The leadership experts at Franklin Covey have released the essential guide to transforming into the great manager your team deserves. From Scott Jeffrey Miller with Todd Davis and Victoria Roos Olsson, Everyone Deserves a Great Manager provides the support and strategies you need to be a better leader. With permission from Simon & Schuster, Inc., we share an excerpt from the chapter, “Creating a Culture of Feedback.” How many of us can remember the exact moment we received some difficult feedback? I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that feedback is often traumatic, for both the giver and the receiver. And yet Dr. Stephen R. Covey wrote, “One of the greatest gifts you can give another human being is constructive feedback on a blind spot they never knew they had. It’s a great disservice not to say what needs to be said just because it isn’t comfortable. Care enough to give honest, accurate feedback.” Now, I can appreciate that my restaurant manager had the courage to tell it to me straight. He had the right intention, but the skills in this chapter would have helped him deliver sensitive feedback without an index card.
As a leader, your job is to summon the courage and consideration to provide actionable, specific, and sometimes tough feedback to your employees. It’s an art, not a science, and it’s learned through repetition. It isn’t just a nice-to-have skill; if you want to be an effective leader, you must learn to do this. Taking it a step further, we believe you don’t have the right to be a leader if you’re not willing to step out of your comfort zone and provide people with feedback. 6 STEPS TO GET GREAT FEEDBACKSeek, and get, actionable feedback by using our six-part approach: 1. Prepare people in advance and declare your intent. Showing up in someone’s office and asking for feedback will put them on the spot. Most people are going to say something like, “Oh, um, the meeting was great, boss!” Not helpful. Instead, let them know ahead of time that you’d like to get their feedback on, for example, how effective you are at conducting team meetings. Make it safe by telling them that you really want to improve in this area, and they can help. Then schedule a time after a team meeting or two when they’ve had a chance to think through what they want to share. If you haven’t been in the habit of seeking feedback from your team, it will take some work to build trust. Be upfront about why you’re asking. Don’t make your direct reports guess your motivations for requesting feedback. In terms of whom to ask for feedback, don’t only pick your champions or your detractors. Get a cross-section of people. 2. Ask for specific feedback. Generic questions like “How am I doing as a manager?” won’t yield many insights. Provide more context and a specific area to work on. For example, I have asked people to observe me delivering a presentation and then email their comments to me. Some people tend to be more courageous in email than face-to-face, and it gives you some space to digest their comments. Use the words “advice” or “input” instead of “feedback.” By choosing language that implies you’re asking someone to share their expertise, you might avoid hitting the panic button, such as “I could use your advice on ways to better recognize our team’s contributions” or “Can I get your input on my email communication and how I might improve it?” Offer examples of feedback you’ve received in the past. This signals that you know you’re not perfect and are open to feedback. For example, “Team members in the past have told me I can be unclear when I assign tasks. That was very helpful for me to hear, and it’s something I’m working on. Any additional thoughts you might share with me?” 3. Listen empathically. Bring your Empathic Listening skills from Practice 2: Hold Regular 1-on-1s. Don’t interrupt. Control your emotions, listen, and ask only clarifying questions. When receiving difficult feedback, you may feel devastated. Or you might feel like saying, “Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how hard my job is?” Which is a great way to guarantee that you’ll never get honest feedback again. Forgive awkward deliveries. Many individual contributors haven’t received training on how to give feedback in the workplace and have few opportunities to practice. As a result, their delivery might come across as too blunt, hesitant, or unpolished. Look past the delivery and focus on the substance of what they’re saying and the intent behind it. Go back to the “6 Most Common Responses to Feedback” in Skill 2 earlier in this section. Do you recognize yourself as one of them? Do you need to manage your own reaction accordingly? 