Business in Motion: Insights from Business Leaders

Interview with Evan Carmichael, founder of EvanCarmichael.com – the online magazine for entrepreneurs. The site receives nearly 600,000 visitors per month. It has the world’s largest collection of interviews and stories about famous entrepreneurs.

Insights from the interview with Evan Carmichael:

“Donald Trump was our biggest target.”

“Entrepreneurs are arsonists, they like to light fires.”

“If you only had 24 hours to work on your business – don’t spend it all in one day. Instead spend one hour a day for 24 days.”

“If you check email in the morning, it ruins the rest of your day.”


Listen to the interview with Evan Carmichael

Listen to Business in Motion on iTunes

Business in Motion FaceBook page


George Torok

Host of radio show, Business in Motion

Motivational Business Speaker

Labels: business, Business in Motion, Business owners, business strategy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, radio show, small business, success

Tip of the hat to Carol Roth for compiling this list of "163 Pieces of the Best Business Advice".

Good tips, ideas and reminders for anyone in business.

Also it's a clever way to create good content - ask other experts. It's the Chicken Soup model of writing.

Yes, I contributed. My advice is below for you.


109. Best Place to Invest?

When I started my business I left my corporate job with a separation payout. They were downsizing. I visited my financial planner and asked how to best use that money- pay down my mortgage, invest in mutual funds or stocks? He first asked me to explain my new business which I had started part time two years earlier. His advice was to invest the money in my business because that would give me the best return over the next few years. I followed that advice. It was good advice.

Thanks to: George Torok of Power Marketing.

And here are some pieces of advice that resonated with me



2. Wise Words from Henry Ford

While I never met Henry Ford (I'm too young to have known him), his words live on and have inspired me on many a day:Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.Believing I could start and grow my business played a huge role in the success I am now enjoying. Thoughts become things. What thoughts are YOU thinking?

Thanks to: Randi Busse of Workforce Development Group, Inc..


9. I'm Anxious Today-- Excellent!

When you have your own business, you will never have the "right" amount of work: there will always be too much or too little. Therefore, you will always be anxious. The trick is to stop thinking of anxiety as a bad thing. Instead, say to yourself, "I'm anxious today- excellent! This means I'm alive." Thinking of anxiety as one more form of energy-- fuel-- keeps you focused, committed, and excited about achieving your goals day-to-day.

Thanks to: Frances Cole Jones of author of "The Wow Factor".


25. Attention
Pay attention to the things you can control, not to the things you cannot control.

Thanks to: John Pulsifer of Jolly John Auto City.


37. Create an Advisory Board

The best business advice I received when starting my company - Loyalty Factor LLC - was to create an advisory board of senior-level individuals who believed in me, and the business model. The board had to include marketing, sales and financial experts. I was surrounded by experts in all aspects of a business and had the support system to encourage and energize me to exceed my goals and objectives. Capitalize on other people's experiences and expertise to strengthen your own.

Thanks to: Dianne Durkin of Loyalty Factor, LLC.


105. Sweat the Little Things.

My grandfather was a craftsman and an artist. His business was to make things look good. He told me that if you don't sweat the little things, then the big picture will suck.This bit of advice isn't simply about "paying attention to the details," but this is more about having the business discipline to be meticulous about the aesthetic, the functional and even the peripheral pieces that inevitably contribute to whole of the business.The little things are what really matter.

Thanks to: Dave Racine of Pierce Cleaning.


134. Stay Dispassionate

Tip: Nothing is as good or as bad as it seems at first. I received this tip from a friend. One of the most important things in managing a business is maintaining your equanimity, not over-reacting to situations (positive or negative). Many times we faced critical problems like key contractors leaving at crucial moments in product development, issues that could have sunk us if we didn’t manage it properly. But by maintaining an unemotional approach, we turned the problems to our advantage.

Thanks to: Gaurav Bazaz of Pravega Inc..


Here's the full list of 163 Pieces of the Best Business Advice

Here's the Carol Roth site


George Torok

Host of the weekly radio show Business in Motion

Listen to Business in Motion Podcasts

Listen to Business in Motion on iTunes

Labels: business, business strategy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, managing, marketing, meetings

Cirque du Soleil

Do you remember the three-ring circus? A bear riding a bicycle in one ring, a group of clowns in the second and the trapeze act in the third.

I remember that from my childhood – and I enjoyed it. But the circus has changed. And who changed it?

Cirque du Soleil

They have redefined circus. They did it in a bold and spectacular way. The greatest show on earth is now the greatest show in the galaxy. They changed the rules. They redefined the business. A three ring show just doesn’t do it anymore.

Cirque du Soleil

Labels: business, business strategy, creativity

Small business banking at your fingertips

http://small-business-banking.com/





http://small-business-banking.com/

Labels: Business owners, business strategy, entrepreneurship, small business, success

Interview with Jan Nichols, President of Bay Gardens Funeral Home in Burlington and Hamilton, Ontario.

Listen to podcast

This is not your standard funeral home. It’s exciting. It has high ceilings, a waterfall and videos screens.

Insights from this interview:

“The most successful opening of a funeral home in North America. Most are lucky to get 100 people to attend. We had over 800!”

“Rooms are named after waterfalls, plants or ponds instead of being called Salon A and Salon B.”

“People want food at a funeral – but not in the same room as the body or in the basement.”

“Reaching out to non-profit organizations and giving them free access to meeting rooms.”

Listen to this podcast of the 30 minute interview with Jan Nichols here.

More podcasts from Business in Motion

Labels: Business in Motion, funeral business, innovation, marketing, podcasts, radio show

Business in Motion has a FaceBook Page.

