The Non Creative Person

A quote from Abraham Maslow on the non creative person

It is as if these people were afraid of the future and also mistrusted their own ability to improvise in the face of something that would come up unexpectedly. This is then a combination of a lack of trust in ones' self, a kind of fear that one does not have the ability or the capacity to face anything which is unexpected, unpredictable.

This I believe is an important truth to learn in order to become creative. I used to think that I was not a creative person until I learn to face the unpredictable and unexpected

Customer Price Guarantee

I've set out to create a company that will not bill by the hour. Nor will I or any individual at Interaction Versa do time sheets.

Billing by the hour and doing time sheets has adverse outcomes. I have seen this first had. At the core it creates an environment of low moral in employees where no one seems to care for the outcome customers receive. This, of course, should not be blamed on the employees at such organization. It takes a vision and leadership to take this approach. Sadly that is what is lacking in most IT firms today.

I have also created a customer guarantee that reads:

The work of the team at Interaction Versa is guaranteed to the complete satisfaction of our customers. If a customer is not completely delighted with the service performed by representatives of Interaction Versa, we will, at the option of our customer, either refund the price, or accept a portion said price that reflects the individuals of our customer's level of satisfaction.

We will assume the individuals and companies we work with are delighted upon payment received by us under the terms of our work.

I have done this to make myself and the team accountable to our customers in pricing our services and products. In other words I'm asking to be held accountable. I've also made sure to publicize the guarantee. It can be found here http://www.iversa.ca/customer-price-guarantee.html and I have it printed on back of all business cards and other promotional material.

Webinar / Conference Call

I'm doing a webinar on finding a competent CRM consultant and the adopting the use of CRM

To sign up go here http://bit.ly/8NkoSD

Revealed Preference

Revealed preference—watch what people do, not what they say

I recently learned a new term what economist call "revealed preference". This came about as I've been struggling in how to write a mission and values statement for my next venture.

I have known for a long time that it is important to do what I say I will do. But I also think that there is a place to formally spend time in writing out a mission values statement. But I need to keep in mind that all mission statements look the same to the reader.

I will still hold that writing out a mission and values statement can be beneficial for myself and the team.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

So far this is the best business book I have read. Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker

Drucker was a truly remarkable thinker! What I liked about the book is that he does not pretend to know everything. On a few occasions he explores business issues (I was getting exited that he would have answers to my questions) and then asserts that he does not know.

One example is when he explores the idea that so few businesses today are customer centric. He then asks the question why it is so, to give the answer "I cannot explain". So much of the business literature today is written with the pretence of knowing exactly what to do and the answers to every problem long before the problems have been identified. Most of the business literature does not go beyond common sense (this goes for other literature too).

From the book

Whatever customers buy has to fit their realities, or it is of no use to them

...Entrepreneurial strategy remains the decision-making area of entrepreneurship and therefore the risk-taking one. It is by no means hunch or gamble. But it also is not precisely science. Rather, it is judgement

What I like about Drucker is that he respects the worker.

Drucker believed that employees are assets and not liabilities. He taught that knowledge workers are the essential ingredients of the modern economy. Central to this philosophy is the view that people are an organization's most valuable resource and that a manager's job is to prepare and free people to perform (source).

This will be a book I will buy for my bookshelf.

Quote - create wealth

I like the following quote from Ron Baker at Verasage

The sole purpose of a business is to create wealth outside of itself. Unlike a biological organism, the true test of a firm’s success lies outside of its four walls. All results are external, there is no such thing as a "profit center," there are only cost, activity and effort centers. The only profit center in your firm is a customer’s check that doesn’t bounce.

Thoughts on Knowledge Workers

In my last post I wrote about learning from what not to do. Over the last few years I have become distinctly aware of how employees are demoralised when not seeing them as knowledge workers. Right now I'm studying how knowledge workers have been defined in the last century. This will be essential as I build a successful professional service firm.

I'm reading "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" by Peter F. Drucker

From the book...

...knowledge workers must know more about their job than their boss does—or else they are not good at all. In fact, that they know more about their job than anybody else in the organization is part of the definition of knowledge workers.

Altogether, an increasing number of people who are full-time employees have to be managed as if they were volunteers. They are paid, to be sure. But knowledge workers have mobility. They can leave. They own their "means of production," which is their knowledge.

