A new word entered my vocabulary last week, courtesy of business network Linkedin. Apparently, many of us who are networking online in the UK have problems with our 'frolleagues'. According to a Linkedin press release last week (which was picked up by the Guardian and The Telegraph at least) we should be keeping a 'separate account or socialising so that business contacts don't mix with friends'.

The problem, it seems, is that we feel that we cannot refuse requests by our colleagues to connect online and then go ahead and post material online that compromises our relationship in some way. A frolleague is a sort of category error where we overshare (my new word) information that would be fine with 'real friends' but not with colleagues.

The Guardian quotes some examples of the consequences.

In 2006, a number of Metropolitan police officers were disciplined after posting a series of joke videos on Facebook, including one in which a policeman said he loved his job because it allowed him to "hit people with a stick".

Other lessons have been learned by a worker who called in sick, but then went to a stag weekend and accidentally shared the photos with his colleagues, while Oxford University is routinely trawling Facebook and fining students who publish evidence of flouting rules on antisocial behaviour.

"People need to realise that even virtual actions can have very real consequences," said a LinkedIn spokeswoman.

I wholeheartedly agree with the spokeswoman but not necessarily with the Linkedin conclusion from that. Far be it from me to be judgemental, but, surely the Met Police officers were tempting fate by letting a video with that quote out onto the internet at all. Private is only a relative term on the internet and what begins as private has a tendency to find its way into the public gaze. You may post to a circle of friends on Facebook but it only takes one of them to inadvertently (or deliberately) share it with others in a more public setting and the URL has a way of becoming common knowledge. Especially where the content is potentially inflammatory.

Bryony Gordon in the Telegraph is my kind of person. "You wouldn't want to work at LinkedIn, would you? I imagine it is full of crashing bores and absolute dullards, all clinically depressed and full of self-loathing, weeping themselves to sleep every Sunday night over the prospect of having to spend another week with their colleagues. Or "co-workers", as they probably call them there." She writes. "I would not last two minutes in their office, partly because my knowledge of business networking sites is minimal but mostly because I sadly have only one really strong work ethic, and that is that people who make it a rule to never socialise with colleagues are odd. They usually have gonks on their desk, and I inherently don't trust adults with gonks on their desks."

The Linkedin spokeswoman is reported as saying, ""It's becoming increasingly important that we keep our professional and social lives separate and manage our online reputation as effectively as possible," she added.

I'd suggest that we might be better looking at it in a slightly, but critically different, way. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep our professional and social lives separate. In order to manage our online reputation effectively, we should think very seriously about what we release into the wild.

What we can't do is prevent our 'friends' from releasing compromising material about us. In those circumstances, we have two courses of action open to us now and one hope for the future. Right now we can try to behave in a way that is unlikely to compromise our reputation, or, if we have enough money to afford taking that course, we can adopt the Max Moseley approach and take legal action.

The hope for the future? That we begin to be more tolerant of each others' foibles and private behaviours, because more and more of our lives are being recorded for a variety of reasons and it is only a matter of time before some of that reaches the web.

Our private and business personas are wrapped up in a single mind and body. Trying to manage them as separate events is likely to fail.

Leaders need to be confident and they also have to have the confidence of the people they are leading. That double confidence is what, in my view, makes an outstanding sustainable leader.

I recently wrote here about the way in which Gordon Brown's popularity was beginning to wane in the light of perceived poor decisions that he and his Government were making (Going from Hero to Zero – and back?). Things have not changed, however Gordon Brown continues in office despite persistent rumours of unrest amongst his immediate Cabinet colleagues and the Parliamentary Labour Party.

In the case of a leader in Brown's position, the confidence in his leadership can only be challenged by those of us who are not in politics at roughly five year intervals when we get the chance to vote in a General Election. We depend upon his colleagues, the opposition and the press - to challenge him between those times.

For a business leader, the situation is somewhat different – and yet it has similarities. The workforce seldom has the opportunity to remove an unpopular leader but they can influence the position of Board members – especially non-executives – who can make changes and they can act through Trade Unions to show their displeasure.

From the point of view of the business leader, trying to work without the confidence and support of the workforce, makes the task difficult, if not impossible. So it is better not to find yourself there.

As a leader in a commercial enterprise, you are rewarded for your good decisions – and may be penalised in some way for poor ones though this is less common – and for the results you achieve for the company and for its shareholders. So making good decisions and making them succeed are key factors in your leadership performance.

Here is my approach to making good decisions and keeping the whole team onside whilst they are implemented –

Research and consult widely, then do more research and consultation before deciding and ensure that you understand the implications and impacts of the decision you are making.

Once the decision is made, communicate it clearly and accurately. Ensure your immediate team are briefed first so that they don't say things that are inaccurate or inflammatory.

Stay with what you believe and listen to other points of view. If you have consulted and researched well, there will be nothing that comes up that you haven't already considered. Don't be bullied into changing your mind. Do what you believe is right and always stand tall.

