Sunday, October 24, 2010

Hot air

You can step out carefully every working morning hoping to be the very best you can, and still there are banana skins that leave you stretched out on your back.

I was speaking to a group of business people at Warwick Racecourse last week. There were about sixty in the room so I was all wired up. It was about halfway through the second session of the morning and I had set the delegates an exercise so I nipped out to the Cloakroom.

On my return I was astonished to see the room in uproar with people waving at me, laughing and generally in high spirits. I mean, inviting them to discuss one key strength that will help them hit their Bull’s Eye does not normally get this intensity of reaction.

One of the Event Team came towards me at pace before I re entered the room; she whispered that my visit to the WC, complete with very noisy hand dryer, had been broadcast on the AV system. As a speaker you try to empathise with your audience, but I would never have guessed what had happened if it hadn’t been for the kind and thoughtful intervention of the Event Planner.

Just another reminder only we can determine to try to be successful, but that we cannot do it alone.

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Saturday, October 23, 2010

Twice the size

In a world where we are exhorted to get CLOSER to colleagues, staff, stakeholders and customers – the ‘transparency’ thing, we can come so very easily unstuck.

I was walking through town one day last month when the Chair of a local mail order group stopped me to say that she wasn’t sure whether her son, one of her divisional MD’s, could join the Herefordshire Directors Forum. I replied that this is no problem and that we would probably be starting another group in the New Year and that might work for him.

The Chair went on, “Yes, he’s twice the size this year.” Now I know Steve fairly well and I would have said that he is already what the clinicians call obese. Twice the size in a year would make him physically enormous. So I was just about to reply, “Well I am really sorry to hear that, is this a medical problem do you think?” when Helen continued, “it’s been a great twelve months and our new CRM system has worked a treat.”

I shut my mouth like a clam, stared hard at the space over her head and stammered something about yes how important the right technology is.
A very close shave. I think we need to realise that the closer we get to people that might once have been ‘merely’ business acquaintances, the chances are that we will make mistakes and we will tend to polarise people into those that like us for being what we are, and those that don’t.

That’s OK isn’t it?

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Dad, can I buy you a pint?

Preparing the next generation for the challenging world of work is not always easy and obstacles can arise from the most surprising of sources.

My boy is in his second year at the local sixth form that is ranked about fourth in the UK. I imagine this ranking is due in no small measure to the A level grades it achieves.

A few weeks ago, at around the time plenty of students were visiting universities around the country, Ali had the chance to work on a Game Fair show with his Saturday employer. This meant camping out for three nights, loading and unloading a lorry, (twice) preparing the stand, dealing with the public, handling cash and so on.
On Monday morning I received a call from the college wanting to know where he was on Friday. I prevaricated for a minute or two but the voice on the other end was fairly insistent so I told the college exactly what Ali was doing over weekend.

The female caller was not impressed, so I added that there are plenty of young people up and down the country with a fistful of grade ‘A’ A levels and a degree to match – but they don’t have any work. I reassured her that the next time an excellent work experience opportunity arises we will be advising him to take it.

Ali will still get his grades next Spring, but most importantly, having turned 18 by then he will be able to turn to me and say, “Dad, can I buy you a pint?”

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Enough

A lot of us feel compelled to push on, and on and on. More salary, more sales, more profit, bigger house, better car................

But it doesn’t have to be like that. I met someone last Spring who asked whether I knew what ‘enough’ is. I didn’t understand the question, so he explained that everyone has an ‘enough’ position, but that hardly anyone knows what it is.

We were talking about my diary in May when it was only half full. He said, “So what?” I replied that I like having a full diary. He asked why and then invited me to get over it and go fishing or take Sharon away for a few days. So I did and the more I thought about ‘enough’ the more options I felt I had.

Crazy thing is that once you find out what ‘enough’ is, you suddenly find that you have more than enough.

But at least you have a choice.

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Friday, October 08, 2010

Blackbirds and lobworms

An American sage said to me at the convention in San Diego “I’ll see you next year Tim, and the only difference between us will be the people we have met and the books we have read these last twelve months.”

Sadly Charlie Jones passed away in the intervening period but I am convinced his sentiments are right. When I think of some of the amazing people I have worked with this last twelve months alone. I am not even sure whether I know what impact they have had on my life; sometimes it is latent, bubbling away only to surface some time in future. It’s the same with books and I am indebted to Paul Halsey, MD of Purity Brewing Co. not just for our working relationship, but for introducing me to EATING THE BIG FISH, How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders. It’s brilliantly written but more importantly, so much of the learning it contains applies to so many businesses.

My job is to eat the book and then regurgitate it in a form and texture that enables particular clients to swallow the bits they need to grow. Blackbirds do the same with great big lobworms.

Make sure you have someone or maybe several people that do the same for crucial knowledge areas of your business.

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