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‘Live your Values’
Live out of your imagination instead of
out of your memory.
Les Brown
It’s essential to know who you really are before deciding what you really want. Many people ask themselves:
- where am I going?
- how am I going to get there?
But most importantly forget to ask:
- who am I?
When I’m coaching people on how best to manage their careers and realise their work aspirations, it never ceases to amaze me that the vast majority are looking for a job that they can fit into, rather than ask themselves “how does the job fit me?”
Your behaviour should be driven by your values, because these tell who you really are. These are the things that are most important to you. An easy way of eliciting your values is to make a list of at least twenty people who you admire, from Leonardo da Vinci to Leonardo di Caprio, and then write down the qualities that you admire in them.
You will then have a list of your values. Now prioritise these values and make a list of the top seven. These values are at the core of who you are, and violating them would be abhorrent to you. For example, included in my top seven values are ‘making a difference’, ‘freedom’ and ‘creativity’. If I were in a job which was routine, with little scope for creativity or self-expression, and which made little impact on anyone, then my spirit would start to wither.
Any behaviour which isn’t consistent with your values will leave you feeling unhappy and unfulfilled. You can easily check to see if you’re living your values. Score a mark out of ten for how well you’re living each of your top seven. If you have a few low scores, then it’s likely that you’re feeling unfulfilled.
Unfortunately many organisations are intent on controlling their employees, when what their people value most is the freedom to express themselves. It’s this disconnect between the values of the employer and those of the employee that leads to people jumping ship or exhibiting ‘presenteeism’ – they are there in body, but not in spirit. Fortunately, a growing number of organisations are trying to motivate their employees by listening to what they want to achieve and developing ‘life’ programmes that benefit both parties.
Ask yourself, if you were granted a wish and could achieve anything you wanted and knew that you couldn’t fail, what would you do with your life? Is this what you’re doing now? What would you get from your new life that you’re not getting now?
Once you’ve determined your values you’re in a position to create your vision.
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© Content drawn from ‘Mind Set and Match’ on sale now at www.sunilbali.com.
The development of the Societal Web has enabled individuals to become publishers, authors, musicians, radio stars, and commentators on anything and everything. Hierarchical structures have broken down and leadership is something which no longer comes as a result of position, at least not online.
By definition, a leader is somebody who goes to new places or existing places by new or difficult routes. In doing so, they attract others to follow their example and to aspire to achieve the same goals as they have achieved. Followers have to be able to see enough of the leader’s aims and goals and methods to believe that they are appropriate for them; they must remain in touch, and close. In the Societal Web visibility is universal, so the ability to be seen is equally available to each of us.
When we look to see who can bring each of us on, to a new level, we seek out those people who we believe provide additional knowledge and skills through their contributions online, but also whose knowledge is attainable, reachable, and comprehendible. If we are bamboozled by technical terms, lost in acronyms, or confused by detail that is beyond our current knowledge we will seek others and grow our understanding from them. For this reason, I describe leadership in the Societal Web in the context of being (no more than) half an hour ahead.
If a leader is seeking to build a strong following and is providing knowledge which requires detailed study and effort, then hours of work lie ahead to become an expert through that knowledge, people follow those who make those hours a pleasure rather than a chore. Malcolm Gladwell indicates over 10,000 hours is required for true expertise in his book ‘Outliers’, so we are talking about years of following, not reading a few articles. Throughout that time the leader needs to be just far enough ahead to be reachable, just far enough for you to strive to learn; half an hour at a time. If that effort is too great we simply move away.
So for each of us it is likely that the people we follow closely are close to us; their abilities and skills, or ability to communicate their knowledge and skills, is done at our level. If you seek to be a leader in the Societal Web this is a point that has to be borne in mind with care. We need to be attracting followers at every level through our knowledge and skills, not just those who are capable of being within half an hour of our own current pinnacle of our knowledge and skills.
