Business Archives - Page 49 of 67 - Michael Horesh Business Coach and Mentor

10 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

We have all been there. Shop owner, insurance salesperson or business mentor like myself; We are about to reel in a client, but they keep putting off the decision.

How do you know when enough is enough and that it is time to move on?

A few months ago, I watched a utube video from a former advisor for Hilary Clinton. He suggested flicking back in your diary or calendar, counting up all those recurring appointments with people, which had led to nothing. Why did that happen? Was there a common theme?

And what jogged this thought was that last night, I had the fun of clearing out a whole load of old notes and papers. Sure enough, a few thick files popped up, where I could not recall receiving a dime for my input.

This is not about correct business models, pricing policies or success fees. The provider of a service must assess in advance what a customer is worth and can deliver. In parallel, that same provider has to be armed with clear guidelines as to how much they can afford to invest in set up work. Either way, the dream must be balanced very coldly against existing reality.

If one of other of those above elements is blurred, then the result may be a big loss of time for yourself. A secondary negative impact is that you effectively forgo the opportunity to invest in establishing a commercial relationship with an alternative client. Double ouch!

Each story is different. Everybody has to make their own judgement call. Last year, I went beyond my usual parameters. The result has been an exceptionally commercially exciting adventure for both sides.

Before every additional meeting with a potential clients, you have a right and a duty to ask yourself: Is this meeting truly of value and is there a realistic chance that it will bring me some revenue?

3 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

Spring 2011 in Israel and it’s exit time. Everybody’s doing it.

Conduit may be sold for a billion bucks – not bad for 6 years work.
Align Technologies bought out Cadent’s dental imaging capability for US$190 million
Merck is investing heavily in establishing a Biomed incubator in Israel.

And so the list goes on. The happy days theme can also be found in the stock exchange, almost back to its peak by the end of March. As for unemployment, it’s at a near 3 year low.

So where’s the “but”?

Any first year student of economics learns that you can only use the rate of interest to tackle one problem at a time. However, Israel’s financial policy makers are facing two issues, each tugging in a different direction.

In the left corner, inflation is raising its head, being dragged along by a housing market that won’t stop bubbling. Prices have risen 4.2% in the past year and look like moving on up even more in the near future. April is usually a bad month. So, the Bank of Israel has moved to raise interest rates sharply, and quicker than expected.

On the other side of the ring are Israel’s exporters, crying out that a strong shekel is ruining profitability. The currency has already appreciated 2% in the past quarter and worse is expected. However, higher interest rates push up the price of the shekel against other currencies, leading to even lower profits. Ouch!

So what’s the way out? Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, has long since stopped relying on politicians to do the right thing. So, he has taken a step forward. As Avi Temkin observed:

The practical significance of the decision (to increase interest rates sharply) is that more interest rate hikes will come until the rate is higher than inflation expectations. Export profit margins and mortgage payers’ peace of mind are all subordinate objectives, if that, compared with what the central bank perceives as its primary mission.

A simple bit of responsible home economics. Shame that the finance minister has not found the courage to match this move for now.

30 March 2011

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Categories: Blog, Business, Israel

I have just returned from mentoring my latest client, a fast food shop with a wonderful local clientelle. And they have decided to join the 21st Century, looking to set up a website.

The reason is clear enough. Everybody is doing it; searching for ways to ramp up their unique virtual content or message in order to increase profits.

I recently tweeted the article by Sonia Simone: The Simple 5-Step Formula for Effective Online Content. The author asks a basic question – “What makes some content marketing succeed, while other writers work and work and never seem to get anywhere?”

And the answer is short and self-explanatory.

All of the “rules” of great content marketing come from one rule: put your audience first. It’s not about how much money you need to make with this launch, where you want to rank on Google, or what your cat had for breakfast this morning.

It’s about them — the readers, prospects, and customers — not you. (original emphasis)

Earlier this week I attended the latest event of the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum. Around a 100 people gathered to learn about the intricacies of social media from 5 experts in the field.

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg – Using Testimonials to make your Website Visitors Buy.
Mike Mintz – Facebook Advertising That Gets Attention for Your Business.
Hillel Porath – Generating Business Leads Using LinkedIn
Debi Zylbermann – Bringing Traffic to your Website with Link Building.
Charlie Kalech – Defining a Keyword Search Strategy for Your Site

Read their blogs. Check them up on google. All really whiz people with many credits to their names. If they had one message, which they could echo together, it concerned the customer, the client, the one who is being searched for and targeted.

