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The qualities of a good website

by Rick Baker
On Aug 10, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine shared some website thoughts with me.
 
The thing that really caught my attention was how emphatic he was and how he expressed his views in simple, clear words.
 
Here is the note I wrote to myself after the discussion.
 
The 4 things a good website must have:
  1. Interesting content...encouraging people to read on.
  2. Fresh content...giving people a reason to return soon.
  3. User-friendly commerce…making it easy for your clients to do business with you.
  4. Lots of contact options…making it easy for your clients to connect with you.
My friend shared many more details with me. I will write more details in future blogs. However, for now, Seeking Simple makes sense.
 
A link to Seeking Simple.

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts | Marketing

How to Give a Damn Good Speech

by Rick Baker
On Aug 5, 2010
‘How to Give a Damn Good Speech’…that’s the name of a book written by Philip R. Theibert.
 
When I find books like this, I like to create summaries so I can look at them when I am preparing a presentation. I find it helpful to look at different perspectives.
 
Here is a summary of some of the points made by the author
 
The Basics of a Good Speech
  1. Identify your topic and goal
  2. Write your opening line
  3. Identify a few key points
  4. Support your key thoughts
  5. Wrap it up with a summarizing conclusion
Beyond Basic – To a Damn Good Speech!
  1. Acknowledge your audience
  2. Take a moment to define your terms!
  3. Clarify your qualifications
  4. Address audience biases
  5. Tell them what you are going to talk about!
  6. Tell the audience why they should care
  7. Back up your points with stories
  8. Back up your points with facts
  9. Back up your points with history
  10. Build strong transitions
  11. Wrap it up
  12. Include a call to action
  13. Conclude with the beginning
A couple of thoughts..
 
Take a moment to define your terms! and Address audience biases: these are interesting facets. Under Take a moment to define your terms! we need to avoid industry jargon and keep our words simpler/straightforward. We can not assume others understand ‘our world’ or our train of thought. On the other hand we can excel if we are able to accurately discover and understand then Address audience biases.
 
We need to understand the audience…that takes preparation.
 
We need to do what we can to make sure the audience understands us…that takes preparation.
 
More on speeches and presentations in future blogs…

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Influencing | Leaders' Thoughts

Trust paves the path for Passion in the Workplace

by Rick Baker
On Jul 21, 2010
While listening to Stephen M.R. Covey’s CD-book ‘The Speed of Trust’, I was thinking – if we could build trust at our workplaces then that would help pave the path for more passion at our workplaces.
 
I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for ways to build passion at our workplaces ever since a friend asked me – How would we do that?.
 
How can we build trust at our workplace?
 
According to Stephen M.R. Covey:
  1. Trust impacts the ‘economics’ for your business. Trust is not just the warm and fuzzy right thing to do. A workplace with trust is much more efficient than one without trust. And, the economics of improved trust can be measured.
  2. Trust is the #1 responsibility of leadership.
  3. Trust can be learned.
There are 5 Waves of Trust:
  1. Self-trust (give them a leader)...credibility upon which to build trust
  2. Relationship Trust...behaviour
  3. Organizational trust...alignment trust
  4. Marketplace trust...your brand, your reputation trust
  5. Societal Trust...contribution trust
How to Build Trust at your workplace:
  1. Make trust an explicit goal…corporate and for employees
  2. Explain its value in economic terms
  3. Measure it
  4. Implement it: train and apply
For well over 10 years I have told folks 3 things are sacred to me in business. One of those 3 things was and is – Don’t Lie To Me. I have spent some time explaining exactly what I mean. From now on I will not have to do that. I will either simply use the word “Trust” or I will recommend reading/listening to ‘The Speed of Trust’.
 
PS: This Covey book strikes several other chords for me: the father-son ‘chat’ illustrates an example of family business at its best, the trust message encourages us to aim for a better business future, the statement ‘trust can be measured’ is compelling…and more.

Tags:

Entrepreneur Thinking | Leaders' Thoughts

On Governance…

by Rick Baker
On Jul 20, 2010
William Dimma has served on over 50 corporate boards and 40 not-for-profit boards. He is well-recognized with doctorate and honourary degrees from several Canadian universities, an Order of Ontario, and an Order of Canada.
 
In 2006 Dimma published ‘Tougher Boards for Tougher Times’.
 
Here is an excerpt from page 44:
 
“You know and I know that best practice in governance is a complex synthesis of many things: board composition, structure, process, chemistry, leadership, culture, behaviour, and values. But it’s also influenced, at least to some degree, by a host of largely uncontrollable external variables (what economists like to call exogenous factors).”
 
While the book has a big-enterprise thrust – ie, a subtitle of “Corporate Governance in the Post-Enron Era” and the use university boards as an illustration of a not-for-profit organization – directors of smaller-enterprise boards can learn from the messages Dimma teaches.
 
