What Does Your Organization Need To Do To Profit From This Economic Downturn? by Manoj Sharma
March 24, 2008
People everywhere are aware that the global economy has taken a downturn. Your organization as part of the global business community either has already or will most likely be impacted in some shape or form. Regardless of the impact, thinking ahead what are some of the things you need to pay attention to, to ensure your organization makes the best of this change in economic climate? Below is a short list of things you might want to consider to have your organization bound back stronger still.
Focus on making things better.
Take everything you have and figure out how to make it better. Then keep making it better and even better still till the downturn is over. Know that if you make something truly great, everybody will want it and your market share, along with your profitability and fulfillment levels will certainly increase.
Distinguish creativity and invention from innovation.
When it comes to business, don’t confuse creativity with invention and innovation. Creativity is mind set related and is about making new connections. Invention is skill set related and is about creating new things in a physical reality. Innovation is business set related and is about inventing a new way to add value to other people’s lives. Innovate with a clear focus on increasing your top line, bottom line and customer engagement or you will waste both your time and money.
Go with your educated gut feeling.
Seize the opportunity to get customer feedback. Don’t directly ask your customers what they want through a survey as they won’t understand your business as well as you and cannot see it from your perspective. Do however ask your employees to ask your customers what they want. Then get your employees to improve on what your customers want.
In a downturn your employees need to be prepped to further engage your customers and potential customers. They need to establish an educated gut feeling and innovatively engage in internal innovation dialogues to create products, services and experiences that emotionally turn people on.
Embrace the age of disruption.
You are in the age of disruptions, short attention spans, and faster half-lives. You are on a maniacal roller coaster ride. While going on this maniacal roller coaster ride start to pay closer attention to value propositions and core values. Learn to build greater value propositions and lean how people are actually buying to coincide with their core values. This will give all your subsequent marketing a new competitive edge once the economy picks up.
Transcend your industry.
From the year 2000 onwards the business world has become rich with organizations that transcend industries and consolidate industry wide value propositions. Your organization needs to conjure up value propositions so compelling, ingenious and new that they upend industries. To profit from the above you also need to identify the biggest market possible and work towards capturing it in the down cycle. Get professional assistance on this as it will reap huge dividends.
Dedicate yourself to discovery and excellence.
Now dedicate or re-dedicate yourself to discovery and excellence. Discover what the hugest leap forward may be and strive to excel at it. Do not necessarily attempt to go for it alone. Collaborate with willing parties, bring together value propositions, clarify individual and collective gains and you will magnify your chance of success. People are far more willing to collaborate in downtimes when a new angle is needed, than uptimes when everyone is too caught up in busyness.
Strip away the fat.
Strip away the fat and get lean. Identify the few things you need to do well right now and do them exceedingly well. Do not get consumed with doing everything, it will be too much for you to handle. In the world of sports the downtime is called post-season and it is a time for athletes to recuperate followed by a pre-season which is the time for them to train and shape up. In the world of business the downtime, is called a downturn and the pre-season, is called a troughs.
Stop selling.
To benefit from creating a lasting value proposition, you need to stop selling and focus on having people fall in love with you, our ideas, your ideals, your products, services and experiences instead. Now is the time to ignore fads and look for the established principles that give rise to them instead. Now is the time to stop attempting to get people to buy what they don’t want to and to figure out what they need, want and desire instead. Now is the time to cease attempting to fool people through your marketing campaigns and learn to communicate clear, truthful value propositions.
Answer the “Wouldn’t it be great if….” question.
Work with your team and identify 10 propositions that would be great for both your customer and you. Then find workable solutions to them. If you can’t find workable solutions, innovate workable solutions. Also conduct a “100 New Ideas and Ideals Workshop” and then focus on the few you feel it would be best for you to focus on.
Know the impermanence of all cycles.
Appreciate that creation, maintenance and destruction is a cycle of life. Get clear that your life is brief and then you die. Know that you can only do that many things in your life time. So take the opportunity to figure out how you’d like to live your life, what you would like to bring to it and then go out there and do it with a spirit of excellence. Your reward for doing this now will come when the economy picks up.
Examine proficiency, personality and potential.
