In the moment
The vast majority of successful business executives I meet have not the faintest idea about the difference between explicit knowledge that is going down in value, and tacit knowledge that is going up.
I speak for a number of Executive groups both in the UK and overseas. They are all into the idea of developing knowledge in one way or another and one of them came up with the idea of a ‘wisdom bank’. Trouble is that in a world where you can download and digest the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica why does anyone need a ‘wisdom bank’. The answer is that they don’t because banks are full of explicit knowledge – anything that can be read or downloaded or copied. In other words it’s history. And of course history has a value but why pay for it when there are so many other sources of similar knowledge?
I attended a weekend retreat with a very eminent speaker and he was busy preparing a website containing just about everything that any aspiring speaker could wish to know, except of course, tacit knowledge. He said that people would pay for this and I begged to differ. During the workshop I was presenting my keynote when Paul stopped me in full flow. He said “It’s your arm.” I asked what was wrong with my arm. He replied that “When you are depicting the flight path of the Bull’s Eye it goes from bottom left to upper right as you see it, but you have to depict it as your right to their left for the audience.”
Now that is pure tacit knowledge, you wont find it on any website, and you can’t put a price on it.
Labels: know the difference betwen explicit knowledge that is going down in value and tacit knowledge that is going up
Cringe
It can be useful to just take a moment. Think of just one word that describes most closely how you remember or feel about the formative first twenty-five years of your life.
We did this with an Executive Group recently. They discussed it in pairs for a few minutes and then fed back on each other’s word. Someone said that ‘contentment’ sprang to mind – her childhood had been happy and relaxed with loving parents and two brothers.
Another said that ‘fear’ was the word. As an immigrant child of the sixties dropped into an inner city area, Rohan said that despite caring parents he reported that there was plenty to be afraid about.
And then someone said ‘fun’ because although Jane had not been brought up by her real parents she described the care and support she received as unconditional love.
One of the delegates took quite some time to find his word and the process seemed to upset him. Nonetheless he offered to share it anyway. The word was ‘cringe’.
It is interesting to speculate on the complex drivers inside each and every one of us. I find that it is so very rarely ‘money’ alone.Labels: Complex drivers that make us the business people we are
The Striker
If every Managing Director in the land knew how to add most value to their business, and then got on with it, this would be worth a full 1% to the GNP of the UK.
“Don’t you just hate ordinary days?” A business owner complained to me.
“Oh, I just don’t like the ‘grunt work’ part of the job.” he continued. “All the forms, the rules and the legislation we have to follow get worse and worse. I just want to concentrate on the front of house, the sales and the marketing.”
“I hate being at a desk. I do my emails, most of them anyway, out on the road these days”
Dave was really getting into his stride now. “That’s where I play my best football. Up front. I’m a striker!” he exclaimed. And he raised his fist as if, for all the world, he had just scored the winning goal in a Cup Final.
“And that’s where I add most value to this business.” He spat the words out as if there was an argument about it.
And it was the most important thing he said.Labels: knowing what it is that makes you special
No change given
Managing the business of change for business people is never going to go away. It is as if we all construct our own mental map of the world and then try to stick to it come what may.
There are some things we fight tooth and nail to keep the same even though we know that change is inevitable – like ageing. There are some things that we are totally indifferent to, irrespective of the change we can see and hear and feel right in front of our noses.
And then there are things we fight tooth and nail to change even though the outcome is uncertain and the odds against our success appear insurmountable.
So there seem to be three types of change battling remorselessly against three eternal truths, things that never change, like honesty, trust and excellence.
And the struggle between the three types of change and the three eternal truths will never be won.
And that is because there are nine billion maps of the world.
Labels: The interface between what we can change and what we cannot
Happiness
The very happiest business people we meet are those that are clearest about what they want, in control of what they are doing and above all, they are really enjoying the journey. We see this same formula working time and time and time again.
Last week we needed a bolt hole somewhere in mid Wales to hide away for a few days in order to do more words on our latest book. Online, our usual retreats were scoring around 65% from their recent customers but The Guidfa Hotel, a place that we had not heard of before, was scoring 90% plus from their last forty visitors. Wow! Surely something special?
We opted for Cordon Bleu chef Anne to cook us supper and the four courses including a champagne sorbet, were outstanding. The decor, the lounge, the whole atmosphere was welcoming yet professional. Nearly twenty years ago Anne and Tony had rescued this formerly “sad, lonely and abandoned” country house in the middle of nowhere. And very gradually, each year they have tried to make it better, make everything better.
And of course we meet a number of unhappy business people that are not getting what they want, are out control and they are most certainly not enjoying the journey. Our job is in fact to make unhappy business people happy.
Don’t think we’ll get much work from Anne and Tony.
Labels: knowing how to get what you want in business is a great place to be
Dark chocolate, gin and cigarettes
Some top business people are so full of passion and energy and enthusiasm for the business that they carry on planning, plotting and persuading oblivious to health risks, and any advice from family and friends.
Business is just another drug at this stage and for addicts there is nothing quite like the thrill of opening a new unit, finding a different market or signing another deal. You can dress it all up to look like providing for the family, or pension security or leaving a legacy for the local community. And indeed all of these things and more may form part of the motivation behind some driven individuals.
Late last year one of my clients attended the funeral of a colourful business colleague. This chap was larger than life in so many ways and he was both working and fishing with friends right up until the day he died. James was very well known within his industry and his passing was marked by a large gathering one grey day in the north of England. The Order of Service was suitably decorated with photos of the great man on the river he loved, holding a cane rod in one hand and sporting a fresh run salmon with the other. He looked young in the picture and I was prompted to ask how old he was.
Fifty nine sounded a bit young, so I asked how he died. And the reply could have been to do with his prodigious working schedule but the answer was, “A diet of dark chocolate, gin and cigarettes probably.”
What a way to go.Labels: business obsession, paying a price for doing what we want to do
Newspapers, newsmakers?
There was a time when newspapers in particular and the media in general merely reported the news. Not anymore. The vast majority of business people I have researched believe that the news media want to make the news for us wherever and whenever possible.
And why are they doing this? Why are they behaving in this way? The consensus is that the internet ensures that news supply vastly exceeds demand. Many new media outlets are emerging and many traditional players face oblivion.
The danger for leaders in business is that when the media succeeds in attracting our attention then that is where our energy will surely follow. And it doesn’t matter whether the media are talking about global warming, oil supplies, nuclear proliferation, the economy, MP’s expenses, soil erosion or cuckoos becoming extinct, the spin will invariably be depressing 90% of the time. And even if the figure isn’t 90%, that is how it feels to most of us most of the time.
But if we are running a business our first priority on a Monday morning may be to inspire our people, or launch a new product or a new service, or explore some new technology initiative in an uncertain world. We need all the enthusiasm, passion and energy for these tasks that we can muster. The very last thing any of us need is anything that effectively undermines our efforts.
It makes sense to abandon any of the media that have a negative effect on you and your business efforts whether it is a newspaper, BBC news or Twitter.
Lots of business people recommend Terry Wogan to start the day.Labels: eliminating negative influence on our work and on our lives, strating the day in a positive frame of mind
