GBLCG.com - Blogs http://gblcg.com/blogs/ Growing community that makes, breaks and shakes world trends. en Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:48:29 GMT vBulletin 60 http://gblcg.com/images/styles/ZenHeat/misc/rss.jpg GBLCG.com - Blogs http://gblcg.com/blogs/ The Arrival of GBLCG.com World Group on Facebook http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/arrival-gblcg-com-world-group-facebook-59/ Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:13:38 GMT Attachment 153 (http://gblcg.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=153)GBLCG.com now brings your conversations and discussions directly to your Facebook... Click image for larger version.  Name: GBLCG.com Imagine Your Future3.png  Views: 39  Size: 16.5 KB  ID: 153GBLCG.com now brings your conversations and discussions directly to your Facebook account, which means you can continue to interact with other GBLCG.com members without having to leave Facebook.

All this is done by a brand new Facebook application called GBLCG.com World Group on Facebook.

Over the last couple of weeks we went through great lengths to turn this app from a mere idea into reality, and after rigorous testing I now proudly present the fruits of our labour..

About GBLCG.com
Existing members know we’re working around the clock to make GBLCG.com an unique site, where people like you can discuss broad ranges of ideas on what our world’s future may look like.

Judging by what my Facebook Friends post each day I clearly see we’re not just concerned about where our world is going, but have also good ideas on what could change things for the better.

At GBLCG.com we pick many of these concerns up, convert them into stand-alone topics for discussion, and allow others to respond intelligently to tease out, refine and enhance our thinking.

Aren’t We Already Doing That On Facebook?
Yep, we are – but GBLCG.com takes your posts and publications to a much higher level.

Those among you who feel you have a message to spread – one that concerns politics, our environment or poverty, for example – will connect directly with like-minded audiences at GBLCG.com. When posting either a complete new topic in one of our forums, or when responding to an existing thread, you actually tap three audiences at once in one single swoop – at Twitter, Facebook and, of course, at GBLCG.com.

Obviously, you need a Twitter account to have your posts appear on Twitter….

Additionally, we, at GBLCG.com, pick a topic each day and put some very intelligent software at work to identify ‘opinionated others’ and experts on the subjects you discuss. Once we identify a good number of such people, we politely ask them if they’d be interested in responding to your ideas or concerns. That way, we know you’ll receive high-quality thinking within the conversations and dialogues you open.

At Facebook, your messages will have little impact if your Friends don’t fully connect with your ideas, concerns or suggestions on how we can or could go about building better futures for our planet and ourselves. They may be Facebook Friends, but that doesn’t mean they share your interests or concerns.

“OK – Now What?”
Go to GBLCG.com World Group to open this dialogue box:

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To gain immediate access, click the ‘Go to App’ button – which you’ll have to do only once – and you’ll enter GBLCG.com World Group straight away.

If you’d entered our World Group today you would have seen this:

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Obviously, this content changes each time a member adds a new post or comment, after which this page will display a link to that submission. This page – one of three – gives you complete access to all GBLCG.com Registered Member sections. Each section is logically divided into a number of panels with self-explanatory titles. Within these panels you’ll find a number of headers, which act as direct links to the blogs, articles and posts you’d like to read.

Each link also shows the Facebook Profile Picture of a Friend who submitted something new, allowing you to scroll quickly to posts of persons you’d like to follow.

Additionally, you’ll find ‘counters’ next to each header, telling you how many replies a post received, and how many times it was viewed.

How About My Privacy?
Excellent question. As with any membership – whether it’s a club, library or rewards programme, for example – you need to submit some information on who you are. It’s part of keeping things managed professionally. Knowing who our members are enables us to ban ill-intended people and to keep your personalised information safe.

When you enter GBLCG.com World Group you only submit some of the personalised information already known by Facebook – none else. That information is then transmitted through a secure connection to a hosted server, rated as one of the most professionally managed in the world.

In order for us to run this app on Facebook we have to comply with the platform’s stringent and unforgiving technical and legal requirements. In other words: Facebook expects us to manage our app very professionally, in a technically robust and secure manner and in line with Facebook’s own safety and security protocols.

All this should give you piece of mind that we’ll be taking your membership, your personalised information and our housekeeping very, very serious.
Finally, we’re working on publishing our Terms of Use and a very details Privacy Statement. In advance of that, we assure you that we will NEVER share your personalised information with anyone else.

What About Canceling My Account?
Not a problem. Just let us know by email through our Contact Us page and we’ll cancel your account within twelve hours after receiving it.

What If I Have More Questions Before Registering?
Post them on our Facebook GBLCG.com Innovation Group Page and either us or any of our members will get back to you with answers.

I hope this gave you enough information to see you climb aboard our GBLCG.com World Group on Facebook...

Look forward to seeing you there!

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/arrival-gblcg-com-world-group-facebook-59/ Promotional Screen Savers – What An Idea! http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/promotional-screen-savers-what-idea-58/ Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:24:17 GMT Staring at my desk a couple of days ago, trying to get my head around a rather complex issue, I suddenly realised that I could put my 17” laptop... Staring at my desk a couple of days ago, trying to get my head around a rather complex issue, I suddenly realised that I could put my 17” laptop screen to better use than showing it’s standard desk top when I am not using it.

It’s a perfect space for promoting my consulting services!

Strange I haven’t thought of that before.

You know what I am talking about. Whenever you stop using your laptop for a while, the machine locks itself and displays a rather uninspiring standard screen. When my machine locks itself after three minutes ‘untouched’ time, it reverts to a standard screen that shows some futuristic kind of ‘whirlies’ that are, from a promotional perspective, pretty darn useless.

How about it reverts to a presentation about my business instead?

Obviously not much use when I work from home – my family knows what I do and are unlikely to procure my services – but perhaps very useful for when I work at client sites. As soon as you leave your desk, voila, your computer screen runs a promotion movie about the stuff you do for a living.

At first I looked at PowerPoint but decided that this doesn’t quite cut the mustard. If I was about to convert my screen into a promotion channel for my business, I had to do it well.

Happens to be that there are a few products in the market that allow you to customise screen savers. Not just that, some of these products allow you to include RSS feeds and to sell them as apps under license.

This opens a complete new array of possibilities – not only can I develop a promotional screen saver for my own use, I also can distribute it to my team members!

So, I ventured to purchase what may be one of the most expensive products around, but it’s the one that does exactly what I want it to do – and, in fact, much more. Considering I will be home-alone this long weekend I promised myself some fun by putting a first ‘go’ together.

Plenty of ideas running through my head right now on what that first version should include. I may just start reading the 72-page instruction manual first.

How’s that for an idea for your business?

Go take a look at these products by Googling the term ‘Screen Saver’. You and I may just be ‘on’ to something few other self-employed professionals have thought of….

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/promotional-screen-savers-what-idea-58/ Better Selling: Features, Advantages and Benefits Sales Sequence http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/better-selling-features-advantages-benefits-sales-sequence-57/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:04:57 GMT Attachment 142 (http://gblcg.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=142)Feature, Advantage, Benefit Sales Approaches are ill or insuffienctly understood by... Click image for larger version.  Name: Funny.Sales.Cartoon.Call.Losing.Focus.jpg  Views: 161  Size: 16.7 KB  ID: 142Feature, Advantage, Benefit Sales Approaches are ill or insuffienctly understood by self-employed professionals. Reasons don’t do – and this is why..

