Monday 29 December 2014

The foundation for success in everything

It is easy to live in an either/or yours/mine world.


The reality is we can, if we choose to, live in three worlds, yours, mine, and ours. And herein lies the foundation for success in everything.


Our world is the most powerful. Some writers have called it the third way. I believe ours is the relationship harmony point, the glue if you will, that binds us together as life partners, families, communities/tribes, teams, clubs, cities, towns, villages, and the great opportunity - our whole world.

Discovering and maintaining shared-view requires an honouring of yours and mine and a willingness to not be precious about either, rather to embrace both, and then to co-create ours which transcends yours and mine.

Honour everyone else’s way. Be confident in your own way. Transcend both and find a way together.

I have found that foundational to all success in organisations is a shared-view about:

where we are (reality)
where we're going (possibility)
why we're going there (purpose)
how we will get there (strategy)
who will do what and when (execution)
how we will know we are on track (milestones and lead measures)
how we will behave along the way (culture and values)

Forget about new years resolutions. Instead have the resolve essential to find shared-view with everyone with whom you live and work.

Be remarkable.
Ian

“I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.”

Rudyard Kipling

Sunday 28 December 2014

Relationships are all there is

This Sunday's sparkenation.

People are the solution to the problems that confront us. Technology is not the solution, although it can help. We are the solution -- we as generous, open-hearted people who want to use our creativity and caring on behalf of other human beings and all life.

Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals who can go it alone.

We humans want to be together. We only isolate ourselves when we're hurt by others, but alone is not our natural state. Today, we live in an unnatural state -- separating ourselves rather than being together.

We become hopeful when somebody tells the truth. I don't know why this is, but I experience it often. Truly connecting with another human gives us joy. The circumstances that create this connection don't matter. Even those who work side by side in the worst natural disaster or crisis recall that experience as memorable. They are surprised to feel joy in the midst of tragedy, but they always do.

We have to slow down. Nothing will change for the better until we do. We need time to think, to learn, to get to know each other. We are losing these great human capacities in the speed-up of modern life, and it is killing us.

The cure for despair is not hope. It is discovering what we want to do about something we care about.

From the book ‘Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future’ by Margaret Wheatley.

Be remarkable.
Ian

More sparkenations here where you can also download all 52 of this years sparkenations in the one ebook.

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Ditch dogma and live your best life in 2015

I have a strong distaste for dogma - rules and interpretations added to an insight, idea, ritual or whatever, than mean someone's thinking or the thinking of a minority is trying to control everybody else.

Celibacy is dogma in some religions.

An appalling attitude towards and treatment of women is dogma in some religions.

The edict that Christmas should be about celebrating the birth of Christ is dogma. So too is all the commercialisation around this time of the year and the insane happenings in shopping malls in a few days time.

I celebrated the winter and summer solstice this year and the birthday of Persian saviour Mithra, who was born the night of the winter solstice. Why? Because I could. And I admit in defiance of dogma!

In the policies, procedures, practices, processes and systems (PPPPSs) of your organisation what's dogma and should be ditched?

I have a simple philosophy when it comes to PPPPs. I ask, Does this mean people are treated with dignity and respect? Does this enable people to bring their best to their work? If the answers are no I encourage immediate change/s.

Whatever your reason for the season I honour and respect your choice and wish you well.

Please consider where dogma has a hold in your life and ditch it. I reckon you'll then have your best year yet in 2015.

Be remarkable.
Ian




Sunday 21 December 2014

It's what we give every day that really matters

This Sunday's sparkenation.

The following words in Paul McGee's latest newsletter got me thinking

"Whatever your reason for the season it's worth remembering this:
True fulfilment in life comes from experiencing the most joys, not acquiring the most toys."

I admit to not being all that fond of Christmas. This stems in part from being born on Christmas Eve. The only thing worse would be being born on Christmas Day! Us Christmas children get over it of course when we get that it's not about us!

My annoyance is more about the focus on giving (or is it the focus on receiving) once a year.

To me it's what we give every day that really matters.

Whatever your reason for the season I wish you well. More I wish you the joy that comes from giving every day.

And I wish that you will give to others every day in 2015 your greatest gift, that of living the best one-of-a-kind life that you can live.

Be remarkable.
Ian

More sparkenations here.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Are your people leading and following by choice, not because they feel they have to?


As mentioned in previous posts World of Business Ideas is a great resource. I recommend setting up a free or paid account in order to get access to their videos. 

This video by Jim Collins on the next big management shift invoked my imagination as the subject is dear to my heart - people leading and following by choice, not because they feel they have to. Collins puts it "people following because they have the freedom to not follow."

In the new world of work we're operating more and more as Collins says "in networks more than organisations."

At your place 
How many people are doing what they love in the service of people who love what they do?
How many people are fulfilling their role/s in ways that they have chosen to do so?
How many people are living the purpose of your organisations existence in ways that is in alignment with their personal purpose?

Your answers to these questions are a great barometer of how well you're embracing the new world of work?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 15 December 2014

Where in your business in 2015 do you need to stop playing around the edges?

There was a game we played at school that involved a whole bunch of kids hitting a tennis ball with the palms of our hands into the wire gates of the shelter shed.

It was an exiting game as people tried to exploit the angles and try and hit parts of the gate that meant the ball went in all sorts of weird and wonderful directions that made it impossible for people to hit back.

My mate Alec and myself became experts at hiding in the crowd, fluffing around the edges and only getting involved when we had too. This strategy meant we were often the last two left in the game. Until others woke up that is. Then everyone tried to play around the edges.

