Women? They should stop asking what they're worth.

Clockwise: Chiara Condi (left), Riccarda Zezza, Manuela Andaloro

Riccarda Zezza, CEO of Life Based Value and Manuela Andaloro, business strategist and international blogger, interview Chiara Condi, Italian-American based in Paris, thirty year-old founder of Led By HER , a non-profit which empowers women who have suffered from violence through entrepreneurship. The organization gives different forms of entrepreneurship a voice, and raises a new form of awareness about gender based violence.

(Interview also published in Italian on StartupItalia!)

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Sociologists tell us even the most introverted of people will influence over ten thousand others in an average lifetime. Can you imagine how many people we have knowingly and unknowingly influenced in our lives so far? How can we best leverage on this power? We hear daily about leadership, and yet we are left wondering who are the real leaders?

Riccarda and Manuela’s idea is to create a series of interviews aimed at portraying impact makers and leaders who are driving change and innovation worldwide, and in doing so, are raising awareness on a new successful type of genuine leadership. 

New role models who base their success on strategic 'soft' skills, such as empathy, creativity, communication, those incredible few who spark energy and strength as they positively impact others and society.

We start with Paris-based Chiara Condi, Italian-American, thirty year-old founder of Led By HER , a non-profit which empowers women who have suffered from violence through entrepreneurship.

Q. Much has been written about you over the years. Today I would like to reveal a few angles of your professional life and the impact you have had. Shall we start with who is Chiara today?

A. I would say that I am at a crossroads of my life right now because I have spent the last ten years of my life working on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues and the last five years building up a nonprofit organization Led By HER, which carries out advocacy and programs for women’s entrepreneurship and women’s rights. This work that we have carried out on the ground over the years was very formative, it has given me new ideas and the willingness to do more. At this time it pushes me to advocate to try to change things on a new level through the visibility that I have gained.  It has provided me with new ideas and visions of what we can do that can make a big difference for women and now more and more I feel that it is my job to make those ideas heard. That is why I try to participate as much as I can in conferences, media and international dialogues, because I think that it is more important than ever to raise awareness around these issues.

Q. When I say work-life (balance), what do you envision?

A. I think that there is no perfect formula about how to divide time in your life.  The only thing that that has worked for me has been setting priorities and making each decision based on those priorities.  That way I never have to feel bad about the choices I made or about saying no to something. And I believe that instead of always quantifying the time we spend on things in our life maybe we should be qualifying it instead.  I do this in my own life by being fully present with whatever I am doing at the moment, whether that is work or my personal life. Even if it’s something small that I am allowing myself I enjoy it fully.  When I am doing whatever I am doing at a given moment in time nothing else matters. When I try to apply this all-encompassing rule to my life I see that I feel much more fulfilled.

“Make sure that the first person you serve is always yourself because that is the only way you will truly help others.”

— Chiara Condi

Q. Do you see any connection between parenting and management?

A. Yes I believe that good parenting like good management is all about leadership development. Your role as a parent is to develop your child into an independent free thinking adult who will do his best in life. Much in the same way in companies you foster people’s potential and talents so that they can be the best version of themselves.  That is when they will also give you your best. I also think that fulfilled individuals can become a company’s best asset.

Q. Who were or are your female and male role models, professionally?

A. I do not think I have formal role models, but I am very inspired by the women we helped through Led By HER because they taught me that whatever happens in life you can still show up and change your life. And if they believe that every day can be the start to a new life, then all of us should.  Whenever I think of them any excuse that I build up in my life not to show up falls to the ground.

 Q. Where do the synergies between your professional and personal goals lead you daily?

A. Embodying your own goals is an important aspect of success. I care much more than I ever did about that and how I treat myself and run my own life. Only once you achieve that equilibrium in your own life can you unleash the potential to carry out great things. And it is not about major things, but rather about how you show up in your life daily.

Q. How can women, and new leaders, pursue a different type of leadership, and avoid some of the pitfalls that bad managers – we’ve all had at least one! – make?

 A. One of the greatest qualities of the new leader is empathy. Understanding the people you have in front of you, their potential and where they want to be will enable you to make the best arise out of the people you work with. Great leaders see potential and work with it.

Q. What is the biggest professional mistake women are still making – what should we stop doing?

A. Not asking for their worth. I interviewed many women around the world and I realized that if there was a common denominator in their struggle it was credibility.  The truth is that while a man’s work is taken at face value, a woman’s work is not. Women expressed that they have to prove themselves and work twice as much as men to prove that they deserve something.  But we cannot stop there and surrender ourselves. Even if the world is this way and these are our circumstances why can we not work on being so aware of ourselves and know our own worth to claim what we deserve? Every time you are asking for that promotion or negotiating that raise do it, go for it, for yourself and for all women because it is time we teach the world what we are worth and not settle for anything less.

Q. Why does management have such a bad reputation in some corporations?

 A. If we are afraid of management it could be because we are associating it with an old style of doing things. I think that now more and more corporations are realizing that people are their first and most precious resource and that their biggest asset should be cultivating them.  I think the best survival skill in any environment is always to be yourself.  Whatever decision you make don’t make it come from your environment but from you, that is is the only way you will be OK with whatever happens around you.

Q. Will the millennial generation be a very different kind of leader?

 A. Yes I think we are moving towards a leadership of questions rather than a leadership of solutions. A good leader is someone who asks all the right questions, not someone who already knows the answers. Innovation has turned the world on its head because it has taught us that hierarchy does not exist. Good ideas can come from anywhere and the best leaders are those who will be able to seize things rather than impose them.

Q. There is a large debate going on around the future of work, talent retention, women and millennials values. What do you think the future holds for old school organizations? 

