Day: May 31, 2013
8 Myths About Great Salespeople
Everything you think you know about great salespeople is probably wrong.
Many businessfolk have odd ideas about salespeople, especially those who are the best at what they do. The antidote to these misconceptions is scientific research, according Chally Chairman Howard Stevens (he and I are writing a book together):
Myth 1. Great salespeople are fast-talking extroverts.
Fact: Most top performers in sales today are better at listening than talking and are careful never to appear pushy or “hard-sell.”
Myth 2. Great salespeople are strong academic performers.
Fact: Sales talent is inversely related to school grades. It is easier to teach any subject matter to a great salesperson than to teach an “academic genius” to sell.
Myth 3. Great salespeople make great sales managers.
Fact: When you convert a sales superstar into a manager, you lose a great salesperson and you gain (at best) a mediocre sales manager. The real victim: the customer.
Myth 4. You can turn a good salesperson into a great one.
Fact: Success in sales is mostly based on innate talent. All the training in the world can’t make a great salesperson from someone who doesn’t have the aptitude.
Myth 5. Great salespeople want to be promoted.
Fact: Great salespeople seek independence and financial reward. They prefer to avoid the politics and bureaucratic inter-dependence inherent in a management position.
Myth 6. Great salespeople can sell anything to anyone.
Fact: Even the most successful salespeople usually fail when they attempt to sell in a different way (like moving from outside sales to telesales).
Myth 7. The Internet eliminates the need for great salespeople.
Fact: E-Commerce companies that don’t offer “real people” to relate to and consult with customers are over seven times more likely to fail.
Myth 8. Great engineering makes great salespeople unnecessary.
Fact: Contrary to the “build a better mousetrap” theory, nearly 85 percent of all new products patented never succeed in the real world.
Stuck? 3 Ways to Move Yourself Forward
Every business owner gets stuck occasionally on an idea or problem. Three proven ways to get “unstuck.”
Ty Milford/Getty
Do you find yourself turning an idea or a business problem over and over in your head, and no matter the number of Google searches you perform or the number of walks you take, you just can’t figure out a way to move forward?
We all go through it. The key is knowing how to emerge. Here are three steps I have taken over the years when I feel stuck to help move my goals and ventures forward:
Lean on A Support Group
I just joined The Young Entrepreneurs Council. The YEC has built a nationwide network of entrepreneurial connections that helps entrepreneurs support each other in the building of our businesses.
Case in point: While in San Francisco last week, I met up with Heidi Allstop, who is there to grow her social life-advice enterprise, Spill. She lives in the Bay Area and I’m from Atlanta, so we exchanged helpful hints and connections from each of our respective geographies.
The meeting grew out of a weekly e-mail that The YEC sends out that simply asks “What do you need from your fellow YEC-ers?” The responses are consolidated and sent out to the group for others to browse and answer. My response to Heidi’s question led to an enjoyable and fruitful lunch meeting which provided us both with new insight into challenges we were each facing.
Enlist an Outside Expert
If you spend much time with me, you’ll discover that I have a longstanding business relationship with a business coach whom I call my “dark shadow.” This person (who wishes to remain anonymous) has been a sounding board for me through most of my career. His background in the finance, mergers and acquisition space helps me to look at potential opportunities from a different perspective.
When I need a sounding board or fresh eyes, I give him a call or we grab a quick bite. I credit him with getting me “unstuck” at one of the most stuck moments of my professional life. One dinner conversation helped refocus me on what I had control over and gave me a clear path forward.
Read a Good Book
While relying on a group or talking to an expert can definitely help, I have come to some of my biggest breakthroughs by simply taking some time to sit down and read a book. While I credit books like E-Myth by Michael Gerber as true turning points for me, the book doesn’t always have to be on a standard business topic. For example, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho provided an unexpected insight into how to solve a management problem I was wrestling with.
