Agents2Change - Smart Business Thinking

The Five Personalities of Innovators: Which One Are You? - Forbes

We have just completed a two-parter on personality types  (Myers Briggs and the Four Temperaments, and as if to complement that, Forbes have just published this article on the five personalities of innovators.

The Forbes Insights study surveyed more than 1,200 executives in Europe across a range of topics and themes. Using a series of questions about their attitudes, beliefs, priorities and behaviors, coupled with a look at the external forces that can either foster – or desiccate – an innovative environment, a picture emerged of five key personality types the play a role in the innovation cycle.

Are you a:

Movers & Shakers;
Controllers;
Star Pupil;
Experimenter;
Or a
Hanger on?

 

 

 

Read More here:  via www.forbes.com

 

 

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues. We regularly use personality frameworks for leadership, team and organisational development.  If you’d like to know more contact us at:  feedback@agents2change.com

Trouble at the Bleeding Edge – Or how the Mighty Fall

Earlier this week we talked about challenges at the Leading edge of change.  But what about at the other end of the spectrum?  It’s a salutary reminder of the unrelenting pace of change, when you hear that Eastman Kodak have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  It is a mighty fall from grace, given the near monopoly status that Kodak held in the world of photography for over 125 years.  Yet it is also a stark reminder of the dramatic changes that our digital based economy has wrought. 

Kodak was once viewed amongst the world’s most innovative companies, providing innovation not only in the camera but also in the development and print field of photography.  Yet in the last 30 years it has gradually slipped further and further from the mainstream, as smaller more agile competitors, better able to respond to the rising tide of digital technology started to take its place, alongside that of the multi-media smartphone. 

Management arrogance is one of the accusations for its demise.   Yet perhaps its biggest failing was not realizing that the moment to change had arrived and passed it by; quietly and swiflty.   It is one of life’s truisms that the moment to change, is just when everything seems to be going swimmingly.  It is at the point of our greatest successes when we have to consider its demise and therefore the need to innovate and change. 

The Danger of resting on one’s laurels

Whilst Kodak fades to black, we can see a similar struggle occurring with Research in Motion's (RIMs) Blackberry.  Once the smartphone of choice for Executives around the world, it has become more and more obscured by the rise of Apple products and the demand for tablet-based technologies. 

Blackberry like Kodak is accused of failing to read the market conditions and consumer choices.  Being unclear where its core market base lies – ‘are we the smartphone for executives, or the consumer product for young people?’.  This fuzzy marketing focus has led to inconsistent R&D (such as the disastrous launch of the Storm and Playbook and the lack of a single OS platform for software development).

Fuzzy leadership  and poor engagement are also cited for Blackberry's demise.  As we fully embed ourselves in the digital age, companies that fail to provide a figurehead to tell their story, or those that don't engage their customers through the infinite options of social media are at risk of being ignored, overlooked and eventually shunned completely by their once loyal customers.

Engagement & responsive-ness, the new watchwords

How can you ensure that you are listening to and engaging your customers as you develop your products and services?

• The world’s most innovative companies all have a strong and clear strategy, communicated by a strong and clear leader
• Using social media – twitter, facebook, youtube etc., as well as the traditional media channels ensures the widest possible circulation
• Creating closed loop marketing opportunities e.g. Once an Apple product owner, one naturally migrates to the next Apple product.
• Anticipating rather than responding to trends – this one of course is the silver bullet, but the world’s most innovate see this as their raison d’étre.  What are you doing to anticipate?

About us

Agents2change works with some of the world's largest companies on change and implementation issues.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this blog, innovation or change in general.  Share your comments here or email us on feedback@agents2change.com

Trouble at the Leading Edge - The Zuckerburg effect

As Facebook readies itself for floatation, the debate centres around what leadership is required to take it forward and whether Mark Zuckerburg is the right person for the job.  At the heart of the issues are concerns about how much power and influence he will have to veto shareholders post IPA.  But are they valid and does history suggest that they are right to be concerned?

Why does the Founder CEO make us so nervous?

We have in this blog looked at other founder CEO’s and the impact that they can have on an organisation.  The love/hate relationship that emerges because of  founders controlling and some might say over-bearing influence often causes frictions with shareholders, who are not used to playing second fiddle to a CEO. 

The front-runners in the category are obvious:  Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Bill Gates.  It’s also interesting to note that a recent study by Wharton Business School, concluded that founder CEOs outperformed professional CEOs.  Their decisions tended to be longer-term, linked to a deeper understanding of core products and strategy; and less influenced by the whims and demands of shareholders. 

