October 20, 2008 • 8:17 pm 0
100,000 came to listen
Some were Senators
Some were Gold Medal athletes
others were CNN news reporters
Most were everyday people
the Message... Change, Hope and Faith tomorrow can be a better day.
He motivated and inspired. We need to act. Nov. 4, 2008
Filed under: Barack Obama, Claire McCaskill, Inspiration, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Life, News, People, Time Management, politics, teamwork , Barack Obama, MO, Obama Rally, St. Louis, the Arch
August 10, 2008 • 9:50 am 0
While recently researching and looking for new ways to improve my current business and possibly start another, I recently began reading about a new phenomenon: User Driven Product Development. Gone are the days of the old Research and Development models which were focus group and out sourced research based. Welcome the new days, and it’s quite a novel idea; it’s simplicity is the key. (Isn’t that the case with most great ideas? It’s grounded in simplicity and it’s self propelling.)
The great idea is to let your customers decide what you sell. Not only do they decide what you sell, they help design it. It eliminates the agnst ridden launch of a new idea or product, wondering if you the customer will appreciate what you’ve done for them. The nail biting as you hope the consumer looks favorably upon your invention. Those fears are made obsolete when you take the guess work out of the equation. If the person you’re targeting is the one telling you what they want and what they are willing to buy, then you’ve just avoided a lot of heart burn and many sleepless nights.
The question is, how do you incorporate this strategy into your current work? It’s more than the old focus group, where the mom’s and teachers gather around to tell you the toys they need to develop healthy minds. It’s more than that. You cannot simply get their input, they have to be a part of the selling model. Many companies are using User Driven Product Development in conjunction with User Driven Marketplaces. What a glorious day when the person buying it is the one designing it, the one putting it on the market and then buying it. You need not lose sleep at a product launch if all the guess work is gone.
It’s so simple it doesn’t require paragraphs of explanation.
Filed under: Business, Business Model, Business News, Customer Service, Exceptional Customer Service, Inspiration, News, Product Development, Research and Development , Business, Business Model, Business News, Economy, Management, News, Product Development, R&D, Research and Development, User Driven Marketplace, User Driven Product Development
May 6, 2008 • 9:18 am 0
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
Now discover how you get there. Determining these “stops along the way” is critical. A journey is almost never a non stop flight from A to B; it has points A1, A2, A3… all along the way. And B itself should never be the end, it is a stop along the way to C, and to D, and to E…
Ask everyone on your team to take 5 minutes a map this same exercise. It’s interesting to have the group decide point A and point B, but then let them be original and determine the path between the two on their own. Share the differences between each scenario and determine, as a group, the best way to get there. Use something from everyone’s idea.
Happy travels!
Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, training , Business, Business News, henry kissinger, leadership, Management Lesson, Map your course, quote of the day
• 8:41 am 0
Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, News, Time Management, video , Business, Lecture, Life, Management, Randy Pausch, Time Management, video
February 21, 2008 • 9:13 pm 1
Be sure to have sound, the music is incredible. And the video itself is just as relevant to anyone who wants to ask themselves, “Why settle for one of the best, when you can be Great?”
Filed under: Customer Service, Employee Inspiration, Inspiration, News, employee motivation, video
February 1, 2008 • 12:43 pm 1
While watching American Idol recently, I saw a commercial for Burger King. If you haven’t seen this Whooper Freak Out Video, click the name and watch. It’s quite funny and insightful. The reactions of the customers are varied but the center on one central theme: the product they’d come to know and love, the product that WAS Burger King to them was gone. And with the disappearance of this item, their impression of the company was changed as well.
The question is, what in your current business is the Whopper? What would you take away that if you did, the customer would simply not stand for it? What would get these reactions from your customers?
The challenge is… Can you make exceptional customer service your Whopper? Can you make exceptional customer service such a focus that if one day it were gone, the customer would not stand for it. If you can, you’ll grow your business like never before.
Filed under: Customer Service, Exceptional Customer Service, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, News, Whopper Freak Out Video
January 4, 2008 • 12:28 pm 0
It is critical for your staff to feel you connect with them on more than a professional level, and before I get you concerned about what’s appropriate, let me explain. Every good manager knows employees want to feel valued. Many management courses teach the importance of ‘knowing you staff’. What’s important to your people? What motivates them outside the workplace? Is it a desire to their children get into a good college? To finish a marathon? To win the apple pie contest the county fair? What excites and motivates your people?
This is the perfect time of year to find this out. To ask your staff about their goals for 2008 in their own lives. What do they hope to achieve? To accomplish? Take this knowledge and let it help you to be a better manager. Let your staff you know you care about them not only as employees but as people. Find a way to help them achieve these goals. A book on training? Your mom’s secret ingredient? A reference letter to your Alma matter? What can you do to show your staff you care about the things that matter to them?
Filed under: Business, Feedback, Inspiration, Know Your People, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, Resolutions, Setting Goals
October 13, 2007 • 7:53 am 0
If you are familiar with the series, Meerkat Manor, then you are familiar with their courageous, inspiring leader, Flower. As you might know, she was killed in combat. She died defending her family and protecting her way of life. As managers, as leaders we have much to gain from her examples as leader of the Kalaharis.
Most prominent in this lesson is her keen ability to push forward, to constantly strive to acheive the tasks before her. Granted her motivation was the greatest motivation of them all–life or death. She knew her actions would affect her entire family’s ability to survive in the harsh conditions. While we may not have such extreme motivators, we cans still learn and implement the leadership that is her legacy.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll dedicate this series to the life she lead, the lessons she taught, and the young leaders who are now thriving because of her teachings. Join Management Lessons as we embark on “Lessons from a Flower”.
Filed under: Animal Planet, Flower, Inspiration, Lessons From a Flower, Life, Management Lesson, Meerkat Manor, Motivation
September 23, 2007 • 11:47 am 0
Some of the best advice we can receive is the advice we hand out. Recently, I had to learn this hard lesson. It is much easier to consult, and critique another’s staff, another’s issues, another’s opportunites. The hard part and the often times overlooked necessity is to turn our powers of observation and inspiration on ourselves. In the words of Clarice Starling, “I think you’re scared.”
Filed under: Feedback, Inspiration, Life, Motivation
August 25, 2007 • 12:35 pm 0
Great things don’t happen to people; people make great things happen.
Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Motivation, News
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