Monthly Archives: February 2012

What Do Companies and Rockets Have In Common?

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In physics, escape velocity is the speed at which the kinetic energy plus the gravitational potential energy of an object is zero. It is the speed needed to “break free” from a gravitational field without further propulsion.

What does this have to do with business? Just like a rocket can be held in orbit by the gravitational pull of a planet, so companies can be held back from capitalizing on new opportunities by their legacy franchises. In both cases, more power is needed to break free

In Geoffrey Moore’s latest book Escape Velocity, he contends that companies must align what he calls the “hierarchy of powers” in order to obtain escape velocity and not fall by the wayside in the still-developing global economy. And what is this hierarchy of powers? Moore lists five areas of power that can be utilized to break free of the past.

  1. Category Power – growth born from category expansion.
  2. Company Power – growth born from competitive advantage.
  3. Market Power – growth born from customer consensus.
  4. Offer Power – growth born from unmatchable offers.
  5. Execution Power – growth from reaching tipping points.

If you sense that your company or organization is being held down by the forces of your past success, you’ll want to join Geoffrey Moore on February 23rd for our Soundview Live webinar How to Achieve Escape Velocity. Don’t be satisfied with the status quo.

How Businesses Are Using Video

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I recently ran across a great article written by Jimm Fox of One Market Media on the many business uses of video. I’ve listed his main categories below, and you can check out the full article for more details.

  1. Customer Reference – video helps with collecting and showing customer testimonials, case studies and interviews.
  2. Product & Service Promotion – companies use video for product presentations, demonstrations and reviews.
  3. Corporate – corporations provide their company overview, executive highlights, facility tours and more with video.
  4. Training & Support – video is the latest thing in employee training, sales presentations and maintenance support.
  5. Internal Communication – video is now being used for business plans, company achievements, event coverage, employee orientation and health & safety education.
  6. Marketing – video promotions can take the form of commercials, viral video, content marketing and landing pages.
  7. PR/Community – video press releases are becoming more popular, along with video PR materials and community relation pieces.
  8. Events – at an event, presentations, roundtable discussions and Q&A with experts can all take place in video.
  9. Other – videos are also being used for recruitment, vlogs (video blogs) and research/surveys.

On the internet search side of the equation, research shows that a webpage with video is 30% more likely to end up on the first page of search results in Google then the same page without video. Google is now giving preference to video content in their search algorithm.

At Soundview, we are following this trend carefully, and have expanded our own offerings to include video. Our iPad format of each business book summary includes a video introduction from our Editor-in-Chief Sarah Dayton.  We now produce Executive Insights, a series of videos which interview active executives regarding key business skills. And we’re developing additional video content to be released soon.

Video increases engagement time, deepens emotional connections, and gives your company more trust and credibility with your customers and other stake-holders. And the cost of entry is becoming less every day with new technologies and web tools. If your company or organization is not currently using video, now is the time to jump in.

Leadership, Quality and Work Ethic: Three New Must-Reads

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While subscribers to Soundview Executive Book  Summaries frequently praise our variety of leadership titles, we take pride in the fact that our selections for the 30 Best Business Books each year help strengthen every aspect of an organization. To see a great example of this feature of Soundview, take a look at the three newest summaries to help your business reach new heights in quality, hiring and, of course, leadership.

by Eric Chester

Reviving Work Ethic by Eric Chester: Work ethic in America is fast declining, plaguing young and old alike. But in Reviving Work Ethic, Eric Chester shows that you do best to focus on your young employees — those whose habits and ideals can still be influenced. He presents an incisive look at the root of the entitlement mentality that afflicts many in the emerging workforce and shows readers the specific actions they can take to give their employees a deep commitment to performing excellent work. His advice is crucial to a healthy bottom line: too often, talented-but-difficult-to-understand younger workers stand between your company and its profits.

 

 

 

by Subir Chowdhury

The Power of LEO by Subir Chowdhury: Subir Chowdhury is the long-established global authority on the critical importance of quality and how to achieve it with Design for Six Sigma. Now, he takes it to the next level by showing you how to build quality into the DNA of your entire organization. In The Power of LEO, he describes how continuous focus on quality improvement can revolutionize any process from manufacturing operations to managerial decision making.

