Important Business Reviews

We often think of these as the bottom line, profit-and-loss, growth etc but these are symptoms of underlying causes, and those underlying causes are our relationships, conduct and integrity. 

Let me give an example:

I recently engaged a company to do some Internet advertising for me.  I agreed over the 'phone what was to be done and we agreed that I would receive written confirmation, VAT receipt etc through the post within the next 3 days or so.  A week later nothing had arrived: I rang the company.  We agreed to leave it another couple of days.  Nothing.  Since that time (another week) I have written 3 e-mails and spoken to people twice, receiving promises of a return call from their Accounts Team, but still nothing.

If this typifies their behaviour with other customers, the chances are that their bottom line will not be too healthy before very long: in fact I would anticipate them going out of business. 

But if the problem is considered to be the bottom line, it doesn't tell the story. 

The story (and the remedies to the problem) lie in their relationships, their integrity and customer focus (or in this case the severe lack of it).  They say but do not do!  Perhaps they're so focussed on getting new clients that their existing ones fall off the list.

This is too common today in business, which is why when new companies arise who really appreciate their clients and customers and treat them especially well, they succeed, and why many of our established names who rely on past reputation are disappearing from the market place.

And Academia, which strives ever more to be a business, is not free from this plague ... 

Recently, an external expert whom a University was relying on for input to a new course, visited the UK from Canada and came to a meeting at the University. One academic pretty much opened the conversation with, "Well, no-one asked you to come!"

We can talk about success as much as we like, but true success (personal fulfilment, financial and otherwise) will only come when we manage to get our business focus on relationships in order.

Financial measures of success are merely the symptoms of the true underlying reason for that success (or failure).

Our History Dictates Our Destiny?

Lately I've been thinking about how our achievements in life are shaped and moulded by our history and experiences, with some of the strongest stimuli for success or failure being in our childhood years. I know this can be an over-simplification but listening to life stories, I find it very interesting how often there are clear trends. First the negative impact ...

Interviews with many porn stars and ex-porn stars show a clear relationship between childhood abuse, neglect, violence and family break-up and the tendency to enter the sex-industry, ultimately leading to appearance in porn films ('porn star' status). The heart-breaking truth behind these people is that their self-esteem and self-value has been shattered at a very early age, their level of expectation is low, and even more worrying, they are left feeling that they have no intrinsic value. So, they sell their bodies, lock down the emotions and tell the world how glamorous it is, whilst dying inside. If you want to read some stories of people who has managed to escape the industry try this link ... http://www.thepinkcross.org/pinkcross_articles

Secondly the positive impact ...

Many successful business people (and in broader life) can recount times in their childhood when they were actively encouraged by their parents or mentors to 'reach for the skies' and give it a go. Great musicians frequently cite back to the encouragement they received from their family when those around them (siblings, teachers etc) were being negative about their prospects in life. Tony Campolo, an American sociologist recounts how every morning he was sent packing to school. His neighbour, a boy of similar age to himself, was always sent out with the words 'Go and conquer the world'.

Okay so this may sound rather cliched but the truth is that our expectations will often drive what we do and what we achieve. And those expectations, in most cases, are nurtured and inspired by others who believe in us, see our potential and encourage us to use it.

Sure there are also people who have an amazing strength of will and who, despite being repeatedly put down, are determined to achieve. This is frequently a response to escape from their surroundings to a 'better life'. But somewhere desperation, self-belief or a combination of the two drive success.

So what am I saying?

I guess it's that each and every one of us has a responsibility to encourage others to achieve their potential, whenever and wherever we can. Put down the fears that we will be overtaken, or someone else will get our job. We all have the potential to be a mentor and the fruits can be huge, both personally and financially.

Equally, we have the potential to block others, prevent them from discovering their dreams and stop them achieving these.

Sure, we may stay on top of the pile but at what cost to us personally?

What if we encouraged someone to reach for the skies and they just happen to achieve this goal ... and take us with them.

It's a risk we take. But until we try we'll never find out.

