12 reasons why we ask for business help

Here’s a list of common, and not so common, reasons we seek out business help and hire business consultants:

12 Reasons: Why we ask for business help

1. I know what’s wrong, but don’t know how to fix it.

2. I know what’s wrong but don’t have the resources to fix it, what should I do?

3. I know what’s wrong and I know how to fix it, but don’t want to fix it that way, show me another method that is easier, better or less costly.

4. I don’t know what’s wrong. Help me diagnose the organization or situation.

5. I think I know what is wrong and want a second opinion, validation and confirmation.

6. I don’t think anything is wrong, but just to make sure I want you to take a look.

7. I want you to tell me what is wrong so that I can tell you you’re wrong.

8. I want solutions, if they don’t work I want to blame it on you.

9. I want to achieve specific results and don’t have the expertise. I want to hire an expert in order to save time and reduce errors.

10. I have a problem and want to fix it. I don’t want to be wrong and prefer to use experts to guarantee success.

11. I want to be one of the first to learn and implement the “new and improved” business ideas, theories and practices.

12. I am looking for new ideas to break our routine and make it exciting again, make something new happen.

Related Links

10 Reasons why people hire business consultants

The clients I don’t want

Great International Business Trip Results

In any international relationship communication and understanding are critical for success.

Problems created by; language, stereotypes, misinformation, lack of information, and cultural misunderstandings combine with normal business problems to create a complicated scenario for anyone involved in international relationships and global business.

Prepare your international meetings and business presentations using the following questions as a guide to organize your ideas and focus on actions that will produce positive results for everyone involved.

6 Questions – Create Great International Business Trip Results

1. What does this organization know about me, my company and my country?
2. What do they think they know about me?
3. What can I tell them that they do not know?
4. What do I know about my international partner, culture and country?
5. What do I think I know about this business, culture and country?
6. What can they tell me that I do not know?

1. What does this organization know about me and my company. When you walk in the room an opinion has already been formed about you, your organization, and your ability to perform in the future. These ideas are based upon facts, information and past experience.

• What has been the history of our relationship in their country?
• Who has been involved in our mutual business, and why?
• What promises have been made and kept by both?
• What promises have been made and not delivered upon?
• What have the major problems and success been in the past?
• Press and media, our organizations promotional material.

2. What do they think they know about me. Clarifying the unknowns or presumed realities in a relationship is crucial to success. These ideas may be very damaging and limit your ability to trust one another. What stereotypical behaviour can you avoid or prevent? What can you clarify or refute through information or actions?

• Behaviour and reacts based upon past experience with your organization.
• Rumour and innuendo, press and media reports.
• Negotiation styles.
• Business objectives.
• Behaviour, goals and methods of doing business based upon country and cultural stereotypes.

3. What can I tell them that they do not know. Today’s business world requires trust, information and solutions. Reinforcing your need to work with your international partner, providing important information or solutions, and clarifying misunderstandings can only help the relationship.

• Clarify or destroy cultural stereotypes.
• Clarify business objectives and why they are important in order to reach these objectives.
• Provide solutions and alternatives to existing situations and challenges.
• Provide information of value for their business and strategy.
• Clearly identify current or potential business problems.
• Predict and have answers ready for their questions.

4. What do I know about my International partner, culture and country? What do I know is true and not innuendo or interpretation? The numbers, facts, information, agreements and past performance history of the business. Information about the country and the business culture.

5. What do I think I know about this business, culture and country? What preconceived ideas and stereotypes are you working with? What are you assuming and what has been proven?

6. What can they tell me that I do not know? What questions do you need to ask in order to verify information or create plans. What pieces of your information puzzle are missing? This is the time to get your questions answered, what are they?

Related Links

Cultural misunderstanding it can happen to you

Stereotypes and global business

Create great international business relationships

16 Essential questions – the international business traveller’s quiz

Lessons in international business

Managers choice, rules or limits?

I found myself in strong disagreement to this post on Lifehack.org, Reining in the Rule Breakers.

I understand the need for policies and rules to insure employee safety. This post might be appropriate for those situations. It also might be justified when attempting to standardize jobs and activities that require no creativity or individual decision making in order to function correctly. I sense the post was geared to managers dealing with these type of positions.

This approach toward strict adherence to the “rules”, just smacks of a 1930’s factory or grade school, and is the exact opposite of what I feel a workplace in 2006 requires to remain creative, enthusiastic and productive.

I do think it’s important to define limits. Very different from rules. Limits give maximum or minimum boundaries, but do not bind individuals into procedures and don’t stifle creativity.

It is important to define goals and objectives, basic coordinated procedures and time limits. Allow the team, organization or individual to find the best path to the goal. Before you scream chaos and anarchy, understand that standard operating procedures and existing policies will normally be the jumping off point for most of the organization. Any changes that occur to those procedures will often be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Focus your energy and your people on objectives and not on blindly following the rules.

Related Links

Successful managers should be breaking the rules

What are the rules? Hopefully, none.

5 ways to promote creative thinking and idea generation

Is your boss a prison warden or party host?

Industrial and Business Parks in Mexico

Looking for a “plug and play” solution for your business or factory in Mexico? Take a hard look at the advantages that Mexican industrial parks offer.

