Rainmaker #4 – Time, Talent, and Treasure – The Winner's Lemonade

Each month we present a 300 second program about practical leadership ideas at the beginning of the Capital Technology Managers Hub meeting in McLean, VA.

Here's the handout for the session about winners adapting to circumstances:

Rainmaker #4
Time, Talent, and Treasure – The Winner's Lemonade

Time: everyone gets 24 hours each day – can't save it; can't increase it – use it or lose it.

Talent: unfocused exceptional talent is useless; even minimal focused talent is awesome.

Treasure: at the moment – what you've got is what you've got – make good use of it.

Get a bunch of lemons and a winner makes lemonade, then opens a stand to sell it.

Tom Sawyer needed to whitewash a fence and, as a junior grifter, had no favors to call in for help. Yet all the kids were painting the fence and they paid him with their treasures to do so.

Jethro Gibbs (NCIS) leads a team of misfits and has no formal training in investigation or leadership – but - he and the team catch the bad guys every week.

Peter Drucker says the single most important thing in business is a satisfied customer and that results (i.e., satisfied customers) only exist outside the organization – inside there are only costs.

Winners take actionable steps to achieve results; non-winners tell stories about why they can't. Aren't you a winner?

Please share your comments at bit.ly/hS60Vo. 

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To hear more, come join us at the April 12^th CTMH meeting on How Google Apps Ecosystem Disrupts Traditional Enterprise Platforms.

Your Accomplishments + Stories = Credibility

How do you establish your credibility? How does someone know the 'real you'? On a professional basis, how can you demonstrate you have experience, get results, are competent?

Traditionally this knowledge comes from the individual knowing you over time and seeing how well what you say and what you do match up – from working shoulder to shoulder with you or observing the outcome of your efforts.

A surrogate for personal knowledge is to have someone stand up for you – to recommend you – and if the inquiring person is willing to accept the recommendation, you may enjoy some level of credibility.

But how can any of this apply when you first meet a person – at a networking activity or on a job interview? Is there a way that you can show who you are about without an implied 'trust me' at the end of the description of your skills & abilities?

Yes – tell a story from your experience which highlights your skills & abilities.

You are an accomplished individual – or you would not have made it to the level you have. You need a catalog of these accomplishments and may need to dig deep to get them – people often feel that what they have achieved is 'no big deal – others have done it too' – usually that's not true. Spend some time recalling your accomplishments to have handy when you develop the stories.

The stories are NOT major productions – they are intended to showcase your achievements. The best and most effective stories are made up of three elements: a simple statement of the problem (with specifics about who, when, where, what, and how to add reality), a short rendition of your solution (again with specifics to make clear you were involved, not merely taking notes), and the result – from the viewpoint of the client or person who benefited – be concise when telling about the result but quantify where possible – saved dollars, reduced labor, increased speed, greater efficiency, or whatever.

As you talk about yourself as an effective manager, a innovative leader, or a creative programmer, include stories taken from your accomplishments and experience which show in vivid detail your contribution when addressing the problem and getting results.

By doing the work to recall the accomplishments and creating the stories (write them down!) based on these accomplishments, you can go a far distance in establishing your credibility with the person you just met or are with during the interview.

How do you see this working for you – please share your stories so others can benefit.

Upcoming presentations which may be of interest:

Rainmaker #3 - Process to Purchase
How To Sell Your Skills
300 seconds, March 8, 2011, 6 pm
Capital Technology Management Hub
RSVP at http://knowledgeassets.eventbrite.com/
The Sales Lab Rainmaker Series are five minute tactical selling presentations starting the CTMH Monthly Meetings

How To Turn Prospects Into Clients
Monday, March 21, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Alexandria, VA
Host: YES!Circle Details and Reservations

The New Normal – Cloud Computing

This week the Capital Technology Management Hub put on a program about cloud computing – a very informative session about a new approach to computing that is no longer just a concept – it is up and running with higher level enhancements coming on line continuously at a steady pace.