Life is like this sometimes. 

Usually though success doesn't involve playing around the edges. We've got to be where the action is.

Where in your business in 2015 do you need to stop playing around the edges?

Be remarkable
Ian

"We dance around in a ring and suppose;
But the secret sits in the middle - and knows."
Robert Frost

Sunday 14 December 2014

What are you doing that's better, different, or more unique than anybody else?

This Sunday's sparkenation.

Remarkable is the new normal. Great is no longer good enough. Ordinary is your enemy.

In modern business in order to boom and never bust you must be remarkable in 7 areas:

Disrupting yourself.
Differentiation: what your people do that others do, just better, differently or more uniquely.
Discovery: ensuring your people know their gifts/talents and how you are helping them to enhance them.
Drive: helping your people achieve what is important to them and meeting their intrinsic motivators.
Delivery: how you create, capture and deliver value to all your stakeholders that they demand, desire, and feel that they deserve.
Distinction: the ways the experience of your customers/clients online and in-person makes you stand out from the rest.
Differencemaking: the human problems your business solves.

Often it's the little things that turn ordinary into remarkable.

This week I went for a coffee with a client of mine in Warrnambool in Western Victoria, Australia. We walked past several coffee shops to get to his favourite one.

No-one carries a card to be clipped and eventually get a free coffee here. All the customers know where their card is on the walls, point them out, and the Barista ticks them off. I actually felt the sense of belonging regular customers have. This is the significance of small, a little thing making a big difference. And the coffee and the service were exceptional too.


What are you doing that's better, different, or more unique than anybody else?

Differentiation is just one area you need to be remarkable in.

How remarkable are you in the seven areas?

Go to my website here and scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see the diagnostic below.


Follow the instructions on my web page and I'll be in touch with you to arrange a complimentary high value briefing. It's my gift to you to help you to ensure that 2015 is your best year yet.

Be remarkable.
Ian

More sparkenations here.



The above diagnostic is also my contribution to the ebook Expect More From 2015 which contains ideas from 24 experts. Please download the full ebook with my compliments here.

Friday 12 December 2014

Are you pursuing goals and answers or vision and questions?

I meet lots of people focused on goals and demanding answers as to why they're not achieving them.

There's some great advice in two short videos posted by the folk at World of Business Ideas (WOBI). The presenters Tal Ben-Shahar and Ben Zander are two of my favourites.

Here's Tal on Focus on the question not the answer.

and here's brilliant Ben on vision v. goal.

NB You will have to set up a free account with WOBI to watch these videos. I recommend that you do and discover the storehouse of great insights they have.

Are you pursuing goals and answers or vision and questions?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Is life/work balance another myth you can rid yourself of in 2015?

I think life/work balance is a myth. Your personal and working life are not equal.

I coined the term life/work harmony in my Changing What's Normal book because I believe harmony is really what we're after.

I also like the term integration as used in this blog post by Kevin Roberts Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi.

Is life/work balance another myth you can rid yourself of in 2015?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 8 December 2014

Will you add to the staggering 507,647 impacts that were created in just 15 days?

Here's the recording of my session for the recent Global Impact Summit.

Underneath the recording you'll see that I have selected projects you can choose to give to. Just might be an excellent way for you to change what's normal in your giving and how you positively impact other people in life-changing ways.


You'll see that you have access to the recordings of all 30 sessions of the summit as well giving you a truly great personal and business development resource to help you to make 2015 your best year yet.

Enjoy. Learn. Give. Be remarkable.
Ian

Sunday 7 December 2014

To be or not to be? really is the question

This Sunday's sparkenation and also the seventh and final in a series this week.

My wife's passion for and involvement over many years in the theatre meant a pilgrimage some years back to the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

On our pilgrimage I bought a fridge magnet that holds pride of place on my office whiteboard.


“To be or not to be” really is the question.

And “This above all. To thine own self be true.” really is the answer.

Being there with you as you discover and decide what these profound statements mean for you and how you will act on them in your life and work is the reason I get up every morning.

I'm not for everyone of course. My candidness scares lots of people. Others find it like a burst of refreshing cold air on a muggy summers night. My best friend, who with his partner was with us when we bought the magnet above, died on the 25th May 2011. I promised him that I would never die wondering what might be.


Until midnight tonight Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time December 7th, I'm offering here a very special offer for individual membership of my Maverick Thinkers Studio.

To check out what's inside my studio join me for the final group tour of my studio for this year. It's on at 6.30 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time today December 7th. Please email ian@ianberry.biz to get the link.

Be remarkable.
Ian

More sparkenations here.

Saturday 6 December 2014

The triumph of transformation begins and ends with transition

In all of my work my focus is on working with you and/or other leaders in your business, to discover and decide the quantum leaps you can take to move from where you are to where you want to be, both personally and in your business.


There’s a lot of talk about the need for transformational change. The facts are that 2 out of every 3 change initiatives fail. A big reason I see for failure is people trying to take big jumps rather than transitional steps (quantum leaps).

In my work with you transformation will be the outcome yet transition the focus.

The triumph of transformation begins and ends with transition.

This is the significance of small.

When you decide to become my client you will be making a positive impact on the lives of people in need straight away. As soon as we begin to work together, 12 families in need will receive 3 nourishing meals through my being a Proud partner of Buy One Give One. Again the significance of small.

Find out about the 5 ways we can work together and make an impact here.