Reading, unlike watching a movie, listening to a lecture or talking with a colleague or mentor allows you the time to process what’s being said and think through how it might apply to your situation. So don’t just think of it as a leisure activity.
Apps: Over 50 billion served
Brandon Ashmore earned a footnote in digital history this month. The 21-year-old Ohio college student downloaded the 50 billionth app from Apple’s App Store — a word game called “Say the Same Thing.” To mark the occasion, Apple awarded him a $10,000 App Store gift card.
As recently as five years ago, the App Store didn’t exist. Today it seems almost as essential as the mobile devices on which users have grown accustomed to doing virtually everything. When the App Store launched on July 11, 2008, it offered just 500 applications created by third-party developers. Now, according to Apple, its inventory of apps is up to 850,000, and customers are downloading them at the rate of more than 800 per second.
Apple founder Steve Jobs is justly celebrated for his visionary influence on consumer electronics, but he wasn’t omniscient; the potential of a vast marketplace in apps was something he initially dismissed. “The apps phenomenon began with the iPhone,” his biographer Walter Isaacson wrote, but “when it first came out in 2007, there were no apps you could buy from outside developers.” Jobs didn’t want non-Apple developers creating apps for his new device; he feared they might “mess it up, infect it with viruses, or pollute its integrity.” Fortunately he was persuaded to change his mind. The result was not just greater sales and profits for Apple via the App Store. It was also billions of dollars in revenue for outside developers — and a gusher of digital ingenuity that has transformed daily life.
Why I Love Being Rejected
Nobody likes being turned down, but rejection is often a good thing. Really.
Henrik Sorensen/Getty
I recently met with a speech writing coach who was recommended to me by a good friend. I was eager to find someone to support my speechwriting efforts, and she seemed excellent. So when she told me she didn’t think she was the right coach for me and turned me down, I was crestfallen.
Looking back, I realized she was right. During our initial conversation, we both had to do a lot of clarifying. But my eagerness to start working with a coach–not to mention my ego–superseded my ability to see that we were not connecting. After she rejected me a second time, I began working with another coach who helped me create an amazing speech. I realized being rejected not once, but twice, had actually been a good thing.
Rejection is an inevitable part of life and business, yet it always affects our egos, our confidence, and our ability to feel good about ourselves. As my experience with the speech writing coach made clear, rejection can also be a gift to be celebrated and welcomed.To see it in a positive way, you have to keep in mind that a rejection does not mean you’re not good enough, but that you’re not the right fit. A square peg won’t fit in a round hole, not because it’s not good enough, but because it’s not quite the right shape. I can think of many contracts I’ve pursued and clients I’ve approached who realized I wasn’t the right fit before I did. Now, in retrospect, I know they were right.
Why is it so hard to realize we’re not a good fit for a client or a job? It’s often difficult to step back and look at things rationally when we’re excited about an opportunity–especially if the opportunity offers prestige, money, or fame. With that in mind, here are three telltale signs that someone is not your ideal client:
The conversation doesn’t flow.
When you are not able to communicate easily with a potential client, it’s a sign that working together is going to be difficult as well. Take disjointed communication as a sign to move on.
Your ideas don’t excite them.
If you’re client doesn’t seem excited when you’re tossing around ideas, the take pause. If it’s a right fit, you should be able to exchange and build on ideas effortlessly.
There isn’t an obvious click.
If you can’t give a client what they need, politely suggest you’re not the right person and-;if possible-;suggest someone else. Spending time creating special services that aren’t what you’re best at is the first step toward becoming less focused and less of an expert. Don’t do it.
The bottom line? You should strive for a win-win on both sides: the objective good fit and the dizzying jolt of acceptance. If it’s not happening, it’s time to move on.
Facebook Shuts ‘Rate Your Shag’ Student Pages
The groups that asked users to divulge details of their sexual experiences with other students were branded as harassment.
Facebook has shut down a number of groups in which university students gave their sexual partners marks out of 10 and graphically described the experience.