If you are on FaceBook you can now keep track of the latest updates, interviews from Business in Motion.

http://www.facebook.com/BusinessInMotion

It's easy. Just visit the Business in Motion FaceBook Page and click the "Like" button and you will stay current with the latest news from Business in Motion.

Enjoy

George Torok
Radio Show Host of Business in Motion

Here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/BusinessInMotion

Labels: Business in Motion, FaceBook Page, radio show, social media

Remember that old expression? Some folks might not like the analogy but it expresses this lesson in management well.

If you want your staff to focus on a particular behaviour – as the leader you need to focus on it yourself.

Follow these three steps to getting the behaviour that you want from your staff.

1. Let them see you doing what you want them to do.

2. Make the desired behaviour a regular agenda item.

3. Encourage and celebrate the desired behaviour in your staff.


People, like animals, will tend to behave in a manor that rewards them.

Imagine that you want to take a customer-centric focus in your business. That is a smart strategy to follow in these challenging times.

As manager or business owner, what could you do?

Here are some ideas for you.

Treat customers as king and queen and mean it. No snide remarks behind their backs about your customers.

Start every staff meeting with a customer story. Invite staff to bring and tell their best customer story at each meeting. Make it a contest among your staff.

Collect more customer testimonials and display them for all to see.

Tour customers through your facility more often.

Name your customer of the month, week or day.

Give awards to your staff for customer service. Ask your customers to vote.

Allow and encourage your staff to make direct contact with your customers. Don’t be the buffer between them.

Consult with your staff for more information about your customers. Don’t be the source of information. Be the one asking questions.

Show the monkeys what you want them to do.


George Torok

Business Speaker

Creative Problem Solving

Labels: business, executive coaching, leadership, management

Free Power Marketing Tips by email
Get your free copy of "50 Power Marketing Ideas" when you ask for the Power Marketing Tips newsletter

Marketing tips at Youtube

Marketing tips at Slideshare.

Free Marketing Tips Lens on Squidoo

Labels: marketing

Business in Motion is popping up all over the Internet. It now has a Squidoo Lens.

"What's a Squidoo Lens?" you ask.

Squidoo is Seth Godin's blog like creation. A lens is his term for blog. The lens allows visitors a view into the world that you wish to display. It's been around awhile and it's still here.

Anyone can create their own "lens". It's free and it's as easy as starting your Blogger blog. Unlike a blog, you don't need to do alot of work to maintain it. You can attach feeds from blogs, Twitter and RSS feeds to populate the lens with fresh content.


Go ahead and check it out.

Business in Motion Lens

Squidoo

Labels: blogs, Business in Motion, radio show, small business, Squidoo

Publish your articles on article directories to promote yourself and showcase your expertise. It can also build traffic to your site.

Article directories are also a good place to research topics, issues and the market.

It is free to publish your articles and free to read them. You have permission to reprint these articles as long as you follow the reprint conditions shown on the directory site.

Here are a few of the article directories that I use to publish my articles.

Ezine Articles

Thinking Articles

a1Articles

SearchWarp

Go Articles

ArticlesBase

SelfGrowth

Labels: article directory, business, change, marketing

Quotes from Dr Tomorrow, Frank Ogden


Stay alert, the future is going to be interesting.

In times of chaos, panic or rapid change, the bizarre rapidly becomes acceptable.

If you are not aboard the steamroller of change you stand a good change of becoming part of the road.

A sentence that has shock value carries more information than one that does not.

Only by changing as rapidly as a competitor can anyone survive.

If schools were factories, we would have closed them ten years ago because they're not producing a saleable product.

Jobs are going the way of child labour, slavery and indentured service.

I realized then that most people didn't believe in any concept until they saw, felt and tested the finished product. That is often too late.

The leading skill of the "Information Age" is to successfully sift "information" from "misinformation." Once you can do that you have knowledge.

----------------------

The above quotes are from the miniature book, "OGDENISMS" - The Frank Ogden Quote Book, compiled by John Robert Colombo and published in 1994.


Frank Ogden is a futurist who was a guest of the radio show, Business in Motion.


George Torok is the host of Business in Motion

Listen to Business in Motion on iTunes

Labels: Business in Motion, business speaker, futurist

Audio interview with Peter de Jager on Business in Motion

Interview with change agent and specialist, Peter De Jager. Peter is a consultant and professional speaker that helps organizations handle change effectively. He helped the world’s leading organizations successfuly handle the Y2K challenge.

Insights from this interview with Peter De Jager:

“The purpose of skiing is not to get to the bottom of the hill. It is falling down the hill with the most grace.”

“Being incompetent is normal – especially when dealing with change.”

“Don’t get into the water until you have learned to swim – is bad advice. How else will you learn to swim?”

Listen to this interview with Peter de Jager on Business in Motion with your host, George Torok.

Labels: Business in Motion, business speaker, business strategy, interview, leadership

Labels: Business in Motion, interview, leadership, radio show

The Internet and social media makes it easy for almost everyone to publish their knowledge or opinions for the world.

It almost makes it easy for thieves to steal, plagiarize or misrepresent their own accomplishments.

Is Michael J. Roman one of those?

According to this blog post by Kelley Robertson, Mr Roman has been copying articles from other sources and posting them on his own blog. And Michael J. Roman is claiming them to be his - even so far as to print his copyright on each article. That suggests that he has some understanding of the importance of copyright.

It also suggests that he might be lacking in integrity.

Read "When Imitation is Not the Best Form of Flattery"

And you decide.

Is Michael J. Roman guilty?

If so how should he be punished?