When we produce content on the Societal Web, when we write a blog, when we distribute articles, PDFs, when we engage in conversation in groups and social networking sites, we create levels of engagement with others. Those near us who challenge us and bring us on, and those near us who we are challenging and bringing on, are clearly our closest cabal. But a great leader will be able to communicate his knowledge and skills so that to all of his followers he appears no more than half an hour ahead.
To do this you need adaptability, an ability to see when messages are being misinterpreted and misunderstood, an ability to engage in different mediums and different ways according to the needs of those whom you lead. Leadership has always been an honour, not something that can be bestowed by one person on behalf of others but which you earn through the followership of others, on the Societal Web that followership is much more visible and in many ways more tangible. For many, this is changing the nature of leadership, and their ability to communicate with, and build others.
As a democratizing force, the Societal Web has enabled us all to become both leaders and followers, to be seen by many as an expert whilst simultaneously learning from expertise elsewhere. As we bring people towards us as leaders through sharing our knowledge, skills and experience, so we too have a duty to them to maintain our lead, to keep as Stephen Covey would say, “sharpening the saw”. The best, the very best, don’t forget their roots, they maintain a presence wherever their leadershipk is needed and they provide a skill and an experience of leadership in this new world in ways which others are still struggling to find.
For social networking, the masters of an offline world that have made a transition online are demonstrating that ability to be adaptable and to change, Ivan Misner is one such, for those involved online, Louis Gray, Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, and others have all created their own niches and followerships in that market and demonstrate effectively the skills of leadership by being half an hour ahead.
This is not a new type of leadership, nor does it require new skills, it’s a new framework in which to place your leadership when you consider those whom are following you and whom you seek to support. It needs strategy and thought to be consistent and make it work well, but I hope that these thoughts help you towards developing your own Leadership in the Societal Web.
‘The Top 5%’
There is no security in life,
only opportunity.
Mark Twain
At Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, the toilets are kept scrupulously clean. So it is surprising to find an insect in the bowl of the men’s urinal. Even more surprising is the fact that every bowl has a fly in it. Closer inspection reveals that the ‘fly’ is a picture that has been etched into the porcelain. Why? It improves the aim. If a man sees a fly he aims at it. Insect-in-urinal research has found that fly etchings reduce spillage by over 80%. It gives a guy something to think about. The same is true of goals. If you set yourself goals you dissipate far less energy, since you’ve got something to aim for.
Most people don’t have any clear goals or vision and are then surprised that they don’t get what they want. But how can you hit a target that you can’t see? More than 95% of adults don’t have any written goals. The simple act of writing out your goals will put you in the top 5% of the population. The number one fear for most people is the fear of rejection. Why is this? It’s because we measure of our efforts in terms of whether the world accepts us or rejects us. This is the reason why many people don’t set goals. If you don’t have a goal, you can’t fail.
Success is not an accident. Research clearly shows that successful people plan for and expect success. They have clear goals and are totally focussed and committed. Non-achievers either have no goals, or have goals which aren’t congruent. Typically, they are trying to achieve something that someone else wants, or seeking another’s approval. If you don’t create a plan for your own life, the chances are that you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not as much as you want. Other people may be happy to place their future in someone else’s hands. Don’t let it be you.
The most difficult problem can be solved if it is broken down into smaller chunks – after all, you can only take one step at a time. Break down your big life goals into bite-size tasks. Big problems don’t seem so daunting once they’re broken down,and as you deal with each chunk your confidence will grow. As your confidence grows, the bigger the chunks you can tackle. Write down what you want in detail so that it becomes clear in your mind. For anything to happen in the real world, it must first be created in the imagination.
Prioritise your goals and decide which one will have the most positive effect on your life. This primary goal will be congruent with your purpose in life. Focusing on your primary goal will make for better decisions and choices. To do this, write out your goals as a personal statement. Write it in the present tense. For example, if you wish to earn £100k a year write: “I earn £100k per year.” If your goal is to write a best-selling book, write: “My book is a bestseller.”
