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Impossible is nothing

Posted by Constance Ward on June 18, 2012   |   Comments Off on Impossible is nothing

Larry Page, the Google co-founder, once recommended that people “have a healthy disregard of the impossible.”

Photo by Jim Hipps

Thought leaders would most likely agree with that general advice, but they would also recognize that it’s critical to know your own limits and those of your organization…especially when you’re making changes in the company and its culture.

How do you know you’re pushing your employees and your company as a whole just that wee bit too far?

Having good communications processes and practices in place will allow you to quickly and efficiently gather feedback so you can sense that limit before you reach it.

A good communications team can help you sense what’s happening in the organization so that you can respond appropriately. They can read the signals and clarify how employees are reacting to your messages, how change is being perceived and where –or whether — it’s taking hold.

Your communications team can be a barometer for you…by frequently tracking the”barometric pressure” during a change initiative, they can tell you whether a storm is brewing or whether there’s clear weather ahead for more change.

Is your “disregard of the impossible” healthy for your organization or are you stretching it beyond its limit? Ask, assess then act

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Transformational Leaders vs. Transactional Leaders – Which one are you?

Posted by Constance Ward on June 12, 2012   |   1 Comment

One of the best blogs on transformational change is written by Bob Tipton, who is part of the Thought Leader Zone partner network. His recent follow-up post, based on an earlier blog on the difference between transformational and transactional leaders, outlines “5 Essential Behaviors of Transformational Change Leaders.” He says that transformational leaders:

• Act courageously
• Are authentically optimistic
• Collaborate through empathy
• Operate from principles, not polls
• Radiate a passion for purpose

traits of transformational change leaders

For each of these descriptions, he contrasts the actions of transformational leaders with those of transactional leaders. He then makes the case clearly for building your transformational leadership skills so that these behaviors will come more naturally to you over time.

Are you what Bob Tipton calls a ‘transformational leader’ or do you get caught up in being too transactional? Ask, assess, then act.

Are Boring CEOs the Best?

Posted by Constance Ward on June 8, 2012   |   Comments Off on Are Boring CEOs the Best?

are boring CEOs better performers or thought leaders?

One of the best business writers today, Lucy Kellaway, stirred up interesting debate on the topic of being boring in a recent column in the Financial Times (or read at IrishTimes.com). She believes that if CEOs are boring, their businesses might go more smoothly and uses the example of GE’s leader Jeff Immelt to prove that point.

Quoting a recent study by Stephen Kaplan from the Chicago Booth School of Business and a Harvard Business Review blog by Joel Stein, Kellaway proposes that dull CEOs tend to be determined, detail oriented and hard working. She warns against associating the word “boring” with “bad” and calls for a re-branding of the boring CEO, whose success may be based on simplicity and innate happiness.

Boring CEOs aren’t stupid; but they have narrow interests and hone in on the small things in life, the small things that fill every working day. She says they are good at what Jim Collins calls “rinsing your cottage cheese” and cites two more role models for boring CEOs: John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates.

Despite the hype about being boring, I’m not convinced that most thought leaders can “pull off” being boring. Kellaway’s exceptional exceptions fail to persuade me that the majority of CEOs should strive to be boring – that seems too low a hurdle for all of you energetic, charismatic thought leaders.

Are you a boring CEO? Do you want to be? Would you prefer to be a thought leader who’s interested and interesting? Ask, assess, then act.

10 Questions to Answer Before a Communication Crisis Hits your Organization

Posted by Constance Ward on June 4, 2012   |   1 Comment

Do you have a pre-defined communications plan in place for a management or organizational crisis? Goldman Sachs’ handling of a recent crisis stirred up by disgruntled senior manager Greg Smith can be considered a PR ‘worst-practice’ crisis communications case. The company’s reactions and responses to a scathing editorial the departing employee wrote for the New York Times were underwhelming; their communications response was not just ineffective; it actually added fuel to the fire and made the situation worse.

