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Archives for January 2007
January 15, 2007 Leave a Comment
January 15, 2007 Leave a Comment
January 14, 2007 Leave a Comment
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
A Great Business Resource that You Can Use
While reading one of my favorite monthly newsletters (The Motivational Manager) today, I learned about a fabulous and free business resource that I want to share with you:
It is the “Free Management Library” website – click here to enter! And it is a treasure trove of articles, resource materials, websites, etc. that members and experts have contributed. The website has been around for 10 years – and from my initial exploration of it, it appears to be continuously improving by adding content and categorization.
As the title says – All content on the website is absolutely free – for you to access. If you want to reprint or re-purpose the content, they offer clear steps to take to obtain permission from the copyright holder of the individual content.
You could think of this as a sort of “wikipedia” for business and management content since it is created strictly through member contributions (of content) and it relies upon its members to update and report errors, broken links, etc.
Lately, I have been thinking about “competitive advantage” – what is my own competitive advantage (as a consultant, trainer and speaker) and helping my clients to define their competitive advantage. So, I was pleased to see this clear, concise “About Us” statement:
“The library provides easy-to-access, clutter-free, comprehensive resources regarding the leadership and management of yourself, other individuals, groups and organizations…”
SOLD!
I get it! I know exactly what this resource offers (to me) right from this direct statement of purpose.
Why would I want to use this website tool when I already have invested a small fortune in resource books? Because, I am not always near my personal (physical) library – I do travel quite a bit. And, the trick is to be able to actually FIND the resource when you actually need it (while writing a blog, thinking of a topic to write about, citing a source) – or just plain relaxation or inspiration!
The key to accessibility is organization. The Free Management Library Home Page is very clearly organized – and accessible. Here are a few topics for you to link to in order to check it out yourself:
I've added this site to “My Favorites.” I hope that you can gain some benefit from my recommendation. Please share your thoughts – or your favorites – with our readers. Or… just drop me an email – danny@thecompanyrocks.com to let me know what is working / or not for you!
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January 10, 2007 Leave a Comment
Some Meetings are Better than Others – Why?
The music products industry will gather next week in Anaheim, CA for the NAMM Show. Over 80,000 members will attend this “Trade Only” convention. Lots of meetings will take place. Many of them casual; quite a few structured. How many will be effective? How many will be a waste of time – or a missed opportunity?
What can you do ahead of time to be better prepared? What lessons can you learn at trade shows that will help you to hold more effective meetings when you return to your store or your office?
In general, the meetings you will have at a trade show or at an “off-site” retreat or with a client are much more effective than your normal staff or team meetings. And the reasons for that are rather straight-forward:
1) You put more time and effort into preparing for the meeting – Who will attend? What materials do we need to have on hand? Who is preparing the agenda – and what is the purpose of this meeting?
2) You are more focused during the actual meeting – Your energy level is much higher. You are actively listening to what your client is saying (and thinking.) Since you only have the key people attending this meeting, you make sure that everyone is involved.
3) Your meeting ends on-time and everyone involved understands what the next step will be – and who is responsible for preparing for it.
4) You promptly follow-up will everyone who attended the meeting – AND those “stake holders” who have an interest in the results of your meeting.
I hope that this four-step process can serve as a blueprint for holding successful meetings – not just at the NAMM Show or any other “important meeting.” Rather, it should guide you and your staff to put the same effort into planning, facilitating and following-up on EVERY meeting that your company holds throughout the year.
Here's a great resource tool that I recommend – The Meeting Wizard. Their website is terrific! Lots of good practical advice. Many of the services are free – or at a reasonable price. Easy to navigate. Excellent selection of training materials – books, audio and video – available for purchase. Check it out!
Actually, I got the idea for today's post from this website. Most of us come back from an “off-site” event inspired and filled with purpose. Then we quickly fall back into the drudgery of “office work.” Well, today “office work” means meetings – that is how we work – as part of a team. And the hours that we spend / waste in meetings continues to increase each year / week / day!
All effective meetings are planned! They have a very clear focus and purpose. “On-site” as well as “off-site!”
Be selective when inviting people to attend each meeting – only invite the people who truly need to be there. Use e-mail to inform the other members of your team about what was discussed or decided.