But there is the other equally tricky aspects of the founder CEO.  As can be seen in the biographies of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others; the archetype founder CEO often takes on a maverick role in how they run their organisation, and this is what makes investors and analysts most nervous about the Facebook floatation. 

An unswerving focus on the future

But what Founder CEO’s particularly in the technology field have proven again and again, is that there vision is beyond our grasp until it comes to fruition.  Apple were about to go down the ‘me too’ PC strategy until Steve Jobs returned in 1997 and took the radically different step of complete vertical integration.  A model that was seen as totally outdated at that time  (Amstrad anyone?).

Zuckerburg has also shown such courage, fighting off many law suits and rejecting many lucrative offers in Facebook’s history.  But he has also show an awareness of the need to bring in operators, who will spend time thinking about strategy and core operations, such as the appointment of Sheryl Sandberg.

As Facebook moves closer to becoming a founder-led public company many will feel ambivilant about whether the leader that brought Facebook to here, is the one that will lead it on to profitability in the future.  A profitability that is still relatively untested and in its infancy.

Certainly some of the pitfalls of the Founder CEO, are the tendency toward the Maverick.  A tendency to view one’s own opinion as superior and an intolerance to dissent.  But we have seen how even these poorly viewed leadership practices have brought out the best in some organisation’s performance, so we wait to see how well Facebook lives up to its early promise under Zuckerburg’s control.

Examining Culture #6 - 'That's just the tip of the Iceberg!'

In this mini-series, we are looking at the challenges of managing across a diverse range of geographic and cultural boundaries.   We have already looked at the key writers on National Culture.  Today we turn to organisational culture theory. 

Probably one of the most extensive writers of recent years is Edgar Schein of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MiT) who has over the years provided much insight into the complexities of understanding and managing cultures within organisations.  He introduced the concept of Culture as an iceberg, in that those things that are observable on the surface are but a small percentage of the issues that are occurring underneath the surface.  

Schein describes culture as multi-layered.  At the visible layer we see artifacts and symbols that represent culture, which in turn come from beliefs and attitudes.  These all stem from basic assumptions that are  deep-rooted and often held at the sub-conscious level.   We don’t often think about how culture is expressed in organisations, and yet its influence is everywhere.  From the organisational structures, to the brand identity to the communications and visual art observable within the office.  It all speaks to the values and underlying assumptions of what this culture represents.  Apple and Google are probably the best proponents of culture as a tangible asset to be encouraged and encompassed by all employees.  Other headquarters such as banking and insurance, exude power and status messages to maintain status quo.  One sector is about game-changing and the other is about the old order. Both are valid, just different.

Schein went on to describe Three Cultures that arise in distinct occupational communities.  The Executive culture is about hierarchy and control.  The Engineering culture is concerned with design and process.  The Operators culture is concerned with the hands-on day-job, whether that be manufacturing or service based.   

When we look at how global companies today are often a made up of many legacy companies that have come together through acquisitions, each with their own distinct history and culture, this therefore poses some challenges for the post-merger integration efforts. 

What we at Agents2Change have found useful is some a cultural mapping exercise to help explain the key differences that occur across organisations.  We will look at this in more detail in our next and final instalment in this Culture series.

What experiences have you had with cross cultural conflicts?  Does this model help explain the reasons for those conflicts?  Please share your thoughts or experiences on cross cultural management here, or email us if you would like to find out more about our work in this area at feedback@agents2change.com

 

 

Examining Culture #5 – The High’s and the Low’s of Cultural Difference

In this mini-series, we are looking at the challenges of managing across a diverse range of geographic and cultural boundaries.   We have already presented the findings of Hofstede,  Trompenaar & GLOBE.  Today we are looking at the last of the National Cultural theorist, Edward Hall.

 

In his book ‘Beyond Culture’ Hall took an anthropological approach to considering cultural differences.  In his book he looks at the various ways that societies deal with conflict, justice, truth and relationships.  He considers cultural differences from the perspective of how much meaning is interpreted through the context of the situation or how much relies on explicit messaging.  He introduces the concept of two main types of culture.  High Context – those which have meaning embedded in the fabric of life – through symbolism, rituals and relationships leading to short-hand or understated communication.  Low Context, by contrast, is more rule-bound, concerned with regulations and expectations, leading to explicit forms of communication.     See examples (below):

 

 

Hall’s model offers us insights into why some cultures spend more time codifying human behaviour and rules (Germany, America) and those that spend more time on relationships (Southern Europe).  We then see these differences manifest themselves through the way we, for example, develop statutes, run justice systems, appoint leaders etc.   