And go here to check out my special offer for individual membership of Maverick Thinkers Studio. This offer expires at midnight Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time tomorrow December 7th.

To check out what's inside my studio join me for one of the final group tours for this year. You can choose between 5 pm tonight December 6th or  6.30 pm tomorrow. Both are Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Please email ian@ianberry.biz with your preference and I will get you the link.

Be remarkable.
Ian


Friday 5 December 2014

What is No BS Mentoring?

When I take people on tours of my Maverick Thinkers Studio to show you what's inside I point out that my tools for discovering and sustaining remarkability and building and growing a distinguished 21st century business work brilliantly, yet only when you use them in your own way.

I explain that my No BS mentoring is a key, in part because it enables pinpointed use of the resources inside my studio.

This question is then often asked, What is No BS mentoring?

Here's my answer:

Broadly speaking there are two types of business advisers (read consultants, mentors, coaches, trainers etc). Firstly there's those with solutions who are out looking for problems that match. These folk have models, secret steps, all kinds of pathways they believe will lead their clients to reach their promised land. I am definitely not one of these people.

I'm of the second kind of adviser. I don't have any solutions for your challenges. I am very skilled and passionate however at being there for people as you walk your own path and discover your own solutions to your challenges. You'll own the solutions more of course and savour the results of implementing them. My role is to help you to be accountable as you execute.

Two of my gifts (talents) are to see what most people don't and to say what most people won't.

As I have enhanced these gifts over 25 years (still a work in progress) I have become very good at asking great questions at precisely the right time for you. And I have mastered (also still a work in progress) being candid and reminding, inspiring, and sometimes persuading you to be candid with yourself and other people. Being candid is the keystone to sustaining remarkability (bringing that one-of-a-kind human being that you are to everything you do).

Seth Godin provides the best description of my kind of mentoring that I've be able to find. He says.

Good advice is priceless. Not what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. Not imaginary, but practical. Not based on fear, but on possibility. Not designed to make you feel better, designed to make you better. Seek it out and embrace the true friends that care enough to risk sharing it. I’m not sure what takes more guts—giving it or getting it.

I'm up for it. You?

I promise to be the performance partner we all need for you.

I'll be open, honest and frank. I'll call you out when I feel you're bullshitting yourself and anyone else.

I'll be authentic, forthright, direct, straightforward and plain-speaking. I'll call a spade a spade, and sometimes a shovel.

I promise to be the torchbearer for you, someone who shines the light on what's possible, and steps with you into the unknown where you'll discover what you don't know that you must do to be remarkable.

One of the consequences will be that your workplace will become a BS Free Zone.

Imagine that.

Imagine the elimination of what causes conflict, difficulty, and disagreement amongst people.

Imagine a significant increase in the number of people consistently bringing their best to their work.

Imagine yourself having the time and energy to do what really matters to you and to only be doing what you love in the service of people who love what you do.

Be remarkable
Ian

The next group tour of my Maverick Thinkers Studio is on at 5 pm tomorrow Saturday December 6th Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time. To join in please email ian@ianberry.biz and I will send you the link.

To arrange a private tour please telephone me on +61 418 807 898.

Thursday 4 December 2014

Your number one role as a leader

I believe that the number one role of real leadership is enhancing people’s gifts - your own and those of the people around you. Gift is another word for talent.

In a great book ‘The Talent Masters - why smart leaders put people before numbers’, authors Bill Conaty and Ram Charan state:

“Talent will be the big differentiator between companies that succeed and those that don’t.” I couldn’t agree more.

They also state:
“Talent masters understand the subtleties that differentiate people.”

Being a maestro of gift/talent discovery and enhancement in your business will be the catalyst for you distinguishing your business in the market place.

Bill Conaty and Ram Charan also state:
“The enlightened CEO recognizes that his top priority for the future is building and deploying the talent that will get it there.”

In the next group tours of my Maverick Thinkers Studio, designed to show you what’s available 24/7 when you become a member, I’ll be showing you The Enhancing Their Gifts System (ETGS), my flagship program, and the fast track to being a remarkable leader and change champion. 

ETGS is matters to master about change in a box (online when you join Maverick Thinkers Studio)

When you join Maverick Thinkers Studio you are granted a license to use ETGS in your own way. 

More people consistently bringing their best to their work will be the consequence. 

And You will have more time and energy to do what you love in the service of people who love what you do. Imagine that.

I will be revealing what's inside the ETGs box on the next group tours of Maverick Thinkers Studio today December 4th at 5 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time and tomorrow December 5th at 7.30 am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time. 

Please email me ian@ianberry.biz nominating which tour you'd like to join and I will email you the link.

To schedule your private tour please telephone me on +61 (0) 418 807 898 anytime between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time.

Be remarkable.
Ian

"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." Ralph Nader



Wednesday 3 December 2014

The Significant Six

Welcome to post 3 in a series of 7 this week, all designed to add value to you as you seek to sustain your remarkability and also to let you know group tour times where I personally show you what is available to you 24/7 should you take up membership of my Maverick Thinkers Studio.

Remember until midnight on December 7th you can take up two months membership for one months investment. You might prefer the self-directed achievement option which is just $55 per month. Find out more here.

The next group tours are on today December 3rd at 5 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time and tomorrow December 4th at 7.30 am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time.

Please email me ian@ianberry.biz nominating the tour you want to join and I will send you the link.

I have also set aside the next 4 days to conduct 1:1 tours. To schedule your private tour please telephone me on +61 (0) 418 807 898 anytime between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time.

