by Mike Myatt You cannot separate leadership from decisioning, for like it or not, they are inexorably linked. Put simply, the outcome of a CEO’s decisions can, and usually will, make or break them. Those CEOs who avoid making decisions solely for fear of making a bad decision, or conversely those that make decisions just for the sake of making a decision will likely not last long. The fact of the matter is that senior executives who rise to the C-suite do so largely based upon their ability to consistently make sound decisions. However while it may take years of solid decision making to reach the boardroom, it often times only takes one bad decision to fall from the ivory tower. As much as you may wish it wasn’t so, as a CEO you’re really only as good as your last decision. “CEO Decisioning” is a skill set that needs to be developed like any other. As a person that works with leaders on a daily basis I can tell you with great certainty that all CEOs are not created equal when it comes to the competency of their decisioning skills. Nothing will test your metal as CEO more than your ability to make decisions. I happen to be the type of person that would rather make the decision than have to live with someone else’s decisions. In fact, I absolutely love to make decisions, and whether it is in my role in the business world, or my role as a husband and father, I want to be the one making the tough calls. That being said, nobody is immune to bad decisioning. We have all made bad decisions whether we like to admit it or not. Show me someone who hasn’t made a bad decision and I’ll show you someone who is either not being honest, or someone who avoids decisioning at all costs, which by the way, constitutes a bad decision. For more than 25 years I have either served in the capacity of a principal owner, senior executive, or professional advisor, and have generally been well regarded for my decision making ability. However like everyone else, I have also made some regrettable decisions along the way. When I reflect back upon the poor decisions I’ve made, it’s not that I wasn’t capable of making the correct decision, but for whatever reason I failed to use sound decisioning methodology. Gut instincts can only take you so far in life, and anyone who operates outside of a sound decisioning framework will eventually fall prey to an act of oversight, misinformation, misunderstanding, manipulation, impulsivity or some other negative influencing factor. The complexity of the current business landscape, combined with ever increasing expectations of performance, and the speed at which decisions must be made, are a potential recipe for disaster for today’s executive unless a defined methodology for decisioning is put into place. If you incorporate the following metrics into your decisioning framework you will minimize the chances of making a bad decision: Perform a Situation Analysis: What is motivating the need for a decision? What would happen if no decision is made? Who will the decision impact (both directly and indirectly)? What data, analytics, research, or supporting information do you have to validate the inclinations driving your decision? Subject your Decision to Public Scrutiny: There are no private decisions. Sooner or later the details surrounding any decision will likely come out. If your decision were printed on the front page of the newspaper how would you feel? What would your family think of your decision? How would your shareholders and employees feel about your decision? Have you sought counsel and/or feedback before making your decision? Conduct a Cost/Benefit Analysis: Do the potential benefits derived from the decision justify the expected costs? What if the costs exceed projections, and the benefits fall short of projections? Assess the Risk/Reward Ratio: What are all the possible rewards, and when contrasted with all the potential risks are the odds in your favor, or are they stacked against you? Assess Whether it is the Right Thing To Do: Standing behind decisions that everyone supports doesn’t particularly require a lot of chutzpah. On the other hand, standing behind what one believes is the right decision in the face of tremendous controversy is the stuff great leaders are made of. My wife has always told me that “you can’t go wrong by going right,” and as usual I find her advice to be spot on. Never compromise you value system, your character, or your integrity. Make The Decision: Perhaps most importantly you must have a bias toward action, and be willing to make the decision. Moreover as a CEO you must learn to make the best decision possible even if you possess an incomplete data set. Don’t fall prey to analysis paralysis, but rather make the best decision possible with the information at hand using some of the methods mentioned above. Opportunities and not static, and the law of diminishing returns applies to most opportunities in that the longer you wait to seize the opportunity the smaller the return typically is. In fact, more likely is the case that the opportunity will completely evaporate if you wait too long to seize it. If you develop the appropriate blend of a bias to action with an analytical approach to decisioning your stock as CEO will surely rise. Good luck and good decisioning… Don’t miss an article – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Continuous Innovation group! Mike Myatt, is a Top CEO Coach, author of ” Leadership Matters…The CEO Survival Manual “, and Managing Director of N2Growth .