AMPIP (Mexican Association of Business and Industrial Parks) can partner with you and provide contacts and information about Mexico’s industrial and business parks. They work closely with private industry, state and local governments and real estate organizations in order to provide solutions for companies seeking to quickly and easily establish a physical presence in Mexico.

“Investment Promotion
AMPIP has become one of Mexico’s leading agencies for the promotion of foreign investment projects, thanks to its participation in national and international shows, the advertising in specialized media, the alliance with other business associations and the permanent contact with a wide network of corporations and real estate players, as well as with government officials.

Part of the promotion activities include the registration of industrial assets owned by AMPIP members in our Industrial Real Estate Promotion System, available on-line at our Internet site, apart from the printed material, such as location maps edited in conjunction with the Mexican Bank for Foreign Trade (Bancomext), which are distributed worldwide.”

There are specific and unique advantages of industrial and business parks. Saving time and money are among the biggest factors. Access to transportation, power and communication infrastructure is another. The definition of “Industrial Park” will provide some idea of the other advantages.

“What is an Industrial Park?

An industrial park is a delimited extension of land, characterized by four main aspects:

1. It is located close to transport facilities, such as hightways, airports, sea ports and railways.

2. It concentrates essential dedicated infrastructure in one location for industrial operations, such as water (including sewer lines, drainage systems), electricity (including high power supply lines), telecommunications and roads.

3. It fulfills all the prerequisites to obtain the permission from local authorities for the set up of new operations (construction, environment, etc.)

4. It has a central administration that coordinates the internal safety of assets, the maintenance of public infrastructure, the promotion of new operations and the affairs with local authorities”

For more detailed information, contact: Associacion Mexicana de Parques Industriales, Monte Camerùn 54 – 1, Colonia Lomas de Barrilaco, C.P. 11010, Delegacion Miguel Hidalgo, Mèxico D.F., Mexico Tel. +52 (55) 2623-2216 Fax +52 (55) 2623-2218 Email ampip@ampip.org.mx

Related Links

AMPIP Mexican Association of Business and Industrial Parks

Official Government websites of the 32 Mexican states

How to do business in Mexico

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

Mexican official (and unofficial) holidays

Tip: How to call Mexico from the US

What to dial in order to reach a cellular phone in Mexico

Advice on what to expect when doing business with Mexico

Meeting people in Mexico – kiss, shake hands or hug?

Before you go on your business trip to Mexico

Tipping Guidelines for Mexico

Showtime – how do you want to live your life?

I’ve had limited experience in show business. The highlights of my entertainment career include the magic show I produced and starred in at age 8, various band performances, and a walk-on supporting role as a wise man in a Nativity play. Oh wait, I forgot to mention, my biggest show business role. I was involved in retail sales.

Retail sales can be a limiting and brutal environment, physically and emotionally. But it is one of the best environments for learning and practicing how to perform with and for others.

Retail sales is all about people, it is not about merchandise. Listening to what people want and helping them find it. You are performing all day, and when you realize this, it can be an exhilarating and fun experience. You can prepare, rehearse and modify your performances daily.

What am I talking about? Performing? Exactly. If you assume the role of an enthusiastic, informed and helpful person you can give something to each person you encounter during the day. You will feel great about yourself and the client or co-worker walks away with an unexpected gift of meeting and connecting with a positive human experience.

I was involved in the fresh flower industry. Olga and I opened a “bucket-shop”, which at the time was an innovation, and dedicated ourselves to making every customers experience distinct and important.

No one buys flowers because they have to. They are sought when one wishes to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, birth of child, graduation, religious holiday, or wedding. They might be using the flowers to recognize an illness or death, as a thank you, to recognize a special person, to say I love you or I’m sorry, or as a emotional pick me up.

Flowers are objects that represent an emotion. Customers were not buying flowers. They were seeking a symbol of their feelings or the feelings they wished to transmit. Isn’t that true about most consumer items?

Understanding this, how can you NOT be enthusiastic about coming to work and giving your best performance?

During the time clients were in our environment, we were part of their search to represent their emotions, our advice was of great importance in order to find the right symbol, the perfect flowers. It was much more than a commodity transaction.

It’s important to recognize that false enthusiasm isn’t going to work. You have to believe in yourself, your abilities and knowledge. You have to believe that you are going on-stage everyday, and that your “performance” has to be genuine. You have to listen to the people around you, and determine what they are really seeking, and help them get it.

People used to stop in and visit us to get a shot of enthusiasm and positive attitude. There was always a smile, a greeting. The environment was light, fun, open, accepting. It was an amazing experience for us and for the clients. We gave a positive attitude, and customers gave us back more positive attitude.

All it took was our dedication to providing the best “performance” we could manage, everyday, no matter who was in the audience.

It’s “showtime” in your life every morning (remember Rob Schneider’s performance in “All that Jazz”?). It’s your decision to assume the role you are going to play. Will it be the angry, grumpy, distracted, negative you? Will it be the upbeat, enthusiastic, focused you?

It’s “showtime” right now.

It’s always “showtime”.

Related Links

Change your life – change your attitude

Passion – Enthusiasm – Common Sense?

Motivation, what gets you out of bed?

10 reasons why people hire a business consultant

Business consultants are an important part of our business culture. We have discovered that hiring consultants and outside experts can save us time and money. It also can increase our competitiveness and professionalism.

Consultants work best for those organizations or individuals who know what they are seeking and have clearly defined projects or objectives.