A. I had the chance of giving a conference about this lately in Cape Town for the aviation industry, which is an industry that faces great challenges in renewing itself for the future. There is potential for all industries as long as people’s voices are heard and they are included in processes. When people lose sense in work is when they feel that their work is disconnected from what is happening around them.  There is no such thing as an organization and its employees, they are just one---the organization is its employees and therefore they have to feel with every ounce of their bones that they are part of it.  That is what we all want, to be part of something greater than ourselves, and organizations that miss out on providing that sense of purpose will miss out of the future.

Chiara Condi at the OECD Summit Paris 2018

 Q. What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

 A. That nothing is permanent, that I am replaceable and not to be attached to any single outcome in life.  There is no single solution, but when I started I had very fixed measures of success.  When you do that it makes it impossible to just be happy with whatever is happening right now and to trust that even if something is different from what you expected it can still be great.  I also realize that sometimes you start someplace and then life takes you somewhere else, and I used to fight against that, but now I have learned to listen to it and to embrace it.

Q. How do you recharge your energy?

A. I never believed when I was younger that I mattered more than what I do, but now I do because I understand that is the only way to make a difference. You can only give fully from that place of abundance, so I try to create that for myself daily. It takes the form of daily yoga, pilates and meditation with visualization and journal writing. And then taking longer moments of distance from my work  through travels that nourish my soul. I love seeing what I have never seen before and it replenishes me entirely.

Q. What drives you, at the end of the day?

A. Feeling that I left the world a little better than it was yesterday. If I can say that to myself then I can sleep well at night.

 Q. What does impact mean for you? How would you describe the impact you have had on people and on the world?

A. I used to think that impact was a big word and impact meant millions of people, that everything had to be big to matter. Actually Led By HER taught me the opposite. Impact is much more about doing small things in a big way.  Impact is about the intention and magnitude with which you do every little thing-- and that is what will move mountains.  I learned that you change a world one person at a time and each of those small revolutions will foster others.

 Q. A few final words of wisdom and tips for our career-oriented impact-makers, professionals and entrepreneurs alike, women and men?

 A. Make sure that the first person you serve is always yourself because that is the only way you will truly help others.

This interview is a collaboration between Manuela Andaloro and Riccarda Zezza.

Financial crises: when communication and the economy let you down

It was the summer of 2007 and I was reading a copy of the Financial Times. My interest was combined with apprehension and expectancy.

Interest in the reactions of the world’s financial leaders; apprehension about what was to be the start of one of the biggest ever economic and financial crises; expectancy with regard to the major players in the western world: how would they announce what was going on? Which signals, which strategies (as much in relation to business as communications) would be implemented by governments, the financial world and the press to counter the imminent impact and consequent media, economic and financial carnage?

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was reading the first chapters of a disaster that had been on the cards for some time.

Ben Bernanke, the then chairman of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, confirmed that the subprime mortgage crisis would be contained. Bush was giving out confused signals and the world was witnessing a gargantuan but clumsy effort to save the American financial system from collapse.

Europe looked on with growing apprehension. Not long after, its own economy would find itself in the middle of one of the worst recessions since 1930, with GDP forecasts of minus 4% in two years, the sharpest contraction in the history of the European Union.

“In the UK, the Northern Rock bank was forced to apply to the Bank of England for an emergency loan and ended up being nationalised to protect its solvency (and the deposits of its customers). Those panicking customers queuing up outside branches of the bank hoping to withdraw their savings became one of the lasting images associated with the financial crisis in Europe.

September 15, 2008, the day the 150-year-old Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. (CNBC)

In America, in the summer of 2008, the investment bank Lehman Brothers went into receivership (Chapter 11) after 150 years of business and following the credit crunch caused by the largest mortgage bubble in the history of the world economy. The mortgage institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the insurance company AIG, were saved by the government the week before, with tens of billions of public dollars.

Collapsing share prices, bankruptcies, mergers and restructurings caused the loss of millions of jobs, and a severe loss of confidence in the system, triggering a fundamental change in the banking sector. They also highlighted serious errors, shortcomings and gaps in the Western world’s information and communication system, which had failed.” (source: Laura Prina Cerai, Senior Investment Advisor, Altrafin AG).

The pre-Brexit beating European financial heart.

Throughout all this, during the summer leading up to the credit crunch, I accepted a role in the financial sector in London, taking the opportunity to learn all about the developing dynamics from the then beating European financial heart. This experience lasted over four years and was extremely instructive, strong and positive from many points of view.

Much can be said about those years in relation to governments, banks, the financial sector, the general public and the world of journalism.

A lot can also be said about the failure of the communication models of the time and the political and business dynamics still in place today.

Psychology and thought-leadership.

(Credits: frames from the film “The big short”)

Strategic communication is vital for industry and governments. It has to aim to convey not only their goals, intentions and strategies to stakeholders and society, but also to educate the general public. Acting as unbiased thought-leaders to the extent possible on certain topics and movements and working to reduce false information, fake news, speculation: governments and industry have a moral duty to provide context and clarity. By working together and keeping communication channels open with the media and with influencers, creating information channels of mutual trust.

The financial crisis didn’t just have disastrous economic consequences, it also negatively impacted the public's faith in the financial world, tarnishing its reputation, and in the media.

(Credits: frames from the film “The big short”)

Many critics at the time wondered whether financial journalists had done enough to dig down to the roots of the impending crisis beforehand, and at the same time, whether they had perhaps contributed to increasing public mistrust and anger. What went wrong?