4. Acknowledge the feedback. Once I’ve had time to digest the feedback and go through my stages of grief (anger, anger, anger, and denial), I meet with the person to debrief. When I receive feedback, my first response is to bristle at it, probably like everyone else in the world. But you cannot lure people into your den and then be a snake. If you ask someone to share feedback at their own risk, you cannot punish them, hold it against them, or in any way make them regret it—primarily by becoming defensive. So you will want to say something like, “While your feedback was hard to hear, I really appreciate your willingness to share your observations with me.” Find the humility to be sincerely appreciative. Ask clarifying questions, but be careful not to frame questions as excuses (“So you don’t think it’s important to set high standards?” for example). It probably wasn’t easy for that person to share feedback, so show them some respect. You’ll be more likely to get feedback from them in the future as well. 5. Evaluate the feedback. You have three options when a direct report or others share feedback: take it, don’t take it, or do some additional investigating (i.e., ask your manager, peers, or other direct reports for feedback on the same behavior). This takes discernment. The feedback might not be helpful or relevant. (A colleague once got feedback that she was too short.) It might not even be about you. Once I was piloting an event and asked some colleagues to review it. At the end, one of my peers tore it apart, including sections everyone else was raving about. I started feeling insecure, but then I realized the feedback didn’t seem to be about the event at all, but something—or someone— else. I thanked her, then chose not to act on that specific feedback. 6. Commit to action. Regardless of your decision, communicate your intentions to the person who gave you the feedback, either during the initial conversation or after you’ve thought it over. If you don’t, you might as well say they were wrong to trust you. So consider saying, “I really appreciate our discussion and everything you shared. I’m going to think through what you and others have provided and then determine where I want to focus. Again, I found this so valuable, and I hope you will be willing to share your feedback in the future.” You won’t give and accept feedback perfectly out of the gate, and that’s okay. But learning to do it well is a distinctive feature of a great leader and manager—one your team deserves. From Everyone Deserves a Great Manager by Scott Jeffrey Miller with Todd Davis and Victoria Roos Olsson. Copyright © 2019 by Franklin Covey Co. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. The post How Do Great Managers Create a Culture of Feeback? appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2mljggB
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Sadira Yeong Min Yi was a student at the University of Malaya when she competed in the 2017 EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA). After earning a spot as a finalist, she traveled to Germany to take part in the Global Finals—where she won first runner up! What company were you running when you competed in the 2017 Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards (GSEA)?Readpublic, which is a book comparison platform where we curate and compare the price of different online bookstores, it also serves as a marketplace where people can buy or sell used books. Today, I have moved on to a new venture—a healthcare and cosmetic OEM business. Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur! What motivated you to become an entrepreneur?I believe it is the driven motivation in wanting to bring an impact to the society and business is the best tool in achieving my personal goal. What is your favorite memory of GSEA?The networking session for all GSEA participants! Our deep connection could be felt. We all had a mutual passion and undying motivation—albeit all of us come from different background and countries. Describe your journey to EO GSEA Global Finals.It was a very humbling journey. There were few mentors assigned to me and guided me prior to the finals in Germany, they were radically open-minded to the idea and gave very constructive feedback that helped a lot in developing my self-awareness. And I deeply believe it is this self-awareness that allowed me to find my positioning and strength. Upon arriving in Germany, it was another exciting journey because I was able to make friends with like-minded people and meaningful bonds were formed. It was extremely humbling and heart-warming to meet other students who are constantly challenging themselves to strive forward. Did you compete in any other business competitions? How does GSEA compare with those?Yes, in fact, I joined a lot of business competitions prior to joining GSEA. GSEA differs a lot from other business competitions because GSEA is the ONLY competition where the panels focus on the character and mindset of the participants instead of business metrics. The bonds that were formed in GSEA were deeply meaningful. What do you wish you knew back when you were a student entrepreneur?I wish I knew the importance of having a very logical mindset over emotional—left brain>right brain—and the importance of being radically transparent and radically open-minded.