We have known for fifty years that money alone does not motivate to perform. Dissatisfaction with money grossly demotivates. Satisfaction with money is, however, mainly a "hygiene factor"....What motivates—and especially what motivates knowledge workers—is what motivates volunteers. Volunteers, we know, have to get more satisfaction from their work than paid employees, precisely because they do not get a paycheck. The need, above all, challenge. They need to know the organization's mission and to believe in it. They need continuous training. They need to see results.

On my last job there was a lack of mission. As a matter of fact there was no mission at all. At times I did wounder why I was not satisfied at the job because the pay was good. My learning from Drucker is giving me good indication as to why.

Read the book for yourself and find out!

Learning from what not to do and my new venture

My best learning experience in the business world has come from what not to do. My previous job was a great opportunity for that, although it was very frustrating at times too.

I've set out to create an innovative information technology (IT) company. When I left my previous job, or I should say I was dismissed for poor reasons, I didn't think I would ever get back in to IT. I was disillusioned because of being part of a very dysfunctional environment, disappointed at not able to make a difference.

I have a number of innovative ideas that I plan on executing over time in my company and becoming a leader in the IT industry. Much of this will be based on what I learned not to do.

A description of my new venture can be found here http://www.iversa.ca/

Here on this blog I will write about day to day challenges and business development issues at Interaction Versa Inc. I will also write about other business and personal topics in general.

Happy reading!

Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic

Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic is an excellent book! It mostly is about the history of one of the world's most admired service organizations. At the end of each chapter the authors have a a section for management lessons.

Since my work is in information technology I found the following section helpful and it also speaks to why ROI's (return on investment) is a waste of time if done for no other reason then saving money or before the savings are realized. I wrote more about ROI's here.

From the book...

Use technology to support values and strategy. Technology is a tool to help an organization be what is wishes to be. Its purpose is to benefit its users, to enable their success, to make life better. Technology investments that do not benefit users, that thwart their success, or that make life worse are destined to cost the investing organization dearly. Technology designed to strictly to save money usually result in an excessive waste of money and a mountain of heartache. All technology should solve real problems in the context of an organization's core values and strategy.

Mayo Clinic has benefited enormously and durably from major technological investments. These investments have in common their direct link to the Clinic's core values and strategies....Saving money trough technology has frequently been the result, but rarely, if ever, the goal.

The authors point out that health care is one of the most complex services organizations. They say that if it is possible to create and sustain an excellent brand as Mayo Clinic it is even more attainable in other service organization.

It is an inspiring and hopeful story.

Read it and find out for yourself!

Why I want to be an Entrepreneur

My last post speaks to why I want to be an entrepreneur. Over the last three years I have learned to live without certainty. This has served me well! It mostly came about because of an important spiritual change in my life. Making decisions without certainty is not that difficult for me anymore.

I'm still trying to find out what motivates me to be an entrepreneur. I don't think it is a desire for fame, or perhaps it is. I sure don't want to become a guru or to be known as one.

One of the reason that I'm driven to be an entrepreneur is because of curiosity. I love to learn and it is a big part of my life. I always have one or two books that I'm reading at the time. I also like other creative ways of learning, going on retreats to monasteries, traveling, exploring spirituality, religion, leading an active life style and other ways.

The other reason is that I want to create value and capture it as well. Creating value to me is being resourceful to people and companies I work with and I also do this on a personal level. Capturing value is how I pay myself and price the professional services I render. So money is part of it too.

From the book Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

They [entrepreneurs] are not content simply to improve on what already exists, or to modify it. They try to create new and different values and new and different satisfactions, to convert a "material" into a "resource", or to combine existing resources in a new and more productive configuration.

Are You An Entrepreneur?

I'm reading Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

In the book Drucker explores Entrepreneurship and states what it is. Up until now I have always thought of Entrepreneurship as a personality trait. He says it is not!

From the book...

Entrepreneurship is thus a distinct feature whether of an individual or of an institution. It is not a personality trait; in thirty years I have seen people of the most diverse personalities and temperaments perform well in entrepreneurial challenges. To be sure, people who need certainty are unlikely to make good entrepreneurs. But such people are unlikely do well in a host of other activities as well...

...decision have to made, and the essence of any decision is uncertainty.