Recently, in an interview given on the 10th anniversary of the peak of the crisis, Bill Emmott, editor of The Economist from 1993 to 2006, confirmed in a subsequent interview with the panel "Follow the money: how the crash of 2008 changed journalism worldwide”:

“The press had given alarm signals, but those signals were drowned by the media, which had increasingly turned into cheerleaders of the boom. In other words, they had strongly believed, as former IMF chief economist Ken Rogoff commented, "This time it will be different", deluding himself. And, unfortunately, the press is always part of this process. So I think the press was partly but not solely responsible for the crisis. It was part of the atmosphere of the times.” (ref. Journalism Festival)

The ability that was most tragically and dramatically lacking during the 2008 crisis was the ability to communicate - specifically, communicate the nature of the problem, what was at stake in terms of risks, and so why, in America alone, it was necessary to spend $700 billion of taxpayers' money to solve the problem.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Roosevelt, among few others, had been a genius of public psychology. He knew when and how to use the presidential media. His first 100 days of government were dotted with the release of timely updates to his exultant public, explanations of what he was doing and why, in clear, simple and collaborative terms. Do today's historians still debate the importance of Roosevelt, a saint, a skilled communicator or a manipulator? A combination of all this? The impact of the man that history remembers as a " Great Communicator " still has effects on America today.

And today?

The lack of strategic communication experts, and the often little understood need to create clear, open and trustworthy communication channels between the public, stakeholders, experts and the media, seems to be increasingly evident as one of the causes of the current crises in governments and industry.

From lack of trust to fake news to populism.

How else can we explain why, after the pro Brexit vote, the two most popular questions on Google UK were "What is Brexit" and "What is the EU"? How can we explain the failure of a "European Union" that passes through culture, passports, and the joining of forces? How can we explain informative speculation, the success of certain populist campaigns and fake news? The damage to the reputation of certain companies and the image of entire sectors?

How can current information and communication models be adapted to meet the growing needs of a public - citizens, professionals, politicians and academia - that has access to ever increasing amounts of information and of stimuli but little light, clarity and perspective on many issues?

Genuine EQ and AQ for increased agile awareness.

In the light of digital transformation, the communication models that will be more easily adaptable and implemented on a large scale will be based on social skills and emotional intelligence. We will be increasingly open to what experts call "AQ", adaptability quotient, which will allow us to understand scenarios and dynamics, and will make the most successful leaders masters of communication and relations, allowing them to better understand the public, engaging its involvement and, in some cases, even complicity.

In this context, stability will increasingly lose importance, being replaced by leverage on agility. Today's business world requires communication models that are increasingly shifting from a top-down approach to one which fluctuates between top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top. Motivated, talented, highly communicative, high EQ and AQ individuals in key positions in companies are now essential to the new face of business.

Modern businesses are increasingly globalised and they drive change through different platforms. This is a key aspect from various points of view, not least that of reputation management, a factor largely neglected by the major financial and governmental players during the last financial crisis.

It will no longer be possible to implement global and efficient communication systems using conventional communication methods, and they will require careful planning.

Reputation management is an essential part of business. Everything a company says, does, or neglects to do contributes to its reputation and brand equity. We must always remember that an essential component is listening and that communication is not a one-way process, but a multi-directional one, remembering that listening to all stakeholders, including the media, is key to all-round strategic communication, from branding to reputational impact.

After all, as the famous executive consultant and author Peter Drucker says, the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.

Manuela Andaloro

(info@smartbizhub.com)

 (As published in Focus ON’s cover story, article by Manuela Andaloro for Focus ON, 29th October 2018, download article in Italian here)

168 hours, make them count. Mrs Moneypenny for #FearlessFridays

“Energy is the hallmark of success, and your energy comes from only one source, you.”

— Prof. Heather McGregor

London, April 30th, light rain and wind do not seem to bother the busy and energetic Mayfair vibe as I walk past the familiar Ritz hotel, heading to my 2pm meeting on the historical St. James street.

As I push open the heavy doors of her office building I am greeted by a polite and matter-of-factly “Hello. You must be here for Heather”. I get in the elevator and realize that no matter how many wonderful and famous people I have come across in my life, I still have an incredible admiration for women and men that have left a mark, on society and on my own life.

As a curious reader of her column in the Financial Times for many years, as a reader of her highly inspiring books and later as I prepared material for my work at the World Economic Forum this year, I could never stop admiring, being inspired and amused by her wit and wisdom.

Director of headhunters Taylor Bennett, author of the Financial Times' Mrs Moneypenny column (in which she refers to her children as cost centres one, two and three, this had me empathizing long before I had children myself!), executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, champion of diversity in the workplace, CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to business, director of Non-Standard Finance PLC and IGT plc, and member of the Honours Committee for the Economy. Does this sum up Prof. Heather McGregor?

Her book ‘Mrs Moneypenny’s Careers Advice for Ambitious Women’ has helped women all over the world to conquer their career challenges with her wit and straight talking, and has been praised by Arianna Huffington as a wisdom-filled guide that “does the invaluable service of redefining success and happiness for everyone.”
She is described as an international business leader with many strings to her bow, an academic, author, TV presenter, philanthropist and financial journalist. Somehow she also has found time to qualify as a private pilot and do two seasons of stand-up comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe.

I found out years ago that the average life span is 4,000 weeks. Normally this statement announced to adults results in a collective gulp. The day I found out that our weeks are zipping by in a blur I decided I was going to shift gears and own the way I lived my life (that’s where the name of my 4 year old blog comes from, in case you are wondering) and leave behind highly uninspiring energy drainers, arrogance and people who love to hear themselves complaining. I have been on a mission since then to achieve the milestones and goals I had for long dreamt about, to surround myself with positive doers and givers. How did she do it I wonder? 

“What you know represents the foundations of your career. But you won`t be able to build much above the first floor if you don’t have the right materials, and the most important material of all is connections – a network. The truth is, if you want to achieve your goals in life, you need to be both good at what you do and good at building relationships with people who matter.” (Extract from Careers Advice). Needless to say that part of the inspiration that led to one of my businesses, SmartPlan, comes from her advice.

And may I add, you will need your best emotional intelligence, strong soft skills and charisma to be able to connect and stay in regular contact with your network. “Developing a style that works for you and shows people the real “you” – personal chemistry counts for a lot”. “A good place to start is offering help to others when you don`t need anything yourself. What are the top two or three things that you want people to remember you for?” (Extract from Careers Advice)

Less than a year ago I was sitting in our garden on a weekend watching my kids playing while (re)reading two of her most famous books. Thinking of timelines, business plans and figures and getting inspired by who I consider one of the most successful leaders on self-brand and witty thought leadership.

