Event 15/5: Greatness through Choice

Have you read Jim Collins’ latest book “Great by Choice”?  It’s a must read.

Jim is beaming into Barcelona LIVE 15th May from 14:30 – 18:00 – think of it as a private movie premiere – he’s one of the best presenters I’ve ever seen.  100 execs of companies gathering in Barcelona hosted by me (I will share some of my own ideas at 14:00).

If you have not read much of Jim Collin's material I recommend you start with three articles:

• One of the greatest Harvard Business Review Articles is "Defining Your Company's Vision".  It used to cost $6 but now seems to be available free online.
• The Death of the Charismatic Leader (and Birth of the Architect).  Blog post from Jim.
• Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve.  Costs $6 for the full article at HBR.

What will you get by being there on the 15th May in Barcelona?
Watch my short video below (on the blog).



I want you to be there. This will give you tools to take your business to the next level. Bring 1 or 2 of your team – the material we will work on will have much greater impact if you can work on it as a team.

http://www.growthsummiteurope.com

LOCATION:
Barcelona Activa Auditorium
Llacuna 162
08008 Barcelona
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 starting at 13:15

All the best
Conor

Emotional Manipulators: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Emotional Manipulators: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

The Psychological literature identifies Personalities that are Manipulative, the "Wolves in Sheeps Clothing".  These are people that use deceit in their dealings with those around them.  The Manipulator may be conscious of their manipulation, or unconscious and blind to their willful use of deceit.

The Arbinger Institute first brought to my attention the process of Self Deception in our minds when run by our Ego rather than the underlying Self.

Manipulative people will say some of the most unsettling things.  This inevitably begs the question:  Do they really believe what they’re saying?

"Manipulative people prey on our sensibilities, emotional sensitivity, and especially, our conscientiousness.  And sometimes they speak and act with such conviction, that we begin to believe them.  We can even start feeling responsible in some way for what we perceive to be their pain." Dr George Simon

How to spot an Emotional Manipulator?  The simplest answer is "trust your gut, not their words".  If your intuition tells you, ignore their words.  To improve your intuition, here is a list of 8 ways to spot Emotional Manipulation.

Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing.

Ethics in Persuasion: The Customer is Not an Idiot

Early in my seminars I tell participants that Persuasion is not Manipulation.  Manipulation is getting others to do something that is of benefit to me.  Persuasion is getting others to do something that is of benefit to them and of benefit to me.

Where is the line between Manipulation and Persuasion?  

Beware of Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

Where is black and where is white?  How close to the line can I be without being "unethical"?  How close to the line do I wish to go?

Professors Sherry Baker and David Martinson published a framework for Ethical Persuasion in 2001.  It is a useful framework to use when asking the question "where does persuasion end and manipulation begin?"

I like TARES because it is not a list of rules, it is not the minimum necessary.  It is a set of questions that are up to you as an individual to answer in your own way.

TARES is an acronym for Truthfulness, Authenticity, Respect, Equity and Social Responsibility:

• Truthfulness: Is this communication factually accurate and true? Has this appeal deliberatedly left out important and relevant facts? 
• Authenticity: Do I feel good about being involved in this action? Do I believe that the audience will see improved Quality of Life? 
• Respect: Is the persuasive appeal made to the audience as rational, free, adult human beings? Do I care about them as people? 
• Equity: Does this meet The Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"  
• Social Responsibility: Does this action promote and create the kind of world and society in which I myself would like to live in? 

You can read the full original academic article here: The TARES test for Ethical Persuasion.  It has 5 tables that provide many questions that help shape your ideas of what really constitutes Truth, Authenticity, Respect, Equity and Social Responsibility.

I moved the second part of this post, which is a discussion of Manipulators to a new post.

David Ogilvy: 10 tips on Writing Well

On September 7th, 1982, Ogilvy sent the following internal memo to all agency employees, titled “How to Write”:

The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well.

Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches.

Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.
2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.
3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.
6. Check your quotations.
7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.
8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
10. If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.

David

Thanks to Brainpickings for publishing first.

