Recently came across a lovely site called newsle. Very simple to set up (especially as I only linked with LinkedIN initially) and allows you to see what your contacts are doing. Think of a more tailored and relevant Google alerts. You can add Facebook friends to the mix and also follow journalists or specific people outside of your current contact/friend base. Give it a go. Oh, and it's free.
The Idea Hunter's blog
Thoughts on better thinking and better presenting
Making tables easier to read and understand
I thought about recreating a table to demo this to you but this is done so wonderfully here that all I'll do is share the link from Dark Horse Analytics.
There's a gif and a deck - take your pick.
Enjoy!
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10 Rainmaking principles
Just finished reading Rainmaking Conversations: Influence, persuade and sell in any Situation. Lots of great stuff in it but here are the 10 principles underpinning everything. Worth a read and you can find additional resources at http://www.rainsalestraining.com/.
1. Play to win-win. Rainmakers respect, and always try to satisfy, the best interests of prospects and customers (the win-win part), as well as their own. They are extremely dedicated to becoming top performers (the play-to-win part), exhibiting the hustle, passion and intensity it takes to achieve what only the elite achieve.
2. Live by goals. Rainmakers are goal-setting and goal-following fanatics. Goals are part of their daily rituals.
3. Take action. Rainmakers realize that goals without action don’t get you very far. While other people intend to take action and do more, rainmakers do it.
4. Think buying first, selling second. Rainmakers map their selling processes to the processes and psychology of buying.
5. Be a fluent expert. Rainmakers are masters of market knowledge, client needs, their products and services, their value, their competition, and everything else they need to know to succeed at selling. Rainmakers might not be technical experts in every area, but they know what they need to know to sell.
6. Create new conversations every day. Rainmakers always feed the front of their pipelines and improve their pipeline quality. They never coast, and rarely a day goes by when they don’t speak to customers, prospects, and referral sources with the intent to source new business.
7. Lead masterful rainmaking conversations. Rainmakers lead masterful sales conversations, from prospecting to needs discovery to closing to account management.
8. Set the agenda; be a change agent. Rainmakers recommend, advise, and assist. They are change agents who are not afraid to push when it’s in the best interest of the customer.
9. Be brave. It takes courage to rise to the occasion when selling. Rainmakers not only conquer their fears, they seek actively to win the most fruitful sales opportunities no matter how difficult the challenges may be.
10. Assess yourself, get feedback and improve continuously. Rainmakers are never afraid to learn the cold, hard truth about themselves. They take what they discover—the good and the bad— to learn, grow, and change for the better. They never stop this cycle.
Two little known but helpful powerpoint tips
1) If you ever want to be able to run other powerpoint decks from within an open powerpoint deck there is a way. Ideal for hosting numerous speakers' decks and with the added flexibility of being able to amend the running order if needed. You can amend the size of each first slide so that you can have multiple decks on one slide too. I may create a screencast of what to do but in the meantime it's all here.
2) Very excited by this. When presenting you can run a live, navigable web page from your slide. Download LiveWeb (free), follow these instructions and the option will appear within the "insert" tab. Joyous.
"Tudes" help you breathe more easily
Two key qualities need to be considered when looking for success and they apply to any field of endeavour. When assessing how far or how high you want to go bear this in mind: Attitude + Aptitude = Altitude
Attitude:
What kind of person are you? How do you approach challenges? How curious? How much do you like learning? Is it about you or the team? What is your work ethic? How do you relate to others? Are you a radiator or a drain?
Your attitude impacts on your motivation and this determines your behaviour in any situation. By the time we’re adults your attitude and approach to challenges is largely determined. When hiring this is a key thing to try to get a feel for as you will have to work with what you hire.
Aptitude:
What skills do you possess and to what degree? One key consideration is that skills can be learnt and developed with the correct instruction and training. It might seem the easy option to recruit for existing skills but as things change (and they will) do those skillsets become less important? The correct allocation of resources (people) is vital for an organisation’s ongoing success and you need people who can develop along with the organisation – people with the correct attitude.
Altitude:
The two combined together are the ideal. If they both exist then you/they/the organisation are in the best place possible and can reach ever higher.
10 yeses from me!
A great post from Paul Williams @ Think for a Change: The Top Ten List of Making Innovation Happen Every Day…
Innovation MUST be tied to the organizational strategy Innovation MUST be on the leadership agenda and discussed at every leadership meeting Innovation MUST be led by at least one C-Level or SVP-Level person Ideas (from ANY source) MUST have a path/process to follow Customers/Consumer MUST have a voice Resources (People, Money & Time) MUST be made available for innovation A culture of risk taking, fast failure, experimentation and imagination MUST exist and be supported/protected The organization MUST be made up of skilled and diverse individuals who are set "free" The organization MUST seek to be a leader of "next practices" not a follower of "best practices" The organization MUST have the courage to KILL projects, ideas, lines of business, etc. that don't work
Once you have these ten "MUST's" in place, I think you will find that your employees, front-line managers, middle managers and senior leaders will be innovating...everyday...all day...
Music and life - inspiration for both
Never really been a fan of classical music. But this TED presentation from Benjamin Zander strikes me as a great first step. Of course, as the end of the video reveals it's not just about music.
Why are we the way we are?
This is a fascinating TED talk byDr. Brene Brown which had me gripped. Hard to do it justice with a few words but it touches on the importance of being authentic, vulnerability, shame and connecting with people. I'm sure it will be insightful in many aspects of many people's lives. Sit back, enjoy and reflect.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0]
Also, she is a great presenter mainly because she is human and connects with her audience in an instant.
An interesting view on "Save Our Planet"
George Carlin is not everyone's favourite comedian but I love his upfront and opiniated approach. He passed away not long ago so here's a reminder of the man in full flow!
Post-its and a bit of spare time
As someone who has used a few thousand post-it notes I wish I'd done a few of these.
TED like you've never seen it before
This is a thing of beauty and I'm sure a great way to spend far too many hours exploring its links. http://www.bestiario.org/research/videosphere/
Matt Ridley: When ideas have sex!
Matt Ridley's fascinating TED talk covering trade, exchange, specialisation and innovation. Makes the claim that nobody on this planet knows how to make a computer mouse.
http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_ridley_when_ideas_have_sex.html
Atheist quote
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
Stephen Roberts
2010 World Cup guide
You have to admire anyone who can create this. An item of outstanding natural beauty.
Come on England!
Training or coaching?
In the last couple of weeks more than one client has sought clarification as to the exact nature of training and coaching. We probably all have a functioning interpretation but here follows The Idea Hunter's take on it.
Of course, in practise, it is easy and beneficial to incorporate a mix of both training and coaching wherever possible. I've thrown in the role of mentor as well - at no extra cost!
Seth Godin's free work
Came across this site (shuaism) which has tracked down all of Seth Godin's free ebooks. Godin's stuff always make you think and his marketing insights are well worth investing your time.
Inspirational stuff gives perspective
Video no longer available
Tell me it doesn't make you think!
Cheer up
Today is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year! Blue Monday was devised/identified as part of a PR campaign for Sky Travel. However, let's not believe it. Here's a video that might help to cheer you up. This clip from Armstrong and Miller may only be suitable for the British sense of humour.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4QDz3c3Auw]
Creativity and education
Two interesting and entertaining videos looking at the role of, and attitude to, creativity in education.