Fast forward of 10 months, I have left my corporate role after 17 years, set up two running businesses, have opened many doors, and the one I am pushing open right now is the door of Heather`s London office.

As I enter our meeting room, Heather is finishing a business call, I sip my tea and write down a few early thoughts next to my meeting agenda, a few seconds later she wraps up her call and greets me with a welcoming smile and much interest. One great “secret” of the best leaders I know? Not only showing, but genuinely having interest in who sits in front of you.

We speak for 45 minutes, about her current projects and mission, of my businesses and past career, of combining motherhood with busy schedules, my years in London, her years writing for the FT, time management, learning to say no and third dimensions. We agree to this interview, and to a few more next steps, we speak some more about the importance of social capital, her current platform with BBC, and I even get her fresh perspective on social media channels.

Q. Heather, much has been written about you over the years and in many interviews. Today I would like to reveal a few angles of your professional life and the impact you have had. Shall we start with who is Heather McGregor today?

A. I am a full-time academic and head of the Business School at Heriot-Watt University.

Q. What is the best and worst decision you've ever made?

A. Best – to marry my husband as he is the most supportive husband you could ever find.

Worst – probably selling my house in London just before property prices really took off.

Q. What do you think is the most significant barrier to female leadership?

A. I think there are 10 major barriers that stand in the way of a women’s career progression and I list all 10 in my book Careers Advice for Ambitious Women but to give you an example think about the dual language people use when talking about male and female leaders, when did you ever hear the word ‘strident’ used about a man?

Q. What woman inspires you and why?

A, I meet new women who inspire me every day, to give you an example I recently interviewed Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, who I found very inspiring and whose new book, the Virgin Bank is a must read . I feel equally inspired by the woman who leads my business in Asia, Sarah Crawshaws, who qualified as a helicopter pilot at the age of 21.

Q. You once said “do not let a year go by without a clear goal to pursue”. Only one?

A. I have one goal for personal development reasons, but I’m sure there’s lots of other goals you can set to do with work and family. But I think every woman should have one personal development goal they should set for themselves which if they achieve will add massively to their self-confidence.

Q. What’s a typical day like for you?

A. I travel a lot so no two days are the same. But if I’m in Edinburgh, my day normally starts with my husband bringing me a cup of tea at 6 o’clock in the morning, I drink this while looking out at the Marina and reading the morning papers. I then normally cycle along the Union Canal to my work at Heriot-Watt University where I try to see as many people as I possibly can in the hours given and then I cycle home. We are lucky to have lovely light in Scotland till late which allows me to cycle rather than take the car. Once home I have dinner with my husband and go to bed.

Q. If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

A. I would qualify as a chartered accountant; this is the one thing I regret in life.

Q. What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

A. The power and brand of Adam Smith who lived from 1778 to when he died in 1790 in Panmure House, a building purchased and rejuvenated by Edinburgh Business School which is opening in the Autumn of this year.   

Q. Any success habits you would like to share?

Credits: Time magazine

A. There are 168 hours in week make them count. This includes sleeping!

Q. How do you manage your energy?

A. I’ve learnt to say no. People ask me to do things all day long, and its not always pleasant but saying no is a necessary life skill.

Q. What drives you?

A. Wanting to make a difference.

Q. How would you describe the impact you have had on people and on the world?

A. I hope my legacy is the foundation  (Taylor Bennet Foundation) I established in 2008 to develop black and minority ethnic graduates  so they have a better opportunities in the job market.

Q. There is a large debate going on around the future of work, talent retention, women and millennials values. What do you think the future holds?

A. We are going to live longer and we are all going to have multiple employers. I think everyone should plan for this and visit the www.100yearlife.com 

Q. A few final words of wisdom for our career-oriented, professionals and entrepreneurs alike, women and men?

A. There is no such sentence as I can’t do it; the correct sentence is, I can’t do it alone.

Thank you Heather!

M.

(info@smartbizhub.com) 

One thing to bet on? Yourself. #FearlessFridays

Making an impact, raising awareness on topics that are driving our society forward, connecting great minds and smart ideas, investing in human capital and core skills.  I worked on my passions and turned them into a business. 

Over the past 18 years, I’ve had quite the career journey: 12 different business cards and titles, 5 companies, 3 countries. My most recent addition is the business card I cherish the most: my 6th company, my own.

In each of those positions, I was amazed by the many great people who surrounded me and the power that came from our personal and professional relationships with each other. The most simple yet powerful leadership lesson I learned over my career was that success in life comes as much from what you know and from how you nourish your relationships.

Yet, many career-oriented colleagues continued to focus solely on the one most advertised pathway: the steep career ladder. No matter what the cost was, and what values it clashed with. Somehow considerably less time, energy, thought, and effort went into harnessing their networks and nourishing relationships with key stakeholders around them and outside of their immediate professional world, and even less went into improving vital skills such as self-awareness, emotional intelligence, charisma, self-brand, strengths awareness, to name a few. A pattern began to form for some of those colleagues: at some point, inevitably, their careers stalled, or stopped. Or they simply grew tired, less passionate, they found less purpose in what they had been doing. And the landscape outside did not look comforting. How many had invested in well-rounded networks and had efficiently mapped their strengths, skills and passions, had worked on their core "soft skills", or were clear on what drove them beyond their job, benchmarking them with reality and feasibility? Very few. 

I knew other colleagues who understood the importance of networks but didn’t know how to approach building them strategically. Or did not think they had the ‘social skills’ to maintain strong relationships, or sometimes they were lacking the time and the structure. So many fell back on emails and virtual relationships via social media, exchanges that were never of the same quality as relationships built in-person and over the years. A network built by chance, convenience, social media platforms, and the goodwill of friends, colleagues and business partners is also a bit haphazard.