You need people who have great mind sets and skill sets to create great business sets. Quickly re-evaluate all your people. Where is the proficiency great and where is it poor? What personality traits do you think would assist your business grow and what personality traits can you do without in a hurry? Who is living up to their potential and who is not? All these are important questions as your people are either your competitive assets or competitive liabilities.
Re-evaluate people, products and processes.
Take the time to re-evaluate your investment in people, products and processes. If you hired well, it would have taken you a long time to get your people together and most will probably work well. Get rid of the poor performers and those who have not capitalized on living up to their potential. Enhance the value propositions of your products or innovate new ones. Tidy up your processes to become more optimal. Invest whatever you can in your research, development and innovation so you can compete better when the economy picks up.
I trust this will assist you to take the problems that come around in a downturn and turn them into profitable opportunities. How well and how fast you do the above will determine your success in the years ahead.
As usual, please feel free to send me your thoughts and comments to Info@DifferWorld.com And if you’d like to explore how you, your teams and your organization can benefit from the above and other DifferWorld initiatives please feel free to call me at DIFFERWORLD! For more, please go to http://www.differworld.com and http://www.manojsharma.com
What Are Some Of The Most Important Challenges You Need To Address Now? by Manoj Sharma
March 21, 2008
Everybody from Individuals, Teams, Organizations, Communities and The World are facing a set of Problems, Issues, Difficulties, Obstacles and Challenges.
While everybody professes that they would like to overcome their problems, issues, difficulties, obstacles and challenges, few actually do what is actually required to do so. Most put in some variety of a structured and unstructured effort, but ultimately, almost all, continue largely down the “same-old, same-old” path, barely experiencing the “different-new, different-new”. While the smart get professional assistance to save themselves time and money, the foolish attempt it on their own.
Ask yourself, how many from the list below do you realize you desire, but remain as yet unachieved for you? Once you are done, identify how many things are on your list.
