Friday 30 September 2011

Social media - my good, bad, and ugly

I have been active in social media since May 2007.

In the early days I became involved because some people I respected said I should be.

I have gone from a few minutes a week to many hours where it became all consuming and now I spend a few minutes a day and a two concentrated hours per week.

My conclusions are:

Good

The best thing I have done is to start my own online community and in there my own tribe. Leading a tribe is better than following one in terms of positioning, reputation and attracting the people I want to attract

Consistent engagement in various forms of social media is good for building our reputations

Content is king. Putting up good content in words, visuals and audio attracts people to contact and make connection with us

I have gone from producing content for a wide audience to really focusing on my micro-niches and this means only the right people for me are contacting and connecting with me as a general rule

Starting and contributing to discussions on LinkedIn is the most valuable action for me to do in terms of attracting people I want to me

My other favourites with the same purpose are blogging, slideshares, YouTube
The most actual business I have obtained from social media has come from people who have watched my Are you values on the wall lived in the hall video on YouTube

I have changed my ezine from monthly to fortnightly which has increased reader engagement

Doing webinars is a great way to add value and demonstrate value

From a business perspective whatever we do in social media circles has to have strategic value. Mine is to attract the right people for me to sign-up at entry points which for me are: my changing what’s normal ezine, my changing what’s normal conversations, join my differencemakers community, complete one of my online audits, engage in the free monday morning mentoring I offer, or join my changing what’s normal Torchbearer tribe.

Bad

I think Facebook is incredibly over-rated and for me so far useless for business.
I maintain a presence on Facebook and I am playing with Google+.
The jury is our for me on the value of either.
The stuff some folk put on Facebook is simply unbelievable so much so that I spend about 2 minutes a week on Facebook.

Ugly

There are a lot of shameless self-promoters who give nothing and want to take everything in the social media space. Of the hundreds of things I have signed up for in the past four and half years only a handful still have my patronage.

Conclusions

I am forever gratitude for friends, colleagues and collaborators, and clients who without social media I probably would never have met.

For me it is worth a few minutes each day and two focused hours per week to do what I do online. Nothing however replaces the value of connecting with real people, in real time, in person, and so for me, although necessary, much of social media is still just hype and the places where already established brands gain exposure. This was confirmed for me today in a blog by Seth Godin where he said that only 10% of people who read his blog buy his books. Now mind you his 10% is a lot of people. LOL.

I would be very interested in your thoughts and experiences. Please comment or email ian@changingwhatsnormal.com

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Wednesday 28 September 2011

Storytelling v. Corporate Speak

There is a great infograhic here from The Hoffman Agency.

Please review it very carefully. I suggest all things on the left of the infographic i.e. storytelling, are what we all should be doing.

I would be very interested in your thoughts. Please comment or email me ian@changingwhatsnormal.com

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Monday 26 September 2011

It’s not who you know or even who knows you

Below is a very insightful slideshare from my friend and colleague David Ednie.


One slide in particular (in addition to David’s great exercise - slide 14) really got me thinking - “Ideas are spread by Influencers and Advocates.”

Put the names of people in the table below. You will be surprised and shocked I suspect. I was!


Do your work.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Friday 23 September 2011

Introducing the Changing What's Normal Torchbearer Tribe

The Changing What’s Normal Torchbearer tribe is for you if you are a business rebel, maverick, entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, renegade, revolutionary, artist, larrikin, and you want to:

*Tap into purpose built resources whenever you wish that will help you in your actions to stop the status quo from sucking the life out of us
*Get connected with people of like heart and mind
*Quicken the turning of possibility into reality for people who currently are unable to


Full details of membership are here.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Wednesday 21 September 2011

Re-imagine and then take action

This weeks sparkenation.

One of my favourite books is Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age by Tom Peters. You can find out more about this book and download a chapter here.
For a list of all the books I recommend please go here and put ceo in the password box.

This week think and take action in your own way on the following.

What has become normal in your business? Choose one thing that everyone accepts as normal practice. Get together with stakeholders and Re-imagine it. Think about what you chose in the context of this question: How could this be more valuable to those who have a stake in it?

