I have recently upgraded my mentoring services and thought you would be interested.

We live in an age, largely due to the internet, where information is abundant and mostly cheap or free, yet time consuming and often energy sapping to access.

Insight on the other hand is scarce, mostly expensive, yet still time consuming and energy sapping to discover.

Are you an Insightpreneur™?

Insightpreneurs™ are experts at turning information into insight into inspiration into ideas into innovation, fast. Differencemakers are people who innovate for the good of people and our planet.

Real innovation means the implementation of ideas that change what is normal whether that be attitudes, emotions, thoughts, feelings, or actions; indeed true innovation usually requires changing all of these!

Changing what is normal is what sets the most successful individuals and organisations apart from the rest; think Roger Federer, Barak Obama, Annika Sörenstam, Mother Theresa, Tiger Woods; Apple, Cirque Du Soleil, Grameen Bank, Starbucks, Virgin; whether you admire these people and organisations or not.

We are in a new era that is characterised by cooperation that leads to collaboration that makes a difference. Competition has largely gone from everywhere except sport, politics, fundamentalist religion, some sectors of education, and in businesses that are just for profit.

The really exciting thing is that anybody can be an insightpreneur and a differencemaker.

Insight and ideas are part of a new currency. Innovation linked to doing good for people and our planet is where the fortunes of the future will be made. Innovation is also how the ever widening gap between the financial rich and the financial poor gets closed. The most successful organisations were once those who made something. Today the most successful organisations are those who provide insight and ideas and they can be an organisation of just one person!

What business are you in?

If you make stuff someone will soon make it cheaper and faster. Sure people will always make stuff. Is this your future however? Or will you become and insightpreneur and a differencemaker?

“As a mentor to me and my family members who lead and manage our businesses Ian Berry made a significant difference to our personal and business success, and was a catalyst for our 570% growth over 4 years.”
Peter Taylor, Chairman, Townsend Building Services
+61 419 438 021

What’s in it for you?

My Insightpreneur™ 1:1 Mentoring Programs cut to the chase and save you time, energy, and money by helping you discover your unique fast track to personal and organisational innovation.

I offer no turnkey or cookie cutter programs, rather a genuinely customised program just for you.

Depending on your unique situation and needs, expectations, and desires, I offer 3, 6, 9, or 12 month programs that comprise:

1) scheduled sessions for one hour on skype or telephone that are recorded with your permission and sent to you for ongoing use

2) as well as 1/2 day or 1 day sessions in person

3) plus unlimited telephone and email access to me during the course of your program and for six months following

4) plus 24/7 access to my life-long learning vault that contains numerous resources for you to tap into whenever you wish to.

Full details including try before you buy option are here.
or contact me on +61 8 7122 4663

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Writer and International Business Speaker on how doing good is great for business

Labels: Ian, Innovation, making a difference, mentoring

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Writer and International Business Speaker on how doing good is great for business

Labels: CSR, Ian, Innovation, leadership, walk your talk

All the research lately has shown that trust has become front-of-mind for both employees and clients. It's only natural when you think about it. The media for months has been full of examples of betrayed trust - causing corporate governance to become one of the criteria that employees, clients and investors examine to see if they want to stay, buy or invest.
I know I have been harping on about this for a while (refer my blog on 30th April), but it's not getting any better - because I think we're still taking it for granted.
What efforts have you taken lately to build trust with your staff? How transparent are your decisions? How well do you comminucate - in fact, over-communicate - your messages? I believe if you want people to get your message in these times you need to tell it three times in three different ways.
How well have you consolidated trust with your long-term clients? It's all well and good to offer incentives to attract new clients; butb what message does this send to your long-term supporters? The latest Harvard Business Review reported that one trend that will continue to grow through the recession and into the recovery and beyond is the mercurial nature of customers. They are more prepared than ever to switch suppliers. And it's not surprising when you think about the messages we send them.
Recently, I needed to renew my phone contract. It was bizarre that there were better offers for new customers (particularly those clients of other suppliers) than for me - who had supported them for years. By taking me for granted they took my loyalty for granted and, I believe, betrayed my trust.
So, how do you generate trust in these challenging times? Demonstrate it! I used to say "When he or she earns my trust, I will give it." Now I realise I have to be pro-active, so I look for ways to give my trust first. Does this make me more vulnerable? I guess so, but the alternative is to limit my capacity to build my client base; because, all other factors being equal - most of us will choose to support the person we trust more.
Go to Stephen M R Coveys The Speed of Trust (www.speedoftrust.com), look at his 13 trust behaviours and identify one that you can demonstrate more effectively today.

Labels: customer loyalty, staff renention, stakeholder support, trust

I was in Melbourne recently and caught up with a friend of mine we'll call Tina. When I saw Tina her arm was in a sling and she was wincing in pain. You see Tina had been out early 10 days ago on a typical cold Melbourne morning walking her dog across a park in St Kilda. She tripped on a tree root, slammed into a fence and broke her arm in four places above her elbow.

She had trouble getting up and persuading the dog that it really was time to go home. Fighting incredible pain she limped home, woke her husband and he drove he to the hospital, where she was eventually diagnosed. She spent two days in hospital and learned that the arm could not be put in a cast, it would just be held in a sling, she would have to manage walking, sitting, sleeping without any splint and every small unusual or even usual movement would involve excruciating pain in her arm. She was given pain killers and sent home.

The story goes on and on, you get the idea. I rang Tina today to see how she was getting on, it's now been four weeks since the injury and she is still suffering. Here's where it gets interesting,Tina runs a training brokerage business and has hardly missed a beat, well she has been hampered severely by her injury and has been forced to slow down a little, though she still goes to the office every day. Her husband drives her and she openly admitted she has been unbeaable to live with, though she perseveres. She persists because she is fiercely independent and determined to keep going, she is determined to succeed and to get better and to keep running her business despite her physical setback.

There are many stories of persistence and perserverence in books and magazines around the world, some with far more trying circumstances than this, though this woman is still an inspiration. She demonstrated how easy it can be to lay down and admit defeat, sit back and let someone else do it for us, or perhaps to take a few weeks off because "I" deserve it. Success comes to those who persevere, those who face their challenges and meet them head on. They recognise that sometimes they can be hard to live with and persevere anyway.

Being a leader in an organisation can sometimes be just as challenging as breaking an arm and suffering pain for 20 out of 24 hours, it can be damn inconvenient,it can get in the way of our personal enjoyment of life and above all it can throw up unexpected challenges we absolutely have to deal with.

Do you have the ability to persist?

Lindsay Adams

Labels: leadership, perseverance, Persistence