How to prepare your “elevator pitch”

“An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch should be possible to deliver in the time span of an elevator ride, meaning in a maximum of 30 seconds and in 130 words or fewer.” [from Wikipedia]

It should cover the following information:

• What is the CORE (of your produc, service or project)
• What are the benefites (for the buyer, investor or sponsor)
• Who are you (and why will YOU be successful)

Here are a few more pointers when preparing your pitch, as presented by HBR:

1. Think relevant, not recent. There’s no rule that says you must talk about your resume in reverse chronological order. Mike was a marketing executive who took a sales position abroad for two years. Yet when he returned to marketing, he kept introducing himself as a someone who had just made a career switch, always leading off with an anecdote about his short stint in sales. Instead, Mike should have started with the fact that he was a seasoned marketing professional who had taken a sabbatical but was now back where he belonged — putting his marketing prowess to work and thinking about what drives consumer spending habits.
2. Focus on skills-based versus situation or industry-based qualifications. You don’t have to have a background in finance to be good at finance. Alex was a chemist and researcher who had gone back to business school to get her MBA. She decided she wanted to work in corporate finance for a large pharmaceutical company but she was afraid no one would take her seriously given her background. When I pressed Alex to explain to me why she chose finance, she exclaimed, “That’s the way my brain works.” Her thinking was methodical, mathematical and formulaic — all of which translated to someone who was a natural fit within a corporate finance department. Instead of focusing on the fact that her background was in academia, Alex could emphasize to colleagues and clients that she was a numbers person at her core.
3. Connect the dots — what ties it all together? If you are a chemist turned finance professional or a marketing executive with experience in international sales, you should find a way to bring together the richness of your experiences and show how each one complements the other. For me, personally, I had a significant hurdle to clear with clients as a former Peace Corps volunteer turned investment banker. I explained away the dichotomy of the two by emphasizing to others that I was big picture thinker by nature and a numbers person by training. Banking was a perfect combination of the two — I liked looking at client’s challenges and issues from 30,000 feet and then digging down into the details to come up with creative financing solutions. Whether the client was the mayor of my Peace Corps town in Chile or the CEO of a healthcare company, I could start at a high level and drill down quickly and effectively.

People often think of the elevator pitch as something you use when you’re interviewing for a new job, trying to raise capital for a new venture or trying to lobby for you project. The elevator pitch, however, is no less important once you’ve got the job as it is when you’re looking.

In fact, your 30-second “play” about who you are, how you’re different, and why you’re memorable is arguably more important once you’ve landed that great position or won the support of investors and now interact with senior colleagues and important clients regularly.

Be prepared!!!

Regards,

Austin

Here’s what it takes to be a good CEO

(By JOSE RAMON PIN and GUIDO STEIN, From The New York Times Syndicate — 03.11.2009 09:06)

A lot of managers stretch for the position as the CEO, a position that they view as the peak of their carreer. But before they start climbing for the apex, leaders should ask themselves : Is it really worth it?

To answer this question, Spanish school of management, IESE’s International Research Center on Organization, in cooperation with the PR-agency Burston-Marsteller. The survey, included 1000 spanish managers, had a question searching for the pros and cons of becoming the “top dog”.

Based on the answers, you can identify two main reasons for becoming the CEO – not surprising:

The opportunity of putting your own ideas into action, and the challenge and responsibility that comes with the job.

When it comes to the negative sides, the respondents pointed out two disadvantages: Difficulties combining a private life and carreer, and the fact that executives sometimes have to make decision that are difficult from an interpersonal perspecitve, particularly when it comes to laying off people close to you. In the end, however, many say they think the pros outweigh the cons.

The achievement syndrome:

Potential CEO’s are characterized by what is often referred to as the “achievement syndrome”:

• They accept reasonable challenges, i.e. challenges that are neither easy nor too difficult. Their goals have an acceptable chance of being achieved. They are not interrested in pursuing something that is too easy or totally out of reach.
• They have their own view of reality, which sometimes creates discussion until they get their visions realized.
• The work towards results – medium and long term, not just short term. Short term results are just a means for longer term ends.
• They need indicators telling them whether or not they achieve planned results.
• They want to change the environment in which they operate. This is more about chasing personal interrests: They aim to improve the working conditions of those around them.

