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Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos

The Contradiction of Focus When Building a Business
1275_ 9/14/12 [Orig Pub. 12/2009]- When you ask successful entrepreneurs, What are the keys to building a successful, sustaining business? Among other words, they'll say, Passion, A+ Team, Commitment, Innovation, Focus. While all have substance, the successful entrepreneurs have fascinating stories that support those descriptions, I would like to point out that 'Focus' is a double-edged sword. Let’s be clear, focus is a critical element for building a successful business. It's true that if you don't know where you are going any road will take you there. Then again, if you are so focused on where you are going, you could get side-swiped because you didn't see 'it' coming. So what does this all mean? In Larry’s book, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos, Chapter 12, Ground Swells of Change - Prepare, capitalize or fall victim, he discusses five different examples of landscapes and their ground swells of change. He also writes about trends of both the past and the future. Trends have an impact on the landscape; however it's the groundswell that will often determine the success or failure of an endeavor, personal or professional. "The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them" said Johann Wolfgang Goethe. A ‘ground swell of change’ is never a solo effort; it takes many active forces to build up a head of steam. Examples include: innovations, inventions, laws, events, in/out of favor fads, something that is displaced or replaced, cultural changes, local events, controversy, fiscal changes, mergers, movements, etc. There's more....
Related Links: Amazon || Entrepreneurs Channel || w3w3.com Home || Mastering Change Blog || Beyond the Trends || Keywords: Mastering Change, Chaos, Larry Nelson, Entrepreneurs, Focus, Ground Swells of Change, Landscape, Trends, Channel: Change bytes=4014776
LISTEN TO: Larry Nelson, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos

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Difficult People...

The Dirty Dozen – Disastrous, Dumb and Deceitful by w3w3.com
1267_ 8/30/12 - Is everyone crazy out there, or is it just me? We all know some difficult people. Whether they are customers, co-workers of even those in your personal life. Listen to this discussion with Larry Nelson about his directory of the “Dirty Dozen” and their characteristics. They range from Saboteurs to Wonderful Ones, from Saints to Emotional Misfits, from Connivers to Bullies, and a few others that will surprise you or get you. What you’ll appreciate the most is understanding what makes you vulnerable and what you can do about it.
Related Links: Training Trends || 3-Filters || TRTR Channel || Beyond the Trends || Keywords: Difficult People, Dirty Dozen, Larry Nelson, Institute for Change Research, Training Trends, 3-Filters > - bytes=6843353
LISTEN to Larry Nelson, Institute for Change Research

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The horrific tragedy in Aurora
[1245_ 7/23/12]
 While this is a time of such great sorrow, it is also a time of great pride in all of our support services in Colorado. Especially the Aurora Police who were on scene within 90 seconds and quickly recognized the perpetrator, proud of the brave souls in the theatre who acted to protect others, of the fire department, the police rescuers and emergency medical teams, the hospitals, doctors and nurses who helped the wounded.

It is hard to admit the fact that there is more than a signle guilty party. But, our culture and society show a lack of personal responsibility and integrity, coupled with arrogance, greed and corruption on so many levels. We cannot begin to understand the mind of anyone capable of this horror. But we can work to change the environment that created the opportunity for this evil to grow. What can you and I, the individual people do to prevent this type of event from ever happening again? We think it begins with ourselves. Demanding honesty, compassion and understanding in our personal and professional dealings. We must serve as models - on an everyday basis for what we want to see in others...  We have witnessed great courage and wisdom from the many heroes and they have inspired us here during this tragedy. The greatest journey begins with a single step…