Another significant observation from Hall is relationship to Time.  Monochromic and Polychromic societies display differences in how they respond to and use time.  Monochromic  being those groups that take time as a finite resource, where punctuality is expected – ‘time is money’.  Polychromic groups view time as a flexible resource that can be juggled around the needs and priorities of relationships and tasks at hand.  We can easily imagine how business leaders from one group, negotiating and working with a leader from the other dimension, might well lead to frustration and conflict, merely because their approach to tasks and punctuality might vary.  Hall’s booked helped to highlight these difference and what might be the basis to them. 

Hall’s insights and models were developed from an anthropological perspective.   This means that his lens was both US based, but also concerned with human behaviour and rituals in the context of their unique evolution.  It was not developed with the business world in mind, unlike the other models, but it does provide a useful frame of reference in which to consider the manifestation of conflict and tensions across different national cultures.

What experiences have you had with cross cultural conflicts?  Does this model help explain the reasons for those conflicts?  Please share your thoughts or experiences on cross cultural management here, or email us if you would like to find out more about our work in this area at feedback@agents2change.com

"7 Graces of Marketing" virtual blog tour

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 9 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Lynn Serafinn whose book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell launches on Amazon on Tuesday December 13, 2011.

 

Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC is a certified, award-winning coach and teacher, marketer, social media expert, radio host, speaker and bestselling author. Her eclectic approach to marketing incorporates her vast professional experience in the music industry and the educational sector along with more than two decades of study and practice of the spirituality of India. In her work as a promotional manager she has produced a long list of bestselling mind-body-spirit authors. Passionate about re-establishing our connection with the Earth, she supports the work of the Transition Town network in her hometown of Bedford, England.

 

Yesterday, Lynn visited Charly Leetham at http://askcharlyleetham.com/book-launches/what-are-the-7-graces-of-marketing/login  , where they talked about marketing strategies and messages in this approach for small business owners.

 

Today, I'd like to share with you a recent interview I had with Lynn when I got to ask her questions about the new horizon on marketing.    I hope you enjoy it.

 

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Mary McGuire: There is so much written about marketing – what can we learn that is new from you book?

Lynn Serafinn: First of all, let me clarify that The 7 Graces of Marketing isn't a "how to" book at all. A lot of people who know my work might be expecting a handbook for how to do marketing using social media, as that is what I help people with professionally, but I didn't want to write a book like that. Instead, this book is intended to be an eye-opener for both business owners and consumers, showing just how powerfully marketing impacts our lives and much of it in a negative way.

 

I unveil a lot of rather "unsavoury" aspects to marketing, much of which people might not be aware. I call these "The 3 Furies of Marketing" and "The 7 Deadly Sins" of marketing. I have researched for two years to find clear evidence, statistics and examples, so people could understand how modern marketing has contributed to massive imbalances in our health, our economy and our natural environment. And, of course, I didn't just want to spread the "bad news", so I also offer a new paradigm, which I call "The 7 Graces of Marketing".

 

I've delivered many talks on this subject, usually to groups of small business owners. In my experience, many small business owners don't like to do marketing, but they cannot understand why they have such a mental block towards it. This often has a negative impact upon their businesses, and as a result, they feel like they are failing as business owners. Some of the most typical people in this category are holistic professionals and creative artists. But when I unveil to them the many unspoken methods of modern marketing, these people begin to understand why they have had such a block against it. It's really just a case of it clashing with their value system. When they see they can now consciously adopt a new paradigm (the 7 Graces) to counter the aspects that are unpalatable to them (The 7 Deadly Sins), they can not only begin to do marketing in a new way that is congruent with their own values, but they can also create marketing that will give value to the world instead of harm it.

 

For the consumer, the book is equally valuable because it teaches us how to recognise the ways marketing influences our beliefs and spending habits, how it triggers our fears, and how it toys with our sense of identity. When it comes right down to it, we are all consumers, and the more informed we are, the more empowered we become. And the greater number of empowered consumers we have in the world, the more likely marketing will change for the better.

 

Mary McGuire: You extend your reach in this book well beyond marketing – why is it important to consider yourself and wider society, surely marketing is just about selling stuff? 

 

Lynn Serafinn: The more I've looked at marketing, Mary, the more I've seen it's not about selling "stuff" at all, but about "selling ideas".