The achievement syndrome, which in principle has positive effects, could easily end up becoming a power syndrome, particularly if you lose the broader motivation. When this happens, executives start pursuing their own interrests, and stop caring what is good for the organization.

Regards,

Austin

Strategy formation is important – but implementation is key

A strategy is of course worthless if the only ones that care are the board of directors. While the board is responsible to ensure that your company has a strategy, it doesn’t really help  if your strategy stops there. Having a strategy isn’t even half the effort and IKEA knows this.

If the strategy is going to be executed, the company has to have resources enough to follow through and all employees have to know how. Make a few practical rules for your employees to live by – to tell your people how the strategy is going to be implemented. This is how IKEA is leading the way and Ingvar Kamprad (the IKEA founder) has 9 commandments:

1) Product ranges – IKEA’s identity is simple, bright. This is linked to the lifestyle you want to convey. Functional and good quality, but at a reasonable price.

2) The IKEA-spirit – strong vital reality. Enthusiasm. Countinous renewal. Helping one another doing an even better job. Humility.

3) Good profits – provide more resources and more oportunities. We need money to reach our goals. Everything has a price tag on it – e.g. the catalog. Saving money is a virtue – even small amounts.

4) Good results desipte limited resources. Reaching your goals with limited resources is a virtue. Waste is a mortal sin.

5) Simplicity is a virtue. Simple procedures and policies are powerful. Simplicity in our behavior gives us strength. Excessive planning is also waste. Concentrate on the execution.

6) Think – what can be done differently? Why are we doing it like this? Beware the curse of knowledge and experience. Prior experience can dampen your thirst for knowledge and willingness to experiment

7) Focus – is vital to all prosperity. You cannot do everything, everywhere all the time, all at once. Strategy is choice – choice is deciding what NOT to do.

8) Being responsible is an advantage – being accountable is taking action. Fight the fear of failing. Making mistakes is the privilege of the action oriented.

9) There is more to be done than has been done so far – there is a wonderful future. A company that has reached its goals, will stagnate and lose its life power. The sense of being done is the best remedy for sleeping.

Regards,

Austin

How to build accountability or “Who’s got the monkey”

These key ideas in this post are taken from the Harvard Business Review article “Management Time: Who’s got the Monkey?”  by William Oncken, Jr., and Donald L. Wass

How to identify the situation – “you have the monkey”:

Imagin the situation: You are racing down the hall. An employee stops you and says, “We’ve got a problem.” You assume you should get involved but can’t make an on-the-spot decision. You say, “Let me think about it.” You’ve just allowed a “monkey” to leap from your subordinate’s back to yours. You’re now working for your subordinate. Take on enough monkeys, and you won’t have time to handle your real job: fulfilling your own boss’s mandates and helping peers generate business results. How to avoid accumulating monkeys? Develop your subordinates’ initiative, say Oncken and Wass. For example, when an employee tries to hand you a problem, clarify whether he should: recommend and implement a solution, take action then brief you immediately, or act and report the outcome at a regular update. When you encourage employees to handle their own monkeys, they acquire new skills—and you liberate time to do your own job.

How to return monkeys to their proper owners:

• Make appointments to deal with monkeys.
  Avoid discussing any monkey on an ad hoc basis—for example, when you pass a subordinate in the hallway. You won’t convey the proper seriousness. Instead, acknowledge the problem and schedule an appointment to discuss the issue.

• Specify level of initiative.
  Your employees can exercise five levels of initiative in handling on-the-job problems. From lowest to highest, the levels are:

1. Wait until told what to do.
2. Ask what to do.
3. Recommend an action, then with your approval, implement it.
4. Take independent action but advise you at once.
5. Take independent action and update you through routine procedure.

When an employee brings a problem to you, outlaw use of level 1 or 2. Agree on and assign level 3, 4, or 5 to the monkey. Take no more than 15 minutes to discuss the problem.

