Executive Careers

GUEST AUTHOR BLOG: Likability ranks high in the sales game by Harvey Mackay author of, "The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World."

Everyone wants to be liked.

Remember Sally Field’s acceptance speech at the 1985 Academy Awards when she won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in "Places in the Heart." It was her second Best Actress award in five years, and she could barely contain herself.

“You like me! You really like me!”

Likability in sales ranks near the top of the list. People buy from people they like. It’s that simple. People like people who are genuine, pleasant, sincere, easy to talk with and friendly.

Sometimes you need to work at being more likable and friendly. You have to like people. People, not specs will usually be the key in determining who gets the order. As Lee Iacocca once said, “Anyone who doesn’t get along with people has earned the kiss of death … because that’s all we’ve got around here are people.”

Dale Carnegie provided a helpful hint at being more likable when he said: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

To drive home his point, Carnegie tells how dogs have learned the fine art of making friends. When you get within 10 feet of a friendly dog, he will begin to wag his tail, a visible sign he enjoys your presence. If you take time to pet him, he will become excited and lick and jump all over you to show how much he appreciates you. The dog became man’s best friend by being genuinely interested in people.

I echo Dale Carnegie’s comments. Knowing something about your customer is just as important as knowing everything about your product.

At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, you wouldn’t believe how much we know about our customers. The IRS wouldn’t believe how much we know about our customers. All of our salespeople fill out a 66-question profile of each of our customers, which we call the Mackay 66. It is available at no charge on my new website, www.harveymackay.com.

We’re not talking about the customer’s taste in envelopes, either. We want to know, based on observation and routine conversation, what our customer is like as a human being. What does he feel strongly about? What is she most proud of having achieved? What are the status symbols in his office?

When you know your customers, especially some of their special interests or characteristics, you always have a basis for contacting and talking to them. I have a customer who’s a devoted Chicago Cubs baseball fan. That’s usually good for at least a half dozen condolence messages a year. I don’t sit there emailing notes about the latest fashions in envelopes. I write about the Cubs; he writes about the envelopes.

I have another customer who’s a stamp collector. No matter where I go, anywhere in the world, I send her unusual and exotic stamps.

All of us gather data about other people – especially people we want to influence. The only question is how well we understand it and what we do with it.

Knowing your customer means knowing what your customer really wants. Maybe it is your product, but maybe there’s something else, too: recognition, respect, reliability, concern, service, a feeling of importance, friendship, help – things all of us care about as human beings more than we care about envelopes.

Mackay’s Moral: People like to do business with people they like.

Harvey Mackay, author of the new book "The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World", is founder and chairman of the MackayMitchell Envelope Company. He has written six New York Times bestselling books, including the #1 bestseller Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. For more details, visit www.harveymackay.com.

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Yuri Kuzmin | iStock Vectors | Getty Images Not everything is doom and gloom. Despite the recent financial crisis, many companies are seeing opportunities in emerging markets.

Despite the recent financial crisis the strategic investments and growth plans of major companies in emerging markets are well documented. IBM

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[IBM  Loading...      ()   ], Volkswagen and others are making extraordinary investments in China.

Sophisticated firms from emerging markets such as Tata, Mittal Steel and Wipro

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[WIT  Loading...      ()   ] are expanding through acquisition in western markets and in emerging powerhouse markets like China and Brazil. Hyper-growth markets continue to impress, including telecommunications in India and Africa, global natural resources, and retail banking in Eastern Europe.

Such positive developments attract the attention of both local and multi-national corporations (MNCs). Global expansion strategies have become all the more attractive in light of currency fluctuations that lead to short-term corporate valuation shifts. Finally, one-time market events have created buying opportunities for MNCs on the positive side of these developments.

These growth-related strategies are putting demands on Information Technology (IT) initiatives and driving the need for consulting and software development approaches that enable companies to respond to market opportunities with speed and agility. The techniques to reduce IT costs are well known: 1) apply quality or six sigma approaches to improve software development productivity; and 2) shift work to the most cost-effective global locations in order to reduce application support costs.

Cost management programs such as shifting workload to lower cost operations in other parts of the world can introduce an element of risk if not managed properly. But if the firm elects not to take advantage of the largest and most cost effective IT talent markets, they invariably will suffer from insufficient consulting and systems development labor pools, placing corporate IT departments squarely on a firm’s critical path to penetrate new markets, introduce new products and adopt new business models – effectively limiting top line revenue growth and corresponding profits.