If I was to ask any of your employees what is the strategy for moving from where you are to where you want to be in a years time in your business, would your people be able to give me a succinct one sentence answer?

Strategy is like a compass. It’s the reference point for all decisions you and your employees make in your business. The ability of people to describe your strategy in a sentence tells me how much they own it and have bought into it.

If I then asked any of your employees Can you please show me your unique piece of the strategy execution map? would they immediately be able to access it?

Execution is like a quilt map. Every person has a piece and they need to know and have co-created precisely what it is otherwise you can forget about your strategy being fully executed.

The above are just two of what I call the significant six because when the six are in place it’s possible for people to consistently bring their best to their work. When the six are not in place, remarkable results in your business are not possible.


In the tours of my studio I will share with you more about the significant six, why they really matter for your peace of mind and the prosperity of your business, and how you can enact them in your own way.

Will you join me for a group tour, or contact me for a private tour?

Be remarkable
Ian

Tuesday 2 December 2014

Doing what you know you should

I've had the honour and privilege to provide my No BS mentoring to more than 1000 business leaders in over 40 countries. Always the journey begins with people doing what they know they should yet are not.

Profound change occurs. Not least of which is this discovery.


The above and other crucial discoveries lay the foundation for the rest of the personal change journey.


Often my clients use this diagnostic tool to begin to do only what they love doing.


The above tool is one of many resources for humans inside Maverick Thinkers Studio. The key though is not mine or other people's carefully selected resources rather using them in your own way. This is where my No BS mentoring comes in.

I'm conducting the next group tour to show you what's inside my studio today December 2nd at 7.30 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time.

I'll be conducting a further tour tomorrow December 3rd at 7.30 am Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

To join either tour please email me ian@ianberry.biz stating your preferred time and I will email you the link.

Be remarkable
Ian

Monday 1 December 2014

Remarkable is the new normal

And your greatest gift and my special gift to You

Remarkable is the new normal was a key thread of my presentation/conversation for the Global Impact Summit. You can view the recording here.

Recently as part of a Q &A following one of my presentations I was asked what I believed was the world’s greatest challenge. My response in the moment surprised me. I have reflected on it a lot since. I haven’t changed my mind. My response ‘A lot of people need reminding, inspiring, or persuading that they’re remarkable.’

Remarkable people don’t bully others.
Remarkable people don’t show their lack of intelligence by being violent towards others.
Remarkable people respect views and opinions that are different to theirs.
Remarkable people are passionate and persuasive yet never arrogant enough to think and act as if their way is the only way.
Remarkable people have ditched dogma and instead lead by example.
Remarkable people are not attached to their ideology, belief system, or political party bias, instead they debate ideas and then collaborate to achieve what really is good for humanity.
Remarkable people have roles not jobs. They understand that jobs are part of roles and that all roles are about relationships and delivering value to others as perceived by them.
Remarkable people are candid and authentic. They say what they mean and mean what they say.
Remarkable people promise big and deliver.
Remarkable people do their deep personal work and show it through their acute self-awareness, and therefore their willingness and ability to be highly aware of others.
When remarkable people are in the room, they’re in the room (thank you Nigel Risner).
Remarkable people share powerful stories, the kind that others can see and feel themselves in.
Remarkable people co-create cultures of candour where elephants in the room are named, and closets are absent of skeletons.
Remarkable people tell the truth as they see it, yet never in ways that are a put down of others.
Remarkable people ... Please insert your thoughts.

We are all unique. Not a single duplicate in the 100 billion lives that have walked planet earth. When we bring our best, free of BS, we are all remarkable.

Your birth was remarkable. Being born at all is even more remarkable than our birth. For most men only one or two of the 500 billion sperm cells produced in a lifetime reach the female egg, one of less than 500 that each woman produces in her life.

The fact that any of us is alive at all says to me that every life has a profound purpose.

Robert Louis Stevenson put it this way: To be who we are, and to become all that we are capable of becoming, is the only purpose in life.

Your greatest gift to the world and to yourself is to fulfill this purpose.

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS My gratitude to You for reading this. 

Take time in the next few weeks to celebrate what’s both going remarkably well in your life and what could be better. Then from those insights create a strategy and an execution plan to follow so that 2015 is your best year yet.





PSS From today until midnight Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time on December 7th 2014 I have a gift for you of two months individual membership of my Maverick Thinkers Studio for 1 months investment. Please accept my gift here.

I will be conducting group tours to show you what’s inside my studio every day 1st - 7th December. Find out about how to join a tour here.

Related reading







Why candid conversations and eye contact matter more than ever.

Sunday 30 November 2014

Why candid conversations and eye contact matter more than ever

This Sunday's sparkenation.

I love social media for all sorts of reasons.

I love having candid conversations and making eye contact with people in person a whole lot more.

Next time you post, tweet, like, share, or whatever keep it in perspective. Nothing matters more than having candid conversations and making eye contact with another human being.

Be remarkable.
Ian

More sparkenations here.

My thanks to Mari Smith for the picture below which I took a screenshot of during her wonderful presentation for the Global Impact Summit. And I hope Sir Richard, one of my heroes, doesn't mind.


PS Every day from tomorrow until December 7th I am conducting group tours of my Maverick Thinkers Studio. Find out more here.

Friday 28 November 2014

Why we all need OPEEE

One of the great truths of the success journey is that we all need OPEEE; other people's experience, energy, and enthusiasm. There's no Winston without Clementine, no Steve Jobs without Steve Wozniak, no Beatles without Brian Epstein or George Martin.

