The Rhetorical Journey

Event 15/5: Greatness through Choice

2012-05-08T12:31:00.001+02:00

Have you read Jim Collins’ latest book “Great by Choice”? It’s a must read.

Jim is beaming into Barcelona LIVE 15th May from 14:30 – 18:00 – think of it as a private movie premiere – he’s one of the best presenters I’ve ever seen. 100 execs of companies gathering in Barcelona hosted by me (I will share some of my own ideas at 14:00).

If you have not read much of Jim Collin's material I recommend you start with three articles:

One of the greatest Harvard Business Review Articles is "Defining Your Company's Vision". It used to cost $6 but now seems to be available free online.
The Death of the Charismatic Leader (and Birth of the Architect). Blog post from Jim.
Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve. Costs $6 for the full article at HBR.

What will you get by being there on the 15th May in Barcelona?
Watch my short video below (on the blog).

I want you to be there. This will give you tools to take your business to the next level. Bring 1 or 2 of your team – the material we will work on will have much greater impact if you can work on it as a team.

http://www.growthsummiteurope.com

LOCATION:
Barcelona Activa Auditorium
Llacuna 162
08008 Barcelona
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 starting at 13:15

All the best
Conor

Emotional Manipulators: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

2012-05-06T15:07:00.001+02:00

Emotional Manipulators: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

The Psychological literature identifies Personalities that are Manipulative, the "Wolves in Sheeps Clothing". These are people that use deceit in their dealings with those around them. The Manipulator may be conscious of their manipulation, or unconscious and blind to their willful use of deceit.

The Arbinger Institute first brought to my attention the process of Self Deception in our minds when run by our Ego rather than the underlying Self.

Manipulative people will say some of the most unsettling things. This inevitably begs the question: Do they really believe what they’re saying?

"Manipulative people prey on our sensibilities, emotional sensitivity, and especially, our conscientiousness. And sometimes they speak and act with such conviction, that we begin to believe them. We can even start feeling responsible in some way for what we perceive to be their pain." Dr George Simon

How to spot an Emotional Manipulator? The simplest answer is "trust your gut, not their words". If your intuition tells you, ignore their words. To improve your intuition, here is a list of 8 ways to spot Emotional Manipulation.

Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing.

Ethics in Persuasion: The Customer is Not an Idiot

2012-05-06T14:39:00.000+02:00

Early in my seminars I tell participants that Persuasion is not Manipulation. Manipulation is getting others to do something that is of benefit to me. Persuasion is getting others to do something that is of benefit to them and of benefit to me.

Where is the line between Manipulation and Persuasion?

Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Where is black and where is white? How close to the line can I be without being "unethical"? How close to the line do I wish to go?

Professors Sherry Baker and David Martinson published a framework for Ethical Persuasion in 2001. It is a useful framework to use when asking the question "where does persuasion end and manipulation begin?"

I like TARES because it is not a list of rules, it is not the minimum necessary. It is a set of questions that are up to you as an individual to answer in your own way.

TARES is an acronym for Truthfulness, Authenticity, Respect, Equity and Social Responsibility:

Truthfulness: Is this communication factually accurate and true? Has this appeal deliberatedly left out important and relevant facts?
Authenticity: Do I feel good about being involved in this action? Do I believe that the audience will see improved Quality of Life?
Respect: Is the persuasive appeal made to the audience as rational, free, adult human beings? Do I care about them as people?
Equity: Does this meet The Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
Social Responsibility: Does this action promote and create the kind of world and society in which I myself would like to live in?

You can read the full original academic article here: The TARES test for Ethical Persuasion. It has 5 tables that provide many questions that help shape your ideas of what really constitutes Truth, Authenticity, Respect, Equity and Social Responsibility.

I moved the second part of this post, which is a discussion of Manipulators to a new post.

David Ogilvy: 10 tips on Writing Well

2012-05-05T12:17:00.000+02:00

On September 7th, 1982, Ogilvy sent the following internal memo to all agency employees, titled “How to Write”:

The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well.

Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.

Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.
Write the way you talk. Naturally.
Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
Never write more than two pages on any subject.
Check your quotations.
Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.
If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

David

Thanks to Brainpickings for publishing first.

