Just Seven Things

Exploring why and how we do what we do, and how we can do it better

Archive for the category “Vision and Goal Setting”

16 Jun 2008
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The Power of As If

I went to a speech by Simon Woodroffe of Yo Sushi fame about three years ago. Fascinating guy, and he told a great number of stories about acting ‘as if’ and the power of ‘I am’ (sorry if I’m paraphrasing/ butchering what was said but they’ve percolated away since then and I think they’re important to relate)

There’s a great one about him getting continued funding for his first restaurant because the Chairman of his main supplier made an assumption about his size because of the ‘support’ from organisations like JAL, Sony, Nippon (could be making these up here – apologies). But big Japanese firms whose logos adorned the original Yo Sushi menus. The beauty of the story being that he’d written to them and said that he’d like them to be sponsors/ supporters, that no money was required., and that if he hadn’t heard from them by x time he’d assume a yes. He didn’t hear back from them but in effect their ‘support’ enabled him to survive. The power of ‘As If’.

He referred at the end of his talk to developing a box of ‘I Ams’. Numerous ways of being and acting that could be adopted when required in different situations and to achieve different objectives.  

I didn’t really make the full connection at the time about what underpinned the ‘I Ams’ and ‘As Ifs’, but since then I’ve seen more and more evidence for the huge progress to be made in achieving a goal or effecting an outcome by starting off by acting ‘As If’ or already being that ‘I Am’. The power of acting and thinking in this way provides a huge accelerant in NLP terms; especially for the core function of modelling behaviours.

I then was reminded about quotes at the back of some Beeson Gregory (now Evolution Securities) marketing literature when we were using them as brokers during the set-up of Vinopolis. One was from Aristotle Onassis:

“To be successful, keep looking tanned, live in an elegant building (even if you’re in the cellar), be seen in smart restaurants (even if you only nurse one drink) and if you borrow, borrow big”

The Power of As If

Posted in Business, NLP, Successful Outcomes and tagged , ,
14 Jun 2008

Managing Yourself when Underperforming to Goals

I attended an excellent MDHub100 work group yesterday. The work groups I think of as being most like AA for CEOs and MDs. A place where you can relax in the company of trusted peers and share your deepest, darkest issues.

It was a digitally focused group with the most excellent Rosie Freshwater from Leapfrogg, Jason Woodford from AI Digital and Liquid Light’s Robert Day. Most ably facilitated by Fi Shafer from Omega Blue.

The conversations covered the challenges leaders have personally in managing themselves: their self-expectations and standards in situations where financial under-performance has taken place against extremely ambitious goals.

Now obviously there’s the whole thing about setting overly ambitious goals, and avoiding disappointment or demotivation by not doing. However, to most of the members of the MDHub such talk is sacrilege. So it then comes down to how to manage.

I explained in the meeting how I did it. That I ensure that I have a very clear mission and vision. That I quickly look back and draw attention for myself (and others as needs be) to how far we’ve come. I then ruthlessly evaluate whether in the here and now I am doing all that I can do in terms of putting in place the expandable foundations for success that will be needed to deliver the vision and mission.

This means in real terms that I accept my performance in relation to any goals set as being relative to what is required to achieve the end. If I have done, and am doing, as much as I can then I cannot be frustrated by any under-performance. If what I have done, and am doing, is the best foundation that I can have for the successful achievement of future vision then I cannot be frustrated by any under-performance.

It all ends up being down to:

  1. Externalities (markets/ competition/ limiting factors (mainly people and financial resources))
  2. Lack of self-development (how can I perform better/ do more at a higher quality with more thought etc.)

The thing that I didn’t get into though is the power of that goal setting in the first instance. The power that, if you’re doing all that you can to the best of your ability, will ensure you’re ultimately successful. That takes a bit of a leap of faith……

Posted in Leadership, Vision and Goal Setting and tagged , | Leave a comment
29 May 2008
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Vision, Rainbows and Pots of Gold

I gave a presentation today at a MDHub250meeting in Brighton at the Metropole.

I was given the topic of Operations, and the audience was primarily owners and CEOs of companies less than three yrs old. I found it interesting that within about five minutes of planning my talk (my slot was about forty five minutes) I began to question whether the concept of ‘operations’ in business-terms still exists.

I found myself continually bouncing around two or three areas in my thinking:

  1. Mission, Vision and Strategy
  2. Time management and value-adding
  3. Communication and engagement

Obviously, just a fleeting look at this blog makes it no surprise that these areas came up. However, my role as CEO of Madgex means that the team of fantastic people who work for the company are continually ‘doing’ the operations of the company and I work with the rest of the senior management team to deliver improvements to those operations.

And yet, it’s the three areas above that we most discuss in our 121s or coaching sessions. These areas that (rightly) take up so much management time and focus.

Read more…

Posted in Communication, Time Management, Vision and Goal Setting and tagged , , ,

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