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Six Steps of CEO Decisioning

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From marketing to startups, operations to policy that directly affects small business, the small business news roundup from Small Business Trends has it all. Here’s the latest installment of what we hope will become an indispensable part of your daily small business fix. Marketing Seth Godin talks “Creative Value.” Learn more about what he had to say at the recent “Art of Marketing Conference” in Toronto. Biz Money Matters How helpful is Facebook for B2B Marketing? Tom Pick thinks aloud on the subject with some illuminating results. Webbiquity Mobile marketing tips for retail. Your customers are mobile. Are you ready? The Lunch Pail What’s missing from most newsletter sign-up forms? The answer may surprise you. Travel Online Partners Operations How to outsource your CFO. Why hiring outside talent to manage your small business may be key to your success. Small Business CEO What can a horrendous dry cleaning experience teach about customer service? Read Ken Kauffman’s post to find out. CFOwise What are you waiting for? Innovate! Here’s a look at what’s stopping you and how to get over it. Open Forum Innovation Hey, it’s tough out there. But here are ten tips to help you deal with it. America’s Best Business Practices Policy Big Brother strikes again. Soon online sellers too will be under greater IRS scrutiny.   Auction Bytes Way too much debt. Last time it was business owners and consumers caught with no more credit and too many bills to pay, but could a bubble be set to burst for Washington? National Review Online Don’t forget those tax write-offs. There’s one particularly generous break that every small business should use. WSJ Start-up 10 businesses you can launch from home. See if one of them is right for you. Youngentrepreneurs.com Are you a builder or a salesman? When building a company, you can certainly go it alone, but you’d better have at least two skill sets in abundance. The Single Founder Can big business really help entrepreneurs? Former employees turned small business owners share some thoughts with Goldman Sachs. NYTimes.com Bookshelf Five must-reads for entrepreneurs. Recommendations for every small business owner’s permanent library. Youngentrepreneur.com From Small Business Trends Small Business News March 10, 2010

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Small Business News March 10, 2010

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by Stefan Lindegaard The reason for creating a networking culture is obvious once you look at the current and future direction of innovation. Let’s start by disposing of the myth of the lone genius (the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells of yesteryear) arriving at a breakthrough innovation on his/her own. This model wasn’t true then, and even if it were, it simply does not hold true in today’s complex business organizations. Technology and the challenges that must be solved have become so complex that many, perhaps even most, companies can no longer rely solely on their own internal innovation geniuses, no matter how brilliant those people may be. Innovation is increasingly about having groups of people come together to leverage their diverse talents and expertise to solve multi-faceted challenges that cross multiple disciplines. To make this happen within your organization, and beyond as you move toward open innovation, requires a networking culture that is designed, supported, and modeled by your company’s leaders. Even organizations that are not ready to fully embrace open innovation are finding that employees’ mindsets about networking must be stretched as more companies deploy internal R & D functions outside the corporate headquarters and around the world. Employees start to wonder who should do innovation and where it should take place. Although this is positive, success in such situations depends heavily on the ability of the employees to initiate, solidify, and leverage external relationships. Another key motivation for setting up networking initiatives is based on the simple fact that the knowledge of any company is inside the heads of the employees. Discovering and distributing this knowledge has always been a challenge, and now, more than ever, the ability to leverage a company’s collective knowledge and experience through virtual and face-to-face networks and communities is critical to innovation. Furthermore, establishing the ability to bring knowledge and potential new innovation insights in from external sources demands a strong networking culture supported and modeled from the top. In one of my next posts, I will give some advice on how to create a networking culture. Don’t miss an article – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Continuous Innovation group! Stefan Lindegaard is a speaker, network facilitator and strategic advisor who focus on the topics of open innovation, intrapreneurship and how to identify and develop the people who drive innovation.

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Why a Networking Culture Is Important