Never end a meeting without everyone knowing what the next step will be – and who needs to do it – and when it needs to be done by.
If you are planning to attend the NAMM Show next week, please drop by to see me at the IDEA CENTER – Booth #5501 in Hall B. I'd like to talk with you and listen to some of your ideas
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January 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
And All That Jazz
I admit it. I get a thrill whenever I see the names of people or organizations that I know being featured in national magazines or newspapers. That was the case this past Sunday when The New York Times did a major feature article on the International Association for Jazz Education Conference (IAJE) being held in New York this week.
Here is a link to the article by Nate Chinen. It is a very interesting story. I recommend that you set aside some time to read it if you are interested in jazz or music education.
There will be over 8,000 jazz enthusiasts, students, teachers and commercial members attending the convention this week in New York!
Mr. Chinen makes the point in his article that while the nightclub scene for jazz in the USA is anemic, residents of many college towns have a great opportunity to listen to professional-caliber jazz performances on campus on a regular basis. I shudder when I think of how many jazz clubs have shut their doors here in Los Angeles. The same is true in Chicago and most other major cities.
But jazz is alive and well in the classroom – and at the IAJE Convention this week! Some of the best skilled performers are not making their living playing in clubs. Rather, they are passing on their knowledge and nurturing talent in the classroom as teachers and professors. And building up a larger audience of people who enjoy listening to and playing jazz music.
I doubt that the club scene will ever come back to where it was in the '50s – and don't hold your breath waiting for a major record label to start promoting new jazz stars. But who cares? Not when you can get a regular jazz fix at a local college campus and listen and purchase great jazz recordings from independent labels (many started and owned by the players themselves!)
I strongly support professional associations. If you want to have a career and not just work for a living you must become active in one or more professional associations. Next week, I will be working for clients at the largest music products association convention – the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. The IAJE Convention is a good example of a professional association for performers, teachers, commercial members and jazz enthusiasts. You can't beat the energy rush and good fellowship that you get from actually attending a convention. Therefore, I was really intrigued, by the closing paragraph of Mr. Chinen's article in the New York Times:
“In that sense, the International Association for Jazz Education conference might be understood not as a collision of worlds but as a gathering of the tribes. And the most important thing that happens there isn't a clinic or show or ceremony, or a negotiation on the expo floor. It's what happens after, when the various jazz constituencies pack up their stuff and head home.”
That's a great insight. And a challenge for all of us. To take the energy and ideas and skills that we acquire at our conventions and start to implement – and share – them with our colleagues back home in our communities. Jazz education seems to be doing that quite nicely. Thank you very much!
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January 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
Bifurcate This!
“In the low-value segment, consumers buy products for a purely functional use and don't care or need the company's technical expertise.”
– Michael J. Silverstein, in “Treasure Hunt” Inside the Mind of the New Consumer
Wow! That is a very powerful – and scary – statement (backed up by extensive research) by Michael J. Silverstein the author of “Treasure Hunt.” He is a Senior Vice President of The Boston Consulting Group and the co-author of the 2005 business book best-seller, “Trading Up.” – (Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods – and How Companies Create Them.)
So… while in 2005, “Trading Up” gave great hope to many manufacturers and retailers that many “middle class” consumers were will to pay “just a little bit more” for some premium brands that appeal to the mass-market consumer (think Panera Bread in Fast Casual Food or Belvedere Vodka – in a category of liquor that by law must be flavorless! – the middle class consumer had to actually find a way to pay for these small luxuries!!!
Enter “Treasure Hunt” and the concept of “bifurcation!” To bifurcate is to branch, or fork, into two channels or branches. So in order to pay for the small luxuries of Trading Up, another channel – Trading Down – actually enables them to pay for these prized luxury items – hence the “Treasure Hunt!”
Actually, we (I consider myself solidly middle class) do both at the same time – we simultaneously Trade Up and Trade Down – we Treasure Hunt! We simply avoid the boring, traditional, tired companies (both retail and manufacturer) that dominated the marketplace for so many years – can you say General Motors, Sears, etc. These dinosaur companies reside in the “deadly middle” of the marketplace – aka “The Black Hole.”
