Rebel Women 1

I am due to address a group of 120 female executives from the Dell Corporation shortly on the subject of networking. Actually, it's 60 executives from Dell who then bring in 60 more of their female colleagues in other businesses. An excellent idea and a reinforcement of the fact that women have an innate sense of the power and value of connection.

I truly believe that a shift is happening in business and that we are moving rapidly towards a more feminine energy model of doing business. The turmoil that we have faced in recent months and years has been due largely to an over-emphasis on masculine energy values such as profit at all cost. Such values are leading to the destruction of society and the global environment. An acceptance of a more feminine energy model which would emphasise nurture, community, co-operation, communication and connection is needed and is emerging.

However that does not mean that women have a natural edge in this new world. As long as women attempt to play the business game by adopting masculine values and pretending to be males they will not evolve past the 'glass ceiling'. By learning to embrace their natural powers and values while learning the skills sets of connecting, engaging, persuading however the 'ceiling' disappears as they create a new dynamic in business. They also have to become much more supportive of each other in the world of business.

For men, there is equally a need to recognise and embrace the feminine energy within themselves. The ability to listen instead of dictate, to collaborate and create something greater than compete over something smaller, to understand the power of leverage through networking.

It is truly a time of transformation and I look forward to opportunity of working with more women executives and entrepreneurs as the New Year dawns and helping to awaken their r'evolutionary selves to create a bright new future.

Connections

Its been a week of connections and connecting.

Firstly presenting key points on the skills and strategies of professional networking in the current market place at the Ulster Reform Club in Belfast, for a group of directors and business owners from the Institute of Directors.

Secondly, connecting with my old friend and NSA buddy Terry Brock in a new Skype project to capture some of the stuff we both do and putting it on the Net for people. Terry is a technology reporter, commentator and speaker and has a great coaching programme on business relationships. Given the synergies between some of what we do, we decided to Skype a call and record the event. Needs work - especially on the camera quality and broadband speed (bit like a dubbed Chinese martial arts movie!) but its a start!

Rebel in a Business Suit

I spoke in Scotland recently at a conference entitled The Re-Birth of Leadership which examined some of the changes required of today's leaders to engage more effectively with the new world of work.

One of the great advantages of such conferences is the chance to engage with one's own peers in the speaking field and get some insights into other professionals' views of your message. Some of those insights have caused me to look yet again at the unfolding message in the ideas of Rebel in a Business Suit and R'evolution.

I guess the idea of the r'evolution that I'm talking about is the capacity to come to understand oneself - both the light and the dark side of oneself. To learn to be courageous in discovering who we truly are so that in doing so we bring a very authentic self into the new world of work - and when one is authentic one is powerful. When this happens the Rebel in the Business Suit becomes an idea of self-integration - the passion being the rebel and the purpose being the suit.

You might say it becomes the idea of the entrpreneur in the heart of the accountant or the artist at the heart of the engineer - the Ying and the Yang and the Heart and Head. An integration of opposites that creates a powerful being. Imagine that unique person as an asset as a leader or rainmaker.

Selling Smarter 4 - Sell Holistically Not Sequentially

What do I mean by this?

Simply that too many sales professionals have a single product or service focus. They think and act sequentially - in a series of singular steps.

If we are committed to 'service' being the root of selling then we should consider developing more holistic attitudes to our clients. Who else is involved in the business and needs to know that I'm servicing the business with an existing solution but can provide others? Have I had my existing contact draw a map or flowchart of the firm indicating where everyone is and who other potential decision-makers might be?

What am I doing about working as an advocate for my client - a true business partner? When did I last refer business to him/her? When did I last do something that made them look good in the eyes of their company or clients?

Am I the 'networking point' for their business needs? Just because I can't provide the solution shouldn't mean that I don't maintain a database of other (non-competing and quality-focused) service providers and then I suddenly become the peson who always gets the first phone call when there's a need - because I have become the '(wo)man who can' for their business.

Think about it. Sell holistically and add more value to your (and their) bottom-line.