The post A Look Back at 2017 GSEA With the First Runner Up appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2moqPDb Written for EO by Lu Zhang, the founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund and a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Upper management has a gender problem. According to 2018 data from Pew Research Center, only 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and less than a quarter of boardroom seats among Fortune 500 companies are occupied by women. The startup world isn’t immune, either: A 2019 report by Silicon Valley Bank found that half of startup leadership teams include no women at all. To close this gap, many organizations are encouraging risk-taking and mentoring among their female employees. But these strategies simply aren’t enough. Once women do reach top leadership positions, they find themselves wildly outnumbered by their male counterparts. They face deep-rooted stereotypes, particularly among older team members. Many women leaders develop imposter syndrome, an unshakable feeling their success isn’t deserved. When I became the leader of a team with male colleagues who were older than me, I bumped up against many of these stereotypes. People assumed that I wouldn’t have big ambitions or that I’d be aggressive and hard to work with if I did. They thought I wouldn’t be able to handle older male colleagues. They would automatically assume an older male team member was the leader, rather than me, the young female. The list goes on. These stereotypes are particularly harmful to women entrepreneurs. Recent data from TechCrunch Disrupt New York City found that women are twice as likely to be viewed negatively when asking for money. And according to data from PitchBook and All Raise, female-founded startups received just over 2 percent of venture capital funding in 2018. The statistics are even more grim for women of color, who received less than 1 percent. The onus shouldn’t be on women to diffuse stereotypes. However, we also must work with what we have. I have used the following tactics throughout my own career to prove naysayers wrong. The key is to trust yourself and, perhaps more importantly, to project unwavering confidence and authority. 1. Create an open, communicative environment. Be straightforward about what you expect from team members, and provide opportunities for people to both get and give honest feedback. When people feel heard, they’re more likely to respect you as a leader and feel like valued members of the team. By creating an environment of open communication, you’ll be able to better identify problems and stereotypes and confront them head-on. 2. Focus on results. Experience is overrated as a measuring stick for the value employees bring to the table. Instead, steer the team toward placing a heavier value on results and solutions. Set specific goals and establish a clear structure for decision-making that is rooted in hard, rather than anecdotal, evidence. When you get a win, own your role in the success, but also give credit to your team. 3. Stay calm in the face of antiquated attitudes. When you do encounter a sexist attitude, don’t waste your energy getting mad. Anger won’t change a person’s mind, but you might shift his attitude by refusing to stoop to his level and by demonstrating how a real leader acts: strong, confident, and dedicated to results. Again, it shouldn’t be the responsibility of women to “fix” sexist attitudes, but the reality is that, as leaders, we’ll occasionally bump into them. That said, I’ve converted more than one person with a sexist attitude into a loyal business partner. Being a female leader in VC and tech has its challenges. But by following the tactics above, I’ve won respect from my older male colleagues and experienced years of success. Lu Zhang is the founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund, a company dedicated to promoting early-stage venture capital for entrepreneurs. She’s also an elite member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and was nominated as a World Economic Forum Davos 2018 Young Global Leader. The post 3 Ways Female Leaders Can Successfully Manage Multigenerational Teams appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2lGskwr In August 2019, Kimberly Hickok Smith spoke at the MyEO Women of EO Summit in Bogota, Colombia. While sharing her professional journey—from tween entrepreneur to international executive—she also spoke to the audience of men and women about supporting each other and making a difference in the world. I was the first elected president of EO and the first chairman of the Global Board. Given that I am also a woman, I guess that makes me the first Woman of EO. I wasn’t the first female member, but I was the first of any gender to hold these important leadership positions—and I believe that says something important about the ethos of EO and how the organization sees everybody as equal and of value. Living every dayWhen I was 8, two of my brothers were killed in a car accident at ages 12 and 16. My parents divorced soon after. These events really formed the way I view life. It taught me to live every day in case there is no tomorrow. And I learned to live outside the box and to sometimes breaks rules. I started my first business when I was 12, Kim’s Katering. I was basically cooking and organizing parties for my mother’s friends, but it grew enough that I had to hire college students to serve drinks because I was underage. At 16, I started a trading company buying and selling art from Brazil and other places in Latin America. Eventually, I moved to DC to study international relations and languages at Georgetown and completed six months in Brazil for economics. One of my part-time college jobs was as a receptionist for an international trade firm. Within three months I was promoted to vice president and I was hooked on