Bridge Builder, Pace Setter or Record Breaker?

How often do we come up against an issue or problem and immediately think,
"I can't do that"?

How often do we look to others to solve our problems because we feel inadequate?

Why do we think others find things easier than we do?

In reality, our insecurities and failure to identify our own strengths can be a real barrier to our success ... as can our fear of criticism of others if we fail.

But take heart! Just about all of the most successful people in every walk of life have made serious mistakes. In fact some of them even declare that they expect to make mistakes in order to succeed. Many of today's multi-millionaires have failed badly, to the point of bankruptcy. But their main strength is a failure to accept defeat when they are down. They learn from their mistakes, apply that knowledge and continue to strive for success.

Look at the competitors in the Beijing 2008 Olympic games. We see the victors, who have trained hours each day for many years to achieve their peak which enables them to take on the rest of the world and win.

But think also about those athletes who don't come in the top 3 positions ...

• Do they see that as failure?
• Does that make their efforts a waste of time?

I think you only need to listen to some of the interviews to realise that for many, simply making it to the Olympic games was their dream. Having competed, they are now spurred on to try even harder and improve their performance.

Think also of the bigger picture ...

• National pride (such as the Afghan Taekwondo bronze medal winner who won his much troubled country's first ever Olympic medal)
• Potential for improvement
• Opportunity to learn from errors and improve

All oftese things have significant value; value which is key to future success, not just today's glory.

And for those medal winners (in some spectacular cases, previously unknown athletes) who have dedicated themselves to training and discipline; they have reaped rewards beyond their expectations. But they can't just stop here. The will need the same (possibly greater) focus and dedication to stay at the top of their sport until the decide to retire.

We may all have different goals, different reasons for doing things, different abilities and different strengths, but we all have the ability to try for somthing we currently find impossible and achieve it. The sub-4-minute mile was considered impossible until Roger Bannister achieved it. Interestingly, when that barrier had been overcome, many other athletes broke the same barrier within a short time after the original record had been set. Why was that? perhaps it was simply the fact that their targets had been re-set because of the achievement of one other person. The impossible had become possible.

So what are our targets? Do we want to be the pace setters or the followers? Both are important. We need to decide in our own mind and then head for that target, and in order to achieve that goal we may need to rethink about ourselves, what we are achieving and what we can achieve.

Pablo Picasso wrote, "I am always doing that which I can not do in order that I may learn how to do it"

Interestingly, Sir Kenneth Robinson also wrote, "Creativity suppressed either deserts or subverts."

Are we going to suppress our own abilitites through lack of self belief or fear of failure?

I hope not.

Until next time ...

The Invisible Creatives Amongst Us

"We need more creatives."

"Where are our creative people?"

"Where will we find the next generation of creative people for our business?"

"What is creativity?"

"We've always done it this way; how can we change?"

These are all issues I've discussed with friends over the past month or so. Creativity is seen almost as the Holy Grail, yet like the Holy Grail, it is elusive, can't be found, remains a mystery. It is something restricted to certain 'gifted' artistic individuals, or to a group of social misfits who sit isolated in their own thoughts dreaming up ideas.

The truth is that creativity is not restricted neither are creatives 'misfits'. In order to be truly creative, interpersonal skills are prerequisite; interaction is important and the good news is that it is present in normal people! We all have the potential to apply creativity, whether we work in a scientific, mathematical, engineering, human science or artistic environment.

The question isn't so much,"Where are the creatives?"

but more

"How can I discover and apply my own creative abilities?"

We tend to think that the grass is greener on the other side; someone else always has better resources than us; someone else always has better ideas than us.

But is that true?

These 'other people' potentially start with the same resources as we do but develop them in a different way, or perhaps they are able to see the potential in who and what they have! The trend over recent years has been to hire the bright young graduates emerging from our centres of academic excellence, replacing existing experience with a new vibrant culture.