If things do need to change, because of changes in the decision criteria or through foreseen circumstances - be prepared to be vulnerable and make the change as soon as you know it is necessary. You can afford to do this once or twice and you will be seen as flexible and responsive. Do it frequently and you will be seen as weak and easily swayed. That is not a perception that will be helpful in the longer term.

Review all decisions in retrospect, especially if they prove not to be successful. Understand why they failed and ensure that the research and consultation eliminates that weakness in future.

Remember that to make a mistake once, and to learn from it, is acceptable, to make the same mistake again is not.

By Brian Chernett
August 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

Last year I wrote an article about Developing a Positive Approach. Given the current economic conditions – and they are now beginning to show across many businesses – I thought I'd repeat some of the advice in that article here.

Many Chief Executives will be carrying negative thoughts with them as they come into the workplace. Just listening to the news is enough for most to start negative thoughts running. Those thoughts will carry through to everybody they meet that day. If the day starts on a down, it is highly likely that it will continue in that way – possibly getting much worse.

What works for me is to remember to smile when I arrive. You can only do that if you start with positive thoughts in your head and then keep building on them. There are two strategies I use for this – meditation and positive self talk. These are strategies to develop your thoughts and your thought processes which create the direction, the speed and the power of your actions. 99% of our life is positive and it only becomes negative if we let it became that way.

Meditation is time put aside specifically to clear the mind of clutter and allow it to focus, to develop the thoughts that matter; a cleansing which takes away obstacles and leaves the profound. In the same way, some people will use prayer. Prayer also gives the opportunity to clear the mind through focusing on a set of religious beliefs. Using music or song and chant can help the process of meditation or prayer and help you to focus and to order your energy to work to the good.

I believe successful achievers find energy through meditation and prayer. Sometimes I find that I am not meditating but simply lying there thinking about positive things. It doesn't matter about doing it right but it is it important to set the time aside for thought and renewal. What it does for me - and maybe other successful achievers - is that it cleanses the mind. So by an automatic hypnotic action you are turning negative feelings and thoughts into positive feelings and thoughts. First you neutralise the negativity and then you begin to get positive thoughts. With those you can go about your daily work with real positive energy which enables you to achieve things you didn't think were possible. You certainly wouldn't do them if you carried the negative thoughts around with you.

We all have different voices in our heads that talk to us and, sometimes, to each other. We are doing this all the time and often conflict is created in our own mind by the different voices disagreeing with each other. There is a process called voice dialogue which brings these voices into the open by the use of a facilitator. Through that process, the energy can be moved to the argument that is most valid and will allow matter to be removed and focus to be restored.

A recent example of this for me was when my business was taking a turn for the worse, in that, for the second time, one of my business partners decided that they were in the wrong place and wanted to move on. This created a litigious and unhealthy environment and a place where I felt myself moving into depression, considerably lacking in self esteem and belief in my own ability and the constant negative thought that, as I was getting older I was losing my ability to create. As these negative thoughts moved up into my mind, I moved into depression, lacked energy and had little desire to achieve. The turn round was not luck. I remember clearly the point I decided that I had to change the whole energy that I was giving out.

I made a conscious decision and I still recall the phrase 'walk tall, believe in what you have created, stop crying into your beard and stand up for your beliefs and values'. By listening to this self-talk, I acted and physically walked taller, I used words that were more positive and changed completely the unhealthy environment that I had negatively created. Suddenly there was a new energy from the people who worked around me. The business, which had stalled in one year was increased by over 100%. Colleagues, who were barely supporting me, suddenly became great advocates not only of our business processes but also of me personally. My self-esteem was regained and it is a piece of learning I shall never forget.

So when people around you exhort you to be more positive, listen to them. It might just turn things around for you.

By Brian Chernett
August 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

I became a vegan 14 weeks ago. It was a massive 'I could never do that' decision for me but so many good things have begun to happen as a result. I feel much younger, I have renewed energy at the age 71 and I now believe that I will live to 123 and will still be delivering wisdom at that great age.

What was the motivation that took me into this new phase of my life? It was certainly not about doing it for me alone. There is another prize that drives me. I want everybody to understand that wisdom is valuable and that the culture that suggests that there is no value over the age of 55 is just plain wrong. I feel I need to prove that it is wrong by actions as well as words.

I believe that modelling success is important and I had the opportunity whilst in India earlier this year to meet with a man who has reached the age of 123 and attributes it to his vegan lifestyle. I have already lost weight in a sustainable way, my cholesterol is lower and I'm considering reducing or ceasing the use of statins. I've become a believer in ayurvedic medicines.

So what does this mean for you? Am I suggesting that you also become vegan? Not necessarily, though I do believe that it would be a good move for many other people. No, I am asking you to consider if you have a decision you are avoiding because of the implications on how you perceive who you are and what you do. Are there 'I could never do that' decisions in your life that you need to make?