Then take action. Do it. Leaders don’t wait. Leaders go first. Lead.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Monday 19 September 2011

Are you providing what people want or are you trying to provide what you think people need?

The Australian Government is currently and desperately trying to make law what they think people need in immigration, dealing with climate change, gambling, and in a host of other areas. They are failing miserably because they do not listen to what stakeholders actually want.

This news release by the Business Council of Australia demonstrates that the Government may be listening yet clearly they are not understanding, which of course really means they are not listening!

I am staggered by the amount of business owners I meet who try and build a business around what they think people need, rather than providing what people want. The best business to be in today is clearly about providing services/products for customers, rather than trying to find customers for our services/products.

What kind of business are you running? Are you providing what people want or are you trying to provide what you think people need?

You will go broke if your answer is the latter.

The great thing about providing people with what they want and building relationships with our customers over time, is that we can end up providing people with what they need as well.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Friday 16 September 2011

My 5 personal and lasting lessons from 9/11

Today my grandson Hamish celebrates his 10th birthday. When he arrived 5 days after 9/11 our joy was in stark contrast to the grief of thousands.

Here is a part of what I wrote in Sparkenation 7 (Living our lessons from 9/11) of my Changing What’s Normal book.

Normal

Most people respond to something bad happening to them with revenge and fail to grasp the opportunity to do good.

Changing What’s Normal

On 9/11, the day my daughter was due to give birth, my wife was in Perth with our daughter and I was at home in Adelaide with a flight booked to fly to Perth on the 13th. That night, my wife and I spoke on the telephone about what kind of a world our first grandchild was likely to grow up in?

On the day of my scheduled flight, the airline I had booked on, Ansett, then an iconic Australian company, suddenly closed down. I was not able to get a flight on another airline, or a seat on a train or bus, so I got in my car and drove to Perth, a 36 hour drive.

What occupied my mind for much of that trip was the question, “what is the purpose of my life?”

I couldn’t even begin (still can’t) to imagine the horror for those who died in the World Trade Center and the devastation for their families, yet it inspired me to think deeply about my own life, and how I could do more to make a difference in the world.

The long drive to Perth was full of defining moments for me where I made decisions that still drive my life and my work.

When I held the precious new life of my Grandson in my arms for the first time I realised that what was becoming ‘normal’ in our world, at that time, was not the sort of normal world that I wanted him to grow up in. I made a silent promise to do everything in my power to never accept ‘normal’ when that means that less than what is possible is happening in our world.

This book is part of my action plan. It’s a big task and I am just one person. I am asking for your help. I am asking you to do your work, so that together we might co-create a world where everyone can win and nobody loses.

In 2005 my wife and I were in London partly due to my work and partly for holidays. We traveled on the London Underground the day after the terrorist attack on that rail system. You could feel the fear and yet also the resolve of travelers to not be beaten by people who commit terrorist acts. This experience was another defining moment for me in my life.

My 5 lasting lessons from 9/11.

1) “A life lived in fear is a life half lived.”

I first came across this wonderful line in the film ‘Strictly Ballroom’.

Chances are that if you are not achieving what you really want in your life right now, you are not doing something that you fear. Get over it. Do your work.

The most amazing thing about doing what we fear is that usually we end up wondering why we were so frightened in the first place.

2) “It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do about it.”

These are the words of W Mitchell an amazing man who has overcome hardships in his life that would have taken the life of most people.

Stop worrying about your circumstances. Worrying is a useless emotion and along with guilt the most debilitating. Whatever your circumstance, do something about it. Take action now.

3) Don’t get distracted by what other people do or don’t do

We are responsible for our intentions, feelings, thoughts, and actions, never other people’s. Stay your course, be true to yourself, maintain your focus and the right people for you will join you and the wrong people for you won’t.

4) What we believe is just a belief. What we do is what really matters

A client of mine is a devout Christian. Another client is a devout Muslim. Yet another client strictly follows what she sees as the Buddhist way. Still another is Jewish to his bootstraps. I could go on. I know people from most walks of life who strongly believe what they do. I greatly admire each of my clients, yet I share none of their belief systems. What we do share is the fact that behaviour matters more than belief.

