Paul Renaud moderating an Evernote Meetup with Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote on November 7th, 2012

I get the chance to meet and moderate interesting people. Phil Libin, CEO or Evernote (www.evernote.com) was in town and I was asked to moderate an Evernote meetup. I like to get to meet/know my guests since I need to know a bit about their leadership style and values. This makes it more interesting for the audience which in this case, ‘is my customer.’
Evernote is a $1billon (USD) company based in Silicon Valley and currently have 40 million customers. Evernote is a solution that helps you remember and act upon ideas, projects and experiences across all the computers, phones and tablets you use.

I had asked Phil what were the reasons of Evernote’ s success and after a few push backs indicating to me a touch of modesty, he admitted one of his guiding principles.
‘Paul, I hire smarter people than me’. I smiled and I let him finish. He went on to say, ‘I need to hire smarter people so we can progress. If I don’t hire someone that is smarter than me, then I end up doing the job myself which is counter-productive’.

I later told Phil that I smiled because I agreed with him and I adopted this principle in the emerging countries I had worked. I also smiled since I remembered the look of shock on some of my managers’ faces when I told them they too, had to hire smarter people. Then the question came…Well, if I hire someone smarter than me he/she will take over my job!’ which is a normal reaction to the unknown. At this moment, I would explain the difference between Leadership and Management.
The difference between Leadership and Management is that ‘Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things’. A Leader will do what is right for the organization by having the best possible talent and will hire smarter people. Leaders such as CEOs cannot manage every aspect and have the same deep level of knowledge of every facet of the organization.

Therefore the CEO must lead the experts in IT, technology, audit and product management in order for the organization to adapt, progress and win in the most efficient manner.

The Leader does exactly that…he leads. The Manager on the other hand, gets the job done.

Think about this distinction in your case. Are you a Leader or a Manager?
Are you doing what is right for your organization or are you managing the finite details?
Chances are your employer hired you to lead. Like Phil Libin, when you hire subject matter experts, this person understands that he/she was hired for their specialized skills and that you are the Leader, a fact that will remain.

Leaders don’t need to establish that they are in charge; ‘doing the right things ‘establishes them as Leaders!

http://evernote.com/

The post Hire smarter people than you are! appeared first on .

I asked him – why the interest? He said ‘because Paul at your last speech you showed us the importance of setting objectives and your objective for 2012 was to read one book per month. I liked that idea and ever since hearing you I too, want to read more!’

What a nice compliment that my messages to reach out and help people had some traction and was actually working!

Another colleague suggested that I post my favorite book list. The benefit here is that I can emphasize the books that have helped me and perhaps help others learn, address change or improve their leadership skills.

What a great idea!
Here is my top 15 list with a short summary/reason as to why you should consider them:
1) What color is your parachute? Richard Nelson Bolles. This is a classic in identifying your skills. If you think you know what are your skills are, think again. Do the exercise that Richard suggests. It’s an investment in YOU and you won’t be sorry.

2) Influence, The psychology of persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini PhD. This is a great book for Sales and Marketing teams.

3) The power of Now, Eckart Tolle. This is a great book on spirituality without any religious overtones. Tolle gives you tips on how to get control of your life, outcomes and stress – I use his tips dally! If you like this book you will enjoy even more…

4) A new Earth, Eckart Tolle. Again spirituality with really cool hints on how to master your life. I strongly recommend both books; they are bit dry at the beginning but get useful once you get used to his style.

5) Rich dad, poor dad, Robert T. Kiyosaki. I like Robert’s modest style. This is not a ‘Get rich quick’ book or scheme. He fundamentally believes in raising the level of education when in comes to personal finance. Read this one first then…

6) Cashflow quadrant by Robert T. Kiyosaki, and Guide to Investing by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

7) Perfect pitch by Jon Steel, this is great for the Adverting agency crowd but not only – great book on how to make great client-winning presentations.

8) Super Freakonomics by Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J.Dubner. Great book on trends and unusual statistics. It makes you go…Huh!? Fun read and certainly gives Marketing specialists some creative ways to get customer insights.

9) Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders, Srini Pillay M.D. Srini was my teacher and is a master and authority on Brain Science. Finally someone unlocks the code as why we behave in such ways in business (because of brain patterns) and he describes how to address change and to improve team performance.

10) Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear, Srini Pillay M.D. We all have self-doubt and fear. Srini’s second book unravels how to deal with fear, stress and anxiety, an area where Srini is recognized worldwide.

11) How to win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie. If you don’t know Carnegie, this will be a wonderful introduction to an icon. The book was written in 1936 and the concepts that he describes then are still ‘alive and well’ today. If you like this one you will certainly treasure another classic from the same author…

12) How to stop worrying and start living, Dale Carnegie

13) Smarter Pricing, Tony Cram. Good interesting tips on a somewhat dry topic – Pricing. He kept my interest and I have used his insights for the MBA classes I teach in Marketing.