I would like to…
1. Elevate my consciousness?
2. Expand my conscientiousness?
3. Experience true contentment?
4. Be expansive in my thinking?
5. Interact with greater sophistication?
6. Remove my pretenses?
7. Be more productive?
8. Apportion my time better?
9. Get myself into shape?
10. Inspire others to live a better life?
11. Delegate more effectively?
12. Be financially independent?
13. Just be happy?
14. Eat healthier?
15. Be more influential?
16. Be more compelling?
17. Communicate more effectively?
18. Be a confident speaker?
19. Represent myself/ my organization better?
20. Write artfully?
21. Be more creative?
22. Improve the overall quality of my life?
23. Improve the overall standard of my living?
24. Assist to improve others lives?
25. Live the way I’d really like to?
26. Be incredibly empowered?
27. Boost my / my organization’s profitability?
28. Assist to increase my family’s / friend’s financial well-being?
29. Assist my community in a multitude of ways?
30. Expand my professional and/or personal network?
31. Stop selling and find buyers instead?
32. Relax?
33. Stop wasting time?
34. Stop wasting money?
35. Be a magnificent asset and not a liability?
36. Not burn out and pace myself well?
37. Put life and not work at the core of my life?
38. Be more astute?
39. Be more aware?
40. Be a better listener?
41. Enjoy work-life harmony?
42. Be wiser?
43. Be more worldly?
44. Accelerate my learning curve?
45. Start a new business successfully?
46. Further grow my existing business?
47. Avoid the pitfalls of life?
48. Not be so reactive?
49. Build a great reservoir of goodwill?
50. Increase my knowledge base?
51. Redesign my entire life?
52. Re-orientate myself for greater fulfillment?
53. Rethink my purpose?
54. Strive for greatness?
55. Clear out physical, mental and emotional clutter?
56. Stop being so mediocre?
57. Be clear?
58. Interact powerfully?
59. Be ahead of the curve?
60. Remove dissonance?
61. Enhance my education?
62. Build upon my strengths?
63. Eliminate my weaknesses?
64. Cleanse my perceptions?
65. Be patient?
66. Be self-directed?
67. Be focused on my targets?
68. Be devoted to causes that matter?
69. Be a congruent personality?
70. Be a person of substance?
71. Achieve my goals faster and better?
72. Be highly disciplined?
73. Be magnanimous?
74. Be masterful?
75. Be a pillar of my society?
76. Be of great value to others?
77. Be dignified in my dealings?
78. Be more proactive?
79. Be highly responsible?
80. Be innovative in finding solutions?
81. Establish fabulous skill sets?
82. Stop procrastinating?
83. Weight out and seize opportunities faster?
84. Accurately appreciate the possibilities of situations?
85. Stop struggling?
86. Start winning?
87. Be involved with something
88. Invest more quality time with myself / my loved ones?
89. Deal better with stressful situations?
90. Be generous and prudent at the same time?
91. Know my fear and desire motivators?
92. Understand my empowering and limiting strategies?
93. Live more dynamically?
94. Have higher energy levels?
95. Enjoy more vacations?
96. See the world?
97. Broaden my horizons?
98. Be more respected by others?
99. Just chill out?
100. Be peaceful?
101. Be a solid leader?
How many things are on your list?
What are you going to do about them?
And when?
Also, feel free to send me your thoughts and comments to Info@DifferWorld.com And if you’d like to explore how you, your teams and your organization can benefit from the above and other DifferWorld initiatives please feel free to go to http://www.differworld.com and http://www.manojsharma.com
Where Does Your Business Stand In The Mind Of Your Customers by Manoj Sharma
March 19, 2008
Which of these 12 levels are your customers predominantly at?
1. Poor awareness of you, your products, services and ideas
2. An awareness that you exist but no awareness of your products, services and ideas
3. An awareness of you and a brief awareness of your products, services and ideas
4. An good appreciation of your value propositions but no idea of how it benefits them
5. A good appreciation of your value proposition and a good idea of how it benefits them
6. A very good appreciation of their benefits from your value proposition and a good mind share to contact you when they need them
7. An immediate request for you to quote when they have a challenge that needs to be addressed
8. A full understanding of why they should engage you regardless of other pressures
9. Engaging you on win -win terms
10. A great experience of you, your value proposition and your products, services and ideas
11. Immediate engagement of you, whenever they require your products, services and ideas
12. Promotion of you to others to also engage your products, services and ideas
As usual, please feel free to send me your thoughts and comments to Info@DifferWorld.com And if you’d like to explore how you, your teams and your organization can benefit from the above and other DifferWorld initiatives please feel free to drop me a note by clicking here, or call me at DIFFERWORLD at SKYPE now! For more, please go to http://www.differworld.com and http://www.manojsharma.com
Lies, Illusions, Delusions and The Truth by Manoj Sharma
March 17, 2008
People reveal their true identity most accurately, in the lies they tell behind closed doors to themselves, more so than the lies they attempt to cover up in the publics eye.
There is a state of mind present in the early stages of unconsciousness of all in all human beings; a state of mind in which we conveniently lie to ourselves to, strangely, hide the truth from ourselves. Some call this a defense mechanism, a convenient pretense and/or an artful fake. Whatever the name we accord to it, the truth is it the individual ego’s attempt towards self-preservation.
The individual’s ego, hiding in the shadows, having convinced the host that it does not exist, does this by creating an illusion than it deems more conducive to its aims. Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with this, but at the same time, let us acknowledge that there is also nothing right about this either. It is just that, like the rest of life, unconsciously there is a choice that has been made, and in every choice lies a cause to which, there is a consequence. The consequence in this case being, the illusion is created so unknowingly and masqueraded so normally, that naturally over time, it systematically creates a delusion. A delusion that by design is separated from reality and over time moves further and further away from truth.
While most of these lies are trivial, all of these lies are significant. Why? Because behind closed doors, when one is only with oneself, the liar and the lied to, are one and the same. The liar is both the perpetrator of the crime and also the victim of the crime. But, neither the perpetrator nor the victim takes responsibility for the act.
So, a state of 1) Denial is the first to set in, because, “It wasn’t me!” is the loudest thought that echoes in the recesses of the mind. Followed by a combination of….
