What makes greatness? Ah, but what kills it?

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Jacqui Buchanan

The world’s leading CEO’s have endless theories, opinions, examples and ideas on what led to their greatness….

Richard Branson (c/o Wikipedia)

Richard Branson of Virgin relies on his ability to get the best from individuals by creating challenging environments: “Virgin staff are not mere hired hands. They are not managerial pawns in some gigantic chess game. They are entrepreneurs in their own right.” *

Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, says “It’s staying focused and prioritizing” while leveraging technology to stay organized. “Paper isn’t a big part of my life.” **

Andy Grove of Intel says it’s touching people’s “brains as well as their hearts, the source of their innate drive” and to do this “You must distill complex thoughts into Continue reading →

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“I’m South African” says global CEO

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Jacqui Buchanan

Anthony Vidergauz is former CEO of California Closets, a high-end custom storage company that brought him to the US 23 years ago. He and his partner acquired the struggling small home improvement company from Williams Sonoma in 1994 and under Anthony’s leadership the company eventually tripled revenues to a $250 million enterprise with over 100 franchises worldwide.

Anthony Vidergauz shared with SAABC how announcing he is South African was a strength and differentiator ensuring he was not forgotten…. any guesses which SA hometown is noted on his license plate?

 

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7 things John Maxwell learnt from nearly dying

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Amanda Elison

John Maxwell is a leadership expert, coach and author who has sold more than 20 million books. He speaks to Fortune 100 companies, government leaders and organizations such as the United Nations and NFL. I was recently reading an article where he spoke about the 7 most important things he learned after suffering from a heart attack and nearly dying.

1. Be grateful for life. Our vision for our businesses or the demands put on us by leadership can cause us to forget how extraordinary life is. Practice being grateful and make it a habit.

2. Focus on what you have, not what you have lost. Focus on the good not the bad, focus on what you have, not what you don’t have. We as humans tend to spend an extraordinary amount of time wishing for something to happen in the future or remembering something that happened in our past…..in the mean time our present passes us by unnoticed and unappreciated. Continue reading →

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US IMMIGRATION: Tips for how to stay in the US … the right way!

Posted on April 19, 2012 by SAABC

An article by SAABC subscriber Lara Romanello.

Whether you are considering working for an American employer or pursuing a business investment venture in the United States arena, there are key issues that need to be addressed for your goals to be reached. One issue is immigration.

Non-immigrant visas
There are a number of non-immigrant work visas available. These categories include, but are not limited to, visas for registered nurses, temporary agricultural workers or those performing other services or labor, intra-company transferees; and foreign nationals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics and internationally recognized athletes or members of an entertainment group.

There is also a visa available for foreign nationals in specialty occupations. This visa is a very common category, and therefore I have chosen this one to elaborate upon. The foreign national must be offered employment in a field requiring highly specialized knowledge, which in turn would require a Bachelor’s or higher degree or its equivalent. As an H-1B nonimmigrant, you may be admitted for a period of up to three years. Your stay may be extended, but generally it cannot go beyond a total of six years, though some exceptions apply. There are a limited number of visas in this category that are made available in any one calendar year, however there are certain sub-categories of professionals who are not subject to the cap at all.

Immigrant Visas
There are three main categories available for individuals who wish to live and work in the Unites States on a permanent basis. Continue reading →

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3 simple stories from Steve Jobs

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Jacqui Buchanan

Based on 40+ interviews with Jobs conducted over 2 years—as well as interviews with 100+ family, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries.

“Stay hungry, stay foolish” were the final words of perhaps the greatest commencement speeches of all time.

Steve Jobs’ 2005 presentation to the graduating class of Stanford University has been called “a lesson in life, a morality tale about discovery, passion, vision, morality, redemption, and the meaning of existence-all revealed through three simple stories.”*

VIDEO: Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks– including death itself– at Stanford University’s 114th Commencement on Sunday in Stanford Stadium
(Jobs’ presentation begins at 07:40 … although the introduction is fascinating!)

Some simple tactics by the Apple Computer CEO had people “quickly realize they were sharing in a magical experience the likes of which they had never heard before”*:

Three strengths of Jobs’ presentation:

1. He identified with the audience–even though they are graduates, he is not, and noted: “This is the closest I have ever got to a graduation”

Continue reading →

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Ditch these 3 bad habits and be a better leader

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Amanda Elison

Marshall Goldsmith is an expert at helping global leaders overcome their sometimes unconscious annoying habits and attain a higher level of success. Named one of the five most-respected executive coaches by Forbes and a top-ten executive educator by the Wall Street Journal”, Goldsmith has worked with some of the most influential leaders in Fortune 500 companies.

