Small Business Blog from Atlantic Canada

The title for this post could very well have been, “How I improved my presentation skills in four easy steps.” I thought my presentation skills very above average. I certainly did not harbor the notion that I was a great presenter. But I thought I was at least above average. That illusion was, however, shattered after I viewed Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc. in action. The desire to see Jobs in action was spurred when I read the book by Carmine Gallo, The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs.

Leading in the best of times has been a challenge. Leaders never have all the information they need to make the decision and waiting for the complete information results in inaction. In Leadership in the era of economic uncertainty, Ram Charan (no relation to me) succinctly puts it: “We will not know when we have turned the corner and we cannot envision the shape and scope of the world that will emerge. What we can be sure of is that this is a time of tumultuous change and with change comes both the danger and opportunity.”

Be it presentations, providing critical feedback, selling, motivating your team or interviewing, “Mastering Communication at Work: How to Lead, Manage, and Influence - Review” offers practical suggestions on how to maximize the return on your speaking time. The book offers insights into how to build trust, credibility and relationships with everyone within and outside the organization. It is written in a conversational style and the authors make effective use of case studies and examples to drive home their point.

Did you take a moment to notice the tag line for this blog? “Helping Atlantic Canada’s businesses achieve their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals)”. So it is only natural for us to seek out individuals who set their goals high, do not fear failure and work smart to achieve their BHAGs. The quest to meet such individuals in Atlantic Canada led me to Dan Martell. A native of Moncton, New Brunswick, Dan is a serial entrepreneur with a string of companies, successes and failures - Maritime Vacation, iThink Interactive, Spheric Technologies Inc and now Flowtown.

Rivers is a very interesting individual. The enthusiasm in his voice when you talk to him about internet marketing and entrepreneurship is infectious. His biggest strength is to conceptualize ideas and lay a solid foundation of a business enterprise. We saw this in action with his cooking venture – The Chef Group. He has recently launched The Marketing Factory – a series of internet marketing seminars in Atlantic Canada. Rivers believes passion drives successful entrepreneurs. His passion is to build businesses from scratch. So we caught up with him last week to discuss his successful entrepreneurial ventures. We wanted to learn the ingredients to be a successful entrepreneur?

How would you react when you notice a bunch of sharks keeping their distance from a bloodied meal? Imagine in your mind’s eye: speculators and hedge funds (sharks) circling around the meat (the US dollar), but still apprehensive to go in for the kill. After all we are talking about the world’s largest economy, albeit a one on crutches. Why haven’t we seen a hammering of the US dollar as we have seen in past crisis across the globe? Being the vehicle currency, the US dollar enjoys dominant share in central banks’ reserve portfolio worldwide. While there are some countries who have reduced their exposure to the US dollar, no country has given up trading in the US dollar altogether.

It’s easy to get listed quickly and with a high ranking in Google if you have the money. But how the heck do I get my site to rank high using generic search? ah, the wonders of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in getting you a high page rank in Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It does wonders to your traffic, eh! But, how the heck does one get there? Ideally the goal ought to be within the top 10 but we can settle for the top 20 now, can’t we?

Business is a team sport. Or is it? Or at least that’s what I thought until I got a wakeup call. I take up an assignment at an organization with the sole motive of making a profit. However, I always keep in mind the client is the reason my organization is in existence. Isn’t it logical that if my client is making money my organization makes money and I, in turn, will make money? I realize that I can only profit if my organization profits. And I will do whatever it takes to ensure the organization profits. That is my motivation. I am not saying you give up your ambition or your goals for the good of the company. No, I do not preach altruism. But I do encourage symbiosis. You will best serve the company if your profit goals are aligned with those of the company. In today’s fast paced business world, no one can do everything.

Kaizen: Japanese for “change for the better” translates to “continuous improvement”. But how can you improve if you do not know how you are faring now? Improve from what to what? Improvement necessitates comparison. If your organization is to perform activities across the value chain effectively and efficiently, you need a benchmark. The benchmark may be the best-in-the-industry organization; or it could also be against your own self.

In this multi-part series, I will explore strategy implementation and the hurdles entrepreneurs or CEOs face in this process. This is not going to be checklist of things to do in strategy execution. There is no such thing. Strategy execution is like a multi-horse chariot - if all the horses do not pull in one direction, you are not going anywhere. Your job as an entrepreneur or a CEO is to ensure all stakeholders are pulling your organization in the same direction.