Friday, November 30, 2007

"Just Ask" says Tom Peters


Exec: "But Tom, how do we find out what it is that people really want?"
Tom (after a long pause and a lot of thought—and I'm not kidding): "Ask
'em."

Of course I acknowledged that it's not so easy as that. If you are a
close-to-the-vest sort, folks will wonder what your true agenda is—or
what seminar you're just back from. So you'll just have to practice and
be persistent. (And actually care about what you hear!) I recalled this
little exchange when, last night at Georgetown's Barnes & Noble
, I happened across /Listening Is An Act
of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project/ ,
by Dave Isay.

Isay, MacArthur Fellowship winner
among many other things, started StoryCorps;
in 2003. Guiding principles are:


* "Our stories—the stories of everyday people—are as interesting and
important as the celebrity stories we are bombarded with ...
* "If we take the time to listen, we'll find wisdom, wonder and
poetry in the lives and stories of the people all around us.
* "We all want to know our lives have mattered ...
* "Listening is an act of love."

I probably bought the book because I randomly opened it at page 60, a
5-pager titled "Ken Kobus, 58, tells his friend Ron Baraff, 42, about
making steel." It was wonderful, in the truest—filled with wonder—sense
of that wonderful, if overused, word. (An equally compelling 2-pager on
Samuel Black, a Cincinnati public school teacher, followed. Etc.)

I loved the stories—and truly /loved/ the "Listening is an act of love"
idea. To "get" the idea, I think you must truly ponder the meaning of
"love" as used here. Listening is probably-doubtless the premier "act of
love." True for the husband or wife or preacher or doctor*—and, I'd
contend, equally true for the IS project leader heading a 6-person team.
(*Docs are notoriously lousy listeners, but that's another day's
comment.) In fact it seems to me that "listening is the ultimate
leadership skill" ("listening with love"?) is an idea, and a practical
idea at that, well worth pondering—and operationalizing.

As I say all this, I am of course mostly parroting Matthew Kelly, author
of /The Dream Manager/
and our recent Cool Friend . He
contends that we are all driven by our dreams, and if leaders make a
"strategic" commitment to discovering the dreams of their followers, and
then provide opportunities to pursue those dreams (shape the
organization's culture around the pursuit of those dreams),
"organizational effectiveness" and "customer satisfaction" will vault to
the top of the league tables.

So: the Six Big Words I take from the above are:

Ask.
Listen.
Story.
Dream.
Universal.
Love

I'll say more later, but for now, /write/ the Six Words on a 3X5 card,
/stick/ it in your pocket, /read/ it before—and after—your next meeting
or phone call or even email, and ponder it.

Lemme know if it makes sense-works.

Quoted from Tom Peters' Blog


Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

Monday, November 26, 2007

“Out of our minds. Learning to be creative”

All children are born artists, but it is our educational system that is killing the creativity of our children.

Digital natives ( born after 1985) and digital immigrants (born before 1985)

Imagination is the fundamental distinctive character of human intelligence. It's the capacity to bring into our minds what's not visible for our senses.

Creativity is the process of screening ideas that have value. To be creative, you have to do something. Creativity is applied imagination.
Innovation is putting ideas into practice.

Often brillant people became brillant when they recovered from their education.

The question is not : "Are you creative but how are you creative?"

The habitat of a company has a huge impact on thinking and creativity of the co-workers.

Quoting Sir Ken Robinson

Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

The Greatest Mistake


"The greatest mistake you can make in life, is to be continually fearing you will make one".

By Elbert G. Hubbard



Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

Friday, November 23, 2007

Seth : Making your customers uncomfortable

Tomorrow is the ridiculous Black Friday ritual, gaining in steam every
year, in which large American retailers run big sales that start at 6
am. People line up even earlier to get in first. Kids are stampeded.
Muscles are pulled. Friendships frayed. Credit cards exhausted.

Why? In an always-on internet world, why force people to do something
they would ordinarily avoid?

Because they like it. It feels special. They are somehow earning the
discount. The store creates discomfort and then profits from it. And the
customers save money...