In other words, it is not just a case of plugging info that you find thrilling, If you want to find this person – a.k.a. a new source of revenue – via a web presence or Facebook or whatever, you have to understand what makes them tick and then write something on their terms.

The customer determines the size and colour of the crown jewels for the monarch.

27 March 2011

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Categories: Business

Many of us went through school petrified of getting things wrong. Just do something, anything. Make some clever mark, so it will look as if you have tried. Then they will ignore you and “pick” on another child.

As a business mentor, the more I mention this syndrome to clients, the more people that nod their heads back to me in agreement. Yup, “me too”, they are saying. Been there and done that.

And the relevance of all this several decades on? These same individuals have grown up and many have done well at university. They have opened a business. They can point to some form of success, socially and commercially. And they have all one other thing in common – they have “got stuck”.

Whatever the business, they are all stuck with the same thing. They find any excuse to move forward. Some will come up all kinds of spin to explain away lack of progress, but it remains spin. Procrastination rules OK.

And the reason for the excess of hot air and the lower revenue levels is that they were taught not to make a mistake. It will be bad. You may get punished. You will get a low mark. Your contemporaries will not like you. Crawl into your shell or hide the problem.

The real problem is that these same teachers forgot to explain that you can also learn so much from your mistakes, and then move on to better things. It may sound strange but by getting things wrong, you can then begin to make more money.

It is the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review, which highlights all of these themes in detail. The magazine effectively gives”a stamp of approval to failure”.

Failure. We’re hypocrites about it. Go online, and you’ll find scores of pleasant aphorisms celebrating the inevitability of failure and the importance of learning from it. But in real life — and in real companies — failure is anathema. We’re afraid of it. We avoid it. We penalize it. It’s time for managers to get past platitudes and confront the F-word taboo

“Failure is inevitable and out of our control. But we can choose to understand it, to learn from it, and to recover from it.” Why did nobody talk to me like that when I was growing up.

25 March 2011

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Categories: Business

Managing your time – how many of us think we are pretty good at it? And how many of us are deceiving ourselves?

Three times this week, I met up with good educated people, offering quality services to clients. And each one was flunking on their own time management. Ask why, and the excuses came tumbling out:

Not important
Get by anyway
Too afraid to think about it
Etc

And as the business mentor, it was my job to “prick their cosy bubble”.

Let’s face it, many of us procrastinate. We are afraid of putting out price proposals in case we bid too low. We don’t call back prospective clients, just in case they say no. We delay completing tasks, because we are afraid of criticism. And sometimes, we are just down right lazy.

We all have that job at work (or at home) that we want to put off. So how do you get around all that twisted thinking?

I have started to introduce to my clients a very crude method. I get them to write out a very large sign with the word “MONEY” printed in bold letters. Why?

Whenever you do not get something done in time, you are giving up on an opportunity to increase your income. That money has the same value as a treat for your partner, a holiday with your kids, some home renovations, or whatever.

And in a small business, if you blow that opportunity, there is rarely somebody else to pick up the slack. The income has gone, and you are left with finding silly excuses as to why you are not as successful as you could be.

If and when my clients flap around in the future, I assume that they will be looking at that sign and feeling the true cost of their nonsense.

16 March 2011

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Categories: Business

Two clients – two case studies – two bagfuls of pain

Wearing my hat as business mentor, I listened to a client explain how she had been delighted to be employed by a large American set up. Just the right job for an enthusiastic college graduate. And after all, they would train her, hold her hand at the beginning in important meetings, and develop a career path together.

Was it naivety, or just a fear to verify the facts in advance? Because at it happened, she came to realise that she had been employed as a stop-gap measure. She lasted barely a year in the place.

But here’s the catch. Until recently, she continued to blame herself for not making it work out.

Situation number two is more delicate. It is a tale of two sides who really want to broker a deal together. No doubt – the will is in place. However,one or the other assumes that the second person will act in a manner that, in reality, is not going to happen. The result? Numerous e-mail and or phone calls via third parties just to stay in the same place. All very agonising for both sides.

Why? These are classic cases of missed expectations. If people were to ask a couple of direct, pertinent questions – firmly not rudely – then life would be much simpler.

The latest posting by Dr Robert Brooks relates to this issue: It is advisable to spend 5 minutes and real the whole blog. In brief, Brooks observes how many of us are fooled into false expectations, both privately and in commerce. The antidote is often an extra bit of “self-compassion”, which many parents and teachers are not familiar with!