4 Vital Questions for Every Powerpoint Slide

I am sitting in an audience at a conference.  This third speaker today seems interesting, speaks with passion.

He is now on his seventh powerpoint slide.  Each slide is interesting and well designed.

My neighbor leans in towards me.  I lean towards him.  He says: "What is this guy telling us again?"

My neighbor fishes his blackberry out of his pocket and gets back to something that seems more important to him: reading random emails.  Sadly, this is a common occurrence.

The 4 Vital Questions for Every Slide
Every time you show an audience a Powerpoint slide, the audience needs you to answer 4 Vital questions:

1. "What is this?"
2. "What is important [for the audience]?"
3. "What does this mean [for the audience]?"
4. "Give me a specific example [relevant to the audience]?"

If you don't have these 4 answers in a way that is relevant for the audience, you are not serving the audience.  If you can't answer these 4 questions, delete the slide.  

If it is not adding, it subtracts.  If it is not relevant to them, it is irrelevant.

Delete the slide.  Yes, delete it.

Less is more.

Blackberry needs more than your help today Mr Speaker. ;-)

Closing Chapters: If you are falling, dive.

When I was 13 years old, American Football became the passion of my group of friends at school in Dublin.  We would play our version of touch American Football up on a tarmac area behind school.

I remember catching the football and running for the end zone.  A member of the other team caught my heel.  I felt myself begin to fall.

In that instant, something wise took over.  

I did not resist the fall.  I knew it was coming.  I knew the hardness of a tarmac surface.  I knew I was running at my most full speed.

Somehow, I did not reach a hand out to break my fall.  I did not resist.

In the last instant I found that I had tucked my head under and did a forward roll.  It was a moment where I felt like I separated from myself and something else was in control.  Slow motion.  

I found myself completely unharmed.  

Everybody on the field came over and asked "How did you do that?  I thought you were going to hospital.  How on earth did you survive that fall?"

If you are falling, dive.

Often most damage is done while resisting the inevitable.  

A few years back, I had a business that fell apart.  More damage was done to my health, to the shareholder's finances, to my life in the process of resisting the fall.

Next time I fall, I hope I accept and commit to the dive.  

Fighting the universe is doomed to fail.  Going with the universe, accepting where it is taking me is a little wiser.

I find it so hard to close chapters.  To end a phase and move on.  To declare that a relationship has finished, a business is done, a project is complete is so difficult that I accumulate.  

The phoenix rises from the ashes, not from the fire.  New life grows on the death of life.  When a hunter eats his prey, that death allows life.  

As I read a book, chapter 1 finishes to allow for chapter 2 to begin.

If you are falling, dive.  Close the chapter.  Let the fire burn, the phoenix arises from the ashes.

How do you close chapters in your life?  How do you move on and let go of the past?  What works for you?  What doesn't work for you?

Don't Be Cheap.

"Cheaper" is never a deep human life goal.

I don't often hear people say "I wish my life was cheaper".

We never buy because something is cheaper. We buy because of the story we can tell ourself and others when we buy cheaper... I am a smart person because I get good deals.

But, Apple is not cheaper. It is about making you feel bigger.

Selling your services or products on the "cheaper" tag is not building a brand.

Ryanair is cheap, but cheap is not its core value.

Apple is 5% of the revenues of smartphones, but 85% of the profits. They create an experience that people desire, and the people are happy to pay.

My service might be cheaper... but there is something about my service that is far more valuable; there is an experience you can give others that is far more valuable.

If they end up paying less, that is a side benefit.

Few powerful brands are built on the value "cheaper".

The Single Most Important aspect of High Performing Teams

"How do you create a happy environment?"
"Simple. I removed all the unhappy people."

I can't remember who said this, but it rings true to me.

To get the hot air balloon higher, it is simpler to remove the lead weights than to pump more hot air into the balloon canopy.

Single most important aspect: Remove those that suck


* This post was originally my response to this question on quora.


There is a lot of buzz around Pinterest these days, but the social network that most keeps me entertained while learning is Quora.  It connects people around interests.  I have got some great answers to questions regarding research, articles I am writing, places to visit...