14) Exponential Marketing by Paul Garrison. This is THE book in segmentation. Paul is CEO Garrison Group, novel writer and Ivy League Professor at Dartmouth University. Learn from this former exec at Coca Cola and P&G. 

15) 7 habits of highly effective people, Stephen R. Covey. No nonsense, no hype, plain common sense to effectiveness. I instructed my marketing team to read this book and to apply/follow his suggestions. I quote his book every time I present to audiences.

Finally. Here are some books on my radar:

1) Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
2) Drive by Daniel Pink
3) The art of the start: Guy Kawasaki (former Apple soft evangelist)
4) The present, Spencer Johnson

I hope that these books help you find happiness, they help you improve your relationships and they guide you in finding meaning to your life.

It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.
Claude Bernard (1813-1878)
Physiologist

The post Reading…food for the soul appeared first on .

Common integrated campaign pitfalls.
Pitfall #1: Media that don’t reinforce each other
Pitfall #2: Create a budget first, metrics second.
Pitfall #3: Awareness vs. sales
Pitfall #4: Delegate and forget
To close off this topic and as a continuation of my last post on the topic of campaign integration here’s pitfall number 4.

Pitfall #4: Delegate and forget
Another pitfall is when the Chief Marketing Officer decides to get involved, rolls up his/her sleeves with the team and assists them in launching his first campaign with the team then retreats to his/her management meetings leaving his deputy in full control of the subsequent campaigns.
Till then he or she sets the direction and tone of the Marketing plan (example)
“I want us to be positioned as the company whose real estate project owns the concept of European living standards such as providing large green space, offices, large employer complexes, schools, retail, professionals, fitness centers, public transport.”
He/She made sure the message was communicated efficiently by signing off on all ads, and held the Marketing department responsible for the success of their campaigns (“If we don’t generate revenues that are at least twice what this new Marketing program costs, I want it stopped”).
The campaign was a huge success, improving sales and raising the company’s presence to the point where it could demonstrate a correlation between sales and the advertising campaign.
Then he/she takes his eye ‘off the ball’, starts trusting the agency and then makes the decision that he/she would change from being an inspiration to becoming more involved in day-to-day management. He begins focusing exclusively on the dynamics of reporting systems and internal controls. Although he was a sale-and-Marketing pro who had built the Marketing department from the ground up, he/she now feels that time should be spent building an internal organization.
Soon enough Marketing was delegated to inexperienced staff that could go through the motions of creating Facebook pages, web-site banners, and the like, but who were lost without the leadership it takes to turn these elements into a powerful sales-building machine. No wonder revenues and earnings slowed down.
The team needs inspiration all the time. This means getting involved in all aspects if the Marketing leader wishes to see results while at the same time maintain the consistency of the message.
He/she is supposed to be diligent enough to have created a succession plan but rushing into management duties too fast is not going to help anyone especially when it comes to generating Top Line revenues with Marketing.

The post Of course the campaign is integrated… 4th and last pitfall appeared first on .

In fact do you know what is worse than a customer complaining?
A customer that does not complain (…and walks).

We hear the cliché that ‘Customers comes first’ or ‘The customer is number one’ but those clichés remain clichés unless the brand has the ability to deliver SOUL in our day-to-day transactions.

In simple terms, the Soul is what the brand represents…it’s the promise delivered every day. This is what a Marketing leader must convey but at times when it comes to frontline staff talking or meeting customers that ‘fire in the belly’ or that brand soul may not come across loud and clear when its desperately needed. This is an area where Branding can help.

Let me give you an example (yes banking).

I deal with a bank that it based in a country that has received a lot of attention lately. The staff are great helpful and courteous. So far, so good.

4 years ago my debit card had to be renewed and the bank rep told me that I needed to wait for my new card. After 1 week I called and they told me ‘nope not ready yet’- pretty impractical since if I wanted money, I needed to go in person in a branch to get cash ( when was the last time you did that?).
After another week – same answer and they could not tell me. Well this went on for total of 6 weeks when the paperwork or ‘form’ was lost or whatever (remember, I’m a customer – I really don’t care of the reason) I finally get my card.

In my next meeting with the Branch manager I tell him ‘Catalin, you’ve got great people at this bank but unfortunately your processes suck…’ I was sincere. How is it possible that a client has to wait 6 weeks to get a renewed card?’

Fast forward 4 years now. Same bank!

They called up my friend who recently traveled to Dubai and told her that because of recent fraud issues in Dubai, they strongly recommended to her to cancel her card and to get another one. That’s pretty progressive right? A bank calling you to deter potential fraud.
My friend agreed and also agreed to go to a nearest branch to fill out a form to get her card renewed.
At this point I started to worry!

