1. Linkedin.com Inroads: Linkedin.com is a great resource for networking with other professionals within your in-dustry. You can make connections with thousands of individuals that you can ask for advice from and network with. Most people who join the website want to move forward with their careers or they would not take the time to try networking online. Use this website to find professionals within a company you want to work at, identify potential new employees, and propose new partnerships. Linkedin.com is free and backed by a leading technology venture capitalist firm, Sequoia Capital. To join my network, send me an email at Richard@RichardCWilson.com.

2. Easy Email Access Many people are hard to reach. This is not an accident. They are often busy or would simply receive too many sales pitches or spam emails if they are contact information was open to the whole world. 95% of all email addresses within established corporations use standard email formatting. For exam-ple if you worked at Widgets, Inc., your email address might be Richard.Wilson@Widgets.com and your co-workers email addresses might read Mark.Helmick@Widgets.com and Chris.Hege@Widgets.com. Every personal email ad-dress within the company is probably formatted so they read FirstName.LastName@Widgets.com. Remember, email addresses are not the same across companies, just usually within a single company. This turns your quest of contacting your targeted professional into a much easier game. Visit their “About Us” “Contact Us” or “Customer Service” web pages online. One of these areas usually includes somebody’s personal email address, which will reveal the formatting across the entire company. If you do not have any luck finding an email address try sending a short note to their customer service department and wait for a response that will usually come directly from an individual with a standard email address.

Although most people wont mind you doing this, or even ask how you got their email address, you should be cognizant that some people might react negatively to being “bothered” by someone they do not know. Many people have told me that they admire that kind of intelli-gence and tenacity in trying to get things done. Keep your message very brief and to the point, and keep it as professional as possible. This tactic will help you gain access to people that others would give up on after checking a website or trying to call a few times. The point of emailing someone that has not provided you with their contact information is not to pester or sell the contact on something they have not shown interest in. This tool should be used to network and suggest a meeting for coffee or discussion of an idea over the phone that might benefit both parties.

3.Informational interviews: Informational interviews are meetings usually initiated by a professional looking to learn more about an industry, company, or potential set of positions. It is a meeting where the goal is to edu-cate someone and establish a relationship. Infor-mational interviews can be a great way to get your foot in the door at a new organization or learn about poten-tial positions that are not open to the public. Many in-formational interviews lead to company tours, resume forwarding, and employment offerings. While being careful not to mistake this informational interview for a formal interview, creating a strong rapport with your contact and really selling yourself can create an inside “champion” of your skills and abilities. I have conducted over 30 informational interviews and I have only been turned down about 5 times out of about 35 requests that I made over the phone or in person. I was paid more when I graduated from high school then my teachers and the same as my college professors when I gradu-ated from college and both of these jobs came from conducting informational interviews. They work.

4. Resume buffing: Your resume is an extension of your-self. Until a company has gotten to know you well, it is you on paper. While most reports and documents should not be passed on to others without going through five drafts, resumes should be reviewed 20 times before, being forwarded to a potential employer. It should not exceed one page in length, so the time to review it each time should not be too bad. If you have never done this before pass your resume around to a few close professionals that you trust and have them help you. Make sure that your resume is unique, action word packed, and professional, stating real accom-plishments and testimonials from past supervisors, peers, or professors. What could you do to improve your real skill sets while improving your resume? Toastmasters? Publications? Networking? Association Memberships? Ask what hiring managers care about and work on acquiring those experiences.

5.Persistence: The importance of persistence in network-ing cannot be overstated. Start making it your goal to have lunch, coffee, or an informational interview over the phone at least once a week within a professional in your industry. Some people will answer on your first phone call and give you any information you need, while others will take months to track down. Never take any of their responses personally. My father always said “no response means nothing.” Try to understand their point of view and learn from the situation for your next networking initiative. While networking, you will run into all types of people and learn how to read each unique individual and adjust your approach accordingly. If you leave a voicemail on Monday, follow up with an email, and wait 4-6 business days before leaving a second one. If you network enough, you will gain a very sensi-tive feel for how much persistence is helpful without be-ing so pushy that others do not want to take the time to help you.