Carry these cards with you and read them every morning and every night before you go to bed, or before you meditate, so that they are firmly installed in your subconscious. When you read your affirmations do so with intense emotion – the emotion that you’ll have when you do earn £100k per year or when you see your book on the bestsellers shelf. Visualise these events as if they’re happening now. Experience the emotion: it could be joy, freedom, a sense of achievement. Go one step further: visualise what you’re doing with your new-found wealth. The greater your emotion, the quicker the subconscious mind will influence the universe to make your thoughts a reality. Repeat this visualisation process every day, in the same way that an athlete visualises winning a race. You can use this process to achieve whatever you want in your life whether it’s a new career, a new relationship, more wealth – anything.
Now consider what actions you can take quickly to meet your goals, particularly your primary goal. Again, write down your action plan. Developing an action plan will give you greater clarity and confidence. It will also make you more aware of the opportunities, people and resources that can help you. Assign timescales and deadlines. Write down how you’ll measure your progress, and how you’ll know that you have achieved your goals. This is very important. When you can show yourself that you’re making progress towards your goals, you stay motivated.
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© Content drawn from ‘Mind Set and Match’ on sale now at www.sunilbali.com.
The start of a new year is always a good time for making predictions, so here are ours in the context of developments in the Societal Web at least. Yesterday I reviewed how our predictions for 2009 had done here > but now it’s time to look forward again.
Prediction One: World economies will continue to struggle. Advertising revenues and traditional marketing techniques will continue to be under utilized as companies struggle to maintain their low costs base and seek alternative ways to interact with customers and prospects. We expect developments in business pages on social sites to drive new marketing models for the major players, and branding and brand recognition through social sites will become stronger.
It’s possible that some of the larger social networking sites may become sponsored by big brands or even purchased by them for the purposes of developing a marketing channel for a particular brand.
Prediction two: The use of authority in search engines will continue to develop, although at a slower pace than we predicted last year. The identification of real experts who can influence search at a fundamental level will take some time in terms of the algorithms to identify, follow and take account of the activity of those people. Individuals however will find new ways to source their information through social media followings of respected and trusted individuals, and software support for that will increase.
Prediction three: On a similar note, semantic recognition of content will continue to be developed as a means of pushing appropriate content to appropriate people at appropriate moments. It’s likely that as a result some traditional search routines embedded in websites will shift to a more open search model across many arenas and engines. Semantics will change search in unusual ways, driven by customer demand. As a result we wil lspend less time searching and more time finding the right things and that will change the advertising model for the giants like Google. That may not be very apparent in 2010 but developments in embedding advertising are likely to be clear in the next year.
Prediction four: Because world economies will continue to struggle (see prediction one), collaborative groups will develop that cross international boundaries for business in a way that has previously not been seen. Some new brands will emerge as a result of those collaborations, partly as joint ventures between existing brands, but also perhaps with one or two major new players for services.
Prediction five: Banking will continue to be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as legislation around the world restricts the ability of financial services companies to act freely in open markets. It’s likely that the impact of that on small businesses will continue to be a restriction in funding which will mean alternative collaborative structures for the best ideas. The best entrepreneurial companies will change in 2010 as those businesses seek to manage their finances through a collective organisation as opposed to a centrally controlled one.
Prediction Six: Individual companies will engage more strongly in the Societal Web, driving customer service and sales & marketing in particular online to an extent not seen before. That will change the way consumers interact with the internet as well as the businesses themselves. We may well see a shift towards further opening computing standards and payment methods to facilitate those changes, as an example through the continued consolidation of functions on devices, such as the iphone, and the use of alternative means of payment such as using your mobile provider to manage payment transactions (“Add to my phone bill”).
Prediction seven: Cloud computing will take strong hold in 2010 with many businesses interacting and operating virtually across many countries and time zones, enabling small business to compete with the large in a very effective and open manner. It’s likely that the flows of capital around the world will shift as a result with effects seen in the balance of payments of the most connected and advanced (technology) countries.