Hopefully, you won’t ever have to deal with such a public debacle. But you still need to be prepared because $&?!#% always happens. Always.

When a crisis comes, are you and your team prepared to deal not only with the situation itself, but also with the related internal and external communications issues that arise?

By answering these ten questions, you will have the beginnings of a robust crisis communications plan that will ensure you’re prepared to face a communications crisis quickly, effectively and professionally:

10 questions to ask before a communications crisis hits your organization:

  1. What’s the overview of the process and does everyone on the management team know it, not only the communications team?
  2. Do your managers all have a one-page quick guide to do’s and don’ts for crisis communications?
  3. Do your managers have a generic flow chart outlining who does what when?
  4. Do your managers have some generic wording for informing clients about a crisis that can be tailored to the specific situation?
  5. Do your managers have a list of ‘taboo phrases’ to avoid in a crisis?
  6. 6. Do your managers have a list of generic statements to give internal audiences when crisis details aren’t yet known?
  7. Do your managers have a list of generic statements to adapt for internal audiences in the hours, days and weeks following a crisis?
  8. Do your managers have a list of holding statements for journalists that can be adapted to the specific crisis?
  9. Do your managers have a list of polite ‘no response’ phrases to answer journalists who ask sensitive or confidential questions?
  10. Do your managers have a template and process for collecting questions being asked by employees, clients, investors or journalists?

And one final (but important) question: Do the right people in your organization have the right answers to these questions? Ask, assess, then act.

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What’s your local-social strategy for client intimacy?

Posted by Constance Ward on May 27, 2012   |   Comments Off on What’s your local-social strategy for client intimacy?

A recent article on ‘How Walmart Is Localizing Its Stores With Facebook’ by Clara Shih discussed how the big-box retailer is developing what’s called a ‘local-social’ strategy to make their stores more relevant to the communities they serve.

Click to view full size

A corporate-wide brand presence on social media sites is a given, the author says, but the more effective channels are being built around local stores. She explains the authentic feeling of belonging those types of sites can engender:

‘Having 20 million fans secures bragging rights for a brand, but from the perspective of the fan, it’s far more engaging and rewarding to be part of a smaller, more intimate community.’

Even large multi-national companies need to create an authentic local experience in order to engage clients in their brand. A tailored communication approach — whether through traditional or social media channels — can enlarge the number of loyal members within the community without losing the ‘local feel’ of the brand.

Are you using traditional or social media channels to enrich the experience of your customers and make it more intimate and authentic? Ask, assess, then act.

Photo Credit: Giulia Forsythe on Flickr 

Making All the Right Moves, for Buildings and Businesses

Posted by Constance Ward on May 22, 2012   |   1 Comment

at the site of building move in Zurich Switzerland

If you moved 60 meters in a day, you’d hardly expect a celebration. But when a five-story brick building was moved that far on 22 May 2012, the Swiss threw a party to celebrate the engineering feat. Beer tents, balloons atop the building and VIP speeches added to the festive feeling at the site next to the Oerlikon train station in Zurich, Switzerland.

A complex system of hydraulics and rails made the move seamless, albeit slow. (See the end of this post for short videos taken at the construction site.) The high level of technological and engineering expertise required to accomplish this goal cannot be underestimated. Weighing 6200 tonnes, the historic factory building is 80 meters long and 123 years old. It was the largest building ever to be moved in Europe. At 4 meters an hour, it took 19 hours to complete the move.

Why would anyone want to move such a building? The main reason for the move was that the train station was expanding; but when the owners wanted to tear it down, the public petitioned and won their battle to keep “Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon” the 1876 machine factory intact and standing.

The business applications of this ambitious engineering feat were also impressive. Technical teams worked in synchronization as they collaborated to make the move of the industrial building a success.