Here’s what the US economy will look like in 2012
1144_ 1/18/12 - We're here at the ACG Denver opening luncheon for 2012 speaking with the returning keynote speaker Alan Beaulieu of ITR that's the Institute for Trend Research. When we interviewed Alan last year he told us that we would go through a mild recovery in 2011; slow job growth; housing market going nowhere in a hurry. We'll muddle along, but look a lot better than many other nations - so the dollar should be fine. Being right on is one thing, but Alan appreciated Larry's recall because, "as a forecaster, it's really nice when someone remembers - you don't get that a lot." Naturally Larry asked for some predictions and Alan is happy to do that, but he'll stay away from politics - see he really is a smart man. For the economy Alan tells us he thinks 2012 is actually going to be a little better than 2011. Businesses should continue to prosper, hiring will continue. It's not going to be great guns but it's still going to be moving forward. People who had really good revenues in 2011, good profits are going to have a little more so in 2012. More people will have their jobs, the housing market will begin to solidify even more so. Towards the end of the year a little rise will go on in housing starts. We've gone through the darkest part and now we're in a recovery that's going to last into 2013. Larry asked his signature challenge and opportunities question. Alan said, "Very interesting question. Challenges will come from overseas. Businesses that are tied to Europe, tied to China, I think, will be facing some pressures ...Inflationary problems from China and a lack of sales going into Europe. So others that are U.S. centric are really going to ignore a lot of that and firms that have their own cash flow and not dependent on outside financing from commercial banking are also going to find it's a better year. Because problems in Europe can bleed over into the U.S. commercial banking market and that would be a problem for heavily dependent firms, firms that need that equity outside of themselves. Opportunities will come...
Related Links: Institute for Trend Research || ITR Blog || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference || Keywords: Alan Beaulieu, Institute for Trend Research, ACG Denver, Association for Corporate Growth, Trends, Economic Recovery, M&A, Entrepreneurs, Europe, China, Canada, Latin America, > Bytes: 4765051
LISTEN to Alan Beaulieu, Institute for Trend Research

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Here’s what the US economy will look like in 2012
1144_ 1/18/12 - We're here at the ACG Denver opening luncheon for 2012 speaking with the returning keynote speaker Alan Beaulieu of ITR that's the Institute for Trend Research. When we interviewed Alan last year he told us that we would go through a mild recovery in 2011; slow job growth; housing market going nowhere in a hurry. We'll muddle along, but look a lot better than many other nations - so the dollar should be fine. Being right on is one thing, but Alan appreciated Larry's recall because, "as a forecaster, it's really nice when someone remembers - you don't get that a lot." Naturally Larry asked for some predictions and Alan is happy to do that, but he'll stay away from politics - see he really is a smart man. For the economy Alan tells us he thinks 2012 is actually going to be a little better than 2011. Businesses should continue to prosper, hiring will continue. It's not going to be great guns but it's still going to be moving forward. People who had really good revenues in 2011, good profits are going to have a little more so in 2012. More people will have their jobs, the housing market will begin to solidify even more so. Towards the end of the year a little rise will go on in housing starts. We've gone through the darkest part and now we're in a recovery that's going to last into 2013. Larry asked his signature challenge and opportunities question. Alan said, "Very interesting question. Challenges will come from overseas. Businesses that are tied to Europe, tied to China, I think, will be facing some pressures ...Inflationary problems from China and a lack of sales going into Europe. So others that are U.S. centric are really going to ignore a lot of that and firms that have their own cash flow and not dependent on outside financing from commercial banking are also going to find it's a better year. Because problems in Europe can bleed over into the U.S. commercial banking market and that would be a problem for heavily dependent firms, firms that need that equity outside of themselves. Opportunities will come...
Related Links: Institute for Trend Research || ITR Blog || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference || Keywords: Alan Beaulieu, Institute for Trend Research, ACG Denver, Association for Corporate Growth, Trends, Economic Recovery, M&A, Entrepreneurs, Europe, China, Canada, Latin America, > Bytes: 4765051
LISTEN to Alan Beaulieu, Institute for Trend Research

