I’ve always liked a good story…A story that teaches a lesson about business means a lot more to me than a list of dos and don’ts. This fable hits the business book story-telling nail on the head.
A very quick read, this book’s full title is, “Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty”.
I haven’t read the author’s previous bestselling work entitled, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, but apparently this book is written in the same style. Lencioni explains the principles of client loyalty by telling a story of a small consulting firm, Lighthouse partners, which often beats out big-name competitors for top clients. One of these competitors buys out Lighthouse and ends up learning important lesson about providing value to its clients.
The Three Fears
Fear of Losing the Business
- Always consult instead of sell
- Give away the business
- Tell the kind truth
- Enter the danger
Fear of Being Embarrassed
- Ask dumb questions
- Make dumb suggestions
- Celebrate your mistakes
Fear of Feeling Inferior
- Take a bullet for the client
- Make everything about the client
- Honor the client’s work
- Do the dirty work
How many of these tactics do you employ in your professional life? I bet if you start practicing more of them, you’d acquire more business…
I just finished reading Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink. Had I read this book when it was first published in 2002, I wouldn’t have gotten as much out of it as I have reading it in my current Free Agent infancy. It’s almost as if I’m living his book right now…
When I was looking for a job in 2009, I was networking with amazing people, who, surprisingly enough, were and still are Free Agents. I’d heard the phrase mentioned quite often, but didn’t quite fully grasp the concept until I began reading Free Agent Nation. I’d had about four people recommend that I read the book.
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Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to set your privacy settings (to a certain degree) to what you want to share with the public and what you want to keep private.
If you’re ever unsure if you’ve got your privacy settings set up correctly for Facebook (follow the same procedure for LinkedIn), follow these steps:
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Facebook just launched “Places”. It allows Facebook users who have a SmartPhone (for the most part) to share their location with friends, find out where their friends are (if they’re using Places), and discover new places.
For those of you using Foursquare, Places is similar, but different. Places isn’t concerned about checking-in to a coffee shop the most in order to become mayor and earn the coveted free espresso; it’s concerned with providing an interface for users to share Places they discover.
Read Mashable’s full write-up on Places here.
But Beware: As a Places user, you can add places, check in to places that already exist, and tag people who are with you.
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The three authors of this book are consultants on professional-service management and customer-relation issues. They feel that before anybody can become successful as a business guru, they first need to gain the confidence of their clients.
While I wasn’t a huge fan of the book, the biggest take away for me was their five-step development process that encourages outsiders to engage clients by focusing attention on the issues and individuals at hand; listening both to what they say and what they leave unsaid; framing the immediate problem from their perspective; envisioning with them how a solution might appear; and committing jointly to the actions and resources that will bring it about.
This approach could work in any situation where one’s goal is to gain the trust of another.
In the final chapter, the authors include “The Quick-Impact List to Gain Trust” and then an Appendix in which they duplicate all of the checklists previously provided. Great to refer to down the road if need by.
In case this earth-shattering news hasn’t landed on your doorstep yet, as of July 1, 2013, Google will be shutting down their product called the Google Reader.
For those unfamiliar, Google Reader is an aggregator of RSS feeds. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication,” and by using a feed aggregator you can view every post made on a website without going to the actual website itself. In this way, users can follow the updates of hundreds of sites at once.
It’s how I read the Internet.
I’ve since started using a new product called Feedly. I actually much prefer the interface. It’s slightly annoying that it doesn’t integrate with all of the other Google products I use (Gmail, Google Calendar…), but it gets the job done…
Feedly has done a good job of responding to the massive increase in users to their site since the Google announcement. The final bug they took care of for me was allowing RSS feeds for Google News and Blog searches to be added. Then I was sold on the product.
Here’s a good tutorial on how to get started with Feedly…enjoy!
If you’re wondering how you can get involved in social media – look no 
further than the Social Media Club of Des Monies. The Board of Directors were announced on March 4, 2010 and we’ve been organizing community events ever since.
Social Media Club Des Moines is a local chapter of Social Media Club, an organization whose mission is to promote media literacy, promote standard technologies, encourage ethical behavior, and share best practices in social media.
The Des Moines chapter of Social Media Club seeks to bring together area technologists, business owners, educators, professionals, enthusiasts, and users of all vocations to provide a forum for education and collaboration on social media technology, platforms, and strategies.
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Have you always wondered what that Google Reader thingie is that everyone is talking about?
Or are you getting started on your own website in WordPress and you’re hung up on a few things?
Have no fear, Office Hours are here.
Every other week (sign up for my e-newsletter to get the exact date/time/location) I’m at my “office”, aka Smokey Row, and am available to take any and all questions. Bring your laptops and we can work on what’s troubling you in your business.
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Working as a Free Agent since November 19, 2009 (a day I will never forget), I have projects that cross my path that I know are a 
perfect fit:
- My skills match the needs of the client
- We have a good rapport
- They “get it”
Then there are those projects that I’m approached with that make me hesitate:
- My skills don’t quite match their needs (this is when I reach out to my network of Free Agents for collaboration)
- The Client and I do not have a good rapport (this is going to be challenging – I usually weigh the cost vs. benefit)
- They don’t “get it” (I oftentimes turn down these projects)
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