4 Vital Questions for Every Powerpoint Slide

2012-04-29T19:00:00.002+02:00

I am sitting in an audience at a conference. This third speaker today seems interesting, speaks with passion.

He is now on his seventh powerpoint slide. Each slide is interesting and well designed.

My neighbor leans in towards me. I lean towards him. He says: "What is this guy telling us again?"

My neighbor fishes his blackberry out of his pocket and gets back to something that seems more important to him: reading random emails. Sadly, this is a common occurrence.

The 4 Vital Questions for Every Slide
Every time you show an audience a Powerpoint slide, the audience needs you to answer 4 Vital questions:

"What is this?"
"What is important [for the audience]?"
"What does this mean [for the audience]?"
"Give me a specific example [relevant to the audience]?"

If you don't have these 4 answers in a way that is relevant for the audience, you are not serving the audience. If you can't answer these 4 questions, delete the slide.

If it is not adding, it subtracts. If it is not relevant to them, it is irrelevant.

Delete the slide. Yes, delete it.

Less is more.

Blackberry needs more than your help today Mr Speaker. ;-)

Closing Chapters: If you are falling, dive.

2012-04-07T16:55:00.000+02:00

When I was 13 years old, American Football became the passion of my group of friends at school in Dublin. We would play our version of touch American Football up on a tarmac area behind school.

I remember catching the football and running for the end zone. A member of the other team caught my heel. I felt myself begin to fall.

In that instant, something wise took over.

I did not resist the fall. I knew it was coming. I knew the hardness of a tarmac surface. I knew I was running at my most full speed.

Somehow, I did not reach a hand out to break my fall. I did not resist.

In the last instant I found that I had tucked my head under and did a forward roll. It was a moment where I felt like I separated from myself and something else was in control. Slow motion.

I found myself completely unharmed.

Everybody on the field came over and asked "How did you do that? I thought you were going to hospital. How on earth did you survive that fall?"

If you are falling, dive.

Often most damage is done while resisting the inevitable.

A few years back, I had a business that fell apart. More damage was done to my health, to the shareholder's finances, to my life in the process of resisting the fall.

Next time I fall, I hope I accept and commit to the dive.

Fighting the universe is doomed to fail. Going with the universe, accepting where it is taking me is a little wiser.

I find it so hard to close chapters. To end a phase and move on. To declare that a relationship has finished, a business is done, a project is complete is so difficult that I accumulate.

The phoenix rises from the ashes, not from the fire. New life grows on the death of life. When a hunter eats his prey, that death allows life.

As I read a book, chapter 1 finishes to allow for chapter 2 to begin.

If you are falling, dive. Close the chapter. Let the fire burn, the phoenix arises from the ashes.

How do you close chapters in your life? How do you move on and let go of the past? What works for you? What doesn't work for you?

Don't Be Cheap.

2012-03-30T12:34:00.000+02:00

"Cheaper" is never a deep human life goal.

I don't often hear people say "I wish my life was cheaper".

We never buy because something is cheaper. We buy because of the story we can tell ourself and others when we buy cheaper... I am a smart person because I get good deals.

But, Apple is not cheaper. It is about making you feel bigger.

Selling your services or products on the "cheaper" tag is not building a brand.

Ryanair is cheap, but cheap is not its core value.

Apple is 5% of the revenues of smartphones, but 85% of the profits. They create an experience that people desire, and the people are happy to pay.

My service might be cheaper... but there is something about my service that is far more valuable; there is an experience you can give others that is far more valuable.

If they end up paying less, that is a side benefit.

Few powerful brands are built on the value "cheaper".

The Single Most Important aspect of High Performing Teams

2012-03-30T11:50:00.000+02:00

"How do you create a happy environment?"
"Simple. I removed all the unhappy people."

I can't remember who said this, but it rings true to me.

To get the hot air balloon higher, it is simpler to remove the lead weights than to pump more hot air into the balloon canopy.

Single most important aspect: Remove those that suck

* This post was originally my response to this question on quora.

There is a lot of buzz around Pinterest these days, but the social network that most keeps me entertained while learning is Quora. It connects people around interests. I have got some great answers to questions regarding research, articles I am writing, places to visit...

