i.c.stars is a Chicago-based, non-profit organization that helps adults with a high school diploma or GED become future business and technology leaders. i.c.stars’ iOpener event will examine what jobs are being created that didn’t exist three years ago and how companies are using innovation to recruit.

The iOpener event is facilitated by IDEA BLENDER™ – a social solution development company that connects companies, academic institutions, public sector and non-profit organizations with a global network of some of the brightest thinkers solving some of the toughest business challenges.

Perry, a human capital innovation expert, will explore the concept of “innovative DNA” and what it means for organizations seeking to attract and retain employees for the future workforce.

“The workforce of tomorrow is rapidly changing. That means how we create job descriptions, define roles and hire folks is also changing,” said Perry. “Those who understand this and adopt new approaches and processes will have a distinct, competitive advantage.  i.c.stars’ iOpener event is a great example of the kind of dialogue that needs to happen across business, education, non-profit and government.”

Other participants in the iOpener event include:

• Anthony Abbattista, VP, Technology Solutions, Allstate
• Ellen Barry, Former CIO, MPEA
• David Baruch, CIO, Hewitt
• Hardik Bhatt, CIO, City of Chicago
• Marcus Cobb, President, Mark Wayne Intimates
• Timothy Deane Mather, CIO, PMA Consultants LLC,
• Kevin Denney, BettrAt
• Ed Earl, CIO, LittelFuse
• Steven Elliot, Principal, Technology & Operations, Bank of America
• Dan Fallon, CTO, Navistar
• Jim Fehr, Vice President, StartSampling Inc
• Jolanta Gal, CIO, Feeding America
• Stephen Galvan, Principle, Galvan & Associates
• Mark Griesbaum, President, TCS Online System
• Beth Hall, CAO, Abelson Taylor
• Richard Komakio, Co-Founder, The Lawyer Market
• Robert E. Kress , Sr. Director of IT Business Operations,Accenture
• Michael Kritzman, School Town
• Ron Markham, CIO, SPSS
• Patrick Moroney, President, The Barnier Group
• Peter Nagle, CIO, Information Technology, Mesirow Financial
• Tiger Nigamatzyanov, Siegel Construction Inc.
• Mike O’Connell, Manager, IT Business Planning, Integrys
• Michael Ouska, CIO, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
• Dan Paganelis, Sr. Manager, Technical Strategy & Analysis,Redbox
• Coley Perry, VP, Get Me the Right Job!
• Lance Pressl, Foundation President, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
• Allison Radecki, SVP & CIO, GS1 US
• Girish Rao, VP of IT, Career Education Corporation
• Dan Roberts, Sidetax
• Kevin Rooney , CIO/CSO, American Access Casualty
• Avelo Roy, Co-Founder, eMotion
• Victor Sanchez, Urki.me
• Kevin Sapp, Senior Vice President, Mesirow
• Bruce Schinelli, VP IT and CIO, TTX
• Stephen Speidel Global CIO, Insight
• James Stoynoff, President, Synthesis Solutions, LLC
• Ed Suda, Co-Founder, eMotion
• Guy Thier, CIO, Bally Total Fitness
• Patricia Todus, Associate VP & Deputy CIO, Northwestern University
• Kathie Topel, VP, IMPACTinsights, Part of SPR Companies
• Lac Van Tran, CIO, Rush University Medical Center
• James Vanek, CTO, Alternative and Quantitative Investments, UBS Global Asset Management
• Barbara Zeller, Assistant VP, IT, Nicor Inc
• Jason Zielke, Associate, Invention Bridge

ABOUT ICSTARS

Formed in 1999, i.c.stars is a non-profit organization in Chicago for adults with a high school diploma or GED. Using project-based learning and full-immersion teaching, i.c.stars provides opportunities to develop skills in business and technology. i.c.stars’ goal is to develop 1,000 Community Leaders by 2020. i.c.stars places 100 percent of its qualified graduates in jobs with average annual earnings of $35,700. Before completing the program, participants typically earn around $16,600. In 2006, i.c.stars partnered with DePaul University to ensure that i.c.stars alumni are admitted to the CDM and SNL Bachelors of Science program. Learn more on the web at i.c.stars.org.

ABOUT GETMETHERIGHTJOB

Getmetherightjob.com offers employers an inexpensive and revolutionary way to reduce the cost and the pain of finding, qualifying, interviewing and hiring great IT talent and contractors. As an employee advocate, the Company helps candidates successfully interview employer profiles, in depth information about the hiring manager, competency testing, links to the employer’s blog/news and a complete background on the hiring organization. GetMeTheRightJob also guarantees candidate satisfaction with an industry leading SLA http://getmetherightjob.com/docs/sla/.