Selling Smarter 2

The conference in Galway this week went tremendously well and I had the honour of sharing the platform with some other 'rebels in business suits' David McWilliams the author and broadcaster with his own unique and very funny style of presenting, the branding specialist Brendan Buckley of Impact Media - who left a very comfortable job in Dublin to go West and establish his own unique business and Nicky Deasy an ex-associate director of KPMG Corporate Finance who walked away and now devotes her life to working in the charity she founded supporting children in Nepal.

Onto our second step for Selling Smarter which is about Understanding the 'New' Model of Selling. This new model of selling promotes the very real concept that all selling must be collaborative. It must be a partnership between the sales professional and the client.

There are 4 steps to this. Firstly, create rapport or a powerful state of trust and acceptance between you and the client - when rapport is present the 'threat-level' decreases for the client and they are more comfortable in your space.

Secondly, remove ambiguity as to the client's real needs through effective questioning. Not identifying the clear needs of the client leaves both them and us at a distinct disadvantage. The client by virtue of the fact that we may end up wasting their time by not having an effective solution for them - in which case we should have walked away in the first place - and ourselves by wasting time and effort on pitching to the wrong prospect. Effective uncovering of real needs then allows us to complete the remaining two stages - presentation and closing more elegantly.

Thirdly - we make an effective 'pitch' or presentation by relating what our services/products can do to meet their real needs and if we have done the 'matching' process successfully then the fourth part - closing the deal - becomes simply a matter of assumption. After all, if we have met all their needs we don't need any 'closing techniques' we simply suggest that we move forward to provide their solution.

Tehran - The Review

So I'm back in dear old dirty Dublin and have had a chance to reflect on the trip.

The last day in Tehran was great - I got to visit the Shah's palace and see the wealth in which he and his wife lived. Funnily enough the remains of a large statue of the Shah - toppled during the revolution - stands outside the palace and all that remains are his boots and jodphurs. I'm reminded of the poem Ozmandias.

Carpet shopping in the market place - an amazing warren of alleys over 200 years old. Negotiating a deal - 'tag negotiating' really - I negotiated the first discount and then sent in the event organiser Sepehr and his dad to negotitate the second discount.

The market would be an anxious place to be as a foreigner without local back-up. Huge crowds of people in which one could easily get lost.

The trip was what I had hoped it would be - a chance to see a new country that wouldn't usually be on the travel map. I was impressed with the people and the enormous potential and resources that exist there. I was impressed with how Western the society - despite its repressive elements - actually was. People adapt. Change has happened in these last 10 years I was assured and change would continue.

Air travel there and back was a struggle - especially the long delays at Instanbul airport. That was the hardest piece. However I was very well looked after by our hosts while in Iran. They have a great hunger for knowledge and a great sense of hospitality to guests.

Would I go back? Yes. I would - just not through Istanbul airport next time (the airport was fine - just the waiting...). But the trip itself lived up to its expectations. Special mention to Alan Cummins and Elsie at the embassy in Tehran for making me feel at home.

Tehran Day 4

The second-last day here now and I have being enjoying the indoor pool (the outdoor pool is part of a building site and is frozen solid anyhow) and the hotel facilities today while also working on completing the the new book 'Rebel in a Business Suit - A Handbook for R-Evolutionaries' which has an April deadline. (read some on-line here).

The great thing about working with other speakers is that we are an enthusiastic and creative lot - who often work alone - so the chance to meet up with other speakers and share some insights and energy has been great this week.

I have a great chance to chat with the other guys and we are looking at some joint-venture projects now. Speakers and trainers are in the information business and like the Web it benefits not from competition but from sharing and synergy.

The plans for Rebel Island is to use this as a foundation for greater sharing between information specialists and using the benefits of the social networks and the virtual Rebel Island on Second Life as a means of reaching wider and more diverse audiences and creating a evolutionary synergy in business, sales and leadership that could truly be radical.