But everyone who can face up to decision making can learn to be an entrepreneur and to behave entrepreneurially. Entrepreneurship, then, is behavior rather than personality trait. And its foundation lies in concept and theory rather than in intuition.

According to Drucker I'm an Entrepreneur. I knew that before reading this but I had the "concept and theory" wrong about Entrepreneurship.

This is a highly enjoyable book and I look forward to learn more and finish reading it. I've been wanting to read Drucker for a long time but for some reason I just had not made it a priority. I'm on it now!

More to come...

Management and Theology

I’m reading The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done by Peter Drucker right now. I don’t plan on reading it as a daily but more for insights and perhaps read five or six entries a day.

I found January 11th entry highly relevant to my experience in my work as a business consultant in the last few years.

From Drucker’s writing.

Management always lives, works, and practices in and for the institution, which is a community held together by a bond: the work bond. And precisely because the object of management is a human community held together by the work bond for a common purpose, management always deals with the nature of Man and (as all of us with any practical experience have learned) with Good and Evil, as well. I have learned more about theology as practicing management consultant than when I thought religion.

Even though I have never taught religion I agree with Drucker. I have learned far more about human nature and theology in the business world than from my Biblical education.

About a year and half ago I read People of the Lie by Scott Peck and during that time I was having a text book experience as describe in a few of the stories in the book.

The Strategy & Tactics of Pricing

I finish reading The Strategy & Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Profitable Decision Making by Thomas T. Nagle

Great book! It is more applicable to the manufacturing and distribution of products than the service industry but I enjoyed reading and learning something new.

Chapter two is very insightful were the author points out how to price products (and services) from a cost perspective. He explains the difference and how to cover non-incremental fixed and sunk cost.

The book teaches how to deliver superior value to customers by pricing the right way. If you want to learn how to create value and how to capture it read this book

The book is both theoretical and practical.

Quote on value

I like this quote because it speaks to what I'm working on for my future career.

"Humans cannot create matter. We can, however, create value. Creating value is, in fact, our very humanity. When we praise people for their strength of character, we are actually acknowledging their ability to create value."-Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

I’ve been working on a mission statement and values for my future venture. Here is part of it

“
How we create value

We create value by being resourceful and attentive to our customers' needs and wants in services and product we deliver

How we capture value

We capture value by pricing our services and products base on outcome our customers will achieve.
”
I read about creating and capturing value and how to implement a value model.

A great source I’ve read and plan on reading again is by Ron Baker called Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value

Right now I’m reading Let’s Get Real or Let’s not Play: The Demise of Dysfunctional Selling and the Advent of Helping Clients Succeed by Mahan Khalsa

Revenue Management

I recently finish reading a book called Revenue Management by Robert G. Cross. I enjoyed reading this book! It has some great insight in to pricing products and services for different market segments. It is more applicable to the service industry (Airlines, car rental companies, hotels, etc...) than consumable products.

I rented this book from the local library and ended up buying it to have it in my library for reference when needed.

Robert G. Cross has founded a consulting business base on the model presented in this book.

It is well written...I highly recommend it. I give it 5 out of 5 stars

Blog coming out of retirement

I'm back! The last 6 months or so have been interesting for me. Much of my time has been spent figuring out what I want to do and looking for jobs. I've been exploring my strengths and my abilities.

What has been both rewarding and frustrating is to figure out what I really want to do. I've made a decision to move forward but I'm not quite ready to make the announcement. The reason I'm starting to blog again is part of the future for me.

About 8 months ago I read a book called Get Smarter : Life and Business Lessons written by a Toronto millionaire/entrepreneur Seymour Schulich. One of the things he said is that the two most important decisions one will make in life is a marriage partner and the right career.

I believe I have chosen very well in a marriage partner. After being married for over a year I find being married highly fulfilling. We even have a new addition to the family already. Elliot Peters was born on Sept the 3rd and came in at 9lb. I'm a proud dad!!

As far as career, I'm working on it and I'm very optimistic but at times also fearful. I have a vision in my mind of what I want my future career to be and have set goals to get there. Now it is just a matter of working very hard to accomplish the goals and not forget of what is really important in life.

If you are still following this blog or subscribe to it...welcome back!!

More post to come soon!

