Wednesday 29 June 2016

All product and service success is about carefully climbing momentum mountain

The diagram below explains the journey you're on to grow your business, wherever your business is at right now.

If you'd like some help in reaching the summit please give me a call.

In the first instance we’ll meet in person or online and review where you are and where you'd love to be.

Should we agree that I can help you, and that we’re a fit for one another, we’ll pinpoint a proven principle that you can immediately apply in your own best way that will get you moving towards your new place of being.

We may agree on formal arrangements in which case I'll guarantee a minimum 10 times return on your investment.

​Important: Regardless of what long term outcomes will be the results of working together, you're only ever committing to one piece of work at a time, whether that is an hour, a day, a month.

​For now let's just have an off-the-record, no obligation chat shall we?

Please call me on +61 418 807 898 to set up a mutually convenient time.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 27 June 2016

When there's no need for managers

One of the joys of my work with my clients is seeing the before and after effects of when people let go of command and control management.

There's a place for command and control in matters of life and death e.g. your building is on fire.

In every day life though command and control management is dead.

Management in the most successful workplaces I observe is about processes. This includes policies, procedures, practices, and systems. In the very best workplaces these all mean it's simple for people to deliver value.

Delivering value as perceived by the people on the receiving end is what modern business is all about.

Delivering such value is a consequence of leadership, culture and management that means people feel valued and are living values.


What sustains the triangle above is the application of proven principles in your own best way. Such principles are the subject matter of my Monday Morning Momentum videos and associated handbooks. You can access them here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Friday 24 June 2016

The Age of Attention

I love this video by Albert Wenger and agree with him that the emerging age is The Age of Attention.

The successful future of your business has much to do with how well you are helping your people to pay and give attention to what really matters.

Albert's short overview of history that we have gone from a scarcity of food to land to capital to attention is profound.

And Albert's book, which you can read here, contains a lot of great insights into what our future world can be, and how attainable such a world is.

How to pay and give attention to what really matters in our 24/7 world is one of the topics for our candid and convivial conversation in the next Appreciative Leader Online Accelerator which is on at 3.30 pm AEST next Monday the 27th June.

You can claim your seat for the accelerator here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 22 June 2016

Everybody Matters

I've placed this book on my top 21 list here because it beautifully illustrates in very practical ways how the business of business really is caring for people and the great paradox of the unprecedented results that happen as a consequence.

Why every business isn't applying the principles of this book in their own best way is beyond me. 

The good news is that the number who do is ever increasing, and a better world is a result.

You can read my Amazon review of the book here.

Some favourite take aways:

"We think it is far more important to have a safe bus and make sure that the person driving the bus - the leader - knows how to take the people to a better place."

"Recognition and celebration are two of the most powerful tools of leadership."

" ... nearly everyone is a leader and hardly anyone is a manager ..."

" ... process must serve the people not the other way around ..."

The concept of 'responsible freedom' which has far more value than the tired old word empowerment.

"There is no greater KPI (Key Performance Indicator) that you can have that is greater than people saying they are happy and they are fulfilled."

Be remarkable.
Ian

My full recommended reading list is here.

Monday 20 June 2016

Understanding what appreciation isn't is a key to understanding what it is

Being an appreciative leader is not adopting an initiative from HR, a directive from your boss, or getting on any band wagon.

Being an appreciative leader is not a tick box exercise, participating in a training program, or using a tool or technique.

Rather, being an appreciative leader is how you, moment by moment, express genuine gratitude when one of your fellow one-of-a-kind human beings is being the best version of themselves.

Playing the role of magnifier of magnificence remarkably well is critical to your success. This is the subject matter of today's Monday Morning Momentum video below and the update to handbook #4.



You can access the update from here.

This is the half way point in the series on the 8 roles appreciative leaders play remarkably well.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Two Unique Personal and Business Development Opportunities

1) The Appreciative Leader Accelerator is now on every 4th Monday at 3.30 p.m. AEST.