What if?

What if there was a network where successful professionals could meet in-person and strategically build and strengthen their relationships? What if someone helped them to prioritize? What if a network offered high-impact training and in-person content normally meant for C-Suite executives, but it was made available for those who believe in making an impact and in the power of a strategic community and cross-industry exchanges?

#SmartPlan was born from the belief that our professional lives are based on three key pillars: education, experience and network. While we dedicate an incredible amount of time to the first two pillars, we often leave the strength of our networks to chance, luck, spare moments and digital platforms. Yet, research suggests that almost 90% of roles and business partnerships leverage personal relationships. And relationships need genuine interest and skills to be nourished and grow.

This is where #SmartPlan comes in. 

Our community brings together an elite group of diverse, successful professionals to increase the value we bring to each other and increase the impact we have on the world.

#SmartPlan’s mission is to accelerate the success of impact-makers by cultivating an inspiring and valuable in-person network while providing high-impact training on the latest sought-after skills, such as charisma, self awareness, self-brand, emotional intelligence in business, and much more.

The future of business and of work does no longer necessarily involve a straight-line 20 years career within the same corporation or even industry. 

“One of the paradoxes of the future will be that to succeed one will need to stand out from the crowd while at the same time being part of the crowd or, at least, the wise crowd. So, you will need to both stand out with your mastery and skills and simultaneously become part of a collection of other masters who together create value.

That’s because, in a future increasingly defined by innovation, the capacity to combine and connect know-how, competencies and networks will be key. It’s in this synthesis or combination that real innovative possibilities lie. So, whom you choose to connect with, and to whom they are connected, will be one of the defining aspects of future working life.

High-value networks will consist of a combination of strong relationships with a few knowledgeable people and a larger number of less-connected relationships with a more extensive network. Your high-value networks will connect you with people who are similarly specialised as well as those with very different competencies and outlooks. It is in the diversity of these broader networks, that the possibility of innovation lays.

I believe there is an opportunity over the coming decades to shape work and life in a manner that enables people to reconnect with what makes them happy and creates a high quality of experience. The breakdown of automated work, the rise of home-based working and the increase in the possibility of choice provide the foundation for a shift in focus, away from quantity consumed as the only measure of success.” (Source: The Future of Work, Lynda Gratton, organizational theorist, Professor of Management Practice,  London Business School).

Are you ready for the shifting balance of power? Visit #SmartPlan. 

M. 

(info@smart-plan.org)

Relationships matter. #FearlessFridays

What is the most important asset in your business? Your product or service? Your infrastructure? Capital? Not really.

Your most important asset is the relationships you build along the way. Whether with customers, suppliers or others in your supply chain, these are more important than any other element. I have been establishing two businesses on the same core asset: healthy relationships with like-minded, smart, competent people.

A few years ago I was assigned a project on one of the fastest growing core business segments of my then employer, a large Swiss financial services institution. I was asked to go and build relationships with a large portion of the company that covered interesting markets, and to position my team's products. To build bridges and create distribution platforms where none existed before. I had just joined the company and I had two challenges. I knew little of that particular niche financial product just yet, but this being 2011 I knew a lot about the financial crisis that had just swept across our world, I knew of its roots, as I had been fighting against them from my London based firm for over 4 years, and was only too familiar with high financial exposure, creative risk assessments and margin calls (yes, the film came later). On the downside, I knew nobody in that area of the company, had just arrived from London and was new to Switzerland. 

However what we offered was high quality and I was good at relationships. Within 10 months I had mastered the ins and outs of the products and implemented successful product distribution strategies for all global teams, creating new links and networks. This resulted in strong relationships with internal stakeholders, repeated sales of complex structures, and strong mutual trust. My then boss defined me as "outstanding at relationships", at what I did overall and he even went on to organize sessions where I was asked to explain my colleagues and peers how I had built such good bridges and nurtured such beneficial relationships. That was interesting to see. The answer was easy, I did not need powerpoint slides. I care and I listen. I seek real competence. I give before thinking of what's in it for me.

There is no secret, only the habit of committing to give value, to someone else, without asking for something in return. Gary Vaynerchuk calls this 51–49. Jesus called it the Golden Rule. (Read on here)

Most of my corporate life stakeholders are now a vital part of my businesses.

Fast forward of 7 years, I have made successful investments, invested in myself, left the corporate world after 17 years of fun and started successful businesses that were profitable in a matter of weeks. That is however not to say the road has been bump-free, that I have not made mistakes, that life is a fairy-tale or that I ever work less than an average of 12-14 hours a day.

If you want to put it into business terms, what I nourish is my - and my firm`s - social capital. Studies have shown that close to 90% of business decisions increasingly leverage personal relationships. Business relationships can be taken to a deeper level, to a level where trust and understanding, and even empathy come into play. I have always been a "people`s person", a listener and have consistently connected people and joined dots over the years. Whether I should take any real credit for this habit, or whether it is a result of family background, a strong interest in real genuine people that makes me stay clear from loud-mouthed incompetence, or an innate sense of business, is not something I know with certainty.

Trust plays a massive role in building business relationships. The late, famous salesman and public speaker, Zig Ziglar’s quote says it all.

“If they like you, they will listen to you. If they trust you, they will do business with you.”

Trust is built over time and is built on empathy. Understanding where your clients are coming from and understanding their challenges in dealing with a topic, can work wonders for building that relationship.

The best investment you can make in your business and your future is to spend time and build relationships that go deep. Take time to get to know people. People are the lowest common denominator in our businesses. People make, buy, deliver, sell and consume our products and services. Yet, in our current digital age, we will sacrifice relationships by depending solely on email or text to communicate.

Understand Needs

'It is in conversation that you discover people’s wants, needs, fears, suspicions, problems and perspective. Conversation takes a commitment of time and it is not a one-time event.