David J. Seybold
Managing Partner, North America General Business, IBM

The notion of core competencies and outsourcing is globally well established. Leading firms such as Proctor & Gamble

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[PG  Loading...      ()   ] have embarked upon successful strategies that develop selective competencies internally while outsourcing the remaining processes to strategic partners.

In our rapidly evolving global market, there continue to be exceptional opportunities to save money, improve capabilities and to innovate around IT functions and initiatives. For example a global consumer goods manufacturer is designing, building and deploying all of their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for every country in which they do business from a global delivery center in India. The implementations are all being deployed with exceptional quality and in an extraordinarily cost-effective fashion.

It has become imperative that CIOs engage in prudent but significant partnering strategies to capitalize on these opportunities.

They should begin by committing to partner with a global IT services firm on a strategic and large project with significant involvement from their internal business customer. Once underway the firms should focus on leveraging that success to incrementally expand the relationship and advance the partnership. Unyielding pressure to deliver more shareholder value, in combination with current globalization dynamics, is forcing all corporations to innovate and seek new markets for their products and services.

Complex IT solutions facilitate virtually all growth strategies. However, most corporate IT organizations are often unable to provide sufficient expertise, capacity and innovation at an acceptable cost. As a result, IT can become an inhibitor to business model innovation, new market penetration and product introductions – once again, top line growth.

IT partnerships need to be a fundamental element of every corporation’s IT and business strategy in order to harvest the full value of IT in the global marketplace. In order to partner effectively, CIOs should understand the strategies that global IT services firms use to create value. 

About Dave Seybold: With over 21 years of consulting experience, Dave is responsible for the revenue, profit and growth of IBM’s Consulting and Application Management Services with clients ranging from $500M to $10B in revenue. He is a member of the IBM GBS Leadership Committee and has led GBS businesses across India, Europe and the US. He earned an MS in Operations Research and MBA from the University of Maryland; he holds a BS in Quantitative Analysis and a BA in Economics from Pennsylvania State University.

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GUEST AUTHOR BLOG: Un-Clique at Work and Expand Your Network by Michelle Tillis Lederman, author of “11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking... Because People Do Business with People They Like”

Do you eat lunch with the same people at work every day? When you need a mental break, do you find yourself wandering over to chat with the same group of friends? Cliques aren’t just a high school phenomenon; they often form in the workplace too.

In a way, there is nothing wrong with this. It is natural for like-minded people to gravitate to one another, and it can be comfortable and easy to spend your social time at work with the people who are in your circle.

Being part of a group can boost your morale and promote camaraderie; it can lead to increased cooperation, and it can help accomplish broader company-wide tasks across departments. I always counsel that investing in and developing strong relationships with a few key people makes sense, and one of the best ways to do this is to focus on the colleagues with whom you have things in common.

Similarities build connections.

It is crucial, though, to keep expanding your network, and not settle into complacency once you’ve found a group of people with whom you’re comfortable. A clique and a network may be conceptually similar—a band of like-minded people—but they connote very different things. A clique suggests exclusivity; it can keep out instead of invite in. A network is something that continually expands, opening up opportunities and possibilities as it gains strength.

When you surround yourself only with what you know and stick solely to your regular group—your clique—you stop challenging yourself. Growth stagnates and innovation lags. Behaviors and thought patterns become rote. By limiting yourself to your comfortable circle, you’re apt to only get feedback from people who are prone to agree with you, and you can unwittingly consign yourself to a group-think mentality.

Not being part of a clique can be its own quandary. It is important to remember, though, that most cliques are inward looking. If you feel outside the circle, don’t get defensive—your sense of exclusion becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, focus on building individual connections with the people whom you are genuinely drawn to.

To break the limiting patterns of cliques and discover new connections, try the following:

1) Assume the best. Cliques form as a means of comfort and security; they may appear exclusionary, but they are not always so. Whether you are inside or outside a clique, don’t listen to your negative inner voice. Assume the best intentions of others, more often not you’ll be right. There are always colleagues looking to increase their connections. Stay open to these opportunities instead of shutting them off.

2) Use your curiosity. One of the key concepts in my book "The 11 Laws of Likability" is the Law of Curiosity: Curiosity creates connections. Build bridges that go beyond your known circle by seeking advice, giving genuine compliments, asking for opinions, or simply posing general questions. These are all ways to open up new paths of communication with someone not yet in your network.

3) Look for commonalities. Sometimes the similarities we have with people are not immediately obvious. Perhaps you share a passion for a cause or a hobby or interest. Probe deeper—again, use that curiosity!—to discover where connections may exist.

