“It’s fine,” they will tell you.

“Everyone else does it, so why can’t I.” followed non-nonchalantly by my favorite cliche; “It is just business.”

As if the very premise that it is a business decisions gives you the right to be a complete deviant.

Um, here is the thing…It doesn’t. Clear?
 

Where It Began

I’m not exactly sure who the first person that did something completely inhumane and followed it up with “it’s just business” was, but deep down it gives me comfort to believe that persons success was short lived.

But if I had to speculate, I think one of the key differences back then was there was that your reputation didn’t travel so far.

In a far more disconnected world; long, long ago (like 10 years) our mistakes and indiscretions didn’t tend to make it onto Facebook nor did they serve as “How Not To” fodder for the greater business community.

People were human, mistakes happened and so did self righteous business people who made commitments that they never fully intended to live up to. Some more harmful than others, but nonetheless the markings of their integrity, their bond, their brand.
 

Where We Are Today

Today is different. Technology has changed everything and we are more connected than ever before with each and every passing day.

Reputation is everything and the last thing in the world you want to do is become a person marked as “Not Good For Their Word.”

Once you are deemed unreliable or of low morale standards, you almost have to shut it down. With the amount of information out there today, a bad egg will be hard pressed to sell to their own mother.

But I digress.

Let’s just say that in a world where influence and social score (literally and figuratively) are everything, your word is not only your bond but it is also your brand.
 

Word is your Brand, What does that Mean?

 
Historically all the way through today, being a person of your word got your places.

Your word was your bond, it built trust and on trust relationships are born and they expand.

But today your word is more than that.

Your word today is your brand because you, no matter where you lie within your organization are a banner for your brand.

When you do things the right way and you honor your commitments, it is like depositing good will into your company (your brand)

The higher up you live within the organization the more influential your goodwill can be.
 

Also True in Reverse

 
So here is the other side of the coin.

In today’s world, when you step on it (whatever it may be), the damage can be really bad.

And again, the more influential you are in the organization, the more damaging your actions can be.

Which means…

It is never “Just Business” anymore. Your actions have a consequence, and so does your inaction.
 

So Remember

 
Your word is everything, including your brand.

In a social, highly connected world where your business is everyone’s business, you no longer have the right to “act a fool.”

And if you do, be prepared to deal with the consequences.

 
Me, me, me…I, I, I…

Yes, we get it. You like to talk about yourself.

You and everyone else on the planet.

Look, the desire to sell yourself is rooted in good intention.

Your desire to hit your quota, to earn trust and respect and to be a good provider to family and loved ones.

The problem is the way you are going about it is terribly wrong.
 

Ask yourself this…

 
Have you ever sat in a conversation where someone spoke about themselves for a prolonged period of time?

Perhaps a more pointed question…

Have you ever listened to someone talk about themselves for what seems like an eternity and walked away and thought “Wow, that was just wonderful?”

Even the most altruistic person would probably walk away and say man that guy (or gal) loves to talk about themselves.

We all know that our favorite subject is ourselves, so if we want to sell more perhaps we should talk less about our favorite subject and more about our customers favorite subject; T.H.E.M.

All the periods would suggest an acronym, but they are merely for emphasis.
 

Try this instead

 
Next time you meet with a prospect or even someone you are interested in leaving a good impression on…don’t talk about yourself.

Sounds crazy right?

For the first 20 minutes, make the conversation 100% on them.

Ask a lot of questions to learn about them and no matter how much you want to compare, one-up or fill space about yourself…Do not!

Don’t be rude and don’t be awkward, but just cordially redirect the conversation back toward them.

It may be a bit uncomfortable at first, but rest assured as you get better at it you will move your goals forward faster and you may not even realize it.

If you want to be able to genuinely help another person and build a meaningful relationship, you have to know enough about the person to actually help them.

That won’t happen if we spend all of our time talking about ourselves.

Think about it, have you ever met someone that was really interested in you and wanted to know all about you and you were insulted? (Stalkers not included) Usually you walk away from those types of conversations feeling really good.
 

Why?

 
More specifically, Why does not talking about yourself work so well?

Because it is the key to selling more you, or whatever it is you are actually attempting to sell.

As we have all heard before, people do not want to be sold, they want to buy.

Which means they want to come to their own decision to invest in what it is you are selling.

So your continued self-serving banter rarely, if ever, moves the needle. If anything you will get lucky from time to time because you are offering something the customer already wants.