Brooks concludes:

…….you might wish to keep in mind the words of the late Willie Stargell, a Hall of Fame baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I have quoted his words in previous writings. When asked after his retirement what he thought baseball had taught him, he replied:

Baseball taught me what I need to survive in the world. The game has given the patience to learn and succeed. As much as I was known for my homers, I was also known for my strikeouts. The strikeout is the ultimate failure. I struck out 1,936 times. But I’m proud of my strikeouts, for a feel that to succeed one must first fail; the more you fail the more you learn about succeeding. The person who has never tried and failed will never succeed. Each time I walked away from the plate after a strikeout, I learned something, whether it was about my swing, not seeing the ball, the pitcher, or the weather conditions, I learned something. My success is the product of the knowledge extracted from my failures.

Stargell certainly possessed a healthy, self-compassionate attitude towards mistakes (strikeouts). When he came to bat he expected to do well, but also realized that when he did not, he would avoid a self-defeating, harsh assessment. Instead, his plan was to learn from the setback so that his next at bat might prove more successful. Although it is difficult to change negative scripts, to not do so is to continue to lead a life of disappointment, anxiety, and unhappiness rather than one filled with optimism and resilience.

15 March 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

I have spent the past 2 months encouraging a client of mine to see “Social Network”, a fascinating product of Holywood, which portrays the rise to fame of Facebook.

Clearly, I am in good company. Niklas Zennstrom, a co-founder of Skype, has written an excellent critique of the film. He correctly ignores parts where the director may have possibly assumed facts for the sake of the box office.

Instead Zennstrom observes that start ups strive to be “category winners”, and the entrepreneur is often desperate for success at almost any price.

There are implications here not only for start-ups, but also for the venture-capital firms that back them. Indeed, we founded Atomico, our firm, to address precisely these kinds of issues, seeing that new technology would disrupt not just consumer markets, but the venture-capital industry itself. For example, traditional financing rounds, when companies seek fresh capital at different stages of development, start to blur when start-ups grow so fast, and potentially require more capital at short notice.

This can create a situation where venture capital firms, not just entrepreneurs, struggle to keep up. Both need to think ahead if they want to create category winners, and understand that it’s essential to aim for this goal.

Back to my client, and I am seeking a way to urge them to realise that what they have is unique. Getting it to the market will have to be a fast process, ensuring that the competition is left with no choice but to give up. But unlike Zuckerberg – and the film’s creators – they don’t get it.

In comparison, I want to praise a lovely lady, Sonya Davidson. Now Sonya has discovered an amazing technology to create electricity out of hydrogen. With around US$50,000, she has put together a prototype and got herself in front of a key investors audience in New York – all within a year.

What next for Sonya? Simple: get the job done, and do so quickly – understanding all the time what is core value and what is not. As I said to her this morning, the final product would (unfortunately) have been a winner in Japan this week.

11 March 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinian Society

2011 and the centenary of International Womens’ Day had a special meaning. From Algeria to Syria and down through the Saudi peninsular, the female gender has been on the streets in male-dominated societies. It is their desire for greater freedom of expression that has one of the main fear factors, haunting the President of Iran, the Sultan of Oman and the rest of them.

The Prime Minister of Israel is also known for caving in under pressure. Despite the protestations of the Finance Ministry, Bibi Netanyahu raised the minimum wage barrier – immediately deflating cries of protest from women voters. He still has to appease social workers, whose conditions are a national disgrace.

You can surf the net and find all kinds of articles criticising or supporting the way Israel supports women in society. Most these – Guardian (against), Haneen Zoabi (against) and the Jerusalem Post (Israeli newspaper) – come from established positions.

So, what makes Israeli women different from their counterparts in the region.

Is it that they can lead political parties openly, and even become Prime Minister as Golda Meir did?
Is it that in a society with a heavy military influence, they can readily be accepted as army officers?
Does the open opportunity for women to play sport rank as a factor?
Or how about the increasing openings for females from minority sectors, such as the Bedouin community?
And what about the achievements of Israeli women in science and research, which are increasingly recognised by the international academic community?

The answer is probably none of the above…as individual issues. It is the sum of the whole that counts.

Just this past week:-

A female VP of a Tel Aviv media group called to pressure me to move on an issue.
I have helped a lady in the ultra orthodox community to sell a business in order to expand in to another area.
A young mother is asking me to help her business diverse, having bought it for very little and converted it into a successful commercial identity.

All of these people have opportunities to control their lives as women, and are seizing the moment. They are not alone.

None of this is to deny that sexism and violence is still prevalent in some sectors of society – as the demoralising trial of ex-President Katsav demonstrated.

That said, the next hundred years of International Women’s Day in Israel should continue be a triumph to what and how others in neighbouring countries can aspire to.