This ties-in to the last discussion about “design thinking”.  When you approach your selling effort as a product development process you can learn much more about what is happening.  If you elicit feedback from your market & employees and understand your competition there is a much higher succes rate in building something that is sustainable and repeatable other than a continuous cycle of hiring and firing salespeople.  If you were to step back from the day-to-day and really examine what you are doing, you might find things are very different than they seem. 

Here are a list of things to look for:

1.  Do you know who you are selling too?  Do you have clean data for them?  Do you have a process to manage data collection, cleaning and communication?  Do you have a collaborative technology platform for the data?  

2.  Do you know how to be “useful” in the selling process?  Do you know what “job” you do for your clients?

3.  Do you have a big idea?  (For instance if you sell services you probably say something like this… “We have a methodology, we hire the best people, we have lots of customer references, etc…)  WHO CARES?  Everybody says this.  Come up with a big idea!

4.  Does everyone on your sales team operate at 100% of quota or more?

5.  Have you tried to buy “appointments” or “leads” with little or no success?

6.  Do you print a lot of “brochures” and create lots of PPT’s?

7.  Do you ask your sales team members to do too many jobs?   Prospect, Help Marketing, Find Data, Cold Call, Trade-Shows, Write Proposals, Manage Partnerships, Close Deals, Support Delivery, Account Manage, Grow the Account, Pick-Up Donuts for the office, etc…

8.  Do you execute “something” every month or better yet every week as part of your demand generation process?

9.  Do you use the web as part of your demand generation process?  Not just a request form but strategically using your site, social media, SEO, useful content, video and other things to drive the demand generation engine.

10.  Is finding more customers and more revenue really important to you?  What if you stayed flat?  What would happen then?  What if you hire and fire in a six month cycle again?

IF you can ask and begin to answer these questions you can start designing an efficient, scalable and repeatable sales process.  You can also begin to understand the roles of the people in the process and start hiring the right people for the right job with the highest likelihood of success.

Don’t hire this guy if you can help it!  Even if he is family…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bECV_yF_I0w

About TEDx

In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDx[name], where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxNaperville, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
TEDxNaperville is a local, self-organized event modeled in the spirit of TED.

“Through TEDx, the TED organization has created a viral movement that allows great ideas to be spread – starting at a local level,” said Arthur Zards, founder and curator of TEDxNaperville.com

The March 25^th TEDxNaperville event includes the following speakers:

• Bryan Campen, new media associate at the Long Now Foundation
• Charlie Catlett CIO of the U.S Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory
• Dr. Robert Wolcott, the Executive Director of Kellogg Innovation Network and a founder/faculty Member, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Kellogg School of Management and Author: Grow From Within – Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Michael Kiefer, general manager of BrandProtect, outlines his vision for the future of art and music distribution,
• Geoff Rhyne, chef de Cuisine at SugarToad Restaurant and founder of Slow Food Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina
• Harold Clampitt who will share lessons learned, especially the confluence of disruptive technology, decision making and success
• Todd Flaming, a passionate proponent of rethinking design
• Douglas L. Sisterson, Operations Manager US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility.

Tickets are $25 and go on sale immediately at tedxnaperville.eventbrite.com. Seating is extremely limited. Interested parties can also visit www.tedxnaperville.com for complete speaker bios and the most up-to-date event and ticket information. After the event, from 5 to 6:30PM, there will be a cocktail reception with cash bar.

At 7PM, after the TEDxNaperville event, Geoff Rhyne, chef de cuisine at SugarToad restaurant has planned a private “chef’s choice” four-course meal with wine-pairing.  If you love good food and great conversation, don’t miss this private dinner. Space is extremely limited. The cost of this event is $112 per person and is payable online: http://tedxnapervilledinner.eventbrite.com

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

TEDGlobal 2010, “And Now the Good News,” will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK. TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 21-25, 2011, in Long Beach, California, with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California.

About the TEDx Naperville Sponsors
Arthur Zards, curator, host and chief organizer of TEDxNaperville is the  co-founder and President of XNet Information Systems -  a B2B ISP that offers clients secure, high availability Internet access and datacenter solutions.
TEDxNaperville executive producer Ben Bradley is founder of Macon Raine -  a B2B lead generation and public relations firm that uses agile marketing, selling and lead generation strategies to help companies find new customers.
Don & Kate Gingold of Gnu Ventures Company provide Internet Marketing Services and Website Lifecycle Management to small and medium sized businesses.   Gnu Ventures provided the TEDxNaperville website design.
 J & S Tech Designs: Jim Nagy and Susan Steele of J&S Tech Designs deliver powerful websites based on the Web Content Management system called DotNetNuke). J&S contributed the setup and provides the hosting for this site.
WebRocket Video creates targeted, authentic and personal stories for Business Marketing to advance your sales process. WebRocket contributed video production for the TEDxNaperville event.