When I referred to a 'prize' that motivated me, that was a deliberate word choice. I see the prize as something special that you wish to achieve. Something that is much more personally motivating than a goal. Goals are good for everyday achievements. To go beyond the everyday, you need to have a prize and it will, most likely, be something that benefits others as much or more than it does yourself.

In my case, I have seen the effects of retirement on some of my contemporaries. Retirement can be a death sentence and, it is my belief, avoiding that fate is about keeping both body and mind active. I'd like to see a return to a society where we respect our elders and ask them to continue to deliver their wisdom. If I can find a way where people can continue to deliver wisdom to the age of 123, that would be a big prize and worth many life-changing decisions to get there.

What would motivate you to that level?

By Brian Chernett
January 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

Releasing Your Potential was the title of a special 2 day programme delivered by NLP expert, Sue Knight, to members of Academy Group 2 (the London/Hertfordshire experiential learning group of The Academy for Chief Executives). For the first time, members' partners also attended for part of the session - in total 28 attendees. The outcome was for each and every delegate to receive a profound piece of learning that they could take back and use within their businesses or homelife. (Find out more about Sue [pictured, below] and the NLP process on her website at www.sueknight.co.uk).

Through the NLP processes and Sue's outstanding facilitation skills, Sue was able to deal with blockages that were preventing us from achieving our full potential. In truth, I was a little nervous about bringing partners along for the first time, however, I needn't have been - the 2 days were a highlight of my time as a Group Chairman with The Academy. I was also delighted that the members who'd previously been serious sceptics of NLP had a experienced a complete change of mindset by the end of the session. For me, this provided a renewed passion for NLP and for this development tool to enhance the whole of the Academy process. Experiential business learning® at its most profound!

The main take-aways from the session were: -

1. The need to embrace spiritual balancing to help achieve true greatness;
2. The use of clean questioning to enable us to listen and create rapport with others;
3. A deeper trust and connection between group members and partners;
4. The value of moving towards something rather than away from it.

Following the success of the last 'Advanced Diploma in Coaching' courses facilitated by Sonia Saxton on behalf of The Academy for Chief Executives, we are pleased to announce that further dates are now available.

Course Dates
Module 1 - 6th/7th November, 2008
Module 2 - 22nd/23rd January, 2009
Module 3 - 3rd/4th March, 2009

The course will be run over 6 days in three 2 day sessions. This course is recognised as one of the most advanced practical skills Courses in coaching available at just £1700 plus VAT. If you qualify at the end, you will have demonstrated your advanced skills in coaching. This results in you receiving an International Association Certificate in Coaching.

Venue: Windsor House, Cornwall Road, Harrogate HG1 2PW

What are some of the key benefits of attending the Academy's Course?

The purpose of this Course is to give you advanced skills in coaching, and influencing change.

This Course will

1. Provide you with a proven coaching process that delivers results every time you do a 'one to one'

2. Give members 'Hands On' experience of being able to recognise someone's key motivations

3. Fantastic for recruiting new members

4. Enable you to see how you can help someone let go of inhibiting beliefs that have been blocking the results they want

5. Give you the tools to define what people really want, and how to get results in 'One to One's' and Breakfast Meetings

6. Use a unique Diagnostic Tool that facilitates understanding of individual motivations and beliefs, so that they will know what will work for them

7. Give you practical experience of using language skills that can influence Prospects, and deliver the results you want.

FIND OUT MORE BY DOWNLOADING THE PDF HERE

Testimonials from Delegates

GEOFF CLARKE, CONSULTANT
"I found this Course very good in meeting its outcomes in particular to both meeting my own particular needs and relevance to my job. Every subject was well explained and the balance between theory and practise was expertly thought out. One particular subject helped me understand my own personal motivations and drivers".

HILARY BRIGGS, ACADEMY CHAIRMAN
"Pace, length and subject explanation very good and excellent learning with regard to the importance of my work. Opportunities to ask questions were excellent. All in all ,taking everything into account this Academy Course was excellent."

PETER HILLS, ACADEMY CHAIRMAN
"Although at times challenging the rewards in meeting my outcomes will be excellent. I found the Course to be life enhancing both on a personal level and business. Both the Tutor's style of presentation and the balance between theory and practical content were excellent. Worth every penny. Look forward to the next modules".

PETER MACKELLAR, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
"Exceeded all expectations. Has provided me with the ability to build strong lasting relationships with Business Partners and Clients".

ALAN DEAN, ACADEMY CHAIRMAN
"Both pace and relevance to my job I found this Course excellent in content particularly the opportunity to ask questions where time and effort was richly given. I also give top marks for the presentation and training aids used. Overall this Course gets an excellent from me"

IAN TOMLINSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR
"The attention to detail and balance between theory and practice proved excellent for me. It was a privilege to attend this Course. Well exceeded its outcomes".

