The Simplest Thing That Works

Business Blogging

How Are You Planning For Success? - Bullish on Books Blog - CNBC.com.

Here's a great thing; not only did CNBC ask me to write a guest blog post for their Bullish on Books blog, but writing it gave me a chance to say (well-deserved) good things about our client GE, and their ecomagination efforts.

For those of you who aren't aware of this initiative, you might want to read my blog post, or check out the link in the previous paragraph. Ecomagination is a great example of "doing well by doing right": the company's mission for ecomagination is "helping solve the world's biggest environmental challenges while driving profitable growth for GE."

Gloria McDonough-Taub, the CNBC blogs editor, and the author of Bullish on Books, has also put Beng Strategic at the top of her recommended books list!  I'm very honored.

Still?

Holding Women Back.

I was working with a group today from WICT, an organization whose mission is to develop women leaders who transform the media (specifically cable television) industry.  We were talking about how some people don't support organizations like WICT because they think the gender gap is a thing of the past.

Sadly, not so.  A WICT staffer, Laurie Root, sent me this article from DDI, citing research that shows it's still not a level playing field in the area of leadership development - that women aren't being given the support to develop as leaders in the ways that men are.

Have you experienced this?  And if so, what can you do to change it in your organization?

Thank you, Jon!

» Blog Archive » What Is Your Hoped-For Future? | Creo Quality, LLC.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again - it may be the greatest pleasure for an author when someone really gets what you're saying.  Jon Speer, my newest online friend, has done me the honor of blogging about Being Strategic in a way that's so clear, so helpful, and so positive, that he's completely made my day.

And he blogged about it more than once....so he's made a bunch of my days.

I Heart New Techonolgy

Today I was lamenting my slow, sporadic and stupidly expensive internet connection at my country/weekend house.  There's no cable service near me (it sounds remote, but it's not really - it's within 15 minutes by car of both New Paltz and Poughkeepsie), so I've had to cobble together my media/technology solution: Verizon for phone, DirecTV for television, and HughesNet for wifi.  Hughesnet is satellite broadband, and - at least in my situation - it is, as previously stated slow, sporadic and expensive.

So, as I was bitching and moaning, my love Patrick said, "Why don't you just use a mobile broadband adapter?"  Then he proceeded, very kindly, to download the Verizon software, connect the cute little adapter to my computer's USB port, and...voila.  Twice as fast, half as expensive.

I know some people think technology is scary, or ruining the quality of our human connections, or whatever.  But I mostly love it.  As long as you're clear that it doesn't replace real relationships, or make you happy, or give you love...that is, as long as you use it to simply make effort more productive or results easier to get, I think it's great.  Twenty-first century labor-saving devices.

"Strategy Made Sensible"

Three Star Leadership Blog: Book Review: Being Strategic.

I'm honored that Wally Bock, the author of the Three Star Leadership blog and a wonderful person and thinker-about-management as well, has written a lovely review recommending Being Strategic. Perhaps my favorite sentence of all is this: "With this book you'll live your strategy instead of burying it in binders."

And that's exactly why I wrote the book; to offer people a mental model and a set of skills for crafting - and continuing to craft - the business, the career, or the life they most want.

For an author, the best experience may be when someone gets from your writing the benefit that you most hoped you were putting into it.

Thank you so much,Wally!

Watch This Space

It's fascinating watching the dueling pundits on TV (temporarily fascinating - it gets old fast).  Listening, you could come to the conclusion that 1) we're on the road to recovery, 2) it's worse than ever, 3) we might be OK, but it's gonna take a really long time and be really painful, or 4) no one has a clue.  Or all of the above.

But then there's what's actually happening.  I'm observing our clients' businesses; I'm watching what's happening with my business; I'm talking to my friends and colleagues about their businesses. I know this isn't a statistically valid sample, but at least it's reality-based, and so I'd like to share it with you anyway as a respite from theory.

My grandmother data tells me that people seem to be rolling up their sleeves and getting back to work.  During the first couple of months of the year, what I saw - mostly - was shock and paralysis.  There was a real bunker mentality; people were hunkering down and doing the minimum necessary to keep their businesses afloat. (Our business was down, as were those of many of my friends who offer various sorts of business services.)