Some of my answers on quora:

Everyone Must Learn to Code

2012-03-22T10:28:00.000+01:00

When I was 9 years old, my father brought a Commodore Vic 20 computer home for Christmas. It came with 3k memory. It had a keyboard, a tape drive and it connected to a TV. I still remember sitting in my pyjamas and turning it on. As a child with nobody to tell me how I should or shouldn't program, my first attempt was a paragraph in english describing a game. I was surprised when I reached the end, hit the return key and: "Syntax Error".

The Vic 20 came with 2 books "Learn to Program BASIC I" and "Learn to Program BASIC II". I went through these books by the end of January. It was more fun writing my own games than playing the ones that came with the computer.

I learnt maths because I needed binary to create sprite graphics. I learnt quadratic equations to solve for collisions in games. I learnt basic physics to create realistic missile flight. Maths in school was easy because I had already learnt it to serve my computer programming hobby.

Computer Programming saved me from boring school lessons

I never paid too much attention at school. It was generally boring. I spent a lot of time daydreaming. I would think through which of Superman's superpowers would be most useful to escape the boredom of school. It was always a toss up between flying and laser eyes.

I was lucky. The traditional school environment was built for my style of learning. Exams tend to bring out my best performances. I was never good at the sustained effort. I am best in the hurried sprint to deadlines.

I used to read a lot. I had read the entire SciFi section of my local library before I was 10. I would take out my full quota of 6 books and read them in a week. I had whole collections of Dungeons and Dragons books. I loved Frank Herbert's "Dune" (all 7 or 8 books). I loved Tolkien (LOTR, Hobbit).

Reading is great, but it is not an activity that allows the development of mastery. You can't get "better" at reading after a certain point. You might be able to get a bit faster, but you don't develop beyond basic reading in any significant way.

I loved sports, but was always a bit small so got pushed off the ball in football or relegated to wing when playing rugby. My younger brother was superb at any game with a ball, and there is nothing more painful to an older boy than being beaten by a younger boy in sport - even more painful when it is a brother... and the gap is 5 years.

Computer programming was my first world of mastery.

Computing is taught poorly in schools. We need a change in the role of computing and style of learning supported by computers in schools.

The Failure of Computing as taught in our Schools

Most school systems teach children how to use Microsoft Office. They teach students to be users of computers, not creators with computers.

A computer is not a car. We need people to know what is under the hood as well as knowing what the pedals do.

Programming computers is a wonderful environment for children to explore, test, trial, experiment, hypothesize, fail, succeed...

Programming taught me Important skills.

Any programming language is essentially the same. Java, PHP, C++, Basic, Python, Lisp... even Fortran, Cobol or Assembly code. Master one, you will quickly learn any other.

It teaches you to be clear. It teaches you how to trace and remove errors. It teaches you how to test. It teaches you how to think about systematically solving problems - not one-offs, but full systematic reproducible solutions.

As you grow you learn about building code that scales. Efficient use of memory. Efficient looping.

As you collaborate you learn to write code that can be easily understood by others. One half is good commenting, but the other half is using the clearest code to achieve the given outcome.

You learn how to isolate specific parts of the code to test for correct function.

You learn how to describe solutions to other people.

You learn how difficult it is to predict human behaviour. You learn that human beings will tend to do the unexpected. You learn that if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.

Everyone must learn to code

I do truly believe that I learnt more in my own self-guided programming of computers than in any classroom. The social stuff I learnt in the playground and through sports.

What were the teachers doing?

Keeping me off the streets.

Success = 80% Diagnosis, 20% Prescription

2012-03-19T23:24:00.000+01:00

Don't rush to the solution. You need to go through a good diagnosis process before the listener is ready to hear the solution. If you rush to solution, the listener is not ready to trust you.

Do you take time in your meetings to really ensure that everyone shares the view of what the problem is? I have been to many meetings where the conflict is really due to the fact that each person is trying to solve a different problem.

Interviewed by Augere

2012-03-14T14:57:00.001+01:00

I was recently interviewed by Augere, one of the worlds leading coach development organisations. They conduct an anual review of the state of leadership in Spain and Latin America.