• Agree on a status update.
  After deciding how to proceed, agree on a time and place when the employee will give you a progress report.
• Examine your own motives.
  Some managers secretly worry that if they encourage subordinates to take more initiative, they’ll appear less strong, more vulnerable, and less useful. Instead, cultivate an inward sense of security that frees you to relinquish direct control and support employees’ growth.
• Develop employees’ skills.
  Employees try to hand off monkeys when they lack the desire or ability to handle them. Help employees develop needed problem-solving skills. It’s initially more time consuming than tackling problems yourself—but it saves time in the long run.
• Foster trust.
  Developing employees’ initiative requires a trusting relationship between you and your subordinates. If they’re afraid of failing, they’ll keep bringing their monkeys to you rather than working to solve their own problems. To promote trust, reassure them it’s safe to make mistakes.

As I’ve used this framework at work (yes, I have to admit I’ve even used in my personal life), I’ve found it both easy to apply and effective – it requires some effort but mostly simple behavioral change on your part.

However, what I’ve found equally valuable, is that this “process” over time reduces the amount of “monkeys” your employees give you.  At least that is my experience.

Regards,

Austin

Positive thinking – in practice

Think Positively. Yes, Even in This Economy

With the economy in the state it’s in, encouraging your employees to think positively may make you look foolish and insensitive. Yet, focusing your employees on what they can do rather than what they cannot do will lead to better attitudes and results. Here are three ways to promote positivity in your people:

1. Treat employees as contributors, not costs.

Emphasize each employee’s role in contributing to the business. The minute you start talking about people as costs, negativity will take over.

2. Never sugarcoat reality.

Don’t hold back information. Talk frankly with employees about the economic realities your company is facing, while you also explain what they can do to help.

3. Challenge your people.

Slow economies provide time to reflect on and re-think your business. Ask your people to come up with ideas for improving processes, systems, and products.

Source: HBR

Regards,
Kevin

4 simple ways to keep your employees happy

Is it important to keep people happy in the workplace? Ultimately, I leave that up for each to decide, but personally I believe, yes, keeping people happy enough is important. Consider it a necessity if you will. I also think that keeping people happy in their jobs is easier than it seems, especially if you focus on intrinsic rewards like pride in their work, rather than extrinsic rewards like money and stock options. I touched upon this in an earlier post as well – here’s four four ways to keep your employees positive I found in Anthony Tjan’s blog (http://bit.ly/A9hpL):

• Create meaningful roles. Don’t be a stickler for job descriptions. Help your employees find what they like to do best and create roles that allow them to contribute to the bigger picture.

• Give feedback. Tell your people regularly how they’re doing. Avoid generic feedback by being honest and thoughtful.
• Offer professional development. Ask your people where they want to be in five years and be sure you are helping them get there.
• Say “thank you”. Express your gratitude by thanking them regularly for their contributions.

Best regards,
Kevin

What’s your story, TWO minute manager?

Everyone has heard or read about the “One minute manager“, the classic managment “telltale” book by Blanchard & Johnson’s published in the late 80′s. In this post I’m trying to advocate for the “TWO minute manager”, not to be taken literally, however, it suggests that it’s not as easy as it sounds – and an important tool for getting your point across is using the format of “The One minute manager”.

Undeniably, one of the most important tasks of leadership is making sure that everyone in your organization knows the direction and priorities so people further down the hierarechy knows what to decide when faced with everyday decision in the work environment. You may argue this is why you have a vision and a strategy document in the first place, however, I have found that communicating the strategy is not as easy as it sounds.  Another way of disseminating your intentional message throughout the organisation is running a thorough “strategy process” involving all levels of the organization. Although, I am a believer in engaging everyone in this process is both costly and time consuming – and still in order to have an effect, the process would have to be repeated frequently.

For those involved in the process of generating, comprehension of the strategy is not an issue, – although I’ve found that even in this case oppinions differ somewhat – and undeniably the situation is even more challenging when it comes to those that were not connected to your strategy process.