6.Website: Create a website that describes your experi-ence, education, and any relevant professional publica-tions. I have found it very useful to have my resume downloadable directly from the website in Microsoft Word format. This enables you to be “Googled” and lets you give people your web address over the phone or on a business card. For an example of this type of a website visit http://www.RichardCWilson.com.

7.Presentations: Your ability to effectively communicate ideas, create PowerPoint presentations, and give speeches will greatly help build your personal image and career. No matter how early or far you are in your career, it can be built stronger by improving your speaking skills. Join a local toastmasters club, or start speaking at local schools and associations. The best part about presenting information is that it turns you into a source of value and brings people to you.

8. Publish: Publishing articles, books, newsletters, columns, and websites are other ways you can become a valuable resource to others. If you don’t think you can write well enough to publish anything professionally, start writing your first piece today and have a friend or peer at work help you edit the work.

Richard Wilson is the author of “Rainmaker” a practical sales, business development, and negotiation instruction handbook. Contact him through RichardCWilson.com and access his book on Lulu.com/RichardCWilson.

Author: Richard Wilson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Hybrid and Electric Cars

In one of my leadership positions we were faced with how to reach out to the high performers. You know…the individuals, who are the employees who have been “go to” people when things needed to get done. In my case, we needed to energize our sales team. We needed more “rainmakers.” Try these 6 guiding techniques.

1. Ask the “go to” rainmakers for their help. Clarify what the company is calling for. More sales are needed. You don’t know all the obstacles. You believe the wisdom and talent is in the staff. The company needs more business and only rainmakers can make that happen.

2. Describe what can happen if rainmakers emerge. Describe what more growth does for the company. Calculate how it affects profits, and how will leaders and owners feel. Its not likely this inspires sufficiently for the “go to” players to sign up, at least not yet.

3. Ask the high performers if you understand the situation correctly. What is missing? What are better options and how would they guide if they were in charge? The result is the company creates more clarity from proven boots on the ground leaders. That is powerful information.

4. Determine what is needed for them, as individuals, to help move the ball forward. Reach out to define exactly what they need to commit to help. What are the top 4 things they need to commit.?

5. Clarify the impact to them as “rainmakers” when progress inevitably occurs. What do they feel is the appropriate recognition, influence, and compensation for their sign up as rainmakers.

6. Be grateful and humble. The choice is theirs which only they can make. Acknowledge them. Be gracious and thank them. Be honest with recognition. When results emerge…they deserve the credit.

Do you want to learn more about leading? Download our brand new free ebook Three Elegant Strategies for Your Organizations Survival Elegant Courage.

We’ve tackled big issues and big challenges and have been involved in just about every important phase of business. http://lighthouse-leadership.com

Author: Mike Krutza
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Humorous photo captions

Whether you are the rain-maker in a small firm, a sales representative, or responsible for a national sales force, it’s in your best interest to branch out and create alternative ways to reach perspective customers. Having multiple marketing streams is the life-blood of any lead generation and lead nurturing program. But don’t count on your company’s marketing department to do it for you, it’s not their job to promote you the sales person- they’re supposed to promote the company.

Many rain-makers that I know earn well into the 6 and 7 figures. They know what they are good at and they keep to it. It makes sense but the problem is that by focusing on only one or two ways of generating business, it limits their ability to make even more money for their company and themselves.

So how do you turn today’s salesperson into tomorrow’s rain-maker? I think companies need to reevaluate how they look at their sales team and how they should be deployed in their sales process. They need to go beyond the limiting aspects of established territories, industry verticals, or product focus and begin to allow the sales person to become special ambassadors – mini CEO’s if you will, with their own sales, marketing and promotional strategies and systems.