When people ask Goldsmith if the people he coaches can really change their behavior, his answer is: “As we advance in our careers, behavioral changes are often the only significant changes we can make.”

In his best selling book “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, Goldsmith describes 20 common interpersonal bad habits or behaviors that hold them back. In my coaching practice, I often explore these bad habits with my CEO clients. Here are the 3 most common ones mentioned:

1. Adding too much value – It is extremely difficult for successful people to listen and not try to add their “preferred or better” idea. You temper others participation when you follow “great idea” with a “but” or a “however”. Other tempering are reactions like: “we already knew that” or “we know a better way”. Herein lies the problem: by adding your own idea, you may have improved the content of the other persons idea by 5% but in so doing, you have reduced the commitment to getting it executed by 50%. Why? Because you have taken away the ownership of the idea. Continue reading →

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Warren Buffet’s Way with Words Wins over the World

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Jacqui Buchanan

You’ll need it to sell your product or service, command a room, motivate employees, persuade investors, align teams, enlist allies. If you’re to be a leader, yes, you’ll need brains and some sort of talent but that doesn’t go too far without solid communications skills.

Politicians know very well that communication is performance. If you sound, look and act like a leader. You’ll be seen as a leader. The power of the word is a politicians greatest asset. Yet business leaders don’t always cotton on to the fact that the way in which THEY speak says volumes about the company they run too.

Speak candidly using language that people understand, and people will listen.

One of the world’s wealthiest men, Warren Buffet, is greatly admired for capturing audiences with his simplicity, clarity, wisdom and humor. People understand his message.

Warren Buffet is known as "Down to earth" in his communications style (picture thanks to Telegraph UK)

What more clear, believable, memorable and reassuring than to read language like these 3 excerpts from his 2012 annual shareholders letter:

  1. Charlie and I don’t expect to win many of you over to our way of thinking – we’ve observed enough human behavior to know the futility of that – but we do want you to be aware of our personal calculus. And here a confession is in order: In my early days I, too, Continue reading →
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7 Characteristics of a Successful Salesperson

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Amanda Elison

In the last blog we talked about the importance of testing for sales aptitude. Here we look at the specific traits or characteristics you want to be able to identify in a salesperson in order for them to be successful:

  1. Entrepreneurial/Strategic Thinkers – They see themselves as owning their own business within the business – They are able to see the “big picture” through the customer’s eyes.
  2. Empathy – Ability to read others – Ability to devise and articulate appropriate solutions Continue reading →
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5 factors to look for when hiring top Sales people

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Amanda Elison

According to John Asher, CEO of Asher-Global Leaders in Sales Strategies, the idea that anyone can sell is nonsense. The fact is, if you look at all Super Salesmen, there are 5 factors that are always present:

  1. Product Knowledge: They know not only their own business, but also their customer’s business and their competitor’s business extremely well.
  2. Aptitude: They are born with a natural talent or inherent ability for sales
  3. Selling Skills: They know and use all known sales skills Continue reading →
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Change is good if understood

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Jacqui Buchanan

Part 1: “My life is doomed!” – understand your audiences’  issues

Yes, change related to your business is inevitable. Resistance to that change from employees is just as certain. Sure, we are logical human beings and see the practical benefits of change. Yet we are also emotional beings and our thoughts might go like this:

  • If the company is cost cutting: “I understand how cutting my staff will save money and help the company … but what about my ability get things done on time, look good, and go home?”
  • If the company is doing a new IT implementation: “I understand new systems will save me time … but will I be able to learn it well enough, will my techie junior colleagues outshine me?“
  • If there is leadership change: “I understand re-organizing departments will make things more efficient … but who will I now need to impress, do they really know what we do, are they good people and will I like them?”

WIFM FACTOR = Questions asked when benefits  of a new method are not obvious
Simply said, the bottom-line for employees is “What’s In It For Me?” How is their life going to benefit, be threatened or made more difficult by this change?

A deep understanding of the professional as well as personal concerns of everyone who will be impacted by the upcoming change is critical.

In consulting we call this a Stakeholder Analysis. It’ll help you prepare for the reactions to your change, the most common I have come across are:  Continue reading →

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