Southwest did the same thing to load their planes. By getting rid of
boarding passes, they create a small sense of panic. People line up and
push and shove to get on the plane in the mistaken belief that somehow
they won't get on.

Southwest created discomfort and then got their planes out faster. And
the travelers save time...

Better is not always better, at least according to some measures.

Quoted from Seth Godin's Blog

Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

Tom Peters On the subprime crisis and The Art of War

I'm focusing on "common sense stuff" lately that I've picked up over the years—and presenting it in as straightforward a way as I can. (I have recently begun my public remarks with, "I am here under false pretenses. I have nothing interesting to say. I have flown 5,000 miles for the sole purpose of reminding you of things you've known for years or decades—which, alas, get lost in the shuffle of daily affairs.") I believe to my marrow that we fail to achieve excellence by failing to obsess on the basics—not because we couldn't decide precisely where in
the blue ocean we wanted to drop our anchor.

Thinking about sub prime mortgage mathematically derived packaging instruments and sports agents with sophisticated spin-driven negotiating tactics, doubtless based on "game theory" math, led me to a pair of quotes from an 18th century leader, N Bonaparte: "The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever." "A military leader must possess as much character as intellect. Men who have a great deal of intelligence and little character are the least suited. It is preferable to have much character and little intellect." (Source: Jerry Manas, /Napoleon on Project Management) Manas claims that Napoleon's "six winning principles" were:
exactitude—sweat the details, speed, flexibility, simplicity, character,
moral force. This makes sense to me, especially since Manas' sextet
matches perfectly the approach of the two military figures I most
respect, Horatio Nelson and Ulysses Grant.)

There's one other quote that comes to mind, from Picasso: "Every child
is born an artist. The trick is to remain an artist." So, if we
(Napoleon's generals or commanding officers of 4-person training
departments) can somehow manage to hold dear those beloved basics of
childlike artistry, we will be well served, regardless of our chosen
field of practice.

Quoted from Tom Peters' Blog


Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The New Theory of Relativity


Relationships = Productivity

By Noah Blumenthal

Leaders give employees and their views no respect. The leaders of today must make it impossible for anyone in their organizations to believe that they are not valued, or feel that they are not an integral part of a strong community. Leaders of today must help people shed the self-image of a hamster in an exercise wheel.

There is still hope . . .

The new theory of relativity abides by the principle that relationships drive productivity. Valuing people (who should never be referred to as human capital) stimulates productivity, and thought and reflection lead to efficiency and effectiveness. Attending to people's needs is an end result. time taken away from the day to day activity of corporate life and dedicated to building trust, raising awareness, and understanding others is equally or more important to the bottom line.

The new theory of relativity is like the original. It is simple in concept, but difficult to grasp in reality. The five actions, that can take an organization there if they are followed with dedication and consistency. These steps can be followed by anyone, at any level of the organization, and in any function or position.

The first step in relativity is defining new goals for yourself and those around you.

The next step is to find ways to support others' goals.

The third step is to ask others how you affect them.

Fourth, ask what could be done better.

Finally, be patient and persistent.

Welcome to the new relativity.
It is simple in concept but difficult to grasp in reality. It takes time and patience, but the payoffs are commitment to valuable goals, relationships built on trust, and motivation to improve.

Adapted from The New Relativity manifesto by Noah Blumenthal

Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

Monday, November 19, 2007

Flanders DC, District of Creativity

http://www.flandersdc.be

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flanders District of Creativity or Flanders DC is a non-profit
organization founded by the Flemish government, on 7 May 2004, to make
the Flemish economy more competitive through creativity,
entrepreneurship, and further internationalization.Contents [hide]

1 Goals
2 Projects/events
3 External links
4 See also

*Goals*

Research : analysis of the role of creativity in the economic growth of a region, and how companies/organisations can get to more creativity and innovation (Flanders Knowledge center in collaboration with Vlerick Leuven Ghent Management School). Creating awareness: stimulating policy makers, general public, companies & schools to tap into their creative potential Internationalization of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship through collaboration with 11 other Districts of Creativity. Besides Flanders, these DC's are Catalunya (Spain),Lombardy (Italy), Québéc (Canada), Rhône-Alpes (France) Karnataka (India),Scotland (UK), Baden-Württemberg (Germany),Oklahoma (US),Shangai (China),
Nord-pas-de-Calais (France),Qingdao (China).