Who's experience, energy, and enthusiasm is irreplaceable in your life?

Please find a unique way to express your gratitude to these people today.

To whom is your experience, energy, and enthusiasm irreplaceable?

Please find unique ways to add even more value to these people next time you meet with them. As Roger James Hamilton said on the Global Impact Summit yesterday "Giving is the game."

3 key reasons why we all need other people's experience, energy, and enthusiasm

1) We all get stuck in our lives, stop listening to the wisdom within, and therefore we stop doing what we know we should do. We need other people to help us to be accountable.

2) We don't know what we don't know. Other people help us by being a mirror, by asking us great questions, and just by being there with us as we discover what we don't know that we must do.

3) We all tell ourselves BS. We need others to be candid with us and call us out when we, even momentarily, have stopped being the best one-of-a-kind person that we can be.

Be remarkable.
Ian


PS The above statement expresses a key part of No BS mentoring for me. Maybe I can be such a friend for you. Find out more here.

Wednesday 26 November 2014

3 key reasons why being candid is the keystone to sustaining your remarkability

In my presentation/conversation for the Global Impact Summit last Monday I shared my thoughts on why I believe remarkable is the new normal, great is no longer good enough, and ordinary is your enemy.

Get the full context of what I mean by watching the recording of my session.

You'll be asked to register at the link and make your own impact. You'll have access then to all 30 of the summit sessions, a smorgasbord of maverick thinking.

I also shared at the summit why I believe that to go from where we are to where we want to be is best accomplished in a series of quantum leaps


Change champions are experts at taking quantum leaps.


The first reason being candid is the keystone to sustaining your remarkability is that it's very easy to be delusional about where you are (here). Being frank, open, and honest (candid) about where you are means your next leap can have real substance.

The second reason being candid is the keystone to sustaining your remarkability is because calling a spade a spade and being straightforward with yourself gives you real clarity. Being clear gives you certainty as you take your next leap.

The third reason being candid is the keystone to sustaining your remarkability is that your candour will attract other people to you who will be key to your future success. More about this in my next post. We're sick of spin. Other people will find your candidness a breath of fresh air and will therefore be drawn to you.

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS For more of my thoughts on your remarkability go here.

Monday 24 November 2014

Sunday 23 November 2014

3 barriers you may need to eliminate so that you can do what you love

This Sunday's sparkenation.

I recommend related pre-reading to this post:

Doing what you love in the service of people who love what you do.



I observe 3 common interconnected barriers that are in the way of leadership effectiveness and that are often stopping leaders from doing what they love in the service of people who love what they do:

Being time poor
Micro-management
Decision-making chaos and in-decision

1) A lingering part of the hangover from the industrial revolution and associated management that tried to make human beings act like cogs in a machine, is the fact the we continue to have unrealistic expectations of what people can and can't achieve. One consequence is that most people are time poor.

I don't believe in time-management. I do believe in investing wisely in the 168 hours each of us has every week. Could you be a better investor in your time? Is at least 20% of your diary for this week empty meaning you are allowing for the unexpected? Do your people have the same flexibility?

2) Micro-management is often a key factor in being time poor. Help your people to clarify their roles, agree on rules of engagement including boundaries, have your employees create a 90 day personal and business performance plan that you can focus your conversations with them on. Otherwise get out of the way. Redefine your own role so that you're doing what you love in the service of people who love what you do.

3) Is there a clear process for making the big decisions in your workplace? Is it transparent and is everyone affected by decisions involved in the process?

Are people on your frontline truly able to make every day decisions without reference to anyone else?

If you answered no to either of the above questions you've got work to do.

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS I believe that remarkable is the new normal. Great is no longer good enough. Ordinary is your enemy. Eliminating barriers such as the 3 above are paramount to being remarkable.

To be remarkable in your businesses starts with your self-leadership and then leading by example. In order for other people to be remarkable, by definition consistently bringing their best to their work, some rules will need to be broken, boundaries redefined, and barriers eliminated. I work with leaders to achieve these ends.

I then provide No BS Mentoring on demand, and 24/7 access to resources that work when you use them in your own way. You'll be able to guarantee you succeed in the change/s you lead as a consequence.

I will be conducting group tours to show you what’s inside my studio every day 1st - 7th December, so that you can get a feel for the precious resources for humans inside. Find out more and how to join a tour here.

Friday 21 November 2014

Are there boundaries you may need to redefine in order to do more of what you love?

The concept of life/work balance has always troubled me. I think it's BS.

In Sparkenation 26 in my Changing What's Normal book I write "... The word balance for me implies equal. My personal and business life are not equal and are never likely to be, and neither are yours."

"...our personal and business lives can be in harmony with one another. That is, they can work together as a part of a symphony of the whole of our lives."

A small yet significant part of the way that I maintain my life/work harmony is to clearly define boundaries for others.

A simple example of this is emails. I tell my clients that I only answer emails first thing in the morning and towards to the end of the business day. I only answer emails outside these times when it suits me. I have set a boundary, nobody minds, and my service to my clients remains exemplary.

What boundaries could you redefine in your life and work in order to do more of what you love in the service of people who love what you do?

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS A lot of my No BS Mentoring work with my clients is about agreeing on boundaries and letting people loose within them. I provide tools, techniques, templates, and tips for this inside Maverick Thinkers Studio.

