Showing posts with label management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label management. Show all posts

Thursday, 18 February 2010

The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle is the principle that:
"In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence."
It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise which also introduced the "salutary science of Hierarchiology", "inadvertently founded" by Peter. It holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their "level of incompetence"), and there they remain, being unable to earn further promotions. This principle can be modeled and has theoretical validity. Peter's Corollary states that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties" and adds that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence".

Tuesday, 5 January 2010

The Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project.

1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to
be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents.
The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7. Study.
A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8. Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

9. Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10. Everyone is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11. Harvest ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.

12. Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.

13. Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

14. Don’t be cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

16. Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

17. ____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas
of others.

18. Stay up late.
Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.

19. Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

20. Be careful to take risks.
Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

21. Repeat yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

22. Make your own tools.
Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.
You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

24. Avoid software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.

25. Don’t clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

26. Don’t enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

27. Read only left-hand pages.
Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."

28. Make new words.
Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

29. Think with your mind.
Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

30. Organization = Liberty.
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'

31. Don’t borrow money.
Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

32. Listen carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

33. Take field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

34. Make mistakes faster.
This isn’t my idea – I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.

35. Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

36. Scat.
When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.

37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

38. Explore the other edge.
Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces – what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference – the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals – but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

40. Avoid fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

41. Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

42. Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.

43. Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.

Thursday, 23 July 2009

Mission and Vision statement (with examples)




Some examples of Mission and Vision:

Nike: To experience the emotion of competition, winning and crushing competitors.

Wal-Mart: To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people.

Disney: We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere.

Google: To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful

Yahoo: Our mission is to be the most essential global Internet service for consumers and businesses

Amazon: To build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online

Dell: To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best
customer experience in markets we serve.

Hewlett-Packard: To make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity.

Ford Motor: To become the world's leading consumer company for automotive products and services.

Ebay: to provide a global trading platform where practically anyone can trade practically anything.

Facebook: Facebook gives people the power to share and make the world more open and connected

Ibm: we strive to lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, storage systems and microelectronics

Microsoft: we work to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential

Sony: To experience the joy of advancing and applying technology for the benefit of the public.

Apple: To produce high-quality, low cost, easy to use products that incorporate high technology for the individual. We are proving that high technology does not have to be intimidating for noncomputer experts.

Generalmotor: to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stock-holders will receive a sustained superior return on their investment.

Toyota: To sustain profitable growth by providing the best customer experience and dealer support

Mcdonald's: McDonald's vision is to be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.

Burger King: We will prepare and sell quick service food to fulfill our guest's needs more accurately, quickly, courteously, and in a cleaner environment than our competitors. We will conduct all our business affairs ethically, and with the best employees in the mid-south. We will continue to grow profitably and responsibly, and provide career advancement opportunities for every willing member of our organization.

CocaCola:Everything we do is inspired by our enduring mission:
To Refresh the World... in body, mind, and spirit.
To Inspire Moments of Optimism... through our brands and our actions.
To Create Value and Make a Difference... everywhere we engage.

Pepsi: We have absolute clarity about what we do ‘WE SELL HIGH QUALITY FOOD AND BEVERAGE PRODUCTS.’ Our success will ensure: customers will build their business, employees build their futures, and shareholders build their wealth.

3M: To solve unsolved problems innovatively.

Fannie Mae: To strengthen the social fabric by continually democratizing home ownership.

Mary Kay Cosmetics: To give unlimited opportunity to women.

Merck: To preserve and improve human life.