We can start with the above Dimma quote…his list of things required under the complex synthesis of governance.
 
We need to simplify Dimma’s list.
 
We also need to get to a point where we agree governance does not have to be a complex synthesis.
 
We can start by simplifying the ‘Dimma list’.
 
To simplify the list we can repackage it as follows: Values > Culture > Communication > Value. I have blogged about this …for example.
 
In summary:
 
Values lead to…

Culture, which should include top-notch

Communication, which when done with excellence creates

Value for all stakeholders

Values:
 
By Values, I mean the Personal Values of the directors. To the extent a director holds more power than others the Personal Values of that director will dominate. For example, if one director controls the corporation then that person’s Values ought to reign supreme. This works when a majority owner is a director of a corporate board. It also works for a not-for-profit board where control isn’t through ‘ownership’…consider, for example, the founder. I expect some will argue this is not the correct approach. I expect some will argue it isn’t good governance.
 
If a person in control has Personal Values that conflict with those of the other directors then good governance will not be possible
 
If Values are not genuine or properly ‘encultured’ then good governance will not be possible.
 
Values must be solidified. I designed a process several years ago to address this need: the My Business & Our Business process.
 
Personal Values, when they are genuine and shared by directors, capture chemistry and set the boundaries for behaviour so those two words can be removed from Dimma’s list.
 
Culture:
 
When the Personal Values of the directors are discussed, clarified, well-understood, agreed-to, and aligned we have set the framework for culture. We have set the foundation for process and leadership. This should never be left to chance. This is particularly true when governance is to be overseen by a Board of Directors [rather than a single individual, or a pair of founders, etc].
 
If Personal Values did not capture chemistry and set boundaries on behaviour then Culture better! So, we can remove those two words from Dimma’s list.
 
That simplifies the under-our-control pieces of Governance to:
  • Values
  • Culture
  • Composition
  • Structure
  • Process
  • Leadership
More on simplifying this list [and simplifying governance] in future blogs…
 
PS: some hints…
  • Composition – shared Values is the most-critical factor for selection, next is ability to deliver measurable Value
  • Structure – the simpler the better…have role clarity [process]
  • Process – the key process is Communication
  • Leadership – inspiring the People to prepare, perform, and perfect the Process

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts | Values: Personal Values

Leading With Revenue© - #3

by Rick Baker
On Dec 8, 2009
There are simple ways to ensure profitable business.
 
One way is Leading With Revenue, which I have talked about in my last 2 blogs.
 
From the last blog, we know Leading With Revenue can add Value whether we are dealing with new products and services [inventions] or existing products and services [which aren’t selling as well as we would like]. The key is obtaining Client input… and a revenue-generating purchase by a Client is powerful positive feedback.
 
I promised some Leading With Revenue success stories.
 
Here are a couple of success stories…again, I have altered the details to ensure confidentiality.
 
Example 1:
 
Dave was approached by a large local company to provide consulting services under a short-term project.  Dave was flattered by the acknowledgment of his expertise, confirmed by the attention offered by the large company. However, Dave declined the offer and provided a counter-offer. Dave’s counter-offer consisted of a multi-year contract providing a Value-adding service that included the consulting but also included a clear and expert solution to a major problem well-known to exist at the large local company…at least, well-known to Dave. Dave’s counter-offer contained pricing and other terms that reflected Dave’s senior-level Value. Result – the large company accepted Dave’s counter-offer and both parties enjoyed the Value-exchange that followed.
 
Example 2:
 
Jim and Sarah run a local manufacturing company. One of their larger clients came to them and requested a price discount, to match the competition. Jim and Sarah were somewhat puzzled because the relationship had been strong with the client and Jim and Sarah’s company had a habit of over-delivering with quality. After some discussion, it became clear there was a disconnection between the Value as seen by the client and the Value as seen by Jim and Sarah. To satisfy the client’s price-discount request, Jim and Sarah would lose money. They discussed this with the client. Jim and Sarah confirmed they would not drop their price.
Now, there are two alternative endings to this example…the choice of ending depends on which ‘Jim and Sarah’ we are talking about…both happened:
Ending 1: The client checked with his head office and confirmed to Jim and Sarah that no price discount was required. Since that event, there has been no further discussion of price discounts.
Ending 2: The client took his business to a new supplier. That supplier went bankrupt in 6 months and the client had no choice but to return to Jim and Sarah. The client then accepted the price increase offered by Jim and Sarah. Since that series of events, there has been no further discussion of price discounts.
 
The next blog will be the last in this Leading With Revenue series…

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts | Marketing

How should we view and analyse a Market Sector?

by Rick Baker
On Jun 5, 2009

A few decades ago, Michael Porter presented a way to analyse an industry sector…ie, a marketplace.  

He recommended Five Forces Industry Analysis”...see Michael Porter, ‘Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors’, [1980].