Here are the critical areas for becoming a well-rounded rain-maker that will boost your ability to earn more income for the company and for yourself:

o Self-Branding. You need to become known for something. Go out and create a platform from which you can tie your views into the product or service that you are offering. Most people don’t know this, but no matter what suit Gary Cooper wore in public, he always wore green socks. I’m noticing today that the bow-tie is making a come back for guests on national news networks. These gimmicks may get you noticed but they won’t give you shelf-life. I’m thinking more in line with my friend Manny Sanchez, Managing Partner of Sanchez & Daniels, the second largest minority-owned law firm in America. He considers himself the Latino Ambassador for issues and trends that he knows are important to his Fortune 100 clients. The CEO’s of these companies rely on him to give them insight into this growing lucrative market. He has created a platform that gets him, and his firm, noticed.

o Corporate Branding. A rain-maker want-to-be should focus their branding efforts for their specific sales area. They will take out ads themselves if their company doesn’t do it.

o Sponsorships – Strategic hand-outs that provide money for events, underwriting newsletters, other corporate outings, or even associations can go a long way. While helping USWeb/CKS grow their revenues, we gave out golf umbrellas that had their logo on it at an industry golf outing. It was a hot sunny day. Many people invited to golf outings aren’t really golfers – we became heroes to those prospects that really needed the shade. Nobody talked about any of the other trinket’s that other companies gave out.

o Advertising – Advertise where your prospects lurk. Online: buy banners on association and exposition sites before the big event, or at industry magazine sites. Look into broadcast advertising and print advertising. I know a real estate rain-maker here in Chicago. He worked out a deal with a billboard company. Instead of buying just one billboard for 12 months, he worked with them to place his advertisement when they had contracts expire. The result netted him staggered one-month exposures on 12 different billboards all throughout the city of Chicago – his market. He paid for it himself. The ads created a huge buzz and a 5:1 return on investment.

o Networking/Referral. This is where most rain-makers spend the majority of their time. It’s extremely effective, but it’s also the major reason so many of them are missing other potential prospects. You can’t reach everyone by networking. Focus on networking with:

o Clients – Your clients are the most influential salespeople for your company. They can lead you into wonderful new accounts simply by making the introduction. I recommend that your client, your prospect, and you, meet together at the first meeting. Your clients are also the first people you should sell/network with when you launch a new product. My friend Bill Rancic did that when he was on his way to winning the first Trump Apprentice. After his team created a client base for one of their tasks he went back to those same relationships to sell to or get referrals from those clients. His team won both tasks and he went on to win the game.

o Alliances – Take a good look at how else you can leverage contacts into revenue generating relationships. Look into current partners, vendors, opinion molders, authors, and experts.

o Channel Partners – When I was growing a software services company, one of the rain-maker areas included establishing relationships with hardware sales reps. I bought them lunch at their team meetings and showed how I could help present business solutions to their prospects (ultimately my prospects too) that would help sell their hardware and made sure my reps went with them at any part of the sales cycle. It was truly win-win-win.

o Friends/Groups – I network with people but my outlook is not quid-pro-quo. Recently I helped the COO of a software company help his business associate help his son try to get an internship (did you follow that?). I put the college student in touch with an extremely influential person in my network. I’ve made the introduction and I’m not sure what will come of the internship – that’s out of my hands now. But as a result the COO wants to do business with me and my company, unsolicited. This happens time and time again. By the way, I even took the time to coach the student. We discussed what to say, how to say it, and how to follow up with calls and thank you cards.

o Phone Calls. Phone calls are very important. I believe everyone should do about 30 – 45 minutes a day of pure cold calling just to keep sharp. Any more and you’ll be headed for burnout. Most of my calls I try to turn into warm calls in some way. Usually it’s through using every one of the tips in this newsletter, and more, to gain a warmer reception to my calls. For the rest of the day, phone work should be used to develop relationships once you’ve met your prospect in some other way. Calling can be used to confirm contact information and to do cross-marketing.

o Email. No I don’t support SPAM. Make sure you understand the wording of the law. For the most part as long as the message in your email serves your prospect, has a viable street address, contact name and phone number, and provides a link for the prospect to get removed from the list, you should be okay.

o One-to-Many – Create an electronic newsletter such as this to communicate with prospects and clients. Send out announcements with a link to take anonymous polls located at your web site or by using sites like http://www.zoomerang.com. It’s a great way to share content quickly.

o One-to-One – Create templates for yourself and your sales team. This is a great way to brand yourself. I make sure that my picture goes out whenever it makes sense. It gets me recognized at conferences and expositions. People see me coming before I even see them and they make it a point to say hello.

