In his recent article, Ken Doctor analyzes the slow disappearance of familiar brands such as Kodak, Sears, and various newspaper companies. These examples all illustrate the fact that “brands decay” and that “disruption doesn’t happen just once.”
His “lessons learned” include:
- Instead of trumpeting your own horn, spend the time to address future disruptive forces.
- Cutting costs does not equal innovation.
- Constant re-organizations and re-structuring does not mask deeper problems; it just diverts time from consumer focus.
- The old companies are still stuck in an old mindset.
What have you done to address the disruptive technologies that may impact your company?
Xobni, a software developing company, did a survey on email behaviour during the holidays… and I have to say that personally, I find the results to be rather surprising. Sixty-eight percent of respondents (all US working adults) admitted to checking their email on holidays… and 19% of these respondents are thankful for the distraction of work email on these holidays.
One thing that did strike a chord with me was that 41% of people check their email because they believe staying up-to-date with email will ease the workload once the holiday is over. I can certainly understand the driving factor behind that – there’s nothing worse than coming back to work after some time off to find an out-of-control inbox.
In the business world, a mentor is someone who is typically older and always more experienced than another, and can help that other person in their professional development through guidance and coaching. Often recommended for those starting or running their own businesses, a mentor can actually be quite effective for anyone in a professional position – whether as an administrative assistant, to an engineering manager, all the way through to the president of a company. Mentoring can be a very rewarding experience for both the person being mentored and the person doing the mentoring.
Why would you want to have a mentor?
- Especially when you are starting out your own business, it will give you someone to turn to for advice, a second opinion, or as a sounding board.
- The mentor has dealt with some of the same situations that you have, and you can learn from their mistakes and successes.
- Your network will grow larger, through the introduction of your mentor.
Why would you want to be a mentor?
- It can help your skills as a consultant or teacher grow.
- You can give back to your community.
- You will learn from the person you are mentoring through their different ideas and perspectives.
How can you find a mentor or someone to mentor?
Oftentimes, there are programs provided either through the government or through local business organizations (ie – Chambers of Commerce) that set people up with mentors or with a person to mentor. If you have someone in mind that you would already like to work with – someone you have worked with previously, or who you know socially – you can ask this person directly about whether they’d be interested in a mentoring relationship.
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