So, You Want to Speak
Jay Lillie
August 10, 2009
We've asked some of the top speakers in the U.S. to share their thoughts.
Top 3 Tips on How Organizations Can Improve Their Businesses
It is no secret that these are challenging times for most businesses. During tough times it is critical for leaders to best utilize your resiliency and strategic thinking skills. The importance of demonstrating these two specific competencies is to support your quest to always out think and out maneuver your competition. You have the best chance to improve your business results by surrounding yourself with high performing people. Your biggest asset to survival of the business is to use the talent of your people effectively. I offer the following 3 tips on how leaders can ensure the long term success of the organization:
1. Today's leaders must have the ability to obtain business results by 'influencing" the behaviors of others versus using "command and control' tactics.
2. Today's leaders must demonstrate the ability to build an environment where creativity and diverse points of view are respected and valued.
3. Today's leaders must have the ability to help people work together despite differences in order to create success for the common cause.
Deborah Chambers Chima, CMP www.chambersconsult.com
Ignite Innovation…the Art of Putting Ideas Into Action!
Innovative thinking can help you ride out the tough times and position you for future growth. The words ‘Creativity’ and ‘Innovation’ are often interchanged in conversation but ‘Creativity’ is the generation of new ideas, ‘Innovation’ is the implementation of creative ideas. To be successful in today’s business world, business leaders need to adapt whole-brain thinking. Leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, and anyone who wants to get ahead have to start getting in touch with the right side of their brain – the artistic, creative, emotive side of the brain. In the world of business the new MBA will be an MFA(Masters of Fine Arts). Artists, writers, musicians, scientists often experience a great deal of psychological unease or ‘creative tension’ in the process of creation. This creative tension is a gift, it forces them to dig deeper. Creative types, tend to be restless, discontent, driven, and impatient, seldom satisfied by their successes. This feeling of being on edge often only becomes relieved when they are intently at work or in the midst of solving problems. They need to keep their brains active. What makes these individuals different from others is their extraordinary ability to turn their brain power on and to keep the power on for as long as it takes to solve the problem. As challenging and painful as it can be, they enjoy the process not just the outcome or product. Attention deficit has no place here. Every innovation worth doing deserves your commitment. Once you have generated the ideas don’t leap from one new thing to another. If your creation doesn’t appear important to you, it won’t be important to anyone else.
Become a ‘Disruptor’. Ask yourself “how can I change the typical business model in this industry?” “what can I adapt from another industry?”, “what is everyone else doing?” and then do the opposite. There are risks and rewards for being the Disruptor. As I have often told my clients and audiences “The only people who like change are babies with wet diapers”. You won’t win friends taking this approach, your colleagues will ridicule you, your staff and partners will try to control you and keep you from taking those risks. But Disruptors have a better chance at success – look at Southwest Air, Apple and the iPhone, Google and Twitter. I have applied the “disruptor” approach for several of the company’s I have built during two recessions, over the past 30 years and have had great success.
Give yourself some “Mental Floss”. Take time to clean out your ‘mental plaque’ by flossing your brain daily - taking time out to relax. By allowing yourself downtime to quiet your mind each day, solutions will pop up. Play a little Mozart; Gordon Shaw, a University of California, physics professor, involved in a study of the effects of music on the brain, believes that the structure of Mozart's music may trigger a series of neural firings that stimulate creativity, in much the same way that a vibrating piano string causes neighboring strings to vibrate. When the solutions pop up take action, even if the idea isn’t perfect. Innovation is taking creative ideas and putting them into action.
David Saxby www.sparkcommunications.com
No-one wants to ‘fire up’ their people by having a motivational speaker on the platform who tells the ‘ostriches’ they can fly to work; gets them fired up to believe they can and then has to sit back on Monday morning and watch them walk to work, because after all, they are ostriches. Using professional speakers to present internal or external company information is fast becoming the latest global trend. In today’s fast-paced and ever changing business world, you only get one chance to get it right – and image is everything.
Michael Jackson www.theothermichaeljackson.com
Top Tips for Thriving in Business
Give people tools and experiences to identify and work from their natural strengths.
When people know and value their own natural abilities, they are more productive and satisfied in their work. They are also more adept at recognizing and rewarding the abilities of others. Consider using The Highlands Ability Battery and programs to build your base of wisdom and develop common language and behavior for maximizing human resource potential.
Build Strong Relationships
When people feel valued, appreciated and connected to one another they are more motivated to work collaboratively and to support common goals and visions. Offer experiences and opportunities within and outside of work that encourage people to get to know one another on a personal level. Create mentorship and partnership programs that promote shared accomplishments and accountability.
Promote a Playful sense of Humor and Have Fun!
Humor is a natural antidote to stress and a universal connector among people. We don’t quit playing because we grow old, we grow old because we quit playing. Create an environment that promotes healthy humor and fun as a component of your culture. When your internal customers are happy, your external ones will be also! Consider the success of Southwest Airlines and Trader Joe’s, two prominent businesses whose success is rooted in having fun!
