I’ve been reading Emotional Intelligence (by Daniel Goleman) of late, prompted by my mother-in-law, my son (well his behaviour) and the fact that I had it sitting in my ‘to read’ pile for far too long.
The theme, which I guess I intuitively knew, is that ‘control’ over your emotions are far more important in life, success and everything that human beings engage in. In fact a number of studies point to how emotional intelligence trumps IQ everytime.
I was reminded of this today when thinking about self-belief and ‘being in the zone’ or the ability to channel your own abilities through self-belief.
I personally find that when I enjoy something, have fun and truely beleive in what I am doing, my motivation and performance shoot up. Okay so that’s nothing startling but being able to channel that energy in a business context is something I have missed out on for a while. On Friday, however I got the opportunity to pitch some ideas as I suggested here. Usually I find this type of pitch hard going, probably because I try and pitch what I think the customer wants to hear. I tried a different approach, which focused on what I believe in: social computing, social networking, word of mouth marketing and open source marketing, etc.
The presentation from my perspective went really well. I enjoyed myself and got across true enthusiasm for the subject matter and my real interest in the business I was pitching. It was very refreshing. Its not that I haven’t found other businesses interesting but rather my presentations lacked conviction. So I feel through the power of belief I have turned a corner i.e. reading Emotional Intelligence finally acted as a catalyst to change.
Now, whether the business buy into the ideas or not, it doesn’t really matter. Why? Well, because I learned something from the experience and got across an authentic point of view. (Oh and enjoyed it). If I get the work well, its a bonus. Still thanks to them for the opportunity. And my wife helped a huge amount too 
John Winsor: Learning to Listen Again
I started reading John Winsor a while ago after Johnnie pointed to him. He of course is the driving force behind the Spark book on innovation which is a fantastic read (which I should blog on). I missed this post the first time round but John refers back from a further post on Listening to Key Voices. It characterises why my beliefs have changed towards the idea of brand as passion. This particular point being my highlight (my emphaisis):
Love - While many businesspeople might laugh, this is the start of great listening. Great companies don’t just like their customers, they love their customers, and their employees too. Look again at Nike and Apple. Both companies are on crusades with their customers to change the world. And their customers can feel the love. They recognize that these companies really care about them and want to spend time with them. It’s all about letting people talk and tell their stories without any screens or interruptions. It’s about slowing down enough to have the time to engage people in a passionate dialogue while in the context of their lives.
I have promised myself to practice this in my life, at work and home. Its having an effect already.
Charlene Li’s Blog: Forrester’s Social Computing report
Charelen Li blogs on Forrester’s Social Computing report and makes some very telling points:
To fully appreciate the value of social computing, companies have to let go of control. That means letting customers control the brand if you’re a marketer, and it means enabling new enterprise tools that IT can’t easily control to attract and support employees with high social computing needs. In many ways, this is the source of the great distress that I routinely hear from corporate managers.
As James says:
Nicely put - sounds like open source marketing to me.
I have a presentation on Friday when I am going to pitch some of these ideas. I hope they can see the wood for the trees.
800-CEO-READ Blog: Focus Groups
Steve Cone the author of Steal these Ideas was hosting 800-CEO-READ blog and slated focus groups (unsurprisingly) with the line
You either know your business or you don’t.
I am not sure I agree totally with the thinking although I don’t think Focus groups are the right way forward, but talking to customers is IMHO. However I had to laugh at the Henry Ford Quote:
“If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.”
Just past Leceister I took a picture out of a train window and thenposted it to this blog. Sometimes technology is amazing . It makes me wonder. It makes me consider ‘where next?’
And although I was heading for Bridgenorth via Kidderminster, I don’t think that’s the answer.
Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | The ringmaster of the blogosphere
Guardian do Technorati and apprarently interview Dave Sifry. Lots of basic stuff but some little nuggets. This is a model that Johnnie and James promote and one I have also done some (read: a little) work on, with them:
Another development concerns who is using Technorati, alongside all those bloggers checking their links and the time-challenged looking for news. “We have a lot of companies that use this service who want to be able to track ‘what are people saying about my company? What are they saying about my products? Hell, what are they saying about my competitor’s products?’” Other regular visitors include the “cool-hunters”, desperate for the next trend in music or fashion, and journalists seeking stories and sources.
Elephant Odyssey - Sri Lanka Family Holidays Worldwide - EXPLORE! Family Adventures - Tour Itinerary#map
Yesterday I had a meeting at Explore, an Adventure Holiday company based in Farnborough. I was really impressed with their passion for authentic holidays, their desire to be environmentally responsible, particularly in their host countries and encouraging their clients to do so too.
By operating in small groups, we minimise the impact on the local culture and resources, whilst blending in more easily.
We issue our travellers with clear guidelines on responsible tourism. These cover a variety of issues from litter and waste disposal in remote areas, to begging and artefacts. We encourage customers to buy local crafts and support local skills, but never to buy products that exploit wildlife or the harm the habitat.
We use locally owned suppliers wherever viable to provide and run services. This ensures that the local economy benefits directly. We also expect local suppliers to meet our standards, with particular consideration for the environment.
When recruiting Tour Leaders, we assess their environmental credentials and then train them to our own standards. They are also required to complete a Responsible Tourism Audit on each tour.
And lastly about their passion for their customers. They want to engage with them and create value.
I was impressed. I hope they were too.
In the meantime go and visit their site because there are some amazing holidays. I’m considering the Elephant Odyssey around Sri Lanka. (well when I have saved up for it
Guardian Unlimited | Science | The prize: $10m. To win, just solve these science problems
First there was the Ansari X prize and now… well Human Genome mapping, Environmentally friendly cars and Orbital space flight. Its one way to generate innovation. Perhaps the government should shift their funding to this model? Its fascinating what the X foundation want to see developed.
Very high risk but great rewards - just ask Burt Rutan.
From the MediaGuardian.co.uk |-Opinion section, commenting on the rise in video content on the web.
Its an interesting leader on the whys and wherefores of charging for content. Whereas in the past (i.e. last week ), the model seemed to be about the content, now it seems to be about where and how you consume it, or as Emily Bell suggests: “the price of ease”.
Then there is also this other tasty little throw away line:
not really so much about extracting value as creating freedom and therefore causing disruption.
Convergence, communities and brand are all impacting in subtle ways to change the landscape in monumental ones. I guess its why I so love the Communities Dominate Brands book (and ongoing blog) and you can also see Hugh’s ‘marketing as disrtuption’ meme poking through.
We live in interesting times.
My charge for this content? Well intelligent conversation would be good… failing that you could offer me a job
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