o Events. Yes you should make it out to the biggest events for your industry. Even if you don’t have a booth, you should reserve a table for 20 at a restaurant and invite clients and prospects to join you.

o Seminars – Create your own. You’re supposed to have the gift of gab – your listening skills should be even better and exercised more than talking however – but what better way to make your pitch than one to many? It doesn’t have to be elaborate. If you sell to industrial park CEO’s reserve a room at the local restaurant and buy your prospects lunch. Establish the menu up front so that it fits your budget but allows prospects a small selection. Make your presentation to them at the luncheon. I know ran-makers that also do this at the Union League Club.

o Workshops – Get the rest of your company involved in delivering information to your clients and prospects.

o Webseminar or Webinar – Video record one of your seminars and post it to your web site. Studies show that if you can deliver content when it’s convenient to your client or prospect, you’ll have a better hit rate than making them all register and go to their computers at a specific time.

o Teleseminar – Technology is such that you can record a sales presentation and make it available to your prospects and clients via the phone. There are companies that will let you set up a conference call that your prospects can dial in to. Record it and re market it on your web site or offer it as a giveaway on CD.

o Conferences/Tradeshows – Show up when you can. Work with industry reporters that will be there and see if there is some way you can help them with newsworthy articles. Make sure you have a plan for getting names, pre-qualifying them and make sure you have a system for following up with prospects. Marketing statistics prove that nearly 90% of all leads do not get a follow up call.

o Create your own web site or start a weblog “blog”. Even if you work for a large company you should have your own web page. Get your company to add a few pages for you. If they won’t do it then they are not working in your best interest. Go online and get your own web domain setup. Create a few pages that will help to establish your expertise and credibility. Post your articles, post podcasts or webcasts so that your prospects can view them at their convenience – that’s key. Give them the kind of content that they are looking for such as helpful links. Promote it to your prospects, industry experts, customers, reporters, etc. as a place to get up to date information.

o Site design – Make it simple and easy to navigate. Let them download information from the site. You can build a prospect database if they give you a name and email address. Test to see if more prospects download without having to give you an email. Latest tests show that requiring a visitor to give up information dramatically reduces downloads.

o SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Make everything easy to find. Use pay-per-click techniques. Make sure you make all copy on the site and in your download information searchable by key words from your prospects.

o Lead Nurturing. There are two approaches in this area:

o Execution Vehicles – these are talked about in other sections of this newsletter such as events, direct mail, email, phone, etc.

o Content Creating – Creating content that establishes you, the rain-maker, as an expert is where you will leave your competition behind. This is where you make your intelligence shine. Newsletters, press releases, articles with links to your site, case studies, white papers, and special reports are just some of the ways that set you a part and build your credibility. These are the ways the rain-maker promotes him or her self. This information can then be easily repurposed into other promotional efforts.

o Public Relations.

o Write editorials for your local paper or trade magazines.

o Public speaking – industry and association events.

o Create your own speaking engagements whenever possible.

o Strive to become a keynote speaker.

o Article placement – write articles and get them published in newspapers, magazines, or online.

o Press releases – make an effort to get at least one release out per month. Find ways to make what you do newsworthy.

o Promote yourself as an industry expert to the TV, cable, and radio media. Try to be the local angle to national news stories.

o Make friends with reporters and the media in your area of expertise. It takes time but those that keep at it are the ones that get articles written about them and their companies.

o Direct Mail. Yes direct mail works. Create a campaign that will turn cold calls into warm calls.

o Dimensional Mail – 3-D mailings work very well. Who doesn’t want to open something they got in the mail that looks like a present? Make sure your list is clean and accurate or you will waste money. And have a phone, email, and fax follow up program to increase your response rates.

o Self Mailer – Have your prospect mail something in to show they are interested in your product or service.

o Postcards – Use them to remind reporters about your expertise. Keep the message the same – repetition breeds success. Prospects will see your message. Most people at least look at the post card compared to never opening junk mail envelopes.

Even if you are a sales rep for a fortune 500 company, I know your marketing department is not creating this kind of credibility for you specifically – that’s not their job. By employing these ideas you will create the momentum of future sales and everyone in the company will be asking you how you do it.