The social media website told that Rate Your Shag pages constituted as harassment and those that had been reported were swiftly removed.
Unofficially linked to scores of British universities, the groups were “liked” by thousands of students within days of being created.
Members of the group were asked to privately contact the administrator with the name of an individual, describe that person’s sexual performance and then rate them.
Those details were then posted anonymously, with the subject unaware that their private sex life was being publicly discussed.
Facebook could not say the number of groups they had removed, but Newcastle, Warwick, Nottingham Trent and Loughborough were among those that have been deleted.
The pages first appeared over the weekend and quickly attracted criticism from student bodies and university officials.
Loughborough University threatened “disciplinary action” against any student who posted information on the page while the President of the National Union of Students, Liam Burns, said that the groups were “tantamount to bullying”.
In response to the deletions, a Facebook spokesperson said: “There is no place for harassment on Facebook, but unfortunately a small minority of malicious individuals exist online, just as they do offline.”
The sites were deleted as the social media giant acknowledged that its system to police hate speech, particularly gender-based hate, had failed.
A campaign led by Women, Action and the Media had demanded that Facebook take action to address the representation of rape and domestic violence on the site.
It was reported that companies were speaking to the website, unhappy that their adverts were appearing alongside such material.
In a blog post, Marne Levine, Vice President of Global Public Policy, said: “We need to do better – and we will.”
Who is Jesus?
“Who is Jesus?” by Sarah Jarvis. The book she wrote is a collection of quotations in which people describes what he means to them. The following are selected quotations I chose from the little book. You also can tell us what you understand about Jesus? Do you intend to follow him or are you already following him? Why do you follow Jesus?
“I believe there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic and more perfect than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like him, but that there could be no one…There is in the world only one figure of absolute beauty: Christ.”- Fyodor Dostoevsky
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”- Paul in Colossians 1:17
“Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.”- Phillips Brooks
“In Christ Jesus heaven meets earth and earth ascend to heaven.”- Henry Law
“Jesus was God and man in one person, that God and man might be happy together again.”- George Whitefield
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.”- Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:19, NLT
“Life is filled with meaning as soon as Jesus Christ enters into it.”- Stephen Neill
“Jesus alone is; the rest is not.”- Therese of Lisieux
“As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.”- Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette
“We believe that the history of the world is but the history of His influence and that the center of the whole universe is the cross of Calvary”- Alexander Maclaren
“Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.”- Karl Barth
“This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners, for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ’s, and Christ’s righteousness is not Christ’s, but ours.”- Martin Luther
“Behold, what manner of love is this, that Christ should be arraigned and we adorned, that curse should be laid on His head and the crown set on ours.”- Thomas Watson
“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His.”- Ellen G. White
“The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared to Jesus Christ.”- Oswald Chambers
“He loved us not because we were lovable, but because he is Love.”- C.S Lewis
“Jesus says,’I love you just the way you are. And I love you too much to let you stay the way you are.”- Chris Lyons
“The fact of Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.”- William Barclay
“Jesus became the greatest liar, perjurer, thief, adulterer, and murderer that mankind has ever known- not because he committed these sins but because he was actually made sin for us.”- Martin Luther
“God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”- Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21, MGE.