The following list provides 10 reasons why you might want to hire a business consultant.

10 reasons why business consultants are hired:

• To provide a “short-cut” to know-how, knowledge and information that does not exist in the organization

• To provide a professional service that does not exist in the organization, or that is needed for a specified period of time

• To provide solutions to specific challenges and situations

• To validate ideas that have already been created in the organization

• To analyze, diagnose or criticize (constructively)

• To facilitate the search for ideas and solutions with existing team members

• To facilitate, create and implement methodologies and systems that enhance efficiency and organization

• To access a network of business or government contacts

• To bring in an experienced “outsiders” evaluation and point of view

• To present, teach or implement “new” business ideas and procedures

Sept. 8, 2006 – Just found this at HorsePigCow, good ideas and comments about the role of the consultant, their value and why people tend de-value their role. The Value of Consultants

Related Link

The clients I don’t want

Advice on what to expect when doing business with Mexico

Advice on what to expect when doing business with Mexico and Mexicans.

1. It is difficult to reach the top executives and business owners. The first contacts are difficult or impossible to make through “cold calling”. A much better strategy is to get personal introductions from consultants or other local business people.

2. Mexico is all about personal networks. They prefer to do business “face to face”. Impersonal methods of communication will be used, but plan on meeting your clients or suppliers as often as possible in order to maintain good relations and communications.

2. Use metric measurements, forget all other systems. Inches, pounds, feet, yards are not part of the Mexican culture. This is especially true for your promotional material and catalogues.

3. Don’t expect business people will return your phone calls. If the business item is important you should call several times.

4. Business negotiations will always be preceded with small talk and light conversation. This may continue for some time before business is finally discussed. Dinners and lunches are important for negotiations and often the items of real importance surface over coffee and dessert.

5. Proper etiquette and manners are very important. You will find the Mexicans are very cordial and polite, and they expect the same treatment from others. This is true for business and social occasions.

6. Secretaries and personal assistants are very important. They control who has access to executives and decision-makers. Many times they are responsible for answering the executive’s email and correspondence. Never underestimate the power of the secretary, and always maintain a friendly cordial relationship with them.

7. Meetings don’t start, or end on time. Don’t come late, but don’t get angry or upset when it doesn’t happen at the appointed hour.

8. The entire country shuts down from December 15 until about January 3 for vacations. Do not expect to find decision-makers in their offices, and expect slowdowns in logistics, paperwork and other communications during this time.

9. Everyone has a cellular phone. Get the cellular phone numbers of your contacts to avoid the filters in place at the office.

10. Mexicans tend to be reserved with foreign business people in the first business encounters. Business in Mexico is based upon trust between people. Take the time to create a relationship and build trust with your clients and suppliers. Don’t be in a hurry to close the deal. Don’t be in a rush to get the business over with. Don’t be afraid to visit several times without a specific work agenda. Get to know the people and culture.

11. Mexicans don’t like to disappoint others, and may prolong and delay bad news until the last possible moment. This can be prevented by establishing many short term objectives and chronologies. Constant open communication will also provide opportunities to discuss and find solutions for any set backs before it becomes a major problem.

12. Always try and deal with the boss or top executives. Business is done, approved and maintained by the top levels in the organization. Make sure the Mexican company understands that you are your company’s top executive with important decision-making powers.

Related Links

How to negotiate with Mexican business people

Meeting people in Mexico -kiss, shake hands or hug

Before you go on your business trip to Mexico

Tip: How to call Mexico from the US

How to do business in Mexico, parts 1 – 28

Curriculum Vitae (español) – Lee Iwan

Lee A. Iwan

Lee.iwan@gmail.com

 

Desarrollo de Negocios – Executiva Internacional

Planeacion Estrategico * Operaciones * Descubrimiento de Oportunidades

Executivo con experiencia en posicionamiento estrategico, operaciones, gerencia, distribucion, desarrollo y descubrimiento, integracion del cadena de suministro, planeacion estrategia en nuevos negocios, negocios de rapido crecimiento y en organizaciones maduros. Orientada a resultados, lider decisiva, exitoso en la identificacion de mercados nuevos y la solucion pragmatico de problemas. Historia de éxito en incrementando ventas, participacion en el mercado global y utilidades. Prospera en ambientes dinamicos y fluidos mientras manteniendo enfoque y organización. Competencias incluyen:

Planeacion estrategica y su implementacion * Identificacion del mercados
Gerencia de Cambios * Gerencia de Operaciones
Desarrollo de Negocios * Portavoz * Liderazgo del Equipo

 

EXPERIENCIA PROFESIONAL

QUIMICA CENTRAL DE MEXICO S.A. de C.V., Gto. México
mayo 2005 – presente
Gerente de Negocios, Desarrollo y Descubrimiento
Executivo independiente reportando directamente al Director y Consejo de Administacion. Responsible por la visulaizacion, investigacion, creacion, comunicacion, seguimiento, analisis, planeacion y implementacion del desarrollo y descubrimiento de nuevos negocios y proyectos de diversificacion estrategicas.

Logros importantes:

• Lider del negociaciones y proyecto, Joint-Venture farmaceutica (Mexico-Suiza), fabricacion y comercializacion, acuerdo firmada enero 2006.
• Negociaciones para alianzas estrategicas para incrementar la posicionamiento global y nacional del empresa a largo plazo.