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It can broadcast your location without your knowledge. There’s no place to hide. by Idris Mootee I was watching Eagle Eyes last weekend, I was thinking what happened there is actually not unlikely – we’re being watched every second. Forget about PC spyware, they’re nothing compared with mobile phone spyware that enables call- and text-monitoring. But worst of all, mobile phone spyware allows anyone to tap into the phone remotely and activate its microphone, even when it is turned OFF. So It doesn’t matter if you have an iPhone, Blackberry or any Android phones. These spyware programs are not expensive (often free), or difficult to purchase or install. Your smartphone can also tell your location. We all need our mobile phones, so now there’s no place to hide. There are several spy services out there for people who are desperate to monitor their children or employees. Companies such as Mobile Spy will help you monitor their call, mobile web browsing and text message activities. You can just log into your Mobile Spy account from any computer and see everything – including GPS locations too! Scary! One popular spyware for mobile phones is Flexispy. It comes in four packages, with the high-end Flexispy Pro-X having features such as live-call listening, secret mobile GPS tracking, SMS message reading, phone call history, email, and the ability to secretly listen in on the phone’s surroundings. The entry level product is Flexispy Bug which allows remote listening only. It turns your phone into a bug so someone else can listen to everything. Are you safe? Probably not. A quick way to check if you phone is bugged, look for sudden drop in battery power, and then unusually billing activity with random numbers. If you for whatever reasons need to engage in a secret conversation, take the battery out of your smartphone. As early as 1997, the National Reconnaissance Organization warned that any mobile phone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone. This is basically done by transmitting to the mobile phone a maintenance command on the control channel. This command places the mobile telephone in ‘diagnostic mode’. When this is done, conversations in the immediate area of the telephone can be monitored over the voice channel.
This diagnostic mode was originally designed for remote software update. Now with GPS, not only they can listen in, they can locate you within feet. So, when do they start making anti-spy software for cell phones? Don’t expect these privacy risks to go away. The reality is all governments have no desire to fix this problem or to make these products illegal. The more they can find out about you the better protected they feel. It is like 1984. Don’t miss an article – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Continuous Innovation group! Idris Mootee is the CEO of idea couture , a strategic innovation and experience design firm. He is the author of four books, tens of published articles, and a frequent speaker at business conferences and executive retreats.

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Your Smartphone Could be a Spy Phone

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It’s time for another addition of our small business news roundup here at Small Business Trends . We hope you find these roundups useful and will visit some of the stories we’ve recommended being sure to let them know where you heard about their post or article. Marketing Is the idea of viral marketing a bit too contagious? Viral marketing may not be good for every business so keep in mind it’s a means not an end. Right Ideas/Bright Ideas Getting personal with your marketing strategy. With all the buzz words out there in the marketing world, sometimes the best advice comes down to a very simple idea. Five Forces Group It’s not just about the clicks. A look at how to improve sales through more focused online marketing campaigns. Web.com Operations Why should your customers trust you? The answer may have to do with how you operate your business everyday. Flying Pig Communications Forbes puts small business owners on the couch. Another report looks at the mental outlook of the small business community. morebusiness.com How to get more business. Some thoughts on bringing the new customers you need to you. Unique Insights Startup Date your business before you marry it. How can you be sure the business you’re planning is the right one for you? Open Forum Innovation Is your business making Google nervous? How to create a startup that sells to the big boys for millions. The Huffington Post You don’t need to go to heaven to meet an angel. How to find these special investors and what they can do to help your business. Youngentrepreneur.com Policy For solopreneurs, health care may be getting even more expensive. Health care reform may shift a disproportionately large burden onto the shoulders of the already struggling self-employed. National Association for the Self-Employed Can risk really be managed? The recent meltdown contains lessons about economic uncertainty, but what can it teach business leaders for the future? The Economist Why bigger is not always better. Finally government reformers may discover what small business owners and their customers have always known. Huffington Post Tech New tools allow a more customized approach to sales. Wouldn’t it be great if visitors could buy from you even after they’ve left your site? smallbiztechnology.com How to make cool side-by-side interviews for your Website.  A warning to PC users: This tutorial is for Mac’s. The Rise to The Top Contests Sugartone Sweet Business Blogging Contest. Two of the Net’s fastest growing small business communities join forces to promote great business blogging online with some really cool prizes. Bloggertone From Small Business Trends Small Business News March 9, 2010

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Small Business News March 9, 2010