Make it a priority to develop deeper relationships with people. It will pay huge dividends in the quality of the relationships and the opportunities to help and serve one another. Focus on the other person and learning about them. Find ways to help them and they will find ways to help you.

Building strong relationships requires a commitment of time and effort. In my world, nothing happens unless it is on the calendar. Commit it to the calendar and then intentionally focus on relationship building.’ (Source: Forbes)

In the past few months I have met a good amount of very interesting and inspiring entrepreneurs, each with great stories, most working hard to bring and drive impact into our world, into people`s lives and businesses. 

It was during an exchange with lovely Katherina G. of Impact Hub, that Flurin`s story came up, and once concepts such as "measuring relationships" were mentioned, I knew I had to go and find out more. 

I met Flurin Capaul over tea a few weeks ago, he is the CEO and Founder of Boonea, and helps firms to leverage their relationships, improving significantly their B2B outreach. 

Q. Flurin, can you tell us a bit about you and your work?

A. Hi Manuela, of course. I am a 39 year old Swiss software engineer turned entrepreneur. I discovered an interest and love for programming in my late teens and even kicked off my own open source projects early on. After the army I started my career in the IT department of a large Swiss bank and attended night school while working full-time. Over the years I worked in New York, Singapore and Switzerland and noticed how important relationships are professionally as the basis for collaboration.

Q. How did you go from witnessing the importance of solid relationships to making a business out of it?

A. I believed that relationships could be measured, scientifically. I pitched a small test project internally to my then employer, developing an algorithm, running tests and gathering results. I did not have a specific focus at the beginning, I wanted to have solid research to build business cases on. Soon I knew that if we wanted to develop our project to the next level, I had to leave the company and iterate the idea outside of a corporate environment. I have always deeply enjoyed to organize, collaborate and turn ideas efficiently into reality and now I am able to put all this to full use. 

Q. So what does Boonea do?

A. Boonea builds AI for B2B sales. Relationships are key in sales and our technology understands relationships automatically. With our network we can boost sales funnels and drive business development goals ahead faster. From detecting warm leads to automated relationship building advice to alerting weak key account coverage. 

Q. Who are your clients?

A. Our clients are companies with at least 500 employees and a B2B business division. We measure relationships based on the communication data of the firm. Communicating is investing into relationships. Boonea has an approach to model the firm`s complete network. 

Q. What inspires you?

A. My biggest inspiration is Roger Schawinski, a Swiss media pioneer. He has an incredible can-do attitude, inspires confidence and has a strong bubbly personality. He likes to quote Jimmy Cliff “You can get it if you really want, but you must try and try”. This sums up running start up scenarios pretty accurately. 

Q. How do you get things done?

A. (Smiles) What helps me to get things done is a burn rate that depletes our liquidity... But more seriously - at the core lies the knowledge that we are on the absolute right track. Research as well as businesses confirm our belief: relationships are key in business development. Our approach of using artificial intelligence to help sales and business development teams focus on what they do best - developing relationships - puts a focus on collaboration.

Q. What drives you?

A. At a personal level my goal is to build a strong business, where every employee, customer and partner truly understands how real and genuine collaboration benefits everyone. 

Q. Any advice for our readers?

A. My personal mantra is that if the going get’s tough, we must keep our head up and persevere. Any tough situation will eventually blow over, you just don’t know when. This might not be very helpful in the moment, but the strong belief that there is light at the end of the tunnel always helps. Focusing on the bigger picture always helps - in life and business. 

Q. What would you practically change if you could to improve productivity?

A. If I’d have to reduce it to a single thing - don’t answer all your emails.  Not everything needs immediate attention, there is much more value in staying focused on a few key activities without letting disrupting notifications distract you. 

M.

(info@smartbizhub.com)

Humans. Made of plastic.

Credits: Justin Hofman https://www.facebook.com/bbcnews/videos/1733880309978851/

Every single piece of plastic EVER made still exists today. Most of us recycle plastic, but the percentage of plastic that can be recycled is tiny compared to the amount we produce and dispose of.

Think about it.

I never really did properly and somehow, like many of us, I have been looking the other way.

Until I have come to realize in the past few years that there is literally nowhere else to look because everywhere I look there is plastic, in copious amounts. 

Lost bear among Garbageland. Canada.

Tons of plastic items pass our hands daily, plastic ziplock bags, snack boxes, hair brushes, tooth brushes, straws, plastic cups and dishes at Starbucks and similar, pens, personal hygiene products, lotions, combs and brushes, packaging, toys, gym equipment, shoes (hello flip flops and crocs). Not to even talk about the computer and car industries.

The other day I was unwrapping a cheap Ikea photo frame. Not only the cost is so low that it I had to wonder how much are the people fabricating these really making, but I had to count as unwrapping it meant pealing off 4 layers of plastic. Plastic wrapper, plastic covers on both sides of the (now plastic) glass.

When we moved house last year the packing and unpacking was brutal in every sense. Not least because of the amount of plastic, bags, wrapping papers that us as well as the moving company used. It made me sick and I now wonder whether we had a choice. 

It is everywhere in unimaginable amounts. It is unstoppable, it goes unseen. It is killing us. 

Accordingly to green peace, Coca-Cola increased its production of plastic bottles by a billion last year. Seriously? In 2016? Read more here. 

What the hell are we doing? Let us all stop and think one moment. 

WWF campain.

What are we doing to this planet? What are our children inheriting? What have we done to their planet? How come useless plastic is not banned? What are the costs of this in the long run? I get very well why governments are not trying harder, the weight of the oil lobbies putting their foot down et all, but can it really be that us, "everyday people", cannot do anything about it? 

Funny/not funny. Viral social media video picturing reality. Watch here.

Will we google what happens next once our whole planet will be clogged with plastic along with our bodies? 

Because, yes, that is the scariest part of all. We are eating it. It is in us. Pollution and poisoning know no border and know no classes. First or third world, wealthy or poor, well educated or an-alphabet, city or country side residents, we are all in it together and exposed to the same danger caused by the idiocy that has made us look the other way all along. 

