Business in Context

A few weeks back I hosted a 2 round table discussions among owners and executives of recruitment firms. The level of candor and honesty was more surprising than the widespread level of hardship. It’s oddly reassuring to hear from other people sharing the same hardships. Most of the 20+ business owners did also have stories of people in their organization who have had continued success but all had been forced to downsize and significantly reduce costs.

I had no inspiration to post over the past months and then I found myself back in the pediatric ward at NYU Hospital on Friday night. The opportunity in being here far exceeds any level of reassurance in mutual hardship at a professional conference. In the past 2 days we shared a room with a girl suffering from kidney infection, we played with a little boy recovering from his 3rd brain surgery in the past months and learned about Jasmina, the five year old girl in the next room with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia who needs a bone marrow donor and transplant to survive.

We will be home later this week, the kids we shared the weekend with will fight on and until this weekends memory fades, business will be approached in the context more important struggles.

The Collapse

Michael Lewis, (Liar’s Poker) succeeds at explaining what went wrong in his article on portfolio.com link here. He walks in the shoes of the guys who saw it coming and made a bundle on the crash. Their revelation and explanation of how CDO market grew large enough to bring down the house is stupefying.

Collaboration & Systemic Change

Peter Senge has had a big influence on my understanding of leadership and ability to impact change. The book he is most closely associated with is The Fifth Discipline. I found a review on You Tube . The book was updated in 2003 and is still is required in many graduate programs. (If you get bored - Chapter 3 starts at the 5 minute mark of the video.)

Companies are living organizations constantly changing based on the actions of people who impact them. Collaborations between people and organizations bring new opportunities for both the individual and the organization to learn, grow and improve. In concert with the collaborations and communication tools and processes the allow sharing, there is always an opportunity for those who are open to reach higher, grow and achieve more.

I have always found opportunities to achieve more appealing and rewarding in difficult times. Today's environment presents the biggest and most challenging opportunity for people to show their potential than at any other time in my career. The Fifth Discipline in all its irony does not address discipline itself. Whether you choose to read the book or not - discipline, determination, extra effort and respect are traits shared by successful people. In the face of Systemic Change that requires Collaboration it's easy to forget what you need to do to achieve. Don't let it happen to you.

using email when prospecting

Gavin Ingham says "People are really good at ignoring email" - A truism as far as I can see. The people you are trying hardest to connect with are probably the best at ignoring email.

Of course, this assumes you are prospecting... if you are in a client facing sales role and are succeeding without prospecting then let me in on the secret. If you set the bar high, then you prospect all the time and are likely to have already figured this out on your own. Regardless, Ingham's post linked here, is worth a read.

When to build your network: All the time

Jeremiah Owyang's blog discusses how web tools enable companies to connect with customers. He is a Forrester Analyst focused on the social computing industry.

In a recent post Build Your Network Before You Need Them raised a prescient point that you can't expect to become a great networker if you only reach out when in need

"It’s pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take –not to give."

Click any of the links to read the entire post.