It took 5 weeks to get a renewed card after multiple calls – probably for the same reason…again we don’t care about the reasons – we’re the customer.
When we went to a branch in Baneasa mall and spoke to a bright looking fellow and my friend told him the story about the card. Then I added then . ‘Yep in my case 4 years ago I had to wait 6 weeks.’
We were pretty cool and not upset by this point.
His reaction? ‘Humm’ is what he said, his head nodded, then went back to filling the form.

Not ‘well we’re really sorry about this’…
Not ‘well let me look into this…this is unacceptable to make customers wait 5-6 weeks to get card’…
Not ‘I will look into this and get back to you’ or…at the minimum…’I will report this to our customer care team and I will ensure that someone calls you to give you an update/explanation. I will personally follow up with our customer care department to make sure someone gets back to you’
In other words…Initiative, attention to the customer and a bit of empathy (not apathy).

Ok you’re going to tell me Paul this is a customer care issue and the bank probably needs to take care of its customer care policy or this your fellow was not properly trained or worse… this is Romania. NOT!

I don’t agree. Before that fellow gets on the phone and follows Customer care procedures, he needs to WANT to get on the phone and put out this fire! Training is important but you can’t train people to HAVE the initiative. This has to come from the soul; the soul is what the brand is all about.
In other words are people going to kill themselves to solve this problem? If so, THAT my friend is brand loyalty and brand affinity.

I had the pleasure of working for brands that I wanted to kill myself for those brands; I wanted to please my customer and I wanted to make a difference.

Why? Well because I felt part of the brand. When I showed people my business card I was proud that I worked for Bell Mobility, Connex or Orange. It was a cool place to work; we were going to ‘invade the nation’ with this brand and unbeknownst to me, the Marketing leaders at the time (Tim McChesney, Aneta Bogdan and Paul Phillips in this order) had managed to instill that sense of pride, joy and the SOUL that made me wake up every morning and do the best for our brand!

A little naive?
Want more proof?
I challenge you to listen to any interview of an Apple employee that was involved in the IPod, IPhone or IPad. Look at how their face lights up when they explain how much they were part of the Apple development team. Of course Steve Jobs made this an amazing place to work but Apple employees are passionate. We don’t all work for Apple but the same unbridled enthusiasm is possible for you, the Marketing Leader to instill regardless if you sell paints, pharmaceuticals or yogurt.
The brand makes it happen.

Follow my next post as I describe areas where as a Marketing Leader, you can unleash this SOUL so that your team members actually enjoy killing themselves for the brand.

The post Dealing with apathy: How Branding can unleash the SuperHero in all of us! appeared first on .

Marketers need to understand sales effectiveness. This seems terribly simple but ultimately the most direct effect of sales (as a result of marketing) is that sales generates revenues.
Plus as a Marketer how you can’t expect to drive top line revenues from market initiatives unless you have a thorough understanding of your company’s sales department and how effective they are.

Fact:

There is a strong link between sales and marketing and dynamic marketing leaders are always seeking feedback from the sales team when it comes to reading the market, understanding competition and fine tuning products and services.
In fact you should always welcome it.

Ask yourself when was the last time a sales peer gave you feedback on prices, the promotion or the new products launched last week?
If you can’t remember – that’s a problem; either:
1) As a marketer you are not getting feedback from sales since they don’t have your phone number or email or a method/channel to give to feedback,
2) You are not welcoming feedback,
3) You have not created an environment where sales can openly give feedback.

In all cases, something has to be done immediately.

Any customer centric organization has to provide an environment where sales can for example, get on the phone or email you to say ‘hey…this client is telling us that our prices are too high’ (common sales reply)…or this client has decided to leave for x/y/z reason because of the product.
Another reason could be that customers expect a higher group discount or are asking if we can modify the product/package or distribution somehow. These are all legitimate questions and market feedback and it implies that there is a dialog between marketing and sales.

As a Product Manager, I would get the distribution sales team to call me on a daily basis to complain (read, suggest) about one aspect or another about the products. This is healthy. As a Marketer, you have to welcome this kind of feedback and you have to toughen your skin since you may get a lot of criticism.

In Romania we initiated this environment of informal feedback since the sales team simply did not know that they could or should give feedback to Marketing.
We also had a product development board (formal feedback) where new products and enhancements were presented because existing products lacked a better price/package or feature.

Informal since you want to hear it ’live’ or before someone has to write an email and formally since it’s important that if you are getting similar feedback from many sales teams about the same problem, this implies that the problem must be addressed immediately or it has to be elevated to your boss or the next product development board.