“Christ uncrowned himself to crown us, and put off his robes to put on our rags, and came down from heaven to keep us out of hell. He fasted forty days that he might feast us to all eternity; he came from heaven to earth that he might send us from earth to heaven.”- W. Dyer
“Christ’s blood is heaven’s key.”- Thomas Brooks
“All self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation.”- Dr H. A. Ironside
“Christ is a substitute for everything, but nothing is a substitute for Christ”- Dr H. A. Ironside
“The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning proof of Christianity. If the resurrection did not take place, then Christianity is a false religion. If it did take place, then Christ is God and the Christian faith is absolute truth.”- Henry Morris
“In his life Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a King; in his intercession, a high priest.”- Martin Luther
“Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But look for Christ and you will find him and with Him everything else thrown in.”- C. S. Lewis
“He values not Christ at all who does not value Christ above all.”- St Augustine
“It is as if God the Father is saying to us: ‘Since I have told you everything in My Word, Who is My Son, I have no other words that can at present say anything or reveal anything to you beyond this. Fix your eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have told you all, revealed all, and in Him you will find more than you desire or ask. If you fix your eyes on Him, you will find everything, for He is My whole word and My reply, He is My whole vision and My whole revelation.”- Anthony M. Coniaris
“Life without Jesus is like a dry garden, baking in the sun. It is foolish to want anything that conflicts with Jesus. What can the world give you without Jesus? His absence is hell; his presence, paradise. If Jesus is with you, no enemy can injure you. Whoever finds Jesus has discovered a great treasure, the best of all possible good. The loss of him is a tremendous misfortune, more than the loss of the entire world. Poverty is life without Jesus, but close friendship with him is incalculable wealth.”- Bernard Bangley
“Let us call the roll of some of the professions:
To artists, He is the One altogether lovely.
To architects, He is the Chief Cornerstone.
To physicians, He is the Great Physician.
To preachers, He is the Word of God.
To philosophers, He is the Wisdom of God.
To the dying, He is the Resurrection and the life.
To geologists, He is the Rock of ages.
To farmers, He is the Lord of the harvest.
To professors, He is the Master Teacher.
To prodigals, He is the forgiving Father.
To the lost sheep, He is the Good Shepherd.
To thirsty souls, He is the Water of life.
To the hungry, He is the Bread of life.
To philanthropists, He is God’s Unspeakable Gift.” – Herbert C. Gabhart
Amen.
Who is Jesus?
“Who is Jesus?” by Sarah Jarvis. The book she wrote is a collection of quotations in which people describes what he means to them. The following are selected quotations I chose from the little book. You also can tell us what you understand about Jesus? Do you intend to follow him or are you already following him? Why do you follow Jesus?
“I believe there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic and more perfect than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like him, but that there could be no one…There is in the world only one figure of absolute beauty: Christ.”- Fyodor Dostoevsky
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”- Paul in Colossians 1:17
“Jesus Christ, the condescension of divinity, and the exaltation of humanity.”- Phillips Brooks
“In Christ Jesus heaven meets earth and earth ascend to heaven.”- Henry Law
“Jesus was God and man in one person, that God and man might be happy together again.”- George Whitefield
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.”- Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:19, NLT
“Life is filled with meaning as soon as Jesus Christ enters into it.”- Stephen Neill
“Jesus alone is; the rest is not.”- Therese of Lisieux
“As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.”- Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette
“We believe that the history of the world is but the history of His influence and that the center of the whole universe is the cross of Calvary”- Alexander Maclaren
“Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.”- Karl Barth
“This is the mystery of the riches of divine grace for sinners, for by a wonderful exchange our sins are now not ours but Christ’s, and Christ’s righteousness is not Christ’s, but ours.”- Martin Luther
“Behold, what manner of love is this, that Christ should be arraigned and we adorned, that curse should be laid on His head and the crown set on ours.”- Thomas Watson
“Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His.”- Ellen G. White
“The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared to Jesus Christ.”- Oswald Chambers
“He loved us not because we were lovable, but because he is Love.”- C.S Lewis
“Jesus says,’I love you just the way you are. And I love you too much to let you stay the way you are.”- Chris Lyons
“The fact of Jesus’ coming is the final and unanswerable proof that God cares.”- William Barclay
“Jesus became the greatest liar, perjurer, thief, adulterer, and murderer that mankind has ever known- not because he committed these sins but because he was actually made sin for us.”- Martin Luther
“God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”- Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21, MGE.