In general, most of us are aware that it is better to choose reusable products over disposable. We know that some materials never decompose. We might even know that the average individual on the planet produces between 500 and 700 kg of garbage annually. But what do we really know about plastic?

“In the next hour, Americans will use and throw away approximately 2,500,000 million plastic bottles. Of those 2.5 million bottles, every one will still exist a thousand years from now.” – Intent Blog

“Plastic is forever. Petroleum-based plastics like PET do not decompose in the same manner that organic material does. Unlike wood, grass and food scraps, these plastics are unrecognizable to the organisms that normally break organic matter down and thus do not biodegrade. Instead, these plastics will often undergo a process called photo degradation, which is essentially sunlight breaking the plastic into tons of tiny pieces over time. Even still, landfill plastic is not afforded much sunlight and thus does not get much opportunity to photodegrade.

Plastic floating in the ocean has a much greater exposure to sunlight and it just so happens that plastic is particularly good at making its way to the ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for instance, is a floating mass of plastic three times the size of Germany. It is the largest garbage site in the world, located just off the coast of California, with plastic pieces outnumbering sea life six to one. In the ocean, the plastic can be exposed to enough sunlight to photodegrade in as little as a year. However, while photo degradation dissolves the trash from the larger perspective, the resulting tiny plastic particles are actually toxic chemicals such as BPA and PS oligomer that then make their way into the stomachs of sea and air animals, onto the shorelines, and into direct contact with humans. Roughly one million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.

Biodegradable plastic is an option, but one that is slowly gaining traction. The following infographic is a sobering account of the effect that our plastic consumption is having on the earth and includes 10 simple ways that can help decreasing our plastic footprint today, to help minimize the harmful impact on tomorrow." (Source) 

M.

ps. Please print (on recycled paper) and hang in your kitchen. 

What's your inner pace?

Last summer I was invited to a talent development offsite,  'women fit for success'. I very much enjoy and applaude these programmes and investments on the company's talents, but I do wonder whether tailoring programmes specifically for women doesn't make the problem of gender equality in the workplace even worse.

Nevertheless, I pack my overnight bag and off I go. The whole two days programme was very interesting, one thing in particular has hit a nerve, the pace calculator exercise. 

After a short networking lunch on day 2, that followed an intense morning and an even more packed day 1, we are asked to stand up from our chairs and start walking in circles around the room, following the pace that the workshop leader would indicate. 

Mentally I wonder 'Seriously, with all the emails piling up in my inbox, my endless to do list, why are we doing this random exercise now?' It took fifteen minutes before realisation hit home and I saw how important is my inner pace, at any given time of the day, and how I could make that work to my benefit. 

So we keep walking in circles, slowly, then fast, then very fast trying to avoid collision with the other twenty ladies, then almost running, then very slowly, then we are asked to choose our pace and keep walking. 

My pace of choice that afternoon after lunch, from 1 to 5, where 1 is slowly walking as if you are admiring art in a museum and 5 is rushing for the train in heels, was 2/3. I felt uncomfortable with 4 and 5, almost annoyed, and so I did with 1 and 2. 

How would my mind and body perform when forced out of their natural pace in a particular moment?

Sunday walks.  

Following the whereabouts of the youngest driver in the house. 

Being a 'morning person' I know that would I have done the same exercise at 9am through to 12pm, I would have gone for 4 or even 5, at 5pm to 8pm probably as well, but after lunch? My mind needs focus and slow pace, as much as it needs adrenaline in the morning and early evening. Your 'inner pace' can also change depending on the time of the year, after a regenerating holiday you would probably choose a pace 5 throughout the day as much as after a long year and a particularly tiring patch (erm) you would probably want to hide under the duvet, no I meant choose a pace 1/2 more often.

Our take away, you have guessed it, was to learn to tailor our days, workload, tasks, based on our personal natural pace. Not that often we are given the choice (hello 1pm meetings) but knowledge and self awareness always make you score higher.

M.

Walking down the Zurich lake on a Sunday in October during a 'pace 1' afternoon, reminded me of the funny picture below someone shared with me. 

On and Off the (Hedonic) Treadmill

I love May. It is normally a warm month in this part of the world, and in all the countries I have lived so far, Italy, UK, Switzerland, normally comes with a few bank holidays.

That long weekend and bank holiday Mondays that we are all looking forward to. Normally these long weekends follow a wonderfully sunny week and are kicked off by majestic storms, or even better, snowstorms. Last week we were playing in the garden in a T-shirt, come the weekend and we are looking for our snowsuits once again in the back of the wardrobe.

 I bet though, if most of us were to be asked what each bank holiday represents and why we celebrate, probably only a small percentage of us would be able to answer. Personally I had to look up on Google one too many bank holidays and celebrations this year and started wondering what it is and why do we forget? 

It is in our nature, we tend to take for granted a lot of what our grandparents and ancestors fought and died for. We do it as populations, and we do it as individuals in everyday life.

Every time we buy a new gadget, we experience something new or reach a goal, after the early euphoric moments we often quickly go back to a state of almost bored indifference or at best to a relatively stable level of happiness.   

This attitude has a scientific name: hedonic adaptation, or hedonic treadmill.

 Normally a yet more expensive gadget, a more intense adrenaline rush or a new goal achieved are never the solution that leads to a magic state of happiness. The risk is to be stuck on said treadmill.

Over two thousand years ago, stoicism followers, thought they had found an answer. The likes of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, used to apply a very efficient technic against hedonic adaptation.

Negative visualizations.

We have long known that "gratefulness" plays a big role for our happiness, the success of the "5 Minutes Journal" books and App leverages exactly this dynamic. But while books and applications these days ask you to list or focus on the positives of our lives, stoics went a tad farther and daily imagined their lives without the people, the objects, the job, the little luxuries they most treasured.