 

In the book I give many detailed and varied examples of how this happens. For example, the cigarette industry has a long history of "selling" the idea that cigarettes are linked with our sexual identity. In the 1920s, when early feminist movements were rising in the US, cigarettes were marketed to women as something that symbolises their equality with men. Prior to that campaign, women, for the most part, didn't smoke cigarettes at all. In the post-war 1950s, when women were playing the role of housewife, cigarettes were marketed as a weight-loss aid to make them sexier. In the 1970s, when the next wave of feminism arose, cigarettes were again marketed as something that indicated women were "liberated". If you look at the statistics, the rise in cigarette use among women in these eras (and subsequent rise in lung cancer amongst women) paralleled these marketing campaigns precisely. Women weren't buying cigarettes—they were buying the idea of what the marketers were telling them these cigarettes represented. And this is just one of dozens of examples I give in the book, from fast food to children's toys to automobiles and beyond.

 

Marketing is in the business of created what I call "collapsed beliefs", which is when two totally disparate ideas become fused together as one. In the case of cigarettes, it's the fusion of "cigarettes equal liberation" or "cigarettes equal sexiness". And this is what consumers (and marketers!) need to understand. We are not buying "stuff" at all; we are buying the "idea" of the stuff. And because of this, marketing is extremely powerful, as it is really the practice of creating and selling ideas and beliefs.

 

Marketers already know this, even if they don't admit it or consciously understand it. My book is, among other things, a call to action to marketers to stop the reckless manipulation of public ideology, and simply get back to communicating clearly, directly and honestly. And it's also a call to action for business owners to look at the wider impact of not just their marketing, but also of their businesses on a whole.

 

Lastly, I want to mention that because marketing is the "selling of ideas", really I am not limiting the discussion simply to advertising. Within the idea of marketing, I equally include things like journalism, the nightly news and politics.

 

Mary McGuire: What do you see as the new marketing horizon in the next 5 – 10 years?

 

Lynn Serafinn: Well I would hope the 7 Graces (whether or not referred to directly) become the new paradigm, as I believe it covers a lot of ground. Of course, the answers cannot come from a single book, and I make it very clear in the book that it is a book of questions, not a manual of answers, and the only way answers will come is if we as one humanity will come together and start the dialogue for change.

 

I do think we will start to see signs of this shift within the next 5-10 years, but there is an awful lot of infrastructure needed to bring it fully to fruition, so I think we're realistically looking at another 20-30 years to see the full transition to the new paradigm. But the dialogue HAS to start now, because our current rate of consumption is, frankly, destroying:

 

• our societies - by making us dependent upon big business instead of local enterprise
• our economy - by making us dependent upon credit/debt
• our health - by consuming harmful products, unhealthy food and by living highly stressful lives
• our planet – by extracting AND disposing of resources at a rate far faster than our planet can replenish or recycle them

 

The paradigm of The 7 Graces of Marketing is an invitation to start a dialogue about taking a more holistic approach to marketing and business in general, where we not only practice social responsibility, but we also come back into step with the eco-system that is our planet. It is important to remember that we humans are not outside that system, and that every aspect of our culture—including our economy—is also a part of the eco-system of Planet Earth.

 

I do believe more and more people are starting to wake up to this fact, and that the shift back towards our own humanity has begun. My grandson is now 5 years old; my dream is that by the time he has children the world will be a very different, and much healthier and holistically balanced, place to live.

 

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I hope you enjoyed this interview with Lynn Serafinn and that you’ll check out her book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

 

Here's why:

 

 

 

The 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit

A FREE 7-Part Online Happening!

December 6th-9th, 2011

Register at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

 

When you visit the page at the link above and request a "launch reminder", you will automatically receive a FREE pass to Lynn's 7-Part online happening “The 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit” with an illustrious panel of 24 bestselling authors and world-renowned speakers and media experts on society, business and marketing coming together to discuss how we can bring ethics and values back our business and marketing practices, and restore balance to our health, our economy and our natural environment.

 

Here's the spectacular list of guests speakers for the event:

Dr. Joe Vitale * Greg S. Reid * Dr. Eric Pearl * Dan Hollings * Pamela Slim * Liz Goodgold * Allison Maslan * Suzanne Falter*Barnes * Tad Hargrave * Misa Hopkins * Richard S. Gallagher * Ward Vandorpe * Barbara Altemus * Andrea Conway * Renee Baribeau * Renee Duran * Michael Drew * Chris Arnold * Jeffrey Van Dyk * Tanya Paluso * Kate Osborne * Shelagh Jones * Paula Tarrant * Lynn Serafinn

 

You can listen to the telesummit online in the comfort of your own home, and even ask questions during the broadcast.

 

If you are reading this after Dec 9th, 2011 you can still access the playback for a limited time when you register at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

 

To claim your FREE pass to the 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit

and read about the free gifts, go to:

http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

 

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below.