for more missions, visit: Man on a Mission or this one

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

12 things entrepreneurs should not do

  1. Don’t worry, be crappy. Perfectionism, first of all, is an illusion. Nothing is perfect. Even worse, perfection stands in the way of revenue and truly learning what customers think because nothing is in their hands yet. When your product is “good enough” (but not “perfect”), ship it, and see what happens.
  2. Don’t give out lofty titles. Just because a roommate was there during the drunken weekend when you came up with the idea for your company, doesn’t mean he should be CTO. Someday, you’ll need to hand out titles like director, vice-president, and chief whatever officer, so keep them in reserve. Until then refer to each other as “co-founders” and describe the area of responsibility: for example, “programming.” If your roommates aren’t cool with this, they’re doing you a favor by showing their colors now.
  3. Don’t hire your family. The probability that your spouse or relative is the best person you can get for a job is 0%. The probability that people will hate working at company with spouses and relatives is 100%. The probability that one of you will have to go someday is also 100%. Never hire out of expediency. Always hire the best person you can get. This usually means not hiring your family unless you’re Jack or Suzy Welch.By the way, if you both hire your family and give them a lofty title, you are truly a bozo.
  4. Don’t sweat valuation. This is easy for a venture capitalist to say, but your company is either going to die or make you more money than you imagined. Whether you have 10% or 15% and whether your pre-money valuation is $2 million or $3 million isn’t going to really matter. Do the math: 15% of $0 is $0, so stop negotiating, take the money, and build something that’s worth more than $0. Whatever valuation a venture capitalist offers you, increase it by 20% and counter her offer. This is just enough to show you’re not a pushover, but not too much that it will prolong or blow up the negotiations.
  5. Don’t believe venture capitalists. Having said that you shouldn’t sweat valuation, you shouldn’t believe venture capitalists. It’s not that we’re all liars—we just don’t finish our sentences. Rule of thumb: add “as long as things are going well” to everything a venture capitalist tells you. For example, “I am investing in your team” or “I will be there for you.”
  6. Don’t create lofty forecasts that you call “conservative.” You know you’re pulling numbers out of the air. We know you are too. You know we know. We know you know. So why would you forecast the fastest ramp in the history of capitalism? (It’s more likely that I will play in the NHL than you will achieve $2 billion in sales in year four.) Just project $25 million in year four, and we’ll all be in agreement about your lie.
  7. Don’t believe that the exception is the rule. This is called the Twitter Effect. It goes like this, “We’re focusing on usage and eyeballs like Twitter. We’re not that concerned about revenue right now. Look how valuable everyone thinks Twitter is. We’ll be just like that.” Twitter is the exception. Facebook is the exception. YouTube is the exception. There, I listed all the exceptions. Everyone else needs revenue asap, or you will #fail.
  8. Don’t focus on partnerships. “Partnership, noun, a relationship between two parties that does not increase the profitability of either.” If your partnership doesn’t cause you to edit your Excel spreadsheet, it’s meaningless. Focus on customerships, not partnerships if you want to succeed. When you’re a big, dumb, slow-moving company, then fabricate all the partnerships you want.
  9. Don’t build out your infrastructure. Sure, your conservative estimate is for a growth curve that makes Twitter’s look like a blip, so you need customer service, technical support, and racks of servers. I’ve never seen a company achieve even its “conservative” projections—I take that back: I’ve seen plenty of companies reach their overhead projections. The odds are that you’ll run out of money before you’ll run out of infrastructure.
  10. Don’t assume you’ll ever raise another round. Most projected timelines should contain a event that’s called “This is where the miracle occurs.” A much better assumption is that no miracle occurs, it takes years of grinding it out to succeed, and you’ll never raise another dime, so you must reach profitability with what you already have. Miracles happen in movies, not startups.
  11. Don’t compare your intentions to other employees’ results. Most people compare their intentions to the results of others. In this way, you’re never at fault or a failure. For example, you intended to ship on time, but the sales gal didn’t achieve her expected results. The effect of this is poor morale and chasms between people. You need to face the facts: you probably delivered less than you intended. Maybe others did too, but at least you’ll be more humble.
  12. Don’t ask people to do something you wouldn’t do. This is the Golden Rule of business. If you wouldn’t fill out ten fields of information and provide a credit card number for a free password, don’t expect your customers too. If you wouldn’t work on weekends stuffing envelopes, don’t expect your employees to. If you wouldn’t invest in your company, don’t expect venture capitalists to.

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

The New Normality is Turbulence - Philip Kotler -

I think that crisis means 2 things: crisis and opportunity.
Jetblue said is the best time for them, they get more market share since their competitors are weak.
When there are disruptions, that’s the time some firms get better chances.
Many books speak about great companies, I think it started with Tom Peters. But some companies turned out disasters.My friend Jim Collins wrote the book “Good to great”, and identified about 15 phenomenal companies in ROI and sales, that led Jim to find out… why a great company falls.
His new book is “How the mighty fall”. He had to write it!
How does a company like GM fall apart?
According to Jim there is a cycle. It starts with success, then success becomes the cause for failure. Success is the beginning of the end.
2nd stage is called undisciplined growth. They think they can do anything. Cisco, run by John Chambers, is about to enter 15 new markets, I don’t remember anyone announcing such a massive move.
3rd stage starts when there are problems, but the company denies them.
4th stage is when it becomes very public that the company has problems.
At this stage they will try anything. If they’re lucky they find… salvation. If they don’t find salvation, it’s 5th stage: GM.
Its gonna be happening more and more.