I will do a complete book review of “Treasure Hunt” in the next few days. It is a vitally important business book – and it is supported by one of the best websites I have ever seen for a book!
I wanted to re-read it in preparation for my work next week at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. I will be meeting with current and prospective clients there and I need to advise them that there is plenty of potential for growing their business if they can embrace the concepts detailed in “Treasure Hunt.” It is not just a race to the bottom – in margins and selling prices!
But first they will have to learn how to bifurcate their businesses! Trade Up! Trade Down! – either way can and will work (with the right strategy) but… avoid the “black hole of the middle” if you want to stay in business to attend the NAMM Show next year!
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January 5, 2007 Leave a Comment
Collecting Intellectual Income
“Never feel guilty about reading, it's what you do to do your job.”
– William Safire
This quote appears on the very last page of Peggy's Noonan classic book, “On Speaking Well.” Mr. Safire was giving this advice to a young writer. Ms. Noonan goes on to say that “reading is the collecting of intellectual income; writing is the spending of it. You need to read to write, you need to take in other people's words and thoughts and images.”
Regardless of your political views (both Safire and Noonan were speechwriters for Republican Presidents) is is hard to top the expert advice that Safire and Noonan offer. They are professional writers and speakers and they continue to be students of writing and speaking. Both have written for others (politicians, business leaders and celebrities) as well as for themselves. They are keen observers of the political scene but they excel at studying and explaining how choosing the right word for the right occasion helps to communicate a powerful message.
After listening to the eulogies at President Ford's memorials I picked “On Speaking Well” out of my bookcase. I wanted to re-read Peggy Noonan's thoughts about writing for others. I had my own opinions about which politician relied too heavily on a speechwriter and which may have written their own eulogy for President Ford. (My opinion is that Vice President Cheney wrote his own – it was the the most sincere speech that I ever heard him deliver!)
I ended up re-reading the book from cover-to-cover – what a great investment! I certainly collected so “intellectual income” from this book which I will be spending soon. I am not writing a full book review of “On Speaking Well,” but I give it my full recommendation as a book that must be in your bookcase if you are serious about improving your communications skills. (I was so charged up with my re-reading that I am now re-reading Jack Valenti's book , “Speak Up With Confidence.”)
President Reagan was labeled as “The Great Communicator” and Peggy Noonan was one of his speechwriters. Many critics panned Reagan as a simple-minded politician who never-the-less was able to win over audiences and leave behind many memorable phrases. The critics said that it was a case of style over substance. Ms. Noonan – as you might suspect – argues aggressively that this is not the case. And she is very persuasive in making it! She argues that Reagan used simple language to communicate big ideas:
“The language of love is simple because love is big. And big things are best said, are almost always said, in small words.”
You will gain a new appreciation for using simple words to express big things by reading “On Speaking Well.” For me, the highlight of the book is Peggy Noonan's insightful commentary of some of the best-known speeches of the past 100 years. Of course there is the usual John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan. But also the Earl Spencer's eulogy for his sister Princess Diana. And… Hyman Roth's speech to Michael Corleone in The Godfather II – What a bonus!
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January 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Right Words
“Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell me a truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.”
– Indian Proverb
I found this lovely proverb in the Foreword to “The Right Words at the Right Time” – a marvelous compilation of stories by Marlo Thomas and over 100 of her friends and associates. This wonderful book was published in 2002 by Atria (Simon & Schuster, Inc.) and I frequently offer it as a gift – especially to friends who are grieving or at a difficult point in their lives or careers.
It is always difficult to offer advice to someone – they do not welcome it, do not think that they need it or they ignore it!
I find that it is even more difficult to try to comfort someone when they are grieving – how can I possibly know how they are feeling (they must think???)
But … to tell a story – the right story at the right time – now that is a golden gift that almost everyone will receive – and remember!
This morning, I picked up my copy of “The Right Words at the Right Time” because I was still thinking about the wonderful memorial service yesterday honoring the late President Gerald R. Ford. I thought that Tom Brokow's eulogy was magnificent – just the right touch – and filled with stories – which helped to make it memorable. I wanted to read his story in Marlo Thomas' compilation (along with stories from Betty Ford and many others.)