“Christ uncrowned himself to crown us, and put off his robes to put on our rags, and came down from heaven to keep us out of hell. He fasted forty days that he might feast us to all eternity; he came from heaven to earth that he might send us from earth to heaven.”- W. Dyer
“Christ’s blood is heaven’s key.”- Thomas Brooks
“All self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation.”- Dr H. A. Ironside
“Christ is a substitute for everything, but nothing is a substitute for Christ”- Dr H. A. Ironside
“The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning proof of Christianity. If the resurrection did not take place, then Christianity is a false religion. If it did take place, then Christ is God and the Christian faith is absolute truth.”- Henry Morris
“In his life Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a King; in his intercession, a high priest.”- Martin Luther
“Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But look for Christ and you will find him and with Him everything else thrown in.”- C. S. Lewis
“He values not Christ at all who does not value Christ above all.”- St Augustine
“It is as if God the Father is saying to us: ‘Since I have told you everything in My Word, Who is My Son, I have no other words that can at present say anything or reveal anything to you beyond this. Fix your eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have told you all, revealed all, and in Him you will find more than you desire or ask. If you fix your eyes on Him, you will find everything, for He is My whole word and My reply, He is My whole vision and My whole revelation.”- Anthony M. Coniaris
“Life without Jesus is like a dry garden, baking in the sun. It is foolish to want anything that conflicts with Jesus. What can the world give you without Jesus? His absence is hell; his presence, paradise. If Jesus is with you, no enemy can injure you. Whoever finds Jesus has discovered a great treasure, the best of all possible good. The loss of him is a tremendous misfortune, more than the loss of the entire world. Poverty is life without Jesus, but close friendship with him is incalculable wealth.”- Bernard Bangley
“Let us call the roll of some of the professions:
To artists, He is the One altogether lovely.
To architects, He is the Chief Cornerstone.
To physicians, He is the Great Physician.
To preachers, He is the Word of God.
To philosophers, He is the Wisdom of God.
To the dying, He is the Resurrection and the life.
To geologists, He is the Rock of ages.
To farmers, He is the Lord of the harvest.
To professors, He is the Master Teacher.
To prodigals, He is the forgiving Father.
To the lost sheep, He is the Good Shepherd.
To thirsty souls, He is the Water of life.
To the hungry, He is the Bread of life.
To philanthropists, He is God’s Unspeakable Gift.” – Herbert C. Gabhart
Amen.
Africa: Airtel Announces Partnership With Big Brother Africa 8
Nairobi and Johannesburg — Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), a leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, is now the Official sponsor of the eighth edition of Africa’s biggest reality series, BIG BROTHER AFRICA (BBA). Dubbed The Chase, the new season will kick off on May 26th, 2013.
Big Brother Africa is a revolutionary project that connects diverse audiences across Africa. It is the most successful television franchise ever seen on the continent which grows every year. Dubbed Big Brother StarGame, the seventh installment of Big Brother Africa broke all records. The show not only dominated TV screens, but also rocked the online space.
Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria commented: “Africa’s viewers are known for their passion for Big Brother Africa and we look forward to developing a number of exciting initiatives during season 8. I am delighted to welcome AfricaMagic and DStv into our family of commercial partners. We are also pleased to be associated with Big Brother Africa 2013. The show presents huge opportunities for Airtel to make an emotional connection with our customers.”
Big Brother The Chase, will feature 28 housemates from 14 countries. The housemates will need to gain acceptance from viewers in order to survive evictions. After 91 days of drama and thrills, the winner will pocket a massive USD 300,000 prize.
Big Brother Africa is aspirational for a lot people across Africa who want to make a name for themselves. “As a company, Airtel is focused on helping communities achieve success in all areas”, explains Ogunsanya.