trade. After graduation, I got married and was hired by a big firm. Then I was in a car accident and I broke my neck. Six months in the hospital changed the way I looked at life yet again—from living one day at a time to looking toward the future. I knew I needed to start my own firm that acted and reacted the way I wanted, that worked to build fair trade in Latin America and Africa. My mother lent me US$1,000 and I was off! My first contract was in Honduras, and all the bid docs were in Spanish. Imagine my surprise as I translated that among other things I had to purchase 3,000 artificial vaginas—for cows! Getting financing for the contract was a struggle. All the banks said, “you are a 23-year-old girl with a new company; no money for you!” Even so, the company eventually did very well and less than two years later, I was flying my mother to DC to watch me be awarded the exporter of the year award! Finding your peopleIntercon International trading and consulting was a force to be reckoned with—that “young blonde woman” traveling all over the world, on the cover of business magazines and doing deals all day on my five-pound car phone. My clients were all in the then “under-developed world” of Latin America and Africa and a typical trip was 16 countries in 18 days. We focused on south-south trade, built technical training institutes, sold Brazilian cattle dip to Somalia, made creams in Guatemala, sold fuel bladders to Zambia and just about all you could imagine. Days were exciting, hectic and fun but often challenging with no one to talk to or to answer the many questions that arose in my mind every day. My father, Ray Hickok, also had that need to share with his peers, and he founded YPO around the time I was born. So I saw from an early age the importance of support and camaraderie with like-minded executives who could grow together by learning from each other. I understood the need for a safe space to discuss issues and learn from peers. I also understood that the chances of my qualifying for YPO at that point were slim, and plus I realized that the challenges faced as an entrepreneur, someone who started their own business, are very different from those faced by a hired executive. By the late 80s, Verne Harnish approached my father about being the honorary founder of YEO (in those days, you had to be Y for young). Dad came to DC to have a meeting. Charming Verne convinced my father, who loved the idea of working with young people with big ideas. As for me, I met all the criteria of YEO—a 20-something-year-old doing more than US$2 million per your year—apart from having at least 15 employees. So they changed the criteria so I could join! A few months later, Verne was feeling like he wanted to start his own business so he asked me if I would take over the reins and grow the fledgling organization and professionalize it. I said yes. It was clear that EO could be something of real value and I jumped in to help grow it. Starting by providing space in my corporate “barn,” hiring the first executive director and hosting some of the first international events. I was elected the first president of the organization with my father and about 40 YEO members in the room, which was very special for both of us. I am proud to say we created the succession plan which is now EO Path of Leadership and we also started the Entrepreneurial Masters Program (EMP) at MIT program, among others. An evolving tribeAnd look at EO now! We’ve had eight women global board members, a female global chair and about 150 women in global leadership. And 1,859 women members! The growth and development of EO is a beautiful example of how a tribe evolves to meet the needs of its members. The whole MyEO concept and movement is revolutionary and will keep the organization moving forward. Its focus on inclusivity is so important in that we all have so much to share. Your vibe really does attract your tribe. In the early 90s, I am a 30-something and my business is growing well. EO is growing well. I have two adorable little blonde babes and a house in Architectural Digest. I have it all right? Well, maybe not. Washington DC was all about power and money, and I was very good at these things, but I wanted my children to grow up with different priorities. With the support and encouragement of my adventurous and innovative EO peers, I decided to follow my dream to eradicate poverty and hunger and move my family to Kenya. I knew that the next three EO chairs were already in place and the management team had things under control. So I sold my EO-eligible firm and began my next journey, which would last until today. I’ve been working all over Africa for economic empowerment and creating solutions one step, one new entrepreneur, one child at a time. I realized I needed to be purpose-driven not profit-driven. EO taught me the power of coming together and working together, and I have leveraged that knowledge and insight to change mindsets and conduct millions in trade from Africa. I feel blessed to be a part of so many amazing initiatives—leadership transformation, organizational development, increasing international trade, helping develop self-sufficient associations, creating entrepreneurs and economic growth in 20 countries in Africa. I have realized that my main role is to bring people together to reach consensus, essentially building a tribe around issues that need to be championed for change. A game-changer for girlsAnd it must have been a good decision to move my family to Africa because my daughters have returned to Kenya and want to raise their children there. Together, we have started a charity called It’s a Girl Thing, which provides menstrual cups to young girls and their mothers and teachers to enable them to stay in school with a sustainable eco-friendly solution. In my years of working to eradicate poverty and hunger all over the African continent, our