Posts Tagged ‘Business’
The Equation Of Excellence
Ranked as the “greatest business book of all time” in a 2002 poll by Britain’s Bloomsbury Publishing, this best-selling business book has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school, and bedside table. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies (with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.), 1982
The book was primarily about three things, Listen to your customers. Take care of your people, and don’t let your values slip or slacken.
Tom Peters has searched the world over for businesses in Search of Excellence, he latest book The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE, 2010 continues the family of books on Excellence.
So why do I mention these books? Just this past week I had a brief online conversation after I posted a question on Twitter & FaceBook. It was a simple question meant to make you think about what Excellence looks like to you, and how do we measure it. So I’ll pose the question to you:
Is your Pursuit Quantity or Quality? – Or should it be Excellence?
Now the question seemed confusing but, two interesting comments / statements came back to me. One was a question that confirmed the confusion, having said that, it was an interesting thought.
How does pursuing quality differ from pursuing excellence?
My response even surprised me, and it got me to thinking:
Quality & Excellence are not the same thing. Quality is part of an equation that determines Excellence.
Another friend of mine kept it simple, but was it really?
My pursuit is to simply do my best at all times.
I possed another question.
There is the problem, how is your best measured, how do you know it’s your best?
The conversation continued for some time and again kept it simple:
Well, it’s measured in that moment of ‘doing’. I consciously know if I’m doing my best at any given time. Sometimes, we’re tired, and sometimes we’re completely energized – our best varies on where we are. I think we all know when we’re doing our best – like an internal barometer.
Still not happy with the answer, I drilled deeper not letting my friend off the hook:
Based on that statement, you only seem to know when you’re doing best by how you feel. Emotions are not always the best way to measure where one is at.
You must have some indicators that you monitor that keep you on track, that keep you focused, that ensure some sense of quality. Pursuing Excellence is a complicated set of habits that equal Excellence, but only you can set the standard of those habits, you are setting the bar for you business. If you don’t, someone else will judge you or your business on bad information / Excellence.
Two things struck me, there probably should be more than two, but….one, everyone seems to have a different view on how Excellence is measured. And two, I have come to the conclusion that there is this equation that takes you to a value called Excellence. This equation is something each business owner must look long and hard at, it doesn’t even have to be a business, anything in life that you measure and wish to have some level of Excellence. You or the business owner, has to set the bar, and those who experience you, your brand, and or your business will decide if it was Excellence. So there is alot to consider in the equation.
Is or has how we value Excellence changed because of technology, systems and more efficient ways of obtaining the almighty level of Excellence? Is Excellence easier to obtain because of technology, or ways of automating simple tasks?
Will the future of Excellence morph, will the definition of the word be changed because of how we measure Excellence? In my small understanding, Excellence would be a series of habits or action items done exceptionally well, how many habits makeup this equation, or do we go by how we feel? (not recommended)
The question is yours now, what does the equation of Excellence look like in your opinion?
Sharing & Entrepreneurial Success
In alittle over a week I’ll be speaking at FRESH! Fraser Valley on this very topic, but I thought I would start sharing some thoughts with you now. If you don’t have your ticket, get one, there are some very special people waiting to meet you, and to share.
Those of you who frequent this Blog know that I preach an Open & Free Business Model, and in case you didn’t know, sharing is the foundation of that model. In fact, I would venture to say that this is what business and individuals need to know to shape their futures. In my opinion, sharing is the single most important thing you can do in business, transparent sharing to be more specific. Many times I have been asked, what kind of sharing should I do? To me, the answer is brain dead simple, apparently it isn’t for most.
So, what should you be sharing? In can be as simple as telling your story, tell the story of how your business or product came to life, let people know that your business is human. Keep it simple, take your readers on a journey about your business. This story is the glue to your business and your entrepreneurial success!
Now there’s more to it than just a one time sharing of that story, continue telling the story, tell it as the story grows and changes over the coming months and even years. Don’t brag or sell, just share. It’s really that simple. Draw people in through your story, your readers or followers will know if you’re genuine or not, they’ll sniff out a sales pitch in a heart beat. But they love a good story, and are looking for someplace to hunker down feel welcomed. The story is part of an equation, it’s part of the inbound marketing equation, it’s part of how business will be done in the next 3 – 5 years, it’s also part of a paradigm shift.
Turning the future into revenue means this, pay special attention to whats happening around you and your business. I’m willing to bet that you see more and more businesses sharing as a major component to their success. These businesses are rebuilding, becoming smaller to be able to move faster and add people without adding overhead. Entrepreneurs are the new BIG business, small is big in this new world of business, and these entrepreneurs know how to make sharing a financial success.
Looking at the bigger picture helps you with what you will share, looking ahead, the future is not a one way street; you can shape it with the right strategies, the right tactics, and the right story to share. The question is never where to start, or what to share, it should be, what’s coming and what effect will it have on my business. That’s one part of the paradigm shift, moving from denial to foresight.
Sharing will attract customers, readers and better yet, friends. It can improve your bottomline, it can increase traffic to your businesses website or Blog, and it will most definitely improve your entrepreneurial success. Just tell the story and watch great things happen.
Do You Have Business Faith?