QUIMICA CENTRAL DE MEXICO S.A. de C.V., Gto. México
marzo 2000 – mayo 2005
Gerente de Negocios, Ventas y Proveedores Internacional
Responsable por descubrimiento de negocios y alianzas estrategica, participacion del equipos, inteligencia del negocio, estrategia para las Asia-Pacifco y America Latina, implementacion de ventas y desarrollo del mercado, control y manejo de distribuidores y agentes, gerencia de logistica y cadena de sumistro, comunicaciones internacionales, globalizacion del cultura corporativa, projectos especiales corporativas.

Logros importantes:

• Creacion y implementacion de estrategia de ventas y promocion para el mercado en Asia-Pacifico. Ventas de US $ 5 M en 3 años.
• Iniciado y mantenido alianzas estrategicas con proveedores internacionales, ahorros de USD $ 2 M, fortificamos posicionamiento.
• Negocio representacions exclusivo de empresas de Sud Africa y EUA. Valor de ventas primer año US $ 2.5 M
• Incremento competitivida utilizando el departamento de exportacion a manejar y empujar cambios culturales corporativas en planeacion, produccion, tiempo al mercado, cadena de suministro y logisticas, ventas, mercadotecnia y administracion.
• Negocio descuentos en logistica, ahorros de USD $ 500 K

QUIMICA CENTRAL DE MEXICO S.A. de C.V., Gto. México
julio 1998 – marzo 2000
Gerente de Exportaciones
Responsable para ventas, distribucion, mercadotecnia y desarrollo del negocios en 20 paises, incluyendo America Latina, EUA, Europa y Taiwan.

Logros importantes:

• Creacion estructura de precios bases y comisiones para agentes y distribuidores en America Latina, resultados incremento en lealtad y ventas de 8%.
• Re-ingenieria de sistemas administrativas de comunicaciones, facturacion y envio del los productos para incrementa leatad con clientes y distribuidores y incrementar ingresos.

 

MARLY MEXICO SA de CV – Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
1994 – 2005
Consultor

CLUB ROTARIO LEON – Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
1997
Consultor

NUVIDA S.A. de C.V., León, Guanajuato, México
enero 1994 – julio 1998
Dueño – Presidente – Fundador
Presidente y Director de Operaciones para negocio de servicios. Clientes corporativos, gobierno y privadas. 80 empleados.

FOLLAS NOVAS S.A. de C.V., Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico
septiembre 1993 – junio 1994
Socio
Proyecto de produccion y supervision de operaciones

FLOWERS FLOWERS INC., Evanston, IL, EUA
marzo 1986 – agosto 1993
Dueño – Presidente – Fundador
Presidente y Director de Operaciones para innovadora start-up negocio de bienes y servicios para el consumidor. Ventas de USD $ 750 K anual.

AMLINGS FLOWERLAND, Niles, IL, EUA
junio 1980 – mayo 1986
Gerente de Sucursal
Responsable por operaciones del sucursal. 70 empleadas. Ventas USD $ 3 M anual.

 

EXPERIENCIA LABORAL DURANTE UNIVERSIDAD Y PREPARATORIA

RECORD CITY, Niles, IL, EUA

KAPS, Champaign, IL, EUA

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, College of Agriculture, Urbana, IL EUA

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, College of Life Sciences, Urbana, IL EUA

CRATE & BARREL INC., Chicago, IL EUA

SKIL SAW INC.., Wheeling, IL, EUA

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE, Northbrook, IL EUA

IWAN ELLIS PAINTING, Northbrook, IL EUA

FOLEY KOCH LANDSCAPING, Mount Prospect, IL, EUA

ALLGAUERS RESTAURANT, Northbrook IL EUA

DUNKIN DONUTS, Wheeling, IL EUA

JEWEL FOODS, Wheeling, IL EUA

DEPUSSEY CATTERY, Northbrook, IL EUA

EDUCACION

Bachelor of Science Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois – Urbana, IL, EUA

LOGROS PROFESSIONALES

Weblog: https://leeiwan.wordpress.com April 2006- Presente

Conferencia de la Industria de Cromo, Sud Africa, 2006

Mision Comercial, Mexico India 2005

Curso – Finanzas por no financieros, 2005

Consejero de COFOCE, Comité de proveedores, industria del calzado, 2000 – Presente

Participación en la certificación del ISO 9001:2000, 2004

Misión de Proveeduría, Moscu, Rusia 2004

Misión de Proveeduría, Estambul, Turquía 2003

All China Leather Exhibition, Shanghai, China, 2002 – 2005

Guangzhou Leather Fair, Guangzhou, China 2002 –2005

Misión Comercial México-Centro América, 2002

Asia Pacific Leather Fair, Hong Kong, 1999 – 2005

Linneapelle, Bolonia, Italia 1999 – 2005

Misión Comercial México-China, 2001

Misión Comercial México-Centro América, 2001

Misión Comercial México – China, 2000

Mision Proveeduria, Amsterdam, Holanda, 2000

Miami Leather Fair, Miami, EUA, 2000

FENAC, Leather Fair Novo Hamburgo, Brasil 1999

Miami Leather Fair, Miami, EUA, 1999

Curso – Resolución Miscelánea de Comercio Exterior 2004 a Fondo

Curso – Resolución Miscelánea de Comercio Exterior 2003 a Fondo

Diplomado – Modificaciones a La Legislación Aduanera 2003

Curso – Resolución Miscelánea de Comercio Exterior 2002 a Fondo

Diplomado – Logística de la Comercio Exterior, 2001

Curso – Resolución Miscelánea de Comercio Exterior 2001 a Fondo

Diplomado – Comercio Exterior, 2000

Curso – El Vendedor Estratégico

Periódico AM, Periódico. 1994 – 1996

Society of American Florists, Consejo Editorial, Washington D.C., EUA 1990 – 1992