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Hot new trends in marketing your company
1137_ 1/06/2012 - "The demand for marketing and marketing projects all the way through to individual marketers became so high..." that Melodie Reagan launched this new brand from i2i Workforce, called Crazy Good Marketing. "It is a full service marketing firm with a twist", says co-founder, Melodie Reagan. Larry asked Melodie with all the hot new trends, how do we stay ahead? Melodie replied, “Well you stay ahead of the trends by paying attention to them. There is one that I'd like to share, because I think it will be impactful. I'm referring to one that started in Europe and bring it back to America. There's a firm called Iconoculture, they've identified a macro trend. It's called "National Gross Happiness. Why it relates to America? There are some trends going on in America in our markets and they're called 'Random Acts of Kindness', generosity and cause with a fact and fundamentally what this trend is about is political and economic uncertainty are putting a spotlight on how we feel and about our happiness and can we make a difference." Listen for more details. Melody goes on, "The Kern Organization completes an annual study of top marketing executives and for 2011 the number one trend that they pointed out is better integration of online and offline data collection and analytics is essential. It is essential and needs to be measurable for marketing. In terms of the online to offline, it really is about your market. Social media is important; it's about interaction - engaging with your prospects and your customers. At a minimum, any business today needs a website, and they need to get into LinkedIn and setup a page. What they do beyond that really and truly depends upon the market. If you're in a real high-end, face-to-face sell, all the social media isn't as critical - but again, Melodie says she's going to tell you website and LinkedIn. If you're selling to consumers - mobile, location based is very critical. We now have more and more smart phones. The other thing Melodie states with reaching various customers, for example w3w3.com, you provide a mechanism to reach businesses in Colorado. Very simply do things where you're getting an interaction with interviews or blogs with w3w3..." Listen for more insightful ideas...
Related Links: i2i Workforce || Colorado Companies to Watch || In the News || Podcasting Directory || CO Companies to Watch || Keywords: Melodie Reagan, CrazyGoodMarketing, i2iWorkforce, Colorado Companies to Watch, Talent Strategy, Recruiting, Jobs, Unemployment, Manpower, Training, Iconoculture, Kern Organization - Bytes: 7159539
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Innovation - much less of an art and more of a science
1108_ 11/16/11 - Well we have another Colorado Companies to Watch Winner, we're with Matt Larson, CEO of Confio Software. Confio provides software that monitors two key pieces of the IT infrastructure inside of companies, data bases and the workflow environment. Data bases hold most of the companies important information and they are constantly changing and growing. The Confio data base monitoring software looks at how those data bases are performing in a new way that reveals hidden and significant problems. Confio also has software that monitors the virtual environment. Just one-and-a-half years ago Confio recognized this was going to be a major shift in the IT infrastructure and there were going to be very significant problems that needed to be solved. In the past applications would get their own individual server to run on inside of a data center. But most of the time those servers would just sit idle and that was a waste of money. Now applications are put into a virtual server that shares the physical server with lots of other virtual servers. The net effect of that is the underlying hardware is now working most of the time. So Confio's software monitors the virtual environment to make sure it's working correctly and if not how to fix it. Larry asked Matt what he felt the challenges are facing leaders today. Matt said, "I think a challenge that hasn't been nearly this significant in the past is uncertainty." The health bill is a great example, what's going to happen and regardless of which way it goes, what are the costs going to be. What will happen if Greece goes bankrupt, Italy and for that matter what happens if the U.S. can't figure out its own long term debt. These are questions that experts have a difficult time predicting what's going to happen, much less business leaders. As a result of that there is less hiring, less spending, less opportunity. When asked about opportunities for business, Matt said, "Innovation - it's become much less of an art and more of a science. The result of that is companies have a lower failure rate for new products and services than they've had in the past." Matt suggests companies should take the time to learn about these new best practices and implement them and that would be a pretty big opportunity for them...Listen for much more...
Related Links: Confio Software || Colorado Companies to Watch || Colorado Companies to Watch Channel || PodCast Directory || Gala Event || Keywords: Matt Larson, Confio Software, Lowe Foundation, Colorado Companies to Watch, Gala Event, COCTW, Second Stage Companies, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade - bytes=5957488
LISTEN to: Matt Larson, Confio Software, Inc.