The other eulogies at yesterday's service were fair (in my opinion) but far from memorable. Giving a eulogy is one of the most difficult speeches that anyone will ever have to make. Keeping your own emotions in check while trying to pay tribute and offer comfort to the family and friends of the deceased will challenge the skills of even the most gifted orator. That is why the most successful speakers are the best story tellers. In telling a story (like singing a song or playing a musical instrument) you gain several advantages:
1) The story (or song) has a built-in emotional factor – it sets a mood or a tone.
2) In telling it (or singing or playing it) you concentrate on the story (or song) and not on your own emotions. The audience does not distract you.
3) The story (or song) has a built-in beginning, middle and end – so you remain focused and you make a point that your audience will likely remember.
So, if you want to be an effective speaker (like Tom Brokow) collect and cultivate stores. Then practice telling them – to make them your own. This is the single, best piece of advice that I can offer anyone who wants to improve the communications skills – or to deliver a eulogy. Learn to tell stories. Pick the story with the right words and tell it (well) at the right time.
Music has the same power – the right piece played (well) at the right time. Denyce Graves' powerful performance of “The Lord's Prayer” at President Ford's memorial service is the perfect example of the power of music to lift our spirits and transport us to another place. To offer comfort and solace and to give us hope and strength to move forward.
If you would like a copy of all of the musical selections, performers, verses and officials at President Ford's service, click here on this link.
Now, I am going to go back and read a few more stories. Finding the right words at the right time will help me to better focus on what I want to accomplish this year.
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January 2, 2007 Leave a Comment
Interesting Start of the New Year
I send my best wishes to all of you for a very happy, peaceful and prosperous 2007!
As I write this missive, I am watching the ceremonies in remembrance of Gerald R. Ford. So images and memories of the past overlap the normal upbeat resolutions for a new beginning. But then.. that really is the role that President Ford performed so well. His inauguration was not filled with the usual celebration and promises of a brand new day. Rather, we remember his acceptance speech when he told us that “our long national nightmare has ended.”
In an earlier post, I commented on a comment that President Ford made after he left office. He said that if he could return to school, he would now pay more attention to improving his communications skills. Specifically his presentation skills. He would never have the powerful oratorical presence of a President Kennedy or a Winston Churchill. Instead, many of us were left with a memory of a bumbling, stumbling and rather common man who always managed to hit a golf ball into the crowd – and injure a potential voter. Impressions and perceptions count a lot – they shape opinions and either open or close the door to opportunity. It is difficult to convey a sense of leadership while the mass media is constantly showing images of the president falling down the steps as he alights from Air Force One. And Chevy Chase and Saturday Night Live are making their mark parodying these pratfalls!
And yet… now… as we remember President Ford, a new perception emerges. We read (not listen to) the words that he spoke and the wisdom of those words is revealed. We can now appreciate his “common man” style as just the perfect choice for a President to lead our nation forward – past the tumult of Vietnam and Watergate towards a new beginning.
I have been struck by several impressions as the memorial services have evolved:
Vice President Cheney gave the best speech of his career as he eulogized his former boss on Saturday evening in the Capitol Rotunda. Perhaps, this illustrates the point that when we speak from the heart our message is clarion-clear.
The four Ford Children standing for hours to greet the mourners (ordinary people) who came to pay tribute to their father! Remarkable and unstaged. What a tribute to the values that their mother and father imparted as they grew up as a family while the national spotlight was shining on them.
The importance of candor – Betty Ford set a new standard as the First Lady – she could never hide the truth. She spoke to – and for – all of us as she dealt with Breast Cancer and addiction. She survived and inspired so many to follow her lead.
In a few days, a new congress will convene and most likely we will return to the policy of political bickering and “single issue” politics. The exact opposite of the collegial style of leadership that President Ford personified. Maybe, these days of remembrance will serve as a national “speed bump” to remind us to slow down and consider another point of view before launching into a diatribe and personal attack on others.
So, for me, January 1, 2007 is not just another “out with the old and in with the new” year. I have no idea how the year will turn out. But I am starting this one with a greater appreciation of the lessons of the past and a recognition that actions truly speak louder than words.
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