As a management consultant with almost two decades of front-line experience I noticed recently that self-employed and small business owners are still experiencing problems with selling and marketing their services and products.

Considering the influence of the internet, which presents plenty of advice on the subject, and the myriads or DVD’s on ‘How To Sell’ and ‘How To Develop Business” that are commercially sold, this shouldn’t be the case.

At its most basic level, the principles of how to sell effectively haven’t changed at all, principally because we, people, in our wants, desires and perceived needs, haven’t changed. What we desire and think we need may have changed, but not the workings behind our desiring and needing.

We still want ‘more’, ‘better’ and ‘enhanced’ to serve our individual objectives, whatever they may be, as much as that was the case a thousand years ago.

To bring the Features - Advantages - Benefits sales sequence back to the forefront of your mind – or to introduce you to it if you haven’t heard of it before, I’ll give you a synopsis on each of these:

Features
Features are product or service attributes marketers like to refer to on package and brochure fronts. Often expressed in exclaiming keywords, Features aim to get a product’s or service’s unique value proposition across in five seconds or less.

Good Features can only be written or presented by people who know exactly what buyers value, and how the product or service taps both existent latent and existent desires – wants and needs.

Unlike its counterparts, an iron may have a two-meter cord instead of one 150 centimeter long, for example. A car may weigh less, and a mobile phone water resistant.

For an attribute to be a Feature, they must be tangible. Buyers must be able to touch or feel it.

Advantages
Advantages always appeal to buyer’s emotions by making it obvious how the product or service can - or will - contribute positively to their lives. Advantages delete problems, enhance or amplify enjoyment and eliminate risks for the buyer, for example.

Buyers don’t care about the length of the iron’s cord until they recognise that it enables them to escape from the pokey corners in which they have to iron presently. Perhaps they also can iron in different locations, if the extended length of the cord now connects to currently out-of-reach power points. Fifty additional centimetres of cord may now allow them to forget about extension cords, which may make it quicker and easier to get some ad-hoc ironing done.

A lighter car may consume less fuel, which means that drivers can continue to drive longer.

Owners of water resistant cell phones can remain contactable in severe weather conditions, when boating or skiing or at the beach without having to worry about causing corrosion or malfunctions. This may mean that they remain longer ‘in reach’ of colleagues, family and – if needs to be – emergency services.

Advantages convince buyers they can do things faster, safer, better and easier with the new product or service. Less worry, less effort, more satisfaction and reduced risk are all examples of key phrases which could accompany the Advantages a product or service offers.

Benefits
Whereas Features are tangible – qualifiable - and Advantages are emotional, Benefits are always quantifiable and typically expressed in monetary terms.

Benefits explain the economics of a product or service to help buyers understand the value they receive from the investment they are asked to make.
Sales people who ‘sell’ both Features and Advantages well don’t have to be explicit about Benefits. In fact, if the previous steps are compellingly presented, buyers will start to quantify Benefits on their own accord.

A two-meter cord on an iron – instead of the 150 centimetres offered by rivals – may add another ten dollars to its price, but it may help they buyer choose more freely where to iron without the hassle of having to use extension cords.

Although it would be difficult for a sales person to quantify these Benefits, buyers may gain a sense of how much time an extra 50 centimeters of cord could save them. Crack sales people may just hit that thought home by plainly asking buyers “Imagine how much time this iron could save you!”

The car’s fuel economy may help the buyer reduce petrol expenses, as well as shortening travel times. If the car is smaller than ones already owned, another series of benefits may come from reduced hassles with parking, for example. Here, the sales representative may point these Benefits to the forefront to a buyer’s mind by saying: “Imagine how you could use the money you save on petrol could be used otherwise!”

Last: The mobile’s water resistance may help buyers reduce the number of return calls they need to make after returning from environments that could potentially damage to less sturdier devices. Water resistant handsets may offer longer lifespans, provide assurance from being longer connectable and ‘off-road’ access to emergency services, should they be needed in case of an accident.

The Features – Advantages – Benefits sales sequence is to be used in that order. When talking to a potential buyer, first outline what your product’s or service’s features are. Essentially, here you explain to the buyer why your product or service is unique from any other, by pointing-out tangible, noticeable differences.

Once the buyer seems to understand the Features, you then move seamlessly into Advantages. Here you address the ‘So What’ – why the Features should be considered attractive. Here you’ll speak to the buyer’s emotions.

As one very experienced sales person I know once said, here you convince buyers that “it’ll be a shame for them if they walked out of the store without that thing under their arm”.

Finally, you then ramp-up to the close of the sale by talking about Benefits; how the product or service can add true value to the buyer’s life. When possible, that value should always be expressed in dollar-terms. The trick here is to lead buyers to a point where they start to quantify that value for themselves, and start to talk about that. Once you understand what value the buyer assigns to the use of the product or service, the door opens wide to discuss price in a meaningful context.

Although all of this should be Bread & Butter stuff for any self-respecting sales person – especially because the sequence has been taught for decades – it’s hard to find sales assistants who use this model effectively – if at all. Equally surprising is that so few independent professionals and small business owners standardise their sales approaches, clearly hoping that verbalising top-of-head and off-cuff stuff suffices anytime.

I have seen high-ticket item orders go to rookies who know how to present well rather than to their more experienced rivals who know everything about the products they sell, but much less about selling.

Self-employed professionals and small business owners who feel their sales approaches need improvement could start by asking a very simple question: What is the problem clients try to solve when they purchase a service or product from you?

Those who fail to answer this question immediately in an intelligent, comprehensive and succinct fashion have already handed all keys to sales success over to those who can.

All such failure shows is that clients aren’t understood, their behaviours, wishes, dreams and demands are probably just vaguely responded to, and that client loyalty is nothing but a thin silk thread that can be severed at the blink of an eye.

If you are a self-employed professional or small business owners, now may be a good time to sharpen-up your sales processes - not in the least because it's unlikely our current economic climate will change for the better in the near future.

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/better-selling-features-advantages-benefits-sales-sequence-57/ Will Seamless Connectivity Be Our Future? http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/will-seamless-connectivity-our-future-56/ Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:20:50 GMT Gen-i, in association with Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco present us throughout a 2.23 minute video what our future could look like. Considering these are... Gen-i, in association with Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco present us throughout a 2.23 minute video what our future could look like. Considering these are all commercial enterprises it's likely they want us to know that what they have in mind for us - what they are 'visioning' - will be good for us.

But will it be?

Watch the video first:




The clip asks "What if technology was more in tune with your world".
We then move to a woman sitting at what I understand to be a restaurant, offered an electronic menu. It all looks very unassuming - almost sparse - with only a few other diners in the background. So far, all is very 2011 familiar, with nothing out of the ordinary - until she slides-up her sleeve to reveal some floral-looking code on her left-hand wrist.

It's here where things become futuristic and to the point of frightening when the 'intelligent' table analyses her Iron Levels. As means of explanation, we are informed through a text capture that this constitutes 'Nano Body Art - Embedded Mobility Device'.