I will be conducting group tours to show you what’s inside my studio every day 1st - 7th December. Find out more and how to join a tour here.

Wednesday 19 November 2014

A rule you may need to break to do more of what you love

As I explore in this blog post the change journey to doing what we love in the service of people who love what we do, begins with what we can and will do, and then doing what we aren’t doing that we know we should be.

In most organisations the rule is do more with less. Good questions to ask about all rules are: Who made this rule? What was the context of making it? Is the context relevant to my/our situation right now? Is there a more remarkable way forward?

Doing more with less is often a good rule. It depends on the context and desired outcomes. To make doing more with less a rule for everything is unwise.

When it comes to your leadership and management what if a more remarkable rule is to do less with more?

As I work with my clients to do what they know they should do that they are not, matters of effectiveness (leadership) and efficiency (management) always arise.

Often my clients realise that how something used to be done is no longer the most effective and/or efficient way to do it. My clients end up staying doing some things, stop doing others, and start doing some things in new ways.

In your leadership and management where could you do less with more?

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS Some of the resources for humans that I provide for my clients in my online studio are very helpful for doing less with more.

I will be conducting group tours to show you what’s inside my studio every day 1st - 7th December. Find out more and how to join a tour here.

Monday 17 November 2014

Doing what you love in the service of people who love what you do

From the moment I read “do what you love in the service of people who love what you do“ in Steven Farber’s great book 'The Radical Leap' eight years ago I knew I had found not only a beautiful way to describe the outcomes of my work for my clients, I had also found an anchor to keep me focused on what really matters to me and to the people to whom I provide my professional services.

We’ve all encountered the rubbish around doing what we love and the money flows. Doing what we love in the service of people who love what we do means the money really does flow.

It's never about the money though.

I used to say that profit is not a reason for being in business, rather a result of being good at business.

I have changed my mind about the being good at business piece. Today we need to be remarkable, particularly in how we deliver value to those who love our work, value that they demand, desire, and feel that they deserve.

Remarkable is the new normal. Great is no longer good enough. Being ordinary is your enemy.

In 2006, blessed by Steven Farber’s great insight, I developed the process below to capture what I knew from real world work was true, yet hadn’t been able to articulate it.


In my No BS mentoring work with over a 1000 business leaders in more than 40 countries since 1991 the change journey is always the same in terms of outcomes; people do what they know they should that they’re currently not doing, and then at some point a surprise arrives, people discover what they didn’t know before that they must do. Always this profound turning point leads to people doing what they love in the service of people who love what they do.

I honour you should you be you be doing what you love in the service of people who love what you do and are doing so in remarkable ways. If you’re not yet in this space what an opportunity you have at your doorstep!

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS From 12.01 am AEDST on 1st December until midnight on December 7th 2014 you can take up two months individual membership of my Maverick Thinkers Studio for 1 months investment.

I will be conducting group tours for the 1 in 100 to show you what’s inside my studio every day 1st - 7th December. Find out more about my studio and how to join a tour here.

Sunday 16 November 2014

Are you the 1 in 100?

This Sunday's sparkenation.

"Yesterday I was clever
So I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise
So I am changing myself."
Rumi



The 99 when they talk about change, what they really mean is everyone else changing and not them.

Are you the 1 in 100?

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

More sparkenations here.

Friday 14 November 2014

We need governments. We don't need political parties and politicians as they are!

We need governments. Without them health care, safety and security, justice, education, aged care, infrastructure, etc., etc., wouldn't be possible.

We don't need political parties and politicians as they are. There are some great lessons here for your business.

You need governance in your business otherwise chaos would rule. Keep compliance in perspective and make sure it's not killing creativity.

You need to ensure that your policies, procedures, practices, processes, and systems are good for people and that they mean it is simple for people to bring their best to their work. This is the stuff of management; efficiency and doing things right. Management is useless without leadership. Leadership is about people, and effectiveness, and doing the right thing.

You need to debate ideology occasionally yet never at the expense of progress. What you should be debating all the time is ideas and how they will be successfully implemented (innovation) in ways that solve the human problems that are the purpose of your business. Fulfilling your purpose is the reason you get paid. How well you get paid depends on the value you are delivering as perceived by your buyers.

Factions will lead to failure in your business as they do in politics. The tail can never wag the dog in your business. Minorities matter however if the power is in the hands of a few, self-interest rules and the many eventually revolt, it's only a matter of time.

We embrace leaders who are candid, honest, and who can inspire us with authentic stories of what our future can become. We shun leaders who prefer spin to straight answers and are into sound bites rather than authentic and inspiring stories.

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

Wednesday 12 November 2014

I loved Lucy. The trouble was her bosses didn't!

Every time I visited a particular office of my client I was always impressed with Lucy (name changed to protect the innocent). Lucy consistently brought her best to her work. And everyone I asked agreed, including customers. Except her bosses it turns out.

Imagine my shock when I learned Lucy had been made redundant. Head Office is into 'headcount' as they call it, and Lucy was an 'unfortunate victim' they told me.

I had a flashback at this point to 25 years ago when my bosses in another country told me I had to reduce my 235.5 headcount. Now I have never met half a human being. You?

All this is another example of lack of common sense, a failure to be human in the workplace, and making decisions based on silly numbers.

Nobody has ever slashed and burned their way to prosperity as far as I know.

To make matters worse a HR person who had never met Lucy was dispatched by Head Office to give her the bad news. HR was seen as the enemy before this, so imagine how they're perceived now.

