The practical application of help

Michelle Morton is one of those ladies that does things differently, because she has found that the way she does it works. She runs a premium consultancy and social enterprise supporting globally-spread technology start-ups with sales, lean marketing and business development duties. You may ask, what is so special about that? Well, she runs this consultancy in a way that also prepares and trains NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training) into meaningful jobs. She has had many of these young people pass through her ‘program’ and onto careers. She talks passionately about the past and future for all of them. She wonders what more she can do and is currently looking for help to be able to grow this program to be able to help more young people. If you feel you have something you can help with, please do let me know and I can pass you to Michelle.

Someone like that leaves you awestruck and wanting to help. One of things she needed was some office space for her and her current ‘recruits’. Gladly, I was able to introduce her to Anthony of Goodfruits who was able to help.

Anthony has built GOODFRUIT. It is crowdfunded platform with a difference. It a crowdfunds and skill sources for cultural and social projects with integrity. A community where dreamers connect with co-dreamers and bring good fruit to life . Not only can you raise money to invest in your business, you can raise skills and time. For me this is a great idea. If you don’t have money, but you want to help a company grow, you can offer your skills or time to help.

Darshan has a lot going on, but everything he does has a purpose focussing on the greater good. He is a fellow TLA and he runs a great initiative called State of Ambition. It is a non-profit that is aiming to raise aspirations for 16-30 year olds, by providing role models and a programme that gives then practical steps to learn new things that produce outcomes that they can use to give real world examples of experience that is useful in the job market. The program itself has high ambitions and it is working with companies who can help show these young people what can be achieved and how. The How is very important. Most people know what they should do and why they should do it. But how can be a lot more difficult. The how comes from seeing how others do it. You need someone who exhibits the right behaviours to guide you and nudge you.

As you can see these people have a lot in common and can likely help each other. I was so glad to be able to put them together to go off and do even greater things.

Hope you have a great day!

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine

Gathering support from your tribe

How many pitches have you done for your business this week? You are at the next stage of the business and you need to find funding to take it to the next stage. You can’t scale without it. What type of funding is right for your business, angel, seed, crowdfunding, the series alphabet?

You should meet Michael Wilkinson, he is an investment manager that you want to meet. He is a lovely chap with a passion to help people reach their goals when the traditional banks are not able to help them and for companies that want to engage with their tribe. He is part of the team at the crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. He is well versed in the investment eco-system and can guide you to determine what type of funding is right for your business.

Check him out on youtube where he is striving with IngeniusJames to help small businesses access high-quality and relevant information.

Crowdcube empowers entrepreneurs to bypass traditional business angel networks, venture capital firms and banks to secure funding by connecting directly with the public.  Since its launch in 2011 it has successfully secured over £42 million pounds of investment in UK businesses and has over 100,000 registered members. According to Management Today, Crowdcube came of age in 2014

I cannot speak highly enough of Michael, he is a talented young man that would make you feel envious if he wasn’t such a lovely person. He has obviously spent a lot of time learning his trade and finding out where he can best advise his clients. He spends a lot of time with people in the early stages of their business helping them make the right decisions and connecting them to people who can help them. You can see why he fits in with us!

Stuart Lucas, Asset Match Ltd, is one who has experienced first-hand Michael’s drive to help others succeed. “Michael has been our main interface during our Crowdcube fund-raise. At all times he has been; knowledgeable, helpful, polite, responsive, and not afraid to suggest ideas and concepts that might benefit our efforts. We thank him and would recommend his services to other users and wish him well for the future…”

Michael is the first to admit that crowdfunding may not be for everyone, but, with the flexibility of the platform and technology changing all the time, he is at the forefront of making it more widely suitable for as many businesses as possible.

When looking for investment, it is not all about the money. You need to have a good relationship with the person who is happy to invest in your business, who agrees with your passion as well as bringing pragmatism, experience and knowledge. Michael has this in spades and as a conduit between your funders and you, he can help you aim higher.

He is often found passing his knowledge on when he can, he has been at Happy Hour, Social Media Week and in March will be at The Landing, with a Q&A session. If you want to understand funding, you want to get yourself down there and ask some questions.

Michael is such a lovely chap, based down in the West Country he comes to London when he needs to and is proof that you don’t have to be in London all week to be part of the disruption!

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine

ABC of Networking

I have broken down some networking tips into some easy to remember parts. I hope it helps. I want to follow up with some other handy tips on what to talk about and how best to move around a room, not getting stuck too long in one conversation. I hope you enjoy!