Experience:
I am assuming that all good marketers have some form of sales experience. If you don’t I would try to deflect this aspect about your career as long as you can. In my opinion you need to have sold something to be effective in marketing. Sales may seem easy but it’s not. There is a lot of work to even get a customer interested in your pitch and even then, that does not guarantee that you will close. Marketers must understand this pain of trying to ‘make the sale’.

If you wish to stay in marketing and you cannot leave your marketing job tomorrow to start a new sales career, then I strongly suggest that you engage in a MLM (Multi-level marketing) or network marketing organizations like Amway, Tupperware, HerbaLife, NU Skin, and Avon in your spare time. Even if you try it and don’t like it, the fundamental part of this exercise is to understand what is required to sell. You’ll get free training and initial products to sell to your friends and family. After a while say in 2-3 months you will either love it or hate it. That’s the pain I am talking about.
Bottom line- Selling isn’t easy.

Sales discipline: Basics
The success of any organization resides in the Sales department’s ability to reach sales targets that were established in the Business plan – this is imperative.
Each Sales representative – let’s call them Account Managers (AM, for short), must go through a consistent prospecting process till a sale is made. I’ve described for illustrative purposes the most basic sales process below. I will assume for sake of example that the Account Manager is new and was not given any particular segment focus – a ‘shot gun’ approach in other words.

Day to Day Plan:
Daily Activities

0930 – 1030
Account Managers starting their day early, on time to do Telephone calls
Returning phone calls of previous day
Leads generated internally
Cold calls to prospects
Confirm presentations booked by other team members
Call on new contact developed within existing clients
Follow up on Direct mail program

Goal: Book a meeting even if it short in nature. The AM does not try to sell products/services over the phone.

1030 – 1230
Customer meetings either booked or “in the neighborhood” calls to existing clients.

1230 – 1300
Lunch

1300 – 1600
Customer meetings

1600 – 1900
Returning phone call messages on same day
Leads generated internally.
Follow up on Direct mail program.
Cold calls to prospects
Confirm presentations
Call on new contacts provided by Marketing leads or Customer Service.

This has to be done religiously – every day!

Adding to the rigor of cold calling, prospecting and meeting customers, the AM needs to initiate the following:

1) Direct mail to selected targets such as Romanian publicly traded companies, banks, manufacturing, trading firms, NGOs, insurance companies, government institutions or other relevant vertical markets.

2) Telemarketing to customers. Purpose of call is to introduce your company. Other reasons are to explain offerings, getting feedback on existing suppliers, product/service guarantees – but not on the phone. Remember the objective is to get an appointment!

3) Chamber of commerce/trade association events.

4) Accompanying the Sales Manager for customer visits, both to introduce company and prospect for more business.

5) Customer ownership focus:
Develop/add/ complement the customer profile and account review in your CRM for new contacts that you have developed.

7) Thank you letter after each call and place lead information in CRM that can be recalled for future prospecting purposes.

You get the idea.

The trick in sales is that if you repeat all these steps in a consistent manner, you will develop a small yet growing database of good customers.

It takes time.

I have sold water filters (yes…MLM), mobile phones, computer equipment, consulting contracts, sponsorships and coaching services. In my experience the AM starts to become effective and on ‘top of his/her game’ after approximately 1 ½ years of selling. It takes that amount of time to get to know your customers, learn the tricks of the trade; you avoid mistakes and become focused on customer needs and an expert at ‘closing’.

Rome was not built in a day, nor will you become an effective Account Manager overnight.

The post Marketing…Sales…what’s the difference? appeared first on .

Successful global brand requirements:

1)     Talent/Quality

Any product or service (let’s call it ‘product’ for brevity) needs to be top quality or at least needs to be perceived as having unwavering quality. Think of Mercedes or American Express. These companies like others have demonstrated time and time again that quality makes the customer come back.

2)     Energy/Sustainability

Your product has to be number one in the ‘hearts and minds’ of your customers that means you need to constantly push away the competition regardless what they throw at you. Nokia which was the best mobile phone company in the early 2000’s slowly ‘got their lunch eaten’ by Blackberry. Now BlackBerry is getting kicked by Iphone. ‘You snooze…you lose’.

3)      People; Let me be more specific: Management, team members, partners and suppliers.

It’s all about people.  You get the best leader in charge of an organization and magic   happens. If you have a tyrant at the head of an organization – you have chaos.

Suppliers can become your most important ally. John F. Love in ‘Behind the arches’ paints a dramatic look on how McDonald’s transformed ‘Mom and Pop’ suppliers into multi-million dollar firms.

4) Marcomms (Marketing Communications), Managing media/Social media initiatives.

This is where the marketing purists do their mixing: the classic and the new; conventional and social media. Be careful however. Social media is not the panacea for all Marcomms. Classical media (TV, print, radio and outdoor) still carry a lot of weight.