Now, let’s distinguish recession from turbulence.
Recession is a business cyle, economy goes down and slowly comes back up.
Turbulence is different. It means there will be a large number of surprise and disturbances, more than before. But there’s no curve, like the business cycle. It’s shakiness.
My thesis is that we are entering a New Normality.

The New Normality is: Turbulence.
The norm is change. Change is the norm.
There will be a lot of shakiness, like in an airplane…
So, I believe companies need new systems and processes to handle turbulence.
My new book “Chaotics” will be out in Italy in september, and holds this subtitle: the business of handling marketing in the age of turbulence.

Turbulence is here for two big reasons: globalization and digitalization.
Globalization means that we’re so interconnected with other countries that if US sneezes, everybody gets a cold.
Globalization is the best thing we can hope for, because it brings down the cost of living.
One of the good things is that it locks us in a state of fragility.
Then, the news travel fast. Customer empowerment is the result. Entirely different from 15 years ago.
One person can take down a company.
One persone can open up a site and command a company to respond.
Companies have to be not only transparent, but have to have good quality. It’s not acceptable not to deliver quality.
That is why companies will get better.
If I need a car I don’t go to a dealer, I go to the web.
And see what the people said abut that car. Not only now, by 6 months before.
Then I go to the dealer and I know what the price will be. Not his price, my price, the price I know from the web.
We cannot get away get away with old marketing and promotion.
Marketing has more conversation than promotion.
Your company must be able to open up. You have missed an opportunity to actually co-create your product with your consumer.
It happens with Lego, Harley-Davidson… customers want to help out! They wanna tell you how to do it.
Whole new set of things.

Now let’s move on… here are the concerns of customers:
- recession
- sustainability

(Mostra dei marchi spoof – Fail invece di Ford, Nokia disconnecting people, Sorry invece di Sony ecc.
This is recession.
Dalai Lama said:
Easy times are the enemy, they put us to sleep.
Adversity is our friend. It wakes us up.

Old chinese proverb:
When the wind storms,
some build walls,
some build windmills.

What is the best strategy? Is there one? No.
There are 4, depending on your company.

- Suppose you are strong company (good finance, strong marketing, competitive position)… what is your strategy?
It’s: buy the competitors who are weak, or their assets.

- Suppose you are a stable company (good finance, weak on the market). Your strategy: build some good marketing and buy out some brands.

- Suppose you are a struggling company (weak finance, strong marketing). Your strategy: rinegotiate with suppliers, make process improvements.

- Suppose you are weak on both: close down, your company is out (failing company).

Another point, your company decision-making should be in three stages:

1 Decide what to do now in the emergency of the recession, maybe cut everything unprofitable, but before you do this housecleaning, ask yourself what the impact will be in 4 years.

2 Work on new products that are ready, move into opportunities.

3 Remember that you had a big dream at the beginning, something significant for people. Think in that direction.
What business are we? What do we believe in ? Don’t ever forget that.

