Give yourself some credit

Sometimes there is a need for our expertise on an ad hoc basis, when your individual needs do not necessitate a monthly retainer. In response to this, we have recently piloted and tested a credit system for our business communication services; the feedback has been tremendously positive.

Our new Business Communication Credit System works like this: you invest in a set number of credits that you can use at any time during the course of a year. The communication credit can be used for any business communication service, e.g. media liaison, profile writing, case study development or stakeholder engagement, to mention a few. Credits need to be paid for upfront in full and redeemed within a 12 month period.

As part of the package and a value-add to your investment, you will receive one free business communiqué for eight credits; two free communiqués for 12 and three for 24 credits.

Book: lessons in radical innovation, Wolfgang Grulke with Gus Silber

This book was OK. Perhaps I expected a bit more from a ‘radical innovation’ book.

It is a very easy reading book, and reads fairly quickly as the author only used the right hand pages, leaving most of the left hand pages blank in case you want to make notes.

With that said, there were elements in the book that I did like and found interesting –

I liked that there were South African examples used; it is always great to hear and learn about  South African successes, e.g. Chef Works and Mark Shuttleworth.

What was also interesting was: (page XIII) In the 1960’s, South Africa represented 6% of the world GDP. Today that figure is less than 0.5%, but year-on-year the South African economy has never shrunk. South Africa has simply been out-innovated by other nations who saw the signs and acted fast.  

This I see as a great opportunity for businesses in South Africa to up their innovation game.

This leads to the next section I found interesting (page 266):

There is clearly not enough time being spent by management on strategic thinking and creating the future, everyone is too involved with operations. This relates to one of my six business rules of working on the business instead of in the business. As a leader, you need to know where you are heading, you are at the helm of the ship and need to steer that way. You can’t do that if you are too busy with day to day activities of the business. There is a huge opportunity for innovation in South Africa and beyond for innovative thinking.

So, as much as this was just an ‘OK’ book, it did get me to remember about working on the business, be innovative and realising that there are many innovative opportunities to be tapped into to take businesses to the next level. 

Preparation prevents poor performance, especially when it comes to media interviews

When it comes to the media, we know how to maximise our clients’ awareness using traditional media channels  (print, broadcast and online), and are proud of our three-fold return on our clients’ media investment.

Over the years we have refined, tweaked and perfected our media training offering, providing our clients with the tools and know-how to make the most of any media situation.

In this one day practical media training session, we put the delegates through their paces, so that they know what to expect when it comes to being interviewed by different journalists, be it print, radio or television.

We have a strategic partnership with the dynamic Talia Sanhewe from Talia Productions that we work very closely with. With her global experience ranging from BBC, CNN and CNBC Africa, Talia knows what makes or breaks an interview situation and shares tips and tricks to make a lasting impression for the right reasons!

Why not invest in a media training session for you and your team?

info@reputationmatters.co.za | 011 317 3861 (Jhb) | 021 790 0208 (Cpt)

Book: The Icarus Deception, Seth Godin

Initially I battled to get 'into' the book. In my mission to read two books a month, I think that I had been spoilt with the more easy reading business books that didn't really challenge me; I pretty much agreed with the content of those books and took some learnings from them. This book was a lot more challenging; not that I didn't understand it, more in terms of me not really resonating with Seth Godin's writing style. This is the first book of his that I read, so I had to get used to his style. To be honest, it felt a bit preachy at the beginning and it felt very much like he was talking (shouting) down from a very high horse. My colleague really enjoyed the book, so I did decide to read it to the end.  

I don't necessarily agree with the author's thinking, e.g. he did not have anything particularly good to say about industrialism at the beginning of the book (although much later in the book he is less against it. i.e. "The industrial economy won't disappear, but the agenda will increasingly be set by those who make connection not widgets.")

In my opinion, I have no problem with industrialism, without it we would not be where we are today in terms of progress. Systems and processes are very necessary and important when it comes running a business, especially to ensure consistency and productivity. Take me on a trip to a manufacturing plant any day of the week, I absolutely love to see factories! It creates jobs, builds economies and the things it produces makes life a lot more convenient. 

I do agree with what Seth Godin says about needing to stand out from the rest and do things differently; we all need to be artists. I do like the idea that we all do need to be creative, think outside the box and be artists. We live and work in a connected economy, so we need to make a difference with all our interactions. He writes, "In the connection economy, the true measure of your work is whether you touched someone." 

He also writes, "It is not art if the world (or at least a tiny portion of it) isn't transformed in some way. And it's not art if it's not generous.

To be honest, I am not too sure whether I will be reading any of his books any time soon, but I will so that I can compare the two.

Do I recommend it? It's not my favourite book this year, but it gets more interesting towards the end. I'll give it a 6/10.