Chicago-Dempster Merchants Association, Vice-Presidente, Evanston, IL EUA 1998-1990

Lee.iwan@gmail.com

10 Things you should never do on a Friday afternoon

To complement my list of 10 things you should do on a Friday afternoon (Link), here are some of the activities that should be avoided on Friday afternoons.

Things you should never do on a Friday afternoon

1. Initiate a major project
2. Schedule any type of meeting or seminar with customers or employees
3. Give an employee review
4. Make important strategic business decisions
5. Ask people to work extra hours
6. Give bad news to the office, your team or co-workers
7. Raise your rates or product prices
8. Obsess about or relive any failures that occurred during the week
9. Go out for a 3 martini lunch and come back to the office complaining
10. Give the boss an ultimatum or try and force a decision

Related Link

10 things you should do on Friday afternoon

The 6 Fundamental Concepts Behind Every Successful Business

1. Supply and Demand. The fundamental idea behind business and a market economy. Want to determine where to sell or buy, or predict if prices will be going up or down? Understand the concept of supply and demand.

2. Cause and Effect. Physics applied to the business environment. What you do will affect your competitor and the market and vice versa.

3. People like to feel important and special. Learn this and you’ve discovered one of the fundamental qualities of a great salesperson or marketer.

4. Simple clear communication, on-time. Don’t make it technical, keep it easy to understand. Answer all questions when asked, and never forget to call back and follow-up.

5. Get the work done, on time, and with the highest degree of quality possible.

6. Ask lots of questions and get all the answers.

20 challenges faced by a family owned business

Every business organization has a unique set of challenges and problems. The family business is no different. Many of these problems exist in corporate business environments, but can be exaggerated in a family business.

Family business go through various stages of growth and development over time. Many of these challenges will be found once the second and subsequent generations enter the business.

A famous saying about family owned business in Mexico is “Father, founder of the company, son rich, and grandson poor” (Padre noble, hijo rico, nieto pobre). The founder works and builds a business, the son takes it over and is poorly prepared to manage and make it grow but enjoys the wealth, and the grandson inherits a dead business and and empty bank account.

Prepare now and help your grandson avoid the poorhouse.

20 challenges for the family business

1. Emotions. Family problems will affect the business. Divorce, separations, health or financial problems also create difficult political situations for the family members.
2. Informality. Absence of clear policies and business norms for family members
3. Tunnel vision. Lack of outside opinions and diversity on how to operate the business.
4. Lack of written strategy. No documented plan or long term planning.
5. Compensation problems for family members. Dividends, salaries, benefits and compensation for non-participating family members are not clearly defined and justified.
6. Role confusion. Roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined.
7. Lack of talent. Hiring family members who are not qualified or lack the skills and abilities for the organization. Inability to fire them when it is clear they are not working out.
8. High turnover of non-family members. When employees feel that the family “mafia” will always advance over outsiders and when employees realize that management is incompetent.
9. Succession Planning. Most family organizations do not have a plan for handing the power to the next generation, leading to great political conflicts and divisions.
10. Retirement and estate planning. Long term planning to cover the necessities and realities of older members when they leave the company.
11. Training. There should be a specific training program when you integrate family members into the company. This should provide specific information that related to the goals, expectations and obligations of the position.
12. Paternalistic. Control is centralized and influenced by tradition instead of good management practices.
13. Overly Conservative. Older family members try to preserve the status quo and resist change. Especially resistance to ideas and change proposed by the younger generation.
14. Communication problems. Provoked by role confusion, emotions (envy, fear, anger), political divisions or other relationship problems.
15. Systematic thinking. Decisions are made day-to-day in response to problems. No long-term planning or strategic planning.
16. Exit strategy. No clear plan on how to sell, close or walk away from the business.
17. Business valuation. No knowledge of the worth of the business, and the factors that make it valuable or decrease its value.
18. Growth. Problems due to lack of capital and new investment or resistance to re-investment in the business.
19. Vision. Each family member has a different vision of the business and different goals.
20. Control of operations. Difficult to control other members of the family. Lack of participation in the day-to-day work and supervision required.

How impersonal is your life and your world?

We live in an impersonal world. I hear this constantly and wonder exactly what people mean when they say it. Is this a warning, an observation, a criticism, a declaration of failure in their ability to create and maintain relationships?

The world has always been impersonal, it’s just not possible that millions of human beings will relate to one another with familiarity. It’s an impossible scenario.

So why all the focus on how impersonal our lives are lately?

Is it a cry for help, a diagnosis and awareness that something is wrong or could be better?
It’s because we have isolated ourselves, by ourselves.

Impersonal is what YOU make it, it has to do with your interaction and participation with others. You are in control, you are not a victim.