Retired Blog

This blog is retired for the time being but I may restart it in the future. Thanks for reading and I hope you have learned a few things as I have while bloging.

All the best!

Branding

I just finished reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries. Jim Estill recomemded this book to me a few years ago.

I found this book good but it is a bit outdated. It was written in 2002 and some of the companies profiled have vanished or are not in the top position anymore. Google is not mentioned in the book, which makes sense because Google really only took of from 2002 to 2004.

The most insightful chapter for me is the Law of Publicity. The authors argue that advertising does not work any more, except for brand maintenance. They say, “We live in an overcommunicated society, where each of us gets hit with hundreds of commercial messages daily. Today brands are born, not made. A new brand must be capable of generating favorable publicity in the media or it won’t have a chance in the marketplace.”

Although I gained excellent insight for brand building from the book, I disagree with some aspects. I don't think that all 22 laws are Immutable. Perhaps the number 22 was a good number in terms of promoting the book.

The authors state that internet search engines will decline in importance. They believe that people will have a natural tendency to remember websites. Google has proven them wrong already and I believe search engines will become an ever more significant part for web users. Who does not use a search engine on the web today?

If you are interested in branding I would say it a must read. If not, read it anyways and if you are a believer in advertising you will change your mind.

Leadership

A few times I have written about leadership since starting this blog. I have learned to be more careful as to what to say or write on such a diverse subject such as leadership. I find most leadership books empty and full of self-help opinions that add up to very little. Therefore I will say very little in this post about leadership.

I will quote Ed Kless in a resent blog post here. He has identified two things that successful leaders do:

1- They self regulate their own anxiety. They do not let the anxiety of others to become or heighten their own anxiety.

2- They are masters at confronting people with their own freedom. The see beyond the surface of the particular problem or question and either a) ask a better deeper question that promotes the person to see their own set of choices, or b) state a truth to the person that the person was unable to see or willing to acknowledge.

Human Accomplishment

Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950
by Charles Murray

This is a great book! I'm sure it took Murray years to collect the data he presents in this book. I found it a bit technical at times but over all it is a very well written book. Any one interested in scholarly books should read it.

Murray studied human accomplishments from 850 B.C. until 1950. According to him all accomplishments rest on 4002 individuals. He covers sciences, philosophy, music, visual arts, and literature.

Read it!!

Book Review: The Only Thing That Matters

I’m over due for a book review. Not too long time ago I read “The Only Thing That Matters” by Karl Albrecht. The book was written 1992 and is still highly relevant.

It is the best book I have read on customer service. What I found the best about the book is that Albrecht is not afraid of looking at the reality and state so many businesses are in today. In most businesses the customer is the least priority.

He talks about becoming a new organization, “a new customer-centered culture”. In doing so he point out that it is not hard to rank companies in terms how focus they are on customer service. He calls them dimensions. His evaluation steps are (I will partly quote here from the book):

Dimension #1: Going out of business. He says that these are companies that have not figured out the basis. One such thing is the income and expense statement. That is in, “delivering a service experience that attracts enough customers and enough income to stay afloat.” I know exactly what this looks like, because I worked for a company that I would classify in this dimension for almost two years. These are companies that are on their way to bankruptcy.

Dimension #2: Dogged pursuit of mediocrity. “These are the companies that somehow manage to survive, almost in spite of themselves”. He goes on to say that there is no commitment to quality customer service.

Dimension #3: Present and account for. “These organizations are doing OK, but operate with no particular inspiration or drive for excellence.” He says they get their “natural market share” just for showing up.

Dimension #4: Making a serious effort. “This is sometimes a transition stage and other times the high water mark beyond which some never progress.” He says you will most likely find a shared determination on customer service efforts.

Dimension #5: Service as an art form. “The few organizations at this level dominate their industries and are recognized even by their competitors as being outstanding.” He says that they got the right definition on customers in terms of delivering value.

I recently wrote about FedEx (Fred Smith on the Road). I would say that FedEx is a dimension #5 company.

This book is a good mix of business theory and practical advice. This book has already become a reference book for me as I continue my career in the business world. I highly recommend it!

Toastmaster and a coach

I’ve been working at improving my public speaking skills over the last year at Toastmasters. It is a very effective way to learn by practicing. One of the things I have learned is that it takes much more to be an effective speaker than just deliver a speech. Writing a speech and practicing are very time consuming. I can easily tell already when someone delivers a speech where no thought was given to prep work.