 

 

 

by Mike Figliuolo

One Piece of Paper by Mike Figliuolo: Based on leadership expert Mike Figliuolo’s popular “Leadership Maxims” training course, One Piece of Paper teaches decisive, effective leadership by taking a holistic approach to defining one’s personal leadership philosophy. Through a series of simple questions, readers will create a living document that communicates their values, passions, goals and standards to others, maximizing their leadership potential.

Don’t forget, each of these summaries are available in multiple digital formats. To learn more and to get your copy, visit Soundview’s Web site, Summary.com.

Have You Experienced Zappos?

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As most business people and consumers are aware, Zappos is a shoe and apparel website with a reputation for superior customer service. It was started in 1999 as shoesite.com and after a hefty investment by Tony Hsieh became zappos.com. In 2009 the company was sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion, just 10 year after it began.

But what some people may not know is that Zappos’ commitment to customer service goes beyond its own doors. They have developed a program called Zappos Insightsto help other companies also excel at customer service. Although the company may seem like a wacky one-time success, this success is built on a set of principles that can be applied to any company.

Joseph Michelli, in his book The Zappos Experience, provides us with these principles from his research of the Zappos business, with ample cooperation from its employees and CEO Tony Hsieh. Here are the five Zappos principles:

  1. Serve a perfect fit – Zappos has a rigorous application process to make sure new employees fit with their culture, and let’s all unsuccessful applicants know why they weren’t accepted.
  2. Make it effortlessly swift – Customers are less concerned about WOW service then they are about getting satisfaction without a lot of effort.
  3. Step into the personal – Zappos finds ways to create individualized experiences that extend beyond their solid service platform.
  4. Stretch – Zappos understands that a key to retaining great people is to keep them challenged and learning.
  5. Play to win – High levels of workplace fun are consistently associated with increased creativity and productivity.

If you would like to hear more about these five principles and how they can be applied to your company, join us on February 16th for our Soundview Live webinar The Zappos Experiencewith Joseph Michelli. You’re sure to learn something that can help your business succeed, and perhaps have some fun in the process.

The Top Trends in Corporate Training

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In a recent article on the HR.BLR.com website, consultant Dominic Cottone of The Leadership Conservancy listed trends in corporate training that we’ll see over the next decade. Here’s a summary of those trends:

  1. Employers will identify opportunities for employees to learn more—and be more proactive—about health and wellness, including ways to manage stress.
  2. Employers will encourage “attitudinal shifts” in how employees view training and development, so they can “embrace lifelong learning.”
  3. Although e-learning won’t replace classroom training, employers will increase their focus on e-learning and ways to train employees “in short bites.”
  4. Trainers will need to identify and develop training that is adaptable, can be changed on the spot, and can be changed easily.
  5. As companies expand their workforces overseas they will develop “truly global” training, and have employees complete “cultural sensitivity” training and training in foreign languages.
  6. As an aging workforce approaches retirement, employers must find ways to pass along older workers’ knowledge to younger or less experienced workers.
  7. A greater emphasis will be placed on leadership development with an increasing number of experienced leaders directly sharing their knowledge with up-and-coming employees.
  8. Companies will incentivize learners by tying their participation in training to performance management and promotions.
  9. New topics will include training on reputation management, teaching in a virtual environment, understanding the needs of a new generation of learners, and focusing more on training that covers ethics, interpersonal communication, skills for new managers, and refresher skills for longtime managers.

As I scanned this list of trends, I was reminded of the new features provided by Soundview’s Corporate Solutions Program. Our multi-media library now includes book summaries with content assessments, author webinars, video interviews with executives, skill-focused newsletters, author interviews, and audio summaries of HSM World Business Forum and Innovation Forum events.

And now all content is mapped to over 46 competencies to help companies connect content with their corporate priorities. Because this business information can be used on all computers and mobile devices, and the library can be integrated into any LMS system, we support many of these trends.

Are you seeing these same trends coming, and if so, how are you preparing to meet the new demands for training in your company or by the content you’re providing?