Gail Ostrishko www.GailO.com
When I talk to the administrators, officials and staff my message is preparing the child for the world of work. Not only do I have early education background, but we have owned a number of businesses, so I can explain that when Johnny can’t read and think creatively, he will not be a valuable part of the community work place. The number one job description of the future is “problem solver.”
Because of my experience, I can also speak to a Generation X and Y (my kids)and Generation Why (my grandkids) who are being given directions by a Baby Boomer (me)and why there is a disconnect in understanding. Before there can be team building or goal setting, there has to be a clear understanding of where each generation has been and where they are going.
Preparing young children for the future and preparing the workplace to accept them and use their capabilities is a calling.
Judy H. Wright a.k.s Auntie Artichoke
Top Three Tips on How Organizations Can Improve Their Business
1. Sell your way through a downturn. Too often senior executives decide to cut sales and marketing budgets when times are tough. The rationale is that they need to hold down costs in order to keep their doors open. If your salespeople aren’t selling, though, no budget cut – regardless of how steep – can keep your company afloat. Smart executives remain calm, focused and leave the panicking to their competitors. They build their bottom line by focusing solutions that can help their clients weather a downturn.
2. Sell strategically. Building a strategically focused sales team is a must if you want to achieve greater sales volume year-over-year and reap the rewards of long-term customer loyalty. Strategic sales are far more complex than tactical deals, though, and take more time. That means you need individuals with patience and strong problem-solving skills, who can listen and determine what keeps your clients awake at night. You want them to become trusted advisors who sell solutions, not products.
3. Hire and develop the right people. Despite today’s record unemployment, it can be a challenge to find the right person for the job. In sales, for example, it’s tough to find individuals who can consistently achieve sales quotas and remain up to speed on changing markets, industries and products. The talent wars will only heat up as the baby boomers retire in increasing numbers. While it can be tempting to hire the first seemingly qualified candidate to walk in the door, look carefully before you leap. Go beyond the resume and incorporate comprehensive assessments that will tell you whether the candidate you’re considering is the right fit for both your organization and the job.
Barrett Riddleberger www.resolutionsystemsinc.com
This is not my first time in an economic crisis and it sure won't be the last, however,for some of you, it may be your first. What is a small business owner to do?
First, stop spending time with people who have drunk the kool-aid and are a woe is me, what's going to happen to me, henny penny type of individual. Choose to spend quality time with professional individuals who are all about moving onward and upward. Choose your friends and associates wisely.
Second, change your mind. That's right, you have the power to give yourself an attitude adjustment. Only have positive behavior. Focus on what you want instead of what is missing. Perform only three tasks of high value on a daily basis.
Third, come up with a new, great idea. You could write a book, create a new vision for your business, survey your clients as to their needs and then provide a free teleseminar or presentation. Create a mastermind group with those positive professionals and you will design something spectacular.
Fourth, market yourself and your business with more creative methods.
a) Send five personal, handwritten notes per day, every day, to your clients. Enclose an article that works for them. b) Make 'dates' with prospects or clients for coffee or tea. Just get to know people and let them get to know you. c) Design a blog in your particular niche.
Joanna Victoria
Since management commonly believes that if "I" just got out "there," "I" could grow this firm at a phenomenal pace, let our suggestions serve as a reminder to you to get off your duff and do what it takes to build your business.
Here’s how to start:
1. Step outside: Executives that get out in the field can open up doors faster than any other person in the firm. Bill Marriot closed a deal worth several million per year for the long beach facilities after he heard that Jeff Neeleman, the founder of Jet Blue was looking to use a competitor for his flight staff’s overnights. He made the call and the deal was closed.
2. Offer something special: Executives that work the room and work the business can offer solutions that others in the firm may not be aware is in the pipeline. I once worked with an executive that turned to a prospect and said, "It's under wraps right now that we are expanding our facility in the coming year. We will be ready to take on your business and would be willing to work a deal to bring you on board early." No front line sales person or manager would have dared to release the information.
3. Use successes to build successes: Executives have history that others don't have. Let's say a big-volume prospect is teetering. Those with history can give examples by recounting stories of how they were successful in the past and how their success would impact the client. While you’ll still use skills to build business, they’re not the end all; history creates opportunities, too. While working with a Texas firm on strategy, the key management team was amazed to hear the two founders tell success story after success story that no senior executive had ever heard. Ironically the stories came about while discussing a new business model to reach an additional 2000 international outlets and the founders were just trying to get their minds around a new business model.
4. Use your position: Executives have power just in their title. Picture meeting the CEO of any company, and you already see a decision maker. On the flip side, when an executive is out working with clients, prospects and employees, transformation business change moves rapidly just because of the role the individual plays in the organization. I’ve seen many deals change in minutes when decision makers start playing out on the field with everyone else.
When all is said and done, business growth and development happens both strategically and randomly. While you need to put both tools in your arsenal to insure that your goals are met, you also have to put yourself in situations that foster opportunities. The best way to utilize what you already have at your disposal is to get out and make opportunity happen.
David Goldsmith www.metamatrixconsulting.com
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