The term is as new to me as the entire concept. In normal English: It's a log-in process which doesn't require an old fashioned Password-Username combination but merely one's presence, and a mere single touch-screen interaction, evidenced by the table's personalised response: "Welcome Back Charlotte".

Now it's not us who learn the featuring lady's name, we also learn that the 'intelligent table' knows this as well, informing us instantaneously that it's not the first time Charlotte visited the venue. Another text capture narrates this processes as a 'Nearfield Authentication'.

I am not entirely sure what makes 'Nearfield Authentication' different from 'Nano Body Art - Embedded Mobility Device' but we are perhaps thrown some synonymous, made-up and clever-sounding futuristic phrases to keep us intrigued.

All that matters to Charlotte is that she's now presented with a 'Personalised Lunch Menu' that, in addition to what seems the standard daily fare, also offers a selection of somehow graded recommendations, assumingly as a response to Charlotte's iron levels, which the table previously analysed as 'low'.

Apparently, this is called 'Biometric and Social Recommendations'.
Here, I am not clear how 'Social Recommendations' enter the equation, but it sounds terrifically good.

Obviously, our health-conscious and iron-level-concerned Charlotte follows suit by ordering the table's top recommendation, which turns out to be the 'Organic Lamb from The Bourke Farm in Opunake (Taranaki). Charlotte seems delighted with the 'Paddock To Plate Traceability' she's offered, clearly understanding that what comes from Opunake must be good.

We are now presented with a cut-frame interlude, including a text-capture that implies that this technology 'Looks Out For You'. It's another way of saying that all this technology is put at Charlotte's - our - disposal for our own benefit.

Now having made her selection and placed her order, Charlotte turns her attention to business at hand by activating something called 'Context Aware Information Filtering'. In plain English: The table now shows us Charlotte's Schedule, including her News Feeds, today's Weather, her Social and Appointments Schedule.

After a few thoughtful seconds, Charlotte now invokes a 'Proactive Information Management' process which, as I understand it to be, accounts for being an automated alert system not different from today's electronic calendars but presented to us in the future by restaurant tables. A clear-cut frame now tells us that this helps us 'Avoiding Problems', in as much as the table tells Charlotte a problem is coming her way, unless she calls a client instantly.

Of course, our smart Charlotte responds immediately by pressing the pictorial Noise Cancelling button in front of her, assured her action activates an 'Acoustic Cloaking Device' - a 'Cone of Silence' that isolates her instantaneously from her environment, allowing her - I assume - to speak with her client privately.

A little capture pops-up to tell us soothingly in a term we all understand that the blue-coloured bubble in which Charlotte moved herself is about 'Noise Cancelling'.

The presentation now informs us that 'Noise Cancelling' is good because it's Distraction Filtering capabilities, which seems to delight Charlotte no end, judging by the smile of contentment we see appear on her face 12 minutes later, clearly not concerned that her 'Organic Lamb from The Bourke Farm in Poneke (Teriyaki)' hasn't arrived yet.

To keep Charlotte happy whilst waiting for her order, the table now enables her to 'Keep Connected', showing her a Facebook-similar page because of its 'Multi-purpose Interactive Surface' allowing her to stay 'Seamlessly Connected - for Her World.

Hidden Questions
Seamlessly Connected sounds good to if we want to remain constantly in touch with the electronic data and information that helps us manage both our professional and private lives. What this video wants us to see is that future technology will enable us to interact with that information from just about anywhere, at any time, whenever we want.

But it’s the word ‘want’ where things may become dicey.

For one: it’d be safe to assume that cell phones have not made our lives more peaceful. Having a cell phone – and just about anyone in the Western World seems to have one – implies that you can be contacted 24/7, whenever someone wants to contact you.

Being contactable implies you’ll be constantly responsive to another person’s need to talk. Even if you are not contactable, callers effectively shift the responsibility for communication onto you by leaving a message, requesting a return call. The same applies to email.

What this video tells us is that our connectivity isn’t as seamless as it could be, and that technology will see that this will improve. What this essentially means is that we’ll be given fewer opportunities to run from the connectivity we are expected to have.

What would have happen to poor Charlotte if she’d favoured some quiet time at lunch over contacting her troubled client instantly? Go figure.

Last: the video doesn’t explain where Charlotte’s electronic data and information is stored. The video clearly suggests that she can access it from anywhere and, more importantly, through public means – assuming that table isn’t exclusively hers.

By implication, this would mean that this information would have to stream constantly through a large-scale infrastructure, which she probably doesn’t own either.

So, where does all that intelligence come from? Where will it be stored? Who owns all that infrastructure, those storage devices and ‘our’ data and information?

This video implies that if technology will have it ways, our rights to Privacy will have to change considerably. I expect that many cell phone owners wonder what their carriers do with the data they exchange through their handsets but one simple glance at your monthly phone bill shows that these carriers know exactly when you called, how long you spoke during each call, who you called and, very likely, where you called from.

Again, the same applies to email.

What the video’s proposes is that for us to become so wonderfully Seamless Connected we must store more of ourselves electronically in at least one system. Whereas technology will help us become connected, we must tell technology as much as we can about ourselves to make things ‘seamless’.

Because that technology will be owned by others, it’s actually not us telling these systems what we’re up to – but those who own these systems.

Will that be Gen-i, Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent then?

Who else?

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/will-seamless-connectivity-our-future-56/ Facebook – Here’s GBLCG.com! http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/facebook-here-s-gblcg-com-55/ Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:23:02 GMT What seemed merely a dream a couple of months ago has finally come true – our own GBLCG.com Facebook App has been brought to life! Some of you... What seemed merely a dream a couple of months ago has finally come true – our own GBLCG.com Facebook App has been brought to life!

Some of you already know that we’ve been working tirelessly on building GBLCG.com with a view to make it a preferred online ‘home’ for professionals who want to discuss professional challenges.

In essence, we’re looking to build a unique community of opinionated, forward-thinking and idea-focused people interested in expanding both their online and ‘off-line’ business networks. Rather than emulating, duplicating or mimicking what other business networks offer, GBLCG.com will be about cutting-edge and unbridled thinking on how professional futures can be created or re-created.

To make this happen, our search is on for people who believe they cannot just ideate new futures – but who believe they can play key roles in making these futures reality. A broadest possible array of topics will be introduced due course to give home to each idea or suggestion on what in your view may need or should happen to reinvent and realise new – better – futures for our world.

Although coming from a business angle may seem restrictive in what can or cannot be discussed, it shouldn’t be so. Business, after all, can be defined as wide or narrow as one likes. In our case, we use business not as topical criterion but as a position from which we train our lenses toward to topics that arise due course.

When saying ‘professionals’ I refer to a broad and diverse pool of people who possess burning ambitions to make their professional mark on this world. We deliberately keep our views on what our target audiences may be as open as possible, mainly to keep a sense of ‘adventure’ alive.

Instead of us stipulating who’s ‘in’ and who’s ‘out’ – which is what conventional marketers tell us to do, believing that ‘knowing your audience’ is key to any site owner’s success – we prefer to keep our doors opened as wide as possible.

