| Issue 8, February 2003 |
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This is m-news, M Power’s monthly e-newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading it. M Power is a consultancy which empowers organisational and individual performance. m-news covers related themes – quick snippets about business, organisational and individual effectiveness, communication and public relations.Communication empowers. Karen Morath, managing director, M Power The ‘quick five’ for February are
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1. Are you a 21st century professional? How many of the top 10 essential skills for successful 21st century professionals do you have? 1.analytical skills 2.problem solving skills 3.teamwork 4.delegation 5.win-win negotiation skills 6.advanced computer and internet skills 7.presentation skills 8.telephone skills 9.a 21st century attitude and look 10.a reputation that speaks for itself SCORE less than 6 – you are not serious about success, 7-8 you can see where you need to improve, 9 – you are probably quite successful but wondering why you are not reaching your potential, 10 – go for it! Source – adapted from Jim Meisenheimer, Jeffrey Mayer’s e-newsletter, www.SucceedingInBusiness.com
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2. A quote we like
“When leaders order, threaten or demand, they may create movement. When others willingly want to follow, they have created motivation. Movement is snail-like. Motivation is transformational.” Source - Alan Weiss, US management consultant. |
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3. I tried to like networking |
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Like any old thing with a new name, there have been forests written about effective networking - books, articles, you can even do a seminar on ‘working the room’. One tremendous insight I picked up from an ‘expert’ was to keep your business cards in your right pocket and put cards you’ve been given in your left pocket (no pointers on what to do with your glass and your handbag which are of course the BIG issues). I have read tips which include asking people about what they do and making a point of keeping in touch with people. And the reason we need to network, apparently, is to grow our businesses or boost our careers. I tried to like it. But it’s so wrong I can’t. Sure if you never leave your desk, you will miss out not just on life’s opportunities, but, well, on life itself. But if you go to functions expressly so you can meet people who you can do business with or work for, rather than for the learning or experiential benefit of the function itself, or you listen to people because of what might be in it for you rather than out of interest in them, you have officially lost the plot. Networking books are like etiquette books of yore (say thank you, listen….) and sadly it seems we need to be told there is something in it for us to encourage us to walk up to someone we don’t know and say ‘hi’. Businesses grow because the people in them do great work for their clients and their reputation develops. That is a process that focuses on what’s in it for the client not what’s in it for the business and networking has no part in that. And as for the current trend of organising functions with the sole purpose of enabling people to ‘network’, I’d rather be at a John Travolta movie.
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4. Tips for empowering your team in leaner times |
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Source – interview with HR consultant John Izzo, Fast Company magazine, January 2003.
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Unleashing the Ideavirus – How to Turn Your Ideas into Marketing Epidemics by Seth Godin, Simon and Schuster, 2002 There is some possibility this book is not actually written in English and certainly if it was not recommended to me by my friend Trevor, then I would not have bothered getting my head around the made-up words that dominate it, like ‘sneezers’, ‘hive members’, ‘ideamerchants’ and ‘virusworthy’.
But, although it stretches out into a 230 page book what would have made a brilliant 20 page article, it’s largely worth the effort. It’s ‘big idea’ is explaining what it takes for your ‘big idea’ to be unleashed like a virus onto a market and have that market spread the virus using enthusiastic word of mouth – and no advertising or promotion.
The author cites Tom Peters’ famous book ‘In Search of Excellence’ from 20 years ago as an idea virus and, more recently, Harry Potter. The Hotmail concept is a classic idea virus – the offer of free email is made every time it is used.
The fact that my friend recommended it to me and I am writing about it here gives the book itself ‘ideavirus’ status. To buy Unleashing the Ideavirus from Amazon click here.
© M Power 2003
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