The interview (in pdf) is available in english here; y en castellano aqui.

Some of our discussion:
- do you agree that work related stress is bigger problem in Spain?
- are there some basic tips for persuasive communications?
- what is an entrepreneur?
- what lessons have you learnt as an entrepreneur?

Have a great week.

7 Critical Elements of an Entrepreneurial Pitch

2012-03-13T19:24:00.001+01:00

There are 7 critical elements of an effective entrepreneur "Pitch" that works (video here on the blog):

The 7 elements of a good entrepreneurial elevator pitch
A good entrepreneurial elevator pitch will contain these 7 elements:

description of the problem you solve
the individuals or groups that will benefit
the specific product or service you will deliver
how you differ from competitors and other substitutes
how you will make money
what resources you require (money, time, support, expertise)
an outline of the value that will be created

What do you think? What is the best pitch you have seen? How much time do you spend preparing and practicing your pitch?

TEDx Raval is on this Saturday 3rd March

2012-03-01T14:52:00.002+01:00

TEDxRaval (March 3, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain) will host over 100 members of the digerati interested in up-and-coming trends in technology and innovation.

Learn from the leaders of technology startups and companies as they share best practices, growth strategies and stories of disruptive product development.

The event will be packed with top speakers, case studies and dynamic panel discussions on the present and future of technology. Don’t miss this chance to network with the entrepreneurial tech community at Raval′s largest event of the year!

Who should attend? Both men and women working in technology, from corporate to mid-level startup to early-stage startup. Anyone thinking about starting a startup, or generally interested in technology and innovation.

TEDxRaval speakers are leaders of technology and innovation.

An action-packed half-day conference agenda:

9:15am – 10:00am REGISTRATION & WELCOME RECEPTION TEDxRaval
10:00am – 10:15am WHAT IS THE NEW ECONOMIC REALITY? Eduardo Fernandez, VP and Managing Director at RIM (BlackBerry)
10:15am – 10:30am WHY WOMEN ARE BUILDING MORE TAGFEE COMPANIES Gillian Muessig, Founding President of SEOmoz
10:30pm – 10:45pm DOING BETTER WITH LESS Jose Torres, TEDx Organizer
10:45am – 11:15am MORNING COFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING Senseo
11:15am – 11:30am THE ECONOMICS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: TECHNOLOGIES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE Sascha Haselmayer, Living Labs Global & CityMart.com
11:30am – 11:45am TECHNOLOGY FOR QUALITY OF LIFE Raquel Navarro-Prieto, User Experience Lead at Telefonica Digital
11:45am – 12:00pm SOCIAL INNOVATION Josep Miró i Pascual, Director of Strategy and Innovation at City Council of Barcelona
12:00pm – 12:30pm COFFEE BREAK & NETWORKING Senseo
12:30pm – 13:00pm SMALL IS BIG Jose Hernández, Creative Director at Aer Studio
13:00pm – 13:15pm DEVELOPING INTUITIVE PRODUCTS Günter Geiger, CEO of Reactable Systems
13:15pm – 13:30pm ACCEPTING NO AS AN ANSWER Albert Climent, CEO of Job and Talent (Barcelona)
13:30pm – 13:45pm VISION FOR BARCELONA Angel Moreu, Mainframe Business Executive at IBM + Conor Neill, Lecturer at IESE Business School

More information here and tickets here.

Moving People to Action: Emotion is necessary [Video]

2012-02-29T23:38:00.001+01:00

The importance of emotion in moving people to take action.

This is a video from a recent seminar for the Barcelona Internet Startups Meetup group on the role of emotion in moving people to action. This is a great group to meet entrepreneurs, VCs and techies living in Barcelona.

The third pillar of Aristotle's triad of Persuasion is Pathos.

Pathos is an appeal based on emotion. Emotional connection with an audience can be accomplished in 2 ways:

by story telling
by passion in the delivery

Pitching: Get the first 10 words right

2012-02-28T15:27:00.000+01:00

What are the first ten words of your next pitch, speech or presentation?

Participants of Wayra Week Barcelona 2012

I was at Wayra Week Barcelona this week working with 30 selected startup businesses to prepare their companies for growth and investment. All were looking to raise a round of venture capital financing for their businesses.

