Bill's Blog

Can you Flip to Change?

FL!P by Peter Sheahan - The Four Forces of Change

First things first – what is a FL!P? 

A “FL!P” is a counter-intuitive but ultimately accurate view of the world that leads to stand out business.

To “FL!P” is to act against the prevailing wisdom, turning traditional business paradigms upside down

Peter Sheahan suggests there are six key activities to achieving the FL!P:

 

· Action creates clarity

· Fast, good and cheap: Pick three  - then add something extra

· Absolutely, positively sweat the small stuff

· Business is personal

· Mass-market success is found on the fringe

· To get control, give it up

 

But first we need to consider why we are being forced to change and the four forces that prevail. And as the subtitle of the book says: - How to Survive and Thrive in by Turning your Business on its Head.

 

Sheahan suggests we are at war with four different forces of change, forces that we have to meet to make the FL!P.

 

Compression

 

The first challenge is the Increasing compression of time and space.

 

Human beings have always been impatient and today we expect things to happen much faster than before. Like cars and computers, our expectation is of speed; speed that can do the job faster but speed that is making our lives more hectic.

 

When we wait in an elevator, do we press the button if the door takes that split second longer to close? That is a consequence of the time compression.

 

Secondly, people no longer see geographical distances as barriers to business. With the widening pervasiveness of the internet, we are all now global players and are free to compete across the world. The other side of the world may be physically a day a way, but in business, with email, on-line collaboration and communication it might as well be in the adjoining office.

 

 Complexity

 

As a result of the compression of time and space, complexity, the second force, is on the increase and complexity brings uncertainty which can paralyse innovation and positive action.

 

The author suggests complexity in business occurs through six situations:

 

· rapidly interconnected networks of people and ideas

 

· disruptive technology that challenges the ability to adapt

 

· an explosion of choice where no-one has a monopoly on any product or service for any great length of time

 

· the increasing intangible desires of the market for example, the need for emotional fulfilment

 

· increased sophistication of technology – a vicious circle where  complexity leads to more complexity

 

· pervasiveness of legislation - no matter what it is: finance, safety, the environment, governments are regulating it

 

Transparency and Accountability

 

The third force is a joint outcome of both transparency and accountability. The digital communication revolution has put data into the hands of whosoever wants it and all can see and share with ultimate transparency. With social media now widely adopted by the consumer, there is no place to hide.

 

Looking at accountability, it is being forced onto businesses in three ways:

 

· top-down with governmental legislation

 

· laterally with market demands and expectations

 

· bottom up with customer power fuelled by the growth in social networks

 

Your business must now be an open book. Everyone expects to see beyond the brand, beyond the public face of enterprise.

 

Expectation

  

As a result on all of the above forces the fourth, expectation, arises. Expectation for faster, better, cheaper products, for more varied options and for greater transparency and flexibility in response to customer needs and wants.

 

 So what do we do?

 

Sheahan pleads that if there is only one thing the reader can take from the book, then they must realise that you can’t plan your way to greatness. Companies must aligned to an action orientation and do away with the commitment to micro planning and to let loose with some bold and courageous action. Like, Seth Godin’s plea in Linchpin, people must overcome their lizard brain and ship.

 

 

So with the four forces in mind, can you commit to action? Are you constrained? Is the noose of time and space reducing your time to react? Are things complex? Do you remember when business life was simple? Can you get back to that position? Is paperwork taking control? Are you stymied by statute? Is there a way out? And while you are being pulled back by these containing forces, does you customer expect?

 

 

More on the FL!P to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Final Results Rule challenge

Friday, the end of the week and final RIFM Results Rule challenge. And this is an easy one!

Action Challenge #5: sometime this week, when you’d otherwise be doing something like watching TV or reading a trashy magazine, steal two of those minutes and take an action to move one of your goals forward.

Why is it easy? Purely because of time differences. Most if not all of the movers and shakers I follow and who inspire my Great Work (with homage to Michael Bungay Stanier) are from the USA and Canada and time wise range from five to eight hours behind the UK and GMT.

So, when you were sleeping – sorry Steve, I had to use your strapline – I was working. We then have working day overlap, some of which is developing opportunities with my overseas contacts and when my work day is over, I’ve still a few hours where I can move into development mode, check out Google reader feeds,  review your work, if not speak to you through the wonders of VOIP. Then relax time with a RIFM recommended book!