Ask Questions

Have you ever been stuck with someone who talks about a subject that you are not interested in or they are already deep in conversation with someone already. The best way to start get into conversation is to ask questions. If nothing else, you will learn something. When was the last time you felt good about someone, was it the person who was interested in what you had to say? Ta Da! It was the questions that showed you they were interested.

Be Nice

This sounds a bit silly, but if you dismiss what someone says or tell them they are wrong 2 minutes after you have met them, how do you think they will feel about you after that encounter. A quote I love (which I can’t reference)

“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always”

This helps me think about my daily interactions. Life is tough, you are having a bad day, so, maybe, is someone else. What makes you special in this regard? Nothing. Remember that sometimes, just a kind word can change someone’s day and, more importantly, mood.

Concentrate on what they have to say

Or another way to say this, is Listen (but that wouldn’t fit into my alphabet!). Don’t look across the room at other people or see who else is around. Really listen and take in what the person is saying. I tend to write things down and it helps me concentrate on what is being said, but sometimes this may not be appropriate. By going back to asking questions, you can clarify what they are saying and by repeating some of what they have said in your own words means it is more easily retained in the memory. By listening, you can watch their face and see how they feel about the subjects they are talking about. Again, their face then becomes memorable too.

Don’t interrupt

This goes back to being a listener and being nice. Whilst others are talking, many people are thinking about what they are going to say and get so excited, they talk over someone else. We teach our children not to interrupt when adults are talking as they sit there minute after minute waiting for a space. What this teaches them is to wait for someone to take a breath and get started as soon as there is a space. Be more considered with your responses. Wait until there is a gap in conversation. If there isn’t one, perhaps you won’t get to hold court today. But another day, you may get your spotlight. Often the most quiet person is seen as enigmatic, so once you have spoken people may think you are the wisest in the room. Or in my case, maybe not!

Exchange details

This isn’t necessary, but for me, meeting new people should always be about seeing how you can help them, by connecting them to someone else or by passing on a little knowledge that could be useful. If you don’t exchange details, you won’t be able to help them properly and your offers will sound and be empty promises. Some people may not want to pass their details to you, so don’t sweat it if you don’t.

Follow up with them afterwards

I am not sure if there is etiquette on this, but if someone has given me their business card, I think it is only courteous to follow up with a message. This can only be done if you have exchanged details. It allows you to follow up with your offer of help or ask any questions that you may have missed when talking with them. As networking is seen as the most basic form of business development, how can you build a good business relationship if you only contact them out of the blue 2 years after you met? This is where LinkedIn comes into its own. By doing the above, I have managed to have some really interesting conversations with people who know a lot about their specialist subjects. I have learned so much and to me that is the sign of a good day! Hope yours is good too. Ghilaine @LadyGhilaine

Making a difference

With all the bad news that we get fed every day: disaster; terrorism; austerity; war, it can be hard to feel optimistic for the future. In our lives, we don’t see all this disaster, but we can still struggle to see how we can make an impact on any of it. Mark Wakefield can make you feel differently. Every time I sit and have a conversation with him I come away refreshed and feel that I can make a difference when the tide is going the other way.

Mark is a genuine and open gentleman whose enthusiasm for getting the best from people is infectious. With his extensive experience across a variety of industries, he is working to see how people can reinvigorate their sense of purpose and use it for good in their community, society or organisation.

Most people don’t wake up in the morning thinking that they will be bad today, but often the systems that are put in place can make it hard for people to do the right thing. Instead of constantly fighting, they succumb and go with the flow. This often makes people feel that they are not accountable for their actions.

This led Mark to answer the nagging question of why is it that that so many great ideas fail to work in practice? Too often, in his experience, the answer lies in the human and emotional dynamics of organisations which, when harnessed, have great transforming power but which, when ignored, frustrate even the best laid plans. He believes the long-term health of organisations will increasingly depend on showing how they create value for society as a whole.

He unleashes the energy that comes from a shared sense of purpose, which is does successfully in partnership with Martin Vogel, with their Counter-Consultancy, VogelWakefield. They don’t bring pre-defined organisational or leadership training and hope to fit the company they work with into it. They look at the company/team and work with them to build an impactful and natural culture. Every team is different and VogelWakefield fully appreciate that each needs a tailored approach

Liliane Landor, BBC, has this to say “This is about real attempts to find solutions to genuinely complex and tangled issues. And so they listen carefully, unpick and unravel knots and difficulties, restate and summarise, ask questions and ask again, then reflect back. They’re demanding and relish a challenge – they work with you rather than for you, they engage, collaborate and ensure clarity and precision prevail. And crucially they’re perfectly comfortable navigating different and seemingly contradictory worlds.”