2) Arguments - internally or externally with yourself or others
3) Blame - always of others to project and escape - physically, mentally and emotionally
4) Complaints - to other unconscious victims in the pursuit of company and comfort
5) Excuses - disguised as reasons (know that a reason is a one time event, that ceases to be once one is conscious of the reason, but excuses, regardless of circumstances, are repetitive)
6) Fault - rarely of oneself and if so, almost always at the expense of taking responsibility
7) Guilt - as a strategy towards not having to face the truth
8) Hatred - of anybody who attempts to lift the veil and destroy the delusion
9) Ignorance - as the maintainer of status quo
“Genuine” protest, disbelief and outrage are also often observed. But the ability to take ownership, hold yourself accountable to be a leader in your life and subsequently to correct is what is missing to escape the clutches of a vicious circle in which the lesson to be learned remains unlearned are distinctly absent.
Slowly but surely, the unknowing victim become the willing victim. Unless and until, consciousness is brought to the now willing victim or arises in the now willing victim, the pattern has no choice but to continue, the lies get compounded, the illusion becomes more real, the delusion separates the person further from reality and the opportunity for truth is all but lost. This creates in congruence, the unraveling from which becomes tougher and tougher.
The time to do something about is now. If not you, who? If not now, when?
As usual, please feel free to send me your thoughts and comments to Info@DifferWorld.com And if you’d like to explore how you, your teams and your organization can benefit from the above and other DifferWorld initiatives please feel free to drop me a note by clicking here, or call me at DIFFERWORLD at SKYPE now! For more, please go to http://www.differworld.com and http://www.manojsharma.com
The Planet In Peril
March 12, 2008
GLOBAL WARMING: Time now for ruthless measures, not compromise.
By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent
INFORMATION that emerged last year set off alarm bells on global warming, but we may still be oversleeping. Some of the world’s foremost climate scientists now say that global warming is far more advanced than was believed at last year’s Bali conference on the Kyoto Protocol.
Proposed targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases - the main drivers of global warming - under the Kyoto Protocol and beyond, they say, are looking outdated. The impact of climate change is happening at lower temperature increases and more quickly than projected.
The most striking symptom of this is the Arctic’s floating sea ice. It is headed towards summer disintegration as early as 2013, a century ahead of the projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In what scientists describe as ‘positive feedback’, the warmer the planet gets, the faster it warms.
For instance, a warmer planet sparks more forest fires - which in turn pump more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air, warming the planet further. When the Arctic region’s frozen peat known as permafrost melts, it releases methane - a greenhouse gas 21 times more powerful than CO2 - which again further drives global warming.
In fact, the data shows that we are now producing more CO2 at the same time as the ability of the planet’s surface to absorb it is falling - mainly because of deforestation.
‘POSITIVE FEEDBACK’ PHENOMENON
For instance, a warmer planet sparks more forest fires - which in turn pumps more carbon dioxide into the air, warming the planet further. When the Arctic region’s frozen peat melts, it releases methane, which again further drives global warming.
The combination of these factors creates ‘positive feedback’, accelerating global warming.
In the words of the Climate Code Red report released this month in Australia: ‘We have already created the conditions for extremely dangerous climate change…that will induce further, and possibly uncontrollable, feedback.’
The report was done for Friends of the Earth by the think tanks Carbon Equity and Green Leap Strategic Institute.
It is almost too hot for many in the government and corporate sectors to handle. They remain locked in what the report calls ‘failure-inducing compromise’.
The Australian report brings together a far more up-to-date picture than the IPCC report did. Because of time lags, the IPCC report contained data which in many cases was already outdated by the time the report was published.
Code Red brings together views from a range of scientists involved in climate change research, including some of the world’s foremost thinkers on the subject like Dr James Hansen of Nasa’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies.
Dr Hansen told an Australian radio station last week: ‘As it stands now, we will lose the Arctic sea ice without any more greenhouse gases, because there is (already) additional warming in the pipeline.’
He added: ‘Talking about a date (by which we should reduce greenhouse gases) which is quite a distance in the future is…a way for politicians to get out of doing something now. They put off the target to a date when they’ll be out of office.’
The 101-page Code Red report concludes that the climate ‘will not respond to incremental modification of the business-as-usual model’.
The summer melting of the Arctic’s floating ice - supplemented soon by melting in western Antarctica - will trigger a sea level rise of 5m or more by 2100.
Meanwhile, many coastal cities and their fresh-water supplies will be compromised by salt water. Marine life will be affected by acidification.