NICK JACKSON, ACADEMY CHAIRMAN
"This Course has been excellent value for me in terms of pace, length and meeting my own particular needs. The quality is in a class of its own. Incredible Programme".

Take the first step, contact us by:

Email: smesaxton@saxtonpartners.co.uk

Phone: 0845 2570036

Sonia Saxton

Yes - the downturn might affect your business dramatically
Yes - that just might be terminal

BUT remember:
"Pessimism is a totally useless philosophy since it probably won't work anyway."

Our job as business leaders is surely to win through a downturn like this and set the strategy and the tactics to do so.

So let's start by examining the problem:

Following the credit crunch finance is tight in the West and the prices of oil, steel and food have all increased dramatically wordwide. We have significant inflation being posted in a number of developing countries and finally we have an increasing number of profits warning from public companies in the West.

So how should we respond to this?

Firstly as far as your business is concerned you should be seeking to harvest cash and be really hard-nosed about any investment. It must generate an adequate and expeditious return. My advice is be super cautious with the banks – they caused a good deal of the problem and I don't think we can assume we can trust them at this time.

Next, now must be the time for you to work hard at improving your business efficiencies - and by that I mean not just your "shop floor" operations but wall-to-wall. To me the best measure of efficiency or productivity is simply added value per employee and you should be seeking to improve that continuously so that you are both lean and mean and fleet of foot.

If you are in an industry where you buy basic materials that are not fashion influenced and is worth helping to protect your margins by considering investing some of your cash in additional stocks at today's prices - that you can subsequently add value to and sell at tomorrow's inflated prices.

Finally in this area I would recommend that each and every time you think about recruiting question whether you could outsource that activity as an alternative.

You need to be tough but fair with your suppliers --negotiate simply everything and share with them your future plans and your confidence going forward. Never pay them late, however, no matter what the accountants might say, it will cost you in the end.

What about your markets?

If you look around there are a many markets for you to target that are thriving and will continue to do well. Obviously the oil rich countries of the Middle East and elsewhere are thriving and the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) continue to do well and are expected to be the leading economies of the world in the foreseeable future. Target them. Some of the industry sectors that are thriving are all forms of mining – giving a particular boost to the economies of Australia and Canada (Canada is now referred to as the Saudi Arabia of phosphate -- it has one third of the world's supplies) and food production.

The energy industry - from oil and gas extraction through to sustainable, fossil fuels and nuclear power are all set to continue to thrive into the near future. The Aviation industry (but not western airlines) is thriving with record order books at both Boeing and Airbus (over six years of production with only 10% from the US). These companies increasingly outsource globally – target these suppliers like Meggitt in the UK who have just announced record results.

There are more billionaires in the world now than ever before - with large numbers in India, Russia and China as well as the West. Any industry or service sector where they spend their money will continue to thrive - be it super yachts or super hotels or super fashion. Can you sell to them?

Looking at customers generally you need to exploit your strengths mercilessly, you need to be seen to get in the shoes of your customers more, to customise and be creative. You should be moving your mindset from "sell" to "help" and focusing on a getting a "wow" from them each and every time they do business with you.

You need to bring out exceptional new products and you need to focus strongly on giving perceived added value to counter any suggestion that may be coming from customers that you might be inclined to lower prices - don't do it! I'm sure it does not need saying that you must be very tough indeed on receivables in these times – that hard fought order, that great sale is worth nothing unless you get paid. It's probably prudent to assume a percentage of your customers will go bust in the next 12 months - and you don't want to be left with a big hit.

A word about your team.

Each and every one of your employees (and their partners) are reading and hearing a constant stream of bad news and depressing projections about the future and it is you that they are looking to for a lead. Despite what you might be feeling you need to exhibit a positive attitude at all times, you need to communicate and listen more than ever before and you need to demonstrate that you have the situation under control. Research has shown that people follow leaders who are decisive, passionate and have fun – and that's what you need to exhibit.

Particularly in these times we need to challenge our paradigms, ramp up our creativity, and look to the big picture.

Otherwise known as:
Helicopters and Boxes!
(Staying in the Helicopter® and Thinking outside the Box)

Why not set up a helicopters & boxes team now?

Finally, for UK readers, I have just read that Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2020 the UK will have the highest the income per person in the world – we will be more prosperous than anybody! – so all you've got to do is to get through 'till then!

Enjoy!

Roger Harrop

© 2008 Roger Harrop Associates

The Last Straw

No customer's business is worth having if it is never paid for, or if you have to spend precious resources chasing payment for what you were contractually due long after the event.

If you have read Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this series, hopefully you will only be faced with bad or slow debts very rarely. But you can do more to protect your precious cash.

Avoid confusion

One of the most frequent causes for a delay in payment can be due to confused or even unrelated issues. The most frequent of these seems to surround multiple invoices over a period of time, where even only one invoice perhaps is subject to a query, but it seemingly affects payments of all outstanding debts.