“Driven by our philosophy of empowering people, we have created platforms for talent discovery and we have enabled youth across Africa achieve their aspirations through the Airtel Rising Stars football tournament and support of the Talent reality shows,” he said
Present in 17 diverse countries across Africa, Airtel has managed to more than double its customer base in its two-and-half year stint since launch in 2010. The brand now touches the lives of over 60 million of people in Africa and over 270 million globally, making it the 4th largest mobile telecommunications company in the world.
Ogunsanya added; “Our 3G platform allows our customers to combine the enormous potential of the internet with the convenience of cellular phones and other devices. It will liberate the potential of our youth through enabling fast access to the Internet for learning, sharing, social networking, creating and accessing content like music. The improved technology enhances multimedia functionality, high speed mobile broadband and internet access; allowing users to make video calls, watch live TV, send and receive emails and download music from the devices. It is the latest global HSPSA plus technology with 21 mbps, also being rolled out in Europe and the USA.”
Commenting on the collaboration with Airtel, M-Net Africa’s Managing Director, Biola Alabi said, “We are deeply pleased to welcome Airtel as the headline sponsors of Big Brother -The Chase. Their commitment to the African continent is clearly evident in the initiatives they create and support; and mirrors our own desire to showcase African talent and encourage African success.”
Big Brother – The Chase will be screened live 24/7 on DStv channels 197 and 198. Highlights of the program will also be screened on AfricaMagic, AfricaMagic Entertainment and AfricaMagic World. Visit http://www.bigbrotherafrica.com for more information.
Tanzania: Feza Kessy – Flying Tanzania’s Flag High
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Tanzania is in the limelight once again as the country is participating in the just started Big Brother Africa, dubbed The Chase. One of the two representatives flying our flag high is none other than Feza Kessy.
The gorgeous and vivacious Feza is the former Miss Dar Indian Ocean 2005, who is also an upcoming musician in Tanzania. Hailing from Arusha, Feza studied for a certificate in IT and her favorite food is French fries and Ugali na Maziwa.
She loves Big Brother and revealed that people always do well after appearing on the show, something she feels is vital for her career. She said that if she wins the grand prize, she’ll invest some, take her son to Disneyland and possibly buy a house. Feza describes herself as “fun, bubbly, loyal, kind and strong” and thinks her best trait is her humility. She enjoys people who are honest, caring and fun, but dislikes those who are liars.
She promises viewers “a lot of dance, a bit of noise and lots of laughs too”. She’s hoping to get exposure and growth from her time in the house. Her mom is her role model, whom she cites as “the strongest, most beautiful and humble person I know.”
She has an older brother and sister, and one younger brother. Being in the house for almost five days Feza has shown good behavior especially maintaining relations with other house mates.
The other Tanzania representative is Amir Nando who has also shown good behavior. For Nando’s side he had never watched Big Brother before and says it feels “normal” that the continent will be watching him 24/7. But for Feza, Big Brother Africa seems to be a useful platform in promoting her musical career; this is because she can be seen by many African artists who may wish to work with her.
Feza has one song known as “Amani ya Moyo” and she is under the musical company known as Unity Entertainment that is owned by artist Ambwene Yesaya, AY. Speaking about the connection between BBA and Feza’s Music, AY clarifies that she will represent Tanzania effectively in BBA. He added that Feza has confidence, passion and she is a charming lady.
AY also added that being in BBA House, Feza can easily promote her talent and she can get exposure in Africa and outside Africa. “She has been in my company for so long and she has effectively managed to record he first song, so I really know her as the best musician and together let us support her” said AY.
Meanwhile, one of the best fashion designers in Tanzania, Estazia Noni, under her fashion label known as Escardo Bird also gave her views about Feza. Estazia designed Feza’s outfit that she wore in her first appearance in BBA last week. Noni told this magazine that Feza has a stylish mentality that will highlight her performance in the house.
“As you might have seen her hair, outfit, her speaking style and other things really prove that she is a different girl” said Estazia.
Get in the Game and You’ll Learn Something
Here’s how games hone one entrepreneur’s strategy skills.
