I’m serious, what did you bring? Did you do anything to push the business on? Did you develop yourself in some way? Did you push someone else on? Did you re-invent a process? Did you find a way of reaching out to a new customer base?
If you didn’t, why not? Yes, we’re all busy. Yes, an awful lot is going on. Yes, operational efficiency is key. However, does that stop you striving to make a difference? I hope not.
Business is relying on you to make a difference. To help create, innovate and bring to life new ideas to compete in the market. However, it’s so easy to be dragged down by the unimportant stuff. So, make a difference, be positive and set your mind whirring. Your thoughts could be the greatest gift you could give to your business right now.
How do I get through today? How can I get this project completed? How can we work better together?
I was reminded of the word “How” earlier today when
Gordon Kelly responded to a blogpost that I recycled on
Twitter (If you like your tech stuff, read Gordons excellent blog
here).
It’s a really powerful and simple word that opens up dialogue, makes a discussion participative and collaborative. It probes for creativity, ideas, solutions and stepping stones to getting things done between parties and – of course – was an excellent greeting used by the Lakota and Dakota Sioux indians (albeit it was spelt Hau).
In a world where solutions are needed, “How” needs to be on the forefront of our lips to get people to commit, engage and see the end game. How needs to drive us to get more market share, to enhance our products, to serve changing customer demands and to push ourselves to reach new heights in our businesses. Ask a “How?” question of someone tomorrow, see what you get back.
After seeing two presentations from the leader and the deputy leader of the Lib Dems in Manchester this week, I have five ideas that they could do very quickly which would really raise their profile with business.
- Appoint an SME ambassador (99.8% of the 4.2m businesses in the UK are SME’s).
- Position themselves as the #1 political party in the social media sphere (take the landgrab whilst it’s there and win some new voters).
- Campaign harder on low carbon business (create some innovative new ideas to encourage business to go green).
- Use the on-line community to gather more feedback and reach out to the electorate (feel the mood – now).
- Create a LibDems for business website or promote it to the homepage (really push a business agenda).
These are really easy things to do, implementable with little cost, which could really lift their profile.
“Casino Banking”, that’s how Lib Dem Deputy Leader
Vince Cable described some of the practices undertaken by the banking fraternity during his visit to Manchester today. Speaking to a small audience of
Chamber of Commerce members, Cable gave his view about the economy.
Cable is an interesting figure. There’s no glamour, little spin, but plenty of really intelligent comment put in common sense words. Not the typical politican, he came across as the voice of reason and few people had much to say in disagreement to the comments he made. A quick summary of his comments, “Why are we surprised about the economy when everyone knows it goes in boom and bust cycles?”. “Britain is very badly exposed when it comes to the credit crunch” and “over exuberant lending” is at the root cause of it all. His solutions, “Sort the banks, review the budget and implement public sector reforms”.
A few other comments he made hit home, “We were all enjoying the party”, making reference to the increase in property prices and the bankers returns given to shareholders at the height of the boom, in other words we all looked the other way when things were going so well (although you could argue there was no transparency in the off balance sheet investment vehicles the bank used). The role of auditors and the systemic failure of non-execs and rating agencies in the crisis and the fact that three of the five largest global banks are here in the UK, thereby leaving us wide open to the credit crunch fallout. He also made some great one liners I liked, such as “money illusion”, “selling bombs” and markets being “spooked”.
Cable is a very intelligent guy, his speech today didn’t have many political overtones atall, more of an honest assessment of where things have gone wrong and what he would do about it, much of which made perfect sense (and also made for a more interesting interaction). Thinking back to the comments I made in yesterdays posting, if the LibDems really got their act together and re-packaged/branded themselves into the party for business, I think they could have a good shot at winning more businesses to their way of thinking, but they must be more strategic in their approach.
Cable is releasing a book in the next couple of weeks about his view, might be worth a read. If you want to read a book about the credit crunch in the meantime, I’ve just read
this one and thought it was pretty good.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg visited Manchester today and gave a talk to a group of business leaders at the IoD hub, I was in the audience, here’s my take. Nick comes across as a nice guy, intelligent, articulate and talking sense on an number of issues, I warmed towards him. He covered lots of issues including re-balancing the tax system, closing loopholes in tax avoidance, and how the LibDems would stop certain government initiatives and invest in other “shovel ready” projects. Overall, a good performance from a political leader, as you would expect.
I asked Nick what his proposition to business was? The standard stock reply came, “cutting taxes, getting the banks lending and less regulation. I was hoping for a bit more inspiration, as you could argue, all the political parties would roll out those same statements. Using Alistair Campbells OST (Objective, Strategy, Tactics) technique I would have preferred to hear: -
“Our objective is to be the party for business. Our strategy to achieve that is to win business leaders over the the LibDem philosophy through our credible, simple, well thought out, fully costed policies developed by a front bench team that know their stuff. The tactics we are going to use are cutting taxes, reducing regulation, getting the banks lending, pinpointing the expertise in our shadow cabinet and having meaningful interactions with business, we are out talking far more than others. We’re going to wrap that all up in plain speaking, no nonsense politics”.