 

AND… be sure to follow Lynn tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Gregory "Coach" Fernander, who will be interviewing Lynn on the subject of responsibility in marketing & in life. To visit that "stop" on the tour, go to http://coachatgregory.blogspot.com   

Corporate & Functions # 6 – Summing up how functions can add value

In this mini-series we have reviewed the role and value that functions can play in supporting large or global corporations.  In this final instalment we take a look back at the issues covered and how they affect functions of today and functions of tomorrow in large and global organisations.

Corporate & Functions is a term to cover all of the centralized teams and services that support a range of business areas within a group.  Typically they include activities such as IT, HR, Finance, Communications & Branding, Legal & Operations (Including Safety).  Their purpose is to provide standardized structures and processes across the various business segments within a group.  

Whilst that sounds straightforward on paper, often Functions struggle to deliver timely, consistent or appropriate support to their various groups.  We believe that there are four key areas that Functions need to address to help them to add value to their organisation:

1. Leadership – providing the right balance between technical requirements of the function and the business needs.  Functional leadership has to be both forthright and humble; adapatble and responsive.  The balance needs to be struck based on the situation and the business needs, but it should always be flexible and attentive to the situational needs.       
2. Role Clarity – Functions need to articulate where the lines of responsibility are drawn in relation to tasks under their aegis.  They have a key role in communicating and clarifying boundaries in de-centralised organisations. 
3. Operational Excellence - In order to move the Function from transactional provider to strategic partner (the ultimate goal of world-class Functions) they need to be well-above fire-fighting mode and demonstrating flawless service delivery.  It is only then that business leaders will trust Functional leaders to address longer-term problems. 
4. Creativity - Building partnerships and alliances enables Functions and Business to enter into constructive dialogue to solve compliance, safety and technology needs.    

Corporate Functions have been created to drive efficiencies and achieve the synergies of specialist groups serving generic business groups.  This has been difficult to achieve in reality due to poorly designed scope of functional teams or through a lack of investment in developing world-class operations.  This mini-series revisited some of the key areas where Functions often fall down in their effectiveness.   

We would love to hear your experiences within a Function or as a recipient of their services.  Why not leave your comments here, or contact us on feedback@agents2change.com.  Agents2Change provides specialist change and implementation support to large and global businesses across Manufacturing, Finance, Service and Energy sectors. 

Corporate & Functions # 5 – Harnessing Creativity in an increasingly regulated environment

In this mini-series we are looking at the role and value that functions can play in supporting large or global corporations.  In this instalment we explore the importance of creativity in Functions. 

Globalisation has seen the rules of business change dramatically.  Increased regulation & compliance is a consequence of these changes, together with the ever growing concern about safety & environment; and as a result organisations are in danger of being overwhelmed by red tape.

Functions are often seen as the main proponent of this red tape rather than as a conduit trying to respond to these external pressures in an appropriate manner. This is a particular challenge as organisations’ operations frequently span many regional, national and functional cultures.  Even without this diversity, large companies often have many sub cultures that are at odds or competing with each other.

So how can functions avoid falling into the trap of meeting resistance almost as soon as they attempt to implement what might be a critical aspect of business governance?

As we have mentioned  in earlier installments of this mini-series, Functions have to win the respect of their internal customers- their business leaders, by providing exemplary service that is responsive to business requirements.  It is only then that they can look at how to creatively address compliance and business needs.   This is not about finding creative ‘work-arounds’ to do the minimum possible to comply with legislation; it is about finding a way to engage and raise the debate about how to address compliance from both a philosophical and behavioural standpoint.  To do this, Functions need to be confident about how to develop dialogue both within their Function and in the wider business.  From dialogue, debate and discussion comes creativity; and it is from this basis that true partnership and teamwork can emerge. 

Functions can find their place at the strategic table if they prove their worth consistently and provide a strong voice and a strong challenge when business leaders need to understand where the boundaries are and why they are needed.  We can see from the Financial Crisis of 2007 & 2008, that companies with maverick leaders such as Lehman Brothers or HBOS failed and those with a much more open management style such as HSBC and IngDirect weathered the storm much better.   All were operating within the same regulated environment, but those with a more open and creative culture were able to weather the storm. 

Functions need to be good at engaging the wider business environment in the debate and ensuring that the nature and structure of any policy is appropriate for their business environment.  Building partnerships and alliances is more appropriate in our increasingly networked organisations, rather than relying on traditional hierarchy. 

In our final instalment we will look at the key points from this mini-series and the priorities and challenges it illustrates for modern Functions supporting today's large organisations.  If you have experiences you wish to share, please comment here or contact us at feedback@agents2change.com