David Wells, Founder of http://www.emdco.com, a provider of business-to-business lead creation, data confirmation and integrated marketing solutions. Subscribe to “The Business-to-Business Sales Strategist’s Tips of the Week” ezine at http://www.emdco.com/registernow.html.

Author: Dave Wells
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

Pick a sales training buzzword and it may have touched you.
Maybe managers said you should go to a course to get your
inner feelings in tune with your Palm schedule in tune with
work-life balance, and everything in tune with your life
strategy. Life was great. For about a week.

Then, products changed or were recalled. Lawsuits
mounted. Customer expectations in today’s financial and
ethical marketplace demanded more of you and your
company. In too short a time, your corporate financials were
being restated while your 401K melted and your stock
portfolio slunk away, embarrassed by its original
exuberance. Half your department or division or the whole
company disappeared. Life was great once.

If you’re in sales or marketing, you know what you did every
day. That was the daily drill. You can’t do it any more. And,
you certainly can’t do it at a trade show.

Here are four ways to understand your own – and your
company’s – sales style at a trade show. Maybe you’re still
hot. Probably not.

THE GOOD OL’ BOY NETWORK …
This is the way it used to be and in some industries, it still
is. Women may have broken some of the glass in the
ceiling, minorities may be a tad more than token, and you
may believe age doesn’t matter. Wrong. It’s attitude,
networking and politics. It’s still who knows who.

If you’re in certain industries – usually the ones at the
beginning of the industrial food chain or international money
making – you may think your job is safe because of trust and
GOB networking. Yet, because of international tensions,
economic disasters, lousy mergers, and technology which
produces a 24-hour business day, those handshakes you
felt so comfortable with before, now may get you handcuffs
or a brush off.

TRADE SHOW – Don’t rest on laurels or assume the GOB
will protect you or guarantee your deals. Self preservation
may be more important, pricing may be more critical, and
the pecking order may have changed without making the
papers. What to do? Gather critical information before you
go to the show, don’t be naïve, and learn to open up your
networking channels.

THE RAINMAKER …
It was expected that the right connections (often from GOB),
basic product knowledge, a handle on financials and a
pleasing personality could get you business. Maybe you
were no more than the hunting dog who was well dressed
and played tennis or golf, so you could flush out business
and bring it back for someone else to close and control, but
you brought cache to the firm.

If you’re in the professional services firms – such as
accounting, banking and insurance, law, architecture, etc. –
this has been an accepted method for years. The
designated “Golden Boy” has been critical to these types of
businesses because advertising was not allowed or was
considered crass. The belief was that – work should speak
for itself, and the firm and client should like each other.

TRADE SHOW – This is still a critical aspect of marketing but
don’t expect to do more than nudge the timeline along. It is
time to meet with prospects for a second or third time,
understanding that your competitors will do the same. Time
to bring out your “big guns”, the partners and experts who
will handle the account if you score.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT …
Now get serious about business. Clients disappear.
Products lose dominance. Suppliers change. The smart
firms have individuals and departments, or outsource
experts, who work only for development of new business.

It’s a whole new ball game and you may be in a different
league without knowing it unless you’re smart about who
your markets really are, where they are, and your
understanding of trends – are you current or obsolete? This
is sophisticated analysis, not just friendly hand shaking.
Real-life market research. Serious looks at partners,
strategic alliances and allegiances. Cutting losses. Adding
specialists. Consider corporate intelligence to be the cutting
edge of staying in business this year, next year and more.

TRADE SHOW – The short intense time at a show is
absolutely the best way to find out what’s happening in your
industry. When you hear a new word three times, that’s a
trend. Learn all you can about it, its originators and its
potential for your firm. On the flip side, watch the intelligence
your firm gives in trying to entice prospects. Remember that
the more you give away at a trade show, the less you have to
discuss at deal time.

SALES PROFESSIONAL …
The full-time, on-time, my-time-is-money guy who has been
through all the courses yet has the innate sense of making
the sale and, best of all, securing the best deal to make the
client happy. Of course, the company is happy with the deal,
the margins and the prospect of continuing business.

Competitive, smart, dogged, technology intense and
friendly, this is the best person to ask for competitive
information. Yes, he knows his clients but his antennae’s up
and can tell you what’s going happen to clients in the next
year, the trends in the market niche and ways to save
business – better terms, time to buy or drop.