All this experience gained in his professional life is used to help young people who are disadvantaged, but should not have to miss out on high aspirations. He works for the mentoring charity ReachOut who work with children in disadvantaged communities to raise aspirations and help them grow in character and competence. They improve self-confidence and develop numeracy, literacy, communication and memory skills whilst reinforcing our core values of fairness, self-control, good judgement and staying power. They do this through one-to-one mentoring with positive role models and team activities to promote leadership, trust and responsibility.

Here at Tech Talkfest he resonates with us with his sense of purpose and the gift of generosity that he lives daily. In researching for this piece, I found out that Mark is also an ordained Anglican priest. So which came first? His beliefs that made him the lovely chap that he is or does his personality fit with the ethos of being a priest? You could find out by ‘bumping’ into him in church on Sunday and you can read more about why he decided to here.

Hope you are having a great beginning to 2015

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine

Is good enough, good enough?

I do like reading Bruce Kasanoff’s views on life and work. Today, I read Don’t keep your nose to the grindstone and this is something I wholeheartedly agree with. He talks about having days where what he writes is lacking his usual high standards. He walks away, does something else, tries again. Still, just bad. He tries a third time and decides that today is the day the universe has decided he will not do his best work.

Seth Godin is also a proponent of shipping your best work. He talks of ensuring you don’t hinder yourself waiting for perfection, but shipping when you have done the best you can.

Both of them talk about grinding out work, but not so much that you are happy delivering good enough. Is good enough, really good enough in any area of your life. Going back to the comments your mother tells you, “If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well”. It doesn’t matter how much you are paid or how ‘successful’ your job is, this should matter. Otherwise, pack up and go home!

 

Sometimes it is hard not to get bogged down with the action of getting things done that you are happy with mediocre results. That doesn’t mean don’t work hard, but it does mean don’t keep knocking your head against a brick wall, get up, shake things up a bit and come back to it. Go out, do some exercise, chat to people do whatever you enjoy to get you out of your funk, find a different way.

In today’s world, there are plenty of people who can deliver mediocre and some do. But don’t get bogged down trying to be someone else (is there a Steve Jobs quote somewhere in there?).

You need to find out what makes you you and what you do best. I appreciate this is easier said than done. Once you have determined that it is great to find a way that means you are able to do what you do best as much as possible. Sometimes, it may not be something that pays the bills, but you may find ways that it does.

If you want some help with finding your flow it is often the best way to spend some time with an expert. I know a few coaches I can recommend in this area.

If you go the self-help option, Seth Godin has many books that may give you inspiration on being you. I have also heard Paul McKenna give some good advice in this area, succinctly put: You need to say goodbye to previous issues, work out which path you want to take and find out what your core values are.

Whichever way you choose, it certainly makes sense to find that place where you just flow or have something to look forward to at the end of a tough day that motivates you do your best again tomorrow.

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine

In a world of chaos, the voice of calm

As the world races around us and runs to the ‘finish line’ in the hope of reaching their longed for goal, it is hard not to get swept up in it all. Do you wish that you could perhaps stand calm; watching; waiting? Martin Vogel is one of those rare gentleman who is the calm in the face of this storm of action.

Quietly and intelligently spoken, Martin speaks when he needs to with relevant and knowledgeable responses. Not surprising then, that he started out as a journalist. He was part of the great institution that is the BBC and in his 20 years there, he went from reporting and producing into strategy and digital media development.

Martin understands that most people want to impact change and have the ability to do so, if they can find the right path. You can see then, why he was an ideal to choice to lead a project that was part of a politics initiative by the BBC to help people with issues that make a difference. Originally iCan then the Action Network, under its Royal Charter, the BBC has an obligation to support democracy and the national debate. As Martin stated “It gives people a starting point in civic life and puts them in touch with others who share their concerns”

He understands from experience how important it is to bring people, with similar aspirations and aims, together and the power of that collective group. You can see why we think he is so fantastic!

We are not the only ones, Paul Brannan, BBC, thinks so too. “Martin’s always had an impressive grasp of complexity and a keen analytical mind. Where others get bogged down, Martin brings clarity – along with options and solutions. He’s undemonstrative by nature, but no less effective as a senior leader who carries himself with a calm authority. I have the highest regard for him as a strategic thinker.”