You can claim your place for 27th June gathering here. 

These special complimentary events are one hour of candid and convivial conversation about being the best Appreciative Leader you can be.

Soon after your registration I'll ask you what you specifically wish to be discussed and I'll then create an agenda which will be forwarded to all participants the day before we meet online which will help everyone to be ready.

2) The Appreciative Leader Online Master-mind is a one-time-only opportunity for you to work directly on yourself and your business with myself and 11 other people of like heart and mind.

Details and registration here.

Friday 17 June 2016

Measuring success by the ways we touch the lives of people

I've been mainly on light duties this week (apart from a conference presentation and a seminar for a client) due to some minor surgery and a very heavy cold (not helped I suspect by the heavy doses of stuff I took in order to clear my sinuses so that I could speak for my clients!).

In between resting and not much else I have caught up on my reading.  This blog post by Tony Schwartz a highlight.

Tony quotes Bob Chapman, who owns and runs a company called Barry-Wehmiller Companies, which has grown from a small failing business to a successful 2 billion dollar business.

Chapman says “We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people.”

I'm seeing more and more of these kind of statements by leading businesses.

How are you, or how could you, measure your success by how you touch the lives of people?

I'd love to know. Please emil me ian@ianberry.biz

Be remarkable.
Ian


PS I'm half way through the 'Everybody Matters' book referenced by Tony Schwartz and highly recommend it.

Monday 13 June 2016

The Appreciative Leader Series

I'm in the final stages of completing research for my next book, 'The Appreciative Leader', and associated online and in person programs.

A selected few will be case studies in the book. This might be you. Find out more here.

As part of the lead up to the publication of the book I'm sharing proven principles Appreciative Leaders live by, in their own best way, via Twitter each day. You can join in here.

Below is today's sharing.



I'm also conducting complimentary Appreciative Leader Accelerators online on the 4th Monday of every month. Claim your place for the 27th June 2016 event here.

And, twice a month May - August 2016 I'm sharing a short video and updating a handbook on The 8 Roles Appreciative Leaders Play Remarkably Well.

You can view the first 3 videos and download the handbook here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 8 June 2016

The Appreciative Leader Online Master-mind

I'm in the process of turning the videos from my Monday Morning Momentum series and the 4 associated handbooks into one dynamic handbook that will become the foundational workbook for my Appreciative Leader Bespoke Programs.

I'd love your help to ensure this is a world-class resource for business owners and leaders wanting to achieve better business results at less personal cost.

This is a one-time-only opportunity for the first 12 people who register here.

The first online master-mind gathering of six is on at 3.30 pm AEST on Monday September 12th 2016.

We'll also be meeting together online 1:1 six times over the six months journey.

And, with your agreement and approval of content, you'll appear in the handbook as a case study!​

Important

As soon as you claim your place by making the one-time-only investment we'll get to work by having a conversation to discuss your situation and how best the handbook can help you to move from where you are to where you want to be.

I'll then provide appropriate resources for you so that not only will you be raring to go for our first group gathering, most importantly you'll also be doing work that ensures an immediate return on your investment.

Claim your place here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Monday 6 June 2016

The underlying cause and solution for your 69.2% challenge

When I first met Susan (not her real name) she told me in confidence that she was sick of being ignored and that she was planning her exit from her employer (my client).

Susan, like many people I meet, was deprived of both appreciation and accountability, the underlying cause in my experience as to why 69.2% of the workforce (to use Gallup's number) is not fully engaged in their work.

Susan's boss engaged me to find out why she was disengaged. "She used to be a really great employee" he told me.

I shadowed Susan for a time and witnessed a highly competent employee passionate about her work.

I discovered it had been a very long time since she was given any kind of appreciation for her obvious value. I also discovered, that because of a mistake she made several years ago, that she hasn't been allowed to be accountable relevant to her gifts.