I spent a lot of time going from group to group asking "what are the first 10 words of your pitch for tomorrow?"

I received a range of replies:

"Huh. Oh. Ah. Yeah. My name is... and our business is ..."
"We are a platform for connecting users to providers..."
"We have a solution for the publishing industry..."
"Hello. Thanks. I am very happy for this opportunity..."
"Uhh. Why? Only ten words..."

These answers are lessons in putting audiences to sleep.

Lets get it clear. Investors hear hundreds of pitches. They know they are probably not going to invest in your business and want to confirm this assumption as quickly as possible. They have years of experience in knowing when to switch off listening to the pitch and check their email on the blackberry, or plan their ski weekend. Why let them tune out before you have finished your first 10 words?

What should the first 10 words achieve?

We are not here to waste your time
We are professionals (we prepare well and practice lots)
We are a serious business
We know what you are interested in
We know what criteria you will use to take this decision

The first 10 words are vitally important. The first 10 words gets you attention for 30 seconds. You then have 30 seconds to earn attention for the next 5 minutes. If your first 10 words loses the audience, you will not get them back.

What are your first 10 words of your next pitch, speech or presentation?

I think there are only 3 ways to start a pitch. Interested?

Resources for Wayra Week Barcelona 20 Feb 2012

2012-02-20T14:14:00.000+01:00

This is a resource page for the session at Wayra Week Barcelona on 20th February 2012.

Event Hashtag: #wwbcn
Organiser: @Wayra Wayra.org

Follow Today's Speakers (Bios here)

@rfauria @chemaalonso @ferranadria @rhuguet @cuchullainn

Preparing a Pitch

Improve your Speaking email course: http://bit.ly/practicespeak

Video Lessons:

Posts on Entrepreneurship:

Getting your emails read

On Business Models

The 9 Elements of A Business Model (link to pdf download)

Great Organisations that Can Help you Develop as a person and a professional:

Interview: Manel Baucells, Author of "Engineering Happiness"

2012-02-12T19:19:00.000+01:00

Manel Baucells was the favourite Professor amongst students when I did my MBA at IESE Business School. He taught Decision Analysis. There are certain types of situation under which humans will take poor (rational) decisions. We study this subject so that we can reduce the likelihood that we will take similar poor decisions under similar situations. Examples of situations that cause poor decisions are sunk costs, loss aversion, prediction of low frequency events.

Manel's new book "Engineering Happiness: A New Approach for Building a Joyful Life" has just arrived to my Kindle. I asked him to answer a few questions about the book, and about how a Microsoft Excel geek could end up at the fluffy end of psychology... writing about happiness ;-)

Interview with Manel Baucells

Engineering Happiness,
by Manel Baucells

What most surprised you in learning about happiness?
How much happiness depends on our attitudes, rather than on external circumstances.

What led you to write the book?
As professors, our audience are the students that attend our lectures and the colleagues that read our academic papers. There is a moment in our careers that we want to expand our audience, and publish a book for a broad audience. It is critical to choose a time that is not too early in one's career, and ideas are not yet mature; or too late. Rakesh and I felt that this is a good time in our careers to write a book of this characteristics.

Who will benefit from reading the book?
Any one interested in being happier, or readers of popular science books. I feel that the audience for non-fiction, research based books is expanding. This increase is due, no doubt, to the growing quality and relevance of the research done in the social sciences.

What are the 3 most damaging things people do that reduce happiness?
The fundamental starting point of the book is that happiness equals reality minus expectations. There are three key things one needs to understand:

The first is that expectations shift. The moment one increases his or her living standards, one get adapted quite soon, and going back down is very painful.
The second is that our happiness is greatly influenced by how we compare with our peers, our comparison group.
The third is that happiness can be engineered by using a ``less to more'' approach. Always start low, and then increase.

What 3 things have you changed in your own life since writing the book?
Managing expectations better, create less to more (crescendo) patterns, and engage in activities that accumulate.

The book is accessible for anyone interested in the latest science on the field of human happiness: Engineering Happiness: A New Approach for Building a Joyful Life.