What next?
Here is what Kelley Robertson suggests:
-------------------------
If you want to help you can:
1. Retweet this post to your followers.
2. Send an email to Michael and express your concern with his unethical behaviour.
3. Contact any author, trainer, speaker, expert in your network and let them know about this plagiarist.
4. Blog about this unethical behaviour.

----------------------

Here's the email for Michael J. Roman

michael@michaeljroman.com

Labels: copyright, integrity, intellectual property, Michael J Roman, plagiarize, plagirism, theft

iPad killer app #2: fixing meetings
By Seth Godin

Here's an app that pays for 12 iPads the very first time you use it. Buy one iPad for every single chair in your meeting room... like the projector and the table, it's part of the room.


I recently sat through a 17 hour meeting with 40 people in it (there were actually 40 p
eople, but it only felt like 17 hours.). That's a huge waste of attention and resources.

Here's what the app does (I hope someone will build it): (I know some of these features require a lot of work, and some might require preparation before the meeting. Great! Perhaps then the only meetings we have will be meetings worth having, meetings with an intent to produce an outcome). I can dream...


1. There's an agenda, distributed by the host, visible to everyone, with time of start and stop, and it updates as the meeting progresses.

2. There's a timer, keeping things moving because it sits next to the agenda.


3. The host or presenter can push an image or spreadsheet to each device whenever she chooses.

4. There's an internal back channel that the host can turn on, permitting people in the room to chat privately with each other. (And the whole thing works on internal wifi, so no internet surfing to distract!)


5. There's a big red 'bored' button that each attendee can push anonymously. The presenter can see how many red lights are lighting up at any give time.

6. There's a bigger green 'GO!' button that each attendee can push anonymously. It lets the host or presenter see areas where more depth is wanted.


7. There's a queue for asking questions, so they just don't go to the loudest, bravest or most powerful.

8. There's a voting mechanism.


9. There's a whiteboard so anyone can draw an idea and push it to the group.

10. There's a written record of all activity created, so at the end, everyone who attended can get an email digest of what just occurred. Hey, it could even include who participated the most, who asked questions that others thought were useful, who got the most 'boring' button presses while speaking...


11. There's even a way the host can see who isn't using it actively.
Can you imagine how an hour flies by when everyone has one of these in a meeting? How focused and exhausting it would all be?
$500 each, you'll sell 50,000...

PS no one built the first one yet. Sigh.

Seth Godin
--------------------

I'm with Seth on this. I hate meetings because people run them poorly and hence waste time and aggravate others.

George Torok

Host of Business in Motion

Business Speaker

Labels: business, business speaker, managing, meetings

Approach creative thinking and creativity with these 10 tips and ideas. Watch for the bonus.




George Torok

Creativity Catalyst

Creative Problem Solving

Labels: business, creative problem solving, creativity, leadership, Quotations, success

Where would you expect innovation in health care to be leading the market? Read this article to learn where. You might be suprised.

George Torok

-----------------
McKinsey Quarterly as published on Forbes.com

The Emerging Market In Health Care Innovation
Tilman Ehrbeck, Nicolaus Henke and Thomas Kibasi

Emerging innovations in the delivery of health care, particularly in developing countries, offer insights on how to tackle its rising cost, estimated at $7 trillion a year globally. Health care is consuming an escalating share of income in developed and developing nations alike. Yet innovators have found ways to deliver care effectively at significantly lower cost while improving access and increasing quality. They are uncovering patterns for raising productivity, and leaders across health sectors--public, private and social--should take heed. With the recent passage of health reform legislation in the U.S., for instance, tackling costs is imperative there, but it is also an important goal in every other part of the world.

New approaches to the delivery of care abound. In Mexico, for example, a telephone-based health care advice and triage service is available to more than one million subscribers and their families for $5 a month, paid through phone bills. In India, an entrepreneur has proved that high-quality, no-frills maternity care can be provided for one-fifth of the price charged by the country's other private providers. In New York City the remote monitoring of chronically ill elderly patients has reduced their rate of hospital admissions by about 40%.

Unfortunately, health care can be an isolated and local activity: Innovations are not widely known across different systems or beyond sector boundaries. Merely identifying and promoting innovations isn't enough, however--leaders need to understand whether, and how, the lessons of innovators can be replicated elsewhere. To this end, McKinsey conducted research in partnership with the World Economic Forum to study the most promising novel forms of health care delivery and, in particular, to understand how these innovations changed its economics.

Many of the most compelling innovations we studied come not from resource-rich developed countries but from emerging markets. Two factors help explain why. First, necessity breeds innovation; in the absence of adequate health care, existing providers and entrepreneurs must improvise and innovate. Second, because of weaknesses in the infrastructure, institutions and resources of emerging markets, entrepreneurs face fewer constraints (this is one upside of the lack of meaningful oversight, which obviously also has many drawbacks). They can bypass Western models and forge new solutions.

The nearly 30 successful innovations we looked at pursued a handful of strategies to change the economics of health care delivery in a fundamental way. In other words, they were not successful by chance. By understanding the opportunities these innovators seized, leaders throughout the health care system can identify opportunities for their own organizations.

A broad scan of innovations across the field, as well as an in-depth analysis of the business models behind 30 of them, showed us that successful ones use at least several if not all of the strategies described below.

Read the rest of this article at Forbes.com


George Torok

Creative Facilitation

Creative Problem Solving

Labels: business, business strategy, creative problem solving, creativity, innovation

George Torok is an approved speaker for TEC Canada and has been since 2000. George is also a TEC Associate/ Trusted Advisor. He is a member of TA group 9226 based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The chair of the group is Larry Bourk.

George Torok has spoken to TEC groups across Canada from BC to Halifax, NS and many stops in between.