TRADE SHOW – There’s a tendency to send sales folks to
trade shows. Nice idea. Not necessarily right. Check your
answers to these points -

1) Is this a sales or a marketing show? Are you closing
deals or showing off products and services?

2) The sales oriented show is generally in the retail related
sectors. Examples – the shows are about toys, school
supplies, hardware, stationery, holiday decorations, etc.
Short term sales opportunities. Send your best deal closers
to these types of shows.

3) The marketing shows are generally in technology, harder
industries, those requiring a long-term sales process with
waltzing, tap-dancing, RFPs and more bureaucracy than the
retail segments. Depending on the size of the show, one
sales person to three or four marketing personnel is usually
adequate, but you must know the capabilities of your staff,
the expectations of the attendees, and your firm’s realistic
ROI on this particular show. Jeez, are you planning to
follow-up? What are the requirements of on-floor staff in that
process?

4) Remember that every show is different. And, the
difference between you and your competitor is the
sales-oriented preparation you make before the event.
Know your people, know your corporate style. Be prepared
each time.

Julia O’Connor – Speaker, Author, Consultant – writes about practical aspects of trade shows. As president of Trade Show Training, inc,, now celebrating its 11th year, she works with companies in a variety of industries to improve their bottom line and marketing opportunities at trade shows.

Julia is an expert in the psychology of the trade show environment and uses this expertise in sales training and management seminars. Contact her at 804-355-7800 or check the site http://www.TradeShowTraining.com

Author: Julia O’Connor
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

The Rainmakers Company has just published the first “The Changing Times” Newsletter. The first of many we hope.

It has a heads up on the industry from Our MD, an interview with a Rainmaker, leads to some fascinating blogs from the rainmakers and of course the ongoing programme of events from The Rainmakers Company.

Download the PDF here: www.rainmakerscompany.com/news

If you want to be on the Email list as a regular subscriber please email chris at
chris@speakerscompany.com
Regards – Maurice

Have you given thought to perhaps how valuable an employee you are where you are? Could you merely clock in and out because you have mouths to feed and be nothing more? When you took those first footsteps into the marketplace you probably didn’t anticipate a great depression, downsizing, outsourcing or the economy getting the slammers. The floundering cash flow that has your company put everybody out on the streets? That, despite the years industriously promoting and tooling yourself up the career ladder and arming yourself with a sharp set of skills – only to find out your company can’t afford to keep you around because it’s coffers have gone dry.

So what do you do now?

Here’s an idea to ponder. Considering that the wealth of a firm can be it’s employees, imagine how valuable you would be if you tripled your firm’s revenue this year. Or how about tripling the traffic to their website? How about saving the company from the hangman of dropping sales? What’s the likelihood your company keeps pace or even stays in business? Can you afford to sit back, stay oblivious and watch your hair turning color with the breaking news that the doors to it’s colossal entrance are closing forever in days! In today’s ever-changing marketplace, you need to be more than being what you are – you could be the rudder that turns the ship around from shipwreck! LEARN the tools a company needs to use to beat back it’s competitors. Take a good look at yourself and ask yourself: Could I be a rainmaker? Have I ever thought of being a rainmaker? What have I done for the company? Now is the time to be the Obi Wan Kenobi for your company!

May the force be with you!

Cally Rao

Author: Cally Rao
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Multi-cooker

A Wal-Mart employee pitching in with the company’s sustainability drive, removed lightbulbs from vending machines to save electricity and make it cheaper to refrigerate the contents. – Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

So far, I have focused on why companies should go green; the compelling economic and marketing forces driving organizations to adopt sustainability initiatives. This is one strategy on how to go green.

Adam Werbach was in Toronto in last month, speaking at an event I helped organize. He was hired by Wal-Mart to help advise the company on launching its sustainability initiative when Lee Scott was CEO.

It’s not enough for the CEO to commit an organization to sustainability; all the employees need to be engaged in the effort. In Wal-Mart’s case, that’s 2.1 million associates.

