Archive for December, 2009

Recently, I was in a discussion with an executive about the lack of commitment he felt was present in his staff. As we continued the discussion it became very evident that he was in the middle of a major change initiative within his group and it was not working well. As we continued our discussion one key factor became evident – he really didn’t believe it would work.

So, I visited with several of his key people and discussed the new initiative. Again, on the surface, everyone stated they were committed to the initiative however they felt two things. First, they felt their leader was not sincere since he continually did things that did not help their move forward. Second, they did not really feel it would work for various reasons.

Therefore, the initiative was doomed from the beginning. There appeared to be commitment, yet, few really believed in the success of the initiative. Thus, Commitment is Meaningless without Belief!

So what really happened? The Commitment was Meaningless without Belief. Here is what we found out… Continue reading ‘Commitment is Meaningless without Belief’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 27, 2009 at 9:34 pm under Change Management, Leadership.
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Every year we lose some source of reference that we have been using for information, continuity or some other emotional tie-in for providing some happiness or routine in our lives. Yet, every year a popular brand or store goes away – never to be seen again. Are you missing an old brand name store or product.

The loss of brands and stores is a common component of the changing times and a rough, extended recession. Therefore, we must adjust our life or lifestyle to accommodate this element of continuous change.

So what brands disappeared in 2009? While there are numerous local and small businesses that disappeared from your local economy, there is a small number of key losses. Here is a quick list of key losses… Continue reading ‘Ten Brands Missing in Action in 2009’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 22, 2009 at 1:34 am under Philosophy Statements.
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Today I want to cover the critical seven steps to a successful webinar. Seems a number of leaders want to use this form of information transfer or presentation, yet they are not sure how to go forward with a webinar.

So follow along as I share the seven critical steps to a successful webinar. By the way, my focus is for the professional, small business executive, sales team leader, marketing executives and anyone else wanting to use a webinar for fun or profit – or both. Here you go… Continue reading ‘7 Steps to a Successful Webinar’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 17, 2009 at 6:45 pm under Marketing.
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This is a serious question – How Often Do You Fail?

If the answer is zero – you have a problem and may not even know it.

If the Fear of Failure is overriding everything you do, then you have a problem.

When a person does not take any risks in life – this person seldom wins anything either. Life is lived in the status quo. This is a risk-less world with no rewards or payback above the cost of living. So what is happening when people are connected to no fail practices? Continue reading ‘How Often Do You Fail?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 14, 2009 at 12:05 am under Personal Development.
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Over the weekend I heard an interesting question – What is Normal Today?

What a great question to get you thinking about the answer. Is it like the 1950′s or 1960′s – No, see China for that designation. That’s right China has an emerging middle class that is buying anything they can find to increase their standard of living. This behavior is identical to the United States budding middle class of the 50′s – they purchased everything that could be manufactured. It was an interesting period for business as steady growth and employment was the standard or normal.

Is it like the 1970′s and 1980′s? No, too much regulation and attempts to conform everyone into one way of thinking. The 1970′s and 1980′s were periods of growing independence, distrust of the establishment and working hard at being unique and different from everyone else.

Well, what about the 1990 ? No, the 90′s were a period of high growth rates for business and your standards of living. Business and employment was very strong and while we had growth, most of the experts gave credit to a long term growth market (including the stock market) and life was really quite calm and routine.

How about the 2000′s – is this the new normal? No, not yet. The 2000′s have been marked with danger, war and depression. People are hurting and hunting for opportunities – our life has changed as we knew it.

Enter the past two years. The worst recession since the great depression of the 1930′s has changed the game – for everyone. The republicans have been voted out of power and the democrats voted into power. And while politics does not totally control our economy, it does change the field of play. And, that my friends is moving us toward the new normal.

We will find that the past two years will place us in new territory and the normal desired by so many will be hard to find during the coming years. Life and business will change – some for the better and some for the worst. I will cover some of my projections this week. Plus, your comments about what you see coming over the next two years will be valuable input for everyone reading these forecasts.

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 7, 2009 at 1:06 am under Philosophy Statements.
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Well, since I wrote my last post on Generational Differences I have been doing some additional research on the topic. At first I felt this was only a managerial issue with some impact upon the hiring of qualified talent for mid-level management. Now, I see that Sales and Marketing strategies can be heavily impacted by the population waves of the generations. Depending upon your industry and who you sell your products and services, there can be a positive or negative impact.

Today, I’m only introducing the concepts regarding the relationships between the generational population waves and your business model. Let me begin by saying as a leader, you must research this important data if you want to insure the success of your company. I’m talking serious strategic impact and being unaware or ignore to this important data could cause a major failure in your industry.

So here are the areas that can be impacted by the generational waves or demographics to the sales and marketing crowd… Continue reading ‘Sales and Marketing are Impacted by Generational Flow’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 4, 2009 at 1:36 am under Leadership.
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While having a discussion about the overall differences between the four generations in the workforce today, I realized I have not shared this information with the majority of my clients and the readers of Insights. So today I will share a brief description of the focus differences between the four generations.

So here are the dates of birth for the four generations and their key focus… Continue reading ‘Keys to Generational Differences’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on December 1, 2009 at 1:38 am under Effective Communication, Leadership.
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