Our access to wealth, communications and easy travel have allowed us to travel and move our residence often and meet thousands of people throughout the world during our lifetime. This was not possible 100 years ago.

We no longer live in Norman Rockwell’s Main street America, in a small town, where we know the neighbors, the teachers, the firemen, clerks and shop owners. We didn’t invest enough time in a safe stable environment in order to learn about others and become secure with ourselves and diversity.

In today’s world it’s so easy to walk away from ideas, behaviours and people who are not like us. We can now live by ourselves, in our own little world, designed by us and just for us. The only problem is, we are social creatures and we do want others in our lives. We have created a dilemma by isolating ourselves.

It’s just common sense that this exposure to so many people we don’t know, and who don’t know us, is bound to create a bit of tension or coldness in our initial contacts. Depending on how you respond and interact with others, these interactions can remain cold and impersonal, or might warm up and become pleasant and more personalized.

Simple acts that allow others to let their guard down are all that’s necessary. A smile, a hello or thank-you, a question or comment that initiates a conversation is sometimes all it takes to break the ice.

Relationships are made and created through trust and time. It’s about giving your time, showing interest, and learning. You cannot expect to become best friends with anyone in a week or month, be realistic. You cannot create a meaningful relationship by watching co-workers or neighbors through your window.

Proof of how easy it is to begin a relationship can be found with the Internet, social networks, chat-rooms, etc. All you have to do is throw out a comment or question and in a matter of minutes be involved in communication with a perfect stranger. Why then the complaints about an impersonal world? What’s different when you are not on-line, and are face to face with another human being?

If you think the world is cold and impersonal, take a look at your actions and behavior and determine if you are actively participating to open the door in your communications and relationships. Does your world revolve around you, your problems and your little internal universe? I’ll bet you think the world is impersonal.

Are you interested in giving, sharing, listening, learning and accepting others and their diversity? I’ll bet you think the world is a pretty fine place to be.

Related Links

Lonely and have no friends

What happens when we have no friends

Social networks, are they a part of your life?

Build your organization, don’t destroy it

Pragmatic business people know that strategies must be reviewed before, during and after implementation. Difficult questions must be asked and answered throughout the organization. Results analyzed and reviewed in order to identify flaws and errors.

Many times this exercise can push us into seeking and identifying problems instead of solutions. Too much time spent on what can go wrong and not enough focus on what can be created. Gridlock sets in, no solution is good enough, there is always a flaw.

All to often we find ourselves criticizing the work of others and the efforts that did not succeed as expected. We spend time taking things apart to find out what went wrong, and seeking to identify who was responsible for the “failure”. Our days are spent destroying the ideas of others.

Why not focus an equal amount of time on the positive aspects?

What did or will work, and why?

Creation is much more difficult than destruction. Support the creation of ideas and solutions in your organization, make your first analysis focus on the successful or positive aspects.

Ask yourself, “what am I creating today”.

Sales and marketing terrorism

The recent media coverage of political terrorism throughout the world has me reflecting on terrorism and extreme sales and marketing tactics in the business world.

Every industry has individuals or organizations that use drastic, pointless, unethical or dangerous economic tactics in order to increase income or market share in the short term. This use of drastic and irresponsible actions can be called sales and marketing terrorism.

The goal of sales and marketing terrorism is to create immediate change, instill panic and chaos, or further the goals of one group who cannot or are not willing to work with the current system of rules, regulations and norms.

Many times the reaction to these isolated incidents will severely impact the industry, market or specific businesses. Reactions can result in increased government legislation, more government or industry intervention, increased costs of doing business, loss of revenue and reduced customer confidence in the organization or industry.

Some examples of “sales and marketing terrorism”:

A competitor who initiates a campaign of extreme discounts or low prices (dumping) in order to eliminate a competitor or increase market share.

A marketing campaign that uses lies and innuendo to reduce the reputation of a competitor or industry segment.

Products of extremely poor quality (below expected consumer beliefs or expectations) substituted for products known for their quality.

Don’t confuse sales and marketing terrorism with innovative ideas and paradigm shifts in how to do business. The difference is that a sales and marketing terrorist has no plan other than disruption.

Sales and marketing terrorism is a short term strategy or single event that has no regard for long term collateral consequences. They believe their actions will be justified because of short term increases in profit or market share. Rarely do they succeed, but often create chaos and disorder in the marketplace that have an impact on the industry and consumers that can last for a long time.

The “Lightning and Thunder ” sales and marketing strategy

Thunder and lightning are impressive natural phenomenon that have the power to frighten, exhilarate, and inspire awe. We’ve seen severe lightning and thunderstorms hundreds of times, and yet can be continually surprised or shocked by the power and ferocity of the thunder and lightning.

Lightning is swift, if you blink you might miss it. It is always an unusual and unique form that appears in the sky. It is dazzling, it can light up the entire sky for an instant. We cannot predict where it will strike or what type of damage it may cause. It’s wild and uncontrollable. Unforgettable because it is unique, elusive and enormous.

Thunder always follows the lightning. You can’t miss it, whether it’s a sudden roaring clap or a booming rolling bass note. Thunder is often impressive, and one relates the sound of thunder to the power of the lightning bolt that precedes it. In fact thunder is all about power. It’s the announcement that lightning has passed through, and the thunder’s volume and duration represent an event that has passed away. People rarely forget a huge thunderclap.