But how do you get the attention of your audience, and how do you get your message across, where we’re increasingly bombarded with messages in a torrent of information?

This, of couse, whe the blessing of communcation comes in. From experience, I’ve found that telling a good story or anecdote is a very effective way to show people what is important and establish trust that you believe in the strategy – show your passion – share your stories.

For a pleasant read and a good strating point to understand how you can create your stories please see “Made-to-stick“- (see also my shameless praise of this book in my review)

In your quest to create your story:

• Say WHY the goal is so important for the team or organization and PLEASE say something about HOW you’re going to get there
• A good leadership story has to appeal to heart and mind and must contain the following ingredients:

1. The story refers to something you’ve experience and what you learned from it
2. The story strikes a cord with the audience on an emotional level because it is relevant to them and they can relate to it
3. The story inspires people becase you pour your enthusiasm and authenticity into it
4. The story shows the tention between the goal and the motstanden you will face when you’re going to reach your destination
5. The story is illustrated by a vivid example
6. The store contains important insight.

And last, but not least… it is like everything else: It’s hard work! After all it is not a “fairytale”…

Good luck!

Kevin…

[Caption]

If you want to steal a star performer – it had better be a woman

A star performer in one company will of course be successful if you persuade him to come work for you, right?  Wrong!!!

When stars are transplanted, switching from one environment to another, their performance actually falls. The same goes for their new company’s market value, according to Boris Groysberg. (link). This way everyone loses – the former employer loses a star performer, the new company doesn’t get what it thought it would and the owners lose money on their investment. At least this is the case if the star performer is a guy.

According to Groysberg’s research, however, the story is somewhat different if the talented person is a woman. Statistcally women maintain their stardom. In addition the market seems to picked up on this – so the new employer’s share price holds steady.

Groysberg tries to explain this by providing two major reasons for the discrepancy:

• Unlike men, high-performing women build their success on portable, external relationships—with clients and other outside contacts.
• Women considering job changes weigh more factors then men do, especially cultural fit, values, and managerial style.

These strategies enable women to transition more successfully to new companies. And that has crucial implications for all professionals. By understanding successful women’s career strategies, women and men can strengthen their ability to be successful in any setting.

To help employees shine in any organization Groysberg recommends these strategies:

Strategy 1: Build an external network. Most male stars depend on the internal networks – the “boys club” – which helps them and which they cultivate . Women often lack access to those crucial networks, for these reasons:

• Uneasy in-house bonds. Women face less-than-wholehearted acceptance in male-dominated workplaces. They also avoid forging close relationships with men for fear of giving the appearance of impropriety.
• Poor internal mentorship. Women receive inadequate access to internal mentors. Thus they miss out on a vital service mentoring provides: access to an internal network of relationships.
• Neglectful colleagues. The locker-room and sports-bar cultures characterizing mostly male workforces prevent females from forging strong bonds with males. To counter these barriers, star women cultivate relationships with external constituencies, such as customers and former mentors, that are not dependent on their current company. When they change jobs, the external relationships that promote their success are not affected.

Strategy 2: Scrutinize prospective employers. Unlike men, who focus largely on compensation, women weigh broader considerations when thinking about a job change, favoring work cultures that emphasize:

• Receptivity to female talent
• Openness to individual styles, personalities, and approaches to work

In short:

• If you’re looking for a star performer – consider gender (or at least style)
• In order to increase your long-term market value – apply these strategies so you don’t depend on your current employer to be successful

I would love to hear your oppinions or experience on this matter.

Best regards,
Kevin

Made-to-Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

I usually don’t recommend a book this unconditionally, but what the hey: This may just be the most important book I’ve ever read – and I suspect – no matter how good you are – it will help you, too. Worst case; I think at least you’ll find yourself entertained…

The ONE thing: Why you need to read it…

Here’s the thing; if there is ONE thing you need to think about in addition to what it is you’re actually doing for a living – THIS is it!