Due course we hope to see creativity, innovation and perhaps even ‘outlandish’ thinking trump the regurgitation of stale, fact-based and ‘right/wrong’ business paradigms. We hope to see new thinking emerge across members who are courageous enough to push conventional perspectives on business to yet unexplored levels.

As said, GBLCG.com now has a new Facebook presence, one that supplements our GBLCG.com Fan Page and our GBLCG.com Innovation Group.

Within the next few days we’ll be opening what we think will be interesting topics for you to get your teeth into.

Hope to see you soon in and around our brand new GBLCG.com Community!

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/facebook-here-s-gblcg-com-55/ <![CDATA[Innovative Thinking & The 10-5-5 Ideation Rule]]> http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/innovative-thinking-10-5-5-ideation-rule-54/ Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:08:36 GMT Teams that face stalemates in their innovation, problem solving and improvement efforts may suffer from Text Myopia. A solution may be to adopt new... Teams that face stalemates in their innovation, problem solving and improvement efforts may suffer from Text Myopia. A solution may be to adopt new ways of thinking.

Click image for larger version.  Name: Performance_Appraisal_Dont-Replace_Bottom_Line_Leadership14299393_XS.jpg  Views: 484  Size: 43.7 KB  ID: 141A while ago I consulted to an organization as part of a team that saw itself challenged by a number of seemingly irresolvable issues. The client's revenues and profits dwindled rapidly and drastic intervention was needed to change the trajectory bottom lines had taken. We devised a plan that could move things back into better states but realized that the execution of our thinking would be a Herculean undertaking for the organization.

For one, it had to accept degrees of risk it was unaccustomed and had deliberately shied away from.

Second, it required executives to quickly adopt new ways of thinking and to let go of views and perceptions they had for long seen as infallible truths.

Third, we had to breach firm and high walls teams, units and groups had built to preserve and foster their notions of independence and exclusivity, as to obscure to outsiders the way people actually worked, acted and thought within these clusters.

Changing this would require time the client simply didn't have. It was certain that the rate of speed by which bottom lines eroded would outstrip that by which organizational change would occur.

After working almost 16/7 for eight days straight, working through countless scenarios and possible solutions we reached a metal stalemate. We were quickly running out of ideas, solutions and hope. In order to retain momentum and to devise a workable solution on time, we realized we had to reach well behind our applied thinking to deliver the needed solutions.
This notion gave rise to what we now know as the '10-5-5 Ideation Rule' - 'IR' for short.

10-5-5 - What Is It?
The 10-5-5 Ideation Rule asks team members to illustrate a challenge, problem or issue in ten minutes. After completion they must be able to convincingly present their thinking in five minutes, leaving another five for questions and answers.

After 20 minutes one of three things can happen – the audience or team:


  • dismisses the idea entirely;
  • asks for a clearer picture - literally - and gives presenters another chance to redraw their thinking; or,
  • gives thumbs-up and allows presenters to realize their idea.

10-5-5 - Introducing New Perspectives
When forced to illustrate an idea quickly the author must largely abandon pure rational and analytical thinking to fully adopt a 'conceptual' and 'global' mindset.

If an idea is drawn incompletely in favour of detail, it will lose its relationship with reality and the audience may lose context. Conversely, a too roughly sketched but completed drawing may diminish the idea's value if it becomes too global.

This forces presenters to make trade-offs, often instantaneously, for it is likely that when the clock starts to tick, no clear picture of the idea has formed in their minds yet either. Even if it has, drawing it compellingly and coherently remains often still a considerable challenge. Ten minutes doesn't leave much time for deep pondering, especially when something tangible must be produced at the end of it.

Especially when the idea is complex and the author's drawing abilities are underdeveloped, little attention can be given to detail. Irrespective where these variables intersect for authors, this approach helps them, as well as their teams, to start their thinking literally with Big Pictures - 'big' not referring to the magnitude of the idea or size of drawing but to the magnification of the lenses through which teams view and explore the idea.

Setting 10-5-5 Ideation Rules
Rules around this method can be set as stringent or flexible as desired. More curious, creative and free-thinking teams may prefer to keep rules loosely defined, whereas more conventional and risk-averse groups may prefer to head in an opposite direction.

Across that spectrum, need for detail may vary as well, depending on the complexity, risk and magnitude of the idea presented and the willingness - courage - of participants to believe that something as rough as a ten minute sketch can harbour untapped opportunities and advantages.

10-5-5 Sceptics
Sceptics argue that the ideation of high-risk/high-value initiatives simply cannot be approached this way. Others may resist by saying that this approach unduly trivializes the often elaborate problem solving techniques challenges require.

What's actually said here is this: anyone who doesn't know how to solve our problems our way shouldn't try it. No other method will be explored, either because there are no alternatives or because none can be better than those already used. This implies problems can only be solved by certain people distinguished by seniority, academic title or political emblem.

I believe this is nonsense.

Innovation comes from iconoclasts, individuals who have the courage to go opposite ways. Innovation isn't just an output. It also is a principle and a practice. I expect the 10-5-5 rule to appeal to innovators who live and breathe ideation and the creation of 'New'. Others who dismiss it may prefer to stick to what they've always done - continue to write about 'New' without actually trying anything 'New' themselves.

Teams that are unwilling to change the ways by which they improve and innovate contradict themselves squarely. Tradition, convention and protocol are innovation's worst bed fellows. Nothing new comes from sticking to what's already known or believed in.

The 10-5-5 Ideation Rule Advantages
The 10-5-5 Ideation Rule is cheap, can be done instantaneously and, despite of what's believed by many, anyone can do it. Moreover, I've seen it work more than once; have witnessed first-hand that this simple technique can resolve mental stalemates in hours.

These are qualities no improvement and change-focused team can ignore and dismiss - especially not when time stops being a luxury and minds interlock with growing tenacity on what to do next.

10-5-5 Ideation Rule - Leveraging The Power of Visualisation
Advertising agencies have known for decades that few things hammer messages home as quickly as an image. Nothing can grab attention as instantaneously as a picture.

What strikes me as peculiar is how so many executives practically denounce the use of images to publicize their views, ideas and thinking - other than ones showing bar graphs, Technicolor Timelines and the odd consultant-facilitated Mind Map.

Unless design or creativity is an organization's core business, drawing to communicate simply isn't 'the done thing'. Clearly, we rather sit and type five pages to communicate something that could fit easily on one A3-size page, drawn or sketched in far less time.

The 10-5-5 Ideation Rule - Fostering Innovation Internally
Forget bringing in facilitators and consultants. All it takes is some pens, pencils and a ream of paper - stuff that's probably already at your arm's length right now. Take it into a room, gather your team and ask them to illustrate some of the most vexing challenges you are facing. Motivate them to try, try again - and again. You may need to push some team members into making first attempts and pressure them to at least try.

If twenty minutes is all that's required to give what may just be same-potential ideas a chance to live, merely to see whether the approach can make a difference to the way your team idea ties, collaborates an innovates - why not trying it?

You may be surprised by how well your team can actually Ideate...

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/innovative-thinking-10-5-5-ideation-rule-54/ Where Are The C-suite Crayons? http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/where-c-suite-crayons-52/ Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:56:41 GMT Click image for larger version.  Name: creativity_504x428.jpg  Views: 373  Size: 76.1 KB  ID: 140
Ask a self-proclaimed 'creative' business leader to put thinking into a picture and chances are you'll get either an Excel-generated graph or a series of worked-up PowerPoint slides.