research has made it clear that the biggest economic game-changer is for a girl to stay in school. The UN reckons around 131 million girls worldwide are out of school. In Uganda, one country where I work, there are districts where 78 percent of the children, both boys and girls, between ages 8 and 12 report being sexually abused at school. If a girl can stay in school until high school, she can avoid early pregnancy and she can avoid HIV. Plus, with education, she can go on to a career and become a leader in her community. My work in this field is one reason that I am so excited about EO working with the United Nations to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. We have to remember that these girls I am talking about are part of our tribe and our future. We have the opportunity to do so much work together as a tribe—and some of this work must be to change traditional antiquated “tribal” practices. What are the tribal practices we think of? In Africa it’s marrying girls by kidnapping, selling or raping them, female genital mutilation and male circumcision ceremonies. There are also positive tribal practices in Africa, including caring for the extended family and keeping an open hearth for food. What are those negative and positive tribal practices in your home country? How can you make a difference? Is there enough love, support, concern, compassion mentoring to build this better world? You know that whatever you can do on your own will be much stronger and better if you find your tribe of like-minded people with the same vision. Lead the changeConsider this: It’s been proven that trees communicate. They spread their branches just enough to touch each other without taking each others space and their branches become stronger as a result. Let’s focus our attention on defining and building our tribal vision to build a better world together. Let’s motivate and inspire each other toward our common goals, find our place in the tribe and strengthen our branches. Our tribe can lead the change and be the change. Women of EO is the tribe that can provide a global platform for mentoring, building, innovating and financing the future we want our children to inherit. Now that EO is back in my life and on my to-do and To-BE list, I’m excited to help build new chapters in Africa. Together, let’s build our tribe to build a better world. Learn more about why entrepreneurs choose EO and the MyEO Women of EO group. The post Build a Better Tribe, Build a Better World appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2kBsO6g From EO Melbourne, we share the skills of a great middle manager. “Middle management” is the level in a corporate structure that bridges the senior executives and the junior ranks. While most startups are working with a lean configuration of staff members and flatter organizational chart, many larger organizations find benefits in layers and hierarchy. Still others will make the case for a flat organizational structure even as they grow. For business leaders who are weighing the benefits of hiring managers, let’s review what these middle roles can bring to your team. RELATIONSHIP BUILDERSMiddle managers have a closer relationship with frontline employees, which makes their role as relationship builders crucial to the business. These individuals must be effective in translating the vision and mission of the enterprise to the day-to-day operations and activities of their team. Likewise, competent middle managers will communicate to senior staff any rumblings of dissatisfaction among entry-level employees. Building cooperation and mutual trust between the senior management and the rank and file is one of the skills managers should have in order to contribute to the growth and success of the company. ACCELERATORS AND MOTIVATORSThe advantage of having a middle management level in an organization is that it can prevent potential bottlenecks. They can support leadership in strategic and sales efforts, while also mentor less-experienced staff and chip in on day-to-day tasks during busier times. The best middle managers are agile—quick to solve problems and put out fires, while also boosting the morale of the team, listening to the ideas and feedback of staff, and accelerating growth to bring the venture closer to its destination at the shortest time possible. Managers provide the needed energy and force to thrust the business forward as they encourage their people and inspire them to carry out their functions effectively. STRATEGISTSOne key skill that middle managers should possess is being able to break down long-term goals into short-term targets, turning plans into actionable items using strategies that yield positive results. They know the available staffing and resources and can navigate toward goals or mapping out a path forward even with limited resources. Be warned, though. This ability of a middle manager to manage both up and down can be exhausting, and job burnout is common for this group. TEAM LEADERSManagers provide direction, motivate team members, and pay attention to details—tasks which may be too draining or distracting for business owners. Learning to delegate to these direct reports will benefit you, your business and to the managers. Identify managers who can uphold your aspirations and improve productivity, who may even balance your strengths with their own. Such leaders can help correct errors, fill in gaps and tighten loose ends. Finding the right middle manager for your organizations means finding the person who embodies your corporate culture, ethics and values. It means identifying the person who can pick up your communication style quickly and translate your goals into action. A version of this article originally appeared on EO Melbourne’s blog. The post The Role of Middle Management in Your Company appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2M7R2i6 Written by Violet