Prediction eight: Unemployment will continue to rise, putting pressure on governments as the double impact of centralized spending cuts to meet government deficits in America and Europe coincide with private contractions in staff numbers as cost saving continues to be the primary focus of most major corporates. This could become a ‘perfect storm’. The end result is that civil disobedience and disturbance may become more common, and terrorists around the world may seek to leverage that effect. In essence, we made this prediction too last year and thankfully it wasn’t realised, in some ways we hope that this impact will not be felt this year either although we have less optimism about unemployment than before.
Prediction nine: Climate change will remain high on the political agenda and will create some shifts in global demand and approach in relation to fossil fuel energy sources. Oil will continue to rise sharply price causing some inflationary effects in the west. We anticipate mean prices in the second half of 2010 could roughly double to be around $150 per barrel. Small businesses and collaborative virtual groups will become more cost effective as large central office based companies find the impact of inflation hits them relatively harder, provided they plan and wprk in ways where they are less affected by the impacts of that change.
Prediction ten: Opportunities to source appropriate skills and experience for businesses will be easier than ever in 2010, with large numbers of unemployed but skilled people the opportunity to engage on short-term contracts or individual project-based pieces of work on a portfolio basis will be stronger than ever. Businesses seeking to minimize their own costs will look for the skills that they require at the best possible price, competition will be fierce but opportunities will be immense. We anticipate that this business model, portfolio, project-based, individual working, is likely to become embedded as the norm for millions of individuals in the major economies in 2010, for some a traditional employed role on a salary will never be seen again.
As we said last year, these could be right or wrong, but in 12 months’ time we’ll know.
Business as usual, but not on social networks……….
I am a very organised person, I like lists, I like processes, I like to manage information. My Outlook Folders are divided into around 200 topics, I can get my hands on anything I need from my past. I am very time oriented, tasks and lists are important to me.
When I was a Sales and Marketing Director of a substantial company, with over 150 people in my team, I project managed everything, my spreadsheets were an art form.
However, with my friends and family I allow information, conversation and experiences to flow randomly, I don’t control, I listen, I care, I adapt and I just allow the right moments to happen. I trust, I love and I maintain a beautiful relationship that blossoms each day, this part of my life supports me, inspires me, teaches me and moves me forward in my life.
Creating Ecademy nearly 12 years ago was an expression of the richness of my home life and a desire for a working life to emulate it, and oh boy you have all shown that the two things are no longer exclusive.
In this video from yourBusinessChannel , I share how Social Networking cannot be treated in the same way as we treat our more processed, targeted and controllable areas of our life. I encourage anyone who is not winning inside Social Networks to adapt to this different world, apply some of your brilliant business mind and thoughts but be a friend and be random. Belong to the community, don’t just use it. This means allow random people, thoughts and information to flow when you are inside the Networks that serve you.
What are your thoughts and experiences, is this something you have also had to learn?
This show is the ninth in a series of over a dozen brief shows I’ve recorded to mark the launch of my book, Know Me Like Me Follow Me I’ll share a new show with you each week. The shows have been produced by Mark Sinclair of yourBusinessChannel – with whom I’ve built great two way trust, I met Mark randomly, I am glad I did.
If you haven’t already, take time to find out about the work Mark is doing- I am staggered at how many opportunities have emerged for Mark and I since we decided to be part of each others lives. The content he has accumulated on yBc is brilliant and inspiring.
Warm regards
Penny Power
+447771 543478
Founder-Ecademy
“Sharing People and Sharing Knowledge”
with your current location defined here
http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?op=getgeo
If you’ve set Enable geotagging here
https://twitter.com/account/settings
If you’re using Firefox or Chrome, the map on Ecademy has a button “Get Current Location”. If you have Wifi turned on, it’s amazingly good at working out where you are. Enjoy.
But Twitter have no UI for this and default that setting to off so nobody uses it (yet).
Tweetdeck and Seesmic do display maps showing where the Tweet came from but neither let you update your location (yet). Have fun.
The geeks are having a party in Silicon Valley making things up as they go along … just like real life for the rest of us.
This time last year I laid out my predictions for how developments in the Societal Web would progress in 2009 – see here > so it’s time to take a look at how we did.