Have you read the book? Did you have Manel as a professor? What are your thoughts about the concept of mathematically measuring and improving "happiness"?

Rhetorical Fallacies: Sliding down a Slippery Slope with Pigs

2012-02-08T18:59:00.002+01:00

"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." George Bernard Shaw

Beware of Pigs

One tool of "pigs" in manipulative persuasion is the rhetorical fallacy. A fallacy is a deliberate mis-use of logical argument. You'll find them regularly in political, social and family "discussions". Don't get drawn in to a debate centered on a fallacy. Ignore the fallacy and re-connect with the argument.

Here are eight common rhetorical fallacies:

Slippery slope - "If we let Europe regulate our banks, next we will all be speaking German". This fallacy connotates a small (reasonable) step with a much larger (unreasonable) outcome.
Sweeping Generalization - "Smoking kills; therefore all smokers are suicidal". This generalizes one element of a decision to smoke in absence of the broader set of reasons for smoking.
Hasty generalization - "Everyone I know likes chocolate; therefore everyone likes chocolate". My sample is not representative of the larger population.
Straw man - "If we just open up our borders, every beggar, lazy and crazy will be here tomorrow." This is a false argument that avoids the real issue.
False choice - "You're either with us, or against us." This statement presents 2 options when in reality 3 or more choices exist. Another common example: "If you really loved me, you would..."
Argument from authority - "Because I'm your father". There is no logic involved. This is not an argument.
Argument from force - "Give me the toy or my big brother will beat you up." No argument, just the threat of force. It can be subtle.
Ad hominem attacks - "Vote for me because the other guy is a liar." A personal attack, ignoring the actual argument.

Beware the Pigs Inside

These are used by other people, but I sometimes find that some of my own inner reasoning falls into the fallacy structure. As I reflect on my own thinking processes, I watch carefully for use of these fallacies. My ego loves to come up with self-serving but false logic to prove my "rightness".

Have you spotted any fallacies today?

"You are not doing that right!"

2012-02-03T10:25:00.002+01:00

When someone tells me that I am wrong, what do I learn?

"You are not doing that right!"

"How did you let this happen?"

Do I learn what is intended?

I don't think so. I don't often know what is intended - that I should feel bad or guilty; or that I need to see the world in a different way, act in a different way? However, what I really learn; being honest is something quite different.

What do I really learn when you tell me I am wrong?

I do often learn one of three things:

You are stupid
You are blind
It is no fun talking to you

Jake Lacaze tells a simple story of a time his mother didn't tell him he was wrong, but allowed him to learn from a situation.

I have regularly focused on my "rightness" in conversations; and in winning the battle of "rightness", I lost days of friendship.

Marshall Goldsmith tells us to question "Is is worth it?" as I begin to get into a proof of how another is wrong. I can learn to use the Japanese "Yes": I hear you, I understand that you see it that way from your point of view; but I don't accept or deny the statement. I don't enter into a battle for truth, only accept that 2 different people are guaranteed to have 2 different points of view.

There is a story about blindfolded kids and an elephant that I remember. I am sure you can google it if you haven't heard it.

If you think you are good at listening without judging try this 1 day listening challenge ;-)

So, do you think I am wrong? Or the bigger question, if you did think so, how could you really engage with me in a way that might allow me to open up to the possibility?

The Same, but Different

2012-02-01T09:34:00.002+01:00

Mark Twain says that as a young man he did not often agree with his father, so he left home.

Years later he returns and is amazed at how much smarter his father had become.

What changed?

10 Commandments for Business Development from Goldman Sachs

2012-01-30T20:03:00.000+01:00

John Whitehead, co-head of Goldman Sachs in the 1970s, wrote the following 10 commandments that guided their business development efforts:

Don’t waste your time going after business you don’t really want.
The boss usually decides— not the assistant treasurer. Do you know the boss?
It is just as easy to get a first-rate piece of business as a second-rate one.
You never learn anything when you’re talking.
The client’s objective is more important than yours.
The respect of one person is worth more than an acquaintance with 100 people.
When there’s business to be found, go out and get it!
Important people like to deal with other important people. Are you one?
There’s nothing worse than an unhappy client.
If you get the business, it’s up to you to see that it’s well-handled.