Are you giving your customers thunder and lightning with your products, service, sales and marketing?

Do your customers see a brilliant “flash” from your organization, do they hear and feel the power of the thunder after the event?

Are you offering products or services that dazzle and amaze, that light up the customers sky for a moment?

Do they see the lightning and hear the thunder from your efforts?

If your organization is only creating cloudy skies or drizzle for your clients, it’s time to change and create something to make them sit up and take notice. Make some lightning and thunder.

Is hard work important, is it still valid?

Working hard…paying your dues…are these concepts still important and valid in today’s information economy and jobs?

What characteristics do you think of when someone says “she’s a hard worker”?

Is being a “hard worker” a positive or negative trait, something you aspire to?

In the US, the Puritan work ethic still provides a model of how we should work to many people. The Puritans believed that hard work was morally important, physically demanding, difficult or exhausting, required sacrifice and discipline, long hours, and usually referred to physical labor (the dominant labor required at that time). If an activity was pleasant the Puritans were pretty much against it.

Perhaps a better definition of hard work, taking into account the new information economy, is better related to; preparation and research, creating and using your information networks, taking the initiative, follow-through and closure, discipline, focus, efficiency, finding and communicating the solution in a timely manner.

Perhaps hard work is no longer a valid term or concept to apply to information workers.

The time required to do our work has, and is changing. When our principal job was agriculture, long hours were required to plant and harvest. Long hours are no longer required in order to say that someone is working hard in an office, or are they?

As long are workers are hired for an 8 hour day and 40 hour week, employers want to see their employees at their posts, ….doing something. So for many companies working hard still means being in the office for many hours, and extra hours represents hard work.

Long hours in the office could be the result of; research and investigation (good for all), inability to finish your work during the prescribed time (inefficient or fearful employee or workload is too heavy, bad for all), enthusiasm and desire to do more than the norm (good for company and possibly for employee advancement).

“Paying your dues” and sacrifice are also part of our definition of hard work. Paying your dues is part of the initiation into an organization, industry or group. It’s a sacrifice (usually related to long hours) that is part of, or required for, that specific culture. A new employee in many companies might be expected to work extra hours and make personal sacrifices to show they are working hard and paying their dues, trying to become part of the corporate culture.

There is a trade-off for employees between their personal life and business life. In order to succeed and advance in business working in a corporate culture, you must be promoted. To get promoted you have to been seen as possessing profitable skills and be a hard worker and willing to make sacrifices for the good of the company. As our culture becomes more competitive, we are faced with more people willing to work more hours and make more sacrifices, reducing our time with family and friends.

This debate regarding work-life balance is gaining momentum in the US. Workers are evaluating what role work should play in their lives and how many hours they should dedicate to working, and where and who they should “give” their time to.

Our definition of work is changing and evolving, and with it our definition of hard work is also being modified.

At what point do our evaluation and compensation systems take into account new elements that reflect the new realities and definitions of work in the 21st century?

13 Tactics Guaranteed to Kill any Project

How many of these tactics can you identify and how many are at work right now in your organization?

13 tactics guaranteed to kill any project

1. Assemble and invite a huge group of people to participate, most of whom have no stake in the outcome.

2. Do not assign or elect a leader, or better yet, assign leadership to several members.

3. Never make the goals and objectives of the project clear. Leave them as vague as possible.

4. Never assign responsibilities to specific members and never set firm dates for the completion of tasks.

5. Stifle and block all new and alternative ideas, never allow questioning of procedures or goals, eliminate all creativity and any dissension.

6. Plan lots of long, unplanned meetings without an agenda, where nothing is achieved, goals are not reviewed, and no new compromises are agree upon. Especially good are meetings very late in the day, on Fridays.

7. When asked for information and interaction with other members, take a long time to answer and do not give them what they are asking for. Never respond to emails from other members.

8. Never participate during a meeting, but outside the room complain to everyone that the project is doomed and that everything is wrong.

9. Allow meetings to be interrupted by phone calls and visitors, let everyone answer emails and do work on their laptops during the event.

10. Make sure there are no resources assigned to the project or members, this includes time and money.

11. Give all the decision-making power to one individual, and make sure they never make a decision. Good lines to use to delay decision-making include “this is an important decision, I think it should be reviewed and studied further”, “we don’t have all the facts yet”, “I’ll take it under advisement”. This person should also travel often and be difficult to contact.

12. Big decisions that affect the project should be shared with only a few of the participants.

13. Always blame other members for anything that might be wrong. Attack aggressively, loudly and in public if possible.

Related

Effective Business Meetings

Create a debate – find out who really wants the project to work

Step by step beginner’s guide to project management

Who cleans up the problems generated by upper management at your company?

I’ve often seen hard-working successful salesmen and purchasing managers devastated and years of relationship  development undermined when upper management changes a deal, strategy or situation without consulting or advising those directly involved. 

The success of salespeople and purchasing managers depends upon trust.  Trust between your company’s representative and the unique individual from the other company.  Trust based upon past performance and promises kept.  Trust developed through quality products and services.  Trust developed by creating a dialogue, listening and exchanging information in order to develop mutually beneficial solutions.  Trust takes time, patience, and a series of negotiations and transactions over time.   Trust that your company is supporting, and will continue to support sales and purchasing and existing relationships.