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Leadership advice that is needed today
1103_ 11/8/11 - Get ready to take some notes. The ACG Denver monthly keynote was John Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of CereScan Corp. He offers a great deal of advice for building and running a successful company; from funding to teams and so much more. This is a live recording of his talk. Here's a little background. John A. Kelley, Jr. has been a director of Polycom since March 2000. Mr. Kelley has served as the Chief Executive Officer of CereScan Corp., a provider of high-definition functional brain imaging, since July 2009 and as Chairman of the board of directors of CereScan since February 2009. John also served as the Chief Executive Officer of McDATA Corp., since August 2002 and as its President since August 2001 and Chief Operating Officer from August 2001 to August 2002. Mr. Kelley has more than 30 years of telecommunications experience. Mr. Kelley re-built the management team, introduced multiple products simultaneously on a global basis, acquired and integrated both private and public companies. He served as an Executive Vice President of Networks of Qwest Communications International Inc., (Qwest) from July 2000 to January 2001. Prior to the acquisition of U S WEST by Qwest, he served as Executive Vice President for U S WEST from April 1995 to June 2000. He served as President of Wholesale Markets for U S West from May 1998 to July 2000. From March 1995 to April 1998, Mr. Kelley served as Vice President and General Manager of Large Business and Government Accounts and President of Federal Services for U S West. Prior to joining U S West, Mr. Kelley served as Area President for Mead Corporation's Zellerbach Southwest Business Unit from 1991 to 1995, and has served senior positions at Xerox and NBI. Mr. Kelley serves as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of INROADS of Colorado. He has been the Chairman of McDATA Corp. since February 2004. He serves as the National Vice-Chairman for INROADS. He has been Director of Circadence Corporation since November 2009. He has been a Director of Aztek Networks since August 2008. He has been a Director of Polycom since March 2000. John has done so much for the business community and the community of the whole. He talks about many business issues including ethics...this is a live recording of his keynote address...
Related Links: CereScan Imaging || ACG Denver Home || ACG Denver Channel || Polycom || In the News || Keywords: John Kelley, CereScan Imaging, ACG Denver, Polycom, McData, Functional Brain Imaging, US West, Qwest, Telecommunications, Zellerbach, Circadence, Inroads - bytes=32132182
Listen to: John kelley, CEO CereScan

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Social media is a huge opportunity for marketing
1081_ 9/22/11 - Would you like to be able to predict the success and challenges of your industry? We interviewed Steve Knopper an year and half ago, and he was spot on. Steve Knopper has a good deal of experience in the world of music writing for Rolling Stone and author of Appetite for Self Destruction. He is here at the ACG Denver, September Luncheon as the keynote speaker and we pulled him aside for a closer look. Quick to point out that what he does for Rolling Stone is cover the music business. He is uniquely qualified to speak to what the music business did wrong; what Steve has learned and how people in other industries can learn to deal with their challenges. One of the things the music business did wrong was not see the strategic inflection points coming - and those are basically a fork in the road. When new technology - transforming technology comes along like the Internet, like Napster in the music industry's case; MP3s you know, things that basically allow people to steal music for free - the music industry didn't react well to that. Part of that was understandable, but they should have seen an opportunity to sell music online much earlier than they did. They could have really dealt with that market in a more effective way rather than ceding their business to Apple and the iTunes Music Store. "So" said Steve, "that's one of the challenges I see, with the Internet basically disrupting almost every company, maybe with the exception of food companies. I think companies have to look at the music industry as an example, and say we need to jump on this more quickly and not get stuck in the hole that the music industry dug for itself." With all of that, the Internet and Social Media, Larry asked, "Are there opportunities for the music industry?" Absolutely, Steve believes that social media is a huge opportunity for marketing. Music companies are using Facebook and Twitter to a great degree. But there also are some new developments. One is YouTube which has actually become a much more effective way that record labels, artists and song writers, and publishers can make money off of the ads they sell on YouTube....listen for more...
Related Links: Steve Knopper Home || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Mastering Change || Keywords: Steve Knopper, Appetite for Self-Destruction: The spectacular crash of the record industry in the digital age, Change, bytes=3675013
LISTEN TO: Steve Knopper, Author, Writer, Rolling Stone

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239 Connecting with the Right People the Right Way LISTEN [1/15/07] 8/11/11
Pat & Larry Nelson of w3w3.com are seen everywhere. Many call them the Networker’s networkers. Larry says that the biggest and most common mistake in networking involves the omnipresent “Elevator Pitch”. That’s just what a busy executive wants to hear as they enjoy their liquid refreshments…”Get me out of here!” Pat and Larry offer some "Networking Solutions" (Identifying, Preparing & Personalizing) that are extremely effective in most every networking situation. In 4 minutes you'll know the answers. Related Links: Beyond the Trends || 3-Filters Compliant || Your Website - Is it 3-Filters Compliant? || Entrepreneurs || Associations || Training Trends || Keywords: Networking, 3-Filters, Elevator Pitch, Beyond the Trends, Training Trends, Associations || Bytes: 267745