Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

The summer break was a good time for a bit of rest and reflection, especially given the down-and-up year we had in 2011.

Naturally for me, part of this time was spent with a couple of books borrowed from the growing office library – a couple others much harder going than this one here:

The Book	What we thought
“Great by Choice Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All” by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen	More food for thought

I’ve posted separately about why we read, and review, so many books (and about the links above)… .

Having previously read “Built to Last”, “Good to Great” and “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim (and others) I was not disappointed with a few more points of insight the authors have added with this latest piece of analysis. read more »

As we gear up for an intensive recruitment effort to find our new General Manager for Initiating, Opening & Sustaining Client Relationships (which others might call a GM for Sales and Marketing) it was timely to see this “8 ways to build customer loyalty” article posted on Inc.

Maintaining a high retention rate is critical to our business, and something we’ve done reasonably well over the past 12 years – but there’s always room for improvement (it’s not 100%).

These 8 pointers will be another useful reference in the months ahead…

Picked this book up some time ago, perhaps after seeing Daniel Pink give this presentation of the importance of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

Read it back then, and have re-read recently as I’ve been casting my mind forward to the next recruitment initiatives.

The Book	What we thought
“Drive – the surprising truth about what motivates us” by Daniel Pink	Well worth it for us

I’ve posted separately about why we read, and review, so many books (and about the links above)…

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The content of this book is very much along the lines of the talk at TED – which  means that, if you are not aligned with the belief that Intrinsic Motivation is more important than Extrinsic Motivation (after watching the lecture), then the book will probably do nothing further for you.

read more »

In more recent months, I’ve read a number of books on the topic (seems to be gaining prevalence, at least in terms of people willing to write – and buy – books).

Not that I mind, because it’s an approach that’s close to our heart.

The Book	What we thought
“Little Bets – How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries” by Peter Sims	Worth reading

I’ve posted separately about why we read, and review, so many books (and about the links above)…

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read more »

Early in reading “Self-Theories” by Carol Dweck, I came across the following passage (p37-38) which explains the dichotomy of views that influences what each person achieves in life:

“Once students adopt a theory of intelligence, it affects what they value, how they approach intellectual tasks, and how they interpret and respond to what happens to them.

A belief in Fixed Intelligence raises student’s concerns about how smart they are, it creates anxiety about challenges, and it makes failures into a measure of their fixed intelligence.  It can therefore create disorganised, defensive and helpless behaviour.

A belief in Malleable Intelligence creates a desire for challenge and learning.  In fact, some incremental theorists tell us that they worry a task will be too easy for them and, essentially, not worth their while.  Setbacks in this framework become an expected part of long-term learning and mastery and are therefore not really failures.  Instead they are cues for renewed effort and new strategies.”

For anyone who’s been following our company as we grow and mature, you’ll appreciate that I’ve been grappling with really understanding both: read more »

Five hours on a plane to and from Melbourne this week for the EUAA’s Annual Conference was a great opportunity to get most of the way through Roger Martin’s earlier book “The Opposable Mind”.

More about the book at some later stage – but just want to highlight a few quotes from the book that help to clearly explain what I mean when I say that “Openness” needs to be one of our core company values.

If there’s one overriding lesson to take away … it’s that:
(1)  anything we think is real is actually (JUST) a model of reality; and
(2)  that model is probably imperfect in some important respects (from p123)

If anything but your model is wrong, every other model is a problem to be eliminated or ignored.  If instead your model is one of many, all of them imperfect, then the existence of a clashing version is to be expected, not feared (from p124)

My perspective is that these clashing models are to be welcomed, and even to be actively sought out, pragmatically.

‘Contented Model Defence’ is by far the most prevalent (mode of behaviour) – it is the factory setting for most people, who are generally unconscious of its operation (from p125)

In past years, I have invested considerable hours in trying to shift some employees paradigms from this ‘Contented Model Defence’ to what Roger calls a ‘Optimistic Model Seeking’ paradigm (this has been akin to seeking to facilitate the “warm–to–cold–to–hot” transition).

However our success rate has been low.  I’ve recognised it far more important to ensure that anyone new on the bus shares this ‘Optimistic Model Seeking’ paradigm as a pre-requisite to coming onboard.

As noted a while ago, I picked up this book and  found it a very engaging read.

The Book	What we thought
“Who says elephants can’t dance?” by Louis V Gerstner Jr	An enjoyable read - some great lessons too

I’ve posted separately about why we read, and review, so many books (and about the links above)…

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What struck me, time and again in reading this, was how the IBM situation Lou describes shows so many similarities to the situation we found ourselves in a couple years ago, when we started our own turnaround project (albeit on a much smaller scale).

I’ve titled this post in a similar way to the one I made 2 years ago following a Google talk as a similar challenge to us to ensure that we learn the lessons from IBM that Lou outlines in his book.

read more »

Let’s get one thing out-of-the-way straight away, for those who are easily distracted – yes, it is an unfortunate choice of acronym.  Back in 1988, when the book was written, political debate was not as lightweight and sound-bite-sized as at present.

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I can’t recall who it was who first suggested I read the book, but it was some time ago and (since that time) I have read the book several times.

The Book	What we thought
“Spin Selling” by Neil Rackham	It’s certainly worth it, for us, given the nature of our business

I’ve posted separately about why we read, and review, so many books (and about the links above)… .

With this book in particular, I’d strongly recommend you pick up a copy in order to gain the value – what follows is my attempt to just hit the highlights.

The book describes the SPIN technique, which evolved based on some fairly extensive studies of sales effectiveness completed by the author during the time he was founding the Huthwaite business.

Here’s a brief 5-minute video in which Neil outlines what SPIN selling is all about.

read more »

Started reading “Who says elephants can’t dance?” this weekend [later reviewed here] – Louis Gerstner’s account of the turnaround he helped create at IBM from 1993 to 2002.

Though we’re a massively different size of business, I am intrigued by his recount of the position the company was in at the time, and the steps taken to rectify.

I’m particularly intrigued to read on, to find out more about what he did to ensure that the company focus returned to the customer – as this has been one of our central challenges in the changes we’ve been making in the past year or two.

We’ve certainly made some good progress, though I know that there is much more we can do.  The week before last was not one of our better ones – but it won’t be wasted, if we can learn from it.