July 2nd, 2008
By Renn Vara
Is it just me or is something happening with our definition of leadership? Up until the recent tenure of President George Bush, we were an unapologetic apologist culture when it came to leadership; “What do you expect? That’s the nature of politicians, rich people, corporate leaders, etc.”
Then something happened. Some credit the eight month Democratic primary in which we got to know a junior Senator from Illinois and his welcomed approach to campaigns. Some say it’s a cosmic and/or nature driven change in our perspective on the human condition. Even more believe that this up-and-coming generational wave of millennials is at fault.
I’m too limited to know. But what I can tell you is that corporate leadership is under a lot of pressure these days to flatten their management approach and lead by example. Or as we say with our leadership training: character and voice. What this means is that you’d better be a decent person for real and be able to express your values to the whole organization without going through underlings and middle managers. Not an easy task.
So here are my top 10 recommendations for today’s business leaders – This applies to politicians too: (more…)
Tags: corporate communications,
leadership training
Filed under All, Leadership.
June 24th, 2008
By Renn Vara
I love email. I really love instant messaging. I haven’t gotten into Twitter yet. Nor have I bought into Facebook or MySpace. Not sure why. I’ve even fallen out of love with my cell phone, the audio part, but that could change when I purchase the latest iPhone G3 next month. In truth, I love being on all the time. When I get email from my team and/or customers late at night or early in the morning, I feel this weird joy at knowing someone is alive, thinking, active, working, and doing something.
Now before you totally write me off as some Millennial nut, let me clear up the possible misperception. I’m 50+ years old with two college kids, married with a life of sorts, and as active as can be for a balding, slightly pudgy suburban male. I love keeping up with news, cable and radio, often having both on at the same time. My weekly reading includes Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Entertainment (Stephen King’s back page column should not be missed), Time, Newsweek, US News, even Readers Digest. Oh and my favorite is the New York Review of Books and Vanity Fair when I’m flying around. Be sure to check out the latest with the story on Bobby Kennedy. (more…)
Filed under All.
June 20th, 2008
By Dave Imperiale
I’ve recently returned from working on what felt like my hundredth sales conference. Here’s something for you people to start accepting: PowerPoint is almost universally misused, and thus, stupid.
I would say people use PowerPoint properly 14 percent of the time. That is based on a first-party, subjective study. Most of the time presenters don’t even speak to what’s on the slide. Or there’s so much crap on the slide you can’t figure out what’s going on and they don’t take the time to tell you. Or my favorite: bullet points. Presenters read them out loud, word for word. Or, they’ll ignore them entirely because the font is so small even they can’t see them. Here’s an often overlooked point: an audience can read faster than you can read to them, unless you’re talking to 7 year-olds.
Just yesterday I was walking down the hallway in our NYC office suite and I passed a conference room. There were two elderly women sitting in there, looking anxious, waiting for others to arrive. There was a slide projected on the wall which read simply: “Welcome!” Yes, with an exclamation point. Welcome to what? This isn’t your house. I’m not coming over for dinner. I’m about to walk into a shared conference room for you to bore the sh*t out of me. I don’t need a sign. People who have a slide that says “welcome” aren’t thinking about the people in the room. And who the hell taught these old ladies how to use a computer? (more…)
Tags: business communicators,
leadership training
Filed under All, The Luddite.
June 18th, 2008
This time on More Than Talk Renn was joined by Aileen Pincus, Founder & President of The Pincus Group. The organization is dedicated to Communications and Media Training and Aileen shares her story with us.
Click here to Listen
Filed under All, MoreThankTalk Podcast.
June 18th, 2008
On this edition of More than Talk Renn speaks with Ron Cox, Founder and Chief Architect of Tampa, FL based Tailwind Consulting.
Click here to Listen
Filed under All, MoreThankTalk Podcast.
June 17th, 2008
By Art Bell
No better time than summer, with its occasional lazy, uncommitted afternoon, to think reflectively about the big issues. Three books have been extremely helpful to me in understanding the twists and turns of today’s business environment and peeking around the corner to what may lie ahead.
(more…)
Tags: corporate communications,
executive communications,
leadership training
Filed under All, Art's Picks.
June 10th, 2008
By Renn Vara
That’s right. And we don’t have clients either, we have customers. My team knows this is a big pet peeve of mine. To me, consultants advise but don’t necessarily do, and the term clients infers dependency while using the term customers clearly states who’s in control. Subtle but important.
This regularly comes up in our business. Traditional corporate communicators and trainers have the habit of calling themselves consultants and refer to customers as clients. So when we hire someone from the industry, they invariably cross swords with me over the subject. It’s a fruitless debate often conceded because “the boss is just a bit nutty and what do I care.”
Well, it’s bigger than that to me. And fundamental to how we view who we are, what we do, and how we do it.
At SNP we’re big believers in being paid for what we actually do versus what we know. That means we don’t charge for advice, meetings, consultations, or anything that involves the sharing of our expertise. That’s free. Why? Because everything we know was funded by customers. We learn from them, we learn from our work with them, and we learn by serving them. We’ve even gone as far as designing a training program without being hired to deliver it. Not good for the bottom line but it fits our long-standing values. (more…)
Filed under All, Corporate Media.
May 20th, 2008
By Renn Vara
I think I can speak for all SNPers and say we truly love what we do. We get to work with some very cool people within the technology industry and we get to have impact. But sometimes we don’t. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it makes me want to just walk away and get a “real job.” (more…)
Tags: corporate communications,
leadership training,
snp
Filed under All.
May 6th, 2008
By Renn Vara
Sure. Let’s create another place for people who have too much time on their hands to waste it listening to other people who have too much time on their hands. Sorry for being the cynic. But these people bore me to death with all their babble. Shut up please. Thank you.
There are a number of blogs, podcasts, vidcasts, webevents, and channels trying to duplicate what CNET and TechTV (remember that group of losers?) have both failed to do on the web. We don’t need more TechTV on the web. We do need forums for self expression and for developing micro audiences. Yep, a YouTube for technology companies and their stakeholders. Have you ever wondered why YouTube doesn’t hire technology “broadcasters” to host shows? (more…)
Tags: business communicators,
corporate communications,
corporate media
Filed under All, Corporate Media.
May 2nd, 2008
By Stephen Flynn
Since I entered the corporate environment not long ago, I’ve been fighting the same fight as so many others of every generation have before me — to find the right balance (or perhaps separation depending on point of view) between my personal and professional lives. There is one difference between my experience and the experience of those before me: I am a Millennial. I wouldn’t be caught dead without my Millennial Swiss army knife: my Smartphone. (more…)
Tags: blackberry,
corporate communications,
executive communications,
millennials
Filed under All, Digital Natives.