Many belief systems are tied up in a faith of some kind. Faith by definition cannot be proved. If it could be proved it wouldn’t be faith! The ‘proof is in the pudding’ the saying goes, meaning what we do counts for far more than what we believe. As one of the Apostles of the Christian Church is reported to have said, “Faith without works is dead.”

A lot of faiths are dead today because the actions of many of the faithful betray their stated beliefs. I meet a lot of people more interested in being right than being compassionate. Compassion for me is at the heart of all the world’s religion’s.
If we are not living and breathing a compassionate life we render whatever we believe as null and void, regardless of what we say.

A new world is being born. Compassion is a key component. There is a place for faith in this new world however belief matters little, what counts is behaviour.

5) However long we live, we leave a legacy

Every life matters. Everyone leaves a legacy. The question we must all answer with our lives: Is the legacy I am leaving the one that I truly want to leave?

Happy birthday Hamish.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Wednesday 14 September 2011

Do you still doubt the business case for sustainability or are you leading the way?

I was very interested to read the 31st August 2011 News Release from
Business Council of Australia following a forum held in Sydney ‘The Sustainability Challenge: Business Creativity in Practice’.

Chief Executive Jennifer Westacott said “businesses are already leading the sustainability agenda because:
it believes in a leadership role
it makes good business sense
it is economic reality to want to reduce input costs
it’s a magnet for investors and high-quality staff
it’s fundamental to the social licence to operate
business has the capacity, resources and capital to drive innovation.”

You can read the full release here and also download some of the papers.

I also read with great interest David Coethica’s blog here about Integrated reporting and particularly David’s words “It could very well be another next step forward toward validating the apparently elusive (to some) business case for CSR.”

Do you still doubt the business case for sustainability or are you leading the way?

Leaders don't wait, they go first. Are you leading?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Monday 12 September 2011

You will never know until you have a red-hot go

This weeks sparkenation.

Every master-piece began with an idea and a blank canvas. I am willing to bet that you have an idea and you still have a blank canvas i.e. you haven’t yet done anything about your idea.

What are you waiting for?

Get started today. Take massive action on your idea this week. It may not turn our to be a master-piece. Who cares! It has been said “The journey is the reward.” Yet every now and then, because of our commitment to the journey, something remarkable happens. This week might be such a week. You will never know until you have a red-hot go.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Friday 9 September 2011

What we all really want

I had a coffee this week with a reader of my changing what’s normal book. It was the first time we had met. I was thrilled to hear his story of how he is changing what’s normal in his own life.

He then surprised me by giving me a gift, a book called Odyssey - Pepsi to Apple ... a journey of adventure, ideas, and the future. The book is John Sculley’s side of his friendship pre and during his role as CEO of Apple,
and then fall out with Steve Jobs.

The following statement in the book stopped me in my tracks and I have been thinking about it ever since:

“A company today owes its employees one of the most rewarding experiences in their lieftimes, a chance to realize their quest to grow, to achieve, and to make a difference in the world. Nothing more, nothing less.”

John Sculley wrote the above in 1987. It was a revolutionary idea then and for most still is.

Act on the idea with your employees, your customers, everyone. Make every transaction and interaction matter. Give people the experience of their lifetime.

Apple has a goal to change the way people work and live.

In our own way we should all have this goal because much of the status quo is sucking the life out of us. For our own sakes, the sake of our children and their children, we must stop the rot.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Wednesday 7 September 2011

13 key reasons why most change programs fail

The main focus of my business for 20 years has been partnering with passionate people to stop the status quo from sucking the life out of us and to turn possibility into reality.