He presents on three topics - Power Marketing, Presentation Skills and Creative Problem Solving.

The Executive Committee, (TEC) founded in 1957 is dedicated to "Increasing the effectiveness and enhancing the lives of Chief Executives."

TEC provided both peer advise and individual coaching to presidents, CEOs and owners of medium sized business, (sales of $10M to $200M).

Read more about:

TEC Canada

George Torok TEC Speaker

Power Marketing

Presentation Skills

Creative Problem Solving

Labels: Business owners, CEO, executive coaching, TEC Canada

Even though we're in the throws of a recession, employee retention remains an important business issue. Now more than ever, companies need to retain their best and brightest so they can do more with less. And the experts still tell us we're facing a looming skills shortage.

Current research on employee retention tells us that to increase employee satisfaction and retention, companies need to:

• Give employees meaningful feedback on an ongoing basis.
• Set clear goals and expectations for employees and help them see how their work matters to the organization.
• Reward and recognize employees fairly and consistently.
• Provide employees with opportunities for growth and development.

While these can seem like simple things, without the right tools and support, your managers may not be giving employees what they need.

Give Employees Meaningful Feedback on an Ongoing Basis

To remain engaged and satisfied, most employees need meaningful feedback on their performance. To encourage an ongoing dialogue between managers and employees, companies can:

Increase the frequency of employee reviews

Many companies find that implementing quarterly performance reviews helps give managers and employees a regularly committed interval for dialogue and feedback. These quarterly reviews don't need to be as long or as detailed as your annual performance review; their goal is to provide a structured forum for giving employees regular feedback and for checking on progress, alignment, development needs, etc.

Solicit feedback from others

Another way to provide employees with meaningful feedback is to gather input from others. This can be as simple as requesting feedback from another manager or supervisor that the employee works with, or from a third-party who has knowledge of the employee’s strengths and weaknesses. A more thorough approach involves gathering multi-rater, 360 degree feedback from peers, other managers, customers and more.

Keep ongoing notes on performance

Keeping and sharing notes on performance year-round helps to not only better document performance, but also to open up the dialogue between a manager and an employee. Highlights, challenges and disconnects that might not otherwise be discovered until the annual performance review meeting can be shared and explored in a timely way. Then, when it’s time to write your annual performance review, you have an accurate and detailed record to consult.

Define Clear Goals and Link Them to Organizational Goals

Another key to employee engagement, satisfaction and retention is the need for employees to clearly know what is expected of them, and to understand how their work contributes to the organization's mission and success.

The most effective way to write clear goals is to use the SMART technique. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals let employees know what is expected of them, how success will be measured, and when they must complete work.

You can also give employees a context for their work by linking their goals to higher-level organizational goals. This helps them understand the value of their work and see it's impact.

Recognize and Reward Your Employees Fairly and Consistently

Employees need to feel that their company rewards performance fairly and equitably. This applies to work/project opportunities, promotions, and awards, but especially to all areas of compensation, including base pay, bonuses, stock options, etc. It's critical for companies to have fair and transparent compensation processes that are tied to employee performance.

Provide Career Development Opportunities

Another way to drive up employee retention is to support employee development and career progression. Employees need to feel as though they have a future with an organization, and a career path that helps them further develop their knowledge skills and abilities. Development can take many forms, from formal courses, to challenging work assignments, to mentoring programs.

Stanley Janas is a Director of Human Resources at Halogen Software, one of the leading providers of talent management solutions. For more of his insights on how effective talent management can improve business results read his posts on Halogen's Blog.

Labels: business, business strategy, communication, employee rentention, human resources, management

Labels: branding, Business in Motion, business strategy, marketing

by Daniel H. Pink
book review by Ian Cook

In his new book Dan Pink accomplishes two outcomes really well:
He consolidates some major social science research around human motivation into clear, straightforward discoveries

He challenges the current thinking and practice in the vast majority of our organizations.The Great DebateAm I motivated in my work primarily through what I receive from the organization and the key players around me or through the fulfillment of needs and desires that reside within me?

These are the dueling positions of extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivators that have fueled a debate in psychology over the last eighty-plus years.

On the one hand you had B.F. Skinner who saw all behavior as a pure stimulus-response mechanism and F.W. Taylor who studied the physical micro movements of a laborer to determine the optimum way to work with minimal variation or “interference” from the worker’s mind. According to their school of thought, rewards and punishment, or what Pink calls “Motivation 2.0,” are the only way to get people to maximize their productivity. (“Motivation 1.0,” by the way, is triggered by our very basic need for food and other necessities for our survival.)

On the other side of the debate are professors Edward Deci and Richard Ryan and others, like Pink, who claim Motivation 2.0 strategies don’t work for most new jobs that are emerging today and into the future. Rewards and punishment cause our minds to focus very narrowly on accomplishing the immediate task. But narrow focus doesn’t serve us well in the new jobs being created that require us to see patterns, work with concepts, address meaning, and come up with alternative strategies in a world of constant churn.

Furthermore, Deci and Ryan’s research confirms that, except for routine, mindless jobs, additional money will spur, at best, a brief uptick in performance. Then motivation actually starts to fall (“What have you done for me lately?”).

Clearing the Decks for Intrinsic MotivationMoney both is and isn’t a motivator! As Frederick Herzberg showed us decades ago, if you don’t provide (perceived) “fair” salaries and benefits your people will be demotivated. But pay them enough, plus a bit more, and they still won’t be motivated. They just will be no longer demotivated. Dan Pink calls this “taking money off the table.”

