This week’s sad news about Steve Jobs has made me realise what a massive impact his genius has had on my life. His inventions are littered around my desk and home. His legacy will last long into a future he personally has shaped.

Think back on what accomplished. In the three years up to 2005, he assembled and owned all the components he’d need to take advantage of the new broadband market: WebObjects, Safari, iTunes, QuickTime and the MacOS itself. He also threw a vast proportion of the company’s cash at a retail strategy that experts said was extravagant and out of date. When market analysts derided him – as they did, relentlessly, every single quarter – because the company was losing market share, he ignored them. And when broadband took off, so did Apple.

I got to thinking what I could take from Jobs’ legacy and what it means to all of us. As a leader, he taught us to:

Identify external events that will change customer behaviour: Your customers will be affected by what happens from outside influences, like economic forces. Your proactive drive towards creating the future will determine the behaviour your customers and prospects will choose.

Align product development to take advantage of that event before it occurs: Jobs knew that he and his engineers had the thought capacity to develop strategies and products that would create new markets. Thinking through where we want the market to go is a great sign of forward development.

Build distinctive brand positioning: Whether you love or hate Apple, there is no doubting the positioning that Jobs drove the company towards. The brand is the essence and feeling that the product evokes, and Jobs knew what he wanted to accomplish before he even started working on a product. Your product is just one component of your offering. Like Jobs, you can build a brand through constant attention to advancement and complete determination to improve quality.

Deal with pressure: Under pressure many times from even within his own company, Jobs never bowed to the concerns expressed. He knew in his own mind what would work and how to do it. And most times he was proved exactly right. As leaders, we need to build the solidity that deals with the eternal pressure that can make weaker persons buckle.

So, Steve Jobs has been an inspiration to many millions, me included. If we can learn from his legacy, we can look forward to many advancements in business and the consequential results we will harvest.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

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The death of the British Newspaper, the News of the World, this week, opens not only a debate on ethics, but also a deeper one regarding the whole social media of news and news gathering.

Fewer people today than ever actually read a newspaper. Most people I associate with get their news via Sky, the Internet, or iPad. Yet, for many the actual feel of a newspaper is still the one that gives them that kinaesthetic buzz. You can see that whenever you are in an airport lounge or on a train.

Yet, for a long time now, newspapers have not been serving their two key customers very well either: Firstly, advertisers; What have they done in the past 30 years to improve the advertiser’s ability to reach its target market and track the results of that interaction? For a long time, advertisers have been paying more than their fair share for unclear results.

Secondly, the actual readers themselves. For 30 years, the process for creating content hasn’t changed (assigning journalists to write specific stories, and allowing limited space for letters to the editor from readers). But readers today want to choose which journalists to follow, comment on articles they read, add their own bits to articles and receive content most relevant to them.

The first on-line paper that allows instant reaction to news by their readers and shares those comments with other readers instantaneously is going to reap up-time rewards.

Newspapers have some of the greatest journalists and social commentators on their payroll. In the main, they have strong brand awareness and loyal customers. And yet, bit by bit, they seem to be destroying these assets, by not changing with the times.

This pool of knowledge is being undermined and slowly strangling the way that news is disseminated. Even internet-based news channels are failing to take advantage of this growth in consumer power, not understanding the real needs of us readers, who can find out information at the touch of a button, seconds after it becomes reality, leaving conventional newspapers anything up to 24 hours behind.

Peter Druker once said that the biggest challenge for executives is that they focus on today’s problems instead of tomorrow’s opportunities. If the newspaper world doesn’t wake up to this fact, they will quickly wither and die.

As managers, we need to assess what we’re doing with our teams and identify if we are keeping up with the times and the opportunities that exist. If not, we will be left behind as surely as the world of the newspaper is going to be.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

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We go through life sometimes with our heads spinning, and often feel like a hamster on one of the wheels in a cage. We climb the ladder of success, rung by rung, step by step, only to find when we reach the top that it’s been leaning against the wrong wall.

When you look back over your managerial career, what will you say? What will you see? I often discuss this question with managers I meet and am surprised by the similarities in thought.