Without going that far and becoming stressed or obsessed, I find the above a theory worth remembering.

“The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the supposed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness. […] During the late ’90s, the concept was modified […] to refer to the hedonic treadmill theory which compares the pursuit of happiness to a person on a treadmill, who has to keep working just to stay in the same place”.

If more things/more money does not equal happiness, though, we should start challenging the paradigm: owning more things/earning more money is not necessarily positive.

A paradigm is, by definition, something you don’t challenge: a good example is the idea that more is good for you (on a larger perspective, the idea that an economy should tend to growth – but how sustainable is that?). In order to have more, you have to spend more. To spend more, you have to earn more money. Our purpose in life, though, should be happiness and balance.

I am "guilty" of running on that treadmill like everyone else, but find that being aware of where I stand daily is a big help to guide my day and my choices. When I am running too fast and realize that, contrary to the name of this website and for how much I try, I do not always own the way I live, I slow down and try to look at the bigger picture, at the kilometres run and those ahead.

When in doubt, stop and challenge yourself and the status quo.

Google asked a large sample of people whether they liked driving. All of them said they did, and went on to try Google`s new self-driving cars. 97% of those who had said they loved driving said they actually liked more being driven.

So are we really doing what we like, and liking what we are doing or we just like the idea of it all but would probably happily do differently?

“I’ll just say this, you’ll feel like Neo from the Matrix. Once you swallow the red pill of simplicity and see the hedonic treadmill at work, you’ll never want to go back.” (Eric LaForest / Elevated Simplicity).

“Morpheus: […] Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Neo: The Matrix.
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind”.

…Which will it be then? Red pill or blue pill?

Happy Monday! ;-)

 M.

Pressure and productivity

I am constantly amazed when I go into meetings and am the only person taking notes, and then converting these into actions on to-do lists. It’s how I get things done. If you don’t write things down, you will have forgotten them before you leave the room. We could never have achieved a tenth of what we’ve achieved without systematic lists and actions. R.Branson

These days on most days, I have two recurring words in mind to describe how I feel. Happy. Exhausted. Some evenings once the kids are in bed, the priority items on to do lists are ticked off, the house looks decent and everything is ready for the next day, we sit there and wonder how on earth were we able to achieve and get so much done in one day. Normally this feeling lasts 3 minutes, because some memory, normally from the working day, will hit and we will immediately think “Gosh I have so much work to do!”

 Only now, some memories of my childhood come back. I recall my mother in the evenings after work while my brother and I were still running around or demanding something, often saying “It never ends, days should have 48 hours”. I hear you now, mum, I do. Even with house help and childcare, even with our families often sharing the load, days are loaded and at the end of the day we are left with zero energy.

At the same time, we have never had more enthusiasm for all the projects we are running, at work and in our private life, energy to play like kids with our children, interest for more, better and new things. And, we realize every day, we have never in our life been more productive. If in the past I needed a week to recover from a nasty flu, in the past three years, since becoming a parent, I have had to learn to recover in no time and normally while looking after a demanding little person. We have learnt to cope with little sleep which means we have learnt to make a 10 minutes break a real battery charger.

There are pros and cons about life under pressure for sure, but one big advantage is productivity.

I have learnt, and many like me who are living the same adventure on the same lane, to maximize every minute of my day. I have long moved away from “Outlook slots”, not every meeting needs to take one hour or activity needs to last multiple of 15 minutes. At work I often set up meetings of 45 minutes if I can choose. I use any 10-15 minutes commute to listen to podcasts about topics I want to hear about. I have a list of people, TED talks, blogs, sites and online papers that I run through every day and plan for the week what to read or listen to.

Over Easter while in Germany my mother-in-law asked how I have been doing and how I am coping with the current pace and load, given I seem “relaxed” (perhaps she meant “aged”...?? I said I think am actually fairly relaxed indeed…and thinking back I probably can give three reasons for that, the children are a daily exercise for improving patience and prioritizing, I have now for 4 years practiced regularly shiatsu and meditation (and I cannot recommend both enough) and last year I had a big reality check when one of my closest childhood friends suddenly died of cancer at 35, leaving her husband and 18 months old behind.  Of course I also have days when I would like to climb the Himalaya or any hill nearby and just sit there in peace and silence…

While I plan, have multiple to do lists, use pockets of time to check items off or to relax. I also block hours, half days or days sometimes where I block the world out and exist only for family, or for myself, trying to keep it flexible when possible as I have learnt the hard way that viruses from nursery school have not yet heard of my to do lists…

About to do lists.

“Writer Kevin Kruse recently claimed that to-do lists are a ‘waste of time’. He suggested that they make people more stressed, and only 41 per cent of items on to-do lists are completed.

The crucial part of a to-do list is in the name – you need to actually DO the things on your list. The act of writing your tasks and thoughts down is useful in and of itself, as it helps to organise your thoughts and give you focus. However, if you then ignore your own advice and don’t follow up, the lists will lose most of their power. Quite often you will only do 50 per cent of things on to-do lists because, on reflection, only 50 per cent are worth doing. But by putting things on lists it will help clarify what’s worth doing and what’s worth dropping.” Read more about to do lists in this post. 

What is your experience for a balanced life? When have you been at your most productive? What has helped to make you a better person and to live well with yourself?

M.

Why do we work so hard?

'Why? One possibility is that we have all got stuck on a treadmill. Technology and globalisation mean that an increasing number of good jobs are winner-take-most competitions. Banks and law firms amass extraordinary financial returns, directors and partners within those firms make colossal salaries, and the route to those coveted positions lies through years of round-the-clock work.

Our social networks are made up not just of neighbours and friends, but also of clients and colleagues. This interlaced world of work and social life enriches us, exposing us to people who do fascinating things, keeping us informed of professional gossip and providing those who have good ideas with the connections to help turn them into reality.'

https://www.1843magazine.com/features/why-do-we-work-so-hard

M.