Good list. What do you think?

I came across this list thanks to Mark Graham's post over at The Entrepreneurs' Organisation blog.

Jim Collins on the Writing Process

2012-01-28T12:04:00.001+01:00

My favourite business books include Jim Collin's "Good to Great". It is easy to read, simple but clear about the hard decisions that differentiate the great companies from the mediocre. His new book, "Great by Choice" is out now. Jim Collins is renowned as someone who has intense discipline in his life. I loved when I found this text he wrote about his own process of writing:

Jim Collins on the Writing Process

Jim Collins

"When I first embarked on a career that required writing, I devoured dozens of books about the process of writing. I soon realized that each writer has weird tricks and idiosyncratic methods. Some wrote late at night, in the tranquil bubble of solitude created by a sleeping world, while others preferred first morning light. Some cranked out three pages a day, workmanlike, whereas others worked in extended bursts followed by catatonic exhaustion. Some preferred the monastic discipline of facing cinder-block walls, while others preferred soaring views.

I quickly learned that I had to discover my own methods. Most useful, I realized that I have different brains at different times of day. In the morning, I have a creative brain; in the evening, I have a critical brain. If I try to edit in the morning, I’m too creative, and if I try to create in the evening, I’m too critical. So, I go at writing like a two piston machine: create in the morning, edit in the evening, create in the morning, edit in the evening…

Yet all writers seem to agree on one point: writing well is desperately difficult, and it never gets easier. It’s like running: if you push your limits, you can become a faster runner, but you will always suffer. In nonfiction, writing is thinking; if I can’t make the words work, that means I don’t know yet what I think. Sometimes after toiling in a quagmire for dozens (or hundreds) of hours I throw the whole effort into the wastebasket and start with a blank page. When I sheepishly shared this wastebasket strategy with the great management writer Peter Drucker, he made me feel much better when he exclaimed, “Ah, that is immense progress!”

The final months of completing Great by Choice required seven days a week effort, with numerous all-nighters. I had naively hoped after writing Good to Great that perhaps I had learned enough about writing that this work might not require descending deep into the dark cave of despair. Alas, the cave of darkness is the only path to producing the best work; there is no easy path, no shorter path, no path of less suffering. Winston Churchill once said that writing a book goes through five phases. In phase one, it is a novelty or a toy; by phase five, it is a tyrant ruling your life, and just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public. And so, exiting the caving blinking in the sunlight, we’ve killed the monster and hereby fling. We love this book, and have great passion about sharing it with the world—making all the suffering worthwhile."

My reflections

Writing is work. You have to push through. Every day. It doesn't get easier.
I am a different person at different times of the day. I must use this better. I start days slowly. I am inspired at midnight through to 3am.
Sometimes throwing everything out is progress. It is not a step backwards.

What do you think? Do you write? What daily disciplines do you have?

Leadership = Do the Next Right Thing

2012-01-23T12:56:00.000+01:00

Michael asks "What should you do when you don't know what to do?" In the times when he felt lost, out of his depth, uncertain, unsure whether he was the right person in the role... All the great moments of self-doubt that I know I share...

His mentor's answer?

"Do the next right thing."

The full post at Michael Hyatt's Intentional Leadership blog: "What to do when you don't know what to do". I think it goes further than that. This is not a recipe for rare moments of doubt. This is a powerful framing of leadership.

There is a time for Managers, and a time for Leaders

When a team is winning, the captain needs to be a manager. When the team is losing 3-1 at half time, the captain needs to be a leader. Doing the same but better is going to lead to a 6-2 final score. The team has to do something different. This is when the captain must lead.

However, when leadership is made into something too big, action paralysis sets in. Self-doubt assails the leader and leads to delay. Leadership needs focus.

Leadership is “Do the Next Right Thing”

Do. Action. Leadership is about action. Nothing changes without taking action. Knowing what to do but not doing anything is the same as not knowing what to do.

