Going APE

February 21, 2013 — djgreer

Guy Kawasaki recently published his latest book APE — Authors, Publishers, and Entrepreneurs. A series of events led Guy to decide to publish his next book himself, including an electronic version. He thought all it would take would be to write in Microsoft Word, upload to Amazon, and wait for the money to roll in. After asking knowledgeable friends, Guy concluded that “self-publishing is mystifying, frustrating, and inefficient task.”

Guy teamed up with Shawn Welch (via Google+) and together they created APE to help guide the rest of us through the process. This year, I would like to publish a book at Webtech Wireless on GPS and Automatic Vehicle Location technology and solutions. I’m building a team to create the book, but I also have plans on how to publish and release the book in both digital and printed forms. I needed APE to help us climb the learning curve.

I ordered four copies of APE from Amazon.com (you cannot order the print version from Amazon.ca). Here’s a video of me opening the box, having an Amazon experience, and talking about Authors, Publishers, and Entrepreneurs.

 

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Positive Every Day

July 29, 2012 — djgreer

Calvi Marina

For two years my wife and I lived on a sailboat in the Mediterranean while we home schooled our three children. That adventure gave us a legacy that our family continues to draw from. When we are “stuck” on an issue we can change the tone of the discussion by focusing on the positive, such as when we stayed in the marina in Calvi, Corsica, France, exploring the fabulous village and enjoyed views like the one above.

I was thinking of this today when I read Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog post 7 Ways to ReWire Your Brain and Become a Better Leader. One of the points that Jesse makes is “Savor your positive experiences”. The post goes on to discuss how we are hard wired to focus on the negative and how by focusing on the positive we can keep our attention on the issues at hand.

I’ve written before about Start with the Wins and the backing science behind positive phycology in Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage. Of course, knowing and doing are two different things. On August 1st it will be a year since I started as VP Marketing at Webtech Wireless. In that year, I’ve worked hard to practice positive principles. While I make sure to start our weekly planning meetings with our wins, I’ve noticed that in daily huddles I often jump into challenges, before asking my team for their wins. Every time that I start with the wins, the challenges get resized and the energy in the discussion changes.

Thanks to Jesse’s post for reminding me to find that positive experience, for me and for each of my team members, each and every day.

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Should I or Shouldn’t I?

March 29, 2012 — djgreer

The EdgeI’ve written before about how I Keep My Edge by challenging myself on the ski hill. I was recently skiing when I passed this sign marking the edge of the ski area.

In business, as in life, we all face boundaries. Those edges where the rules say we need to stay inside. Whether it is to stay within the lines when coloring or to cross the street only when the light is green.

Seeing the ski area boundary made me think of several challenges about staying within the rules:

Are you sure about the rules?  I’ve noticed that in other countries, lights being red or green are merely suggestions to pedestrians as to whether to cross the road or not. Are you clear on where your organization’s rules are? Or are your organizational rules fuzzy at the best of times and completely obscure the rest of the time?

Is everyone else inside the line? In some organizations, the “rule” is to challenge the rule and cross over to the other side, although there may be a protocol about under what conditions you are to do so.

Do you know the consequences? It’s okay to ski outside ski area boundaries — if you are prepared to self rescue yourself if you get in trouble. Are you clear in your own mind about what the consequences are if you break the rules? Maybe the consequences are not what you think they are.

Can you create change without breaking the rules? By definition, change requires either breaking the rules or defining new ones that are different than the old ones and encouraging and pushing people to cross the old boundaries. If the old rules were fuzzy or missing, demonstrating the new rules and pushing right up to their edge can help lead others to change.

A ski run, a sign, and an edge. They combined to challenge me to think about where I cross the line and challenge the rules. Where do you challenge yours?

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Time to Respond

July 26, 2011 — djgreer

Wall Clock

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about his experiences in trying to rent a place for him and his family for summer holidays. He had used a couple of the popular online sites. He had made inquires on several properties and was surprised that even after 24 hours some of his inquiries had never got a response.

If you are involved in sales, how do you measure response time? Do you make sure that there is a response to every incoming phone and web request? In many sales situations, the first to respond has the best chance of winning mind share of the prospect and eventually winning the deal.

Another area in sales where responsiveness is critical is following up when you said you would. From providing quotes to making your phone and in person appointments on time, it is remarkable how many people fall down in these simple areas. If you cannot be trusted to call a person when you said that you would or do an action on time and as promised, why would a prospect trust you with your business.

Being responsive is a critical element in building trust. How do you respond on time?