4) Extend yourself. Ask someone beyond your circle if they need help. Or, if there’s a colleague whom you admire but haven’t yet had much interaction with, ask that person to help you. People like to be valued and feel needed.

5) Change you routine. Invite someone new to join your group of friends for lunch, or take a break from your crew to chat with a colleague whom you’d like to get to know. By switching up your habits, you open the door to new opportunities.

You don’t have to lose the group of friends you’re already comfortable with in order to continue growing your professional possibilities. It’s all about the mental shift of converting “clique” into “network.”

Michelle Tillis Lederman is the author of  “11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking... Because People Do Business with People They Like.”  She is a keynote speaker, executive coach, and founder of Executive Essentials. Michelle Tillis Lederman, teaches corporations and professionals how to get results with clear, compelling, confident, connected communication. She specializes in enhancing interpersonal communications for higher effectiveness, empowerment, and productivity and has delivered seminars internationally for corporations, universities, high schools, and non profit organizations including; JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Columbia Business School, and The Museum of Modern Art.

Email me at — And follow me on Twitter @BullishonBooks

CNBC.com You can better your presentation skills by doing what Jerry does.

I remember watching Jerry Seinfeld perform at the peak of his stand-up career.

His entrance—even before he said a word—made a strong impression.

He dashed onto the stage.

He looked like he couldn't wait to get started. Or else he was being chased.

Either way, his excitement was contagious.

2) STEP AWAY from the podium.

Sure, it feels safe to stand behind the podium. Everyone does it—why be different?

Simple: different captures attention.

And there's something else: we've all seen those crime shows where the police try to get the suspect out of the car or out the house, into plain sight.

Imagine the police are in your audience. You're the suspect.

One cop has a bullhorn: “Move away from that podium,” he commands, “before someone gets hurt.”

You, of course, are standing behind the podium precisely because you don’t want to get hurt. The podium feels like a fortress.

But your audience needs to see you because, like the police, the more they see, the more they trust.

3) STEP INTO a question.

Paul Hellman
Founder
Express Potential

One step forward—that’s all it takes to project confidence. Step back and you look fearful, like you’re retreating.

The only time you might want to step back is when the question is completely inappropriate. By moving away, intentionally, you say, "Sorry, I'm not going anywhere near that one."

But most questions deserve to be welcomed. Step forward.

4) STEP INTO the audience.

It was the 1996 Republican national convention. Elizabeth Dole was the speaker.

Suddenly, she "descended the twelve platform steps in high heels" to interact with a startled audience (“Elizabeth Hanford Dole: Speaking from the Heart,” Wertheimer and Gutgold).

Note to men: High heels are optional. Dole could have worn flip-flops, it still would have been riveting. Why? Because it was different.

5) STEP TO THE SIDE to spark audience discussion.

Just because you’re the speaker, doesn’t mean you need to answer every question, or participate in every exchange.

Toss a question out to the audience; once they engage, move out of the way. “Talk amongst yourselves,” your positioning says.

Then, when you’re ready, step back in and take charge.

Tip: Presenting your ideas is a physical act. To move your audience—move.

Consultant, author, speaker, and founder of express potential® (www.expresspotential.com),  Paul Hellman has worked with CEOs, executives, and managers at leading companies for over 25 years to improve performance and productivity at work. His latest book is “Naked at Work: How to Stay Sane When Your Job Drives You Crazy,” and his columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and other leading papers.

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“Is bad news coming to you regularly?” asks a recent business article about CEOs.

Although I’m not a CEO—which itself seems like bad news—I nod yes.

“Good,” continues the article. “That’s a sign of success. There’s plenty of bad news out there, the only question is whether you’re aware of it.”

Paul Hellman
Founder
Express Potential

I’m aware of it.

But some days it's hard to face reality.

I read about a monastery that tried to do something about that. When the monks passed each other in the hallway, they’d say, “Remember Brother, you are going to die.”

That’s less cheerful than "Good morning," so this greeting is unlikely to become wildly popular.

If someone told me I was about to die—I'm highly suggestible—I'd immediately spring to life and jump into the nearest ambulance.

Still, I admire the paradoxical intent: by facing impermanence, daily, you deepen your appreciation for everyday life.

That's what Steve Jobs believed. "Remembering that you are going to die," he said, "is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."

We mourn his loss.

Consultant, author, speaker, and founder of express potential® (www.expresspotential.com),  Paul Hellman has worked with CEOs, executives, and managers at leading companies for over 25 years to improve performance and productivity at work. His latest book is “Naked at Work: How to Stay Sane When Your Job Drives You Crazy,” and his columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and other leading papers.