Do you ever have the feeling that making your business move even a few more meters toward tomorrow is a monumental feat? Consider these observations inspired from  Oerlikon to propel forward momentum in your organization:

  • Are you applying the right pressure to make it possible to move your business in the right direction?
  • Are you making all the right moves inside your organization to facilitate that forward movement?
  • Are you making them in the most effort-efficient way?
  • Are you recognizing and reminding people of the historical importance of your company’s legacy before you make any move?
  • Are your company’s foundations strong enough to endure such a move?

Ask, assess, then act. We’re here to help.

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Business Jargon and Gibberish: 50 Tired Management Buzzwords and Communication Killers

Posted by Constance Ward on May 20, 2012   |   5 Comments

If the following mock CEO memo makes you grin or groan, you’ve probably read something like it before. But let’s hope you’ve never written or said anything quite so appallingly filled with jargon and buzzwords:

I am confident that, at the end of the day, we will gain some quick wins through onboarding then socialising the concept of eliminating jargon. Going forward, we will all be on the same page – indeed singing from the same song sheet – and be thinking out of the box when it comes to the language we utilise in the C-suite. Initially, it will be similar to herding cats, and the process will identify the square pegs in the round holes, but we will achieve some upside and a paradigm shift as we reach out and break the silos through the use of intelligible language.”

That priceless gem of gobbledygook was submitted by someone named Helen Slater to a LinkedIn group I follow. The discussion thread has lasted for more than three months, with new submissions of the ”most-overused business buzzwords” appearing regularly.

Included here is a list of a few of the favorite words that they submitted. I’m sure you’ll love to hate them, too. If you have any ”worst words” to add, share them in the comments, or submit them here and we’ll add them to our collection.

As a thought leader, do you speak the same way at work as you do at home? Are you communicating clearly and distinctly, not relying on tired cliches and ambiguous words? Ask, assess, then act.

50 Over-used Business Buzzwords and Phrases We Love to Hate

Collected from three months of comments in a LinkedIn discussion thread, I’ve chosen to highlight the 50 buzz words I think are the most common, most egregious, or in some cases the most absurd.

  1. Utilize
  2. At the end of the day
  3. Low hanging fruit
  4. We’ll get there
  5. Let’s hold a calibration meeting
  6. As you are aware
  7. Invite as a noun
  8. Task as a verb
  9. Tin cupping
  10. Impacted as a verb
  11. Let’s suck the marrow out of it
  12. Tension in the system
  13. What’s your workload like?
  14. Do you have capacity?
  15. I need a single belly button as a go-to on this project
  16. On a go-forward basis
  17. High-level
  18. Harness the power of
  19. Socialise
  20. Leverage
  21. Level the playing field
  22. Playing on the same team
  23. Drinking from the fire hose
  24. Walk the walk, Talk the talk, Walk the talk and Talk the walk
  25. Get on the same page
  26. Get our arms around it
  27. My bad
  28. I’m going to have to noodle over this idea
  29. Deep dive
  30. Thinking outside the box
  31. Paradigm shift
  32. Blue sky
  33. Blue ocean
  34. Drop the kimono
  35. Game changer
  36. Deep dive
  37. My ask
  38. Let’s marinate on this one
  39. Sweet spot
  40. Provide air cover
  41. Peel back the onion
  42. Touch base
  43. Synergy
  44. Take it offline
  45. Go back to Square 1
  46. Run it up the flagpole
  47. Pushing the envelope
  48. Deep dive
  49. Circle the wagons
  50. Mission critical

Young Thought Leaders Making Waves in the European Young Chemists Network

Posted by Constance Ward on May 15, 2012   |   Comments Off on Young Thought Leaders Making Waves in the European Young Chemists Network
EYCN group boating in Portugal

A group from the European Young Chemists Network on the canals of Aveiro, Portugal

There’s something inspiring about meeting three dozen bright young European scientists who – despite some healthy debate – are now all pulling in one direction: to try to raise the profile of the European Young Chemists Network as thought leaders.

I presented them with some cool tools to help guide their discussions and debate and the final product of the session was a framework with claims they want to make to potential sponsors and members, as well as media and other stakeholders in the non-profit organization, about the essential contribution they are making as a group.