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We Have Alignment

July 21, 2011 — djgreer

Dragonboat Racing

I sometimes volunteer to drive race officials at Dragonboat regattas. This gives me the opportunity to sit back and observe the start of a Dragonboat race. After the on the water umpire hands the race over to the starter, the starter brings all the Dragonboats up to the start line. Once the starter gets every boat in position in perfect order on the start line, they call out:

“We have alignment.”

In working with business leaders I often wish that I could call out “We have alignment”. The truth is that the strategy and goals set by senior management are not aligned to their own compensation or to the accountability and rewards of the organization.

Accountability: Clear lines of accountability must be a set. Groups, entities, and concepts can not be held accountable. Only a person can be held accountable. For every critical project and responsibility there must be one person who accounts for performance to the rest of the team. This person will rarely have direct control of all the people reaching for the goal. They do have a responsibility to know what is going on and report when things are not on track.

Rewards: Have you ever seen a senior management team set goals for the year without changing their bonus and reward structure to be tied directly to the goals? Accountability and leadership has to start at the top. This then needs to be reflected throughout the organization so that everyone is being rewarded fairly for the goals that are being set for the organization.

Investors: Are the investors goals aligned with the goals of the organization? Investors are often looking for financial, growth, or other goals that are not aligned with the strategic goals of the company. This creates tension and distraction that can pull everyone off course.

High performing businesses ensure they have alignment from the top to the bottom of the organization and the accountability to report on that alignment. Are you aligned?

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Which Direction?

July 19, 2011 — djgreer

West Fifteenth Avenue

In business, we are always looking for feedback on where we are and how we are doing in order to plan our next steps in where we are going. All too often I see entrepreneurs pouring over financial statements hoping that they will predict the future. I think there are many challenges in using traditional financial statements to help in the operations and vision for your business.

Backward Facing: Financial statements are backward looking documents. They tell you were you have been and provide no insight into where you are going. Due to the practical reality of creating financial statements, they are rarely available until the third week of the month after the month you are reporting numbers for. This is far too late to provide any meaningful information for the current month’s activities. How current do you need your numbers to be to have a meaningful impact on your business today, tomorrow, and this week?

Strategy: Financial statements are organized according to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These rules are designed to create consistent financial reporting across businesses and industries. This is important for investors and other key stakeholders for providing standardized ways of recording, reporting, and measuring on businesses. For senior management, these reporting standards do not align with a company’s strategy. What numbers show whether your strategy is on track?

Feedback: Financial numbers rarely provide the feedback to everyone in the organization that they need to know whether they are on track or not. In many organizations, financial statements are never shared with the majority of employees. As I wrote in Red, Orange, or Green, high performing organizations find those two or three critical numbers that tell them every day whether they are on track or not. Have you found your critical numbers and do you report them daily to your entire organization?

Deciding whether you are going in the right direction is a challenge. Rather than using your financial numbers, find the operational ones that drive your business.

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Go Global

July 14, 2011 — djgreer

Palma Cathedral

There is a big world out there and many entrepreneurs that I meet start their thinking of nothing but their local market. In Canada, it can be a stretch to get business people to look at the US. For American entrepreneurs, it can be a struggle for them to consider Europe or Asia.

There are real risks and costs to doing business on a global basis. While you may never take your business global, if you stay open to the possibility it will impact your thinking at every decision point. There are also things you can do as you develop your business so that should you ever choose to expand into other countries, you will already be well positioned to do so.

Hiring: When you are hiring people, look for those that speak more than one language, come from a different country, or have cultural roots different than yours. These differences will help you build more robust products, better customer service, and provide competitive advantage by ensuring that decisions are made from multiple view points.

Intellectual Property: If you are Canadian, be sure to file your copyright, trademark, and patents in the US. For a small incremental charge, you can do your filing internationally (e.g., the Madrid Protocol for trademarks).

Software Development: If from the start you create software that allows for the internationalization of error messages, screens, and user interfaces, multilingual and multicultural support is easy in the future. If you are not careful to pick an architecture and software development practice that allows for internationalization, the costs can be horrendous down the road.

Web Sites: Similar to software development, the majority of web sites built in Canada and the US are created with systems that have poor support for translations and international support. If you ever think you will need to support multiple languages (think English and French if you are Canadian or English and Spanish in many parts of the US), make that part of your criteria when you create your web site or anytime you are looking at a major web site refresh.

I’ve sold products around the planet. There are differences, culture, language, and customs, but with advance planning you can insure that your organization is ready to take on the world. The ones that plan to do so gain competitive advantage in their local markets.