Then, along about March, people seemed to start coming out of their bunkers, blinking in the light of day.  It was almost as though they were saying, "OK, we're still here, we still have to do business.  Let's make sure we're operating as simply and cleanly as possible; let's make sure we're headed in the right direction; and let's make sure we've got the right people and they're really doing a good job."

I see a lot of folks starting to ramp their businesses back up, but they're doing it differently.  Less complacency, less sloppiness. More care.

It's been great for my business: these are efforts my colleagues and I can really support and enable...and a lot of folks are calling on us to do this. And my friends are noticing the same thing with their businesses.

So it may be a long road back - but I think we're on it.  And I think we're going to end up in a better place.

ChangeThis Redux

ChangeThis - Being Strategic: The Antidote to Fear.

After I wrote my first book, I had the honor of being asked to write a manifesto for 800CEOREAD's ChangeThis website.  If you're not familiar with ChangeThis, I encourage you to check it out. From the site's self-descriptive manifesto:

ChangeThis doesnʼt publish e-books or manuscripts or manuals. Instead, we facilitate the spread of thoughtful arguments...arguments we call manifestos.

A manifesto is a five-, ten- or twenty-page PDF file that makes a case. It outlines in careful, thoughtful language why you might want to think about an issue differently.

So when they asked me to write a new manifesto for Being Strategic, I knew just what I wanted to write about:  I wanted break through the common myth that strategy and strategic thinking are esoteric, complex, obscure, only narrowly applicable. I wanted to help people understand that being strategic is a powerful and positive life skill.

In fact, I believe that being truly strategic gives people a way to make decisions based on an accurate assessment of the current state and a reasonable aspiration for the future, rather than simply reacting out of fear.  Read the manifesto and see why...

Spring Always Comes

Last summer I moved into my newly-built dream house, and it was (and is) wonderful on a lot of levels.  One of the many things I loved was having a blank garden palate to work with.  Because the house is in a wooded area, I decided to do very natural planting; perennials, shrubs and trees, vs. a lawn.  So I started with the front yard, planting some things last fall.

Then came the long winter - lots of snow and cold.  Everything looked dead.

But, as it always does at the end of April, everything started slowly coming back to life.  Little green shoots here and there, then leaves, and then flowers...

And now it's beautiful: almost everything came back, and all the plants are already bigger than they were when I planted them last fall. Lush, green, healthy.

This afternoon, I was walking around appreciating all the renewal and rejuvenation, and it occurred to me that this is a great metaphor for the economy.

The economy is cyclical. Recessions come and recessions go.  After every recession, the economy begins to grow again. I see subtle signs of economic renewal all around me (even though many things still look kind of dead).

Let's have faith that the economic Spring will come, and position ourselves to be able to take full advantage of it.

Podcasting!

Being Strategic - Erika Anderson | TotalPicture Radio - Career Advancement, Employment Trends, Recruiting and Leadership Development Podcast.

I had a wonderful time yesterday, talking with Peter Clayton at Total Picture Radio.  He asks such smart and insightful questions.  And I do love talking about this topic.  We focused quite a bit on how individuals could make best use of the "being strategic" skills and approach; either people in job transition, or those who are looking for a way to take advantage of the larger societal 'reset' to re-imagine their own lives.

Have a listen - I'd love to hear any thoughts it might provoke for you.

Warning: Publicity Ahead

So, my apologies: the next few weeks are probably going to be focused largely on Being Strategic, since the publication date is fast approaching (it's the 26th), and things are starting to happen.

Got the first review of the book the other day, in BizEd, "the magazine for business education."  It's the only magazine in the US that focuses exclusively on management education.  So, what a great place to get a first, positive review. Here's how it starts out:

"Everybody always talks about strategy, but nobody ever does anything about it. Or, more precisely, people believe they need a strategy - to improve their business or personal lives - but they're not sure how to choose or implement one. In Being Strategic, Erika Andersen clearly sets forth the steps that have to be taken before any strategy can be formulated."

Then, last Tuesday, I spoke at 800CEOREAD's LeaveSmarter series in Milwuakee; here's a clip. It was especially fun, partly because I love doing things with the 8CR folks and partly because we were able to convince St Martins to have books available, even though it was before the official pub date. I loved being able to give people the book as a back-up to the presentation.

More to come...