Leadership tips from the Army

The speaker at MD2MD last month, Mike Southon, shared numerous ’simple’ tips about leadership, management and enterprise. As always its the simple thigns that are the best and often the ones we realise we don’t always do.  So here are three simple ideas that he attributed to his podcast interview with Sir Philip Trousdell available here.

He makes a clear distinction between

• management, which he says is about getting everything organised properly
• leadership, which he thinks is about taking people further than they think they can go

He suggests that good leaders have three key characteristics

• They have a clear vision – they know where they are leading people
  
• They are a people person – They understand people and the way they behave
  
• They behave consistently – People know what to expect and where they stand

He further suggests there are three things a good leader does

• They ask good questions
• They listen carefully
• They give clear instructions

We are immune to advertising. Just forget it.

I’ve recently come across a fascinating book The Cluetrain Manifesto – only I haven’t read the book yet – I’ve simply looked at the website which was published before the book!

It’s quite a provocative read suggesting that we are in the midst of a business revolution that will quickly dispose of traditional management and marketing models! The website begins with a summary:

A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.

Later it restates it more punchily:

“We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers .. we are human beings … and our reach exceeds your grasp. DEAL WITH IT”

The website sets out the 95 clauses of the Manifesto.  As usual I summarise for you some of the key messages below. If you are interested in reading more click here for the book or click here for the website!

Markets are conversations. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media. People are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.

Markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. People have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

Smart markets find suppliers who speak their own language. To speak with a human voice, companies must belong to a community and share its concerns. If the business isn’t speaking in the community it isn’t in the market.

We are immune to advertising. Just forget it. If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting for a change. Our allegiance is to ourselves—our friends, our allies and acquaintances, even our sparring partners. Companies that are not part of our world have no future.

We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting!

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience

I’ve just come across a great new book:  The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.

There is a good visual summary available from  BusinessWeek online by clicking here.

And as usual I’ve summarised it myself here within the blog:

1.        Plan in Analog

Remember you’re telling a story so sketch it out first.

2.        Focus on Benefits

Remember the WIFM factor (What’s in it for me?)  Steve Jobs sells the benefit behind every new product or feature.

3.        Sell Dreams, Not Products

Jobs presents the iPod as a tool to enrich people’s lives

4.        Create Twitter-Friendly Headlines

Steve described the MacBook Air as “The world’s thinnest notebook” and the same words appeared everywhere in adverts, press coverage, speeches and everything. The same principle as soundbites I suppose.

5.        Introduce the Antagonist

From childhood we learn about heros slaying villains, so to be a hero explain how you’re slaying the villain.  For Steve Jobs that was once IBM and is now Microsoft.

6.        Draw a Road Map

The old ‘Tell them what you’re going to tell them’ principle.  Steve outlines the story he’s going to tell at the beginning of every presentation.

7.        Create Visual Slides

There are no bullet points in Steve’s presentations. He uses lots of photographs and images and averages less than one word per slide.

8.        Obey the 10-Minute Rule

Although he’s often on stage for 90 mins, Steve Jobs never speaks for more than 10 minutes without some interlude – a guest, a clip or anything really!

9.        Make Numbers Meaningful

220 million iPods sounds impressive, 73% of the market is stronger and pointing out that Microsoft is “pulling up the rear” with a 1% market share conveys a message. (See point 5 too)

10.      Use Zippy Words

Most business presenters use words that are too technical, vague, or confusing.  Not Steve Jobs! He described new iPhone 3G simply as “amazingly zippy.”

11.      Share the Stage

Steve nearly always shares the stage with business partners, musicians, and employees.

12.      Use Props

Use props for show and tell.  Steve Jobs uses demos simple and very dramatic demos.

13.      Plan a Water Cooler Moment

Build into the presentation a key moment that everyone will talk about.When Jobs unveiled the MacBook Air, he removed the computer from an inter-office envelope to show just how thin it was.  See point 4.

14.      Practice. A Lot.

Steve Jobs spends hours rehearsing every facet of his presentation.

15.      Dress Appropriately

Steve Jobs can get away with a lot.  You may not be able to.  If in doubt you can usually play safe by dressing a little better than everyone in your audience. But you may choose to be different as part of the show.

16.      One More Thing…Have Fun!

When he presents, Steve Jobs seems to be having fun.  If he can why can’t you.

50 ideas on using twitter for business

I’m still unsure about Twitter.

I think the ‘I’m having a cup of tea’ style postings are a fad – as fashion that will go away … but I can see how it has potential for a lot of multiple niche applications … so I thought I’d just post a few ideas.

Example 1 – You are a politician with a lot of followers who want to know your thoughts on current news, a politician who has a lot of followers who want to know what you are doing so they can cover you in their newspaper … and for politician substitute anyone in the media – popstat, guru, fmaous for being famous person etc – anyone who has fans or fan like followers.

Example 2 – You are a retail operation that has something to sell by special offer. You have followers who previously subscribed to your email newsletter or who looked at your doordrop or your direct mail and who are interested in buyign what you have a deal on that day.

Example 3 – You are someone who wants to share web links that they find interesting / useful AND you have followers who trust your judgement. A bit like blogging, but instead of sharing your own ideas, you’re simply sharing your view of what is useful/interestign amongst the mass of stuff out there. Or actually you could simply be sharing your own snippets of wisdom. If people value your view, they may follwo up.

Example 4 – You are a sales director who wants to comunicate with a national sales team daily with updates, tips, stats etc. For example Come on – we’re at 99.3% of target; we just need another £10k and everyone will get a trip to the Seychelles. Whether you agree with the sales approach I hope you’ll get the idea!

And following the principle of sharing useful tips I come across, I attach below an article by Chris Brogan that I found thought provoking. The original is available from his site here.

We really can’t deny the fact that businesses are testing out Twitter as part of their steps into the social media landscape. You can say it’s a stupid application, that no business gets done there, but there are too many of us (including me) that can disagree and point out business value. I’m not going to address the naysayers much with this. Instead, I’m going to offer 50 thoughts for people looking to use Twitter for business. And by “business,” I mean anything from a solo act to a huge enterprise customer.

Your mileage may vary, and that’s okay. Further, you might have some really great ideas to add. That’s why we have lively conversations here at [chrisbrogan.com] in the comments section. Jump right in!

First Steps

1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
10. Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.

Ideas About WHAT to Tweet

1. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
2. Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
3. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
4. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
5. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
6. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
7. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
8. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
9. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. – Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
10. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

Some Sanity For You

1. You don’t have to read every tweet.
2. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
3. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
4. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
5. 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
6. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
7. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
8. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
9. If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
10. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.

The Negatives People Will Throw At You

1. Twitter takes up time.
2. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
3. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
4. There are other ways to do this.
5. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
6. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
7. Twitter is just for technonerds.
8. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
9. Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
10. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.

Some Positives to Throw Back

1. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
2. Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
3. Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
4. Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
5. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
6. Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
7. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
8. Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
9. Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
10. Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)

Mike’s magic email

The simplest tips are the best!

The speaker at the MD2MD business leaders’ group this month was Mike Southon. Amongst the many sales tips Mike shared was the following:

If you are trying to open up a new customer by email, keep the email to 4 lines with the following structure:

Dear Mr X
I noticed that … (Something specific to them)
We are …. (Business premise)
as shown by (Give proof)
I’m in your area X, can I have 15 mins. (Call to action)

For a better and fuller explanation, click here to read the full extract from Mike’s book!