The response will seldom be a good old Pencil-Paper drawn product which, I think, is a shame.

Pick any Junior Creative at an Advertising Agency and you'll probably have found someone who can teach even most seasoned CEO's one or two things about visualizing visions.

Although the ability to convert ideas and thoughts into clear and compelling imagery was probably nothing but an entry-level requirement for that creative youngster such skills are, to my knowledge, generally not considered elementary for corporate leadership.

Whereas a five-year old would not blink an eye when asked to illustrate something as vague and distant as ‘a preferred occupation’, I expect many CEO’s to refer you back to reception when asked to do the same for the company’s three-year vision.

Yet, en masse, we demand business leaders to be creative and visionary, able to communicate visions clearly and compellingly.

So, where are the C-suite Crayons?

In business vernacular the term ‘C-suite’ refers to executives with roles that are preceded by ‘Chief’ – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Finance Officer, etc. In normal English, the term refers simply to Top Management.

Arguing that very little correlation may exist between a company's bottom line and it's C-suite's artistic skills is, in my view, somewhat pointless as the same can be said about writing skills. Bad authoring skills don't seem to stop executives from writing the countless memos, reports and emails they produce daily.

Not all Fortune 100 CEO's are Pulitzer Price Laureates.

Yet, when it comes to communicating things as elusive and often vague as 'visions', executives argue quickly they lack the skills to sketch-out what their mind eyes are seeing. Whether writing is a better option seems seldom questioned.

Consequentially, we keep doing what we've always done: shoe-horning unbridled thinking into policy-generated templates, then edit the hell out of what's written to make it sound corporate and intelligent - a task often given to specialists - to finally wedge what seemed wonderful ideas originally as a bullet point into a report only few actually read.

In reality, the lifecycle of a vision or idea often goes from being a Silver Bullet to being Bullet Point, before it becomes shot into oblivion.

Few visions or ideas are given a chance to hit bulls-eye.

Why should top and senior business leaders become more prone to grab pencil and paper to draw what they vision?

Here are a few reasons:

  • Drawing ideas is often more time-effective than having to write about them. It also saves paper. You can draw a 5.23” line with black pencil on an A3-sized, portrait-oriented paper, left to right centred, about 4.29” from the bottom in less than three seconds. In contrast, it took me almost seventy to write about it.
  • Where do you want your store your ideas whilst working on them? Texts often become part of Disappearing Acts when they vanish onto a hard drive or, in print, ‘somewhere’ in a pile. When pinned to a wall, a hand-sketched idea remains in full vision. Think posters and billboards.
  • Converting text into an illustration forces you to think differently about the essence and meaning of what is and needs to be conveyed. Drawings are likely to captivate more attention longer, especially when audiences expect to see text, polished presentations and glossy laminations.
  • Illustrating or drawing an idea, rather than writing about it, forces you to think differently about your ideas. It’s Tony Buzan’s main argument for using mindmaps. It’s why architects use CAD/CAM generated imagery to show clients what their otherwise one-dimensional and un-imaginative home will or could look like. It’s why stone masons draw their designs onto their rocks before they start chipping.
  • As it’s hard to make grammar and spelling mistakes when drawing, you cut self-proclaimed Chief Editors off from sinking Big Idea conversations into granularity debates. If detail matters to them, ask them to draw new lines, boxes, arrows – whatever is needed to satisfy their need for minuteness. Once drawings are worked out, ask the most verbal critics to QWERTY the image onto a hard drive – since they seem to be the experts. Keep erasers handy.
Executives are quick to publicise they are creative, even when they are not. Asking them whether they see themselves as such probably isn’t the right question to ask. Creativity isn't just an attribute. It also is a practice.

Having a pencil doesn’t make anyone a Picasso - in as much as having an intent or vision doesn’t make anyone an innovator, visionary or leader of any kind.

Unless something tangible comes forth from all that ideating, visioning, brainstorming and navel-gazing we’re doing, any of that merely is wasted effort and cost.

In these economically uncertain times where, on the one hand, cost and waste generation is observed by ever-narrowing stake- and shareholder eyes and, on the other, clients and customers are expecting ever-novel innovations, the use of a $0.35 pencil and $2.49 sketchbook may prove to be one of the most cost effective innovations CEO’s can make – immediately.




-- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/where-c-suite-crayons-52/ GBLCG.com - Professional Challenges Explored http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/gblcg-com-professional-challenges-explored-51/ Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:09:14 GMT “Professional Challenges Explored” will become the new Theme for GBLCG.com. Until recently, we promoted this site that discussed Innovation only,... “Professional Challenges Explored” will become the new Theme for GBLCG.com. Until recently, we promoted this site that discussed Innovation only, which reflected our initial thinking on what the site needed to be about.*

Concluding that this focus narrowed the site's intended purpose unduly I decided to boldly change GBLCG's orientation, which means that descriptions of all the inbound links I created must change accordingly.

If you are a Registered Member at GBLCG.com or of any of our Social Media Groups, expect changes to the way we describe and promote our site to come through within the next couple of weeks.

The phrasing of the site's theme to Professional Challenges Explored followed a few weeks of pondering on where the site is going. I recognised that the site had grown technically as intended, consequential to the systematic execution of our continuous improvement plans, which we drew-up early 2011.*

In terms of the development of content - which will increasingly involve member collaborations - I sensed from the Social Media conversations I held and observed that people are growing rapidly concerned about how global economic events are affecting their careers and professional futures.*

As the number of economically-failing nation states seems to rise, unemployment continues to trend upward and the sustainability of our actions becomes questioned more intensely, I detect that our uncertainty in what and how to do next to survive professionally is mounting.

Notwithstanding the grand plans global leaders and academics currently work on to turn economic tides, I also detect that confusion on where our world is heading is growing.*

Those who reached out to ancient Maya predictions now believe such efforts are futile and that we are on a one-track racecourse leading to an inevitable collapse of Mankind in 2012 - a year that's currently still scheduled to start in three months time.*

I figure that even if the Maya's will succeed where Y2K, Nostradamus and countless other seers failed, it still is worthwhile to take a shot at further developing GBLCG.com for there's always a chance that the Maya's placed a comma incorrectly at some point.

We deliberately included the word 'Professional' to personlise the theme. Assuming that professional challenges frequently are, in effect, latent corporate-organizational ones we aim to make discussions more meaningful by boiling things down to their root-level - to that of people.*

Through this we will introduce contrasts between GBLCG.com and other sites that remain stuck at merely discussing outcomes and symptoms of professional challenges at business, corporate and organisational levels.*

This may be useful to those who want to gain an appreciation of these challenges but may be less meaningful to individuals intending to tackle such challenges personally and proactively.

Expecting the latter group to possess the courage, creativity and leadership skills we want to tap to fuel GBLCG.com's growth, we wanted to introduce a theme that appeals to them specifically.*

We plan to add The phrase "Professional Challenges Explored" to our site logo within the next couple of days. Following this we plan to gradually update our branding accordingly across all other channels, starting with our social media accounts.