Some consumer adjustments:
- Consumers will move lo lower prices.
Some companies are in a good position, when they are designed to produce a lot for little money. MacDonalds, Dollar stores. When consumer want to save money they go to them. They prosper now. Two examples. Frozen food is in a strong position. People are not going to restaurants too much anymore, and they don’t have time to cook.Sleeping pills. They go very well now.
Private brands, as opposed to normal brands, are doing extremely well.
In a recession, big brands are in trouble.
Subbrands of big brands are growing.
- Consumers will postpone whatever is not necessary.
Bad news for furniture, autos, major appliances and expensive vacations.
- Consumers change their behaviour because of fuel prices
High prices will lead to home-centerness, less driving, people stay near where they live, won’t go to restaruants.
Some business adjustments:
- Reduce production, buy factories.
- Cut rate of capital investments.
- Marketing will be cut
- Suspend new product development
What should you do?
Some will assume the recession will cure itself.
Don’t panic, don’t make across the board cuts. Like: cut 20% of everything.
Suppose a company is preferred because of service, if you cut 20 % of service you’ll loose everything.
Let me show you what P&G did.
All global companies know that they really are local.
Shampoo packaging changes in different countries.
They noticed that maybe they were “over”localizing, so one way to save was to stantardize a little bit, then reduce some flavours, and then leave or sell some weaker brands.
Another case: MacDonalds.
Brands get tired. They made new business plan. They did something that impressed me.
Renovation, Innovation, Marketing.
Continuous improvement is the only alternative to continuous decay.
Stores had to look better and have more contemporary look.
Innovation: new things in the menu. Mothers wanted a good, fresh salade. They improved their quality in that direction, opening the menu. They even introduced something that cannibalized the hamburger: the taco, which cost half the price of the hamburger.
And then marketing talked about “the new MacDonalds”.
And also, they recognized that they can learn a lot opening up to internationalization. They learned food from all over the world.
Strategic responses, not tactical.
1 Track changes.
2 Examine local competitor weaknesses.
3 Decide in which markets to build market share.
4 Offer lower value and add value.
Marketing: there are several things you should do.
Many companies don’t know the cost of rebates, discounts… they don’t know if they make money or loose money, when it comes to marketing.
Account analysis on marketing is lacking.

Marketing steps to take:
1 Take an inventory of marketing initiatives and costs.
2 Shed unfprofitable segnents.
3 Delete poor selling products.
4 Weed out underperforming distributors.
5 Reposition pricing.
6 Shift to a more efficient media mix: go to social media.
7 Focus on getting more spending by existing customers, and less on attracting new ones.
8 Build stronger relationships with high-potential customers.

Define the mktg budget.
Some part of the budget must be kept: to test, to reach key customers, to change prodcuct features, and to message why to continue buy your product, for trade/consumer promotion (in a recession everybody is looking for a deal).
Advertising?
Does it still pay?
Yes if your company…
…has a value brand
…is about to launch a subbrand
…has an exciting new offering
…has a strong finance
…has a product that demonstrates its value
Now, to overcome purchase resistance.
Problem 1: Customers decide to buy later, cause the price may go down.
Response: buy now, if the price goes down we’ll give you the difference
Problem 2: I’m worried that I might loose my job.
Response: We’ll take the car back, with small adjustments.
Problem 3: I feel poor.
Response: you feel poor, but if you buy it later price may go up.
You need to build systems for the new normal: turbulence.

1
Early morning system.
More than business intelligence, it’s a formalization to identify weak signals, an early morning system will formalize this.
You better know everything in advance.

2
Scenario planning.
More than a business plan.
Ability to imagine 2 or 3 scenarios, like militaries do.
What’s the worst thing that can happen to us, and what would you do.
We are not in a world where risk is measurable.

3
Flexible budgets.
I want every department able to tell me what to cut, in case, overnight.
Tell me what 20% can be cut from, overnight.
And the opposite.
What every dep.t would do with an extra 20%, in case.
Flexible budgeting, it gives an advantage in time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discussion
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morbello

I have in mind the blind test Coke vs. Pepsi.

I work for Acer, a company with a lot opportunities in driving the crisis, but we think we do have to create value. What’s your opinion?

Kotler

Value is the center value, and brand is key.

Image of Absolute vodka is what makes people choose it.

Just putting a name or some brand type on an item, makes a difference in the mind.
But the real question is: how do we build value.

Old answer: brand is built in the mind.
Tide detergent kept saying “it cleans best”. We got to believe it. Notice that it appeals to the head not the heart.

New stage: emotion.
Connection between brand and heart.
How do you emotionalize a brand?

The key idea is develop a story, by the way.

Marketing 1.0 = mind
2.0 = heart
3.0 = spirit


The spirit comes up when some company say: our product is good for the environment.

It’s the spirit we want as human beings.

Value is very basic.

Morbello

Thank you. Multiple approach. Laptop has become more and more a commodity. What do you think about starting investing in strong rational parts?

Kotler

In the computer area, you’re quite right.

The net book I think is the convergence of PDA and laptop.

Someone is coming out with the right form of it. People give a mental reasons, they travel a lot, they want something light, but also for your children… appealing, friendly…

There maybe some more fetures that will catch us as crucial. Movie machine, internet machine, TV set…

Questions from the audience?