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Facebook has been getting a heck of a lot of buzz lately as the social networking site continues to add value for brands and small business owners. Late last week they improved local ad opportunities for SMBs and just yesterday they announced a partnership with Eventbrite to help business owners monetize events advertised on the site. The combination helps to make Facebook an even more attractive marketing channel for SMBs to utilize. If you didn’t catch yesterday’s announcement, Facebook has partnered with Eventbrite (instead of competing with it) to allow small business owners to sell tickets and/or register to events directly through their Facebook Event page. Previously, attendees were directed offsite in order to do so. Allowing the registration process to happen on Facebook itself should be a welcome improvement to both businesses and users. Yesterday a page went up on facebook.eventbrite.com to announce the new feature. [The page has since been removed.] Collect money for your event with Eventbrite Eventbrite is partnering with Facebook to enable you to collect money for your event. Your attendees pay with credit card and Eventbrite collects the money on your behalf and sends you a check when your event is over. We charge a small service fee for every ticket sold. 5.5% + $.99c, which attendees pay, costing you nothing. Eventbrite has helped event organizers around the world sell over 10 million tickets. We’re excited to help you sell your and put some delightful cash in your pocket. The announcement offers SMB owners a great way to market new events and create visibility. To date, many small business owners have been utilizing the Facebook Events feature to spread word of mouth regarding physical events they were holding, product release dates, giveaways/contest, new promotions, etc. But there wasn’t a way to capture that attention directly on the site or to provide a compelling call to action to get people to register and hook them. Now that they can register directly from the site, even when money is exchanging hands, there is. I really like the news of the integration because I think it helps to strengthen the Facebook marketing platform for SMBs by allowing them to tie in everything else they’re doing on the site. For example, with the new roll out SMBs can easily: Create a Facebook Event to market something upcoming Use Facebook’s highly targeted advertising platform to promote the Event to the right people. Use the new Eventbrite partnership to close the conversion immediately Facebook’s allowing SMBs owners to create a perfect storm of marketing where everything is done more powerfully and in one centralized location. Facebook advertising converts exceptionally well because of how targeted and personal the ads can be. Taking that power and combining it with increased functionality is a win for everyone. If you’re interested in getting more acquainted with Facebook as a marketing channel, I was at SMX West last week and covered a great session about Free Ways To Market On Facebook . The speakers presented some pretty great information on how to use Facebook Groups/Fan pages, what makes stories pop in your News Feed and some of the best ways to market on the site. It may be worth a read. From Small Business Trends Facebook Helps SMB Owners Make Events More Useful

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Telecom companies’ new schemes like ‘one paisa per second’ billing and many others are squeezing the margins of their business process outsourcing partners.

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BPO firms suffer from Telco price wars

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It’s time for another Small Business News roundup.  Here are the news links and blog posts that are shaking up the small business online community for March 8, 2010 hand picked by the team at Small Business Trends . Operations Small Business celebrates the Oscars! Hey, what small business leader has time to watch a movie? But if you happen to slip one into you’re busy schedule, here are some cool lessons you can learn, from author and speaker Barry Moltz.  Small Business Trends Motivating employees in a small business might be a no-brainer for some. Here’s a primer for those of us who may need a bit more help. HarvardBusinessReview.org Need to sell your business? Call a lawyer. An attorney with entrepreneurship in his blood answers some questions about how they can help. NYTimes.com Social Media Just say no to more LinkedIn invitations. When is it time to put an end to endless network building? Global Copywriting But before you write off that LinkedIn account completely! Here are five ways to make your virtual Rolodex turned business media network really rock. Online Marketing Blog What Rambo could teach every marketer and small business owner about blogging. It’s all about the risks you take. Much like this post. Flowtown.com Marketing What small businesses can learn from Obama, Dunkin Donuts and American Express. And why your business simply can’t ignore the texting revolution. OpenForum.com Do you have free content about your business online? If not, it could be costing you and your business huge numbers of new customers. Duct Tape Marketing Forget about e-commerce and get ready for m-commerce. The M stands for “mobile” and it will completely change the way you do business online … again.   SEO-SMO.net Tech Touch screen technology enables more mobile small business. Read a review of the latest in tablet computer technology for the small business owner or professional on the move. SmallBizTechnology.com Who is the “mayor” of your small business? Don’t know what we’re talking about? Better read this. Catalyst Marketers What if online content creators can’t make money from advertising? An increasing number of online visitors not only want their content free but are employing software to block the advertising that pays for it. WSJ Policy Not every cloud has a silver lining. Despite economic gains and government efforts, a recent survey shows optimism among small business owners has not improved.  NFIB You ain’t seen nothing yet. A proposed health care reform package still being fought over in Washington will likely cost us WAY more than we thought. National Review Online Startup Nowadays even a “startup out of a garage” must be global. But managing the cultural intricacies of dealing with a world market instead of one just around the corner takes much more than just an Internet connection. NYTimes.com From Small Business Trends Small Business News March 8, 2010

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Small Business News March 8, 2010