Many of these concerns may well belong to the 'fob-off' category mentioned in Part 3 of this series. They might also include doubt about an invoice where delivery-notes are in question, where there is a one-off quality complaint, or an agreed credit note not yet processed.

You can help yourself considerably by making sure your Terms and Conditions exclude all such matters in the payment of other invoices outstanding, which is partly why getting sound legal advice on your terms of trade (see Part 1) can be so important.

Just occasionally, confusion can also arise for other reasons, such as where your customer is taken over or otherwise restructures itself. So stay alive to all such notifications and respond quickly?

Next steps

The first response to any agreed bad debt, after attending to all the previous tips, must be to send a formal 'solicitor's letter', often know as a 'red letter'. If you are nervous about your continuing client relationships and the situation is clouded, you could perhaps first offer only a prior warning that you may need to take legal advice to pursue a bad debt, but don't be 'precious' about this?

However, if you have attended diligently to all the contractual details and have engaged your defaulting customers in all of the previous tips, you may be best advised to go straight to the 'red letter' – a threat to take the defaulter through due legal process to recover your debt. Often, that may be all that is needed.

But do get qualified legal advice wherever in doubt? Every case may be different. And do keep a formal record of all transactions between you from enquiry through to offer, order and all subsequent discussions, just in case you have to 'get legal'?

Spotting the bad 'uns?

At this stage, we need to recognise that some great customers are just inveterate bad payers. You probably know who they are, and so will they. Slow payments, even no payment sometimes, may even be part of their business model? It happens.

How to spot them?

If you have followed all of these tips, including seeking credit references and setting realistic credit limits, you will know them well. Then it is entirely your choice whether to continuing your supply to them or not.

But incidental indicators you might also watch out for could include:
- consistently poor payment records;
- implausible reasons for delayed payment;
- inability to get answers;
- poor trading results;
- speculative ventures they not be able to afford;
- 'irresponsible' spending by senior staff as you see it
    (such as unnecessarily glamorous company cars?) or unusual share disposals by the owners;
- unusually high staff turn-over;
- apparent detachment or disaffection from the company by your most senior contacts in particular,
    but also perhaps your more junior contacts?

What then?

Never send good money after bad!

Some business people just have an intuitive eye or ear for bad deals, some just wait and hope, and perhaps the wisest may even cast around further to find out what is happening.

But don't just 'hope' that you will be paid? Follow the next tip!

Worst case – still no payment?

First, stop all further supplies. They probably won't like it, you may certainly not like it either, but it has to be done. Remember: no sale is a sale until it is paid for!

Tell the offending client what is required for you to continue supply and be sure to tell them they are in beach of their contract. (What 'contract'? See Part 1 of this article.)

Then gather together all related documents as evidence and pass them to your lawyers.

With a bit of luck, this may only be hiccup in your continuing relationship with this customer, and may it then go from strength to strength. But don't be beguiled by fond words of their future intentions?

Defaulting customers can sometimes become some of your best business partners, but they may also offer some very hard business lessons, expensively earned.

I do hope all the tips in this series of 4 articles may promote the former!

If you missed parts 1, 2 and 3, the links are here:
GETTING PAID - PART 1 >>
GETTING PAID - PART 2 >>
GETTING PAID - PART 3 >>

By Jeremy Thorn
jeremy@jeremythorn.co.uk
www.jeremythorn.co.uk

Jeremy Thorn is a regular speaker to Academy for Chief Executives groups, a past CEO in his own right (of both a large quoted engineering company and a successful management consultancy business which he first established with two pals), a qualified Executive Leadership Coach and Non-Executive Director of several fast-growing businesses.

He is also the author of several prize-winning business books and a frequent speaker on management topics internationally.

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

Academy Group 23, chief executive mentoring and experiential learning group (with members from the North East of England) recently heard expert speaker Andy Todd (see Andy's website at www.com-cat.co.uk), from Commercial Catalyst, specialists in advising and helping organisations achieve 'high growth'.

Academy members learnt what the key characteristics of high growth organisations are and then, more importantly, which would be appropriate and practical to implement themselves to achieve similar dynamic results.

The Academy's chief executive members were able to appreciate the high growth subtleties and techniques to maximise business potential - strategies for taking their products and services to the market, for example:-

1. the identification of 'breakthrough' clients/ customers,
2. having an effective B2B Proposition,
3. aim high/ globally,
4. potential to be first or second in their market,
5. total market size must exceed minimum of £300m sales p.a.,
6. the importance of generating revenue as quickly as possible to self finance,
7. it is crucial to have a disciplined and measured approach to business development,
8. add value and charge top quartile pricing,
9. be deal rather than product oriented,
10. crucial to be innovative / offer differentiation,
11. sell client their potential to achieve competitive advantage not cost saving,
12. base price on value given not cost or competition,
13. thought leadership of potential clients.