 

Porter’s Five Forces are:

  1. threat of new entrants
  2. bargaining power of suppliers
  3. bargaining power of buyers
  4. threat of substitute products or services
  5. degree of rivalry among existing competitors

It is wise to consider the Five Forces described by Procter…[perhaps after almost 30 years that’s now considered common sense]. 

It also makes sense to look at your choice of business sector from different perspectives.

This note is about a different way to think about your market niche…the sector where you are doing or will do business. 

Last year, Fernando Trías de Bes presented some different thinking in his book ‘The Little Black Book of Entrepreneurship – A Contrarian’s Guide To Succeeding Where Others Have Failed’ [2008].  

The book focuses on why businesses fail. Rather than talking about only KSFs [Key Success Factors] it recommends we consider KFFs [Key Failure Factors]. The author answers the question – “Why?”…”Because in order to apply the success factors, you need to clear the terrain of failure factors.” 

Is that contrarian?  [What about the W and the T of SWOT?] 

According to the author, one reason entrepreneurs fail is poor choices of market sectors. The author believes the root of the problem is many entrepreneurs do not consider the market sector to be a decision. Rather, they consider it to be a consequence of a random idea.  

The chapter on market sector is titled ‘ROUND NINE - No Novice Ever Won a Nobel Prize’ 

An example is given: a vacationer sees a new type of shoe while visiting a foreign land. The vacationer – the entrepreneur – knows that shoe is not available at home. The entrepreneur’s random idea is: we could sell that shoe at home. And the consequence of that random idea is: we will go into business in the shoe sector.   

Another example is given: a fellow became enthralled with a particular fast-food outlet. He spent six months studying the business of that fast-food outlet but failed to ask himself if he had a real interest in being in the fast-food sector. 

The author believes entrepreneurs often fail because they ‘back into’ the market sector because they are convinced they have a good idea for a product or have a good idea for a specific business.  

The way I’m looking at it, Fernando Trías de Bes tells us what we better think about before we follow the ‘process-analytics’ advice provided by folks like Michael Porter.  

Fernando Trías de Bes provides the following advice:

“The choice of the market sector for your business venture must be the result of a considered decision.

Choose your sector or product because it appeals to you.Go into a sector you know.

If you don’t know the sector, either take time to learn it or surround yourself with people who do know it.

You must bring something new into the market sector you choose to do business in.

Innovate by knowing the rules so you can break them.” 

 

***

Some Additional Thoughts: 

Fernando Trías de Bes at the cover of his book describes himself as a contrarian. It is sometimes difficult to tell the traditional from the contrarian.

One section of the Introduction of The Little Black Book of Entrepreneurship – A Contrarian’s Guide To Succeeding Where Others Have Failed’ caught my attention. At page 3 of the Introduction the author describes an on-line exercise he did using the words ‘key success factors’ and ‘key failure factors’. The author states,”Out of curiosity, I typed ”key success factors” into a search engine and found 636,000 pages; a search engine for “key failure factors” yielded only 119 pages.”

Last December, I performed an exercise using a few combinations of words like “Why Businesses Fail” and “Why Businesses Succeed”. My results, at least , my views about my results, are certainly contrary to those of the author. I feel I obtained the opposite result. For my search, I was not interested in the number of pages search engines found. I was interested in what the first 10 pages [using Google] contained for each search [see www.google.com]. My goal was to find 10 lists where writers provided their views about “Why Businesses Fail” and 10 lists where writers provided their views about “Why Businesses Succeed”. I was astonished to find a huge amount of free on-line articles and summaries covering the topic of  “Why Businesses Fail”…it was easy to find free-information and compile numerous lists of  “Why Businesses Fail”. Going from memory, I believe the first 12 websites contained 10 lists…so, my task of generating the 10 ‘failure lists’ was done quickly. Conversely, I had to read through almost 100 websites to find 10 ‘success lists’…and, I had to cheat a bit to get that done. I had to cull the ‘success’ verbiage to create lists while the ‘success’ writers volunteered simple lists…some numbered, some with bullet points.

After performing the above free-information-search exercise, I reached two conclusions:

  1. People who write about “Why Businesses Succeed” want to be paid for their opinions…so, they don’t write them out the way others write about “Why Businesses Fail”. Rather, when you search those business-success words you end up at sites that sell books…and 
  2. People who do express free advice about “Why Businesses Succeed” make far more subjective claims than do people who write about “Why Businesses Fail”. For example, they state things like business success is linked to long-distance running, meditiation, etc whereas the people who write about failure focus almost entirely on business reasons such as poor marketing, inadequate finance, etc. 

My December 2008 exercise coupled with the author’s differing view about on-line searches cause me to think two things:

  1. Many people think other people will pay for business-success education, so business-success information is not offered as freely as is business-failure information. There’s a good argument to be made this is all about packaging… and 
  2. I’m not sure Fernando Trías de Bes is a contrarian. His search-engine test...I struggle with that.

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.