5)     New Product Development (NPD)  and Determination

Take a look at how many times Samsung is launching new products and that will indicate the type of momentum and dizzying pace it takes to stay alive in a market where customers want more speed/features/ time savers and benefits.

6)     Luck

In a recent interview Johnny Depp told Larry king that industry experts referred to Depp’s first 20 years of his acting career as ‘ Box office poison’. Then he was offered the role in Pirates of the Caribbean. Depp said ‘Yes I was lucky at that moment but I also knew that if someone gave me the ball… I had to run with it ‘. Luck plays a vital role in business. Question is: Are you ready when luck comes your way?

7) Pride. More on that later.

So how does Inna stack up?

1)     Talent/Quality

In an age of music artists that can fake their way to the top, I can assure you this lady can sing. She sings live every moment that she can including live radio interviews (not to mention in 4 languages: Romanian, English French and Spanish). She’s been singing since she was eight years old and still continues to improve herself.

2)     Energy/Sustainability

Remember the last time you had a cold/flu? You felt miserable, calling in sick at work and you just wanted to sleep. When you have on average 12 concerts in 12 different countries per month – you can’t ‘call in sick’. In fact you have to sing even with a sore throat. With jet lag, meeting fans, TV/radio interviews, red carpet appearances, meeting fans before the show, sound checks, hair, make-up, performing the show and still meeting fans backstage after the show…’this life isn’t easy’. Inna has more energy than her whole team combined. She cherishes meeting fans after the show, signing autographs and genuinely takes an interest in all of them. She sustains this energy by continuously pushing herself. Here lies the secret of keeping the competition at bay.

3)     People

Inna’s Manager is Lucian Stefan. In his twenties, this fellow has the abilities and competencies of a multinational CEO twice his age in my opinion. Lucian has created the right environment and hired a small team to support him including Marian Dorobantu, Creative Director.  By team I also mean stakeholders/partners such as Play and Win who are extremely talented: They do the composing, lyrics,  production, mixing and the mastering (quite rare) since in the US only one company/entity will do one of these activities – not all four.

Roton is the music label and the core team also includes 4 main suppliers; Edward Aninaru (Photographer),  Maria Andrei (Stylist), Camelia Negrea ( Hair) and  Andra Manea ( Makeup)…4 vital components to make a singer  look/feel her best.

4)     Marcomms (Marketing Communications), Managing media/Social media initiatives.

I can’t possibly list all the things they have done in this area however Social media played an important role:

Facebook: 4,005,257 fans or more fans that Gwen Stefani, Nicole Scherzinger and Nelly Furtado. Lucian through his PC skills has mastered the FB Page.

Twitter: Inna does her own Twitter message – clear enough!

As a result fans have created a multitude of FB pages and Twitter address with the name INNA.

Youtube: As you would expect this has been a critical element for a music artist. Lucian would upload all kinds of Inna video moments as well as teasers of songs, albums as well as really cool moments arriving in new countries. Her first song  ‘Hot’  has in excess of 110 Million views on YouTube.

Now I’ll be the first one to say to ‘don’t bet all your horses ‘on social media (SM). Classic media like print is also responsible for Inna’s popularity. In her case getting two covers in FHM magazines led her to other significant covers such as Elle, Viva and Forbes magazines.

SM + Classic Marcomms led to endorsements with Microsoft and Pepsi. My suggestion is to really look at this artist as a possible endorser for your products/services.

I will skip New Product Development (NPD) and go straight to pride…my favorite topic.

When Inna lands in a new country she says 2 things:

1)     My name is Inna and,

2)     I’m Romanian

Not to make this a political tangent but I want to reach out to my fellow Romanians. It is clear to me that Romanians have this ‘thing’ about being assertive (or lack) about their nationality.

Ok Romania has had bad press in the past in other countries as well as its nomadic people. I am the first to say: So what?

As a proud Canadian we also have issues as a nation.

When I speak to investors I tell them about the abundant IT talent in Romania, English skills, tireless and diligent Romanian employees not to mention EU status and funding opportunities Having lived in 9 countries, I see Romania’s huge talent.

Back to Inna and my message. Like Inna,  ‘Be a proud Romanian’ and that enthusiasm and pride will become contagious. Inna has diligently used this in her favor.

Pride is the key word here.

Still not convinced? Check out this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUMLYdPQpgc and help me understand this question:

How can a Romanian have so much influence and reverence in a country like Mexico – a country that still had not commercially sold her songs until the time she landed for the first time?

I have had the pleasure of working with Inna’s management recently and what I discovered was truly amazing.

When you combine talent, energy, the right people, the right Marcomms, NPD, a bit of luck and lot of pride any Romanian brand can compete globally…just ask Inna!

The post Can Romanian brands compete globally? Just ask Inna! appeared first on .