First prediction: that world economies would shrink. We were spot on with this one, although it appears as though it was a racing certainty, at the time the ’smart money’ was expecting the total world economy to continue to show growth overall, it didn’t. Highlighting that web traffic and business models of social networks would change was also right.
The second prediction: that search companies would start using authority to direct future searches.
On this one we’ll give ourselves a partial success. More people are using and searching on Twitter than ever before and there’s definitely been a change in the underlying algorithms used by the search engines. The use of authority hasn’t been as rapidly taken up as we expected but we expect that trend to continue.
Third prediction: collaboration will become more important. On this we give ourselves a resounding tick, and again we think this trend will continue.
Our fourth prediction was that there would be fewer new social networks, again a partial success on this one. Perhaps the major significant new entrant is FourSquare. Aggregation has continued and evaluation of social networking sites has fallen as predicted.
Fifth prediction: about semantic recognition of content we feel has been missed.
Our sixth prediction: about the importance of wide and deep networks seems to have been realised and without doubt there are more opinion leaders in the social media sphere. Partial success.
Our seventh prediction: that social networks would develop a more serious focus. Again, partial success. We think some social networks have developed a more serious focus while others have moved in different directions.
Our eighth prediction: that governments would struggle to maintain traditional economies, maintaining interest rates at or close to zero and money supplies would grow as governments printed money in order to get things moving, absolutely spot on. We also suggested that one global organisation in each major market may fail before each market can recover, and again we think that’s holding true. But the third part of that prediction: that the UK would hold an election which would have an indecisive result has not been realised; it’s inevitability for 2010 that the election will take place. The result appears, at the moment at least, to be more indecisive than previously thought.
Our ninth prediction: social pressures arising from unemployment will put a strain on society as a whole and petty crime would increase has not been realised, thankfully. We also anticipated that the UK and US would pull away from foreign wars whereas in fact they’ve increased their involvement in both major areas of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, so on that front we missed.
Our final prediction was that societal opinions would become polarized in the early part of 2009, that new ways of working together would emerge as we begin to focus on helping people as individuals rather than relying on centrally controlled decision making. Sadly, I think on this too we missed. These things have not yet happened but we still believe that they will.
Overall, we’re pleased with our predictions and feel that we made a reasonably good stab at seeing what would happen in 2009. Our 2010 predictions will follow very shortly.
In my opening salvo on ElectionWatch > I gave a quick overview of the three main parties.
Today I thought we should look at just one, Gordon Brown (Labour: Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) and have a look at his Twitter interactions.
No 10 is on Twitter as DowningStreet > with 1.7M followers and is following about 480,000 people. Is No 10 Watching you? This account is an infrequent tweeter, with 3 or 4 posts every 3 or 4 days. It’s not conversational, and generally communicates good news after the event. It’s not building a picture of strategy or vision and that’s a missed opportunity, I wonder, in the event that Labour loses – will the account be handed on to the next incumbent?
Gordon Brown himself closed down a twitter account in March in favour of @DowningStreet – The old account is here > Tactically that might be a mistake, the new one looks like an official ‘policy’ site, there’s nowhere left for the person.
Yet search for #GordonBrown on twitter throws up a rich stream of conversation about him. There’s votes in those conversations, ask Barack Obama, but like McCavity the mystery cat, he’s not there.
A tweet to #Climategate #GordonBrown caught my eye : Read more here > The Author, Tony Aardvark , is a self confessed Conservative Blogger, anyone know who he really is? Timing is eveything in politics, this story has a sense of timing and could blow up, it’s an hour old as I write this, lets see how it goes.
I’ll take a look at the other leaders in a day or two. In the meantime, Gordon Brown’s twitter strategy gets a rather paltry 1/10 from this observer.
Latest Polling report – History here>:
YouGov/Telegraph (30th December 2009 )
Conservative – 40%
Labour – 30%
Lib dem -17%
Other/Unknown – 13%
Conservative lead – 10%
Electionwatch reflects the personal views of the author who has no political affiliations
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