I conclude that most change programs fail for 13 key reasons:

1. The people charged with making the change happen don’t really believe in it and therefore their work is half-hearted at best

2. The change program is designed to take too long and the status quo wins

3. The expectations are unrealistic

4. People are not genuinely appreciated when they do well

5. People are not held to account when they fail to perform as they agreed they would

6. Measurements of progress are poor or non-existent

7. Desired change is actually problem solving which usually means a return to the status quo rather than real innovation

8. Intentions, emotions, and thinking doesn’t change and therefore any behaviour change that may happen doesn’t last

9. There isn’t a real shared-view about why the change is crucial/essential

10. There isn’t a real shared-view on how the change will happen and who will do what, and when

11. Leaders don’t understand all change is personal first, relationships second, and organisations third

12. Leaders don’t personally change

13. Broken relationships remain broken

The presence of any of the above reasons will most likely mean your change initiative will see you go backwards.

There is great news. Address these 13, and pioneering, breathtaking, truly innovative, measurable change, people can actually believe in and make happen, is at your doorstep.

Please check out my change programs here. Assuming an alignment of our values, and a fit between your needs, expectations, desires, and my expertise, possibility could very quickly become reality in your business.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Monday 5 September 2011

What talents are you yet to unearth and share with the world?

This weeks sparkenation.

Last Friday it was my honour to be the guest speaker at the launch of Charlie-Helen Robinson’s book Unearthing, the wonderful story of how the Dead Reds Wine Group successfully use social media to attract members to it’s group and the Heart Foundation charity they support.

In preparing for my short talk I started thinking about how many people are yet to unearth their specialness. We are all one-of-a-kinds.

What special talents do you have that so far are private?
When will you unearth them and share them with the world?


Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.




Saturday 3 September 2011

The privilege of our platforms

When Naomi Rhode, RDH, CSP, CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame® was President of the National Speakers Association (USA), her theme was 'The Privilege of the Platform' which I think is very insightful and sadly not understood by many speakers, professional and non-professional, who think it is about them more than the audience.

Speakers or not, just about everyone on earth can have platforms today via blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, you name it, and increasingly through leading our own tribes and participating in others. The possibilities are endless.

Seeing our platforms as a privilege I think is paramount.

Before I post in social media, speak in public or for a client, or engage in whatever way I have opportunity to share my feelings, thoughts, insights, and experience, I ask, will my audience find this of great value? My answer often is no!

I write a minimum of 500 words every single day, usually first thing in the morning. I spend about 20% of my time doing online and in person research. Only a small amount appears here or anywhere else because only a small amount passes my great value test.

Now ultimately only you can be the judge of whether or not what I provide is of great value. I find the discipline of asking the will this be of great value question and always keeping in mind that it is a privilege to share with you, keeps me honest.

Please comment or email me ian@changingwhatsnormal.com if you think what I provide is of great value and equally if you don't think it is.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.



Thursday 1 September 2011

Let’s not let the status quo sink society

This is the first of two major articles I will provide this month as my changing what's normal newsletter. You can sign-up to receive my newsletter here.
As a reward for signing up I will be able to offer you free premium membership to CEO Online, valued at $198 per annum.

Often when I work long term with a client I have an office at their premises and usually I leave quotes and other visual reminders of what we are working on together on the door or window. Recently I visited with a past client and as soon as I walked past the office I once used, I remembered once leaving the following on the door. (part of what we were working on at the time was personal responsibility)

“I thought someone should do something, and then I realised I was someone.”
John F. Kennedy

The above was replaced by someone unknown with
The definition of stupidity is:
“Expecting a different result by continuing to do the same old thing.” Anon

and then within a short time someone unknown also put the following on the window.

The definition of idiocy is:
“Doing something different and still getting the same result.” Anon

Very soon the focus of everyone became not being stupid or idiotic. It was a lot of fun, much learning took place, and everyone improved their personal responsibility. And so I reflected fondly when I walked past that office.

There is a lot of stupidity going on in the world today (and some idiocy!).
In many ways the status quo is sinking society.
Here just a few examples of what I think is stupidity:

Many politicians think taxing us solves a myriad of problems and so they go on taxing us and as a consequence create bigger problems and we pay the price.
Tax as a solution to all things is so 18th century and in some cases as old as time.

Many politicians think they have to tell us what to do and when to do it and even when we are using legal products such as gambling machines, they think we need help to be responsible for ourselves and try to take over what we should be responsible for.

Minorities get heard more than majorities and this masquarades as democracy.