 
A close business colleague of mine moved to Monaco recently for investments purpose. When I asked how the move went and if he was adapting well, he did say that Monaco was not necessarily little old ladies with mink coats carrying their poodles under their arms (I guess the place had changed since my last visit). He did tell me that Monaco was business friendly and the environment was easy to meet, connect and talk business.

 
In fact in the elevator someone would say to my colleague ‘You’re new here – I have not seen you before in the elevator. My name is SO and SO. So what kind of business are you in….perhaps we can do business together?
This, I might add is all happening between the time it took to go up or down the elevator. OMG.
Now across the Atlantic in Calgary, Alberta, Canada  (home of the 1988 Winter Olympics, the Calgary Stampede and Canada’s oil patch) the concept is about the same  except you need to use 3 code words: ‘Meet and Greet’.

 
Say I want to meet Ben Jones, VP at Esso. I don’t know Ben but my friend Ray does know Ben. I call Ray and say to Ray that I would like to meet Ben.
Ray calls Ben and says Paul (me) wants to ‘Meet and greet’ him.
I get on the phone and even before I finish introducing myself, mention Ray as a mutual friend and that I am calling to ‘Meet and Greet’, Ben has already given me two dates to meet. The process usefully takes about 28 seconds.
Why?
Ben knows/ trusts Ray.
Ray knows Paul.
Ben agrees to meet Paul since there is trust component and that a ‘Meet and greet is exactly that …20-30 minutes to introduce myself and network.
What’s my point?

 
Networking does not have to be painful or difficult and you shouldn’t think about it too much. For my Romanian peers this concept is becoming more and more prevalent but there is still that feeling ‘why the hell would I help someone‘at which point I smirk since I have heard/seen this reaction so many times.
It’s a cultural thing I know…even many of my French friends are not too keen on networking either.

 
Here a few rules:
1)    If you network only to get something in return – you lose. It doesn’t work that way!
2)    It’s OK to help people…no really… give it a try and get out of your comfort zone.
3)    Depending on your environment networking can become contagious where everyone wins.

 
If I look back at how I, as a foreigner in a foreign land successfully found clients, it’s because the people in the process were open.
My challenge for you is to help someone tomorrow … and you don’t need to move in an expensive apartment in Monaco either!

The post Networking. Monaco or Calgary? Take your pick appeared first on .

In the picture you see my first mentor ( as a reminder Mentors do not get paid for their advice) and the fellow called Gordie is my mother’s Coach. In this example Gordie is really MY Coach since what he told me shocked me! Remember that Coaches shock and motivate you.

Without going into too much detail I had not seen my Mentor (read my mom) for quite some time. She is not doing too well health wise and her strokes made her condition more and more debilitating. A visit to Canada was long overdue.

Gordie is my mother’s nurse and caretaker and this is what he told me:

“Sir (not sure why he called me “Sir”) … I gotta tell you: Since you came to visit your mother she is a completely different person. She is happy, looks forward to your visits and her mood has changed…your visit made a big difference!”

A bit of context here: In Canada caretakers like Gordie are paid an OK salary and they do not get tips (spaga, kickbacks or payoffs) for what they do . I can tell you as a business man you really have to like what you do in this kind of job/environment and you need to have a genuine interest in people. This is a skill I don’t have, yet admire.

What he told me made me feel like 1 Million bucks…no make that 10 million bucks when I left the healthcare facility that day.

What’s my point?

1) He did not have to tell me this nor was he getting anything in return,

2) He cares for my mother and a whole lot of similar/worse patients on that floor,

3) His kind words made me feel like I was on top of the world,

4) As a result of these kind words I felt good but more specifically I thought to myself: Mission Accomplished. I came to Canada to visit my mother and it was clear that it had made a difference.

So you’re probably thinking …Paul – big deal? We all have to visit our ailing parents and this is our duty. True.

My point is that a complete stranger (to me) through carefully selected words made a world of difference to me – a few kind words woke me up.

My point: We all have this ability!

In our jobs as leaders we get the job done through managing people and at times we need to be tough, ruthless, impartial, bold, quick, impersonal and rude. After all that‘s business right!?

However if you keep screaming , putting down and never thanking your staff for exceptional work that kind of treatment loses its effect – they will no longer respect you. Why?

There is no point to perform since you are never happy!

If you add a few “Congratulations”, “Thank you” and “What you did made a difference ” that staff member will go back to her spouse that evening and tell them that ” the boss was happy with me today”. You really have this kind of effect on people.

Saying “Thank you “, “Good job” too often is not good either however.

Like sport coaches you have to reprimand for mistakes but celebrate the victories. You have to tell people when they are ‘messing up ‘but also help them improve in the process.

You have to combine the good and the bad.