Gabriele Cortella, Politecnico

Co-creation, it includes the customer. How do you think the business model of a company may change according to this?

Kotler

You’re absolutely right.

I think that you should have some customers that love you so much that they want to sit down with you and talk about your product.

On a volunteer base, they hang around, you don’t pay them.

A company is a workshop. In Chicago there’s a picture frame place, where you don’t just choose your frame, you actually make it.

Co-creation means having people around you and being a good reference for ideas.

It’s very different to say “every idea you see it comes from the company”, and say “this is made by you”.

Get a prize, or a year supply, is a good idea to involve customers.

Persona della società Future People

Regarding the social implications of business activities (mktg 3.0)… Looking at the impact advertising has had in influencing consumer, do you think that modern marekting has some responsability, and to what extent?

Kotler

Americans bought more than they really could.

We would allow someone to buy a home, a car, with nothing down. Difference from the rest of the world, we were buying more than we were exporting.
So the Chinese basically have been paying for Italian goods Americans buy.

Marketing is the responsible.

Marketers are judged by the ability to sell something… the mantra is “go out and sell, no matter what”.

We have to change that.

There’s a big debate on it. Lower growth. There’s no alternative.

In Asia they say that the US is not part of the new world. The new world is Asia.

In my hotel in Bejin they had an orchestra in the hall. That was only done in Europe, once. But Europe and US cannot afford it anymore. We hav to change our geographical targets.

And lower growth.



Social adverts: is it better to build a social network, or to be part of a third party social network?

Kotler

Facebook, or Myspace. What is it all about, in the beginning… Twitter, I haven’t tried it but I think Obama does it.

Those are very popular.
We don’t know yet how to use them commercially.

Best marketing is when you reach the customer in the market you need him to be.

I have an idea. Basically, your website is the basis of your network, and your own social network is where you somehow build a community, and they can talk to each other.

The word “community” is becoming more and more important in marketing.

Think about developing a community about you.

When you achieve a community they want to participate. Co-creation.

In the end, to answer your question, I would say: use both.
-------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Time Management: L'arte di organizzare il proprio tempo

Il tempo, una risorsa preziosa che sfugge al nostro controllo.

Se esiste una risorsa che rende tutti uguali e di cui tutti disponiamo allo stesso modo, questo è il tempo. La giornata del ricco è del povero è della stessa durata, appena ventiquattro ore, e nessuno può esercitare alcun potere su di esso. E’ sufficiente fissare per un attimo lo sguardo sull’orologio che portiamo al polso, sia esso un rolex in oro o un bieco plasticotto trovato nel fustino del dixan, per rendersi conto che ognuno di quei secondi sfugge al nostro controllo, e niente al mondo ci permetterà di recuperarlo.

Quante volte si ripete a se stessi la frase “mi piacerebbe fare…ma non ho tempo.”, “se avessi più tempo potrei…”, ma come mai è così difficile trovare il tempo per iniziare un nuovo progetto come imparare una nuova lingua, frequentare un corso, iscriversi in palestra per buttar giù l’odiosa pancetta, mentre lo si trova facilmente per fare un giro di telefonate per organizzare una cena con gli amici, guardare una partita di calcio in tv, o, peggio, sonnecchiare un intero pomeriggio sul divano?
Attività piacevoli, queste ultime, non v’è dubbio, e a volte anche necessarie, ma forse poco proficue. Teoria ancor più valida, se a queste sussegue lo sconforto che assale chi, giorno dopo giorno, avverte l’amara sensazione di concludere poco, o nulla. La domanda da porsi è allora questa: sono sicuro di impiegare il mio tempo nel miglior modo possibile? L’ovvia risposta è: no!

Secondo il parere degli esperti, infatti, una cattiva gestione del tempo è la prima causa di scarso successo di qualunque progetto. Abbiamo chiesto a questi, quindi, di far luce su quello che in gergo viene definito “Time Management”, ovvero, la capacità di gestire e organizzare questa preziosa risorsa.

Cosa si intende per “Time Management”?
Risponde il Dr. Antonio Dondolini, Personal Coach e Tainer di Programmazione Neuro Linguistica

Il time management è un approccio nuovo e per molti aspetti rivoluzionario ad uno dei fattori più importanti della nostra esistenza: il tempo.