Interesting in its own right, but what became clear during the presentation is: cloud computing is another example of the New Normal.

Cloud Computing is shifting control of resources and software tools into the hands of the user, which offers greater self-reliance - a significant element of the New Normal.

Let's step back to view this progression of computing from a user's viewpoint. 'Back in the old days' – about 45 years ago - computers took up entire floors and required significant staff to operate. Only large organizations could afford to own a mainframe computer, but would rent out idle time on a time-sharing basis. A user would submit work and beg for a quick turnaround of a week to ten days to get project output. The user had no direct access to the computer.

As computers got smaller and the cost came down, more organizations could have this resources in-house, but it required support staff to manage and maintain the equipment and resources. Users now had some direct access to established routines and processes, but modifications required engaging the IT staff.

When the PC and server environment became the norm, the computer and its software tools were finally in the hands of the user, but the servers were the domain of the IT staff to manage, maintain, and add capacity. The user worked directly now, but was haunted with incompatible data & software, as well as server space availability. New equipment cost money, took time, and required justification – all of which would take months to achieve.

Introduce the cloud. From the user's view, compatibility issues are being eliminated - software is in the cloud plus there's plenty data management tools to tame unruly data. What is really putting control in the user's hands is the ability to access the cloud for the resources needed – software tools, computing capacity, and output delivery. The user now can order up these resources directly, be up and running in a matter of minutes, and can decommission it all when completed.

In a sense, with the cloud, the user has come full circle from the time-sharing days, but with control now in the user's hands.

The New Normal encompasses greater self-reliance and independence, and cloud computing is another tool which is creating this reality.

How do you see the New Normal changing how we do work?

Paint A Vivid Picture

When you speak, you want your message to be memorable for the listener – to have effect... to spur action... to persuade. To be truly successful requires going beyond mere talking to creating an image – a picture which develops in the listener's minds eye.

Jim Valvano was head coach of the NC State Basketball Team and enjoyed success on and off the court in his role – particularly in recruiting top players. Of course, he did the usual things to recruit prospects – home visits with the student & his parents; talks about scholarship opportunities; tour of the campus.

At the end of the campus tour, Coach Jimmy V and the prospective player headed into the basketball fieldhouse, which was dark – only the emergency lighting offering faint ghost-like illumination of the huge structure. As the two walked on to the basketball court, a bright spotlight snapped on.

In this circle of light center floor was a folding chair....on the chair was a basketball jersey draped over its back...visible on the back of the jersey was the name of the player prospect! Message complete – vivid – memorable – effective.

Think about a time when you experienced a compelling picture from words and actions – Please share its effects as a comment below.

View From The Big Chair – Current Situation

When I was CEO, the senior staff would refer to my role as ‘sitting in the big chair’ – I find this is a warm and respectful way to refer to the leader of the organization, and continue to enjoy using it even today.

Through many, many conversations with top leaders of all kinds and sizes of organizations several common elements have emerged.

Get cash and hold it as cash – from the chair, the sense is to get and horde cash – do not shift into long-term or market-driven vehicles…got burned badly!  With cash there’s agility and some insulation from the unknown.

Go Slow Taking On Additional Resources – organizations have trimmed staff, and cut expenses to the quick in the face of flagging demand and sales.  From the chair, as times improve (which is not as rapid as in past cycles) - there is no hurry to rehire workers or to increase spending.

Demand and Sales Are Funky – demand is sporadic and had dropped almost to nothing in some sectors; sales are not being completed – committed orders are cancelled even at the last minute; even the government sector has made awards which do not receive funding: ker-ching>>No Sale! From the chair, there’s a growing ‘tentative sales’ category which is not recorded until the check clears.  The demand and sales graph has almost flat-lined…a slight pulse can still be felt, but no rebound as in the past.

R & D Is NOT Robust – From the chair, research & development in process has slowed (funding is squeezed) and new projects are delayed or cancelled until the smoke clears on a view of future priorities in a diminished economy.