Lim, an EO Singapore member and the co-founder of Lunch Actually, Singapore’s first and largest lunch dating agency. A version of this article originally appeared on LinkedIn. I first became a manager at 24, the year that we started the business. I had never managed anybody before that, and everybody I hired at that point was older than me, with more working experience than me. I had to learn management the hard way—on the job. I made many of same mistakes that all new managers make: I tried to be everybody’s best friend. I did whatever I could to please them and to placate them. I hoped that if they liked me, they would do what I asked them to do. Well, this obviously did not work. I was so bitter with that experience that I swung to the other extreme of the pendulum. I became a hard b***h and I drew a clear line: I am the boss and you better do what you are told! You probably have guessed the outcome: I just ended up with some very disgruntled and unhappy employees. That was when I realized that I needed to seek balance. I needed to discover my own leadership style. And over the years, I found a formula that works for me. Here are four key steps to my leadership style. 1. Smile.You might be surprised how crucial this is. On the days that I am not smiling, the mood in the office is completely different. My mood creates a ripple effect across the entire office. As a leader, I have learned that it is important to show up—and show up with a positive attitude. Nobody likes to work in a place where they have to constantly walk on eggshells. 2. Be a good listener.In addition to having regular one-on-one meetings with my direct reports, I have created multiple channels for my 100-plus associates to reach out to me. I have lunch with newcomers, hold quarterly town halls and host small group catch-ups when I visit different branches. People want to be heard and they want to know their opinions matter. I always take notes and support them to my best ability. 3. Give them autonomy.I found one of the most frustrating aspects of being an employee before I launched my business was feeling that the work I did didn’t have any tangible impact. So when we started Lunch Actually, we wanted to make sure that everybody—from the most junior associate to the CEO—could contribute ideas. And if it is a great idea, we encourage them to execute it and see their own ideas come to reality. Many of the products we have today are dreamt up not by me, but by our talented associates. 4. Recognize, appreciate and celebrate.I love to hear nice things being said about me. And I am sure my associates love to be publicly acknowledged too. We have created structures for us to recognize and appreciate our associates on a regular basis. We launched a purple coin system where we encourage our managers and associates to appreciate fellow associates for a job well done. Purple coins can be saved and exchanged for shopping vouchers or time off! What’s your leadership style? Of all the leaders you have worked with, who has had the biggest impact on you? What did they do well? How can you include some of these leadership ingredients into your own brand of leadership? When we are given a chance to lead, it is an honor and a privilege. It is therefore up to us to step up, make the best of the opportunity and inspire others to be the best they can be. The post 4 Leadership Secrets I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Manager appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2ArcDwy With the world’s attention turning to Japan for the Rugby World Cup 2019 and for the 2020 Olympics, members of EO Japan realized an opportunity to cultivate an international mindset in their families. What better time to connect with other countries? And what better way to do so than by reaching out to EO peers? EO Japan member Junji Aihara quickly set to work creating a homestay exchange program for children of EO members in Japan to visit with EO families in Guangzhou, China, and Hong Kong. Then, the children they stayed with returned with them to visit Japan. “Attending homestay programs made the children more appreciative for the support from parents and friends, which is normal in their ordinary lives, as they could observe their lifestyle objectively. The program gave the children opportunities to interact with entrepreneurs other than their own fathers or mothers, which was very refreshing,” says Kimitaka Yoshimura, whose son, Tsukasa, took part in the program. Asked how the exchange may have changed his son’s world view, he says, “If you go abroad, you are the foreigner and become a minority instantly. By accomplishing this homestay program at someone’s house you had never met, students could gain confidence and truly grow up.” Plus, parents felt good knowing that their kids would be staying at other EO members’ homes. “We felt much more comfortable sending our children to other EO members’ houses based on trust and respect (one of our Core Values). We implemented the idea quickly as we felt assured it would be a valuable experience—one that would give good learning and growth to our children.” Fostering in their children the sense of curiosity and thirst for learning that’s critical to the EO mindset felt like a natural extension of their membership. Aihara even says that the children “decided they wanted to engage in international business and be entrepreneurs in the future.” Asked how the program was organized, Aihara explains that it’s currently done manually, with the chapters making matches based on applications. Going forward, they plan on “implementing a system in which you can get connected flexibly and interactively with EO members all over the world.” With the global sporting events on the horizon, EO members will certainly be making the most of their global network of peers. If you’d like to connect with EO Japan members, contact Yosh Sasaki.