5 March 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School has long been a favourite book of mine. Many of us know of the likes of Steve Jobs who never graduated from university, and went on amazing commercial success. The question is why?

I have just read about 3 highly talented Israelis, who have never bothered to set foot inside a campus. And yet their achievements are what most of us dream about.

Rami Levy is in his 50s. A native of Jerusalem, he opened a small grocery shop in a run down market in 1976. Today, his empire is quoted on the Tel Aviv Stock Market with dozens of retail outlets. The key to his success? “I learnt from experience to place corn flakes at the entrance to shops, because that way shoppers can buy something immediately for their kids and feel good”.

Fox-Wizel clothing chain has a very simple policy: Pile ’em high and sell ’em cheap. The result is hundreds of stores around the world. The owner is often one of the first to arrive at the office in the morning and one of the last to leave at night. He employs loads of graduates, yet often feels that he has got to the solution before they have.

And when he meets people from abroad, he is quick to apologise for his poor English, because he spent much of his school years on the beach.

Daniel Gross is barely 20 years old. About to enlist in the Israeli army, he took up an opportunity in California to create some software. Seizing the chance with all his limbs, he is already worth US$5 million and looking to take on Google.

I could mention Amir, who following some renovations at his mother’s place, is now sought after by international DIY chiefs. Still not 30, I spoke to him this week and he has no intention just now of returning to university. How about the owner of Shilav, with 50 outlets selling goods for babies? The founder started out as a tear away at an absorption centre, where few gave him any hope.

And the list goes on. But what do these people, clear lacking an academic background have in common that enables them to reach such achievemens?

Going back to Steve Jobs, he quoted 3 rules of thumb:

“You have to trust in something”, which will allow you to connect the dots
“Got to find what you love”
“Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition”

Add in some hard work, and maybe you will find that you don’t need to go to Harvard either.

25 February 2011

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Categories: Blog, Business, Israel

“Help! I have no idea how to make a presentation.”

As a mentor, you hear it all the time: What should I say? Can I read from my slides? What if they don’t like my ideas? I am no good at fancy graphics? I think my printer is on the blink!

Any excuse, which will prevent the petrified presenter from going out and doing the one thing they are good at – telling the potential audience just why they have a cracking idea that deserves a chance! Ironic.

There is no shortage of advice on the web. Have a look at “5 tips for a great presentation“. In a nutshell, it is all about telling a concise and enticing story. And like everything else in life, in order to do it well, you have to practice, repeatedly.

Simple, no?

I used to be part of the frightened crowd. Then, about 15 years ago, I saw my boss at the time give a talk on a subject about which he knew nothing, but I was well-informed. While he missed out key points, but the audience found it fascinating. And I had to ask myself what made him such a hit.

He had stuck to his theme, had some clear slides, and spoke fluently – at least as if he knew what he was talking about. Simple? Yes.

This week, I had the good fortune to attend a seminar in Tel Aviv, cohosted by Profeel. This is a new outfit, which has brought together a group of business mentors from different backgrounds. (I declare that I am one of them). There was guest talk from “Debate Company“, which has a track record in helping executives deliver their message.

The discussion revolved around the importance of counter-intuitive messages and how to project them. It is not just good enough to talk to your audience. You need to be convincing. But how?

The short video on Debate’s website provides an interesting check list:

Be brief
Share your experience and knowledge
Think how your presentation will help lead the audience to the outcome you want
Look for impact

I invite to view the other short clips, probably the most practical offering I have yet seen on the subject.

And here’s a well-known secret. In order to deliver a good presentation may take a heck of a lot of preparation, but we are all capable of getting it right.

21 February 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

A 7.8% growth rate certainly sounds like an impressive figure, and something to smile about….However anyone who analyses all the components of growth in the economy, must reach the conclusion that we are on the way to something far from happy, and that there is more than one reason for any finance minister to express concern, rather than boast of a situation that recalls economies that have recently gone swiftly from boom to bust. The picture that emerges from the growth figures released today is not one of a healthy economy, but the picture of Spain in 2007.

Thus wrote Avi Temkin a few days ago, one of Israel’s leading economic commentators. And with some degree of ironic timing, Israel’s President, Shimon Peres, is commencing today a state visit of Madrid.

Temkin may have a point. Factor in world food prices on the up and up. And instability in the Arab world is almost certainly going to see a rise in oil prices, which will have negative economic implications globally. However wonderful the statistics, the reality may be otherwise.

But Israel is not alone in facing an uncertain future.

