This message was designed to look beautiful as an email. If it doesn’t, click here to view it in your web browser.

INSIGHTS & IDEAS

Sir Ken Robinson:
Do Schools Kill Creativity?


While Sir Ken's talk is fun, clever and thought-provoking (view it, here), it is the tip of the iceberg. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Launched in 1984, this annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

If your business counts on predicting the future, hunt around TED.com whenever you want an invigorating jolt of future shock!




WORKSHOP UPDATE

Our Next Managerial Moment of Truth
Workshop is November 8, 2007


In a nutshell, The Managerial Moment of Truth (MMOT) is a book and workshop for managers and leaders who face tough, candid conversations with colleagues, suppliers and employees, but don't have the tools to increase the odds of productive, win-win outcomes.

"Bold, important, groundbreaking. This is the most important book you'll read as a business manager and coach. You'll learn a powerful and simple four-step method to shift your organizational culture to one of truth telling and empowerment. Your employees will thank you and your customers will thank them."

—Patricia Seybold, author of Customers.com and The Customer Revolution

We were delighted to hear that IBM China trained their HR professionals in the MMOT for application in their executive fast-track program. This truly is an essential tool for effective management.

New in this class: We have included an hour of personal coaching post-course. You can plan for upcoming "moments of truth" in the class, prebrief with one of us, conduct a Managerial Moment of Truth, then debrief the session for even deeper learning.

Ann and I will be offering the workshop at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce here in Columbus, OH. Chamber of Commerce members (any chamber) are elegible for a $40 discount. Graduates are welcome to audit the program at a reduced rate. Space is limited to 20 seats.

To find out more, check out the MMOT blog post, below, and visit www.ralstonconsulting.com/mmot.html.





BOOK REVIEW

The Art of the Start


The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything.

Sure, that's a bold tag line, but Guy Kawasaki is the one to pull it off. A brilliant thinker and communicator, old dogs (mice?) in the Apple Computer community know Guy as one of the catalysts behind the success of the Apple Macintosh.

There is SO much good stuff in this book that it is hard to know where to start telling you about it. Starting, Positioning, Pitching, Writing a Business Plan, Boostrapping, Recruiting, Raising Capital, Partnering, Branding, Rainmaking... and being a Mensch! (Yiddish for "ethical, decent and honorable person".)

Did I also mention that it is short, sweet, funny to read, extremely well presented and memorable?

An example: One of the many valuable distinctions Guy makes is between Mission Statements, Tag Lines and what he calls an "Organizational Mantra".

Nike has many Tag Lines. Perhaps the most famous is: Just Do It. That's fine for marketing, but it doesn't help focus internal business decisions.

Nike has a Mission Statement: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. The statement actually includes the asterisk: "*If you have a body, you're an athlete". (from the 2007 Annual Report). This is a high-concept and inclusive statement, and is better, but still awkward for decision-making.

Now according to Guy, Nike's Mantra is "Authentic Athletic Performance". In Nike, with it's culture of innovation, I think this is a phenomenally useful tool. Anyone, from the designer to the marketer to the supply chain manager can ask the question: "Will what I'm doing, right now, deliver increased 'Authentic Athletic Performance' for our customers when they use our products?" if the answer is 'No', they can immediately ask if they should be doing it. That's the basis of focus.

My question for you: What's your mantra? (Write or call, and let's see if we can help you come up with it!)

If you are in charge of starting and growing something significant, in a business startup, a large corporation, or a Rotary Club, you should be reading this gem, and taking heed of far more of its advice than is normally wise in a business book. The Art of the Start. This one's a keeper.





BOOK REVIEW

Getting to Maybe:
How the World is Changed


"WARNING: This book is not for heroes or saints or perfectionists.

This book is for flawed people (and we are all flawed in one way or another) who are not happy with the way things are and would like to make a difference.

This book is for ordinary people who want to make connections that create extraordinary outcomes."


So reads the first inside page of this refreshing, accessible and thought-provoking guide for those involved in social change, from social innovators and philanthropists to policy-makers and leaders of socially-conscious corporations. Written by Frances Westley, Brenda Zimmerman & Michael Quinn Patton and published by Random House Canada, Getting to Maybe: how the world is changed is out to do just that, one reader at a time.

What it's all about

The burning issue that Getting to Maybe addresses is that too many attempts to improve our society, lead by social innovators, usually working in not-for-profit structures and funded by philanthropy, business and government, fail because well-meaning people set out to address symptoms without understanding the behaviour of the larger system. This book introduces a "systems approach" for making change. It does this by focusing on the work of social innovators and the stages they characteristically go through in trying to right a social wrong. Other key players, such as philanthropists, politicians and business leaders, are invited into the narrative to re-think their approaches to social innovation, where appropriate.

Simple and complicated vs. complex

The authors make the point early on that not all problems are the same, and that different classes of problems require different approaches if the social innovator is to have a hope of effecting lasting change. The three classes of problems are.... Read more...