So Mr. Werbach recommended Walmart begin promoting the concept that every associate adopt a personal sustainability project. It didn’t matter what the PSP was: cycle to work, stop smoking, eat more organic food or switch to compact fluorescents lights, the personal change became the lubricant for corporate change.

No CEO can ever know or understand the millions of actions required within to change the organization’s direction. In the effort to become more energy efficient a company doesn’t need a silver bullet, it needs silver buckshot. And that, by definition, requires working to engage every employee.

Change begets change: By promoting the adoption of personal sustainability projects to employees, Wal-Mart communicates why sustainability is important and how people can make a difference in their own lives. By definition, the activity is empowering and promotes corporate change.

A Wal-Mart associate looked at a brightly backlit vending machine. Knowing that burning electricity within the machine meant more energy to cool the contents, the associate removed the bulbs. Replicating this across Wal-Mart’s North American stores saves the company $1-million a year in energy costs. A simple action; profound economic consequence.

“Environmentalism was dead,” Mr. Werbach proclaimed in a 2004 speech – because environmentalists only wanted to preach to the choir. Ultimately, for the transformation necessary to create a truly sustainable society, groups and individuals that aren’t involved in green efforts must be engaged. Mr. Werbach was not only being purposefully provocative, he was announcing a change in direction for his life’s work.

Up until this point his work had been focused on campaigning “against” – against environmental degradation. The environmental movement campaigns against pollution, toxic chemicals, ozone depletion, acid rain, tropical rain forest deforestation. All this is necessary but insufficient.

Mr. Werbach’s shift was much like the one experienced by Dr. Martin Seligman, the former president of the American Psychological Association. To Dr. Seligman, the entire history of psychology had been based on treating dysfunction and disease; focusing on mental illness, depression and mania. The focus was on what was wrong, not what was right.

Dr. Seligman’s solution was to create the field of positive psychology, studying success and happiness. One of his central findings: being involved in a cause that is larger than yourself drives happiness. This is the key to PSPs’ success. Individual actions are part of a larger global effort.

Environmental problems seem so overwhelming that some people despair and wonder, “why bother?” PSPs are the antidote: By engaging in positive individual activity, it implicitly communicates the message “I can make a difference.” Change begets change – and action begets hope.

And individual commitments, when part of a larger effort, are more successful. Promoting individual PSPs within the context of a larger corporate goal of sustainability has a mutually reinforcing effect: The corporate goal sustains and nurtures the individual goals and the individual goals drive the corporate goals.

Jim Harris is the author of Blindsided, a No. 1 international bestseller. He speaks at 40 conferences and seminars a year. Email him at jimh@jimharris.com.

Are you a leader? Would you consider yourself ambitious for yourself and your organisation? Of course you are!

Ambition is good. It drives us forward and stretches us so that take on new ideas and experiment. It makes us do things. It makes us grow as people and those benefits accrue to the company we work for.

But what happens to an organisation whose leader(s) lacks ambition? This can occur when the company makes enough profit to satisfy the earthly needs of the major shareholders or when the effort to play on a bigger stage is considered to be a step too far (i.e. too frightening). The status quo is a safe haven.

This all too common phenomenon can have some serious drawbacks for employees and the economy as a whole. Innovation suffers as great ideas are discussed and then discarded (as in “put it on the back burner for now”). The effect on staff moral is huge if they see this happening. Most people, if they are honest, want to work for a “go getter” company. It’s cool, it’s fun and it gives you great bragging rights to your friends. How many people want to talk about their work if they think they are in a deadbeat company?

So if you are ambitious and find yourself working for such a company what happens? You’d get demotivated pretty quickly wouldn’t you? What’s the point of suggesting new ideas when you know they’re never going to see the light of day? So you either put up with it (unlikely, unless all your earthly needs and more are met) or you look for new challenges elsewhere. And this is where the economy as a whole can suffer. We need innovation spread across the whole economy in lots of company and not grouped into a few. This increases competition which increases innovation which increase competition and so on. All the while the economy benefits as the amount of business being carried out in the market increase along with the confidence that this brings. If also leads to an increase in tax revenue to fund social programmes etc.

As we enter what is being talked of as one of the worst recessions ever, lack of ambition will hurt us all even more.