The US stock market has doubled, but so what? As somebody commented:

The reason is money printing, period. Essentially what is happening right now is the Fed is printing money and its being handed out to people to spend and buy assets. That has propped up asset prices. When the money printing ends, what is left are horrible fundamentals of a US economy with a decent probability of collapse.

If these analysts are accurate, it will not just be Israel that is in a pickle. If America were to sneeze, just imagine what kind of cold Europe would catch, with Britain and others still feeling fragile after the credit crunch.

By the end of this week, we will know if the Bank of Israel will raise interests rates sharply. This will be one of the first signs of central authorities beginning to act in order to prevent an all-too-familar mess.

19 February 2011

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Categories: Business

It has happened to me a few times over the past year. In one situation or another, I have placed an opportunity before a company, where they have been encouraged to spend a relatively small amount of money in order to ramp up sales or secure an investment. Eventually, the CEO has ducked out, often claiming that they could not see the added value.

On face value, that is fair enough. Putting it bluntly, the CEO asks: If I put in $1, will I get $2 back reasonably quickly and painlessly?

Today, risk models are all over the place. The Financial Times newspaper is sponsoring a series of events on the subject. Software is around in quantity for the small or large enterprise to help with the decision-making.

However, there is another element at play in these thought processes – the emotional layer. I have frequently written how some people are too afraid to make a decision. I have discussed the “what if” scenarios that get in the way of making a clearly defined decision. So many of us are expecting the worse for no logical reason.

A similar factor is a burning desire not “to let people down”. How many managers are so caught up and pegged down with former scenarios, where they perceive that they have failed others. Whether they have judged correctly or not what did actually happen, that perspective is hindering how they should proceed currently.

It seems that leaders who “pay attention to how others influence their emotional states” are also the ones who reject unnecessary risk, yet know when is the right time to accelerate beyond commonly accepted boundaries. We find these leaders are able to take responsibility for grim situations, and are willing to risk their status and comfort in order to stand behind bold, new ideas that will keep their companies flourishing.

With hindsight, could I have handled my potential clients differently? Maybe. On the other hand, I cannot research all the external influences in advance.

In parallel, for all their bravado as CEOs or senior management, it is interesting how relatively few people in business make a decision without understanding that their thought process is not always based on commercial factors alone. And this ignorance or lack of control is costing a lot of people a lot of money.

18 February 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

In the past year, Israel’s economy has managed to defy both the global economic crisis and the worsening security situation, posting an annualized 4.4 percent growth in the last quarter…

Impressive. Now here’s, something even more amazing. That quote comes from Newsweek, almost exactly one year ago, in early March 2010. As for the economy at the end of 2010 itself, note the similarity in the description.

Israel’s GDP rose at an unprecedented pace of 7.8%,on an annualized, seasonally adjusted basis, in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported today. GDP rose by an annualized 5.4% in the second half of last year, after rising 5% in the first half, and 3.4% in the second half of 2009.

Direct investments continue. Kaltura, a developer of open source online video platform, has just secured US$20 million. The government is ploughing around US$100 million into incubator companies. Everything is coming up roses …but there again, maybe not quite.

At the beginning of the week, Bibi Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, was forced to make a series of tax concessions. Petrol, water, transportation will all come down in price. So far, the budget framework, which was passed only recently, has not been too disjointed. But it is clear that the government will have to make cut backs in order to finance the tax changes.

However, it is a mute point if the threat of strike in the public sector will force more concessions from the politicians over the coming month. Talks with the Histadrut, the trades unions, are not progressing smoothly.

And this pressure group has a point. The price rises hit the lower and middle classes. Tax comparisons continue to show how the latter in particular are being squeezed on all sides.

And that is not all. Let’s start with something simple like inflation. The official stats point to price stability, well within the limit set by the Treasury of under 3%. However, given the rise of oil prices, commodity prices in general and poor crop growing weather, prices are on the move upwards.

These factors will only encourage the wonderfully cautious Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, to raise interest rates. Correct he may be, but this will impact negatively on future economic growth. More squeezing of the weaker sectors.

Where next? Growth will probably continue, but not necessarily at the same pace. Will the politicians care? The fear is that they will bury their heads and gloat about wonderful economic stats.

17 February 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

The Economist magazine has made great efforts to predict which Arab country might be the next to fall after Egypt. Syria? An emirate?

More intriguing is the “Shoe Thrower’s index, which aims to predict where the scent of jasmine may spread next.” Simply using factors such as youth ratios, unemployment and corruption, the Economist has attempted to which autocracy could go next, assuming that the bug spreads.