Sino ad oggi il tempo è stato considerato soltanto come una delle molteplici variabili (ed una delle più importanti) che influenza la nostra vita in ogni suo aspetto. In questa visione il tempo veniva visto come un fattore limitante con il quale fare i conti, una variabile che potenzialmente, e spesso anche fattivamente, limita o addirittura impedisce i compiti e le attività umane nonché il raggiungimento di determinati obiettivi.
Questa variabile sino ad oggi è stata subita passivamente; tuttalpiù si è lavorato per aumentare (o a seconda dei casi diminuire) il tempo a nostra disposizione (o quello necessario) per l'esecuzione di un determinato compito.

Con il T.M., invece, siamo di fronte ad una vera e propria rivoluzione copernicana nell'approccio al fattore tempo. Infatti con questo innovativo modello il tempo passa dall'essere una variabile limitante subita passivamente al diventare una preziosa risorsa da amministrare e coltivare. Una risorsa che, al pari della altre, concorre alla riuscita di un determinato compito o al raggiungimento di un particolare obiettivo. Una risorsa che deve essere coltivata e valorizzata che, opportunamente gestita, può realmente fare la differenza e permetterci di eccellere in un determinato compito o ambito della nostra vita.
Il T.M. è quindi prima di tutto un cambiamento di mentalità.

Perché è importante?
Risponde Sara Cicolani, Strategic Coach, Manager del Benessere®, ideatrice dei metodi Wellness & Holistic Coaching®

Aiuta a trasformare le idee in realtà, ad imparare a gestire e programmare la lista di cose ‘da fare’, ad affrontare le situazioni ‘una per volta’, a progettare e raggiungere obiettivi in qualsiasi ambito della propria vita a breve, medio e lungo termine ed ovviamente molto di più.

E’un metodo utile per chiunque - ad es. una casalinga, un operaio, uno studente -, o è adatto solo a chi svolge un particolare tipo di lavoro che presume svariati impegni e scadenze?
Risponde la Dott.ssa Maria Donatella Stefanini, Medico chirurgo e Licensed trainer di PNL.

Nessuno ha impegni e scadenze più serrati di uno studente o di una casalinga: avete mai provato a preparare la colazione mentre vestite i bambini e lasciate la commissioni alla colf mentre mentalmente ripassate le commissioni da fare PRIMA di andare al lavoro? Il time management è utile per chiunque abbia a che fare con il tempo, e quindi per CHIUNQUE !

Quali sono i benefici di pianificare le proprie attività?
Risponde Tonino Borro, Corporate Coach in Programmazione Neuro Linguistica e Manager banca d'investimenti

La pianificazione nel tempo delle attività offre ad un individuo vantaggi concreti derivanti da un metodo. Nella sfera personale, l’individuo incrementa la sensazione di successo personale accrescendo l’autostima. Una corretta gestione del tempo permette un miglior bilanciamento tra impegni professionali e attività della vita privata, o ancora aumenta la consapevolezza della capacità di gestire specifiche situazioni critiche in rapporto al risultato atteso, mentre nell’ambito della propria cornice organizzativa il T.M. offre un modello che agevola la costruzione di una visione d’insieme più lucida, completa, ed evolve altri processi organizzativi della persona. Il metodo è applicabile in qualsiasi area dell’organizzazione degli obiettivi di vita importanti da conseguire.
In ultima analisi, nel contesto professionale i vantaggi che si colgono sono quelli di accettare sfide con rinnovate energie, sviluppare un pensiero imprenditoriale costituendo la base per impostare l’accesso a nuovi percorsi di carriera.

Cosa rischia chi non ha l’abitudine di organizzare il proprio tempo?
Risponde L’Ing. Giacomo De Candia, esperto di Peak Performance, formatore specializzato nell’area della Leadership

A mio avviso si corrono due rischi:il primo è che il proprio tempo venga “organizzato” dagli altri; il secondo rischio è che chi non organizza il proprio tempo otterrà meno risultati di quello che è il suo potenziale e sarà sempre “ad inseguire gli eventi.

Risponde Federico Grianti Executive e PNL Coach

Il prezzo che paga chi non riesce ad organizzare il proprio tempo in modo efficace e produttivo e’ molto alto.La nostra vita scorre via veloce senza che noi riusciamo a mettere nella giusta priorita’ i nostri veri obiettivi e le cose importanti che vogliamo vivere. Riempiamo i nostri spazi di tempo con attivita’ inutili e non abbiamo spesso la forza di “guidare” le nostre attivita’.Il prezzo e’ lo spreco di una risorsa che non torna piu’.