How many times have you seen executive corporate decisions provoke severe disturbances in the level of trust developed by sales and purchasing departments with their clients and suppliers?

Why don’t upper management executives value and protect these relationships? 

I think it is in large part due to the fact that most executives don’t have to “clean up” their own mess.  Executive management has no individual responsibility for their decisions that affect trust in other parts of the company.  They also expect customers and suppliers to accept that conditions can and will change at any moment, and in effect, are reducing the future effectiveness of their own sales and purchasing departments.  They rely on other departments to “clean up”, to explain, to renegotiate and to make the new policies work.  It’s considered part of the perks of executive management, to make decisions, but let others implement them.

Are there policies and procedures in place at your organization to review the effect a strategic or policy decision will have on trust and current relationships with suppliers and customers? 

Who is capable of “making a mess” at your organization? 

Who is responsible for “cleaning it up”?

Do you think that’s the way it should be?

 

Related:

Corporate Leadership and Managers still aren’t listening

Who do YOU trust?

When leadership fails – an example – the Mexican shoe manufacturing industry

It’s quite interesting to watch certain businesses and industries succeed and fail, and try to identify the factors that lead to these very different outcomes.

For example in Leon, Guanajuato, the shoe-making capital of Mexico, the industry is under severe pressure from imported product, and lower costs from China, Vietnam, Brazil, and other countries.

It’s quite clear to everyone in the industry that there are several solutions to the problem.

1. Ask the government to create trade barriers and import tariffs. This will only support the inefficiencies in the national industry, postponing the inevitable.
2. Invest in design and create a brand. Shoes are purchased for two reasons, fashion and protecting your feet. The fashion market has much higher profit margins, but requires constant investment in research and development and marketing.
3. Invest in technology. If your product is focused on low prices in the market, you must have low costs, and lower costs than your competitors. This might be achieved with new technologies.
4. Create alliances within the industry. If China production costs are cheaper, but it takes 60 days for the product to reach the US, doesn’t it make perfect sense to create an alliance where the initial production comes from Mexico (5 days to market), followed by the mass production from China?
5. Purchase the shoes from the overseas competition and close your production facilities.
6. Create new markets, export to new markets.

Those are the choices, and what do you think is happening?

The majority of companies are pointing out the danger and requesting government intervention, but not implementing any other strategies to avoid the “doomsday” scenario.

The few companies (industry leaders) that have invested in branding, design, technology and purchasing from competitors are thriving, earning money and making profits.

Why is avoiding the obvious or inevitable, such common behaviour in most organizations and groups?

I believe it has to do with the failure of the leaders to move out of the Thinking-Identifying stage and into the Planning and Implementation stages.

The cycle of business leadership and management consists of:

• Thinking-Identifying. Thinking and identifying important internal and external factors and understanding how they interact.

• Planning. Using the data and information to formulate a plan and strategy

• Implementing the strategy. Putting the resources and motivation behind the plan and “making it work”.

• Reaction-Modification. Reacting and modifying the plan as the conditions change.

Many leaders are uncomfortable or unable to identify the major factors that are and will affect their companies. They are unable to create strategies and delay important and critical decisions because they lack data, or have too much of it, or don’t know how to properly analyze it and find conclusions. Without a strategy there is obviously no implementation, and the organization begins to react to situations created by others (crisis management).

This inability to read the market, identify market forces, create strategies and adapt to changing conditions will eliminate those organizations from the market. Creating strategy is not easy, and creating successful strategies is even more difficult. It requires excellent leadership and management decisions.

What are the known problems in your organization and industry?

What strategies are waiting to be created and implemented in order to prepare your business for the future?

Why isn’t it happening now?

9 steps to better decisions

Trying to pin the blame for a bad decision on an individual or group is fairly common corporate activity.  We believe that errors are not to be tolerated, and that anyone who commits an error should be identified and punished.  Too often this search limits and inhibits people from speaking up and making good, creative and bold choices in their organizations.  The fear of failure prevents action. 

We have to “blame” the process more and the people less. 

But who doesn’t make bad choices, mistakes, and accidents due to omission or over confidence? 

It’s part of life and learning.  The more I learn about chaos theory, and the butterfly effect, the more difficult it is to identify an individual who can be singled out as the responsible party for a “decision gone wrong”.  The trial and error decision-making process is still prevalent in the natural world, and will continue to be part of the corporate world.

What would happen in your organization if you stop seeking someone to blame, and focus on the decision-making process itself and the evaluation of results, independent of individuals? 

Where there is a failure, first take a look at the following list, answer the questions to determine if the decision-making system was at fault, or if it was an individual failure within the process. 

Run de-briefings and analysis of outcomes, good and bad, and find elements that were responsible.  Let your people know that mistakes can happen, and can be tolerated, but that a systemic process should be used in order to eliminate or reduce errors. 

9 steps to better decisions 

1. What are our objectives and expected outcomes?
2. What information should we accumulate in order to make a decision?
3. What information is not important for this decision?
4. Who is evaluating and processing the information?
5. What criteria are being used to evaluate and process the information?
6. What are the possible scenarios based upon the present information?
7. What is the most likely scenario or best decision for the company at this time?
8. Who are the decision-makers for this issue and why?
9. What elements are critical and essential for success?

Shift your focus from the person to the process itself, what is or was missing?  Why? 

Related Links

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