There it is…. the question, do you have business faith? That question leads me to the very core of your fear, the fear of what it means to be Open & Free. It ultimately means, you must trust the people formerly known as consumers. How do you do that, how do you trust people you may never know on a personal level? And what does faith mean to you?
Faith is described in the dictionary, as taken from http://dictionary.reference.com:
1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another’s ability.
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3. belief in god or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4. belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6. the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7. the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one’s promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8. Christian Theology . the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.
The best description of faith (to me) is taken from the Bible: Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
I like that statement on faith for primarily one thing, it means we believe that something good is coming, something good will happen, and we want to hang on to that notion because it actually is a driving force within us.
If you didn’t have faith, why are you in business? You are in the business your in because you have hope, faith for a result better than what you have now. The Open & Free Business Model practices just that, it forces you the business owner to trust people, to have faith not only in them, but in yourself. We have a desired outcome in most everything we do, but we can’t see it physically, we do however see it as a vision, maybe what you might call a dream. My good friend Rick Rake is a dreamer, and he practices dreaming (see his Blog), he can see a better world, a better way, and a better place to be in life, and in business. He says, don’t stop dreaming! I love it, he is always forward thinking. To me, I think, the dream never dies, just the dreamer.
Business faith needs to happen on many levels, you have to risk on those levels, only you can decide what that might be. I encourage you to look deep inside and try to identify what fear is preventing you from having business faith, what is stopping you from trusting people to actually use your product/service. I would suggest to you that fear is root in a lie. Why? Because people are creatures of habit, you already know what they’re going to do and what risk they will take. It’s a calculate risk on your part! You also know, in the future (the next 3 -5 years), those very people will not be forced to do what the business world at large does today, it forces people to pay before getting any value. That’s the old model of business faith, you pay first, then they have faith.
The Open & Free Business Model requires that you have true business faith, that you have confidence in your product or service, that you would even dare to give some of those products and services away for free. This kind of business faith takes a longer span of time to see the results you have hope for, but in the long run, you will get followers of your business, you will get the attention of enough people, that will crystallize what it means to have business faith. Having an Open & Free Business Model = Business Faith.
Are you sure of what you hope for? Are you certain of what you can not see?
If you want to learn more about the Open & Free Business Model, and you live in my area, contact me to attend one of my workshops by e-mailing me at: workshop@owengreaves.com
The Two Most Misunderstood Words On The NET
A lot of words are misunderstood, that’s a given, but here online there are two that really mess people up. Now, I see tough times ahead for TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Music Stores, Book Stores and so on, these are the obvious ones. In fact, most major corporations are trying to figure out how to make these two words work for them. The problem isn’t the words, the problem is in the past, it’s called the Industrial age.
Remember when Social Media first came on the scene, your boss heard the words Social Media and freaked out. The picture that came to mind was people standing around a water cooler and not working, just shooting the breeze. I’m certain that is still a problem in most businesses, but they are dead wrong. Yes, Social Media is misunderstood, but those aren’t the two words I’m talking about now.
The two most misunderstood words are, Open & Free. Open & Free is a business model, and they are completely taken the wrong way, much like Social Media was and is still today. Open means many things, here online, they can mean, open systems and transparency. Free does not always mean free literally, but sometimes it does, and that’s where the rub is for business owners.
Open & Free are trying to achieve a balance the same way Sharing vs Piracy is trying to gain credibility. The problem as I mentioned earlier is, old thinking, we have to unlearn most of what we understand in the old business model of control. How you ask. The best way is to hire someone like myself that sees the world of business online as it will be, not as it is. I don’t mean someone who is guessing, someone who can show you in a methodical way that makes sense, in a simple way you understand. The future of business is not that hard to see, but it is if you’re using old eyes, the way you’ve always done things. Remember a primary principle, you don’t know what you don’t know.
Using the Open & Free Business Model in your business takes work, starting with looking at your business in a new and exciting way. Open may mean that you are giving your customers access to you, if you have been hiding from them before. In this new world business of commerce, you can’t hide anymore, you must connect with those who are buying and using your product and services. This isn’t new to some, but most still try to control who gets to them, and I’m betting it’s not going so well.
Free may mean you are selling a three part product or service, and you are giving part one away for free, and then charging for access to the other two parts. It could be a product, or it could be a consulting service. I have over simplified it here for you but it’s not this simple really, there’s much, much more to this model than described here.
If you want to learn more about The Open & Free Business Model, snoop around this blog for more posts, attend my workshop if you are local to me, hire me as a think-tank leader, and lastly, you can wait for my book to come out.
Open & Free are lonely words because they are The Two Most Misunderstood Words On The Internet Today.
Is The Creative Commons License The Answer to Copyright?
The Internet has presented a huge problem with the current Copyright Laws of each land, the Internet, is in fact a giant copy machine that violates most Copyright type licenses every second of the day. Great debates have and are taking place as to what the answer may or may not be, the laws are about control, the Internet is not, it wants to share everything it finds and at no or very little cost. So, how does one get paid for their work if that later is indeed true.
What is a Creative Commons License? I’m not even going to consider trying to explain it to you because I don’t know! I am however going to let you understand it better through this video, now pay attention, you may be very interested to know that this is close to what we may be looking for here on the Internet.
Does this Creative Commons License work for you? What do you think?
If you want more information on the Creative Commons License, here is the link to the website: Creative Commons License