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GUEST AUTHOR BLOG: Zigzagging to Business Success by Rich Christiansen author of, "The Zigzag Principle: The Goal Setting Strategy that will Revolutionize Your Business and Your Life."

In "The Zigzag Principle" by Rich CHristiansen, the author says the road to success is not always found in a straight line.

Zigzagging is such a powerful, natural law. It’s how we live our lives.

Take the moon missions for example. On the first moon-landing mission, while the module was on its way to the moon, it was actually flying off course 98 percent of the time. You would think they would fly in a direct, straight course, but the reality is they didn’t!

In nature, rivers don’t flow in straight lines and mountains have contours and detours. Also, when you go skiing if you point your tips straight down the mountain, you are setting yourself up for disaster.

The same thing is true in business.

When we charge directly for our goals, we have big, ugly crashes. Instead we must learn to zigzag—the entire concept behind The Zigzag Principle.

The full import of this concept came to me when I was hiking with my family in the Himalayas. I knew the risks we were facing; one real risk was contracting pulmonary edema (or altitude sickness). I knew I had to guarantee 100 percent success on our journey because I wasn’t comfortable saying, “Well, four of the five of my kids died along the way… but one of them made it to the top!”

In order to get to our goal safely, we had to take a lot of detours. In fact, looking back I realize we spent a lot of our time hiking away from our goal—chanting with monks in the monastery, eating apple pie in trekking houses, and having lots of side adventures. It took two or three weeks to get to our goal, but we all got to the mountaintop safely.

Just like my experience in the Himalayas, in business we should not be willing to accept the statistic that 9 out of 10 small businesses fail. We need to find a way to take switchbacks to get more businesses safely to the peak of success.

The Zigzag Principle

The Zigzag Principle is a sequence of switchbacks. It is a pattern that you can use over and over and over until you reach your beacon in the fog. Here are the main switchbacks, or zigzags, to get you to success:

1. Establish a firm foundation. Assess your resources and identify your beacon in the fog (or ultimate goal).
2. Divert! Immediately drive to profitability.
3. Add processes and resources.
4. Add a scale element to your business. Duplicate and expand.

This is an exhilarating concept because the Zigzag Principle gives people permission to live their lives. I have a team of stay-at-home moms who work for me. Imagine if they charged straight for their business goals—their kids would be in very stinky diapers for a very long time. I also employ a team of teenage boys, and the reality is that they have lives! My son is one of these teenagers and he is on the high school football team. Another team member is involved with debate, and another on the student council. If they were set on charging straight to business success, they would probably flunk out of high school! That would be unacceptable.

Live a Rich Life

I would argue that the richest parts of life are actually the detours we take. By slowing yourself down and allowing you these deliberate detours, you can actually navigate and migrate to higher levels of success.

Zigzagging is a powerful concept. It works. It works. It works! I know because I have founded or cofounded 33 different companies and the biggest failures came when I charged straight for my goals. I have now had my last four out of five businesses succeed using the concepts of the Zigzag Principle.

The Zigzag Principle is liberating! Use it and find the confidence to act on your dreams. Apply it to your business and find the balance to live your life while seeing business success. The key is just to step out into the fog and begin.

Rich Christiansen founded or co-founded 32 business, each with less than $10K. Of those, 11 were complete failures, but 11 have become multimillion-dollar companies. He describes himself as “a perfectly good technology executive turned entrepreneur” from his time at Mitsubishi Electric, About.com, and Novell. Rich is author of The Zigzag Principle and co-author of Bootstrap Business: A Step-by-Step Business Survival Guide, both of which provide an inside look into the action formula for business success. For free access to business-building tools and more information on The Zigzag Principle, or to order a copy of the book, visit www.zigzagprinciple.com

Email me at — And follow me on Twitter @BullishonBooks

GUEST AUTHOR BLOG: Creativizing Your Life by Jeff DeGraff, author of "Innovation You Four Steps to Becoming New and Improved."

What if you were a company?

Not a brand or product but a company with lots of moving parts and dots to connect – demanding shareholders, disengaged employees and a to-do list that would make Santa Claus swoon.

That just about sums it up for most of us as we schlep through the rat-a-tat-tat of ubiquitous soccer practice, disappointing airline monitors and the past due reports of our post-modern life. Given the ominous state of the workplace and the pandering pulse of you-topian buzz and blather, you’ve probably thought carefully about what you're good at, what value you produce and who your people are. But there is still that sneaky spot, that quiet and dangerous question that contains both your reason for being and your closet of fears: How will you grow?