E’ un elemento fondamentale per raggiungere i propri obiettivi?
Risponde Alessandro Luciani Amministratore Delegato Modulo Innovazione

Distinguerei l’organizzazione metodica della propria quotidianità dalla definizione degli obiettivi principali della propria vita. Nella gestione delle attività quotidiane una buona organizzazione aiuta a vivere meglio, mentre nel perseguimento dei propri obiettivi personali più che di organizzazione parlerei di determinazione. Il time management aiuta a determinare cosa è strategico ed essenziale da ciò che è semplicemente urgente.

Riguarda solo gli obiettivi a lungo termine?
Risponde Gianluca Gambirasio, Amministratore Olympos Group

No. Qual e’ il periodo di programmazione più importante in assoluto? Il giorno. Alla fine dell’anno il risultato generale non è altro che la somma dei risultati conseguiti ogni giorno. Programmiamo ed ottimizziamo attentamente ogni giornata di lavoro facendo tesoro della nostra agenda giornaliera come indispensabile strumento di supporto e di guida. Ogni giorno abbiamo sempre a disposizione: 24 ore, 1440 minuti, 86400 secondi.

Il tempo è uguale per tutti. L’utilizzo che ne facciamo e i risultati che otteniamo dipendono solo da noi. Anche le attività ripetitive che ci richiedono solo pochi minuti ogni giorno, se viste nell’arco di un anno intero diventano intere giornate lavorative. Occorre sempre domandarci se il tempo che investiamo su un’attività valga la pena oppure no. Se ad esempio ogni giorno navighiamo in Internet per trenta minuti, significa che in un anno investiamo quindici giorni lavorativi del nostro tempo navigando in Internet (calcolo effettuato ipotizzando otto ore di lavoro al giorno). Riuscire a dedicare nell’arco di una giornata anche pochi minuti per portare avanti un progetto per noi importante, può sembrare poco ma se riusciamo a mantenere la costanza di farlo per un lungo periodo, avremo fatto sicuramente un gran passo avanti. È solo riuscendo a trarre il massimo da ogni nostra giornata lavorativa che possiamo ambire a raggiungere importanti traguardi.

Oggi più che mai si ritiene importante svolgere più attività contemporaneamente per sentirsi “produttivi”: l’esigenza di pianificare, e saper dare la giusta importanza alle priorità, è forse una necessità del nostro tempo?
Risponde Luca Stanchieri, responsabile didattico Scuola Italiana di Life Coaching

Il multitasking è sopravvalutato. Alcune ricerche hanno dimostrato che fare più cose contemporaneamente significa semplicemente essere distratti più volte contemporaneamente. Ogni attività complessa e creativa richiede attenzione, concentrazione, attribuzione di importanza, a meno che non sia routinaria. Elaborare una scala di priorità, creare spazi/tempo dedicati alle cose che facciamo, costruirci un’agenda significa dedicare e indirizzare, orchestrare e concentrare le nostre capacità attentive. L’efficacia di un’attività dipende dall’attenzione che gli dedichiamo.

Come fa l’individuo a stabilire cosa va fatto prima, o meglio, quali attività mettere in primo piano rispetto ad altre?
Risponde Andrea Di Gregorio, Business Consultant, Personal Coach e NLP trainer

Secondo la mia opinione, tutto si basa sulla motivazione. Se c’è la motivazione si trova il tempo per fare ciò che si vuole e non si dimentica niente. La motivazione è poi fortemente legata ai valori, cui si relazionano le attività. Per esempio, se voglio andare a vedere la prima recita di mio figlio e mi trovo al lavoro con un’enorme quantità di cose da sbrigare, la scelta tra rimanere a terminare ciò che devo e correre da mio figlio dipende dalla posizione gerarchica cui il Valore ‘figlio’ sta rispetto il Valore ‘lavoro’. Se il primo occupa una posizione prioritaria nulla mi impedirà di assolvere il mio proposito, qualsiasi cosa possa accadere.Quando lavoro con un singolo o con un team, sul Time Management, svolgo fondamentalmente un lavoro sulla gerarchia dei valori, aiutando a comprendere che, una buona gestione del tempo, dipende essenzialmente da quanto si dà importanza alle cose della vita.