Tehran Day 3

Driving in Tehran is scary....but I realised why today. France had a significant interest in Iran at a point in its history and clearly they all learned to drive from Parisians.

I'm blinded from flash bulbs and my mouth is sore from smiling - everyone wants your photograph here after you speak - now I know what its like to have the paparazzi following you but the Iranians are infinitely more polite about it.

I did three seminars today and I must admit at this point I am exhausted. Some work scheduled for Saturday has been deferred so I get the day off for some sight seeing and carpet buying.

Tomorrow, I get stuck into the final edits for the new R-Evolutionary Selling CD programme coming out at the end of March or Mid-April. Giving the video that has been shot this week here I'll also be able to include DVD footage of certain exercises.

It's fun being here and we are being well looked after. I just miss access to nice glass of good wine and some bubble-gum TV - this is the place to be if you are a news junkie - that's all you can get in English here.

Tehran First Day

Beautiful sunny day here overlooking the snow capped mountains of Tehran. Arrived early this morning 4.30am local time.

Here's Tehran - 15,000,000 people, car polluted, constant building site, dirt everywhere from all the construction, government run hotels, excellent food, nice people, could be a tourist dream and if you want to drive here you better have an old car, no use for indicators, great brakes and nerves of steel.

Just been to the embassy, with some very helpful staff who told me its a lot safer here than the streets of the city of Dublin. I believe them.

I've met with the event organiser to see that a. the schedule has changed and b. I'm speaking at two more events than expected. Should be fun.

Interview

Here's a recent interview I did with Atlanta-based Jennifer Coulter on her internet TV show 'On the Ribbon'.

Must be viewed with Internet Explorer

Authentic Leadership

I had spoken in the past about the launch of the 'Rebel in a Business Suit' brand and the Rebel Island community project at the Authentic Leadership conference at the Ironmongers Hall in London on November 1st 2007.

Here's a collage of some of the moments, delegates and speakers from the event.

Tribal Thoughts

Tribe is a powerful word. It conveys community, something shared - how we survive by virtue of the fact that we associate with each other, and share with each other. A way of perceiving the world that you have in common with others.

This weekend I am with my 'tribe' as I attend the Professional Speakers Association annual conference in London. Yesterday, I shared a speaking platform with other members of the tribe from all over the world at the Authentic Leadership - A Global Perspective conference held in the Ironmongers Hall in the City of London. Some fantastic speakers with powerful messages gave their best to an invited audience. There also, I launched the new revolution and the start of the Rebel Island project and community.

This weekend as I sit and share and learn from my 'tribe', I look forward to the growth of a new one. A sense of belonging somewhere and to something is important for us humans for we are social creatures.

Who's your tribe? Who makes you strong, helps you grow and accepts you for who your are? Cherish them, for they shape you.

Busy Week

This week's a busy one for me.

I have just completed filming a piece for an new internet TV channel for sales and small business professionals and then this evening I am presenting in front of a 100 sales people at an event called The Closers Club at Dublin's Westbury Hotel.

There I'm discussing the '6 Secrets of Networking' and hoping to present the message about how networking is the professional business development tool of the 21st century. It reduces time wasted on cold calling, allows you to target qualified prospects and allows you to build rapport and trust with them in a relaxed surroundings - all of which is a great start to looking for a meeting at a later point when you can make any formal business pitch. Check out the practice website for more articles on networking in the sales section.

Tomorrow I am meeting the Private Secretary to the President of Ireland for lunch to discuss networking on a more global scale - the network of the Irish disapora - and I am also scheduled to be profiled for the Rebel project in the careers sections of The Times (of London).

Finally, I make my debut singing Sinatra at a charity event for cancer on Friday with a 25-piece big band at Ireland's largest sports stadium Croke Park.

Then to bed for the weekend......

Networking

Networking has been the predominant theme for me this week.

Starting with a 'tekkie brekkie' for engineers in a Dublin hotel with Engineers Ireland, where I endeavoured to educate professional engineers into the secrets of networking, to attending a high-energy meeting of the May Street Economic Forum in Belfast yesterday.