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I was chatting recently with Dermot Hill of Intramezzo who posed this question. Given my experience as a Chairman and my love of this role, it set me thinking. Note that I’m going to use the word “Chairman” in a non-gender specific context in this article.

Companies appoint a Chairman for a variety of reasons. If they are about to float, or are seeking external investment, they may pick someone who is acceptable to the “money men” and who has contacts in that arena rather than going for someone who can add real value to the companies proposition. But I suspect the most common reason is that they think they should have one.

So why do people aspire to become Chairmen? For many, it is just another source of income along with their other directorships and consultancy – a lucrative way to fill time once they have left the comfort of the corporate world. Given the changes in company law on both sides of the Atlantic in the aftermath of Enron and Worldcom et al, I wonder how much life is left in these roles. But for others, and I believe this is a growing number, it is about getting stuck in and really helping a company (and it’s founders/shareholders) to achieve their dreams. I personally get much more satisfaction from the “Ah ha” moments now that I am a Chairman than I ever did when I was running my own companies.

To be an effective Chairman there needs to be a clearly defined role, and one which is well understood by all. It is not just about turning up once or twice a month to chair a Board Meeting, important as this task is. For me, a large part is about mentoring and getting the Executive to perform at its best. It can be really difficult for a Director or senior manager to ask for help in case this is perceived as a sign of weakness. Consequently they can get bogged down in their role trying to solve this and other problems rather than have and use their time to think and plan for the future. A skilled Chairman will recognise this situation and will offer a discreet sounding board for the Director to make use of. This is not about showing off, or demonstrating how clever/successful/brilliant the Chairman is – phrases beginning with “In my last company …” or similar must never pass their lips. It is about listening and questioning, not telling or instructing. Mentoring can also help the Chairman really understand the strengths and weaknesses of the team/Board and so help them perform to the best of their abilities if necessary by playing Devil’s Advocate and constantly challenging (constructively) all the plans and strategies being put forward. And because of this, an open style of communication is crucial.

Another important role of the Chairman is networking and putting their network at the disposal of the Company. Normally this will have a quasi-sales bias but of equal value is the trouble-shooting element – knowing the right person to bring in to solve a particular problem.

But by far the most crucial role is to be a support for the CEO/MD. It is their job to run the company not the Chairman’s so the Chairman should do everything possible to help them to do this. And without stealing the CEO’s limelight. For this reason, it is not a good idea for the Chairman to be the ex-CEO! One of the things that officer training in the military teaches you is that when praise is being handed out, always deflect it on to those under your command, but when criticism is given be a large umbrella and protect your team. As a commander, it is your fault when things go wrong even if you were not the actual culprit. So it is within a corporation. Protect your CEO and the Board at all times.

So should a Chairman be Executive or Non-Executive? I would argue that it must always be the latter otherwise the Chairman and the CEO are in direct competition. This was graphically illustrated a few years ago with BAe, the UK arms company, where the Chairman and CEO had a very public falling out to the detriment of the share price.

So what makes an effective Chairman? You will know if you have one because everyone will be aware what value they have added to the Company. Having someone who is a good listener, has a good network and does not want, or need, to take plaudits is a good start.

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For about 18 months I’ve been a very happy user of VAServ’s cheap and cheerful VPS platform. The control panel was called LXAdmin (later renamed to Kloxo). A major series of security bugs was found a few weeks ago, and last Sunday the security company that identified the bugs decided in their wisdom to publish the bug list online because they had not had a response to their emails to LXLabs.

Well the sky fell in, and the fall out has been very painful. VAServ lost just about everything: over 100,000 domains taken off line while they tried to fix the break-in/security breach(es). For this company the pain is awful as they have been forced to be acquired (as far as I understand the email I received) by their UK datacentre partner who supplied man power to help out. I doubt the owner, who spent years building his company up, received very much if anything for it.

I lost all my domains. The reason you are seeing this is because I was forced to move to Hostgator to try and get my domains back up and running – I’m one of the lucky ones in that I had full backups of all my sites, both SQL and themes/plugins etc. Not everyone will have been so lucky.

Which brings me to the unfortunate owner of LXLabs who sadly appears to have committed suicide on Monday.

Is a software flaw, no matter how serious, really worth a life?