It is interesting how Egypt, Libya and Yemen figured at the top. There again, Tunisia is placed in the middle, close to Jordan, another potential time bomb, and Bahrain below that. So, the index makes for a cute exercise, but it is not complete.

Marxists and co are having a field day. Do the violent street protests signify a return of proletarian revolutions, with the proverbial spark spreading virally via facebook? A man burns himself in a backwater town in Tunisia and within a month, billions of petrodollars become meaningless, as leaders in Iran, Bahrain and Algeria hurry to learn the art of damage limitation.

So where are the protests from the Palestinians? Without claiming that Israel is the perfect country – who is? – it is all very quiet inside the Ramallah/Gaza axis. True, Abu Mazen’s cabinet reshuffle is seen as a defensive response rather than a move from strength. And the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights issued a statement on 6th February:

concerned by the restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly by Palestinian security agencies, which have banned peaceful protests by Palestinian citizens in solidarity with the people of Tunisia and Egypt. On 2/2/2011, the Palestinian police banned a peaceful protest which was organized in the city of Ramallah and arrested a number of journalists and participants for a short period of time.

In Gaza, it is possible that the situation is still too raw for change. “The new wealthy class — many associated with Hamas — as well as established capital owners are concerned about keeping their money inside Gaza, preferring to move it abroad….even to Israel”

As for the Jewish State, the Netanyahu government has backed down on some price rises. There may be a general strike in two weeks. But there are no mass demos, coloured by riot police. Why?

Dr Robert Brookes is leading blogger in the field of psychology. With amazing irony, his latest monthly posting is titled “we all want out voices to be heard“. He concludes that: –

Self-determination and autonomy are basic needs that exist throughout our lives, …… Intrinsic motivation and democratic ideals flourish when environments encourage and support one’s voice being heard. In all of our institutions, whether in schools or in various organizations or businesses, those in leadership positions must ask if all members truly believe their opinion is respected and that they are afforded a certain level of choice and autonomy. This kind of respect does not imply a loss of authority on the part of leadership, but rather the cultivation of a climate in which leadership will be honored for validating the input and voices of others.

For all its faults, and despite of a very real existential threat for all of its modern history, Israel has a free press, freedom of worship and a secret vote for all. The country is at the heart of the industrial revolution in telecommunications, with over 50 companies at this week’s World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. Open source tech and apps are everywhere, near impossible to block.

I know that many, possibly even most, of these demonstrators in the Arab World do not like Israel. But for all their hatred, are they telling their leaders that they are actually envious of the way the Holy Land is ruled? Israel is a democracy.

And maybe there is another message here for world leaders. They have often thrown shoes at Israel, claiming that Jerusalem’s intransigence on the Palestinian issue is the core of instability in the Middle East. The Economist’s index is telling you that it is time for a review of your mindset.

11 February 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

“The rules of the game have been rewritten” exclaimed Luke Johnson in the Financial Times.

The world of business has changed dramatically since the 1980s, and the rules of the game have been radically rewritten……An important factor has been the all-pervading influence of the internet. ……Various consequences flow from this digital revolution that affect the very nature of a business. It means you can test an idea quickly and cheaply and, if the trial does not work, you can reinvent it or just shut it down.

24 hours after reading this, I found myself mentoring a very talented young lady, who intends to take her hightech company global within 24 months. When I say talented, she has had a great career to date in the arts. As for her firm, despite a struggling website, they have generated some initial income.

This lady is very serious. She has already started and sold a couple of small (non hightech) enterprises. Like Master Zuckerberg, and she is only a few years older than him, she has hit on a simple idea. And it seems that nobody is in that space, yet.

What is she lacking? A little bit of initial guidance and a small amount of financial backing to support site design and promotion. Initiative and determination, what you are not taught at Harvard Business School, are in no short supply.

Luke Johnson referred to Mark Zuckerberg, as an example of somebody, who “can create a 500m-strong community with Facebook – employing just 1,000 staff. Facebook is also an example of how investors are willing – in certain circumstances – to back projects that have minimal revenue, following a belief that a lucrative business model will emerge in due course, as it did with Google.”

I often set homework, and this time I pronounced a two hour assignment. I told her to watch the film, Social Network.

10 February 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

Israel’s Ministry of Tourism will proudly tell anybody willing to listen that 2010 was a record year. 3 million overseas visitors were recorded for the first time ever.

As for January 2011, the figures were 17% up on last year, as around a quarter of a million guests entered the holy land.

In a country of 7.5 million people, these stats are significant. Estimates place around 100,000 people are employed directly from tourism, with another double that employed indirectly. Altogether, this is worth around 33 billion shekels or $9 billion.