You need to make the thing you’re trying to give them “sticky” enough that it gets remembered and talked about. That’s the best (and maybe the only) way it’s going to get to the people who need it.Of course, it would be better, if all greatness would rise to the deserved or even necessary level of recognition – sadly, however – it is not so! Therefore, you need to find a way to present your message so it “STICKS” in the head of your audience, hence the title.

So, we agree it is a problem – The question still remaining is HOW do you make it sticky? This is what this book explains so well – and exactly WHY you should read it.

This book is well written, thoughtful, entertaining and engagingly exploring how this complicated process works. It contains a lot of useful how-to’s as well as nice “a-ha” moments constructed by reframing old concepts.Also, the Heath brothers know how to make the information accessible and relevant, without ever getting the feeling that they’ve dumbed it down or made it overly complex, a notion I get regularly from business books. I cannot remember the last time I read a book without having to mentally argue certain points with the authors — but in this case I either agreed with them completely or was wowed by their insights.

The BEST thing: It is all about application

But the best thing about Made to Stick is the way it gets the wheels in your head turning as you get all fired up – thinking about how you’re going to apply this stuff – to EVERYTHING. Then at some point you start filtering everything through the stickiness filter … and boy is it ever interesting. All the information you interact with on a regular basis? These concepts give you a different way to relate to the stuff you’re probably thinking about anyway.

Anyway, obviously if you have a business or a project or a venture you can take this stuff and apply it to pretty much every part of what you do … from crafting your message to finally rewriting your web copy to helping your clients/fans/whatever really get who you are and what you do.

And if you aren’t in the process of “selling” yourself, you can still make use of these concepts to increase your understaing of how to effectively frame information that you want people to remember. Conversely, you get better at noticing when and how others might be pulling your strings to influence you.

The authors have also started a blog to continue the discussion of the ideas from the book.

The SUMMARY thing (I still recommend you READ it yourself – if you’re a bit lazy like me – do the audio book version):

PRINCIPLE 1: SIMPLICITY

What? Find the CORE of your idea.

This isn’t done by ‘dumbing it down’; this is done by finding what is essential to your message. Strip your idea down to the bare essential. A successful defense lawyer says, “If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won’t remember any.”

How? Be a master of exclusion – remove all distractions – give context

We must relentlessly prioritize. “It’s hard to make ideas stick in a noisy, unpredictable, chaotic environment. If we’re to succeed, the first step is this: Be simple. Not simple in terms of ‘dumbing down’ or ’sound bites.’ What we mean by ’simple’ is finding the core of the idea. ‘Finding the core’ means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence.” (pgs. 27, 28)

PRINCIPLE 2: UNEXPECTEDNESS

What? Get the ATTENTION of your audience – and KEEP it.

How? Violate people’s expectations – be counterintuitive – surprise them – break their ‘guessing machine’ and then repair it.

A bag of popcorn is as unhealthy as a whole day’s worth of fatty foods! We can use surprise — an emotion whose function is to increase alertness and cause focus — to grab people’s attention. But surprise doesn’t last. For our idea to endure, we must generate interest and curiosity. “The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern. Humans adapt incredibly quickly to consistent patterns. Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message-i.e., What are the unexpected implications of your core message? Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audiences’ guessing machines.” (pgs. 64, 72)

PRINCIPLE 3: CONCRETENESS

What? Concrete is memorable – abstract is not. Make your idea like Velcro. Hook them through concreteness.

How? We must explain our ideas in terms of human actions, in terms of sensory information something to REALTE to. This is where so much business communication goes awry.

Mission statements, synergies, strategies, visions — they are often ambiguous to the point of being meaningless. Naturally sticky ideas are full of concrete images — ice-filled bathtubs, apples with razors — because our brains are wired to remember concrete data. In proverbs, abstract truths are often encoded in concrete language: “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.” Speaking concretely is the only way to ensure that our idea will mean the same thing to everyone in our audience. “Abstraction makes it harder to understand an idea and to remember it. It also makes it harder to coordinate our activities with others, who may interpret the abstraction in very different ways. Concreteness helps us avoid these problems.” (pg. 100)

PRINCIPLE 4: CREDIBILITY

What? Help people BELIEVE. Honesty and trustworthiness should be glorified.