The Next. The professional knows where he is going, but never allows his mind to go beyond the next step. He knows that this will lead to a feeling of overwhelm and the little voice inside his mind will tell him to stop. It is only by keeping extreme focus on the Next that action is possible and sustainable. The amateur takes on too big a goal. He lives in a cycle of building frustration leading to a moment where he decides he will act. He now sets a massive goal for himself and for a day or two manages to exert maximum effort towards this overly ambitious goal. Three days later he realises how much work is still left and drops back into a depressed state and stops the action towards the goal.

Right. What is necessary. What is correct. What fits with your values and effectively moves you in the direction of your overall goals. Not what others think you should do. Not what you think others would expect of you. Not what you parents want. Not what your friends want. It is what you feel is right.

Thing. Specific.

Do. The Next. Right. Thing.

"I will act now."

The great failures do not come from a lack of strategy, or a lack of knowledge about where you would like to get to. Few people wake up in the morning with a goal of being unhappy and frustrated.
True failure is lack of disciplined action. This is not the failure of not achieving a goal, not winning a game… but the hideous failure of having left a life unlived.

“You only need 20 seconds of courage in a life”. Where are my 20 seconds? How many do I have left?

Productivity, Using 5 minute gaps

2012-01-17T16:27:00.000+01:00

I remember watching the "Last Lecture" of Professor Randy Pausch (video embedded below). One of his messages was "show me your calendar and I will show you where you are wasting time".

He spoke of one difference between productive and non-productive people: How you use the small gaps.

Using the 5 Minute Gaps

The productive people have learnt to make good use of the 5, 10, 15 minute gaps in their schedule.

The non-productive people go and have a coffee, say "what can I really get done in 5 minutes, I'll do it later when I have 2 hours."

Productive people get all the admin tasks out of the way in the little gaps and then can do big, important projects in their 2 hour gaps.

Non-productive people wait for the 2 hour gap to do all the admin, and then are too tired to get started on the big, important projects.

Launching The "Nuclear" Productivity Option

First, this morning I started my day in a new way. I was so frustrated from my last week of low productivity that I went for the nuclear option today. Zero connectivity before midday. No internet, no phone, no messages - Nothing.

I went down to starbucks and closed down all programs except my word processor, and I wrote. Then when I ran out of writing inspiration, I read a book.

Second, I decided to do 1 phone call on my to-do list every 5 minute gap.

I got a lot more done today.

I aim to keep this going... Let's see where I get over the next 7 days ;-)

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
If you haven't seen this, watch it.

How do you react when productivity feels low? What gets you going? Any ideas for my week of getting Productive again?

Speakers: Text on Slides is not a Visual Aid

2012-01-10T20:00:00.000+01:00

In my 8 years as a management consultant at Accenture, preparing a presentation was synonymous with preparing the Powerpoint slides. "Hey Neill! Proposal presentation this Friday..." - I immediately opened Powerpoint and started creating slides...

A lot of powerpoint is not Great Powerpoint.

Great Powerpoint can be a powerful addition to a great speech. As the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words. Strong photos can powerfully impact an audience with a message.

Finding great photos is easier today than ever before. Sites like Flickr.com or Google Images allow you to search through massive databases of Creative Commons images that you can use in your presentations.

There is a problem.

Most Powerpoint slides are not photos. They are mostly text.

Written text is processed in our brain via the aural pathways. Although text is read by the eyes, it is not really processed as a visual medium. We turn the shapes into sounds via a voice inside our heads and process the language through our aural processors.

If you are a speaker and put text on slides, you are competing for attention.

You are competing with yourself.

There are two voices competing for the attention of the listener's mind - your voice, and their own silent inner voice reading your slides aloud in their minds.

Text is not a Visual Aid.

Text is not processed through the brain's visual pathways. If you want to support your speech with visuals, use images that are processed directly through the brain's visual channels. Use photos. Use simple line drawings like Dan Roam's back of the Napkin visuals.

My Recommended Resources for Great Powerpoint:

Dan Roam's Tools for presenting visually (Excellent Resource for Clearer Thinking...)
Olivia Mitchell's eBook How to Make an Effective Powerpoint Presentation
Florian Mueck Put Power in your Point
Andrew Dlugan on 8 Psychological rules for creating great powerpoint
John Zimmer's Hilarious Powerpoint Wisdom (what not to do)