So I’ve already go this one in the bag and am fully exploiting the advantages!

Another day another challenge

Day four of the  RIFM Results Rule Challenge.

Action Challenge #4: Create one new measurement around something that’s critical to your success, but that you aren’t measuring today.

I’m challenged by this challenge. You see with a background in math/maths (dependent on what side of the Atlantic you are reading this), I know that you can make anything significant. Lies, damn lies and statistics.

Secondly, I’m a firm believer that you get what you measure. For example, if you stress the importance of frequency of meetings as a sales performance indicator, then you will get a high number of meetings recorded. Do they produce more sales? Unlikely. Most probably, sales executives enjoying a latte with a client who has no intention of buying!

So to meet the challenge you need to make sure that your measurement is not a stick, but more a carrot (read Dan Pink’s Drive for a greater insight), and that everyone buys into the concept and vision. Best to make the measurement qualitative rather than quantitative.  If things are getting better, then things are moving forward.

My measurement? I’ve read a great number of books and tabbed key points with post-its. My intention is to turn these into keynote mind-maps so I’ll be measuring how well I meet this commitment. Blogging them soon!

Results Rule - Challenge #3

I’m still on the Readitfor.me Results Rule Challenge trail. Day three – challenge three.

Action Challenge #3: Find one person this week and find some potential in them that they don’t see for themselves. Let them know how incredible you think they are.

This is a real challenge. Not because I don’t have people I want to partner with, but rather how do you praise people without coming across as patronising or condescending?

My approach would be to take a leaf out of Tim Sanders books: Love is the Killer App and the Likeability Factor. In the first Tim says, “Nice Smart People Succeed”. Effectively by listening to and understanding the needs of the individual (Results Rule Action #1) and then connecting them to people who can help them, they will eventually help you. What goes around comes around.

 In the second book, Tim talks of four personality traits he says contribute to a person's likability—namely, friendliness, relevance (do you connect on interests or needs?), empathy and "realness". Again areas where you can help your “partner” grow.

So off now to put things into action with a colleague whom initially I mentored as they went through a change in their business direction and whom now I am developing a new business opportunity building on the strengths they have increased, strengths that compliment my offerings!

Results Rule - The Second Challenge

 
I’m still aligned to the Readitfor.me   challenge and here is the second.

Action Challenge #2: Pick a part of your organization (or life) aside from your product/service and make the commitment this week to pursue the best in it. Take one action this week to set the wheels in motion.

This one is pretty easy, not necessarily to do but certainly to identify.

Two years ago when I set up my blog, this very one,  I had the big intention of using it to share my experiences with readers. Topics were to be general and wide ranging, covering all areas of work and non-work. Two years on and only a dozen or so posts later, I’m embarrassed on the lack of achievement.

However, in the intervening period, thanks to RIFM, I’ve not been necessarily idle. The social media books summarised, including Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel, The Whuffie Factor, by Tara Hunt and The New Community Rules by Tamar Weinberg have all given me insight into how I really should be sharing on-line and aspire to the best.

So, inspired by Results Rule, and the above, I’m committing to posting at a more regular interval, and along with Steve, sharing my thoughts and what I get from the summarized books (and others) with anyone who is interested.

My supplementary challenge is: Am I getting the content right? I welcome comments!

 

 

Results Rule - the Read it for Me challenge.

I'm a regular follower and subscriber to Steve Cunningham's Readitfor.me book summary service. His latest summary, Results Rule, by Randy Pennington is augmented by a number of challenges which take forward  key points from the book.

Steve sets out one challenge per day that we should take on to turn the big idea into action. So not being one to shirk from a challenge, here goes.

Action Challenge #1: Find one person at work this week who you aren’t great friends with (yet). Ask them to go grab a coffee and get to know them a bit better

Action #1. Working within one of my clients with whom I’m spending a lot of time at the moment, I got the chance to sit on the interview panel for their CMO. Now while, you find out a lot about someone through applications and interviews, much of that is formal, structured and focuses on business expectations rather than the individual themselves.

Taking on board the Monday challenge, I had coffee with the new appointee and found out more about who they were what makes them tick, what their challenges are and what they want from “life , the universe and everything”.