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/gblcg-com-professional-challenges-explored-51/ <![CDATA[What My Wife Doesn't Understand About Strategic Journey Mapping...]]> http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/what-my-wife-doesnt-understand-about-strategic-journey-mapping-50/ Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:53:09 GMT Many, of not most of us, are familiar with Project Management, either conceptually or practically. Although I am in my work often highly dependent... Many, of not most of us, are familiar with Project Management, either conceptually or practically.

Although I am in my work often highly dependent on such managerial skills and am required to fill that seat myself, it's not a role I enjoy playing.

Oddly, while I am typically held responsible by clients for bringing multi-million dollar organizational change and business transformation programmes to successful completion I fail to enjoy the balancing of resources, budgets and timelines.

Believing that others are far more skilled and experienced than I am in this respect I prefer to engage specialists to wear that hat, if at all possible, to convert my Big Picture Thinking - which is something that I do infinitively better - into reality.

Scheduling simply is a bore. Maintaining schedules just about as interesting as watching paint dry.

That's what I thought until recently.

Behold Strategic Journey Mapping, or SJM for short.

Now here's a planning method - let's just call it such for now - for mapping-out a strategy. A well-developed SJM may actually show that Bob The Janitor actually contributes heaps to his company's strategy - if 'Hygene' and 'Cleanliness' happen to be two of it's strategic objectives.

In fact, the map may show that he's the only person on payroll who can help the organisation achieve those goals.

Whilst I may perhaps trivialise things a bit too far here it's nonetheless true that a well-developed SJM helps unravel one of those ever-returning C-suite questions: 'How Does What We Do Actually Contribute To Our Strategy?'.

What makes this advanture most enjoyable is that we decided to stay clear from software applications. It's back to that good old assortment of stationery: Brown Paper, Sticky Tape, Glue Sticks, Sticky Notes and Permanent Markers.

I am loving it.

Once again I can tell my three under-eight kids with raised head, chest out and chin high that the importance of 'messing about with 'crafty-stuff'' cannot be underestimated.

I told them tonight that if they learn to 'Value The Virtues of Glue Sticks' they, perhaps - maybe - may end up being as important as daddy.

I don't think they got it.

Nor did my wife.

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/what-my-wife-doesnt-understand-about-strategic-journey-mapping-50/ Article templates – are they useful? http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/article-templates-they-useful-49/ Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:12:56 GMT Article templates – are they useful? That question has occupied me for the best part of three weeks now, mainly because I decided to test this... Article templates – are they useful? That question has occupied me for the best part of three weeks now, mainly because I decided to test this myself. I searched the internet for useful guidance, pulled some old materials on the topic from my personal/professional archive and set out to draft a few first-cuts of something that possibly could do the job.

So far, it has been interesting – if not to say Enlightening experience.

Where The ‘Template’ Story Starts

The story actually started a couple of months ago when I sat down with a couple of colleagues and clients around a few good bottles of wine to celebrate a significant business-related event. Before long I found myself in the excellent company of two highly-placed layers who played key roles in the forging of a multi-million dollar contract for us. Due course, and many meeting hours later, our friendship transgressed from being purely professional to more personal ones.

As the evening progressed, our conversations ventured deeper into personal territories.

Having once entertained some thoughts on becoming a lawyer myself, and having therefore some affinity with the legal profession, as well as having been exposed to the workings of Justice systems at close range, I asked my conversation partners how they manage the data and information they receive throughout the cases they work on.

As was the case in the deal we closed so successfully that day, the data and information lawyers need to muster to develop and present their cases successfully can accrue to staggering amounts – especially when cases are complex and their outcomes are critically consequential to the parties involved.

Why Legal Professionals Use Templates – And What I Learnt From Them

To complicate matters further – as was quickly reiterated that night – lawyers are not just required to make sense out of voluminous amounts of data and information if their cases require them to do so, but also need to explain precisely to courts how they developed their cases.

If asked to associate the word ‘evidence’ with a profession, many – if not most of us – will probably respond with either ‘legal’ or ‘law enforcement’.

Processing mountains of seemingly disparate and inherently incomplete data and information is merely one aspect of being a lawyer. Extracting stories from these materials – which may not necessarily be truthful accounts of previous events - is another yet. Being able to sway opinions, ideas and pre-conceived ideas in others with these stories is, apparently, what elevates a legal professional to being a ‘good’ lawyer.

Turns out that both my conversation partners use templates for their investigations. “They enable me to standardise the data and information I receive” said one, “and to delegate that often tedious task to support personnel”.

“It’s about pulling precious guts from rough ore”.

“It’s about paring the nuggets we find with amidst all that data and information with dates, times, persons and locations to gradually build and develop a chronology of past events.”

Why What I Learnt Bothered Me

Thinking this through I realised that, as a management consultant, I spent most of my professional time helping clients standardise processes, which helps them to quantify and qualify them to, eventually, improve them effectively, efficiently and meaningfully.

Yet, after all these years, I had not been able – or have never taken the time – to ‘standardise’ my reporting, presentations and facilitations in similar fashions, and to similar degrees.

Whilst building and developing templates, outlines and story boards for my clients almost daily for the last fifteen years I, apparently, had failed to successfully develop stencils to aid the provision and delivery of my own services.

With a start I realised that night that I had forgotten to ‘automate’ my own service delivery processes.

Following that realisation, which came to me all these months ago, I finally set out to change things.

My Article Template Development Journey

So far, whilst journeying through my often nocturnal ventures into making my aimed-for changes, have been enjoyable, revealing and challenging – to say the least. It has pulled me into deep philosophical ponderings, lines of questioning I could and cannot yet resolve, and back into the lessons I was taught by some of the most extraordinary mentors I was privileged to have.

Along the way I oftentimes regressed to the Words of Wisdom some of the most exceptional business leaders shared with me.

Fundamentally, along the way, I have come to believe that the introduction of templates – or stencils – will help me improve my professional service deliveries, which is why I am continuing my efforts to do so.

Equally important, I’ve come to realise that much of what I do at, and for GBLCG.com can possibly be templated as well, and the development of content is just one of those aspects.

Resultant of all these ‘aha’ experiences, and by spending countless hours on researching how ‘experts’ think articles, reports and journals should be written and compiled, I am now looking at a 45-page manuscript that – I think - provides very solid and sound guidance on how I should ‘template’ the development of both my professional and web-focused texts.

Why My Article Development Journey Should Excite You..

I am excited. If I had to use management consulting terminology for the work I am performing presently I would say that I am writing a Standard Operating Procedure for the development of content for this site – as well as for the reports I must write for my clients daily.

Equally important, this work allows me to open a whole series of new lines of discussion here at GBLCG.com, each revolving around the ways by which you – and others – develop content for their sites.

To make this happen I plan to share my manuscript with GBLCG.com members – very much to give you something back for the learning I – hopefully – receive from you through your feedback.

Finally, whilst writing this article – which, perhaps oddly, was not yet governed in any way by the procedures I am developing - another series of ideas for inclusion of these procedures popped-up, each of which I am going to add now.

Writing Better Articles & Staying Tuned..