But now these adequately remunerated employees are ready for what the author calls “Motivation 3.0.” Instead of rewards and sanctions applied by bosses and companies, intrinsic (i.e. internal) motivators kick in. Pink’s research reveals three such motivators:
Autonomy – the freedom to have significant control over how you do your work to generate the performance results to which you agreed

Mastery – the opportunity to get continually better at something that matters to you. This is an elemental human desire

Purpose – having your work contribute to the well-being of people or to outcomes beyond your own self-interest

Why I like this book.
I recommend Drive to managers because of its clarity, its easy reading–the author writes with a journalist’s flair–and especially because of its message.

A sizeable majority of our governments, service organizations and private sector enterprises are mediocre and, in some cases, toxic places to work. If we are to turn these into great places to work, leaders have to take a good look at their beliefs about what motivates people. All too often, their assumptions that determine their management style are out-of-date and counter-productive for a 21st century world.

As Dan Pink presents so well, the verdict of science is in. Managers have to let go of their need to control the behavior of their staff. They have to realize that human beings, in all their infuriating and marvelous complexity, cannot be manipulated into performing better. But employees most definitely can be enrolled. You do this by providing a work experience that gives them the latitude to grow and to make a difference.

What’s missing for me.
The author covers a huge topic in his book. That said, there are three areas I would have liked him to address:

How you do motivate people in jobs where any opportunity for variety and creative expression has been designed out of them? Toll booth operators, ditch diggers and, of course, burger flippers come to mind. And then there are those jobs where a strong union will not agree to any deviation from rigid, collectively bargained job duties.

For the manager who sincerely wants to motivate his or her staff, the fixed design of jobs and work processes, as well as externally bargained work rules, represent the “elephant in the room.” So often managers’ hands are tied, yet they are still expected to produce solid results and create a satisfied employee group.

What does the science have to say about sales people? Monetary rewards linked to sales quotas are the fuel these people run on. I know there is the personal satisfaction in closing a deal but the scoreboard of choice remains money.

What role do employees themselves play in the preservation of Motivation 2.0? I teach in my own presentations that deep within almost all of us is the desire to make a difference, to have the work we do each day matter in some way to some people. That said, ask most employees what is missing for them in their work and their gut reply will be “more money.”Not only do the assumptions and beliefs of managers have to change. Employees must get in touch with their own need for autonomy, mastery and purpose, be aware when these elements are missing for them, and take responsibility for the level of work motivation they choose to have.

Dan Pink’s main thesis is that, despite the unassailable truths that have emerged from the field of social science and organizational behavior, when faced with the pressure to increase performance, most managers still fall back on the twin strategies of dangling more money or threatening negative consequences.

In Drive Dan is on a quest to raise our consciousness to this mismatch. He is a very good communicator and I believe he will transform a lot of managerial minds.

------------------
Ian Cook, presenter and consultant, works with managers who want to increase their effectiveness as a leader and build a stronger team.

To book Ian for a training seminar, team facilitation or keynote presentation, call toll-free at: (385-2786) or e-mail: Contact Us

For more articles and book reviews of interest to managers please go to: http://www.888fulcrum.com/free_resources.aspx
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You are encouraged to pass along to others and/or reprint these articles/book reviews for use electronically or on paper, as long as the following credit lines are included: This article/book review and others are available from Fulcrum Associates Inc. at: http://www.888fulcrum.com/

Labels: book review, business, business strategy, management, motivation, success

Innovation is never enough by itself. This article in Forbes - How GM Destroyed Its Saturn Success, by David Hanna - explains what went wrong at Saturn.

"A lesson in how to win at innovation in even the most traditional company--and then how to crush that innovation."
---------------
I remember talking with an official from Saturn in the nineties. I was excited about what they were doing then and quite optimistic about their future. The biggest innovation that I saw was the partnership between labor and management.

From my dealing with GM in the eighties as material manager for a just-in-time supplier, I witnessed first hand how both management and labor at GM were messed up.

There were many bad management decisions from GM. That included poor planning and the resultant knee jerk decisions to put band aids on problems.

GM visited our plant often and I visited their operations several times. During one of my visits to a GM plant a GM engineer was explaining a packaging idea for the parts that we supplied to them.

The engineer wanted to show me what they were using for another product. So we approached a production line that was machining small parts for transmissions. He pointed out the plastic trays that they used to hold the finished parts and prevent them from being damaged. Each plastic tray was similar to an over-sized egg cartoon holding about 20 finished parts.

The trays in front of us were full of parts so the engineer asked the production worker, "Do you have an empty tray that we could have?"

The production worker looked at the engineer, then calmly picked up a tray full of finished parts, dumped the parts in a scrap bin and gave the tray to the engineer.

The engineer and I looked at each other in shock, shook our heads and returned to his office.

My first three cars were GM. I've never even considered buying GM since.


George Torok

Business Speaker

Labels: business strategy, creativity, innovation, management, mistakes, success

Here is a helpful list of resources for managing and growing your career.

"The work place is ever changing and you don’t want to get passed up for a raise or get laid off for becoming a stale employee. Click on the links below to be part of the cutting edge and show your boss and co-workers you are looking ahead and ready for anything. Or if you are unemployed, these sites will help you get ready for your next job."

20 Essential Resources for Your Current Career or Your Next

Labels: career, confidence, job search, success

Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox talks with Spelman college about global leadership.




George Torok

Labels: business speaker, business strategy, CEO, interview, leadership

Great Interviews
By Pam Lontos

Besides spreading the word about your product or service, what’s the best thing about landing a radio interview? The answer is: you can conduct the interview wearing your pajamas! But there’s a catch. You can’t sound like you’re wearing your pajamas.