The report warns that if the acceleration is too rapid, humanity will no longer have the power to reverse the processes it has set in motion. The planet will look very different from now - and the changes will come within the lifetimes of most adults alive today.
Warning against ‘trading off thousands if not millions of species, and perhaps hundreds of millions of people, by opting for compromised goals’, the report’s authors, Mr Philip Sutton of Green Leap and Mr David Spratt of Carbon Equity, say global warming demands an emergency response beyond ‘business as usual’ and ‘politics as usual’.
It is not that the IPCC did not warn of this. But the IPCC’s data had by late 2007 been outstripped by growth in greenhouse gases - not only from countries like India and China but also from developed nations such as Australia.
Another problem, the Code Red authors contend, is scientific reticence. Many whose work centres on climate change have struggled to gain recognition on the issue and remain concerned about being dismissed as ‘alarmist’ and ‘crazy’.
‘Now that the science is showing that the situation is far worse than most scientists expected only a short while ago, this ingrained reticence is adding to the problem,’ they said.
There is also pressure - mainly from industry and countries heavily reliant on fossil fuels - to dilute worst-case estimates.
The report does not include the views of professors Steve Rayner of Oxford’s James Martin Institute of Science and Civilisation, and Gwyn Prins of the Mackinder Centre for the Study of Long Wave Events at the London School of Economics. But it echoes what they wrote at the time of last year’s Bali conference: ‘Kyoto has given only an illusion of action. It has become the sole focus of our efforts and, as a result, we have wasted 15 years.’
What do the scientists and the authors of the Climate Code Red report advocate? They draw on the example of World War II to show that human society can indeed change.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941, America’s military imperatives demanded ‘a rapid conversion of great swathes of economic capacity from civil to military purposes’.
‘Within weeks, car production lines became tank lines and manufacture of passenger cars ceased for the duration of the war, new methods to mass- produce military aircraft were devised, and consumer spending was dampened by selling ‘war bonds’ to fund the cost of rapidly expanding military production and control inflation,’ they say.
‘Price controls were introduced and rationing of key goods was mandated. Yet the economy, real wages and profits all grew, though civil rights were significantly curtailed.’
It is just such a response that is needed to deal with global warming. Humanity will have to change the way its societies and economies are structured - both by using new technologies and ruthlessly eliminating or taxing greenhouse gas emissions.
That means fundamental changes - but not intolerable ones compared to the ravages of global warming. As Mr Sutton and Mr Spratt write: ‘We can do without jet-transported Californian spring cherries at our fresh food markets in the middle of a cold Melbourne winter.’
The Shell Must Be Cracked Apart by Meister Eckhart
March 11, 2008
“The shell must be cracked apart if what is in it is to come out, for if you want the kernel you must break the shell.
And therefore, if you want to discover nature’s nakedness, you must destroy its symbols, and the farther you get in the nearer you come to its essence.
When you come to the One that gathers all things up into itself, there your soul must stay” — Meister Eckhart
As usual, please feel free to send me your thoughts and comments to Info@DifferWorld.com And if you’d like to explore how you, your teams and your organization can benefit from the above and other DifferWorld initiatives please feel free to drop me a note by clicking here, or call me at DIFFERWORLD at SKYPE now! For more, please go to http://www.differworld.com and http://www.manojsharma.com
If You Cannot by Manoj Sharma
March 9, 2008
If you cannot find happiness right now, where else do you expect to find it?
If you cannot seize the opportunity right now, where else will you be able to seize it?
If you cannot learn the lesson right now, where else will you learn it?
If you cannot see the truth right now, where else will you see it?
If you cannot elevate your consciousness right now, where else will you elevate it?
If you cannot correct your thinking right now, where else will you correct it?
If you cannot listen right now, where else will you listen?
If you cannot shed your ignorance right now, where else will you shed it?
If you cannot allay your ego right now, where else will you shed it?
If you cannot be of service right now, where else can you serve?
If you cannot enjoy the moment right now, where else will you enjoy it?
If you cannot put in the effort to appreciate this right now, where else can you appreciate it?
It is now or never. Know that now is all there is and ever will be. The rest is simply the delusion of believing in an illusion.
As usual, please feel free to send me your thoughts and comments to Info@DifferWorld.com For more, please go to http://www.differworld.com and http://www.manojsharma.com