The post EO Japan Launches Exchange Program for Children appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/301qoRb Written by Jackie Carrillo, a content coordinator and contributor who writes on technology, marketing, business management and education. For high-achieving startup founders and entrepreneurs, marketing might feel like a no-brainer to tackle on your own. Plus, today’s online marketing platforms make it easy to post, track and engage. Not so fast. It isn’t 2010. Digital marketing consists of much, much more than posting on Facebook once a week and using Google AdSense. To compete effectively, you more than likely need an aggressive digital marketing strategy, which requires full-time marketing efforts by experienced and knowledgeable marketers. This leaves you with two options: Create an in-house marketing department or outsource. Anyone who advises you to build a DIY digital marketing program probably also advocates for hiring in-house marketing staff. But is it really the more economical choice? Read on to learn the costs and benefits of in-house marketing to determine whether building a marketing department allows for optimal marketing efficiency. How Many Marketers Do You Need?Obviously, more in-house marketers means higher costs. However, it isn’t always clear how many marketers your business needs to accomplish its marketing goals. Some startups have massive marketing needs to jumpstart visibility and audience engagement; meanwhile, a larger business might have relatively meager marketing goals because it has a self-perpetuating customer base or otherwise doesn’t need extensive marketing. According to the Small Business Administration, you should dedicate 7 percent of your gross revenue on marketing. Thus, if your business earns US$2.5 million in sales this year, next year you should have a marketing budget of around US$175,000. What does that get you in terms of in-house marketing staff? That largely depends on your location, but here are broad salary ranges for typical marketing professionals:
A core marketing team, stripped down to nuts and bolts, should have a strategist, a content producer and a content manager. If your startup or SMB has that aforementioned US$175,000 constraint, you essentially get to choose two professionals to keep on staff—and that hardly gives you enough to cover the costs of their tools and projects. What Tools Will the Team Require?Marketers, on their own, are close to useless. To produce anything, marketers need a wealth of tools at their disposal—specifically marketing software that allows them to create, organize and publish content with which your buying audience will engage. This is especially true of skeleton marketing crews, who rely heavily on automated software to execute plans while the marketers are focusing on other tasks. Almost regardless of the size and experience of your marketing team, you will need to provide your in-house department with the following five tools:
How Effective Will an In-house Team Be?Marketing is important—but it might not be important enough for a startup to dedicate an overwhelming portion of its budget to keeping marketing efforts in-house. A two- or three-person marketing team will be overstretched, especially if they lack any of the tools marketing efforts heavily rely on. Compare that to an outsourced marketing company that’s staffed with experienced (and efficient) professionals with the latest marketing software options at their fingertips. These experts will likely be able to assess your needs and advise you on making the most of your budget. When it comes to marketing, don’t make the mistake of assuming you can bootstrap your strategy. Invest in your growth by investing in your marketing team.