Planning Is Now Immediate Term – From the chair, real 3-year plans are non-existent in most organizations – same with meaningful 2-year plans; there is an annual budget plan, but in reality the working plan only goes out for about the next 6-months.  Strategic plans are mothballed for now rather spending effort on updating with guesses about the economy.

But There Is Hope – Occupants of the Big Chair are rising to the challenge of a down & sluggish economy and have jolts of optimism as they see their markets show some signs of life.  The consensus is the overheated go-go times are behind us and are history – recovery is happening BUT it will not bounce back to old levels and will grow slowly over time from the current minimalist position.

Collaboration and On-Demand Resources Are Now The By-Words – using someone else’s capacity when needed; contracting for workers with specific needed skills for the duration of a production run; working together with other complementary organizations -is the plan of the day. If sustained into the future, this is an interesting structural change in how we do business and opens up the opportunity wider for entrepreneurs and small firms to be an integral but independent part of the available resources for larger organizations (discussed in more detail in Getting Back To Normal).

The view from the big chair is that there IS movement in a positive direction in the economy – it is slow, but evident.

What’s the view from your chair?  Any different?

The New Normal

What is Normal?

It is a mosaic of the things we know, the changes we experience, and the structural shifts that affect how we do business. It's our collective beliefs about the what – how – why – when – who of doing business. It is dynamic and changes as its elements change.

Long ago Normal was business correspondence written with a nib pen in your best cursive handwriting. Then came typewriters > the correcting Selectric electric typewriter > centralized word processing > PC-based word processing > email. Each step a change in what's considered Normal.

What is the New Normal?

During the past 2-years to 25-years how we do business has been changing and much of the evolution was doing the same things but using less resources or expanding into new (and usually non-domestic) markets. Normal was shaken up, got a bit tattered, and acquired some additional rhetoric when we spoke about it – but it was still recognizable as Normal. We 'd speak about 'getting back to Normal' but saw no movement back to that familiar place.

In the past couple of years, a New Normal has morphed (and is continuing to do so) into a vastly different descriptor of doing business – changes are surfacing that are nothing like those in the past, which are radically affecting how we conduct business. It is quite different from the past – New Normal...how things will be.

Here's two examples which emphasize the shifting focus to individuals and smaller organizations:

A couple of days ago, I went to a Google Talks session about App Developers and heard from a panel of 5 independents who write application programs for various portable and mobile devices (like tablet PCs & iPad, and the Android & iPhone). They create Apps to fill user needs, like: social media tools, communications/connections, storage of info, and games – sold over the internet. This has been the realm of the device manufacturers or software giants – and now is done by organizations of 1-10 individuals.

TV Week just reported that free-standing kiosks are now renting more movies that the bricks & mortar video rental stores. The kiosks are a hodge-podge of individual entrepreneurs and small companies.

These changes have evolved in just a few years and illustrate the shift in underlying structure of conducting business toward individuals and small organizations.

Is this just a couple of anomalies or does it show the tip of a strong trend? What do you think about  the New Normal?

Rainmaker - The Nametag

Dov Gorman of the Capital Technology Management Hub asked for an ongoing series of ten minute “Rainmaker” presentations before the monthly CTMH meetings – this is the next in the series.   

On Tuesday January 11^th, the free monthly meeting of the CTMH will be on the topic: “The Strategic Cloud – How Cloud computing enables the strategic transformation to IT as a service” – for details and to sign up go to: http://strategiccloud.eventbrite.com .  Come join us!

Here's the handout:

Rainmakers: The Nametag

Who here has a name that is different from everyone else in the room?

Who has trouble remembering names?

How many events like this do you attend each year?

How about we each bring our own name tag?

If you were going to design you own name tag, what would you do?

What is the best thing you learned in the last five minutes?

To complete this exercise, please comment with the best thing you have learned at: http://blog.saleslabdc.com/2011/01/rainmaker-nametag.html

See you on Tuesday night!   http://strategiccloud.eventbrite.com