
I recently watched the most recent Doctor Who episode wherein he regenerates from the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) into the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi). The final change was much more abrupt than other regenerations that I’ve seen in the newer series. Capaldi’s expression is wonderful….he looks stupefied. He says several things in rapid succession (my favorite is “Kidneys! I’ve got new kidneys! I don’t like the color.”) but the one that really grabbed my attention was when he asks Clara, “Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?” You can watch the change here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nzqm6
Disruption, recovery and space
While completing my Masters degree I was vicariously introduced to Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School and his many works (a sample) concerning disruptive innovation. Greatly interesting stuff and
Disruption (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
required reading for anyone in business or those who are creative and wish to understand the business world’s take on how this is perceived and understood, as well as the potential effects thereof.
That said, disruption and innovation as buzzwords have become less exciting through overuse and misunderstanding by some technologists and businesses, particularly as they apply to their organizations. While, as Bill Gates has said, today’s business goes “at the speed of thought”, and agility is critical, there seems to be a lack of understanding concerning the fragility of organizations consisting of people executing on previous editions of goals, commitments, hierarchies and business models. There are degrees of change that can be accomplished that help alter the direction of a business, a ‘mid-course correction’ on company strategy, if you will. There are also methods and timings of rolling out these changes, or more radical degrees or types of change that will break an organization.
When considering disruptive change within a company, several areas should be considered. Along side the change, whether to strategy, execution or model, leadership should realistically assess:
(A) How long has it been since the last disruptive change to the organization?
(B) How long it will take to affect the change completely?
(C) How long will the ‘after change stabilization’ take?
(D) How much lost productivity can the organization withstand while the stabilization takes place and the company can begin executing effectively on the new direction?
(E) How clearly do the members of the organization understand the reasoning driving the disruption and can they clearly see the value of the strategy?
(F) What is the degree of ambiguity this will create for all interested parties – customers, partners, shareholders, communities…..everyone….and what is required to manage it through the disruption?
Comfortable with Ambiguity?
English: Diagram of Schrodinger’s cat theory. Roughly based on Image:Schroedingerscat3.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Acceptance of ambiguity is a by-word in corporate America today, if job descriptions are any indication. Not just acceptance but whole-hearted embrace seems to be the price of admission. I find this call interesting, if only because of its own ambiguous nature.
A bit of research into the history of the word yields the Latin ambiguus, meaning “moving from side to side” or “of doubtful nature”. Yet, while demanding a comfort level with uncertainty, we are also asked to drive clarity, provide forecasts, deliver cohesive plans, and prove ROI on all the above. No small task if the very nature of life, let alone business, is unstable.
It occurred to me that there is a dual view to take in considering ambiguity. One is by science and the other by faith.
I’ll Get Back To You…
Trust (Photo credit: vagawi )
Trust is a treasure that is hard-won and very easy to lose. This goes double for relationships online. One of the foundations of trust is doing what you say you will do. A classic test of trust is the answer of “I’ll get back to you…” to almost any question.
Fail and Win
Image via Wikipedia
I have been thinking about a post by Tac Anderson on his NewCommBiz blog about making mistakes, crisis-based decision making and how we learn. It specifically got me thinking about organizations that learn and those that don’t really, or at least not very well (or easily).
Things move terribly fast in today’s marketplace and the halls of business. We blame it on the Internet, on the 24-hour news cycle, on our growing propensity for being “always on and connected” and on “everyone else.” There have been countless barrels of ink spilled on the importance of failure for learning, both as individuals and organizations. Even just thinking about how you learn personally will confront you with the first attempt at doing something, assessing how well that went, tweaking, trying again, etc.
So why do we not get it? I’m not saying we drive for failure (although that seems to be the direction of some I’ve noticed….), but, short of life-and-death, why do we not accept that failing is at least as important as not failing?
Authentic Voice 