It is when you have genuinely taken interest in the success of others that you individually will see the greatest success.

And if you don’t believe me, I’d love to know why?

 
Ladies and gentleman, can it be deemed official that we have hit the point of information overload?

Ok, this isn’t really something new, in fact we have been dealing with it for some time now.

There is so much media coming our way at any given moment that it is becoming increasingly difficult to focus. Making even the most disciplined person twitch just ever so slightly as their alerts sound creating an unharmonious orchestra of distraction.

Sometimes I picture myself as the little space ship in the middle of the old “Asteroids” arcade game.

I’m being barraged by tiny missile’s of information and my responsibility is to defend, deflect and defer accordingly all while maintaining the integrity of the ship.

Of course there are tips and tricks to better manage information overload and this has been covered many times before.

There is plenty of information out there on prioritizing, time management, and how to put first things first.

Trust me when I say, I’m a believer.
 

Simplifying the Signal

 
But what about making a contribution back to the world?

Here is food for thought…

How can we help others better manage their time while helping ourselves and being a little bit more productive?

Seems like a big question, but really there is a simple approach that we can all get behind.

Get. To. The. Point.

Perfect example. I spent he first 150 words “Authoring” the content to create a story, use a (somewhat) catchy introduction and use some bizarre video game metaphor to say what I need to say. which was really just the four simple words above.
 

The Message: Signal vs. Noise

 
This isn’t to say that context isn’t required to enhance dialogue, it is just to say that we can often get more done if we spend more time on point and less time filling the page with noise.

The difference between the two is can you pick out the part of the message that really needs to be communicated versus the information that is merely filler?

Being able to get to the point more quickly creates efficiency across every medium that you attempt to communicate.
 

Understanding Timing in Brevity

 
One of the leading maxims I live by is “There are times for briefings and times for discussion.”

Understand the difference?

Part of leadership, business and humanity is knowing when a conversation is required.

In our emails, conference calls and marketing efforts we often fill space. Whether with extra content in our email, extra small talk on our calls or extra words and stimuli in our marketing.

For each case can ask yourself, what is required vs. where am I filling white space?

Brevity isn’t for always and isn’t for everyone though. Knowing when the additional backstory is required is the art form that separates the most successful communicators from the rest.
 

Playing Your Part

 
Here is what you can do.

Think about the message, each and every time you communicate.

Ask yourself, Is my point clear, and am I communicating with purpose?

If you can say yes, then whether 4 words or 4 thousand, you have done your part in simplifying the noise.

In case you are counting, it took me 549 words to get this message across…

Hopefully you feel it was time well spent.

While amusing to watch this feature focused product/service dump, businesses are losing money each and every day that they continue to deploy this strategy because of these three simple words…

It. Doesn’t. Work.

For anyone who hasn’t seen Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” presentation, make sure you watch it right away. (Click Here to view)

In short, the reason that feature selling and product dumps don’t drive a purchase is because people don’t buy with their rational brain, they buy based on feeling. Those feelings are completely disconnected to our ability to speak and that is why we can’t always express our decisions, even when we know they are right.

So how do we get closer to driving sales and happier customers?

First, we stop selling our features until we truly understand their needs.

Then we need to build an experience around their story, their belief on how your product or service should work.

Make Sense?

Let me give you an example.

My company, EC3, is a provider of IP Based Telephony and Communication Systems.

Our cloud based solution is amazing and it has every feature and capability under the sun. It takes pages and pages and pages just to list everything that can be done with our “UberSuperCool” system.

Guess what?

Most people don’t care and if I walk into a prospects office and tell them about all of the great features we have, they will probably tell me just that, “Who Cares” or some iteration of that because the features don’t make them want to buy.

So how about a different approach?

How about you ask the customer a question such as…

Mrs. Customer, tell me in your mind, how would the perfect communication system work for your company?

And then…Ssshhhhh, listen and see what happens next.

A series of questions to force them to further elaborate and share the “Story” of what communication should look like, you are now connecting emotionally to what matters and simultaneously learning about the customers’ needs.

This emotional connection creates an attachment to you, your service and then to those great features and benefits you offer.

Too often companies that don’t successfully sell their product or deliver great service fail to realize that it isn’t their product or their service that is holding them back. Rather it is their determined nature to focus on the product and service itself, rather than what is truly important.

And in case it hasn’t resonated yet, what is truly important is the ability for the customer to connect to you and your business.