That’s right. Even though you’re talking on the phone to the reporter and no one can see you, you still have to communicate a professional image. Otherwise, the radio producers might bump you from the show and they definitely won’t call you back for future stories.

So how can you ensure that you make the right impression and, perhaps more importantly, that you’re called back for more interviews? You can use the following fifteen tips for giving great radio interviews:

1. Allow yourself private time prior to the interview. Use this time to relax and focus. Imagine that you are speaking with the interviewer face to face. Rehearse the points you want to make and remember that you can never be too prepared.

2. Seek a quiet spot for the interview. If you are speaking from home, close yourself off in a room with few distractions. Turn off your computer, TV, or radio, and clear your desk so nothing can take your mind off the conversation.

3. Write your main points before the call begins. Do not read scripted responses from a pre-printed sheet, because reporters can tell when something is being read to them versus when you’re giving honest answers. But do prepare a note card with three to five topics you would like to touch upon during the interview. That way you won’t struggle with an answer during the interview.

4. Show that you care about the reporter and their story. Be helpful and responsive to their requests. Ask the interviewer what you can do to make his or her job easier. Then really listen to their answer and be an eager, accessible source of information.

5. Stand while giving the interview. Even though you’re talking on the phone, act as if you were giving a live presentation and stand tall. Standing will raise your energy level and you will be more alert than if you sere sitting. Radio interviewers love energy and can really pick up on your mood.

6. Smile, and answer honestly and sincerely. People can hear your smile over the phone and a reporter will feel more comfortable after hearing the joy in your voice. Also, the sound of smiling builds a rapport with interviewers. If they feel they can trust you, they will think of you first for their next interview.

7. Put energy and spunk into your voice. No one wants to listen to a monotonous drone on the radio, and the reporters and producers know this. So even before the interview, assure the radio reporters that you’ll be pleasant to the listeners’ ears by putting energy into your voice. This could make the difference between a mundane interview and a great conversation.

8. Have backup information handy. Reporters will inevitably ask you one question you don’t want to or can’t answer (this is another place your note card comes in handy). In case you are unable to respond, you can say, “That brings up an interesting point...” then go on to one of your prepared statements. Or, offer to find out the answer to the questions and get back to them as soon as possible.

9. Be concise. The average answer to a given question is only nine seconds long. If you cannot convey your message in this short amount of time, your answer will not be used. So be careful not to ramble and stick to the facts. Don’t overload the reporter with unnecessary information that is not directly related to the story.

10. Be forthright. Answer the reporter’s question accurately and thoroughly, and don’t be afraid to give away too much information. Many business professionals fear that they might give too much and then no one will buy their product or service. But it’s impossible to spoil years of experience and training in a five minute radio interview, and the radio listeners will actually want more when you give them a little. So answer the questions and don’t say, “You’ll find the answer to that when you buy my product or service.”

11. Use the word “you” often. The word “you” draws the listeners in and helps them relate to what you’re saying. And always give the listeners a reason to pay attention by adding benefit statements to the facts in your presentation.

12. Let the reporter lead the conversation. The reporter most likely has an agenda for the story’s development already in mind, so don’t attempt to take over the conversation or talk about points the reporter does not want to cover.

13. Incorporate personal experiences into your responses. Audiences love to hear firsthand accounts of experiences relating to the topic. It helps them feel as if they know you personally. But make sure you stay on topic and don’t get distracted with your story.

14. Be prepared to back up your claims. Reporters want factual information. So instead of saying, “The majority of people do this...” say, “Eighty-five percent of my clients do this...” And don’t say, “I think” or “maybe.” Speak with authority and confidence.

15. Find future stories. After the interview, thank the reporter and ask what other stories they’re covering. Even if their other stories don’t directly pertain to your business, explain how you can be beneficial to what they are investigating.

Interviews in the Future
Although radio interviews usually only entail a ten minute phone call, you still need to take your time and prepare for it beforehand. You don’t have to shower and shave, but you do need to have energy and excitement in your voice. During the call, you want to put your best foot forward with clear, honest, and accurate responses. And when you’re finished, don’t forget to thank the reporter and offer to help on other stories.

When you use these fifteen tips for giving great radio interviews, you’ll communicate a professional, expert image to the reporter and the audience for you and your business.

About the Author:
Pam Lontos is owner of PR/PR, a public relations firm that specializes in professional speakers, authors, and experts. Having been an author, speaker, and former VP of Disney's Shamrock Broadcasting, she knows the ropes of getting you good publicity and how to use it to really boost your business. Call for a free consultation at (407) 299-6128, and sign up for a free publicity tips e-newsletter at www.prpr.net.
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George Torok
Host of Business in Motion

Labels: Business in Motion, communication, marketing, media, radio show

Where are the responsible people when we need them? Could you be one? More of us need to ask this question of ourselves more often: "What am I responsible for?"

This question is not about laying blame. It is a question of accepting ownership of your thoughts and action. You control your thoughts and that determines your actions.

None of us can change what happened yesterday. We only control how we think now and how that might influence our future. We can't control the future. We can only influence it.

Even billionaire Jim Balsillie can't control what happens to his dream of a hockey franchise. However, he can control how he reacts to the obstacles thrown in his path. The bigger the obstacles, the more responsibility he seems to accept.

I believe successful people are successful because...
Read the rest of this article at the Hamilton Spectator.

by George Torok

This article first published in the Hamilton Spectator Monday January 4, 2010.

Labels: career, entrepreneur, motivation, news, success

Tips for making and keeping New Years Resolutions

This is a summary from an interview that Global Television conducted with Randy Park

Here is a short recap of some of the points:

When most people talk about New Year's Resolutions they are referring to breaking a habit. Basically they want to do something differently. For successful New Year's Resolution strategies, it is important to understand the nature of habits.