Professionals of all kinds need to understand that networking is the business tool of the 21st century. For sales and business development people it's a powerful tool for sales growth and for professionals, their own career growth. It allows you to expand your networks of influence far and wide, increasing your personal power, brand and opportunities - and all of it without having to pick up a phone and calling someone you have never met.

There is a whole psychology to networking within a room and none of it has to do with the traditional stereotype of the 'brass-necked conversation hijacker' who launches themselves into the middle of other people's conversations. Networking can be learnt - check out my Eagles of Selling programme.

The secret to networking is that its always about the other person - your interest is in them, not you. People like to be listened to, it helps them relax and feel valued and it positions the listener in a very positive frame with those to whom they listen. If you can get permission to engage, you get permission to develop a powerful future relationship. It's a social skill too - many's the time I've had men and women come up to me afterwards saying that they wished they'd learnt these skills prior to getting married...!

Your own networks can also be highly diverse - as I said, networking brought me from a room of professional engineers in Dublin to Belfast business people looking to revitalise the city's community and economic spirit after decades of conflict and then to connecting with colleagues in New York through the e-networking medium Skype.

Reach out - see where it takes you.

Unfolding

Its been a busy week this week but it still feels like it takes forever to make things happen.

Doesn't matter how much work you do it still feels as if the "prize" is always that little way out of reach - just enough to tantalise but never enough to satisfy. There is a saying in business that it always takes "twice as long and costs twice as much" - from personal experience I'd say that's true.

Apart from the impact of others on a project - waiting for people to get back to you, or to make decisions over things you don't control - the time taken for things to be fulfilled is often frustratingly slow for me. Of course, then I don't relax or take time out with the family or take some time out for myself and that just makes everything seem to take longer because I am never in any downtime.

Then I start making mistakes. I want to move things along so I hurry decisions that should be refelected on. The costs mount up as you have to re-visit things.

I have to consciously remind myself that life and the Universe are an unfolding process. That there is a season for things and no amount of impatience on my behalf will change that.

There are lessons and secrets I am meant to see but do not, as a I rush by with "my eyes on the prize". My childrens laughter at their horseplay annoys me when it should be something I take part in. I get annoyed (and sulk inside!) when my wife drags me away from my very important work (which could wait 'til the working week) to visit a garden centre so that we can as a family share the experience of designing a garden we will all share in the future.

Experiences that can never be re-visited. Memories that could enrich the fabric of my life.

This week I'm going to draw a breath before I think, say or act. I'm going to "reflect not reflex" and maybe the universe may unfold very differently.

Adventures in Asia

I recently enjoyed running a seminar for a group of people hosted by KrisTEL Communications in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia which is celebrating 50 years of independence from Britain this year.

Fantastic group of people and a great response - my thanks to Amita Krishna MD of KrisTEL for the invitation.

Asia is fantastic - talk about customer service - there was nothing people were not happy to do for you - and I mean happy. Special mention to all the staff in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. I arrived in KL the morning before - early - family in tow and No 2 son asleep in my arms - wasted after a long trip. Expecting to hear the response one would expect in the West (room not ready so you'll have to wait until it is) - I was resigned to sitting in reception for 6 hours.

Not a bit. Greeted professionally and warmly by my name - they announced that our rooms were not ready...BUT they had arranged an apartment for us to sleep and refresh ourselves until our rooms were ready.

We were immediately escorted to our room and room service delivered an excellent breakfast promptly. On being moved to our rooms later that day and finding them not as requested, without a word or even a hint of upset on behalf of the staff (you can never be sure how you'll be greeted in this country with even minimal requests) - we were promptly moved to another apartment where we spent the rest of an amazing 4 days in KL.

Well done to the management and individual staff at the Mandarin Oriental in KL. They exemplified one of the traits of the rebels - the value of service to others. Not just from a business perspective but also at a personal level. The desire to serve others to the best of one's ability and the satisfaction to be gained from doing this.

We'll be back.