Letting them tell the story gives you the ammunition you need to make the sale and to deliver better customer experience because you truly understand what they want.

Your story is the fastest way to sell more you…

And your customers story is the fastest way to help them, sell themselves.

Once they’ve done that, all your whiz bang features will be the icing on the cake.

And who doesn’t like icing?

If you tell me the latest new thing, I’ll tell you what idea was innovated to create it.

Tell me about Vine and I’ll tell you about YouTube.

Point out the newest Apple Gadget and I’ll show you 10 products they innovated to create it.

This doesn’t diminish anything that these companies have done. They are great successes that have built great products.

But it does force us to take a second to recognize that we are no longer inventing, we are innovating; and that is where ideas come from.

We are now, and have long been an innovation economy, and you know what…That is A-OK!

Anyone remember Friendster or MySpace? They were first to the market for what is now recognized as mainstream Social Media.

Now, let’s take a look at the ideas and start-ups that blossomed out of the growing Social Media Space.

• For Facebook it was exclusivity (Harvard.Edu) and to some extent simplicity (Minimal Customization) that set it apart from other social sites that were out there like Friendster or MySpace.
• Twitter came into its own as a “Microblogging” platform that limited posts to 140 characters or less.
• LinkedIn took the approach of being Facebook, but focusing 100% on the professional user.

These three companies are now the largest in their industry, however not one of them created the industry. Leaving you to wonder what is next and whether or not the products and services we are using today will continue to our chosen products and services in the future?

Innovation is unequivocally the greatest opportunity for the next big success. And in order to have the next big success you need to have the next big idea.

Begging the question, where do great ideas come from?

First and foremost, great ideas have one thing in common. They are almost always disruptive. After that, I propose that great ideas come from 4 broad areas of innovation which I refer to as…

• Problem Solving
• Spontaneous Combustion
• Pent Up Demand
• Continuous Improvement

What many sources won’t tell you is that a great idea alone won’t get you there. It will take a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck and probably some money to get that idea on the big board.

But we can talk more about that later. For now, let’s look at the 4 areas of innovation where ideas come from.

Problem Solving – Your Day to Day Challenges Become a Source of Inspiration?

Did you know that Standard Oil only discovered gasoline as it was determining what to do with the byproducts created by their manufacturing of kerosene? While Standard Oil was a giant, it was that type of innovation that helped them grow. Beyond gasoline, Standard was responsible for the creation of other products such as Vaseline and Chewing Gum.

While Standard Oil is the exception rather than the rule, almost every company faces certain challenges on a daily basis and sometimes creating the solution becomes a business bigger than the business itself.

Ironically, did you know that most Gas Stations make more money on their convenience stores than they do on the gas itself? Think about the evolution of the Mini-Mart.

There are many instances where problem solving became the next big idea, can you name any?

Spontaneous Combustion – The idea doesn’t actually blow up, but it comes out of nowhere

The gist for ideas that fall into this category is that they come out of almost nowhere at the most random time. It is that moment when the bell goes off in the entrepreneurs head and says, “Why isn’t anybody doing that?”

Occasionally the idea is completely new and different.

Consider what Groupon did. Essentially they built a category that wasn’t there.

It seemed like one day it was every man (woman) for themselves in finding the very best deal, and then overnight came Groupon and getting a deal for dinner, a massage or a haircut became a community thing.

Showing two things.

First, the viral nature of the marketplace today and second the fickle manner in which we can love an idea and ever so quickly grow tired of it. (For more information, visit Groupon’s stock ticker)

Did you know that Groupon was offered 6 Billion dollars at their peak by Google?

I don’t think Andrew Mason will ever struggle to eat, but he and the board members that said no to that offer probably wake up in a cold sweat from time to time.

Sometimes ideas that fit into the spontaneous category are a mere micro improvement. It makes me think about the massive trend toward these self-serve frozen yogurt shops. Let’s charge more to let you get the ice-cream yourself and put your own assorted toppings on it. Well guess what, the creators of many of these yogurt shops are crushing it right now.

Sounds an awful lot like 4 dollar cups of coffee? Maybe consumers can be suckers?

Pent-Up Demand – The Market Wants It, But No One Has Built it Yet

I put dibs in a long time ago on the teleportation device. The only reason this business hasn’t taken off so far is because I have no idea how to build one and I couldn’t begin to afford the person who does (If such a person exists).

However, sometimes pent-up demand is for something that can be built, but just hasn’t been yet.