Matthew Calkins stores his leadership development tools in his basement. He owns more than a thousand, many still wrapped in plastic. He takes them out only once a month. But they have helped him build his company, Appian, into a leading provider of business-process-management software, with 220 employees and more than $70 million in revenue.
“Much about the way I lead this organization, I’ve internalized from playing board games,” says Calkins. “Games can be proxies for so many situations. That’s great preparation for running a company.”
Games force players to choose which balls to keep their eyes on. And gaming is a whetstone for sharpening strategy.
Calkins has been an avid gamer since age 3, when he begged his mother for a copy of Game of the States because some older kids wouldn’t let him play. He graduated to strategy games depicting wars and other historical events and has since published two games of his own.
Between fighting the Battle of Midway and amassing influence in the Roman Senate, Calkins found time to launch Appian in 1999, at 26. Based in Reston, Virginia, Appian has customers that include Amazon, the New York Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Army, which uses Appian’s software to run what has been called the world’s largest intranet.
Calkins stresses that he doesn’t think of business as a game but rather as a series of challenges, each with unique variables that may respond very differently to the same tactics. So he doesn’t play games over and over, honing his skills as chess masters do.Rather, Calkins plays each game just once.
“I take a game I’ve never played and read the rules to a group of people that have also never played it, and we try to grapple with the system fresh,” he says. “Since we’ve never encountered an experience exactly like this one, we have to adapt to what’s new in it.” Game night chez Calkins is a monthly event, with three games rolled out over the course of a few hours.
For example, Calkins might sit down with a friend for a bout of Napoleon. In that game, he will maneuver the little emperor and his forces around the board, looking for opportunities to take out either the British or Prussian army before the two combine to become unstoppable. Without knowing the strength or speed of opposing units, Napoleon must calculate where to strike and how. It’s about picking the right battles, a vital strategic skill. “Napoleon can win any battle he chooses, but he can’t win them all,” says Calkins.
The chief lesson gaming teaches business leaders is where to focus, Calkins explains. Typically, he says, leaders focus on outputs. You know that you’ve lost a sale but not that you are in the process of losing it. Many poor decisions can trip you up: trusting the wrong person, saying the wrong thing, ignoring a crucial pain point.
Games give players a feel for the quality of their inputs, allowing them to quickly change tactics. “With games, you get feedback on whether what you just did was effective or ineffective,” says Calkins. “So I have developed very good early-warning detection. When I am pursuing a client, for example, I can tell quite soon when things are on the wrong track.”
Calkins also monitors his inputs while working. At the end of every meeting, for example, he mentally scores his performance on a scale of 1 to 5. He has also scored the quality of his emails. For an entire year, he tracked every half-hour of his time, writing down what he did and what purpose it served. By piling up small achievements, Calkins believes, he maximizes his chances of scoring major victories.
Games also force players to choose which balls to keep their eyes on. “Because so much is happening at the same time, you have to identify and track the essential,” says Calkins. And, of course, gaming is a whetstone for sharpening strategy. “When I sit down at a game, I think, In this situation, victory will be derived from what intermediary state?” says Calkins. “Then I direct my strategy to accomplish that intermediary state.”
He does the same thing in business. When he created Appian’s annual sales plan, for example, Calkins identified large follow-on deals as the greatest opportunity and successful first-time deployments as the required intermediary state. Consequently, he made 100 percent of his consulting department’s bonuses dependent on serving new customers so well that they buy additional Appian software.
Calkins is as successful at gaming as he is at business. Last year, he finished in the top five out of 1,500 contestants at the World Boardgaming Championship. Coincidentally, the leader of his primary competitor, a public company called Pegasystems, is also an accomplished gamer. Pegasystems CEO Alan Trefler tied for first place at the 1975 World Open chess tournament. “I should set that up,” Calkins replies when asked whether the two CEOs have met over a game. “The problem is we would never agree on what to play.”
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