Other members of Lucy's team would have reduced their working hours in order to keep Lucy on the team. Nobody consulted anyone in this office. They made a decision based on some number a person far removed from reality worked out.

Morale and employee engagement at the office I refer to above are lower than a lizard. Results have never been as bad, all because somebody in ignorance made a decision based on lines in a profit and loss statement.

Letting go people for whatever reason is hard. You may have to do so sometime. I hope never in the way described above.

Focus on co-creating a culture where people can bring their best to their work. Put people first. Treat every person as the one-of-a-kind that each of us is. More than likely your results will be what you want and you'll never have to even consider making a decision about a person based on an arbitrary number.

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

PS Lucy has a new role, in an organisation just down the road from where she was. She's being appreciated there for who she is and is getting paid more for the great value she delivers than she was before.

At Lucy's new workplace they're growing their business quite rapidly and are looking for more people. It would be interesting to listen in on the lunch time conversations Lucy is having with her workmates from her previous employer.

PSS There's lots of interesting conversations going on at the Head Office of my client too. The good news is that at this point I reckon they have learned a hard lesson and won't make the dumb decision they made about Lucy and people like her ever again.

Monday 10 November 2014

What are the human problems your business solves?

There are 7 keys to thriving on the challenges of change in your life and work. One I call differencemaking - the human problem/s your business solves.

I love the insights in this recent McKinsey article ‘Redefining capitalism’ that is in part about this. In the article the authors state “Every business is based on an idea about how to solve a problem. The process of converting great ideas into products and services that effectively fulfill fast-changing human needs is what defines most businesses. Thus, the crucial contribution business makes to society is transforming ideas into products and services that solve problems.”

What are the human problems your business solves?


Differencemaking is the purpose (the why, the intent, the reason) for our businesses. Fulfilling our purpose is all about our performance in the areas pictured below.


The above diagnostic is part of a paper I have produced about these 7 areas called The Delightful Design of a Distinguished 21st century business.


To download my paper please go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page. When you complete, scan, and email the diagnostic to me I’ll provide you with complimentary high value briefing.

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

Sunday 9 November 2014

What are you creating that will live forever?

This Sunday's sparkenation.


What are you creating that will live forever?

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


PS The Global Impact Summit begins tomorrow. Already more than 200,000 impacts.



Friday 7 November 2014

Stress usually means there's an absence of feeling significant

"I feel insignificant" one female member of an otherwise male executive team I interviewed told me. "I'm stressed because I am working really hard and other members of the team don't seem to notice."

Workplace stress leads to less productive employees say Towers Watson in their latest Global Benefits Attitudes survey. They also state "The research shows that of those employees who claimed to be experiencing high stress levels, over half (57%) also reported that they were disengaged. In contrast, only one in ten (10%) employees claiming low stress levels said they were disengaged and half of this group claimed to be highly engaged."

A key role of real leadership is to notice and acknowledge.

When I questioned other members of the team mentioned above the common feeling was "why should we go out of our way to acknowledge people just doing their job."

I explored with this team the distinct correlation between people feeling insignificant i.e. undervalued, unloved, and unfulfilled, and less than desired performance. This is not rocket science. It is yet another example of a failure to be human in the workplace.


If you'd like my special report 'Key discoveries I have made about people and talent enhancement' which is about why helping employees to feel valued, fulfilled and loved, is the simple yet profound path to high levels of engagement and productivity, please send me a email requesting it ian@ianberry.biz

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

Wednesday 5 November 2014

The rehumanisation of the workplace is the great quest and calling for the modern leader

Traditional management was invented more than 100 years ago to try and make human beings more like machines. The dehumanisation of the workplace that followed still leads to catastrophic consequences for millions of people and society in general.

The rehumanisation of the workplace is the great quest and calling for the modern leader.

How simple is it for people to be fully alive at your workplace and to consistently bring their best to their work?

Your answer to this question will tell you how much BS about people that you still need to remove in order for your business to fully prosper.


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

Monday 3 November 2014

Ensuring the great management myths and morons aren’t messing with your mind

I have been in a few workplaces this year where I have witnessed 20th century and even earlier management practices. 

In one where I was asked to do a review of their remarkability, which involves finding out the unbiased answers to these 96 questions, the CEO asked me for a one sentence summary of my findings. I replied “A lot of the great management myths and morons are messing with a lot of people’s minds.” An interesting conversation followed to say the least. 

The main myths we discussed were; people can be managed, there’s a need for a war on talent, people are resources, assets or capital. And the main oxymorons; change management, strategic planning, and performance management.

Below are my key thoughts on each one and links to more detail for you to explore and take action.

“People can be managed.” 
They can’t. We lead for people. We manage processes, policies, procedures, practices, processes and systems (PPPPS’s).

Explore more Management is dead


“There is a need for a war on talent.” 
There isn’t. Many organisations are focused on so-called top talent when the greatest opportunity is in the middle where people are neither engaged or disengaged, yet open to persuasion.



“People are resources, assets or capital.” 

“Change Management, Strategic Planning, and Performance Management”

Change like people can’t be managed. We lead change and manage the things around it.

A key to doing this successfully is simplification of strategy and focusing on execution.

Your strategy and your execution plan are completely different. See them together at your peril. Strategy in simple terms is how you’re going to get where you’re going. It’s a reference point for all decisions you make. If you can’t describe your strategy in a sentence it is very difficult to gain employee buy-in. 