Peter Sutcliffe,

Joint Chairman with Karen Humble,

North East Academy Group 23

The Academy invites you to its first of a kind online Search Engine Marketing tutorial. Digest and learn at a time most convenient to you – just how simple it is to become number 1 in the Google search rankings.

It's FREE! And the returns you will get from getting top Google rankings can be enormous.

The tutorial consists of five x 15 minute modules (we'll be publishing the first two immediately and the last 3 next month) to guide you through the process of optimizing your website and get top rankings.

In internet marketing, the best return on investment comes from successfully optimising your website for search engines. But are you aware of how quickly and easily this can be achieved?

Use our online tutorial, complete with online, real-life examples and downloadable presentation slides; this tutorial can be revisited as many times as you'd like over a period of 90 days. Take your time and study when you want to with Jan Klin F IDM – a specialist in business transformation through the use of the internet and on-line marketing techniques.

Who should attend?

Anyone involved in online marketing wanting to get the very best results for their search engine marketing budget including sales and marketing managers, online marketers and consultants.

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How will you benefit?

Apply the learning from this course and your website ranking and position will be boosted within the results pages of all the major UK and global search engines, maximising the marketing return on your website investment.

Tutorial outline

Jan Klin will guide you through the process to successful optimisation, showing you real live examples and the use of web based tools.

Module 1: Introduction and finding keyphrases

• An outline of the 'best practice' structured process to optimisation
• How to find the most effective keyphrases to bring relevant visitors to your site
• Using the latest web tools to identify the best keyphrases
• Assessing the 'relevance', 'popularity' and 'competition' for your keyphrases

Module 2: Auditing your site and advanced keyphrase analysis

• The major factors which will provide good ranking - both within your website and external factors
• How search engines work and which are important
• Using web based tools to assess your current position versus your online competition
• Advanced keyphrase analysis - to out compete your major competitors

Module 3: Optimising your web pages

• Explaining metadata and identifying the most important metadata in your site for top search engine performance
• Structuring your title, description, keyword and H1 tags for optimisation
• Explaining 'keyword density' and the importance of effective copy writing for high rankings
• Using web based tools to analyse your existing copy and keyword density
• Implementing your optimisation - matching pages to phrases

Module 4: Developing backlinks and using directories

• A structured approach to developing your linking strategy
• The importance of backlinks to your search engine rankings
• How to develop and assess links from the best sources
• Structuring your 'anchor text' for optimum search engine performance
• Analysing your links and your competitors links using web based tools

Module 5: Monitoring our performance and fine tuning

• Monitoring your rankings - using web based tools to see keyphrases and search engine positions
• Analysing what's working for you and how to improve
• Which phrases are working for you, which search engines and directories are delivering results
• Fine tuning your optimisation to out compete your online competitors
• What to avoid to remain 'search engine friendly'

Speaker

Jan Klin F IDM specialises in business transformation through the use of the internet and on-line marketing techniques. During the first half of the 1980's Jan was Managing Director of Pixel Computer (UK), a UK subsidiary of a US computer manufacturer. In the second half of the 1980's he was Managing Director and major shareholder of the Anglo/French computer systems group Unixsys (UK) Ltd.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JAN KLIN >>

It is August and (apparently) the height of the English summer. The schools have broken up for the summer holidays and many of my readers will be heading off for a well-earned break. Maybe you will be one of them.

What will you be thinking of on holiday – and will work be part (or most) of that? Will you be taking work (and your laptop) with you on holiday? Does your phone (Blackberry, iPhone) allow you to take time off or does email arrive continually thoughout your 'break'?

Come to that, will you have a holiday at all?

Statistically, a good few of us here will be workaholics. They will be the ones who are working whilst on holiday or not having a holiday at all. That got me thinking - is Workaholism acceptable and, in a CEO, is it a good example?

If you were alcoholic or addicted to gambling, you'd get help, wouldn't you? So why is it that workaholism is an acceptable thing, almost, for some, a badge of pride. What messages does it send if the MD is a workaholic?

What is workaholism and how can you detect it? In a recent article on an Australian News site (see sources for link), workaholism is defined as an unhealthy addiction to work. They go on to say that, "it makes sense that those with addictive personalities are prime candidates".

Workaholics can be moody, impolite and irrational. Holistic Services Group (in the same article) offers the following tips on spotting workaholics:

• They put work at the centre of their life and continue to talk and worry about it after hours with friends and family.

• Their outside interests are not as meaningful as work and they identify primarily as their occupation - for example, "I am a lawyer" not "I am a father".

• They are perfectionists who sweat the small details more than other team members.

• They seem emotionally charged, which might manifest through anger, tears, moodiness, depression, insomnia or acting "wired'.

• They react erratically rather than responding logically.

• They are so caught up in their job they don't notice social cues or what's going on around them.

• Workaholics can also become manic and poor at delegating.