But how new and how vibrant is it? Sure there's lots of energy, so I guess in that sense it is vibrant. But how can people emerging from an educational system, still naïve in so many areas of life, experience and reality possibly hope to contribute significantly to our creative culture, if it's not been there in their education? And how can people who are uncreative (the majority emerging from this 'acreative' educational culture) then teach others to be creative? I would suggest that the answer is 'With difficulty.'

However, if we take time to look closer at our people we will surely see a wealth of potential. Perhaps the silver foxes with their experience do have something to offer after all! Perhaps their years of effort, challenges, mistakes and triumphs count a lot more than we realise towards a creative culture we seek after so earnestly. Creativity involves risk, experiment, a combination of experience with naïvity; bringing together different personalities, who perhaps don't naturally sit comfortably together, rubbing the corners off each other to produce a creative spark.

The companies that know the importance of creativity and the creative culture thrive and grow, identifying and releasing it within their existing staff, harnessing the benefits of experience and tempered persistence along with the enthusiasm of newcomers.

Companies that don't, including some of our big corporate players are likely to become historical names in the not too distant future unless they fail to embrace the concept and change accordingly.

Honest Debate - A Creative Tool?

Hi! I've not written anything down for a while because I have had my nose in books researching for my business. My entry for today is short and basic.

I never cease to be amazed how many of the triggers that release creativity are so simple. Nothing deep and complicated; nothing highly theoretical; nothing special really ... just a gateway to looking at the same problem in a different way. For example, take a problem, look at the key elements in that problem and then start thinking about the effects of opposites: What would be the situation if that wasn't to happen?

And as I looked at these tools, it struck me that some of the greatest stimulators of creativity are when opposites meet; when we are placed in situations, or with people who take a different, possibly contrary view to our own.

And I wondered whether we lose creative opportunities because we are afraid to engage in open, honest, frank debate and in some cases take an opposing view. I'm not suggesting that we look for every opportunity to put people together who go for each other's jugular, but I am suggesting that by encouraging honest debate between people or departments which don't naturally fit together, we may be able to stimulate some new, otherwise unidentified solutions to our problems.

I also think that some our meetings would also be more fun and productive!

'Oh! I've known you for ages. I don't think it's my job to tell you when you've done something well ... just when you need to improve'

So ended a conversation with someone I'd known for years ... and it hurt ... and it set me thinking!

I see many people, especially young people/young adults with a desperate need to be affirmed, noticed, respected (in the true sense) and encouraged. They have many 'friends' and colleagues whom they have known for a long time, but somehow the familiarity has also put scales on the eyes of friends, so that they no longer encourage or feed positives into their life ... only a destructive neutrality.

And yet I am often just as guilty as my friend for either prejudging (appearance, comments from other people etc) or just looking for things I can improve in others, whilst missing the core values and reasons why they are my friend in the first place. What should be a relationship becomes a monologue: I forget their needs and aim to fulfil my wants.

I remember friends at school who were devastated when they had tried their hardest and yet weren't quite good enough because the standard of their work didn't compare to the standard of work submitted by other members of the class. Rather than being helped and encouraged, they were targetted by teachers and fellow pupils; they were the butt end of jokes; they were labelled 'thick', 'stupid', 'dunces' (and worse) ... and I was right there with the crowd taunting them!!

What effect did this have on the individuals concerned?

They responded in a number of ways. They became:

Discouraged ... they perceived themselves as not good enough.
Demotivated ... their enthusiasm and interest declined and not surprisingly, their marks got worse
Disillusioned ... long-term, some of my friends gave up in that subject
Some became Disenfranchised from the education system ... they continually got into trouble with teachers, pupils and in some cases the law, and very sadly, some lost hope.

But thankfully, some became very successful people, running their own business and enjoying life.

So what happened to buck the trend?

In most cases there was either an individual who took interest in them, coached and encouraged them, hung in there and made a difference. In other cases the inner drive of these people to prove to themselves that they had value and could succeed was so strong that they drove themselves to achieve what they had been told could never happen.

