Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Getting Your Facts Straight and Earning Credibility

This week we welcome Guest Blogger Tracy Pringle, Director of Business Development with the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation.

The other day, I read a Facebook post about Commander Hadfield returning from space to a $1.37 million cell phone bill from Rogers. Having had bad experiences myself with cell phone companies over the years, I pulled the trigger...sadly before I had all the facts. I wrote a scathing post – copied below for your reading pleasure...

Every Rogers marketing person should be fired. On the spot. Immediately. This whole thing could have worked so well in their favour. Think about the "Network Coverage" campaigns. Think about Rogers sponsoring Commander Hadfield's journey with every tweet sponsored by Rogers...sickening missed opportunity. Instead a ridiculous bill. Don't they know who he is and what he accomplished beyond going to space? Did they even realize he was their customer?? Was being the operative word.
Then...I read a little more closely. Only to find out the article was a spoof from “The Beaverton”. Canada’s Satire Newspaper.  My follow up post looked like this:

Wait...was this a spoof article? If so the Rogers marketing people can keep their jobs. Sorry.
Oops. I could try to tell you my comments are still bang on; I could try to tell you regardless of the fact it was satire, the point I made was still valid. But that would be a coward’s way out. I was wrong. I made a decision before I had the information.

Happens every day to nearly everyone I know; bosses, colleagues, family, friends, acquaintances, even in the comments section of the local online newspaper and on radio phone-in programs. Maybe I was trying to make myself feel smart or important by ripping into the Rogers marketing department, or maybe I was trying to prove to someone else how smart or important I am. And I did a great job of proving that I am neither smarter, nor am I more important than anyone else with an opinion. 

A very dear friend of mine pointed out to me just because you have an opinion, doesn’t mean anyone wants to hear it. Sage advice. We all make mistakes – but in my mind it’s about taking responsibility and holding yourself accountable for those mistakes. Most are willing to forgive a mistake when you put your hand up and say – “Uh...sorry about this but I think I screwed up.” It’s when we try to cover our tracks, back pedal, distort the truth, and find a way for it not to be our fault or to be right, even when we are wrong, that puts people on the back foot. 

When dealing with our customers, our colleagues, our team members, our bosses – basically with human beings all of which are fallible and prone to mistakes in judgment – it’s important to set the right example. If you are the type of person who is never wrong, it is never your fault, and you never admit responsibility or apologize, understand you are not to be trusted. 

If you choose not to be trusted, by not being trustworthy, that is your choice to make, provided you really understand the implications of that choice. When your team doesn’t, or can’t trust you the whole thing falls apart like a house of cards in a stiff breeze, no matter what position you hold in the organization. 

If you keep your integrity, by admitting when you’re wrong, apologizing when you know you should (if you hear your grandma’s voice in your head saying “that wasn’t very nice” it’s generally a good sign), and being forgiving of others who from time to time make a mistake, you will gain more respect and credibility than you would any other way. 

Tracy Pringle, Guest Blogger
Director, Business Development
WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation






Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Simply Lead

It was such a pleasure to be on the Advisory Team again this year for LeaderCast held on May 10th.  Excellent leadership provided by Lora Crestan!

The AlphaKOR team supported LeaderCast by inviting guests and filling four tables. The event had professional and distinguished speakers including Andy Stanley, John Maxwell, Sanya Richards-Ross, Dr. Henry Cloud, David Allen, Mike Krzyzewski, Condoleeza Riza, Jack Welch and Rorke Denver.

Three local Entrepreneurs addressed the audience during the scheduled breaks.   Dartis Willis, CEO of Windsor Express, Joseph Heraldo, Partner in Springboard  and yours truly, President of AlphaKOR

There were over 250 business professionals in attendance and provided a great opportunity to network. The networking opportunities started before 8:00 am as the early birds arrived.  As part of my volunteer hat, it was enjoyable working the front table with Carmela and saying good morning to everyone.   Yes we confirmed there was coffee to kick-start the day!

The breaks and the lunch provided a good opportunity to interact, discuss the ideas shared by the speakers and to meet new people.   It was enjoyable to thank our guests for attending and to let them know we appreciated them supporting AlphaKOR.

The speakers presented relevant material during their respective simulcast.  Additional information was provided via website links, the journal handed out and suggested books to read.

The theme this year was "Simply Lead".  Two of my favourite take-aways from the event:  Leadership is influence and Entrepreneurs are vulnerable.

