Came across this video today (courtesy of inspirisimo.com). I love Dan Pink’s TED talk on motivation – but these guys add a whole different level to message with an extraordinary presentation that both captivates you and strengthens the message. Just brilliant and well worth 10 minutes of your time!
I’ve spent quite a lot of time talking with new entrepreneurs, working with guys struggling with their business as well as putting some ideas and teams together for a few new business ventures of my own.
In all the many hours of discussion that I have had recently – there seems to be a reoccurring theme: do it different.
I am aware of how easy it is to fall into the default of “doing it this way because that’s the way everyone does it”. The trouble is – that doesn’t make for a very interesting business model, and it makes it hard to differentiate. It can be quite boring.
When I am talking about doing things differently – I am talking about doing it radically different. Is there a way to re-write the rules for the business that you want to start? I encourage people to start with a blank piece of paper and try and think without restraint and the “benefit” of experience.
It’s on that piece of paper that I find that the true magic starts to appear. It is often on there that the real reason you want to do your business comes out.
If you want to set up a business just to make money – you’ll find this exercise hard, which probably means that you should look at another business market. There has to be a passion and a drive in you to change the market place for the better. So how do you do that? Don’t just change one or two things – change everything and see what comes out of it.
If everyone else in your industry opens at certain times, what happens if you change those? If everyone charges by the hour, what happens if you charge by the session? If there is a lot of competition in your industry, what specific areas are missing that you could exploit? If prices are all around £35 a session – what would happen if you charged £45? Why is it people really use this product or service – and how can I connect with that?
Sure, there maybe reasons why things are done in a certain way – but you’ll be amazed at the cool things that happen when you really test those reasons and assumptions. Most people don’t – which is why everyone else is probably doing it that way, they are just following along. Dyson made a fortune by redefining the vacuum cleaner. Apple changed how we listen to music like Sony did a few decades earlier by challenging the assumptions. Starbucks changed how we drink coffee by challenging assumptions.
The great thing is – when you do something different, something that people really want and can connect with – you no longer have to be too concerned about the price. The Dyson, Apple iPod and Starbucks coffee we massively more expensive when they came out. People still paid it because they connected with it, it was different and not the same old. That means I don’t have to try and be the cheapest. I can’t be reckless with the price but chances are you can charge higher prices because you are offering something of more value.
So – do this simple exercise. Take a blank piece of paper and redraw your industry, product or service by challenging the reasons and assumptions that currently exist. Think without restraint. Don’t spend too much time on the detail for now, or thinking about how to do it just yet. Let God deal with the impossible. Just write everything down as it comes to you. As I said, the chances are – you’ll find something magical as a result.
I am sat in Starbucks at the moment, taking some time-out from the office to catch up with myself. In the back of my mind is the thought that I am going to meet Tim Campbell in a few weeks. He won the first series of the apprentice in the UK, and if all works out – Tim will speaking at the up coming en-thuse.com conference.
This “apprentice” theme is something that has been on my mind for a few months – I have been seriously thinking about the idea of an entrepreneurial apprentice.
The idea, in brief, I take an apprentice and set up a business with them. We’ll then spend 12 months building it. If it works out, at the end of that time – we should have a business that the apprentice could run or sell. Either way – they’ll be a lot of learning along the way, and a chance to own part of a great company.
So, I have started to write down the pro’s and con’s:
PROs
CONs
You know what though, I can sit here and think about the pros and cons – but it is not something that I normally do. I simply do things because they just “feel right” – which is not always the best approach to life, but usually works for me (thank God). This somehow feels right as an idea – but the outworking of it is something else.
Which means that I am likely to do it.
I often find that things like the Iceberg sound simple in principle but are often somewhat more difficult to apply in practice. As I said in my previous post, my default is to tell people what to do (in other words, to think for them). I have to work hard at not doing this because by telling people what to do I am focusing on their behaviour and I by-pass the thinking and emotion stage.
The only time that I have found that it is good to tell people what to do is when there is a crisis, or your definitely need to be in command of a situation (I come across these sometimes when on first aid duty). These situations, though, are few and far between – so 9/10 – it should be the iceberg model, especially if I am looking to improve performance.
One manager that I recently spoke with was snowed under with work, and felt the need to work crazy hours. They had picked up the martyr spirit too. The reason for the mess, of course, was everyone else.
Inevitably I get asked for my advice in this situation. What new management structures could we use? What new members of staff are required? But these are the wrong questions according to the iceberg. These are behaviour based questions, and they are questions about what I think. Who cares about what I think? I don’t work there. I have no idea about new management structures.
It easy, though, to offer your opinion. It’s nice to be asked if I am honest. But the best thing I can do in this situation is ask them “how can I best help you think this through?”. This leads us down a very different path. The manager came to the conclusion that maybe it wasn’t everyone else – but that there we some personal changes that could be made. They started to feel very very different about work and where it could go by looking at their thinking about the whole thing. They started to think differently, so they started to feel differently.