I hear sad stories about people like Robbie Williams and Mick Hucknall, two high profile, talented personalities in the music world who were told by teachers at school, 'You will never amount to anything.' Ouch! Wouldn't it have been so much better if their talents had been spotted, encouraged and nurtured so that they could reach and enjoy their success without so many hangups and low self image.

As we look to cultivate our relationships with others we should start by 'earning the right' to their friendship by building trust and demonstrating that we are worth having as a friend. And once we have built these friendships and relationships, it is the responsibility of each of us to accentuate the positive rather than highlight the negative or, equally as destructive, make no comment at all.

I believe that by applying these principles to our relationships, in all areas of life, we will benefit, our friends will benefit, those around us will benefit and ultimately our businesses and ventures will benefit.

Success = Creativity + Integrity

I was reading an article in the headlines today which stated that fewer and fewer people trust what they read in adverts, and suspicion is at an all time high online as surfers are afraid to follow advertising links in case their e-mail address is somehow 'captured' and they are bombarded with unwanted communications from the company and third party associates.

Combine this with an all-time low level of trust in business marketing campaigns as a whole and we face a bit of a crisis ... We need to communicate with people about our products and services, but how do we achieve that without being thwarted at the first step?

Can I suggest that one word sums up the answer ... integrity.

Over the past few years there has been a significant change in both the offline and online business arenas, from being company driven to being consumer driven: What do our customers want? rather than What do we want to give our customers? Creative (or not so creative) techniques have been used to 'breech customer defences' and get them to buy. Unfortunately, a lot of these techniques, though very creative, were also one-sided, excluding the customer.

However, the wind of change now means that customers have what, to some, may seem like too much power in dictating markets.

As I looked a little closer at this problem something very basic struck me: this new modus operandi is sales and marketing (offline and online) driven by relationships. Sure, we can dress this up in all sorts of jargon, but the basis is now,

"If you want me to buy from you I want to know you, I want to know what you stand for, I want to know what you are trying to sell me, I want to know how I benefit from having it and then I can make a decision on whether I want to buy it"

Unique Selling Points (USPs), selling the benefits of products and customer focused selling have always been good techniques and known to bring improved customer response. However, now the customers have caught up! They are tired of being given half truths or part information about products; and rightly so.

Unfortunately, presenting only the advantages and successes of a product, whilst omitting to declare some of the disadvantages has been the accepted norm in many companies, particularly if those disadvantages have no associated health risk. However, the more scary fact is that this practice also occurs in the health and pharmaceutical industries where the consequences are nothing short of dangerous or life-threatening. Newspaper headlines with significant impact on the company, publicised when it is discovered that certain unwanted side effects or adverse effects were conveniently 'omitted' from the dossier submitted for approval.

If we take time to consider this, the effects seen in the relatively small, selected population used in clinical trials are certainly going to be seen when the drug is released to the wider community and used by millions of patients, often worldwide. Integrity is compromised in an effort to gain (often short-term) return on investment to please the shareholders. Creativity without the integrity leads to compromise at the least; disaster at worst.

But the impact on the wider business community in these situations. There is a massive loss of trust by the customers; not only against in the 'offending' company but against all companies in the same business sector. We all suffer from the lack of integrity of others.

So, I welcome much of the shift that has taken place because I see it as a return to the basics of human interaction and relationships. As businesses we are now accountable to our customers and we are required to be open and honest if we want their custom, business and loyalty.

Historically and in the future, the most successful businesses are/will be those that display integrity and use their creativity wisely. No longer can we simply sell to our customers ... we need to gain their trust and loyalty first, and we can only really do that by establishing a relationship with them, by including them in our decisions and listening to what they have to say, even if we can't act on every request we receive. However, once we have their trust, it is easier to be open about our mistakes and we are seen to be human and not just some corporate threat. We may also be creative in asking our customers their ideas for solutions to our problems?

2008 is a new start for me as I venture out in my own business. After 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry I have witnessed much that is good and bad. My priority is to take the best that I have learnt, be transparent in what I do and keep an open ear to those I deal with.

I want to ensure that my creativity is tempered, no, driven by integrity.