These are the descriptions given to the people that may be the most valuable to your organization. These folks ask the stupid questions. They also ask why? They are willing to get on board with ideas and change, they offer lots of ideas themselves. They are usually very persuasive (ever think someone was trying to submarine you and your agenda by ganging up on you?) and people seem to magically gravitate to them and want to be around them and work with them.

So why is it that these people get moved around or out of an organization?

This happens because of poor leadership, poor strategy or a myriad of other reasons.  The list is long.   If I break it down in one of my personal terms… I think it simply means there is no “Change” process.  Without good leadership you will probably not have this anyway but even with a good leadership team often the communication process gets in the way and there is a break down. It does not matter if we are talking about a Fortune 100 organization or 3 guys in a garage, the philosophy and approach remain the same. 

There are things that can be done to understand and use a “change” process as an advantage.  It does not mean things change every 3 days,  it means you understand how to manage your organization in a way that makes it possible to uncover opportunity, risk, ideas, new business models, etc…  Here it is the word of the year…  INNOVATION…

So, if you want to “Stay Ready, so you don’t have to Get Ready” when your market shifts or competition is kicking your tail all over town you better think about the “Loose Cannon”.  Maybe they should not be fired.  Maybe they should be used the way they want to be used.  We will save the psychology of it for another post.  

The “Loose Cannon” may be able to help you find growth, innovation, more customers, more employees like them, etc, etc…

Please complete the poll here… http://polls.linkedin.com/p/53868/vcgkt

Thanks!

A quick analysis looks like this…

• Second Place in the Market (AL East)  The evil empire in NY was still the king of the division (Market segment) and MLB (overall marketplace)
• An old stadium that was unpopular with the players (employees) and needed improvements for the fans (customers) to have a better experience
• A business model of trying to compete with the #1 NY Yankees by spending lots of money and trying to copy their strategy without the results
• The model was to go out and try to buy the best available talent or block the Yankees from obtaining the talent

This had delivered exactly ZERO world series titles, but had built a loyal customer base (Red Sox Nation) with limited capabilities for growth within the confines of the MLB business model.  To expand reach, generate more revenue and deliver a superior product something had to change…

So what happened?

In 2002 Larry Lucchino hired Theo Epstein, a Brookline, Mass native to work for the Red Sox coming over from the San Diego Padre’s organization where he started his career.  This fulfilled a childhood dream for Theo.  In Boston, he quickly assumed the GM role for the Red Sox and assembled the first World Series championship team in 86 years in Boston and killed the curse of the Bambino!  This is the end of the story…  Here is where I see the innovation happening…  LEADERSHIP,  CUSTOMER FOCUSED STRATEGY and NEW OPERATING MODEL CREATION.

• LEADERSHIP – The Red Sox took a risk and hired the youngest GM in the history of MLB.  They were told this was a bad move, that it wouldn’t work.  He did not have the skills or the chops to do the job and compete with the evil empire in NY.  They saw the potential and he very clearly articulated his goals and vision for the future.  The Red Sox did not hire a resume.  They hired the skills, the brain, the vision and WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME?  not what have you done for someone else.
• CUSTOMER FOCUSED STRATEGY – The Red Sox also simultaneously began overhauling Fenway Park.  They added more seating (revenue) and they updated the look and feel of the park (customer experience & demand generation).  This is key to their customer strategy.  Fenway is a destination.  It is a big part of the business model.  Have you tried getting a Red Sox ticket during Theo’s reign?  The Red Sox now deliver a consistent, high performance product that meets and exceeds customer expectation (THEY WON A WORLD SERIES).  This is a nice look at understanding who your customer is and building a truly customer focused strategy.
• NEW OPERATING MODEL -  Theo was also able to shift the Red Sox focus inside.  His foresight to the fact that you could not continue to win the war by just spending money on talent was well timed.  Theo began to build a farm system that has produced some of the top Red Sox big leaguers on the roster including Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, etc…  This shift to the development of talent is a huge competitive advantage in MLB right now.  The business of baseball is very complex with labor relations, free agency, revenue sharing, etc…   To be able to produce a superior product consistently, retain the talent developed and have sustainable growth and success is truly difficult.  This operational model shift has enabled the Red Sox to do this.  They were first movers and it has given them a distinct advantage in the market.  It has put them in position to build a dynasty.  Not to mention the players like the culture they work within, they like their customers and are dedicated to the mission.  (Except for Manny of course.  I would consider that managed turnover!)