Most say they never think how their career is going until they are in a crisis, or something dramatic happens to change their perspective.

Just for fun, I’ve listed here 15 things a manager won’t say when they come to the end of their career. See if any resonate with you, and see if you can add to the list.

• I wish I’d spent more time at the office

• I’m glad I spend $97 on that e-book so I could get the $497 worth of freebies

• Setting for average performance made me feel better and less stressed

• Surfing the net was much more productive than reading about leadership

• Personal goals are for people who need guidance and support. Strong leaders go their own way one step at a time

I’m sure you can add to the list, so send me your ideas and I’ll collate them for a future post.

Remember, you’re the only one in charge of your career. Don’t allow your boss or the company to dictate where you take your career. Create your own future, then you won’t look back with regret or disappointment.

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

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Right…grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Do it now before reading on…

OK, draw a picture of a hand on that piece of paper…

It doesn’t matter if you’re not an artist…just draw it.

Done it?

Good! Read on…

Let me ask you…did you look at your own hand to draw the picture? No? You’re in good company because, in this exercise, we find most people don’t look at their own hand first. Why?

Because most people prefer to work with a mental picture even though the real world is staring them in the face. We think with these mental pictures and we frequently base our performance on these illusions. Psychologists call the act of creating mental pictures generalization, abstraction, or concept acquisition. You might want to call it stereotyping.

It isn’t that important if you drew the hand based on your mental picture or by looking at your other hand as you drew it. What is more important is if you decide on team processes or company policy based on the stereotypes or generalisations you carry in your head.

You may have a distorted picture, based on your current thought processes or conditioning that will cause you to think the same way as you did last time you carried out the process. What could be the consequences?

Well, your decision may not produce the desired results you hoped for, as the process may not be in line with the way your team views the situation. Your perception may be true in your eyes, but because you have been conditioned that way, you may not see reality as seen through others’ eyes.

So, take a few moments before making a decision today to see if it’s based on how you generalise situations (stereotyping) or if it’s an up-to-date viewpoint based on taking a look at the real world.

Take another look at your drawing…did you copy your other hand? Or did you stereotype?

Food for thought!

Thanks again

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Not long ago a friend of mine relayed a story about some difficult changes that had been going on within her organisation. The company had been talking about downsizing for months and, as time went by, she and her fellow employees become more and more disgruntled. Upper management was keeping information locked tight, and middle management had ceased communicating with their employees and teams because they simply didn’t know what to say.

Eventually, the list of people to be laid off was released and the task of informing each person that he would be losing his job fell on one individual manager. My friend was not on the list, but had seen the writing on the wall and realized that the organisation was no longer a place she wanted to work. She found another job and gave her notice.

On her last day, Manager X from upper management pulled her aside and asked to speak. He asked her about some of the things that she liked and disliked about her job, confirmed her reasons for leaving, and released her to go finish clearing out her desk. It was a relatively standard exit interview.

To her surprise, that same manager reappeared at her desk and asked to speak with her for a few more minutes. They found an empty conference room and she was shocked when he asked, point blank, “What do people think of me?”

Surprised to hear the question, but having always had honest conversations with this manager, she hesitated only slightly before telling him that most of the employees he managed found him to be grumpy and unapproachable. She reiterated that she understood he had been given the unfortunate task of delivering layoff notices to so many people, but that his attitude towards others had been cold and aloof for much longer than the few months before the organisational changes. While anyone would have admitted he was a valuable informational resource and shrewd business person, no one found him personable and many thought he was a poor manager.

Hearing this story caused me to take a step back and think about my relationships with the members of my own team. I would hate to have any of them think I was rude or unapproachable, so I made an extra effort to communicate with each one personally – just to check in, make sure they were happy with their jobs, and to find out what was going on in their lives.

Taking a few minutes out of your day or week to check on your employees isn’t going to make or break your goals or blow your time management plan out of the water. Making the effort will simply let your employees know you care and, in the end, will likely result in a happier and more efficient team.

What does your team think of you?

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”