Turns out – serendipitously – that our paths crossed earlier when they were an undergraduate participating on a entrepreneurial programme at University and I was one of the “Old Grey’s” wheeled in to give the some practical advice. Small world.

Now, co-creation plans are underway to work to promote social media marketing in the client and RIFM will be one of the sources of inspiration!

Awesomely Simple!

Over the last 10 years or more, I’ve read countless business books. I firmly believe each book has at least one “gem” that can help us expand or improve our organisations, whether in innovation, strategy, leadership or any of the other business functions. But that’s where the problem lies.

Books tend to focus on a business vertical: looking at the issues and impact of a specific business area. So marketing books only look at marketing issues, leadership books only look at leadership issues and so on.

It was always my dream, therefore, to write the book that made the horizontal connection, a book that links together all of the overlapping actions in a business Venn diagram. But I’ve been beaten to it.

Though Polar Unlimited’s dynamic book summary service www.readitfor.me , I was introduced to John Spence, who has written his own horizontal perspective in his current book Awesomely Simple. (Note the similarity in names?)  Since then John and I have connected and are following each other’s posts and perhaps will together, demonstrate business is simple.

John can be followed on www.awesomelysimple.com  - check him out.

To Kindle or not to Kindle?

Amazon's Kindle, the electronic book device is shortly to be released in the UK.

It looks like a great product but I'm not sure if its for me yet.

I read a lot, at present getting through two or three business books a week and the thought of having all these books to hand on one device is appealing. I tend to "tab" interesting sections of the book with post-it type tabs, using these tabs as future reference points or points of interest for assignments/projects etc and I believe the Kindle allows you to highlight areas of the books held on it and make these highlights "searchable"  - I think this is possible, is it true?

The downside is the tangibility of the printed book. I like to pass on, lend my books - with the markups - to colleagues to share concepts and so on and think that this is not possible with Kindle due to license issues.

I'm appealing to any readers out there, who have experience of Kindle to let me know what their experience is. Does Kindle replace your book shelf? Do you miss the printed matter? Can you use it for research tabbing? Can you "share"?

Thanks in anticipation.

Bill

Watching the momentum grow....

Over the last few weeks, I've been both watching and participating in a very interesting event, developing right in from of our eyes.

Let me introduce Steve Cunningham, CEO of Polar Unlimited who has been working, can I say successfully, on a project to identify and summarise key business books for busy executives at Read it for (dot) me.

During this month, Steve has focussed on Social media and is reviewing the books of a number of key players: Mitch Joel and Six Pixels of Separation, Tara Hunt and The Whuffie Factor, and soon Chris Brogan and Julien Smith - Trust Agents with others to follow.

I'm following all of them on Twitter and Mitch and Tara have both taken tome to contribute to Steve's reviews and comments of readers and today Mitch, Chris and Julien announced an exciting opportunity to present together, joining up the content of their books to create an even greater momentum.

All I can say is join in. Watch new business opps unfold in front of your eyes.

Well done Steve, enabler extraordinaire. 

Saving the World at Work - Tim Sanders Book re-launch

On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers announced its impending bankruptcy and - well there’s no point telling you, you already know!

In the press and associated journals, it was all doom and gloom, new, relevant initiatives were ignored as companies turned to survival mode.

According to one of my favourite business book authors, Tim Sanders, it's time to get back to thinking about our future and not just survival.

He remarks that the green movement was accelerating along with corporate social responsibility both long term initiatives to improve our life and our world. But after the crisis, they were ignored – even frowned upon – as business got more ruthless and self preserving. Short term thinking got us into the economic mess, quick solutions were sought and no long term solution was likely of being adopted.

Today, Tim will re-launch his book geared to inspire us all - business owners, executives and staff alike, to reconnect with the longer term objectives.

Saving The World At Work is a hybrid business trends/motivational book that identifies the Social Responsibility Revolution, potentially what will become the biggest business event of our lifetime. The book argues that to attract top talent, profitable customers and savvy investors, companies must serve people, communities and the environment. With Twitter and Facebook an the rest of the Social Media wave, companies can no longer hide and everything they do is transparent and visible.

I’m all for it. Go Tim.

The book re-launch page is: http://bit.ly/relaunch