*Projects/events*

Creativity World Forum (The DC's meet @ the CWF)
GPS For Entreprises (free idea generation tool)
Flanders DC Fellows (50 entrepreneurs, managers testify on creative entrepreneurship in schools)
De Bedenkers (TV Show in collaboration with Flanders DC)
The Future Summit (Event on trends)
TriO (schoolkids go to companies to brainstorm with them about their products/services)


See also...

Institute for the promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology
Flanders Investment and Trade
Agoria
SIRRIS, knowledge centre for the technology industry


Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage


Matthew Kelly : Dream Manager

Got dreams?

Our new Cool Friend Matthew Kelly says that a lot of people have simply
stopped dreaming. "And if they've stopped dreaming in their own life,
good luck trying to get them to subscribe to a dream that you have for
your organization."

Find out more about the kind of impact dreams and ambitions have on an
organization in the Cool Friends interview or in Matthew Kelly's book.

Tom called it magnificent

He saw it in an airport bookstore, and though he was a bit wary of its parable presentation, he skimmed it, got hooked, and Kelly was on his way to becoming a Cool Friend.

So, read the interview

pick up the book, and judge for yourself. And, should Kelly's message really resonate with you, he offers the Dream Manager Program
at his company, Floyd Consulting , to help others bring dreams to life.

Quoted from Tom Peter's Blog


Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Small business success

Three things you need:

1) The ability to abandon a plan when it doesn't work,

2) The confidence to do the right thing even when it costs you money in the short run,

and

3) Enough belief in other people that you don't try to do everything yourself.



Seth Godin
Link to Seth's Blog

Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

A pearl of wisdom


"When people aren't having any fun, they don't produce good creative work"

Adapted from David Ogilvy


Return to Ideasirkus Blog Homepage

The Meeting

..when you make your presentation, don't sit the client's team on one side and your team on the opposite, like adversaries. Mix everybody up.

Rehearse before a meeting, but never speak from a prepared text, it locks you into a position which may become irrelevant during the meeting.

Above all, LISTEN. The more you get the prospective client to talk, the easier it will be to decide whether you really want the account.

Tell your prospective client what your weaknesses are, before he notices them. This will make you more credible when you boast about your strong points.

David Ogilvy

Take 2 : Queuing,..check in..waiting..

The amount of time spent waiting in preparation to boarding your flight is.. to put it bluntly an excessive waste.

Why has no one come up yet with a solution to this horrendous waste of time ? After all, what is the difference between flying and riding a bus? How is it possible with the ever increasing volume of air traffic that we cannot devise a more efficient system?

Does anyone benefits from this? Or do we need to just accept and wait till we, or the company buys us a private jet?

I don't think so.

An impressive amount of time and creative effort has already been spent on bringing the price of flying down. I was just reading that RyanAir is going as far as not charging for its flights! But would it not be an even greater challenge to reduce not just the time in the air by speeding up the flight but also the time spent on preflight processing.

An idea came to mind while spending the predetermined waiting time plus.. a delay.. in one of many typical airports.

Can you develop a rating system based on all the considerations which constitute the cause for these extended waiting periods and give frequent flyers special benefits with this in mind?

Any ideas?

Sirk.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Give It a Try: Put Brands in Consumers' Hands (Literally)

Beyond Sampling: Advertrying Gets Target to Experience Product When and Where It's Most Relevant

By Brian F. Martin

Published: October 22, 2007

One of the greatest challenges facing corporations today is deciding where to invest their marketing dollars at a time when there are more choices than ever. Marketers and their agencies are searching for new ways to profitably persuade consumers to buy. In this quest, some have found the answer lies in the product itself. ...

Read the full article at Advertising Age