In closing off, I hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you want to stay tuned to how the development of my ‘Article Writing’ manuscript comes along, and want to receive a copy of my first publishable manuscript within the next couple of weeks, subscribe without any obligations to my eBrief here: ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/article-templates-they-useful-49/ Steve Jobs – RIP 2011. http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/steve-jobs-rip-2011-48/ Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:07:35 GMT Attachment 139 (http://gblcg.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=139)Steve Jobs passed on. Although I knew he wasn’t a well man – and had not been for a... Click image for larger version.  Name: t_hero.jpg  Views: 84  Size: 7.0 KB  ID: 139Steve Jobs passed on. Although I knew he wasn’t a well man – and had not been for a while – the announcement of his departure threw me off balance this morning. Although I am up to my ears in work and have found very little time to work on GBLCG.com I couldn’t resist writing a few words of thanks to a man who reshaped our world in so many ways.

I am not talking about the products he [helped] design and produce. I am talking about his genius, his unconventional views on our world and his ability to promote, share and market his ideas so utter successfully.

Having never had the opportunity to work with or for him I can’t say I knew Steve in any way, shape or form. So-called insiders and those who studied his life far more thorroughly than I have seem to agree that he wasn’t an easy person to work with. Some say his temper – which apparently could flare up at any given time – may have got in his way occassionally. Others reported Jobs as a phenomenally driven, focused and determined man who didn’t suffer fools easily and who adopted views that contravened his own with the greatest of difficulty only.

Perhaps somewhat pragmatically I think that none of these views, opinions or accounts on Jobs are my business. They certainly fail to taint the admiration and awe I feel for the man for none of these attributes and characteristics dilutes the fact that he became an icon through his ability to ideate and create them. In as much as Apple isn’t about computers anymore, Jobs wasn’t about Apple – and vice versa. Jobs was Jobs – a man behind his own brand.

Right in front of me lie my trusty iPad and iPhone. It was only yesterday when I seriously considered to ditch my PC in favour of a Mac. I suspect my iPod to be in one of my coat pockets. As I see it, I carry a tiny, infathomly small bit of Jobs of me every day. I already know that tomorrow, when packing my briefcase for work, I’ll take another caring look at each of these items – not because I love them for what they are, but for what they stand for: A man’s relentless determination and courage to ideate, innovate, and create.

Steve – thanks for everything you’ve done for me personally. Thanks to you I carry with me images of my children and wife wherever I go. On my travels I take a bit of home with me – my music.

Heaven should become you if it is as white and clean as we think it is…

Steve Jobs – RIP 2011.

Raymond.

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/steve-jobs-rip-2011-48/ Important Improvements to GBLCG.com http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/important-improvements-gblcg-com-47/ Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:13:00 GMT Quick but important message to all our current members and aspiring members -

FREE REGISTRATION HAS NOW BECOME A 15-SECOND AFFAIR...

For Current GBLCG.com Registered Members

If you are an existing GBLCG.com account holder, please click the button below to completely personalise your account. This will save you time in having to complete a number of manual tasks later.

For our Facebook GBLCG.com Innovation Group Members

If you are member of our Facebook GBLCG.com Innovation Group, please click this button to also establish a free-of-charge presence here at GBLCG.com's website automatically .

Login with Facebook

The Advantages:

  • For both current and new members, following this process will automate the completion of your GBLCG.com account. Fewer manual tasks remain to customise your account.
  • Whenever you publish posts at GBLCG.com a post is also send to your Facebook Wall to show your Facebook Friends what you've written, inviting them to respond.
  • Ability for GBLCG.com Members to significantly accelerate the expansion and growth of their Facebook Friends network.

short and brief blog this time but I've spent most of my night on putting this improvement in place to make your online life at GBLCG.com much more enjoyable.

I'll get back to you shortly here at GBLCG.com with some interesting updates on other events that are coming to you.

For now: Trust all is well -

Raymond

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/important-improvements-gblcg-com-47/ Facebook - The Three Most Annoying Friend Habits http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/facebook-three-most-annoying-friend-habits-46/ Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:56:41 GMT If something like a Social Style Guide for Facebook exists – I haven’t seen it. It would serve some of my Friends, some of whom will be deprived from my friendship in the shortest possible future imaginable. I would have thought that some of the most basic forms of social etiquette also applied to the way we interact online.

Obviously, it’s not that clear…

Click image for larger version.  Name: gblcg_crazy-woman.jpg  Views: 250  Size: 17.3 KB  ID: 134I will be the first one to admit that my social network conduct may not always been top-notch either. As you remember, as recent as last week I was tarred and feathered as a spammer by one of my Facebook ‘Friends’ who clearly objected to receiving a link-carrying message from me.

The Facebook Team berated me previously for sending too many Friend Requests in one go, also accusing me of either being an automated ‘thing’ that spat out requests at random, or someone who was just looking to bump-up his Friend List by sending invites to any soul who happen to pass by at the time.

So much for being organised and working from list to do exactly what Facebook didn’t want me to do: sending too many invites in a too short space of time.

In Facebook’s world being too efficient can make one look suspicious.

In absence of a definitive Mappa Mundi on Online Social Behaviour which, if it existed, would clearly spell-out how we are to interact in cyberspace, social networking is pretty much all about trial and error. Trying to get a handle on how things work technically is one thing; trying to not traumatise others along the way through our acts and behaviours is quite another.
I am pretty sure we’ve all been there at some point; its part and parcel of growing up in an online world.

Converse to that ever-significant group of Friends, Followers and Connection who are still driving their newly acquired Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts with ‘L’ plates on their foreheads a battalion of people seem to exist who have put common social sense on ice completely.

Three of last month’s examples of that:
  • One of my Facebook Friends – whom I trust not to tell bogus stories – told me that she was raked over the coals by another ‘Friend’ who accused her of ‘stealing’ her publishing style. Specifically, the gripe was about my friend’s use of a specific phrase that, according the plaintiff, ‘belonged to her’ and was not to be used any further by my friend. Setting aside the ludicracy of claiming that a normal and commonly used part of any language can be ‘owned’ by anyone, the message wasn’t phrased as a request but as a direct order. Baffling as well as enlightening. I wonder who owns the word ‘d*ckhead’.
  • Another Facebook Friend saw herself confronted by more than 76 ‘hi’s’, ‘hello’s’ and ‘heya’s’ in her inbox, all sent by one person over a three day period. Basic arithmetic helps us understand that this equated to approximately 25 messages sent per day, on average. To put this in context: my children usually give up asking for attention if they don’t get it after five or six attempts, and even that’s on the high side for they are quick learners. In this case, the sender is an adult, male, not bad-looking if you believe that his profile pic is, indeed, his, and enjoying the company of more than two-thousand other Facebook Friends. He either doesn’t understand that not responding to the first eight messages may mean ‘get lost’ or that he has a bit of growing-up to do.
  • A third Facebook Friends was woken up at 3:00AM by a dude who thought it to be ‘pleasant’ to ask for a Facebook friendship connection by phone. Worse, the line wasn’t perfect so when my Friend deliberately disconnected in horror the caller made two more attempts thinking that technical issues were at play. Knowing this Friend in real life as a calm, even-keeled and collected person I was surprised to hear her quote the terminology she used to get rid of him. It certainly included words my mother never taught me.
I am sure there are some other horror stories floating around, some perhaps far worse than these three. That things like these truly seem to happen may cause for some light-hearted amusement later on but it raises concerns about the way we can and should regulate our acts and behaviours in online worlds.