Some of my answers on quora:

• What are the most effective ways to create and maintain team spirit?
• How can I help my 5-year-old boy become more adaptable?
• Is it a good idea to make sacrifices in work-life balance today in the hopes of creating a greater future?
• Why is it so difficult for me to be on time?
• Do people who grow up bilingual ever mix up the two languages?
• How can I land paid corporate speaking gigs?
• What should I study at the university in order to be an entrepreneur?
• What should you do if you want to be an entrepreneur, but have no background in business?

Everyone Must Learn to Code

When I was 9 years old, my father brought a Commodore Vic 20 computer home for Christmas.  It came with 3k memory.  It had a keyboard, a tape drive and it connected to a TV.  I still remember sitting in my pyjamas and turning it on.  As a child with nobody to tell me how I should or shouldn't program, my first attempt was a paragraph in english describing a game.  I was surprised when I reached the end, hit the return key and: "Syntax Error".

The Vic 20 came with 2 books "Learn to Program BASIC I" and "Learn to Program BASIC II".  I went through these books by the end of January.  It was more fun writing my own games than playing the ones that came with the computer.

I learnt maths because I needed binary to create sprite graphics.  I learnt quadratic equations to solve for collisions in games.  I learnt basic physics to create realistic missile flight.  Maths in school was easy because I had already learnt it to serve my computer programming hobby.

Computer Programming saved me from boring school lessons

I never paid too much attention at school.  It was generally boring.  I spent a lot of time daydreaming.  I would think through which of Superman's superpowers would be most useful to escape the boredom of school.  It was always a toss up between flying and laser eyes.

I was lucky.  The traditional school environment was built for my style of learning.  Exams tend to bring out my best performances. I was never good at the sustained effort.  I am best in the hurried sprint to deadlines.

I used to read a lot.  I had read the entire SciFi section of my local library before I was 10.  I would take out my full quota of 6 books and read them in a week.  I had whole collections of Dungeons and Dragons books.  I loved Frank Herbert's "Dune" (all 7 or 8 books).  I loved Tolkien (LOTR, Hobbit).

Reading is great, but it is not an activity that allows the development of mastery.  You can't get "better" at reading after a certain point.  You might be able to get a bit faster, but you don't develop beyond basic reading in any significant way.

I loved sports, but was always a bit small so got pushed off the ball in football or relegated to wing when playing rugby.  My younger brother was superb at any game with a ball, and there is nothing more painful to an older boy than being beaten by a younger boy in sport - even more painful when it is a brother...  and the gap is 5 years.

Computer programming was my first world of mastery.

Computing is taught poorly in schools.  We need a change in the role of computing and style of learning supported by computers in schools.

The Failure of Computing as taught in our Schools

Most school systems teach children how to use Microsoft Office.  They teach students to be users of computers, not creators with computers.

A computer is not a car.  We need people to know what is under the hood as well as knowing what the pedals do.

Programming computers is a wonderful environment for children to explore, test, trial, experiment, hypothesize, fail, succeed...

Programming taught me Important skills.

Any programming language is essentially the same.  Java, PHP, C++, Basic, Python, Lisp...  even Fortran, Cobol or Assembly code.  Master one, you will quickly learn any other.

It teaches you to be clear.  It teaches you how to trace and remove errors.  It teaches you how to test.  It teaches you how to think about systematically solving problems - not one-offs, but full systematic reproducible solutions.

As you grow you learn about building code that scales.  Efficient use of memory. Efficient looping.

As you collaborate you learn to write code that can be easily understood by others.  One half is good commenting, but the other half is using the clearest code to achieve the given outcome.

You learn how to isolate specific parts of the code to test for correct function.

You learn how to describe solutions to other people.

You learn how difficult it is to predict human behaviour.  You learn that human beings will tend to do the unexpected.  You learn that if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.

Everyone must learn to code

I do truly believe that I learnt more in my own self-guided programming of computers than in any classroom.  The social stuff I learnt in the playground and through sports.

What were the teachers doing?

Keeping me off the streets.