Sunday 28 November 2010

Survival of the fittest or the wisest?

I was intrigued by a comment made by Deepak Chopra in the video referred to in my previous post - along the lines there is a shift happening from the survival of the fittest to the wisest. I see this shift happening everywhere.

A few years ago I wrote 52 actions of the wise an e-book designed for you to take just a few minutes a week for a year to improve your life immeasurably. You will be wiser and happier.

You can purchase it here for just $7 or get it for free here by completing my employee engagement pulse check.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

Thursday 25 November 2010

Is the Worldshift 20 Declaration a call to action for you?

I watched this inspiring 12 minutes with Deepak Chopra yesterday.



and then downloaded a very powerful 8 pages called the Worldshift 20 Declaration. You can read more and download the PDF here.

I would be very interested in your thoughts on this and on how we can collaborate to do our bit to make these shifts happen.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Are your messages cutting through the clutter?

Once upon a time I could send one email to my contacts in a given city and fill the room for one of my seminars. Not any more.

To get 20 people to a seminar recently, in the city where I work the most, and have my largest database, I sent 6 emails to my list over 8 weeks, and made more than 100 phone calls!

I also called people to find out why they didn’t respond to what I thought was a very compelling message on a topic that would help them to build a better business faster and give them a competitive edge. The following were the three responses I received the most:

I don’t reply to emails anymore unless I am specifically asked to?

I get so many emails unless they really grab me in the moment I delete them.

I would not have given the seminar a second thought if you hadn’t called me. Personal contact stands out today.


Are your messages cutting through the clutter?

The clear message for me was the power of personal contact. Social media and social networking, great tools that they can be, mean many people are starved of human contact, in fact people are telling me they are craving real conversations with real people in real time.

When was the last time you met with some one face to face with no agenda just a genuine catch up? My resolve is to stand out by being the king of personal contact. How about you?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Friday 19 November 2010

Reinvention and Redefinition - signs of the times

In the past 2 weeks I have given several presentations in Australia, Macau and United Kingdom; all to senior business leaders, and on two occasions for large corporations with significant brand recognition. There has been a reoccurring theme - redefinition and reinvention.

Like it or not business leads the way forward. In a recent interview the Managing Director of McKinsey, Dominic Barton, said the common theme of his interviews with over 300 CEO’s in the past 12 months is transformation.

If successful businesses are focusing on redefining, reinventing, or transforming themselves, what does this suggest for us?

This week I have also taken some time to tune in to the Reinvention summit organised by Michael Margolis of Get Storied fame, and others. The stories we tell others and the ones we tell ourselves are key to our evolution and growth, and to our willingness and ability to make a difference. What stories are you telling?

In Birmingham United Kingdom last Tuesday I was asked by a member of the group I presented to How often do you reinvent yourself and how often do you redesign what you do and how you do it?

I answered daily, weekly, fortnightly, quarterly, yearly and that I have specific processes and methodologies for doing so. How about you?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Monday 15 November 2010

Performance reviews deservedly getting a poor review

In the Wall Street Journal of 8th November Joe Light writes:
Performance reviews are getting a poor review—from the very people who run them.

About 58% of human-resources executives graded their own performance-management systems a C or below, according to a May and June survey of 750 HR professionals conducted by New York-based consulting firm Sibson Consulting Inc. and World at Work, a professional association.

Many HR professionals say they're frustrated that managers don't have the courage to give constructive feedback to employees.


Sadly this is not new to me.

On the 8th of November I posed a question to my LinkedIn connections: How often are employees you know having formal performance reviews? More than 50% answered annually. Very few answered quarterly which my experience suggests is best practice.

Success of formal performance reviews however depends on the success of informal reviews. I teach my clients to have frequent appreciation and accountability conversations with their employees. Such conversations are based on personal performance plans that detail personal and business goals and how they will be achieved.

The success of appreciation and accountability conversations dramatically improves performance and means formal reviews only have two purposes; celebrate performance with people and help them update their performance plans.

I am on a mission to eliminate appraisals because in the main they are demotivating for people and deserve their C rating or below.

I would be very interested in your experiences. Please get in touch with me.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Friday 12 November 2010

What triggers our worst behaviour also presents us with an opportuntity for our best behaviour

I have had a busy week. I left home in Adelaide on Monday morning, flew to Sydney and had several meetings Monday afternoon. I gave a presentation Tuesday morning and had more meetings in the afternoon. Early Wednesday morning I flew to Hong Kong and then caught a ferry to Macau where I have been busy ever since. After giving a presentation later this morning I go back to Hong Kong and then fly to London tonight.

Travel can bring the worst out in me! On this trip I read a wonderful book called The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy, Ph.D.

It is a wonderful book. I pondered pages 139 and 140 carefully. The authors call the following triggers and suggest that most come from a feeling of being devalued.

Feeling spoken to with condescension or lack of respect

Being treated unfairly

Not feeling appreciated

Not being listened to or feeling heard

Someone else taking credit for my work

Being kept waiting

Someone else’s sloppy work on a project I’m overseeing

Unrealistic deadlines

People who think they know it all

Knowing these has helped me to enjoy the travel this week in the main.


What trigggers you?

Are you devaluing other people?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Catalyst for changing what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit

Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Tuesday 2 November 2010

The Power of Now

I have clients I mentor in 9 countries. Many I have never met in person. Our mentoring sessions are conducted on skype. This is just one example of the power of now.

By the way on most Monday mornings wherever you happen to be in the world I can provide a 30 minute mentoring session for free on skype. All you need to do to book your session is email me ian@ianberry.au.com with a date and time. If I am already booked I will email you back with alternative dates and times.

One of my business leader heroes is Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi. He says New is old, now is the new new. For an excellent interview with Kevin click here under favourites.]

Now is the only time that matters.

One of the beautiful things about life is that if we stuff up this moment, we can do better in the next moment.

You can change your life for the better, now.

You can change the experience you provide for your customer/client, now.

You can create a better strategy, now.

You can execute, now.

You can be better for your spouse, your child, your friend, now.

You can call that person you have be procrastinating about, now.

You can make amends, now.

You can stop doing, start doing, or stay doing whatever you want, now.

Success in life is about the choices we make and the choices we don’t make. You are choosing, now.

Stop grumbling about your life, now. Start your life over, now. And make a vow to never waste a moment, now. And then don’t!

In my country, Australia, average life expectancy is 81.4 years, that’s about 29,500 days! Make every second of your life matter. Start now!

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

PS Recently I joined a movement to end starvation as a major cause of death for children. While you were reading this 11 children died simply because they do not have enough to eat. In the last 6 months my colleagues and I have provided more than 3 million meals. Find out how you can join us here or give me a call on +61 418 807 898.

PSS I highly recommend reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
Details here along with other books I recommend you read. Remember, leaders are readers.