• They might become short-tempered or less tolerant and polite

Dr. Rudy Nydegger, chief of psychology at Ellis Hospital, described – in article in a NY based local newpaper (link at end of article) - workaholics as people who are obsessive about thinking about work. "It's on their mind almost incessantly, and there is a compulsive quality to it as well," said Nydegger. "If they are not working all the time, they are either annoyed or feel guilty that they should be working. And yet we know that the most productive and effective people typically don't work like that."

The justification that workaholics often use is to say "it is just hard work, isn't it?" It isn't 'just hard work', there is a big difference. Working hard is healthy, whereas workaholism is not. The mood swings - from depression to elation and from optimism to pessimism - that can accompany workaholism affect the workaholic's ability and performance, not to mention his or her judgement and they affect those people close to the workaholic - family as much as work colleagues.

According to Barbara Holmes, Managing Director of Work-Life Balance International (quoted in the Australian article), smaller business owners often establish a culture of long working hours, sometimes unintentionally. "Business owners know they'll reap the rewards of their hard work in the future," says Holmes. "But they are setting the tone and employees might feel they also need to be seen working late."

Few workaholics recognize themselves, said Nydegger. "Worse than that, many of them are proud of it," he said. "I've heard it described as the only socially acceptable addiction." While Nydegger said there is nothing wrong with working hard, workaholics take it to an extreme. "In terms of their personal lives, clearly if people overwork, the trade-off is that other things in their personal lives that should be important slip away," he said. Workaholics seem to have a need for recognition and acknowledgement, he added.

Some of you reading this may recognise the signs of workaholism in yourselves. The first step in making changes is to accept that it is happening and to seek help. To do this you need to recognise that your symptoms are unhealthy and unlikely to be effective in improving your performance. Begin delegating (and give authority to those who get the work to do), prune out of your work life those elements that give little or no return (no matter how important they may seem) and include into your life some non-work interests (and make sure they don't become obsessions).

If one of your team is workaholic, coaching is an option but they may need access to a therapist. You may find that they deny they need help and react against the suggestion. You may consider paying for the therapy as they will repay the cost by becoming a more effective employee. Help them to prioritise their work and be sensitive to removing work from them as it may cause an adverse reaction.

As a CEO, stress at work is your issue and not just because the law says that is (see Stress is costing you money, this newsletter December 2007). A workaholic employee can be close to breakdown. Avoiding that trauma (for all concerned) also makes good business sense.

Sources –
Workaholics – Hidden Time Bombs - www.news.com.au/business
Workaholics gather to find ways to a more balance life- www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/jul/02/0702_workaholics/

Resources –
Workaholics Anonymous (USA) - www.workaholics-anonymous.org
Workaholics Anonymous (UK) - www.workaholics-anonymous.org
Addicted to work – Six Tips (Career Builder) - www.careerbuilder.co.uk/UK/

By Brian Chernett
August 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

The Academy for Chief Executives announced today the launch of a new group in the Ruislip, Ealing, Wembley and Park Royal area area. The group will be chaired by Majek Kuyoro, a trained lawyer and experienced Managing Director.

Majek intends to hold his first 'Breakfast Meeting' (where you can gain a taster of the Academy experience) in November 2008.

Majek commented, "The breakfast meeting will showcase and explain how the Academy inspires successful business leaders to greatness.

At the meeting, we will not only introduce ourselves, but also explain what the Academy stands for and how the process works; the unique benefit that are gained from membership; and what the Academy looks for in its members."

The exact date and venue will be confirmed soon, but the format of the meeting has already been planned.

Breakfast will start at 08:00 am followed by a short "Speaker Session" - an interactive presentation delivered by one of the Academy top speakers.

This session will then be followed by a short "Members Session". this is often referred to within the Academy as 'the issues session' - or 'The Board You Could Never Afford'. The aim is to illustrate the power of experiential business learning, and the sharing of issues and challenges with like-minded peers.

But perhaps most importantly of all, attendees will hear first hand how other local leaders have been inspired by the Academy to grow and develop their businesses and themselves.

The meeting will finish at around 10.00am enabling attendees to take just a short slot out of their working day.

Employment angles: (legal tips from Ken Allison, an Academy speaker whose 'Your fired' presentation explodes the myths and anxieties about employment law with ice - involvement, challenge and entertainment).

Who says being economic with the truth on your CV does not work?

It certainly seemed to work for Lee McQueen the recent winner of 'The Apprentice', regularly watched by 8 million viewers on BBC television. Is it legal, and what can you do about it if you discover that you have been misled?

This year's winning apprentice was caught out exaggerating the extent of his university education, and in his defence he has said 'I was trying to paper over my insecurities over my lack of formal education'.

Recent research by The Risk Advisory Group shows that an estimated 65% of all CVs contain false information, with women in their early 30s being the worst offenders! Is this an offence?

Probably not, unless the individual obtains an advantage from this deceipt. To pursue a criminal case you would probably have to show that you relied on the information that was false, and that it was not simply incidental. For instance, in 2003 a successful applicant for a post as a Finance Director of an NHS Trust was sentenced to two years imprisonment for producing a bogus degree certificate.