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by Paul Sloane Many businesses make the mistake of giving innovation projects to junior executives. It seems natural to hand innovation opportunities to enthusiastic and promising upstarts. But generally it is the experienced heavyweights who can overcome all the process and political obstacles that will occur. In September 1999 Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM, read a line buried deep in a report which said that current quarter pressures had forced a business unit to cut costs by stopping efforts in a promising new area. Gerstner was incensed and wanted to find out how often this happened. He asked J. Bruce Herrald, IBM’s senior VP in charge of Strategy to find out. Herrald found a similar pattern in at least 22 other cases. IBM had plenty of new ideas but it had a remarkably hard time turning those ideas into businesses. IBM had produced many crucial inventions, such as the relational database and the router, then watched while others, such as Oracle and Cisco built huge companies around them. Herrald investigated the causes and found that IBM rewarded short-term results and was reluctant to devote management attention and resources to rolling the dice. IBM’s leaders did not spend much time on new businesses and they did not tap their “A-team” of executives to run them. “We were relegating this to the most inexperienced people,” said Herrald. “We were not putting the best and brightest talent on this.” (Quotes from FastCompany magazine, March 2005 issue) Gerstner and Herrald reversed this approach. They deliberately put their most experienced and talented executives in charge of Emerging Business Opportunities (EBOs). Their mission was to find areas that are new to IBM that can yield profitable billion-dollar-plus businesses in five to seven years. The program has been a remarkable success. Between 2000 and 2005 IBM launched 25 EBOs. Three failed and were closed down but the remaining 22 produced annual revenues of over $15 billion and growth of over 40% per year. More importantly than their revenue impact, the EBOs helped change IBM’s culture. “We’ve become more willing to experiment, more willing to accept failure, learn from it and move on. Now being an EBO leader is a really desirable job at IBM,” says Herrald. The lesson from IBM is clear. If you want to change the culture of an organisation so that it values innovation and new business start-ups then get your most senior and best people involved in these activities. Don’t delegate it to lower level staff and hope for the best. Don’t miss an article – Subscribe to our RSS feed and join our Continuous Innovation group! Paul Sloane writes, speaks and leads workshops on creativity, innovation and leadership. He is the author of The Innovative Leader published by Kogan-Page.

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Pick Your Best People to Lead Innovation

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When you’re a small business, positive word-of-mouth is critical to growth. One of the best ways to get that buzz going is through publicity.  But how do you compete with the big guys, and get publicity?  Here are the only three steps you need to get great publicity FREE : Step 1:  Have A Great Product, Service or Business Most small businesses think that what they sell is great.  The Key:   To get publicity, you need to provide what the media thinks is great. Here are some examples of what makes products interesting to the media: A truly new product (just launched in the last few months or about to be launched) Unique, breakthrough product Works well, tastes great, etc. (In most cases the media will test out your product if they are interested in featuring it in a story) Colorful packaging / visually appealing – especially important for visual media Product ties into trends – organic/green, political, etc. Priced right – less than key price points ($100, $50, $25, $10) or priced high if truly a luxury item Here are some examples of what makes services and businesses interesting to the media: New service, company or book (just launched in the last few months or about to be launched) Unique, breakthrough service, concept or business Provides ways to save money Offers something for free High rate of revenue and employee growth Ties into trends Step 2:  Approach The Right Media Contact With A Great Pitch You should only approach media that cover your type of product or business.  This means that you’ll need to read, listen to or view these media outlets prior to pitching them. Once you determine that your business or product is a good fit for their editorial coverage, you need to find the right contact.  You can do this in several ways: Call up the media outlet and ask who the person is who covers your area Look at the print masthead or producer credits Search online  Buy a list – you can find these online Then you need to pitch the contact. Include why your product or service is a great fit for that media outlet, as well as a product or service description.  Don’t forget to include your contact information. You can pitch via phone or email.  Here, you can see a  sample pitch for a product or service business . Step 3: Follow Up This is the part that trips up most do-it-yourself publicists and even P.R. folks.  Once the media has expressed interest in your product or service, you must be persistent in contacting them.  Often you’ll need to follow-up with them several times, via the phone or email, until you have gotten media coverage. By following these steps, your chances of getting publicity are greatly increased.  And once you get publicity, you’ll see more buzz, more sales and more credibility for your business. From Small Business Trends 3 Steps to Free Publicity for Your Business

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3 Steps to Free Publicity for Your Business

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