A good example of this type of idea is Tesla Motors. While Hybrid Motors were the “Quicker” to market solution for building more fuel efficient automobiles, Tesla chose to go after the more coveted fully electric car. An endeavor that required not only tremendous knowledge, but massive cash resources.

But when you think about it Tesla is really just substantial innovation of the automobile rather than the creation of something completely new, but the market has been clamoring for the fully electric car and Tesla had the wherewithal both financially and technically to make it so.

Now, will Tesla ever sustain a long term profit?

Continuous Improvement – Making A Big Business out of Small Improvement

More often than not, ideas come from innovating on what is already there.

This makes me think of a classic commercial, which later became a slogan for BASF. For those that still watch commercials (Tivo was a pretty cool idea) Does anyone remember the famous tagline that BASF used?

“We don’t make most of the things that you use, we make most of the things you use better.”

BASF is a multi-billion dollar global chemical company and it is entirely possible that you have never heard of them. They have made a fortune on innovation and enhancing…

In their case they have done it at the micro-level, truly putting their touch on products we know and use like make-up, plastic bags and the interior of your car.

BASF is just one of many companies making things better inches at a time.

Some of the most disruptive companies in the market use simple continuous improvement to bring ideas to life. Who has an iPhone 5? Not that different from the original.

Ideas Come From You

The next big thing may just be right in front of you.

Whether figuring out how to fix a problem around the office and then realizing you could fix the same problem for many, or taking a product that is working and making it just the slightest bit better, it is the entrepreneur with an idea and the willingness to take a chance that helps bring ideas to life.

This post is part of a monthly series that I’m writing for the Huffington Post on startups. You can follow this series and all of my other content on Huff Post by clicking here.

If I was to ask you to give me a simple definition of Unified Communications (UC), how would you respond?

Almost an Oxymoron, a simple definition for Unified Communication eludes many of us because there is nothing simple about Unified Communications.

Tech leaders and Business leaders will argue fiercely on this very topic because technologists want to break down UC into the various technology Silos while executives want a seamless communication tool.

Both parties seeking the same, however the path for those planning Unified Communications is less clear because we all know…

The simpler the technology in practice, the more difficult the planning and implementation becomes.

So what are the pieces that comprise Unified Communication?

Here is the shortlist of the major components for a successful UC deployment.

• Voice: Forever the staple of business communication. Access to a high quality voice solution needs to be at the very core of your UC strategy.

 

• Video: The future of communication for the last 20 years, pervasive bandwidth is now making high quality video a reality, and further affordable. No Unified Communication platform is complete without it.

 

• Instant Messaging: Chat may seem like child’s play, but in a world where we communicate far more over text, email and IM; businesses stand to gain from having an enterprise instant messaging tool.

 

• Productivity Tools: Email, Calendaring, Contact Management, Web Collaboration, File Sharing and storage all have a place in the Unified Communication solution. Often via Outlook (or similar) the ability to connect your everyday tools is the future of UC.

 

• Unified Messaging: The ability to get your Voicemail from anywhere via a simple email is a wonderful convenience and great for efficiency.

 

• Presence: The ability to see from any device who is available, who is away and who is in meetings makes for faster companies as resources can quickly connect to one another to obtain needed support or collaboration.

 

• Mobility: The “Anywhere Office” is a very real thing. Mobility gives the full toolset to users from an array of machines including your smartphone, tablet, PC or other. BYOD (Bring your own Device) has further pushed the mobile movement as more devices are being integrated into daily business operations.

 

• Business Intelligence Integration: This is the last piece and perhaps one that is most often overlooked. But ask yourself this…How does your organizations communication tools integrate with business systems like CRM (Customer Management/Contact Center) and ERP (Accounting and Resource Planning)? Given the heavy use of these packages in day-to-day business, not being able to connect to your UC system makes them less useful than they could be.

So now that we know the pieces…making them work in perfect harmony is another story and ultimately the Link (not lync) between another failed tech rollout and organizations communicating over any medium from anywhere.

This article was originally written for EC3. The original post can be found here.

Before even taking a moment you go ahead say to the waiter, “I’d like the largest steak on the menu.” You pause and before the waiter can take a breath to ask you how you would like it prepared you chime in. “Well Done.”

You close your menu, tuck your napkin in your lap and you excitedly await your meal.

Who wouldn’t want the largest steak on the menu well done?

(Let’s not debate now, but if you are curious, I’m more of a petite filet medium rare guy.)