Now, doesn’t that sound better? if Nick had delivered that to me today, he’d of really won me over with his no-nonsense style, excellent delivery and highly relevant “brand positioning” for the LibDems and he could have really captured the business audience. OK, he was there to talk about the big picture, but given an opportunity to make things relevant to my audience, I think it was an opportunity missed.
I’m meeting Vince Cable tomorrow, he’s earned a good reputation as a economic brainiac, let’s see how he does.
I’ve been at the IoD NW conference today. The keynote speaker was Alistair Campbell, former spin doctor to Tony Blair. His speech today covered his 10 rules of leadership, I took them down to share with you.
- 1. OST. Define your Objectives, strategy and Tactics.
- The best leaders are always team players.
- Be adaptable
- Be bold.
- Stay calm in a crisis.
- Leadership should be prioritised over listening.
- Patience can be a virtue.
- The media has irrevocably changed, be aware.
- Take the hits when you need too.
- Empower your people.
We have to remember that the comments above primarily relate to political leadership, however I particularly liked points 1), 4) and 9) in the current economic crisis. Prior to Alistair a very entertaining speaker was on called Ellis Watson, he had a great energy about him and he gave a real injection of pace to the post lunch spot, I’ll look out for him again.
I drove past a wind farm today, the turbines were going at full pelt. It got me thinking about the characteristics of wind. You can’t touch it, you can’t smell it, you can’t see it. Developing the thought, it reminded me of the characteristic of “presence” in a similar vein. Many great leaders have presence, it’s a powerful quality.
Developing presence is a skill, like other learned skills. The politicians do it, using non-verbal communications, dress and carefully chosen words. However, it’s more than shallow gestures. It’s also about your own humility, your emotions, your motivation, your discipline, your tone, your flexibility, the list goes on.
I was asked by a journalist today “What has had the biggest impact on your life?”. My answer “Working with a business psychologist”. This allowed me to understand the characteristics needed to be a leader, where I fell short, what I needed to do about it and how leadership is multi-dimensional, a combination of all of the above but not one thing in exclusivity. Working on all facets of leadership, led to an increasing ability to build my presence, particularly when public speaking. So, next time the wind blows on your face, let it be a reminder to you continue to think about your presence and how to turn it into positive energy, like a personal turbine dedicated to you.
It’s nice to be appreciated. When someone takes some time out to heap some praise on you, do you feel embarassed? (as is often the way with us British, stiff upper lip and all that) or do you take it all in, enjoy the feedback and bask it in it?
I was reminded of this earlier when I read a Twitter message posted by Michelle Dewberry (of apprentice fame) who was moved to tears by some complimentary words in an e-mail message to her. It doesn’t take much to say something complimentary to someone, it costs nothing, it makes them feel great and is far more powerful a tool than many of the other motivational levers that businesses invest in.
Recently, I attended a workshop where everyone in the room received one positive piece of appreciation from everyone else after a couple of long days of good discussion. I kept hold of all the post it notes and keep them in my notebook, it’s great to look back on those and understand what others value you for.
We should all take more time to appreciate what we’ve got and the people around us. As a starter for ten, why not sit someone down tomorrow and tell them why you appreciate them? Or pay them a compliment (but don’t expect one in return otherwise or it could be disingenuous). Look for the results, see how it lights someones day up. See how they are tomorrow, see how things change, see what a powerful thing a few positive words can be. Positivity flows. If you want to increase your organisations energy, then start appreciating and your people (and you) will grow.
Now is the time to be asking questions. Questioning the way you go to market, your company organisation, your strategy and why you do things the way you do?
If people spent more time asking questions of their customers, they would find out so much more and be able to pinpoint their goods and services, tailored to a customer requirement. Questions like: -What problems are on your desk right now? What is the biggest barrier to success you currently have? What are your short and mid term objectives as a business?
Instead, what we often see is the product that people need to sell being forced upon customers who have no perceived need for it. Why, because it isn’t in their thinking right now and they are distracted with the problems they need to solve, not your problems. So, do yourself a big favour. Ask more questions. Be inquisitive. Probe deeply and LISTEN. Opportunity is all around you, if you ask.
More examples of how business communications are really speeding up. Today
, I moved office. I’ve been in it for a good five years and have managed to hoard all manner of items in a very large cupboard behind me, primarily as I wanted to keep the office looking clean and tidy. The moment in time came today when I needed to clear it out. I sent a couple of Twitter messages out offering items from the cupboard and hey presto within a few minutes, I’d found new homes for them, nothing being wasted, ever so simple to do.
That’s powerful. Here’s another. Next week I’ll be attending the
IoD NW 2009 Conference. I e-mailed the regional director and asked him to set up a discussion group on
Linkedin so that people who are attending could easily review the profiles of other attendees and also connect/pre-network on-line. It was set up in five minutes, people are already joining the group and two people have already asked to meet up.
Speed, convenience and new contacts as a result. A direct business benefit for a limited time investment which is what businesspeople want. So, don’t sit on the sidelines and think that social networking isn’t relevant to business,
make it relevant.
I’m serious, what did you bring? Did you do anything to push the business on? Did you develop yourself in some way? Did you push someone else on? Did you re-invent a process? Did you find a way of reaching out to a new customer base?