Habits are automatic thinking - thinking without consciously thinking - walking, getting dressed, driving a car. You can see several common characteristics:

1. the examples listed are all behaviours you have learned2. you learned these through repetition3. they are all useful4. they are self reenforcing - every time you do them they become more ingrained5. they are all controlled by your brain

Since most of the habits that we learn are helpful, our brain has evolved to make it hard to change habits. (If it was easy, we might forget how to ride a bicycle if we didn't do it for a while.) The "hardware" of our brain where the habits are stored can't distinguish between a good habit and a bad habit - it will resist changing either.

Here are some suggestions for setting up and continuing successful resolutions:

1. Acknowledge it is hard. Your conscious will is trying to change an automatic learned behaviour, and we've seen your brain resists that change for very good reasons.

2. Make sure it is possible. Let's say you're on a volunteer committee and you resolve to be on time for your meetings from now on. You calculate that if you leave work right at 5:00 p.m. you can make the meetings on time. But if in reality you are seldom able to leave at 5:00 (for one reason or another) then realistically it will be very difficult to keep the resolution. Think things through to make sure there is a possibility of success.

3. Acknowledge there will be setbacks. DON"T fall into trap of predicting one future because if you have a setback, you might be tempted to admit defeat and tell yourself that your resolution won't work since you have proof that your view of what would happen is not accurate.

4. Plan for the setbacks - what will you do? If you are quitting TV and accidentally watch a show, what will you do when it is finished? If you have a plan, it might be to finish watching the show, then immediately pick up a book (rather than saying to yourself, oh well might as well keep on watching)

5. It may be helpful to have support, for two reasons. One, they can remind you - bring into consciousness - what you were so clear on when you started, especially as your resolution gets overwhelmed by day to day life. Two, they can provide help if you do slip with your resolution.

6. Sometimes a physical reminder is useful for some people. Maybe it is a note sitting on your desk; I use alarms during the day that remind me "am I following my planned priorities?"
The key is to keep conscious both the new behaviour you want to do as well as the moments when you slip toward the old behaviour. The goal is to make your new behaviour as automatic as your old one was!

Randy Park

Upcoming Event... Randy Park and three other professional speakers are staging an evening titled "Life Skills Business Success - Essentials for Thriving in Turbulent Times." This is a fundraiser for Laura's Hope, a charity that is actively funding research for Huntington's Disease.

It will be January 26 in the evening, in Burlington; for more information go to www.the4speakers.com

Randy's second book The Prediction Trap is now in select stores. Eric Reguly of The Globe and Mail says "Randy Park's stimulating book is a must-read for anyone who wants to confront the temptation to sacrifice long-term planning for short-term gratification."
Phone: 416-703-9202 Fax: 416-703-9198
e-mail: rp@ThinkingforResults.com web site: www.ThinkingforResults.com

Labels: hope, interview, planning, success

MONDAY MORNING MANAGER
PowerPoints: The Best of 2009
December 28, 2009 Globe & Mail HARVEY SCHACHTER

“Do something that scares you at least once a year.” Burlington, Ont.-based consultant George Torok counseled earlier this year. For many business leaders, the economic downturn raised more scares than they might have preferred. But Mr. Torok’s advice, which appeared in his Motivational Speaker blog, makes you stop and think – as should many other nuggets of wisdom on leadership, strategy, execution, meetings and marketing that were dispensed over the year. Here’s a review of the most illuminating ideas that appeared in 2009.

Read the rest of The Best of 2009.

Harvey Schachter's guide on how to handle everything from overflowing e-mail to meeting overload

George Torok
Canadian Business Speaker

The Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper

Labels: business speaker, entrepreneur, media, news, success

Leadership
How We Created A New Kind Of Savings Bank
by Robert Reiss

Imagine entering a heavily regulated ultracompetitive industry as a start-up. That's what The Dutch-based ING Group decided to do in 1998. It founded ING Direct as a Robin Hood of the banking industry, a new kind of bank aiming to bring back saving to the average American. The idea was to have a bank without branches and pass the savings from reduced overhead on to the customer in the form of higher rates. ING Direct opened for business in 2000 and was an immediate success. By early 2001 it had passed the 100,000 customer mark, and just six months later it passed 200,000.

Through unconventional but focused advertising and marketing outreach, the word spread so explosively that today ING Direct is America's largest savings bank, with more than $90 billion in assets. I talked to Arkadi Kuhlmann, its founder and chief executive officer, about how he introduced something truly new into the banking industry.

Forbes: What is ING Direct's model, and how is it different from that of other banks?

Kuhlmann: There are 9,600 banks in this country. When we started, we thought, there's no point making another bank exactly like all the others, so let's do what's great in America, let's innovate. Let's innovate around marketing and technology and productivity.

We wanted an important and clear idea, and that was the idea of leading Americans back to savings. We saw that there was too much spending going on. Credit cards had become the opium of consumerism. Let's encourage Americans to save, we decided, and that has been our mission.

Our model was to grow organically with a high-volume, low-margin business. We wouldn't target the 30 million rich people in America; we would target the 270 million who are the backbone and who we thought needed a better value proposition--that is, more affordable savings. We could offer significantly higher rates if we removed costs from our model. Branches are usually a huge cost, up to 50% of a bank's expenses, so we didn't have branches and could pass on the savings to our customers. All our services are provided over the telephone and the Internet. We have also opened up several ING Cafes, to underscore the idea that opening an account should be as easy as buying a cup of coffee.

