Inviting Regulation?
Monday, December 31, 2007
2008 is almost here.
What regulation are you inviting?
On the threshold of a new year most people fall into one of two groups, those who make resolutions and those that refuse to even think about it. Regardless of which category you choose, I challenge you to review your business practices and those of your industry to identify behaviors that are likely to invite more regulation in the coming year.
This past year we've seen mortgage lendors, real estate professionals, appraisers and a myriad of others engage in practices that resulted in the subprime debacle. More regulation is certain to follow. The CPAs, as a result of the Enron, WorldCom fiascos, invited Sarbanes Oxley legislation that has cost companies billions of dollars in implementation costs. You have the ability to avoid regulation. How?
- Identify those practices in your industry that irritate the buying public or have the potential to create financial havoc
- Become an activist in your industry - lobby for change
- Find others who share your concern and develop action plans to change industry practices before those changes are foist upon you
- Use "freedom from regulation" as your rallying cry
- Become the first in your industry to make those changes, it'll afford you competitive advantage
It's counter-intuitive, but we invite the regulation we get by ignoring customer and market complaints, by blaming our shortcomings on industry practice. If you want to avoid regulation, quit hiding behind poor industry practices. Change them! If you have examples of how your industry has cleaned up some bad practices and how it has benefitted you, please share those experiences with our readers by posting a comment.
Ethics and Options
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Can blending the two create more ethical behavior?It has that potential.First, my wish for each and every one of you is that the blessings and joy of the holiday season live in your hearts throughout the coming year.The late Saul Alinsky in his book, Rules for Radicals, offers 11 rules for the ethics of means and ends. The fifth rule is "concern with ethics increases with the number of means available." The more options (alternative solutions) someone has for solving a given problem, the greater the likelihood that ethics will be considered as part of the solution.As Mr. Alinsky says, when only one means exists, the person employing that means is likely to ask "What else could I do?" When multiple means exist, this defense no longer exists; consequently, the person facing the dilemma is more likely to consider the ethics of each alternative.What does that have to do with us? It means that we can encourage ethical behavior by offering options. When dealing with prospects and customers offer them multiple options, not just for your offerings, but for service, payment and delivery options as well. Employees and vendors can be offered alternative performance and compensation levels, as long as those meet your needs.It's counter-intuitive, but offering stakeholders options subconsciously triggers a discussion of the ethical issues the stakeholder faces with each option. Similarly, the way that you create alternatives can establish a minimum level of ethical behavior. If you want to promote ethical behavior, offer options!
Please share your tips for promoting ethical behavior with other Invaluable Leaders by posting a comment. If there are other topics you'd like me to address, email me at dale@furtwengler.com
Survivor China
Monday, December 17, 2007
A Lesson in Selling
Congratulations Todd!
For those of you who may not be familiar with this television program, Survivor is a "reality" series. The reality is that it's a game. A game in which people are put into situations that inevitably require them to deceive people who trust them or at least renege on past promises in order to win the $1 million prize.
I don't believe that this is reality, nor does the Survivor China winner Todd. Even though the general consensus of the other players and Todd's self assessment was that he was a schemer, liar and outright manipulator of the other players, these other players chose him to win the prize. Why?
In Todd's words, "I forged personal relationships with all of these people and I hoped that they'd realize that the scheming and deceit were just part of the game." It worked! What's the lesson?
Rapport is powerful. I doubt that Todd would recommend his game-winning strategy for everyday living and I certainly am not, but forging strong, trusting relations with others has many advantages. It allows you to: - be more candid with people with whom you disagree
- shine the light on things they'd rather not see
- disengage from situations that aren't right for either party without sacrificing friendships
What's this have to do with selling? Salespeople who have developed a strong rapport with their customers experience: - greater sales
- lose fewer customers to pricing
- are more easily forgiven mistakes
- greater candor with customers while retaining their business
It's counter-intuitive, but rapport helps salespeople avoid the common perception that the players in Survivor China had of Todd - schemer, liar, manipulator. It allows your customers to say "I generally don't trust salespeople, but I know I can always count on you." Congratulations Todd! Both for winning the prize and teaching us a valuable life lesson. If there are other sales topics you'd like me to address, let me know by emailing me at dale@furtwengler.com
I'm Not Being Defensive!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Lessons for evaluating feedback.A radical departure from what we do."Judgment must be made in the context of the times in which the action occurred and not from any other chronological vantage point." - The late Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals.
One of the reasons why we become defensive (certainly not the only reason) is that others are judging our actions or evaluating our performance from a historical rather than contemporaneous perspective. They have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight. I'm going to take Mr. Alinsky's suggestion one step further and say that we should learn to "suspend" judgment. Whether we're the one evaluating another's actions or receiving feedback from others, learn to suspend judgment. You'll notice I said suspend, not eliminate. Our emotions trigger judgments which we are powerless to avoid. We can, however, learn to set aside these judgments. How?You can eliminate judgment from the feedback you offer by not second guessing others' actions or decisions. Instead of judging simply ask the person "What did you learn from this situation?" Similarly, you can put a stop to other people's judgments by simply saying "Had I known then what I know now, I'd have done things differently." It's a polite way to remind them that they're using a different chronological vantage point.You can use the same techniques when evaluating your own results. We're often our own worst critics. When you find yourself judging your own actions, remember that you're using a historical perspective to judge results that are new information gained from the actions you took. If you'd have had the benefit of the knowledge of those results prior to the action, you'd likely have taken a different approach.It's counter-intuitive, but we can minimize defensiveness by suspending judgment when evaluating our own behavior or the behavior of others. Indeed the lack of judgment often triggers a level of candor that accelerates learning from any situation, pleasant or difficult. If there are situations or topics you'd like me to address, please email me at dale@furtwengler.com.
Don't Get Emotional!
Monday, December 03, 2007
Or should we?
New insights into the role of emotions
All of our lives we've been told not to get emotional. That emotions get in the way of logical thought and effective solutions. Most of us can recall the hurt of being on the receiving end of an emotional outburst. It's just as likely that we've damaged a relationship with an outburst of our own.
Have you noticed anything so far? We're only talking about negative emotions. We've completely ignored the emotions of love, joy and well-being. We gain tremendous benefits from these emotions. Should we focus on the good and try to eliminate the negative?
Not according to Stanley Greenspan, M.D., author of The Growth of the Mind. http://www.stanleygreenspan.com/. Dr. Greenspan's studies show that emotions drive intellectual development. Indeed, our reactions to our emotions drive or thwart the development of the neural connections that allow us to develop more effective thought processes.
The key, according to Dr. Greenspan, is to discover the source of our emotion and view it with an eye to learning what triggered it and how to effectively deal with it. Interestingly most of us find someone with whom we can safely discuss our emotions, hopefully before an outburst. It's through this exchange that we continue both our emotional and intellectual growth throughout our lives.
It's counter-intuitive, but we shouldn't try to suppress our emotions. Rather we should use them to foster personal and professional growth.
If there are topics you'd like me to address, please email me at dale@furtwengler.com.
|