I don’t care if you clean garbage for living (respectable living in my opinion) or if you are Barrack Obama. We all need to get some feedback; yes positive when we deserve it. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your CEO does not appreciate being told by his peers that he/she is doing a good job ( of course, this does not happen too often). We all need this!

The ideal way to recognize an employee is in front of his/her peers. There is no stronger effect in my experience when you publicly recognize an employee amongst their peers when that employee undertook a “WOW” performance.People who know me and have heard my speeches know that I am a keen observer of leadership skills and what it takes to motivate people. When a complete stranger shocks me on”what a difference I have made” it reminds me that we can all lead this way…with just a few kind words.

You have the ability, the knowledge and now the reminder.

Try it this week and tell me what happened.

The post A kind word goes a long way… appeared first on .

As much as I suggested not asking yourself that question I believe that in all cases it boils down to one simple thing: An imbalance in the relationship between you and your employer.

Think about it. When you were hired, you were given:

1> Objectives: Profits, sales, delivery of products, creation, shareholder value, customer facing milestones, etc.

2> Conditions in which to do the job: Office, infrastructure, authority, data base of clients, etc.

3> Tools to meet these objectives: Staff, software, peers, processes, policies, budgets, guidelines.

It does not matter what kind of job you have – you need these 3 elements to get any job done, assuming you had the right skills when you were hired.

Well …this all goes well for some time and then things start to change.

– Customers start choosing other products/services.

– Competition becomes fiercer.

– Unrealistic objectives that have consistently not been reached on a monthly /quarterly basis.

– The struggling economy had its effect on your employer’s cash flow. Cash flow is the lifeblood in the veins of a company. Cash flow problems if not managed, can kill a company overnight.

– The staff quit or became more demanding or indifferent, unmotivated or worse you could not lead them.

– You were not meeting your objectives or at least it appeared that you were not.

– Management change either at the head of the organization or your boss.

The combination of any one of these factors can put the company or your employer in “survival mode”. The first thing companies do in survival mode is cutting back: Budgets, staff, training, expansion, sales and marketing activities.

If the leader of your company did not plan or see this coming the ensuing effect is chaos followed by more cuts/changes.

This is where you come in – you were the result of these cuts. The imbalance.

There is no point og going over it in your mind since the decision to fire you was final and you need to move on. When everything was going well i.e. you performed and your employer performed; balance existed. When performance was affected this created an imbalance – nothing personal (really).

I am big believer that when you are in a Win-Win environment it can be a lot of fun. When things start to sour however this is what you must do:

1) Be a part of the solution, not the problem. Don’t wait to take that initiative – do it now. Find solutions to real problems.

2) Raise your profile by assuming more tasks and responsibilities.

3) Communicate to your staff that a “storm is coming and that we need to pull together”.

4) Keep an open mind and a positive attitude. Be flexible.

If you fail at any of these 4 initiatives you will simply be overseen by your employer. There is an expression that says: ” When the ship is sinking, the first thing to be thrown overboard is useless cargo”.

I also believe that at all times, you should treat the relationship with your employer  like a client /supplier contract.

Let me explain. You, the supplier offer services (skills, competence, actions and deliverables) and your client (employer) pays you for these services. You do your best to keep your customer happy and he pays you (salary, bonus, perks, car, laptop, etc) for a job well done.

The problems start when there is an imbalance which leads to one party “taking the other for granted”.

“Well if I show up for work and I keep my head down, the boss won’t notice it”.

The employer says ” OK we’re going to have to cut jobs. Instead of paying dismissal packages ( cash) we’ll just tell employees that they are on a list of redundant employees; we’ll give them 6-8 weeks’ notice and indicate to them that they would be wise to start looking for another job” (this is a real example by the way of what I heard lately as a new tactic by an employer).

If you treat your relationship like a client /supplier relationship at all times you will do your best to keep that relationship positive and… balanced. On the flip side when you feel that the relationship is deteriorating (worsening) and the client no longer appreciates your services … then it’s time to move on. This is not different than other client/supplier relationship you face daily: Choice of supermarkets when you buy food, your lawyer, accountant, your car, mobile phone service, and your bank and so on.

It may sound like I am taking the employer’s side – not true. I have done both; worked as an employee and supplier (consultant or CEO Coach). I manage the expectations of my client /supplier relationships a lot better now since I realize that every relationship has a beginning and an end!

With that in mind I strive to keep my customers (employer) happy. When he changes or changes the rules or the environment then I remember: “OK…I have to adapt or move on”.

Try looking at your relationship in this way starting tomorrow!

This will give you a better perspective on how you look at your employer and it will give you the extra level of power in your current relationship since now, YOU control where this goes.

Regardless of who you work for, how long it’s been and how much of a “good ride” it’s been for you, an imbalance will occur whether you like it or not.

