Robert Sutton writes a blog for the Harvard Business Review called The Conversation. On June 2nd, 2010, he published an article entitled 12 Things Good Bosses Believe . You can read the whole article here. Robert is describing the mindset and behaviors of a good boss.
I agree with them all with a small reservation about #3 where he suggests that having ambitious and well defined goals is important but that it is useless to think about them too much. Without knowing his exact definition of too much I left it at that – a small reservation.
With all the companies I am helping implement EOS, we review the specifics of the ambitious goals specifically, and the company progress towards them, every 90 days.
Robert clarified what he meant with a subsequent post entitled, Hey Boss – Enough with the Big, Hairy Goals, which you can read here. I was pleased to see that we are on the same page. In his book, Good Boss, Bad Boss, Robert tempers what he says with a story about a CEO who helped his team accomplish an audacious sales goal for the year by employing a small wins strategy.
Our EOS clients do this very thing by taking their 10-year target and breaking it down first into a 3-year picture and then a 1-year plan, with the 3-7 most important goals for the year itemized, and finally 90-day rocks. These 90-day Rocks are the most important things that have to get done during the quarter in order to accomplish the 1-year plan. Each set of goals fits within the context of the next larger goal, like Russian stacking dolls.
You can see the relationships of these stages, if you’d like, by downloading a free copy of the EOS 2-page entrepreneurial planning document called the Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) here.
I am pretty sure I first heard about the Bolt Bus in a post from Seth Godin. Sorry Seth. I can’t remember which one or I’d link to it.
I took this picture through the front windshield of my car when I was driving around University City in Philadelphia recently.
Seth is a prolific author about all things marketing. Probably his most famous book is Purple Cow. The simple premise of Purple Cow is that no one notices a brown cow, but everyone would remember if they saw a purple cow.
The Bolt Bus people have not only created a Purple Cow – you wouldn’t miss seeing that bus would you – but they have also followed Seth Godin’s other mantra given to us in another of his books, Tribes. Build a loyal following who tell others about you.
The Bolt Bus isn’t for everyone. They have targeted a very specific audience of folks who don’t have a lot of disposable income, have fairly flexible schedules and value conveniences like Internet access. College students and 20-somethings are a pretty large cohort. But with airline travel such a hassle now and gasoline so expensive, the appeal goes beyond that group.
Look at the back of the bus in the picture. BOLT FOR A BUCK. Pretty clear what they are selling, right? Right beneath it says, Boston – New York – Philadelphia – DC. Now you know where you can go. How much? There is at least one $1 seat on every bus. Wi-Fi & outlets aplenty. They have removed seats for extra legroom. Bathrooms. Air-Conditioning. A new fleet. Buy tickets online and you are guaranteed a seat. Pretty cool, right? Go to BoltBus.com for more information
This is not your grandmother’s bus company. Travel by bus redefined and appealing!
What could you do in your business to make your product or service a Purple Cow and make it so appealing that your Tribe started selling it for you through referrals?
In the first week in July LinkedIn rolled out many new features for the professional groups you belong to in LinkedIn, making them even more useful than before.
Professional Groups were valuable to begin with for two reasons. 1st: They automatically give you the right to send free direct messages, not InMails, to any group member. 2nd: All group members are automatically included as input to any search you make of your own network in LinkedIn. In my humble opinion, this is a far better way to extend your LinkedIn reach compared to becoming a link monger and connecting with anyone who will have you. LinkedIn advocates against the latter method since it is anathema to the trust factor which makes LinkedIn so important to business networking. I’ll get off my soap box now:)
Key new features include great, non-sequential, navigation tools for the discussions in the group. This is very valuable in large, active groups.
Are you using Groups in LinkedIn? Have you discovered any creative ways you’d care to share in a comment?
If you can’t see the video below, you can find it here on YouTube.
I am pretty sure I first heard about the Bolt Bus in a post from Seth Godin. Sorry Seth. I can’t remember which one or I’d link to it.