Some tips:-

1. If you discover deception during a selection process you probably will think twice about hiring the individual, but even Lee McQueen (who had been a Recruitment Consultant) suggested that if he discovered deceit or misleading information on a CV, he would ask himself, does it really make any difference to my decision.
2. If you discover it after making an offer of employment, you can rescind the offer providing the individual has not accepted.
3. If they have accepted an offer, you could treat it as gross misconduct and terminate without giving them notice, but it may be safer to pay them any notice entitlement.
4. Frequently, the false information is discovered after the employee has started work, and the CV is looked at when the employee seems unable to do the job as expected. Usually this is within the first twelve months of service, so it will be safe to dismiss them with notice, its also best to give them a written invitation to a meeting, and a right of appeal.
5. All the above courses of action are not entirely risk free, but usually a threat to inform the police if it is serious deception, will ensure that the individual departs quietly!

Ken Allison
Paradigm Partners
www.paradigmpartners.co.uk

0161 928 3213

Majek Kuyoro is the Chairman of Academy Group 4. As a successful businessman, He believes passionately in the vision of the Academy particularly in providing opportunities for CEO's to develop and grow in their various businesses.

Majek (pictured, left)is extremely passionate about what the Academy does for its members and the biggest joy for Majek is seeing CEO's meeting together in a confidential environment where real learning and development can take place. He continues, "Most CEO's find it lonely at the top, no matter what they try to accomplish, sometimes it is difficult and can't be done alone, you need people and support, which is what the Academy provides, particularly the benefit of gaining unique insights and perspectives from one another."

On the back of his extensive career in Training and Development including Public Relations, Majek prides himself on his people skills with passion for coaching and inspiring leaders. It is this experience combined with his track record of helping Chief Executives and Owners of many businesses in various situations that motivates him to lead an Academy group.

Majek has also put his business skills to use in the charity sector and believes that Entrepreneurs have an obligation to give something back in time and expertise, as well as hard cash. His own charity work has seen him support various bodies both in the UK and abroad in fund/raising finance, performance management and programme implementation.

In addition to his business interests, Majek has a keen interest in sport. He plays tennis and enjoys series of keep fit exercise sessions at his local gym.

Outside business, Majek is kept busy by his son 14, daughter 16 and his wonderful wife.

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone.

Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

Leaders Forum 9, chief executive mentoring and experiential learning group (with members from the Herts, Beds, Bucks & London area) undertook some very real experiential learning during their Mid-Year Progress Review. We worked with Norman Carter, (pictured below), using a Learning Through Action process in a series of leadership and team exercises in the gardens of one of the members (see Norman's website at www.learningtaction.co.uk).

Each member led one exercise and received feedback on "What its like to be led by you". This was related back to their mid-year achievements back in the workplace and their own individual leadership styles.

Many of the results of the exercises gave us very transferable lessons that we used during the Mid-Year Review and I know we will be able to refer back to at future meetings. One exercise clearly demonstrated that in order to achieve a bigger and better result, we must change our work process and methods; the same old process will not deliver improved results. This was extremely helpful to many members.

We used the OPERA technique to review all the exercises:

Objective
Plan
Execute
Review
Amend

This worked really well too.

All in all, it was a great session, full of fun, laughter and learning, we solved problems, worked on our planning, communication and review skills and the session was voted a "9" (out of a possible 10), by our members.

Joanna Jesson, Chairman Leaders Forum 9

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

Academy Group 101, chief executive mentoring and experiential learning group (with members based in NYC, USA) recently heard international speaker and author, Vicki Schneider (see Vicki's website at www.qeperformance.com ) give a very interactive session on "Making the Most of The People You Have". Vicki (pictured below), President of QuintEssential Performance, LLC, has been helping companies in this area for more than 25 years.

We've all heard executives say that their employees are their greatest assets. Yet, when it comes to maximizing people performance, executives typically resort to ineffective and often ill-advised actions that can actually make performance worse. Unless an organization learns to address the underlying causes of deficient performance, it runs the risk of continually replacing one "underperformer" with another.

Vicki's three and a half hour workshop engaged Academy for Chief Executives members in a systematic approach to understanding and improving performance.

By the end of this highly interactive session, members gained:

1. An understanding of the components that must be in place to achieve People Performance across their organizations
2. An ability to identify the various areas that are causing performance breakdowns for one of their key employees, and by extension, others in their company
3. Created an action plan to address a key employee's performance deficiencies (and each member's plan was documented on 2-part NCR paper, so the group Chairman could help the member stay on track.)

Members discovered that by focusing on one individual in each company, they left with an insight into their entire organization and what needed to be done to maximize people performance at the individual, team, departmental, and organizational levels.

One member stated, "one of the best speakers I have ever heard on this topic"

Malcolm Elvey,

Chairman Academy Group 101

NYC, U.S.A.