Are you going to be ready when this happens?

The post Q. Why do good people get fired? A. Imbalance. appeared first on .

Worse is tomorrow someone will ask you who you are and what do you do? We live in a society where so much is “who we are” and “what we do for a living. It’s as if you’ve just lost your identity.

OK unless you were fired for something blatantly obvious such as having done something illegal, immoral or criminal, then I can’t help you.

If you are like most people that were fired for “uncertain” reasons, I can help.

First . I can recommend two readings:

The Peter Principle. This principle states that “in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence”, meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 humorous book, The Peter Principle,

Perhaps this is what happened, but you certainly will not accept this in the next few days/weeks or months.

The second book you must read is a classic. “What color is your parachute”, by Richard Nelson Bolles.

Paul…I just lost my job and you expect me to read? Answer: Yes.

I also expect you to:

1. Disconnect from work altogether for some time – at least 2-4 weeks.
2. Go out and have a few drinks ( perhaps many) with your spouse, partner or good friends.
3. Talk to your friends that you trust, explain what happened and GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM.
4. Take time to reflect on YOU, your skills, your interests and your plan.
5. Take time to go do something for you: Cycle, walk, shop, travel, start a hobby, play Golf, get a manicure, pedicure and massage…do something you like.

As I said in my previous blog being fired is a life stage occurrence (Marketing term) where something impactful happens to you (i.e. new baby, divorce, marriage, caring for an aging parent). Getting fired is right up there with those other occurrences.

Therefore you cannot expect to get back on the phone and send your CV in a flurry of activity hoping that it will be ok. You may be lucky however I can tell you that I will be short-lived.

The most fundamental thing to do is to accept the situation – OK I know it’s hard; you’re upset and you want to hire 3 lawyers. I know. I can also tell you that that most employers have bigger lawyers. I have used lawyers – good ones and bad ones and the outcome is usually dismal or not really in your favor. Every situation is different and there is a great deal of satisfaction to get closure with a lawyer. However make sure you have money – this is not an option.

Getting over the DENIAL stage is fundamental. You need to accept that there was some form of inequality between what your employer expected and what you delivered – regardless if it’s your fault or not …it’s immaterial at this point. Dwelling on who to blame, how much your boss was difficult and why no one else stood up for you will not help. This is wasting perfectly good brain energy and besides there is nothing you can do about it.

Getting over the denial stage frees up your mind and enables you to focus as to who you are, what you are good at. Remember when emotions are involved it’s hard to think straight.

Reading The Peter principle is a good book to get your mind off things.

Reading What color is your parachute is a must read since it will help you in a variety of ways:

1. Identify your REAL skills. There is an exercise that takes about 4 hours to identify your skills. This is pure gold and don’t assume that you know your skills. In fact you may not even know what a skill really is.
2. It will prepare you for the worst case scenario: No work for 2,3,4,5 or 6 months. Again you will go in denial and say “well that’s crazy … I’ll find a job tomorrow”. Chances are that you will not so you need to plan that now.
3. The book will enable you to re-discover yourself. Perhaps you were in the wrong job or industry, working with toxic people, not really able to explore your potential or maybe you were there just for the money.
4. I tell my audiences to read this book not only when you are looking for a job but it’s a good read to develop yourself and to progress in your career.

Next steps:

1. Set up a plan. Now‘s the best time for you to re-calibrate your plan and decide what you want to do in the next 1,3 and 5 years.
2. Listen to your words: Attitude check. Your attitude now is critically important. No one will hire someone who is pissed off, frustrated, negative or grumpy. Now do you see why you needed to reflect for a few weeks to get over the denial period and to spend time for yourself?
3. Make a choice. If you were not happy with your last job, identify the reasons and avoid something similar.
4. Network. I looked at how I found my last 10 jobs as an executive: 7 were through people I knew; 2 from headhunters one through  cold calling – it was a revelation for me. As one my mentors Richard Eaton says. You can either Net -Work or Not –Work, it’s your choice.
5. Find a Mentor or Coach. Remember a Mentor is free and with a Coach, you need to pay. I have both. In either case your Mentor or Coach will tell you that you are not thinking straight and won’t care if they hurt your feelings…do you think that a football coach puts on white gloves during a game? Find either a Mentor or Coach. Tell them what happened and get ready to move on.

When you look back at this tough period in a few years, you will realize that this was a good time to reflect and spend time to invest in YOU.

Although your job was important (perhaps too important) as ever in life what really matters is your support group; the people that were cheering for you: Your spouse, your kids, your family and your friends in other words, your fans.

You can get a job anytime but keeping real fans like these is far more precious.

Put this in perspective as you embark to discover your next challenge.

The post I was fired! Now what? appeared first on .