We have no minimums. You want to open an account for your grandchild for a dollar, you can do it. We have no fees. But we do have a maximum. You can't put more than a million dollars into this account. Why? If you have a million dollars, you need private banking. You need a whole bunch of other services that a high-volume, low-margin player isn't going to deliver to you. We are here for the everyday American.

How did you develop this model?

If you look within the banking industry, you'll end up doing what everybody else does. So we looked at other industries, airlines, hotels, retailers, electronics--models like Dell, for example.
We set out to be a high-volume, low-margin pure retail play, which meant we had to cut out fees. We would need a productivity advantage, just like retailers have. So we looked at grocery retailers who do a high-volume, low-margin business. They have to have a service-differentiated edge, clearly focused on who their customers are. We set out to take those ideas and create a new type of banking model.

As CEO, what are your most important roles?

CEOs need to be clear about how they express the vision and then the mission. Vision is aspirational, and mission is how you hold yourself accountable. Our vision is to lead Americans back to saving. Our mission is to simplify financial products.

How do you as CEO view social media?

Many of our customers are on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In electronic networking, people talk about everything. We do want people to talk about us. Forty-three percent of our customers come by word of mouth. So whatever you say in an ad, you'd better deliver, and what you say in social media had better be true. If you are like me, you want to ride a Harley-Davidson, you want to carry a nine-millimeter gun, it had better be real. It cannot be for show. So either you're authentic about this or you're not, and people see through it.

But the other problem is you can't control social media. You can't go out and shape the public conversation. People are going to say what they want, negative and positive. And that irritates a lot of businesspeople. It certainly irritates CEOs, because they still believe they're in control of their brands and how their conversation in the public is shaped. Social media force you to let go of your brand and return it to where it belongs--with the customers.

Is the customer always right?

In most places, every customer is right. But in a highly automated productivity kind of business, we create value for the customer by simplifying everything and having just one highly successful model. It's like when Ford started and you could have any Ford you wanted as long as it was black. With ING, you can have any high-rate savings account you want as long as it's orange. It's simple because it's done in a uniform way, and everyone, regardless of account size, gets the same service. We can do that through high volume. We can pass those savings on to our customers.

As an example, we will not give you a mortgage unless you have a good down payment. I will not give you a mortgage for 100% loan-to-value. That's not our program. Now, Uncle Sam will do that, and he is competing with me, but I'm appealing to Americans who basically say that just because you can do it doesn't mean you should.

I have seven and a half million customers, and I am willing to stand up to every one of them and ask, have I given you a good deal? Have I tricked you? Have I surprised you? Have I disappointed you in any way?

What is your philosophy about building a culture?

The fundamental premise about culture is that you are either in a job or on a mission. Many of us have a simple contract. You put in time, you apply skills, you do certain tasks, you get the result, and you get paid for it. But that isn't really enough for most of us.

Most of us want to know that what we work on fulfills something we want to accomplish. It can be personal development. It can be doing good for society. It can be helping the environment. It can be creating something that improves the quality of life of people around us.

Culture gets created by itself. If you don't do anything, it gets created in a vacuum. Things just seep in, and a culture gets created on its own. Or you can direct it in a certain way. We said, well, let's direct it, and let's make sure it's consistent and aligned. I believe you need to direct the culture--and let the culture direct the business.

It sounds like this is more than just business to you.

In America our core characteristic is optimism, but underneath that Americans have a strong belief in independence and freedom. Our country has grown because we rely on ourselves. Our grandparents, yours and mine, found their own resources. They didn't believe every answer was a line of credit on a credit card or the government helping them out. The self-reliance of Americans is what founded this country, and we somehow have forgotten that.

I want people to say, those guys at ING Direct, they helped bring that self-reliance back. That's what we want to leave behind. It's not about just making money. Money is the oil in the economic machine, not the machine. And it all starts with the mentality of bringing America back to saving.

Robert Reiss is host of "The CEO Show," which is nationally syndicated by Business TalkRadio Network. This article was adapted from an interview that aired on "The CEO Show." To hear podcasts of it and other CEO interviews, click here.

Source: Forbes
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George Torok
Business Speaker
Toronto Business Speaker

Labels: business, business strategy, interview, leadership

It seems that these turbulent times are not over. Listen to this free webinar on Decemeber 3 with Jim Clemmer. Jim is one of the brightest business minds I know. When Jim Clemmer speaks, I listen closely.

Click here to register for Dec 3 webinar with Jim Clemmer.

Labels: business speaker, business strategy, change, leadership, managing, motivation, recession

Hunting for a new job? Want helpful tips on interviewing?

Then study this Slideshare presentation from sales trainer, Kelley Robertson.

Labels: career, job search

There is more than one way to be creative. Enjoy this perspective from Seth Godin. Where do you fit?

Boundary makers
by Seth Godin

Some artists continually seek to tear down boundaries, to find new powder, new territory, new worlds to explore. They're the ones that hop the fence to get to places no one has ever been.

Other artists understand that they need to see the edges of the box if they're going to create work that lasts. No fence, no art.

Can't do both at the same time.

My guess is that you're already one kind of person or the other. When people present you with an opportunity/problem, what's your first reaction? Some people immediately start looking for loopholes or weak boundaries. "You didn't say we couldn't do xxx". For these people, the best and most obvious solution is to completely demolish the problem and play by different rules.

Other people, some just as successful, take a hard look at the boundaries and create something that plays within, that follows the rules, but that is likely to win because of this.

In my experience, either can work, but only by someone willing to push harder than most in their push to be remarkable. Going with the flow is a euphemism for failing.
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George Torok
Creativity Catalyst
Creative Facilitation

Labels: business speaker, creative problem solving, creativity, facilitation, innovation, problem solving, success