I recently participated in a speech contest and came in second place. So I still continue to work on the speech to improve and also had someone from the club coach me. It is a rewarding experience. I used to think I would be a public speaker one day but now I’m not so sure anymore. Regardless, developing the skill of becoming a more effective communicator will help in many other areas.

Tonight I’m delivering a speech again for practice. Having a coach is especially helpful (thanks Mary). I just decided to also start with a coach for personal training for the summer. It should be great!

Fred Smith on the Road

I haven’t posted in over a month. This is the longest time I have not posted since I started this blog. I guess it is not good for gaining readership.

Recently I went on a road trip to Texas to visit friends and family. On my way I was inspired by “Fred Smith on the Road”. Ok, not Fred Smith (Founder of FedEx) himself, but all the FedEx trucks and delivery vehicles I pasted while driving. Comparing to any other major trucking company (even UPS) FedEx by far outnumbered all of them. Literally every 5-10 minutes I would see one.

What was great is the consistency in that all trucks were painted the same color, unlike UPS and other companies.

I believe that consistency will be a major factor in the success of a business. To be consistent in business practices will required exceptional leadership. FedEx is lead by great leaders. It is evident in many ways.

After getting home I read on the success of Fred Smith and FedEx. It is an inspirational story. One video I watched from Fred Smith be says that he doesn’t believe in reading and following all the latest leadership trends and books but to simply read biographies of outstanding individuals. He did suggest reading Peter Drucker. I plan on reading his books in the near future.

In the next while I will write small blog posts on what I have learned over the last few years in the business world.

Common Business Sense

I’ve been a reader of Jim Estill’s blog ever since its commencement (in 2004 I believe). Over the last 5 year I’ve had a number of meetings with Jim. Sometimes just to discuss life issues but mostly business issues. Jim Estill is a wise man and I respect him for the knowledge he has contributed to my understanding of the business world.

I continually read his blog to learn more. His last post is of particular interest to me. I will quote him here. The title is: Just Show Up - Just Be Polite. Jim makes the following points which I believe are common business sense or for that matter for anything else in life too.

1 - Return calls and emails promptly.
2 - If you can't return the calls or emails promptly, let people know.
3 - Do what you say you will do.
4 - Be true to your word. An agreement is an agreement. Integrity counts.
5 - Be courteous
6 - Treat everyone with respect.

I believe it is an exception in today’s business world when these six points are adhered to. To the last two points I would also add that they are more then just being nice to someone. What do you think?

Innovation in Sales

I've been reading more from Ron Baker on valuing the knowledge worker vs. mesuring what he or she does. This article is great: Broken Speedometers: Quantifying Knowledge Worker Effectiveness?

Instead of writing a blog on Innovation in Sales I will quote Ron here.

Innovation Sales "measures revenue from services introduced in recent years, and measures the firm’s innovation in offering additional services to its customers. It is an essential measurement to determine the lifetime value of the firm to the customer. For example, Hewlett–Packard wants 50 percent of its revenue from products that did not exist two years ago. Intel achieves 100 percent of its revenues from products developed within the last three years. 3M targets 30 percent from products that did not exist four years ago.
Firms spend an enormous amount of resources measuring billable hours, realization rates and other internal metrics, but we have found very few that measure innovation sales and make it a key component of its strategic vision. This is not to say firms are anti–innovation, it is more a matter of not being pro–innovation, by not having measurements and reward systems in place to encourage this behavior. Innovation is essential to creating new wealth."

For the full article click here

A Quote on Integrity

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.~Samuel Johnson

The Billable Hour and Timesheets

I recently had the opportunity to stop doing timesheets. It is a real relief, considering the stagnation it causes. It is so counter productive in organization where timesheets are extolled and then billed by the hour for work performed. There is a movement out there which I follow and have learn a lot from in doing away with the billable hour and timesheets.

Check out the following links:
http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/comments/trailblazer_brains_on_fire_inc/

http://www.brainsonfire.com/blog/index.php

Ron Backer at VeraSage is dedicated to the effort of abolishing the billable hour and timesheets.

An inspiring quote

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.~ Martin Luther King, Jr.