Thursday 30 December 2010

Is discipline your bridge between thought and accomplishment?

December 5th is my wife’s birthday. And in 2009 it was the day Jim Rohn, one of my heroes, passed.

Of all Jim’s quotable quotes one stands out for me at this time of year when so many people make new years resolutions they will never keep. Jim said Discipline is the bridge between thought and accomplishment.

How disciplined will you be in 2011 to turn your thoughts into reality?

I have the honour and privilege of mentoring people in 9 countries. One tool I share with many is the rituals I keep daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. I encourage my clients to create their own rituals document and many report back that it helps them immeasurably in achieving their goals.

You can download my rituals one pager here.

Create your own rituals document, be disciplined, and 2011 can easily become your best year yet.

I can help you by becoming your performance partner for a period. Please checkout my mentoring programs here.

On most Monday mornings wherever you happen to be in the world I can provide a 30 minute mentoring session for free. See details at the above link.

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

Want to do well while doing good? Please watch a six minute video here and then get in touch with me.

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 27 December 2010

Who writes your favourite blogs?

Here are my top 10 for 2010, not in any particular order.

1) Toby Webb’s Reflections on Ethical Business. Toby’s blog on why Sweden is leading the world in managing climate change is a good example of his well researched blogs.

2) Word of mouth marketing guru Andy Sernovitz’s Dam! I Wish I’d Thought of That! blog.

3) Richard Millington’s feverbee blog is excellent for all things about leading and managing successful online communities.

4) Speaking of communities. I am in awe of my colleagues in differencemakers community who write such inspiring and insightful posts here.

5) Corporate Eye is also written by many authors. I find it a very valuable blog for my work in the corporate world.

6) Hello my name is blog by Scott Ginsberg, That guy with the nametag. Always thought provoking.

7) Mitch Joel of Twist Image and author of a great book Six Pixels of Separation.

8) Garr Reynolds Presentation Zen. Even though I rarely use slides in my presentations Garr’s work has revolutionized my approach to all things design.

9) Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity.

10) Chris Jarvis and Angela Parker Realized Worth for great insights about employee volunteering and other great things anyone can do to embrace corporate social responsibility.

Who writes your favourite blogs?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
The Change Master - 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 20 December 2010

Is the ultimate joy giving and receiving at the same time?

For several years now I have embraced a philosophy in ethics called enlightened self-interest which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong), ultimately serve their own self-interest.

Enlightened self-interest is often expressed as doing well while doing good.

I was raised with the biblical concept that It is more blessed to give than to receive. The vernacular for blessed is happy. This concept never sat well with me particularly as a child where I was definitely happier receiving than giving!

As I sat briefly in a shopping mall yesterday and observed 100’s of stressed people carrying Christmas presents and fighting one another in queues to buy gifts, it occurred to me that the ultimate joy is giving and receiving at the same time and that giving and receiving shouldn't be stressful at any time.

I would be very interested in your thoughts.

In whatever way you celebrate Christmas, and if you don’t, I wish you a joyous, stress free time in the next few days and may any reflections you have turn into actions that mean you experience joy in both giving and receiving all year round.

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

Want to do well while doing good? Please watch a six minute video here and then get in touch with me.

Thursday 16 December 2010

Is the co-operative business model one you could emulate?

The Co-operative Group is the UK’s largest mutual retailer and they are changing what’s normal.

In the UK they are the fifth largest food retailer, the third largest retail pharmacy chain, the number one provider of funeral services and the largest independent travel business. The Co-operative Group also has strong market positions in banking and insurance. The Group employs 120,000 people, has 5.5 million members and around 4,800 retail outlets.

I read the following on The Co-operative Group’s website:

The Co-operative model

Like any business, we want to be a commercial success. However, even more important to us is the way that we do business, and the way that we use our profits. We believe that we should offer our customers both value and values. Which makes us a bit different.

Our members are our owners; they tell us what is important to them and we listen and act on it. It’s part of our model: as a consumer co-operative, we run our business for the benefit of our members. That means our members are involved in democratic decision-making, and we re-invest in our business – share of the profits - sharing profits with our members. Our members also set a social and campaigning agenda that we support. In fact - because our members wanted it - we’ve become pioneers in areas such as fairtrade and combating climate change. Of course, the more commercially successful we are, the more we can do to give back to the communities we serve and to influence the wider world.


In an article by Adam Jupp in the Manchester Evening News 14th December (see full article here) Chief Executive Peter Marks is quoted as saying The Co-operative Group is aiming for 20 million members by 2020. Achieving this goal would mean this organisation would be serving a third of the UK’s population!

What principles of a co-operative could you emulate in your business?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
The Change Master - 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 14 December 2010

What have been your lessons from the saga surrounding WikiLeaks?

There has been lots of talk about WikiLeaks. In my view most of it absolute nonsense, particularly from politicians; some of their rhetoric is so nonsensical it is laughable.

The best balanced view I have come across is from Six Pixels of Separation author Mitch Joel who suggests seven lessons:

1.Transpareny first
2.You are media
3.Publishing has changed
4.Informaiton travels fast. Legal or not.
5.Decentralization is real
6.Credible anonymity
7.We are not ready


You can read Mitch's thoughts in full here.

My one conclusion; it is really a long held feeling that has become a conclusion - Political leadership is an oxymoron! We need politicians however no longer as leaders.

What have been your lessons?

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
The Change Master - 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 10 December 2010

Are you expecting more from 2011?

For the fifth year in a row I have contributed to the expect more ebook compiled by Gihan Perera.

This edition of the ebook contains strategies for success from 29 leading experts in personal and professional development.

You can download it from the home page of my website here.

Just scroll down to the picture of the ebooks cover. The download link is on the left.

I wish You and your family, friends, and colleagues every good thing for 2011 and beyond.

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

Monday 6 December 2010

Are you measuring what matters?

I was taken by the following comments by Rebecca Charles in a email to me about the upcoming Measuring What Matters workshop in London on December 14th.

Why should you or someone from your organisation attend this workshop?
 
1.) 80% of CEOs at large cap companies now believe sustainability and CSR performance is critical to long term success
 
2.) A wide variety of leading British brands have already made substantial investments in sustainability and the reporting process. See here.

While European countries continue to lead in sustainability performance, every OECD country is exploring mandatory non-financial reporting requirements.
 
3.) Institutional investors and financial advisors are making buy recommendations based on sustainability and CSR performance
 
4.) Consumers and other stakeholder groups are using CSR rankings to run comparative campaigns and this will have continued impact on purchasing decisions over time
 
5.) Companies that are not reporting, or are reporting poorly, are having their messaging hijacked by activist organizations and international NGOs


What does the above mean to you? I would be very interested in your thoughts.

There are some valuable short interviews with Martin Smith of Just Means here.

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.