How? Use authorities and anti-authorities. Vivid details boost credibility.

If possible, use statistics that generate a human context. “How do we get people to believe our ideas? We’ve got to find a source of credibility to draw on. A person’s knowledge of details is often a good proxy for her expertise. Think of how a history buff can quickly establish her credibility by telling an interesting Civil War anecdote. But concrete details don’t just lend credibility to the authorities who provide them; they lend credibility to the idea itself.” (pgs. 138, 163)

PRINCIPLE 5: EMOTIONS

What? Make people care – feel something.

How? Associate ideas with emotions that already exist in others. Bridge the emotional gap between your idea (that they don’t care about – yet) with something they already are emotional or care about. Place emphasis on benefits!

Research shows that people are more likely to make a charitable gift to a single needy individual than to an entire impoverished region. We are wired to feel things for people, not for abstractions. Sometimes the hard part is finding the right emotion to harness. For instance, it’s difficult to get teenagers to quit smoking by instilling in them a fear of the consequences, but it’s easier to get them to quit by tapping into their resentment of the duplicity of Big Tobacco. “How can we make people care about our ideas? We get them to take off their Analytical Hats. We create empathy for specific individuals. We show how our ideas are associated with things that people already care about. We appeal to their self-interest, but we also appeal to their identities-not only to the people they are right now but also to the people they would like to be.” (pg. 203)

PRINCIPLE 6: STORIES

What? Create and tell your stories.

Firefighters naturally swap stories after every fire, and by doing so they multiply their experience; after years of hearing stories, they have a richer, more complete mental catalog of critical situations they might confront during a fire and the appropriate responses to those situations. Research shows that mentally rehearsing a situation helps us perform better when we encounter that situation in the physical environment. Similarly, hearing stories acts as a kind of mental flight simulator, preparing us to respond more quickly and effectively. Get people to act. Use stories as stimulation (tell people how to act). Use stories as inspiration (give people energy to act). “A story is powerful because it provides the context missing from abstract prose. This is the role that stories play-putting knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day existence. Stories are almost always CONCRETE. Most of them have EMOTIONAL and UNEXPECTED elements. The hardest part of using stories effectively is make sure they’re SIMPLE-that they reflect your core message. It’s not enough to tell a great story; the story has to reflect your agenda.” (pgs. 214, 237)

How? That’s a subject on its own…

By the way: Did you notice it spells – SUCCES(s)?

Coincience – I think not!

Kevin

What I learned – Efficient messages – The Hamster Revolution

A few years ago, I came across an effective technique for writing effective messages. The rule which goes under the acronym the ABC-rule, is merely a small part of a book called the Hamster Revolution. Yet it is one of the most effective techniques I know – the rule is simple to apply and easy to remember, helping to remove clutter and provide clarity.

As we all experience on a daily basis, in a world of information overload we are surrounded by “wall of words” and weak subject lines that make little or no sense. Although we know our messages are not very effective, we sometimes don’t always know how to take action on it (have a look out for the “Knowing Doing Gap” and watch for a brief summary coming up on this blog). This little “trick” is something you can take action on starting today – and it starts with you:

The ABC method:

In its core, the ABC method splits the body of the message into three parts: Action, Background and Close (ABC)

A – Action summarizes your purpose – stating clearly what you want – avoid clutter
B – Background presents your key points – stating why you want it – a little context
C – Close clarifies the next steps – stating what happens next – you could say how or when you intend to follow it up

The book also makes a point of stating the essence of the message in the subject line. If you’re able – write an executive summary in the subject field. Examples of such subject headers are:

“Info – Sales figures Q4 2008″
“Action – Send your me your input for the strategy meeting by wednesday 3rd”

The moral of the story:
Clarity is obviously a blessing – especially for the recipient – he doesn’t have to ask or assume. I have also found that from my experience – as a “side-effect” from applying this rule – clarifying my e-mail messages have lead to clarifying my own thoughts – and more importantly intensions.

Rgds,
Kevin

A-B-C