The post Can You Afford a Marketing Team? appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/30fQs7b Closing sales and winning deals are like oxygen for your business. Mastering these tasks requires a firm understanding of negotiation and persuasion. From EO Melbourne, we share 10 books to help you improve your ability to close—in both your business and personal life. 1. THE ART OF CLOSING ANY DEAL: HOW TO BE A MASTER CLOSER IN EVERYTHING YOU DO 2. CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS: TOOLS FOR TALKING WHEN STAKES ARE HIGH 3. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE 4. BARGAINING FOR ADVANTAGE: NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES FOR REASONABLE PEOPLE 5. PITCH ANYTHING: AN INNOVATIVE METHOD FOR PRESENTING, PERSUADING, AND WINNING THE DEAL
6. GETTING MORE: HOW YOU CAN NEGOTIATE TO SUCCEED IN WORK AND LIFE 7. GETTING READY TO NEGOTIATE: THE GETTING TO YES WORKBOOK 8. NEGOTIATION GENIUS: HOW TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES AND ACHIEVE BRILLIANT RESULTS AT THE BARGAINING TABLE AND BEYOND 9. GETTING PAST NO: NEGOTIATING IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS 10. PRE-SUASION: A REVOLUTIONARY WAY TO INFLUENCE AND PERSUADE A version of this article originally appeared on EO Melbourne’s blog. The post 10 Books on Persuasion and Negotiation appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/307hLAG By Stacy Goldberg, MPH, RN, BSN. Stacy is the CEO and founder of Savorfull, which helps companies, organizations and consumers discover and purchase healthy “free-from” snacks. She is also a member of EO Detroit. The link between what you eat and how your body performs is clearly established. Even your brain function improves with the right vitamins and minerals. In fact, approximately 20 percent of the calories you consume are used by your brain. Now, experts are connecting how you eat with improved wellness. Apply mindful techniques to your eating habits and you’ll realize a host of health benefits—from easier digestion and less stress to weight management and a greater sense of control. The Center for Mindful Eating asserts that mindful eating, “helps us become aware of thoughts, feelings and physical sensations related to eating, reconnecting us with our innate inner wisdom about hunger and satiety.” Mindfulness, definedEssentially, mindfulness is characterized by uninterrupted focus on any activity and is often used as a therapeutic technique. Whether you’re in your office, sitting at the dinner table, exercising in the gym or washing dishes, mindfulness plays a key role in self-awareness and improves healthy emotions and decision making. According to the Center For Mindful Eating, these are the basic principles of mindfulness:
Being present while eatingStudies have shown a relationship between mindfulness and eating behavior. When practicing mindfulness, individuals experience an enhanced sense of self-control and are likely to pay closer attention to satiety triggers, those feelings of fullness and satisfaction while eating. Mindful eating implies an awareness of the senses, body and mind while eating. This allows you to focus on the act of eating: observing taste and texture, recognizing unconscious eating habits, and tuning in to cues of fullness. Key principles of mindful eating include:
How to incorporate mindful eating into a busy lifeAs entrepreneurs always on the go—whether moving from meeting to meeting in your office or traveling far from home—eating can easily become a necessary chore. Perhaps you’re accustomed to grabbing a quick bite to eat on your way out the door. Or you find yourself eating late at night once you make it home from the office. Maybe your frequent travel has made you a slave to the hotel bar or the in-room refrigerator. Here are a few tips for you to become more present with your eating habits:
Take a moment before munchingEating mindfully requires pausing before taking a bite or a sip. This might be before you open the hotel room refrigerator or reach for the nearest candy bar from your office vending machine. Here are some questions to ask yourself before you begin eating or drinking:
Tech supportThere are several digital applications created to help you reach your mindful eating goals. Here are a few mindful eating apps:
Stacy Goldberg is a nutritionist and the founder of Savorfull. Her company is the industry leader in free-from foods with a mission to provide accessible products, content and guidance that connects clients to a clean-eating based-lifestyle. The post Mindful Eating In Your Everyday Life appeared first on Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization. via Octane Blog – The official blog of the Entrepreneurs' Organization https://ift.tt/2N6dQlw |
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