Qualcuno potrebbe essere in disaccordo con l’idea di avere una vita scandita da una tabella di marcia, ritenendo che questo modo di agire lo renderebbe simile ad un automa. Avendo una vita dettagliatamente programmata, non si corre il rischio di renderla grigia e noiosa? Risponde Sebastiano Zanolli, manager e scrittore.
Di solito sono quelli che passano la vita a lamentarsi di avere poco tempo e di non riuscire ad essere o avere di più. Altri invece invidiano chi ci riesce. Ma il punto non è scandire il tempo. Il punto è avere tempo, e tanto, per fare ciò che ci piace. E in un mondo come quello che abbiamo scelto questo significa ottenere risultati in modo veloce. Tutto il resto sono chiacchiere.

Risponde Pietro Paolo Prudenzano Licensed Trainer, Executive & Business Coach

Anche io sono in disaccordo con l’idea di avere una banale tabella di marcia. Se riduciamo il TM ad una lista di impegni scritti su una bella e magari costosa agenda, allora si corre il rischio di vivere una vita grigia e noiosa. Time Management invece vuol dire vivere veramente il tempo, sia dal punto di vista professionale che privato.

Assodata l’importanza della corretta gestione del tempo, che comportamento dobbiamo assumere circa gli imprevisti?
Risponde Roberto Erario, Life e Business Coach

I piani sono fatti sulla carta, le azioni sul campo. E’ fondamentale che il concetto di flessibilità entri nelle nostre abitudini, e ciò si può fare in due modi: 1) riservandosi in fase di pianificazione dei “cuscinetti” ovvero dei margini di tempo per eventuali imprevisti; 2) avendo un approccio attivo, sempre pronti a riprogrammare le attività pianificate se si verificano imprevisti maggiori.

Risponde Maxx Mereghetti, Trainer e Personal Coach

Nella vita siamo continuamente chiamati a scegliere, e spesso dobbiamo scegliere in situazioni di urgenza di fronte ad imprevisti. Ci sono persone che scelgono fuggendo da ciò che non le fa stare bene e persone che invece scelgono inseguendo i propri sogni e cercando ciò che li realizza. Credo che sapersi creare delle alternative sia la soluzione per potere fare delle buone scelte. Senza alternative si rischia di rimanere con le spalle al muro. La caratteristica dell’alternativa è che deve essere creata in anticipo e deve rappresentare una vera e valida alternativa, non un ripiego.

Esistono molte pubblicazioni, più o meno valide, che trattano il tema del time management: è sufficiente leggere un buon manuale, o è necessario frequentare un corso specifico?
Risponde Monica Giordani, Coach in Programmazione Neuro-Linguistica

Pratica pratica pratica, se non metti in pratica puoi avere pagato i migliori trainer al mondo, letto i migliori libri, e non cambierà una virgola della tua vita!

Quali consigli si possono dare a chi volesse testarne l’efficacia, c’è un metodo semplice da poter sperimentare subito?
Risponde Alessandro Saramin, Personal Coach e Trainer in PNL

Certo, il metodo che segue non solo è semplice ed efficace, ma con un po’ di pratica può triplicare o più la produttività personale. Condizione necessaria è rispettare tutti i passi esattamente come sono presentati:

  • All’inizio della giornata identifica 1-3 risultati chiave che vuoi DAVVERO conseguire oggi, che PUOI REALISTICAMENTE conseguire e tali che se li conseguissi, potresti guardare indietro e dire: “WOW!”. Scrivili su un pezzo di carta o un post-it e tienili in vista per il resto della giornata
  • Scegli uno dei tre risultati e chiediti qual è la singola azione più importante che puoi fare ora, che più di ogni altra ti avvicinerebbe a quel risultato
  • Chiediti come potresti rendere quell’azione più divertente o eccitante
  • Porta a termine l’azione scelta nel minor tempo possibile. Nel caso di imprevisti o interruzioni che richiedono la tua attenzione, occupati di essi e poi torna immediatamente a completare l’azione iniziale
  • Una volta completata, ricomincia dal punto 2
(vai all'articolo originale: LiberoReporter)

Related Posts with Thumbnails