Contained in this question are decisions about your future: Your beliefs, relationships, money, health and career. Most importantly it determines your ability to make sense of your life and act accordingly.

The business that is "You" contains so much more than just your Self.

You are a member of an ensemble of key people and forces beneath, within and beyond you: Family, friends, colleagues, economics and outrageous fortune.

To grow you must look up, down and around to harness and enlist these people and communities that move us forward.

Innovation is not about heroic deeds of derring-do.

"Creativizing" your life simply means adding creativity to ordinary things to make them extraordinary.

Practice Prismatic Thinking

There is no data on the future where innovation happens – tensions in the Middle East, the value of the dollar and scary diseases we haven’t named yet. In fact, collecting excessive data on the future is a form of resistance because it stops you from acting. Innovation has a shelf life like milk – over time it goes sour. The fabulous gizmo that you bought last Christmas is this year’s trash. So how do you find the unknowable destination? With a map to foresee (4C) the hot spots where our opportunities will emerge and the look into the blind spots where our challenges hide.

How you innovate is what you innovate. There are four types of innovation (the 4Cs) that largely determine how you will grow. These types are not harmonious, and although you can recognize them and ride them, you can’t control them. The truth is that innovation requires constructive conflict. No, not the kind of debilitating hate-speak we hear from politicians and late night partisans but rather the kind that occurs when people vigorously disagree but synthesize this positive tension and creative energy into productive hybrids – innovation.

These two competing types of innovation largely determine your level of ambition and your tolerance of risk: How much?

CREATE: This type of innovation is focused on DOING NEW THINGS and includes:

• Creativity: Aesthetic vision and artistic expression
• Discovery: Psychological and spiritual exploration

CONTROL: This type of innovation is focused on DOING THINGS RIGHT and includes:

• Security: Safety and savings
• Productivity: Accomplishment and advancement

Consider how your highly efficient daily grind has crowded out your creative soak time for playing the guitar or mediation.

These next two competing types govern your speed of innovation and your sustainability: How fast?

COMPETE: This type of innovation is focused on DOING THINGS NOW and includes:

• Vitality: Physical and emotional health
• Prosperity: Financial well being

COLLABORATE: This type of innovation is focused on DOING THINGS THAT LAST and includes:

• Capability: Learning and intellectual development
• Community: Connection with family and friends

This is where our work-life struggles occur. Do you go to the gym to keep healthy or go pick up the kids early from daycare to stay happy?

Of course, in the right measure, situation and sequence you must engage all four types of innovation, but not all at once, and certainly not everywhere. You need to practice prismatic thinking – looking for hot spots and blind spots in each of the four types:

• What’s working?
• What’s not?
• What should I start?
• What should I stop?
• What should I hold?

By routinely rebalancing your life portfolio, you will continue to grow through shrewd choices about where you invest your time, resources and precious energy. Remember that you cannot grow until you first create the capacity for growth.

You can have it all, just not at the same time or way. Innovation requires deviation.

Jeff DeGraff is an innovation professor at the Ross School of Business, the founder of Innovatrium Institute of Innovation, and co-creator of Competing Values Framework. In his new book, “Innovation You: Four Steps to Becoming New and Improved,” you’ll learn to be a Creativizer, to incorporate what’s unique about you in everything you do; to make you new, seize opportunities, and address challenges in your life. You’ll first learn to leave your old habits behind and instill a new innovator's mindset. And you’ll end with a true and tried method of changing your life. In Stores Now! Get more at www.JeffDeGraff.com.

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What drives you nuts about your co-workers? Loud talkers? (Yes.) Irritating ringtones? (Yes.)

Ofer Wolberger | Getty Images Hey - that's my sandwich!Americans are more irritated than any other nation if a co-worker takes someone else's food out of the fridge.

Taking food from the fridge that isn't theirs? (Oh yes.)

Hitting "Reply all" on emails? (This should be a felony.)

LinkedIn surveyed 17,000 office workers around the globe about pet peeves, and discovered what unites us and what divides us.

Americans are more irritated than any other nation if a co-worker takes someone else's food out of the fridge.

One co-worker has gotten so fed up with people taking her milk for coffee that she poured it into a plastic container and made a label saying...wait for it...BREAST MILK.

• Brazilians hate office gossip
• Indians detest ridiculous ringtones
• The Japanese don't care for office pranks
• And Germans are most annoyed by "dirty common areas" like the lunchroom

However, across this entire planet, we all agree on one thing. The top pet peeve among all workers is "people not taking ownership for their actions." Four out of five people listed this as their number one gripe.  » Read More