Hopefully this provided a fun lens to think about something other than the daily business page and gain a better understanding of change and innovation. 

Innovation is the process and outcome of creating something new, which is also of value! (- Paul Leonardi, Northwestern University)

Let’s Go Red Sox!…..   Let’s Go Red Sox!……

Graduate school is a great experience.  Being blessed enough to attend Northwestern University and learn with some of the smartest people in the world has been a dream come true for me.  But after all of the classes are done, the projects are completed and assignments turned in… what are the key learnings for all the time, effort and money?

1. A New skill set that allows me to think differently.  Strategic, Analytical and Execution focused thinking has given me a new lens on the world.  I see things differently.  I see them at a 360 degree perspective.
2. Relationships.  I have forged wonderful relationships with professors, classmates, alumni, administration and others.  The purple blood of Northwestern runs strong and it will be with me forever.  This is a “cash flow in perpetuity” to use some fancy grad school finance language…
3. Confidence.  Not that I did not have confidence before, but my personal brand is now enhanced by having the Northwestern Credential.  So maybe it is not self confidence but “external confidence”?
4. Organizational development makes sense.  I have a much deeper understanding of how strategy, vision, goals, objectives, blah, blah, blah work together with people, culture and climate to make it all happen.
5. Innovation.  This is a big word but I understand innovation principles, the models to develop innovation and how to organize for execution.  This was a pie in the sky term before and it is a reality with a framework and process for me now.  This is where the most fun and excitement is!

My experience in graduate school was truly life changing for the better.  I have new friends, new ideas and a new skill set that will help me be a better person, employee, employer and leader in the 21st century.

If you have the opportunity to attend graduate school, DO IT!

1.  Techies like to sell features and benefits.  If one person bought it everyone will.

2.  Non-sales minded people or people coming from the buyer’s chair think sales is EASY.  They do not respect the sales profession or the process.  They then try to hire someone to do sales for them and pay them commission only or a $20K salary. 

3.  They think brochures, websites and white papers telling people how smart they are sells stuff. 

4.  The partners will bring me leads!  They embark on spending a lot of time building a relationship with vendors, partners, channel, etc…  If you do not understand the intricacies of the sales & marketing within a channel this equals a lot of effort, frustration and little if any business.  (This is usually because they are afraid of sales and do not want to “cold call” or contact people they are not comfortable with.)

5.  Now that I have someone hired back in #2 make them do everything, make more calls, write more proposals, meet more people…  It is a numbers game and it will all shake out in the end.   THEN FIRE THEM AND START THIS PROCESS ALL OVER…

So what can we do about these problems? How do we help these companies survive or grow?  A few simple steps to get started.

1.  Tell them to talk to someone that is from the sales & marketing world within their industry.  Not their friend or neighbor.  Someone who has been there… done that with multiple companies.  Big and small.  Ask them how it all happens.  Ask them to tell you more about how they achieved success.

2.  Look at the process like a technology project.  If it is in terms you can understand it may help.  Break down the entire sales process into rational chunks or iterations and begin to understand what happens in each piece and begin to think of sales from a 360 degree viewpoint.  Without sales there is no business.  (IF YOU CAN NOT DO THIS YOU REALLY NEED TO TALK TO AN EXPERT!)

3.  If you get past # 2 you need to think about how you will communicate with your universe.  This is where the convergence of sales, markketing and technology happens.  You can create a conveyor belt of opportunity if you leverage the smart people and technology that are out there.  Think of it as outsourcing an non-core competency.  Are you a SOX IT Audit firm or a Sales Consultancy?  Get it?  This is the foundation for success in a Sales 2.0 world.

4.  If you are small and you do not have any money, find some.  If you can not dedicate full-time to selling or if you can not do it because you don’t have the skills you are in a difficult spot.  This is all of your eggs in one basket syndrome or stuck in the seller – doer cycle.  This can be broken if you take some risk and make some investment.  Sales and Marketing is a 365x24x7 function.  No time better than now to start.

5.  Sales is not easy.  If you are the owner or founder consider getting some training while you are gaining experience.  I like the Sandler Selling System.  You have to begin to understand how a sales transaction works.  You will find that it is much more complicated and a lot more fun once you understand it. 

These are some simple steps to start you off in the right direction.   If you want to talk about it more contact me at coley-perry@northwestern.edu , this is a passion of mine so I love to listen!  Also you can look at my friends over at мебелиwww.maconraine.com.  They always have a lot of cool ideas running around.

If you don’t pay attention to what I am saying you are still using “Hope” as your Strategy.

https://www.illinoistech.org/technologynews.aspx/1690

Happy reading….

Coley

This is a release for my new Sales Advisory Board role with BWMG.