by Blake Morgan featured in Forbes
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I had the privilege to recently present how coaching & mentoring helps companies develop a culture of execution. The presentation was done for a handful of executives. It was nothing fancy. No jargons. No complex theories. Just good old fashion logic presented in a simple step by step manner.
In today's complex world, I meet a lot of people who try to sound so intellectual that they come out confusing. Actually, I think they even confuse themselves. It's ironic because instead of creating a great impression they end up looking pompous. Thinking back to my school days, I don't ever recall learning how to communicate in a simple manner. The essays that won were of the highly intellectual sounding type. I wonder if there were a lot of students that understood them at the time. Possibly not. Possibly, students did not care enough to complain. Communication must always be about the other person. We write for the reader. We don't write for ourselves. We write to be understood clearly. We write because we want the reader to clearly see our message. To appreciate it and even to buy into it. Sure we can still write for our own consumption like a diary or journal. Nobody will read it except the writer. However, it today's world we write for others. We cannot afford to be lazy. We need to take the time to structure our communication in a clear and concise manner. We need to rewrite our material until it is simple enough to be easily understood. The same goes for our presentations. We need to craft our presentation deck for the convenience of our audience and not ours. There is great beauty in simplicity. This is equally applicable to writing or presenting. The takeaway? Simplify your communication and you will be more effective for it. Our start-up company Beyond Notebooks went through many changes in its business model because I deviated from my original idea. The original model was to first create an initial set of videos (about 200) before testing them in the marketplace. In hindsight, I realized that I based a lot of my decisions on advice from a number of people have not successful started a business from ground up. Yes, they were business owners and seasoned managers but I came to realize that they were not start-up business owners. Managing a structured and existing business (which I had the privilege to have done for many years) is largely different from managing a startup. There are a few common management principles but from a resource, marketing and building strategy there is a lot of differences.
If you need health advice, you don't ask your cousin or aunt. You ask a doctor to examine you. If you have a career decision, you don't ask your cousin who cannot hold a job. You ask someone whom you respect for climbing the corporate ladder. If you need advise on starting a business, ask someone who started and got burned but eventually succeeded. There is much to learn from him or her. To build a good career, you will need good people by your side. This makes it so important to build a solid network of contacts. When you network, however, do not just go for big-ticket people; connect with anyone. Anyone positive and genuine. Do not be a fake! Remember, people like dealing with genuine people. Do not make it all about your agenda. The key is real relationships with others. As the saying goes, no man is an island. At some point in your life you will need others. We all need help in whatever endeavor we are tackling.
When I returned back home for good I decided to put up my own small business. It was then that I realized I did not have enough network here in the Philippines! It would have actually been easier to set up a business in Saudi. Back in Saudi, I had a 'tribe' of secretaries whom I could easily reach out to for help when I need to get a meeting with their bosses. I also make it a point to greet every security, staff and service crew. After all, I started my career working as a photocopy boy and house cleaner. I also give generous tips to servers. I believe they are unsung heroes of the food industry. It is typical of us men, when we hear our wife or girlfriend air out a problem, to jump in and immediately help. Most of the time it turns out that our woman just wants to vent her feelings. If we pay close attention, she was not really asking for help. We just assumed. This usually leads to a misunderstanding or even a minor squabble. We, guys, forgot to ask first what they expected from us. Take the initiative to ask what your manager expects from you. What duties he wants you to focus on or prioritize. This is a win-win situation for you both. You will not waste time doing things that are not critical to your manager, while your manager will feel that his opinion matters to you. |
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ChristianFather of two wonderful kids. Archives
February 2017
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