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Paradigm Shift

July 5, 2011 — djgreer

Port Napoleon Shallow Water

We often need to look at familiar things in new ways in order to create a paradigm shift in our thinking. In the photo above, the two people fishing are in water up to their knees. The photo was taken from a sailboat that draws six feet (two meters). The shift is knowing that there is a channel dredged out of the shallows that made it safe for our sailboat to pass.

In order to move a business to new levels a shift in focus is often required. Some real life examples of businesses that shifted the way they think about their business.

Zappos: Zappos is a leading online retailer of shoes who are passionate about their customer experience. In order to attract passionate people who truly care about customers, Zappos offers $1,000 for every new hire to leave after their first week’s training. To see how this works, see Kevin Lawrence’s blog posting Make Sure New People Fit and Bribe the Rest to Quit.

Provident Security: At Provident Security, founder Mike Jagger knew that the security industry had a dirty little secret. Nothing really happened when an alarm went off a customer site. Mike was determined to shift to the brand promise “We will be at the customer’s door within five minutes of an alarm going off — guaranteed.” You can learn more about Provident achieved this in How to Turn an Industry on Its Head Become Masters of Delivering On Big Promises.

Victorian Epicure: High quality spice blends and gourmet food products supplier Victorian Epicure had a big challenge. They were not shipping orders at time during the Christmas rush. They created the theme “In and Out in 72″ (all orders into and out of the company within 72 hours). This was a complete shift for the company which pushed them to deliver to their customers the right products on time. How they achieved this is documented in How to Engage Your Entire Organization in Driving Business Results.

Creating sustainable business advantage requires business leaders to find a new way of looking at their business to create a paradigm shift. What will shift your view?

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Communicate on the Inside

June 30, 2011 — djgreer

View from Black Mountain

In Write for the Customer I wrote about making sure that you have your audience in mind when writing and communicating. Today, I want to write about a different audience — the employees in your business.

To employees, senior management appears as if they are on top of a mountain. Isolated. Separated from the rest of the company.  Making occasional pronouncements from on high.

Here are a few tips on keeping everyone informed about what is going on and focused in moving in the same direction by regular communication with employees:

Management Focus: Great internal communication starts with clarity among the management team on what it is you are trying to achieve. If there is a lack of clarity at the top, it shows up in missing or muddy communications to everyone else.

Communicate Often: Numerous small communications are much better than the once a quarter “employee newsletter”. Constant communication let’s employees see that you care. It also ties communications to recent events, helping to keep top of mind awareness among your employees.

Share the wins: In management meetings I Start with the Wins. Sharing those wins with everyone in the company helps to build momentum.

Where’s the boss: The activities of the CEO provide the strongest guidance to employees as to what is important to the company. If you are CEO, do you share a weekly list of key activities you are planning, especially if those include travel, industry events, and customer visits? A weekly CEO calendar is any easy way to let employees know what the CEO is doing.

A single voice: To provide clarity, a single person should be responsible for communicating to all your employees. This keeps the tone and content consistent, while insuring that the right messages are flowing from the senior management team to all the individuals in the organization.

Employees want to hear what the view is like from the top of the mountain. What are you doing today to communicate with your employees?

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Write for the Customer

June 28, 2011 — djgreer

Red Rose

When we look at a beautiful flower, we can appreciate how nature has made everything in the flower perfect for us to enjoy. From the texture of the pedals to the depth of the color. When writing for customers and prospects, we need to appear authentic and natural to them in all of our communications. This starts with our thinking about our customers and continues with our writing.

Who: As I wrote about in Marketing Tips, you must first be crystal clear about your market segments. Start with identifying where they hang out and who influences them. Be clear on the type of person you are trying to reach. Are they the CEO or is an operations person on the ground? What you write may be completely different depending on their role.

What: The actual content of your communications needs to match the market segments you are trying to reach. Your message needs to resonate with the person you want to communicate with. For each role, what are the customer’s concerns? Their fears? What makes them successful? By focusing on the issues from their point of view, they will naturally relate to what you are saying.

Head versus Heart: Many companies, especially technology ones, focus on logic (Head). They believe that with enough analysis and cold, hard facts, anyone can be won over. The truth is that people only relate when they connect at an emotional level (Heart).  Think again about their fears, what makes them successful, and how you have made similar people to them successful by removing risk in working with you. Connect with their heart and you will win them over.

Too many people spout information about themselves, their company, and their products. Like a beautiful flower, people will relate to you naturally if you communicate from their point of view.

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