John Maxwell talked about leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less.  Sounds simple?  Yes it needs to appear simple.  All speakers mentioned to simplify and to break things down in simple terms to be an effective leader.  How do you influence your team as a leader?

One of the local speakers had a challenge with equipment not working and was unable to complete his demo after piquing interest from the crowd.  

As part of my role as a leader when it was my turn on stage, I mentioned "Entrepreneurs, we are vulnerable".   He was very appreciative of the simple yet effective support and glad I was able to make a difference.

Simply Lead.     

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Prioritizing your Priorities

Another successful LeaderCast event on May 10th!  My favourite speaker was John Maxwell who talked about Leadership is Influence - more on this event next week. 

Here is one of John Maxwell' recent blog topic on prioritizing.

Whether you are creating a Rule of 5 for your organization or yourself, the following few tips will help you get started.

1. Write down your main goal. This will be your guiding light as you create your Rule of 5. Your Rule of 5 are the steps you must take in order to achieve your goal.

2.  Build your “important” list. This can be done in a variety of ways: a: Make a to-do list for your day. Include everything that must be done that day, as well as items you aim to complete over time. or b: Write down a list of every thing you do to be successful. This can range from reading and writing to engaging with team members and building relationships.

3. Rank the items in order of priority. If various items are similar, you can categorize them to help with the prioritization process.

4. Highlight the top 20 percent of your priorities and make a memorable list of 5 things that allows you to allocate the majority of your time to those things.

5. Print your Rule of 5 and hang it where it is frequently seen. Repetition is key.

This is how I am going to apply John' steps.   I already make a priority list first thing every morning on a fresh "digital note".   It is called To Do with today' date.  Starting today, I will be adding the Rule of 5 to  this list. 

How many of you are making a Priority List and adding the Rule of 5? 

John' blog can be found at
http://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/5-steps-to-prioritize-your-priorities

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Retired the Notebook

Last month the notebook was officially retired from my mobile office.   As you may recall this was attempted a while back with the investment into the Playbook when it was first released.   The Playbook has been passed on to the family and it is still working well.

A couple of months ago, it was time to embrace another Tablet.   Many of us would have chosen the iPad and I personally decided to not go this route.  We have two iPad mini's at home and several iPad's on the AlphaKOR team as part of our mobile fleet.

I chose the HP ElitePad.   The experience of using the ElitePad is similar in speed to the notebook.   It is light, thin and with the docking station at the home office it is virtually the same overall.   Using the same mouse, keyboard, monitor and printer with no major challenges when initially configured to the Tablet.

The Windows version is Windows 8 Pro and running all the same software applications.   Internet browsing and the cloud applications all run very well.

Bringing just the ElitePad (and business cards) into a meeting is now routine.   Notes are all taken electronically now and stored in the cloud.  Proposals are on the Tablet, although bringing hard copies does help with the interaction at the boardroom table.

When meeting new companies, showing the AlphaKOR PowerPoint on the Tablet provides an excellent visual to our discussion.  This helps with the interactive discussion when telling our story.

My only challenge is embracing the touch keyboard.  Speed is the issue and it's me with the challenge!   Learning how to transition from a touch typist on a keyboard to a touch typist on the screen.  Any tips would or typing drills would be appreciated.  

What Tablet have you invested in?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

How Do You Build Trusting Relationships?

How do you build relationships?

It sounds easy to be build many relationships and we are doing this all the time in most of what we do.  These relationships are casual and they come and go over time.


How do you build good relationships?

Some of us can build good relationships and have loyal customers who support us all or most of the time.  We value these relationships and a majority of us are complacent with these types of relationships.  These relationships are more formal and they come and go over time.

How do you build trusting relationships?

It's the trusting relationships that really set you apart from the rest.   These relationships support us virtually all the time, spread our messages on a regular basis and introduce us to others to develop more trusting relationships.


To build the foundation for a trusting relationship, one must always be open, honest and genuine.  These key elements build the trust component in the relationship.   Yes they also need to like you as an individual and what you stand for.

So how do you deliver all this?

Take a look at what you are saying, what you stand for and what you are doing.  Work on areas that are not sending the message of  trust.

Building trusting relationships last a life-time whether in business or personal Our team enjoys working towards the goal of adding trusting relationships every day.

How are you building your trusting relationships?