Strategy is like a compass. Execution is a map. Every employee needs their unique piece of your execution map otherwise the chances of your strategy getting executed are zilch.

When each employee has their piece of the map and candid conversations integral to daily work are held around their piece of the map, you can throw out performance reviews and all the crap associated with performance management.

Explore more Moving on the morons


Some great insights (despite the title!) in the Strategy+business article 10 Principles of Leading Change Management. 

My new personal and business development program - 7 ways to thrive on the challenges of change

Over the past few months, and with the involvement of a few clients to ensure it’s tried, tested, and proven, I have developed a program that puts these myths and morons in their place, consigned to history.

The program is short and sharp and designed with time poor leaders in mind. It explores what I believe are the 7 keys to a thriving 21st century business:

Disrupting ourselves.
Differentiation: what our people do that others do, just better, differently or more uniquely.
Discovery: ensuring our people know their gifts/talents and how we are helping them to enhance them.
Drive: helping our people achieve what is important to them and meeting their intrinsic motivators.
Delivery: how we create, capture and deliver value to our stakeholders that they demand, desire, and feel that they deserve.
Distinction: the ways the experience of our customers/clients online and in-person makes us stand out from the rest.
Differencemaking: the human problems our business solves and/or impacts.

The program is available as a tailored for you in-house program or through my peer group initiative Maverick Thinkers Farm which can be undertaken online or in person. 

Although this program is short in duration, long term results are firmly in mind. To ensure you gain in the long term 1 years membership of Maverick Thinkers Studio, including a license to use my flagship The Enhancing Their Gifts System, is included in the package.



At both the above links there is a simple diagnostic you can complete to see how your traveling in these 7 areas of a distinguished 21st century business. The diagnostic is inside a special paper I wrote about these 7 keys to thriving on the challenges of change.

Very special offer

Complete, scan and email the diagnostic to me and I will give you a complimentary 1 hour high value briefing on what you can do to be remarkable in the 7 areas.

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

Sunday 2 November 2014

What stories have you shared lately?

This Sunday's sparkenation.

There's a lot of talk on social media that content is king and a whole content marketing industry has emerged.

The key in my view is not so much about content, rather it's all about stories and story sharing.

What's your story?
What stories have you shared lately?
Who is sharing your story?

“We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.”
Philip Pullman

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

More sparkenations here.

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Reinventing organisations


I loved this book so much it makes my top 21 business books you must read list.

It is very well researched, contains great case studies, and is a manual for creating an organization to be truly proud of.

Frederic Laloux also provides a great companion website.

In the book Frederic traces the history of organizations from red (metaphor wolf pack), to amber (metaphor army), to orange (metaphor machine), to green (metaphor family), to teal (metaphor Living organism or system).

Orange organizations perhaps still rule the world. Look out for green and particularly teal.

Better still build and grow a teal organization. This book details why this really matters and how to go about it.

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

Monday 27 October 2014

Can we have a conversation not a quarrel please?

Josie Taylor who presents the 7.30 report program on ABC television in my home state made the following request of two politicians before interviewing them:

"Can we have a conversation not a quarrel please?"

She didn't get her wish as typically the two politicians failed to answer questions, instead trotting out their own rhetoric (often irrelevant to the questions), talked over the top of one another, and lacked civility towards Josie and each other.

Josie's question is insightful for us when there's conflict, difficulty or disagreement.

How do you set the scene when possible trouble looms?

I often say something like The reason we're here today is to ... We're going to have a conversation that results in a shared-view about the way forward together. Is this you're expectation?

How you do you set the intent?

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

Sunday 26 October 2014

How are you helping others to change?

This Sunday's sparkenation.

Unfortunately old management still has a hold on many people. It's about control and the functions of planning, organizing, directing, controlling. Most people have had enough of this.

See here for what management in the 21st century is really about.

Modern leadership is about inspiring, influencing and impacting people. It's about helping people to change, never telling them or directing them to change. As Peter Senge says “People don't resist change. They resist being changed.”

One way to help people is to give them tools for change. I provide many such tools for my clients. The key though is not my tools, rather it's people using them in their own way.

"You can’t change the way people think, all you can do is give them a tool, the use of which will change their thinking."
Buckminster Fuller

How are you helping others to change?

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

More sparkenations here.

Friday 24 October 2014

Please join me online at the Global Impact Summit

I’m thrilled to be speaking at a very unique online event in November as one of 30 thought leaders.

It’s called the Global Impact Summit and it gets underway on the 10th of November and is LIVE online for 15 days.

All the Summit delivers is impact. And ONLY Impact. No selling of stuff. Just impact, pure and simple.

Since registration opened a week ago there's already been 59,069 giving impacts including…

•    360 days of education support were provided to children in Botswana.

•    58,400 days of access to life-saving water were given to people in Ethiopia.

•    68 coaching sessions were given to Social Entrepreneurs in India.

•    240 children received improved learning environment for a year.

Please click here to find out more, to register, and to make your own impact.

Even if you can’t get to every one of the sessions live, register now. They are being recorded so you can watch the replays. It’s a wealth of inspirational business insights for you to keep!

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

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Talent trends you really need to take notice of and then change what's normal

I hate the term 'human capital' as I do referring to people as resources or assets. We are none of these things. We are human beings. The big challenge facing many leaders is they have forgotten what it means to be human (see my previous post on culture).

Nevertheless there are some great insights in the Deloitte slideshare below into trends about talent we all need to take notice of and then change what's normal when the status quo is no longer serving us.



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