Can – or should – our social behaviours online differ from those we observe in ‘real’ life?

Do social network channels such as Facebook and Twitter give us Carte Blanche for the way we can behave, since no real ‘style guide’ for online behaviours seem to exist.

Considering that the online worlds in which we move are largely self-regulating and ever-changing, should we expect behaviours to improve, erode or to stay the same?

I have my own thoughts on this obviously – but I’d love to hear yours.

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/facebook-three-most-annoying-friend-habits-46/ Oh Rejoyce - The World Is One Spammer Richer.. http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/oh-rejoyce-world-one-spammer-richer-45/ Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:40:22 GMT What do you know? I am not sure whether I am dissapointed, angry, puzzled – or all the before. At least one Facebook ‘Friend’ reported me as….spammer and for the life of me I cannot figure out why...

Name tag saying 'Hello, my name is Spammer'.Let’s backtrack here for a moment because I think there’s some learning in here. As I wrote in my previous blog, which is aptly named The Integrity of List and Membership Building, I carefully contacted a number of my Facebook Friends through the network’s internal messaging system.

I admit to sending them unsolicited but what’s the point of a messaging system if you have to ask approval whenever you want to send a message…

In these messages I thanked the recipient for accepting my connection or for connecting with me. Second, the message included a link to a page in which I explain what I’d like to achieve here at GBLCG.com. Of course, this part of the message was wholly written to route the Friend to my site, which – I believe – isn’t a criminal practice. Clicking that link was certainly not a mandatory requirement for the recipient.

What’s more: the message explains clearly that the link routes to an OptIn application that asks the ‘Friend’ whether (s)he wishes to exchange Facebook contact details with us and that this isn’t a requirement either..

All up, I sent no more than ten of such messages. Ten! I deliberately choose not to send more to see what the response rate of this ‘mini-campaign’ would be. If successful – high converstion rate, no one complaining – I would continue sending another ten, obviously to different Facebook contacts.

All above board so far?

What may have caused someone to throw her/his toys out of the kot is that once the link is followed, irrespective whether the person accepts or denies the sharing of her/his contact information, the app puts a little post on the recipients Facebook Wall to signify that (s)he visited my page. Very objectionable indeed – or so it seems.

If that isn’t the issue, might I have upset someone by asking whether (s)he would be interested in joining GBLCG.com on the site’s Welcoming My New Facebook Friends page?

So, now Facebook tells me that I have been accused of spamming. What’s worse, I only found out when I wrote a similar message to a new Friend this morning when Facebook ‘popped’ me with a notification.

Not a single word from the person who thought my actions were objectionable.

Well, at the slim off-chance you are reading this blog I sincerely apologise for mis-using your Facebook inbox. You probably won’t read this for I don’t know who you are – because you didn’t care to contact me directly.

Personally, if I’d been in your shoes I would have done so, but alas.

In the meantime I promise to clean-up my act which may be a harder job than I expect for not knowing what physchological, mental or physiological damage I caused through my apparently ill-conceived and utter irresponsible actions.

My life has now been permanently tarnished, tagged and branded. Never before did I walk this earth as a spammer - but that has now changed forever. I haven't had the guts to tell my wife, family and friends yet and quietly wonder what this will do for my employment.

I fear men in blue uniforms and white coats will come visit me in the early hours of the morning to deport me to a building that's surrounded by barbed wire.

For now I'll be focusing on working for - and with - people I care about: my members and subscribers.

[Still smiling – but seriously not understanding what the fuss is about…]

Raymond

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/oh-rejoyce-world-one-spammer-richer-45/ The Integrity of List and Membership Building http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/integrity-list-membership-building-44/ Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:10:28 GMT Over the last couple of days I ramped-up our promotions for GBLCG.com membership at Facebook. Believing that a slow start is best in this case I selected some of my Facebook Friends and sent them a personal message through the network’s messaging system. There were three parts to that message.

Click image for larger version.  Name: gblcg_thank-you-blackboard.jpg  Views: 149  Size: 5.7 KB  ID: 127The first part thanked them – sincerely – for befriending me. Until recently I made some efforts to thank new Friends personally and immediately after connecting with me. Other priorities such as work and family pushed that practice by the way-side, which irked me somewhat believing that courtesy, as it should exist in true social life, should also apply to online social life.

There’s nothing wrong with thanking people for the things they do for you and befriending me is one of them.

Dual Purpose of the Welcome New Facebook Friends Page

The second part of the message invited them to follow a link to a GBLCG.com Welcome To My New Facebook Friends page. I wrote this page specifically to introduce myself to new Friends and to give them a few links to GBLCG.com pages they may want to read to gain better pictures on that.

My thinking is that if Social Network connections become meaningful if Friends actually know and understand what you're up to, what you stand for and what you're trying to achieve. As such, the page's dual purpose is not just to get people 'into' GBLCG.com - although that would be a huge added benefit - but also to 'get to know me'.

OptIn Warnings - Respecting Friend's Contact Details

The third part of the message informed them that by following the link to the Welcome page they would be routed past a so-called ‘OptIn’ page. Such pages are widely used by site administrators to quickly and automatically grab the contact details of visitors so emails and newsletters can be send to them. These details can only be received when the visitor approves the sharing of these details.

Here I did something that too few site administrators do, in my opinion. I warned the Friends I contacted that they would see the OptIn page and explained that it wasn’t mandatory to accept that sharing.

Mail List - Quality Over Quantity

Obviously, the more details we receive, the better it is. I will never deny that list building is a high-priority objective for me. It’s not surprising that many – if not most – site administrators don’t want to give potential OptIn page viewers upfront warning. They hope that visitors will accept impulsively, which allows them to accelerate the building of their mail list.

I just started to wonder whether it would be a good thing to start a relationship with candidate and new GBLCG.com members by following such practice. I pondered whether not being upfront and – in my view – honest about the use of the OptIn Page would erode the professional reputation we try to build and maintain for ourselves.

After sending ten invites last night and noticing that only three people added their contact details overnight I concluded that at least seven people consciously declined to have their details shared.

If they hadn’t been warned, and if they had approved the sharing of these details in spur-of-moments, what would be the quality of the list I would have built over the last eight hours?

I said this before right on top of this page: I believe that a slow start is a good one. Quality membership doesn’t come from cornering and sniping candidate members. Nothing good comes from greed. Quality requires time. It comes from being honest, by putting integrity upfront and by treating each connection as a gift rather than a mere commodity.

Sincerely Thanking The 'Early Adopters'

From this perspective I sincerely thank those people who joined us at GBLCG.com last night. Each of you gave me a huge gift – the privilege to welcome you. Because you deliberately decided to join I know you bring the quality I am looking for. Now it’s my responsibility not to disappoint you..

Although the list increased marginally as a consequence your registrations made my day.

Heaps of thanks!

[Let's start building something GREAT together..]

- ]]> Raymond http://gblcg.com/blogs/raymond/integrity-list-membership-building-44/