This week’s annual International Mediterranean Tourism Market exhibition has been larger than ever. Over 300 participants from 35 countries have turned up. All very encouraging, but so what’s in this for a potential investor?

The answer is quite a lot.

First, infrastructure: New hotels are required in most of the major centres, including Jerusalem and the airport. The Tourism Ministry has publicly expressed its commitment to a new port complex in Ashkelon, the setting up of several golf courses, the expansion of the filming industry, and much more.

The Israeli government has not been slow in coming to the party, providing tax incentives. Eilat, an all-year-round beach resort, has benefited from a VAT-free zone for nearly two decades. As Leon Harris, a noted local tax expert points out,

Tourism enterprises may enjoy company tax rates ranging from 10% to 24% for seven to 10 years. The higher the level of foreign investment, the lower the tax rate…..

Bottom line: Israel has a reputation for a booming stock market and a great high tech basis. Now, the tourism industry offers an additional exciting opportunity for foreign direct investment.

8 February 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

Dov Gordon is one of Israel’s leading consultants in the disciplins of management and strategy.

His workshop this week in Jerusalem focused on creating a “selling system to bring you all the customers you want”. A 5-stage approach, I was particularly interested in the middle element. “The potential customer must feel that you, the vendor, understand their needs and wants”.

There is nothing new in this psychological element. Dov’s added value was to sum up the issue in a concise manner, clearly driving home its place in the selling cycle. From there, Dov encourages the seminar participant to evaluate the tools and tactics required to achieve this vital sub-goal.

OK, but why do so many sales people ignore this part of the game?

As I write, it is Tuesday morning. However, I have already encountered two clients this week, who in effect are happy to wait for clients to come to them. Word-of-mouth, or a website hit, or otherwise will drive the next pay check through the door. In other words, the “pre nuptial chit chat” will be a brief formality, hopefully.

It does not take me too long to show them the fallacy involved in this thought process. What is of more concern is how they arrived at that juncture.

One theme that remains prevalent in many of my discussions is that of “fear”. What happens if I get it wrong? Heidi Grant Halvorson describes this as the “do good” impulse outbidding the desire to “do better”.

The irony is that all this pressure to be good results in many more mistakes, and far inferior performance, than would a focus on getting better.

And in a sales situation? There are people, who will find any excuse not to look for clients. Surely it would be better to reel in the bait, maybe even try too hard, fail, but at least you will know for the next time.

You might even learn how to understand new clients that bit better.

3 February 2011

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Categories: Business

Why do CEOs and managers fear the “4 ifs” of succeeding? Why do they procrastinate in order not to reach their vision? What holds them up?

I am a great fan of the group Coldplay. “What if” is a track that many of our intrepid managers and strategists may be familiar with.

What if there was no light
Nothing wrong, nothing right
What if there was no time
And no reason, or rhyme
What if you should decide
That you don’t want me there by your side
That you don’t want me there in your life

And so the song continues. What if only bad things happen.

Meet a client of mine. Clever, talented, modest and at the beginning of an exciting commercial venture. This week, we sketched the framework of a simple marketing scheme. He outlined what he needed to do and when. There was room for optimism that he will end up with an upsurge of orders.

Fine, I am thinking, and then I realise that he is silent. I wait for a response. More silence. I enquire what is the issue. And sheepishly out oozes the pain:

“What if I receive too many orders”?

How about jumping for joy, I wanted to respond, but my man was clearly troubled. Even so, I was not feeling generous. So, I threw the question back at him: “What if?”, and shrugged my shoulders.

Finally, after a few more moments of reflection, he admitted that maybe it would be a good thing. This was swiftly followed by another excuse as to how he may not have enough time to deal with all the new customers.

Ever the cruel mentor, I asked “what if you reorganised your day in order to give your family a higher income”? A further extended silence followed.

This is a story I hear repeated several times a month in alternative guises. I speak to colleagues, who have similar incidents to recall. Whatever the country, the age, the area of commerce, people take on career paths or set up businesses, but are actually too afraid to move ahead towards their dreams.

Why? I have yet to work out if this is a generational issue or we are all infected by an internet bug. We are great at handing out advice, but not applying it to ourselves.

For the record – pun intended, Coldplay also provides our suffering CEOs with a simple solution.

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that’s the risk that you take

Oooooooh thats right
Let’s take a breath, jump over the side
Oooooooh that’s right
You know that darkness always turns into light
Oooooooh that’s right

31 January 2011

1 Comment

Categories: Business

For those of you interested in business planning and strategy, I have just come across an informative, inspiring case study.