Very little of what children learn in school actually matters in the real world.

Interruption marketing still invades our privacy every night on televison via advertising that in the main is the same as it was 60 years ago. It is rare that an ad catches my imagination. I wonder if the big companies who run most of the ads know that most of us have become immune to their advertising.

I know of a self-funded retiree couple who qualify for a dollar each per fortnight pension and they each duly receive a $1 cheque in separate envelopes.

I am sure you could add lots to the stupidity list.

Yet a key question is: What are you doing that is normal (status quo) for you that if you really thought about it is stupid or idiotic?

Until I was around 17 I thought I was personally stupid.
Here’s my story which is sparkenation 2 of 58 in my changing what’s normal book.

I’m not normal and neither are you

Normal


Most people hold an inaccurate image of themselves that is much to do with what they think other people think about them. Sadly this kind of self-image can last a lifetime.

Changing What’s Normal

The biggest message I heard from my teachers at school, when I was a teenager, was that I was stupid. A common phrase from many of them was: “What are you doing, stupid?”

On Sundays in those years I heard a different message, “You are a sinner in need of redemption.”

On many Saturdays I heard yet another message. After sport on Saturday mornings I would often visit my Grandparents on my way home. My Nana Sherriff, whose shepherds pie I can still smell and taste whenever I think about it, often used to look across her kitchen table and say, “You know you’re special!” I didn’t know who I was, and strangely enough, when I look back, I wonder why I chose stupid as the picture I had of myself most of the time.

When I left school the only job I could get was working as a brickie’s labourer for a construction firm owned by friends of my family, a firm my Grandfather Sherriff worked for until his death at age 76. I also worked for a time as a painter for another friend of my family.

One day I was painting a church, the same place where I’d heard over and over that I was a sinner. My mother’s friend, Mrs. Murray, who lived across the road, came to get me, on this particular day, because another friend of the family wanted to talk to me on the telephone. There were no mobile phones in the 70s!

Noel, who worked for a recruitment organisation, was calling to tell me he had an interview for me with the National Australia Bank, and that I needed to cut off my long hair, shave off my beard, buy a suit (I didn’t own one at the time), and to do so quickly.

The only good thing my school report card said was, “Ian has a sense of humour”, so my interviewer didn’t waste any time cutting to the chase saying, “There is no way I could give you a job son, I’m sorry.” I thought “I’ve got nothing to lose” and replied, “I am not going to get on my hands and knees and beg, however I promise you, if you give me a chance, I won’t let you down.”

My interviewer then shocked me when he reached out, shook my hand, and said, “You’re hired!” A few days later when I started work, my hirer, who became my
first mentor, told me he wasn’t sure what came over him, saying, “I just had the feeling you were someone special!”

So Nana Sherriff was right and for the first time in my life, at age 17, I believed her and I have never looked back.

Deep down I always knew I wasn’t normal. The reason I got into so much trouble at school was because I felt other people were forcing me to be like everyone else and I rebelled. I was fortunate that my first employer in the business world didn’t think I was normal either. His mentoring taught me that my quest in life was to be the best one-of-a-kind that I could be and that authentic leadership is about creating cultures where everyone has opportunity to shine.

My first mentor had a great philosophy which I later discovered was popularised by Goethe, the great German philosopher:

"When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be."
Goethe

Sadly very few of the so-called educators I experienced in my youth understood the truth of these words. I have been fortunate to work with some remarkable people who get Goethe’s truth, and I have been honoured to meet several more. Are you such a person?

Possible actions:

How normal do you see yourself?
Could you be more of a non-conformist?
If so what would you do differently and when will you begin?
How often do you celebrate that you are special?
Could you do so more often?
How often do you see people as they could be and celebrate the
special nature of every human being with individuals?
Could you do so more often?
Do your work.

Key question again: What are you doing that is normal (status quo) for you that if you really thought about is stupid or idiotic?

Discover your specialness please. Claim it. Step up to your significance and standout. Let’s never allow the status quo to sink society.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Leader Changing What's Normal Tribe


Sparkenation: a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what's normal

More sparkenations are here.