This makes it clear to see why he, as a senior advisor at the BBC Trust, he led the first public value tests, a radical and innovative approach to evaluating public investment decisions. ‘Radical and Innovative’ pinpoint exactly what Martin, and his business partner Mark, are trying to achieve with their Counter-Consultancy, VogelWakefield. They don’t bring pre-defined organisational or leadership training and hope to fit the company they work with into it. They look at the company/team and work with them to build an impactful and natural culture. Every team is different and VogelWakefield fully appreciate that each needs a tailored approach.

As you can imagine when you speak with Martin he is always thought provoking. His blog is a great way to feel inspired and bring that voice of calm back into your life. My favourite at the moment is Being and Doing. I was lucky enough to speak to Martin about this and I came to the conversation, very much a ‘doer’. Martin’s thoughts really made me step back and consider that being is not opposite to that view. Keep an eye out on his twitter @martivo and you may get a chance to hear his wise words. If you do, let him know we sent you.

We hope you find your calm this week!

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine

Why make that choice?

Photograph: Action Press/REX FEATURES

I am always in intrigued by what makes people choose what they choose, do what they do or buy what they buy. As you may have gathered if you have read some of my previous posts, I am interested in the why, I like to know what makes people tick. Quite a useful skill, I might add, when you want to meet and chat with people. If you want to help people properly, finding out why they make the decisions and choices they do is often more meaningful than what the choices are. Especially if you suggest something that goes against their choice.

People don’t like their decisions questioned. Whilst people may think that decisions are weighed up and logically arrived at. More often than not, they are more instinctive than we may realise. This, I read about in the book Gut Feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer. I recommend you take a look, it may make your decision making less strained.

So having read a book about how people make decisions, it didn’t tell me a lot about why they make the choices they do. Obviously, this is not something that can be studied across a population. This is about each person and their motivations. In the early morning when I am thinking about life, the universe and everything, I wonder why some people aspire to have a ‘high powered, high earning’ job compared to the person who goes into a ‘meaningful’ job. I wonder why people go to the theatre vs the cinema vs watching telly. Why do some people want the easy life and others go to the ends of the earth to do something that very few others have done. This is especially pertinent considering the massive achievement of the free climbers who reached the summit of El Capitan a while back.

Sorry I can’t answer the question in one simple blog post, but I am working on finding out every time I meet someone new. I love finding out what I have in common, but what interests me more is why they are different and whether their different perspective helps me learn something new: about the world; about me; about them.

Spending time with likeminded people is a marvellous way of building relationships and diving deep into a subject area to learn more, but there is a risk of it becoming an echo chamber. Reaching out to new people extends your understanding of others, helps you broaden your horizons, encourages you to learn more. Dare I say it, helps you make more informed choice.

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine

Passing on your legacy

How many login and passwords do you have, how much of what you own is not a tangible item but a digital copy? How do you keep track of all of this, how do you ensure that the important people in your life know about all of these?

Komal Joshi was thinking a lot about this when she had to deal with organising the estate of a loved one. She realised that whilst she was working through reams of paperwork, if it were her estate, she wouldn’t have this much paper. The question stayed with her and inspired her to create Planned Departure.

Once she started researching this area, she realised that many of the 3rd parties that we entrust our valuables with, don’t have a great incentive to inform next of kin that assets exist. Added to this, we have Social Media accounts. I don’t know about you, but I have a few ‘connections’ in my account that I know are no longer with us, but every year, I get the message to wish them a happy birthday. That is the most painful part of social media. I wish it would make me smile to remember them, but then I recall how hard it is for their next of kin to gain access and remove or manage the account. It shocks me how unsympathetic so many companies are to the hardest part of life. I am sure you can come up with your own examples and understand how distressing it can be, especially if bank accounts are frozen. I understand that they need to prevent fraud, but a bit of humanity wouldn’t go amiss!

Komal brings humanity and empathy to her plans to solve this problem. She, and her team, are working tirelessly to create a product and platform to take that painful aspect away and all with bank level encryption. For this, Planned Departure won The Deloitte Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Founders Awards 2013. You can see what drives her and her success in this great short interview.

She has a wonderful impact on those that work with her too. Mahadev Semwal says “She possesses tremendous knowledge of testing technology and is a woman with Intelligence, leadership qualities and insightful character.” Along with tenacity, these are all great skills that will help her on her journey.

I thoroughly recommend taking a look at the PlannedDeparture blog, it has some great insight. The subject is broad and far-reaching and will surprise you about what digital assets you have and want to pass on.

It may be a depressing subject, it is something we all need to think about, consider all those things you want to pass along and thank Komal Joshi for taking on this challenge.

Ghilaine

@LadyGhilaine