As part of the European Chemists and Molecular Scientists Society, these young chemists represented their national groups at the Delegates Assembly in Aveiro, Portugal, from 6-9 May.

Cold, driving rain throughout most of the conference encouraged active participation in indoor activities, like the business sessions and workshops. A stronger, more cohesive group ended the conference with a social event – an informal boat race around the canals that have earned Aveiro the title “The Venice of Portugal.”

Does your company, team or non-profit group need to master some of the tools of thought leadership and apply them to your own particular situation? Ask, assess, then act.

Are Thought Leaders Born or Created? Agreeing to Disagree

Posted by Constance Ward on May 11, 2012   |   Comments Off on Are Thought Leaders Born or Created? Agreeing to Disagree

I recently met with a young Canadian woman who has just moved to Germany after doing social media to promote Hollywood films and then getting her MBA. She called herself a ‘hunter and gatherer of content.’

We agreed about the key role that social media is playing now in the business world and that Facebook is ‘winning the social media game’ when compared with Google Plus, LinkedIn or even Twitter.

Having sent out 87 tweets during last week’s water conference, I can testify to the limits of Twitter. It was certainly a challenge to summarize a session’s content in 140 characters and still include the long hashtag #watermeetsmoney, as well as the speaker’s name, title, country or company. Facebook posts are much more forgiving on length so more substantial content can be posted.

The one thing that she and I viewed differently was her belief that not everyone can be a thought leader. Coincidentally I’ll be presenting my opposing point of view at the European Young Chemists Network next week in Aveiro, Portugal.

We all have a unique set of experiences and expertise that can be built into a thought leadership position for something somehow. For example, each of these bright PhD graduate chemists can be considered a thought leader in the topic of their dissertation and can build on that niche area and actively promote their reputation within their individual corner of the industry.

It’s a natural approach for these young chemists to use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other types of social media to enhance their “personal brand.”

Are you taking steps to actively build your reputation in your industry, no matter how early in your career you are? Ask, assess, then act.

Two unique formats help to showcase thought leaders at the 2012 Global Water Summit

Posted by Constance Ward on May 8, 2012   |   Comments Off on Two unique formats help to showcase thought leaders at the 2012 Global Water Summit

Rome, Italy, known as the City of Fountains, was an appropriate host city for this year’s Global Water Summit, sponsored by the publication Global Water Intelligence. As the publisher Christopher Gasson pointed out in his speech to the CEOs gathered for a dinner the night before the event, Ancient Romans had aqueducts and viaducts — they even had a Goddess of the Sewers named Cloacina.

Rome’s historical tradition of being progressive is continuing, according to Jerome Douziech of Nuove Acque SpA, who explained that their water/wastewater concession had reduced energy consumption by 25% in ten years. However, a statistic they should be less proud of is that Italy consumes the most bottled water in the world — about 200 litres per capita.

At the Rome Global Water Summit 2012Format #1 – A Pecha Kucha-style format with immediate feedback: Douziech was one of the five candidates for the Water Performer of the Year award (click here for a list of all Global Water Award winners). Each presenter in the session had the opportunity to show 20 slides for 20 seconds each, like a Pecha Kucha format, and then the audience used voting machines that showed the results immediately. The winner pictured here was from Armenia.

Award winners: Global Water Summit 2012

Format #2 – The “Rapid Roundtable” Session: Another effective conference format to show industry thought leaders in action was the rapid roundtable session. During the two one-and-a-half hour workshops, about 75 presenters held half-hour mini-roundtables on their area of expertise. Click here to read coverage of one of the other compelling presentations, this one on the future of toilets by the Gates Foundation.

Throughout the conference, a live Twitter feed of quotable quotes kept the audience, the media and subscribers informed about the content highlights of the event.

Are you as a thought leader finding the right conference venues, prestigious forums and creatively structured events to showcase your ideas? Ask, assess, then ask.

 

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