The pivotal role of The Appreciative Leader is both to be a mentor for the motivated and a disrupter for the demotivated. Appreciation and Accountability are central to both. This is the subject matter of today's Monday Morning Momentum video below and the update to handbook #4. You can download the handbook here.



I worked with Susan and her boss over a few weeks to disrupt some old thinking and provide some mentoring to help them to see the humanity in each other, forgive each other, and to close the door on the past. The experience was a lesson for them about the so-called 'soft stuff' that's hard in real life ... yet it yields the greatest sustainable ROI of anything you can do to boost your business.

Maybe you're wondering why some people in your workplace are disengaged. My educated guess is that a feeling of being appreciation and/or accountability deprived is at the heart of it all.

Take action today in your own best way. You don't want the Susan's of this world working for your competitors right? Begin here.

Be remarkable.
Ian

It's not a question of what I should do but who should I be.
Aristotle

PS Personal and Business Development Opportunities

1) Following the success of last week's Appreciative Leader Accelerator I've decided to conduct this complimentary event every 4th Monday. Details of the 27th June gathering are here.

2) The Appreciative Leader Online Master-mind is a one-time-only opportunity. Details are here.

Friday 3 June 2016

Your budget is not your growth plan

Although I've declared who I'm voting for in Australia's General Election next month (see previous post) I admit to frustration at my preferred leader continually referring to the countries budget as the plan for growth.

Budgets aren't plans. They're simply how we intend to pay for our plans.

If you're just focused on economics in your business I can promise you worse numbers than you're predicting.

Instead focus on who you and your people need to become first of all and then what you'll do, to move from where you are to where you want to be. Do this and the numbers will take care of themselves.

By all means have a budget. It's good business practice. It's not and never should be your focus. And it's most certainly not your plan for growth.

Be remarkable.
Ian

Wednesday 1 June 2016

Choosing when you don't favour any of the choices

I sense apathy in Australia at the moment with 4 weeks to go before the Federal election.

I can understand it because I don't favour any of the choices and therefore it's easy to be apathetic.

I have to vote for someone in the election whom I've never met. What I'm actually voting for is a political party rather than someone I have learned from experience is trustworthy.  I don't favour this choice.

In completing an online survey today, of the two major parties I align more with Labor (the current opposition party) than Liberal/National (the current Government). Yet I don't believe the leader of Labor has the capacity to lead as much as the leader of the Liberal/Nationals.

I think the idea of an opposition in the age of collaboration is ludicrous. Yet this is the system. And so every day we have to put up with lies on all sides as everyone throws mud at everyone else.

I'd like to see us vote for a Leader who gets to choose his/her team from those who nominated and who win their local seats. No political parties for mine. This would look something like a hybrid of the American and Westminster systems. This is not a choice I or anyone else has unfortunately.

I admire all people willing to serve their nations. I have no time for what happens in reality - the system crushes the people with the best intentions and we end up with mediocrity the world over.

Such an appalling state of affairs means we fail to solve the big problems that we face as a human race.

Equally appalling is the focus on economics in politics instead of who we can become as a society.

Early in my life it seemed liked the economy was in it's rightful place - part of society. Now it seems that everything is part of the economy. As I say appalling.

Choosing when you don't favour any of the choices

So like in business sometimes, I'm faced with choosing when I don't favour any of the options.

I think it would be poor form to not vote or cast an invalid vote, so I've chosen. I'm voting for the person, and therefore by definition party, who I feel is being the best version of themselves, albeit hamstrung by a terrible system, and some colleagues driven by self-interest.

Drum roll. I'm voting for the Liberal/National Party and therefore Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister. In previous elections I've voted for the Labor Party.

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS It's a shame Mr. Turnbull isn't the Leader of the Labor Party!

PSS In gratitude for living in a country where at the end of the day, whatever the pollies do or don't do, life's pretty darn good.

PSSS In gratitude too for the millions of entrepreneurs worldwide, who despite the inadequacy of our political systems, are solving human problems through their creativity and being the best version of themselves.