About 20 minutes later the waiter delivers your steak, a monster piece of meat, and dinner is on.

Now…

How are you going to eat that steak? You probably aren’t going to try to consume the entire steak in one bite?

That would be insane to try, inherently impossible, and if somehow you fit the entire thing in your mouth you would die…(Try not to picture this)

Okay, take a breath, we aren’t having a meat eating contest.

Now, let’s say that the steak is a metaphor (it is) and that the last question didn’t really seek to know your steak eating habits.

Let’s say I’m more interested in how you approach the full plate that is life?

Can we agree that we all take on a lot?

In recent years I have noticed that many people take on so much that they become very mediocre at best at doing anything.

“Busy” becomes a form of paralysis, and execution becomes increasingly rare as the pile of responsibilities grow.

That is because we all have limits. No matter how good we think we are, we have a point in which we cannot do any more in a fixed amount of time.

So time becomes the key.

Time and how we prioritize the items that comprise our rapidly growing list of “To-Do’s.”

The bottom line is that by trying to take on everything at once we are ultimately setting ourselves up for a massive failure.

Taking on too much is a proverbial death sentence whether in our work, with our families or any other activity.

And if you have the gluten for punishment that is taking on more than you can possibly handle, you need to learn the art of putting first things first.

One of the greatest lessons of Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits.”

Have you ever heard the expression eat the elephant a bite at a time?

So don’t let your overwhelming pile of To-Do’s bring you down; Rather focus on what you can control and go from there.

Bon Appetite and don’t forget…”Stay thirsty my friends!”

My esteemed colleague and friend Ted Coine wrote this last week for the Switch and Shift community. I found the post to be fantastic as a new way of thinking about CEO Compensation.

Keep the conversation going below…I’ll let Ted take it from here.

We’ve been paying our CEOs like celebrities for about thirty years now.

It’s a failed experiment for the same reason that paying real celebrities (movie stars and star athletes) has failed: one person cannot save any endeavor by themselves.

Success is a team effort.

Please don’t misunderstand me: success absolutely, completely, and utterly starts at the head.*

A talented leader can set the stage for success, which may include a dramatic turnaround or massive culture shift. However, this one person will never be more than an essential strategist, an Instigator of inspiring causes, and a steward of culture.

All by herself, with no team to implement strategy, embrace change, and live culture, nothing will get done.

That is why I’m beyond sick of outsized pay for our top-executives. It’s not just demoralizing to the ranks; it’s also just plain bad business. The now-traditional way we pay our CEOs and top corporate leaders is frivolous – it’s a profound waste of money!

If you can promote a great leader to CEO for $300 thousand, why pay $30 million? You’ve just thrown $29.7 million away. Is that the example our ultra-efficient boards want to set? I didn’t think so.

Worse yet, the way we pay our top execs gives them a strong financial incentive to starve investments in a firm’s plans for long-term success, in order to maximize this quarter’s profits and temporarily boost the stock price by a few pennies. We all know that this is endemic.

So why do we perpetuate this system?

Enough is enough. I have a modest proposal, something a board chairman can issue as a challenge to her CEO.

It goes like this:

“CEO, we’re going to pay you a fair six-figure wage while you’re working with us. We’ll also pay you handsomely in stock. Ten years from your last day of work, you can sell that stock. Not a day before.

Naturally, your successors will get this same deal.”

Done. Business done right is all about simple.

What will this challenge accomplish?

• The CEO will invest in a strong successor to make sure that stock is valuable in ten years
• The CEO will also invest in many other leaders, who can step into the role of CEO as needed, to keep the ball rolling
• The CEO will invest heavily in R&D. After all, who can say what the company will be selling ten years from now?

What abuses will this challenge end?

• Short-term thinking
• Extravagant spending
• Scrimping on talent pay and talent development

Do I think your company is going to implement this radical challenge? Hardly.

Switch and Shift has a large number of readers who are current CEOs, and a larger number who will be soon. My guess is, none of them is going to share this with their board. A few will likely unsubscribe, which I regret.

But maybe there’s hope after all. If enough board members get behind this modest proposal, or enough stockholders, or rising leaders, or professors… Huh. Maybe, just maybe, we can turn the tide on this wasteful practice.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Please, let me have it in the comments below!

*If success starts at the head of any organization, guess where mediocrity and failure both start, and much more often? That’s right. The wrong leader can truly be worse than a vacancy at the top …which is a topic I should probably explore down the road. Cue light bulb!