The following day I got a great email from them thanking me for my advice (not sure I offered any) and that they had changed somethings at work that made a massive difference. So behaviour had changed and the results changed.
If you want to know more about all of this – then read a fantastic book called Quiet Leadership by David Rock.
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I love diagrams. Diagrams help me to process information so I am often looking for an easy way explain something with a simple sketch. This diagram is one of my favourites and is worthy of much more detailed study than just these notes here. It has really impacted my business and how I deal with people generally. I highly recommend learning it’s principles.
Simply put: thinking drives emotions. Emotions drive behaviour. Behaviour drives results. The key to the diagram, and to change is therefore to change thinking.
With people – we see their behaviour. That then translates into obvious results. For a long time we thought that by changing the way people behave – we would get different results. It became a carrot and stick approach. Incentives were used to drive change in how people acted. It worked for a while but people quickly fell back to default. Change was short lived.
Then a few decades ago we realised that there are forces unseen that drive behaviour.
So to change behaviour (and thereby changing results) we looked at emotional well being. How do people feel about life and themselves became important. Wellness became a buzz word as did things like emotional intelligence. These were all good and we started to realise that emotions were very important. But how do you change emotion?
More recently* we have discovered that there is something that drives emotions – and that is thinking. It is right at the bottom of the iceberg. It is unseen. But if we work on how people think, their emotions change which means changed behaviour and improved results.
So the role of a leader is no longer to tell people what to do but focus on how they think. Help people to think (that is, after all what they are paid for) and you’ll ultimately change the results.
I have spent the last year putting this simple diagram into practice within my own business and life as well as in the lives and businesses of those that I have the privilege of being involved in. I have to tell you that the results speak for themselves. I no longer get involved in unnecessary detail but spend more time on focusing on how people think instead.
The performance of the staff is up. I am much better at getting buy-in from the kids and helping them think through life rather than just telling them what to do.
In my next post I’ll share with you some of the ways you take this simple idea and turn it into an everyday reality. Stay tuned.
*I say “more recently” lightly. As with most business principles, it is Biblical. See Romans 12:2 (transformation comes from changing your thinking).
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It’s easy to spot the mistakes of others. Real easy. I have spent a life-time learning the art.
I can go into a restaurant and spot what the waitress is doing wrong: not smiling, no eye contact, no interest in me or my family. Recently I have been using a firm of solicitors (lawyers) to do some work for me, and I don’t mind telling you they are absolute muppets: never return calls, hard-to-reach, never respond to email, actually lie to me – the list goes on.
Yep, I am great at spotting those awful mistakes that really hack-off customers and make the customer experience pants. I could easily do it as a full-time job.
iPod/iPhone MP4 | MP3 (Audio Only)
Matt talks with Pete Van Neste about his first 20 months of being in business. Pete owns a successful audio visual company called Stagetex that he runs from Liverpool.
Pete talks about how he got started in business as well as some of the key things he has done to build the business over the last 20 months. He tells us how being a Christian has impacted how he treats people (and the good knock-on-effect that has had) as well as what he wish knew when he started in business.
Posted on the en-thuse website.
I got an email today (that I don’t ever recall asking for – some people call this Spam) that caught my eye. Just before I hit the “this is junk email don’t ever let it through again” button – I noticed a quote:
“I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change.” – Jim Rohn
I don’t really know Jim’s work that well. I have one of his audio books courtesy of a sale on iTunes (about journalling), it was OK. Like most American books, it tells you the same thing over and over to “pad-it-out” but I am still glad that I listened to it. I have had a brief look at his website which is awful and looks 10 years out of date (so if Jim did come up with this quote – he should definitely apply it to his website).
That said though – I thought it was a great quote. I have been thinking a lot about Vision & Strategy, especially in relation to my company and church activities, recently.
Your thoughts?
I love watching my kids. I learn a lot from them especially those lessons that you forget as adults.
Zak is practicing his letters and the only route to success for him here is to practice and keep on practicing. This simple life lesson is so often overlooked. I want it now. Who cares about practicing?
D’oh!
I have one of those amazing jobs, where bring work home with you is a good thing.
The other day at our work team meeting, I told them that I expected to use the saunas in our new showroom. I know, I know – what bad boss am I. Telling the team to take an hour or two out of their day and spend it relaxing in a sauna.
The reason I did that – one word. Integrity.
The other day – a double-glazing sales guy came to see me. If they windows were as good as he was saying, then he would definately have them in his own house. That is if he believed in what he was saying. So I asked him.
He didn’t have them. He didn’t believe what he was telling me.
I do believe what I am saying. So – I believe that the team using them will be better for them (and me) as they begin to feel better. I use them. My family uses them. What a great job I have!