What is a vision? It’s not as mystical or out there as it sounds. A vision, quite simply, is a picture of what success will be at a particular time in the future.

Ari Weinzweig set up a deli in the early1980s. Today, he employs 500 people in 8 different sectors, drawing in nearly $40million annually. And his recipe for success?

Complete the visioning process, and you’ll have a clearly articulated end for your organization—something that won’t change every time the market or your mood shifts.

Weinzweig’s description of how it takes a mere 30 minutes to complete most of the vision-making process is close to bizarre. So, why can’t most people follow his tried and consistent repeated recipe for success?

A few months ago, I helped to structure a deal, which stretched across continents. The contract was designed to secure European market entry over a few months for a small enterprise. Cool…..except that the CEO of the vendor in question did not see immediate results.

Our CEO felt that time and money was being invested, but dollars were not rolling into the bank account. At what was estimated to be half way into the set up process, our CEO pulled out.

It was their reasoning that annoyed me, which seemed polite but not very convincing. So, I prodded a bit to find out the whole story. Reading between the lines, you could almost hear the hidden shouts of anxiety, such as: –

If I do not succeed, what will people say?
If I succeed, will I keep control?
If I only partially succeed, is that really good enough?

I felt that the top executive was trying to convince themself: “If I put off important decisions, I may retract from my vision, but my life will become better?”

We can call this thought process the “four ifs of self-perpetuating doom”. Convenient. Pride reestablished. No pain. And the brain is at ease.

Minor problem – no gain. Which side of the mind is our CEO listening to?

And I see this time and again in mentoring. Earlier this week, I sat down with the owner of a small leisure business. “What should I do next?” I was asked several times by an anxious client and owner of a cash flow crisis.

By the end of the session, the client had made some phone calls, which she had put off for some days. She had created the structure for a new marketing team. And she had called one of her own customers.

She even looked pleased with her efforts. After all, she had made a major stride towards obtaining her goals.

Why had she not done all these things prior to our meet up? In fact, she had tried to introduce other tasks, which would have put off these decisions, just like our CEO.

I can’t say for sure. But I do know that when she first realised what she had to do, there was an element of fear on her face. The “four ifs” were back again.

27 January 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

From the top business schools to the extremes of the internet, we are flooded with material about what makes a good leader.

Be open. Listen. Appreciate those around you. Develop an ability to make decisions under stress. Hope you have the right biological make up? And who knows what else.

And every journalist loves it when a leading personality refers to ” a crisis of leadership“. I typed the phrase into google, and the first page brought responses from Eire, the USA, Nepal and Japan. I mean, would we know what a good leader is even if they were to walk into the room right now?

Pilots in the Israeli air force are considered a very elite sort of group; physically strong, educationally bright, with an ability to perform well under adverse conditions. They are never photographed face-on for security reasons. So, they don’t need any extra leadership skills, do they?

So, it came as a surprise to read in the Hebrew press of a new approach to training for the “lead” plane or helicopter in a squadron. The idea is to allow the pilot to act as the chief-of-the -airforce. It is a concept by a multipurpose team, consisting of former pilots, psychologists, sociologists and others.

Is that an anathema? Not necessarily. What happens if pilot is able to use all, but all , the resources at his disposal? That means exploiting full knowledge of himself, of his plane, of his surroundings, and even the control tower.

A helicopter pilot in the article described a battle scene from Lebanon, when a discussion broke out whether or not to carry out a rescue mission. Meanwhile on the ground, the lives of soldiers were at risk, but there was no easy flight path in or out. The pilot took responsibility for the situation, assessing all known factors. (The mission was a success).

Not everyone can do that in every situation. However, there is a clear lesson from this study.

Empowering your colleagues (senior and junior) to learn and to initiate, through clear established lines of guidance, can lead to effective results for organisations.

Pages

How much time to invest in a potential client?

Israel’s economy: moving forward with caution

Failure itself or the fear of failure – what costs us more?

The cost of poor time management to a small business

What is a realistic expectation in business?

Women in revolt, Israel and the Arab world

What they don’t teach you at Harvard – revisted

I hate preparing power point presentations

From boom to bust in 2011?

Business risk – financial or emotional equation?

Israel’s economy – going well, but for who?

Arab unrest: The shoe thrower’s index and Israel

Israel’s tourist industry – investment opportunity

What stops us from selling more….

When CEOs are too scared to fulfill their own vision – part 2

When CEOs are too scared to fulfill their own vision – part 1

Leadership skills – fascinating case study from Israel

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