PRESS RELEASE October 5, 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ann Latham 617-939-9654 Uncommon Clarity, Inc. EASTHAMPTON, MA – Latham teams up with Lussier to help aspiring business women get strong start Ann Latham and Angela Lussier teamed up on September 30, 2009 to help aspiring women business owners get off to a great start. WWLP TV covered the event in their evening news. Excerpts can be viewed here: WWLP TV news story
This Week with George Stephanopoulos was excellent this morning. What made it excellent? They minimized time spent arguing alternatives (more troops or not) and instead engaged in rarely heard, higher-level, and more productive conversation about objectives, critical success factors, and risks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates refused to engage at the “more troops or risk failure” level. He refused to be sucked into discussions of rifts and politics. When things are not going as desired, some stay the course because they believe consistency, saving face, and adhering to campaign promises are more important than getting good results. Gates refused to argue about the course and the options for achieving that course.
It has been more than three weeks since I posted anything on my blog.”You can’t do that!” I’m told. “You must post several times each week!” Well, guess what? I survived. My blog did notself-destruct. My business did not fail. Health care, Afghanistan, and the economy still dominate the news. Meanwhile, I was doing more important things.
If a hospital can make good after a crippling mistake, you can too! Businesses make mistakes faster than anyone can count. Customers suffer from those mistakes daily. And many businesses ignore their mistakes, sweep them under the rug, and deny them vociferously. Why? What does it do for anybody? Not much, is the answer. In the August 25th Wall Street Journal, Laura Landro writes about a hospital mistake that left a smart little 18-month old girl with a crippling brain injury. Unlike many businesses, and hospitals, this hospital admitted their mistake. They explained to the parents exactly what happened and why. And then they set about preventing a recurrence.
PRESS RELEASE August 15, 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ann Latham 617-939-9654 Uncommon Clarity, Inc. EASTHAMPTON, MA – Latham offers workshop: “Better, Faster, Cheaper.” Ann Latham, president of Uncommon Clarity, Inc., will present her workshop, “Better, Faster, Cheaper” to a Vistage group in southern Connecticut on September 1, 2009. This two and a half hour workshop describes the only three ways to get things done better, faster, and for less money and provides specific techniques for implementing each.
When you write or speak, tell your audience what they need to know, not everything you know. This lesson applies equally well to sales and marketing. Too often, businesses inundate customers with too much information, feature details, and technical gobbledygook. Watch this YouTube video for a dramatic lesson in the value of simple, clear, focused messages: MicroSoft designs the iPod packaging
I think it must be contagious. Symptoms: When I talk to many small business owners they lament the lack of opportunities for their business. They tell me how their sales force is out there every day looking for opportunities. Employees attend trade shows and conferences to stay attuned to their industry. They meet regularly to discuss the state of their business and the possibilities for growth. And they mostly don’t come up with anything of consequence. They tell me that if there were opportunities out there, they would be finding them. Thus, they conclude that times are just tough and successes are random. The economy, the state of their industry, outsourcing to China, any number of factors could be the source of their stagnation. They will just keep there eyes open and something will come along or the situation will change. Eventually.
The Wooden Boat Show at Mystic Seaport is a gem. If you like boats, especially wooden boats with gleaming finish and white sails, I highly recommend it. For the organizers, I have some other recommendations! Last year as we left the show, people with clipboards were stationed at the exits to collect our feedback. My only suggestion involved the parking situation. Arriving cars streamed down the busy street past available parking lots without realizing it, were flagged into a large full lot, and directed from one yellow apron to the next around a loop and onto the street back the way we had come. Had a few yellow aprons marched up the street a few blocks, all of us could have been directed into available slots the first time. So this year we returned to witness the same ridiculous traffic pattern, though I think there were even more yellow aprons present to help us all turn around.
In Eve Tahmincioglu’s article, Take this job and shove it!, on msnbc.com, she relates tales of employees quitting their jobs without notice, violating non-compete clauses, and generally letting their emotions get the best of them. This is a sad state of affairs for all involved. If you feel betrayed or cheated, you will undoubtedly feel angry. However, there is no value in letting your anger make the situation worse.
Mark’s Meadow School, an elementary school in Amherst, Massachusetts, will close after the 2009-2010 school year. The Daily Hampshire Gazette reported on June 20th that the principal wants next year to be “a celebratory, meaningful time” and that he wants to find out what children are saying and feeling about their school closing and then discern how to make it a positive transition. I think we need a passel of committees, a flock of psychologists, and a herd of grief counselors. If we really work at it, perhaps sacrificing weekly instructional time to the process, I am certain we can leave every child feeling distraught and victimized. They will cherish the memory of Mark’s Meadow and mourn its loss. They will fear the new year and worry about how they will fit in and adapt through such a dramatic transition. They will be fully aware of how they have suffered while others remain in schools unaffected by changing times.