Better Business Coaching

Recent horrific events in Japan have made me think about the world of business risk assessment and the almost cult like status of the defect elimination approach known as Six Sigma.

Many large businesses have been consumed with Six Sigma over the last few years and it has become something of a quasi religion in some corporate cultures of late.  Six Sigma aims to eliminate failure using statistical analysis to eliminate defects down to 3.4 parts per million.  The methodology is particularly suitable for dealing with high risk business operations such as aerospace and nuclear power.

Prevention is always better than the cure.  So, why did Six Sigma not prevent the nuclear accident in Japan?  It was the tsunami that caused the destruction of the cooling systems in the nuclear power plant and not the earthquake itself.  So, surely the tsunami was an unpredictable event?  Not at all.  A tsunami is a predictable event after an earthquake in coastal areas under certain circumstances.

However terrible the events in Japan have been, this event seems to point out the fallibility of Six Sigma thinking under conditions of complexity and, in this case, predictable cause and effect analysis.  Of course we must plan to eliminate and minimise errors of the type that created the Japanese nuclear plant failure.  However, we should not place all our trust in proprietary techniques such as Six Sigma as our way of predicting complex scenarios with multiple causes and consequences.  A wiser approach will be to combine analysis with other more intuitive approaches to risk management, such as scenario planning.

As the terrible events unfold from the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear plant failure in Japan, the best anyone can hope for is that as a human race, we manage to learn from such things.  Such events point out our ultimate fragility and the need to stop, look and learn.  Doing more of the same or trying to do it better will not be sufficient to get us to where we need to be.

Peter Cook runs Human Dynamics and in his spare time pursues an obsession to help others make better decisions about things that affect all of us.

What is leadership?  Can you coach people in leadership skills?  What has music got to do with all this?   Tough questions indeed.  I contend that you can learn leadership skills and strategies through experiencing how great musicians manage to improvise within the framework of a song structure.

It’s an idea which has gained currency from Dennis Tourish, Professor of Leadership at the University of Kent and John Howitt, a session musician whose track record includes performances with Celine Dion, Anastasia, Shirley Bassey amongst others.  Professor Tourish is leading a free showcase event on leadership, coaching and Rock’n’Roll on 22nd March.

So, can you coach Leadership?  Dennis Tourish suggests that many companies have lost their way, giving example by way of pointing out that bad systems in companies tend to encourage bad practices.  He cites the appraisal system as one of the worst culprits.  Great leaders find much better ways to coach their staff to peak performance, encouraging them to bring their heads, hearts and souls to work.

John Howitt’s work with rock’s monarchy emphasises the importance of authenticity in leadership.  When I asked John what marks out the great from the good in this area, he points out that many of the stars he has worked with in the music business are what is known as ‘emotionally literate’ in the coaching world.  In other words, they sense how they come across to others and adjust their approach to meet the needs of those they work with.  Prince is a great example of the emotionally literate leader, as is Tim Smit, CEO of the Eden Project.  John offers quite an unexpected outlook on leadership, compared with the commonly held notions of ‘sex, drugs and rock’n’roll’.   And with many parallels for leadership in business and surprisingly in synch with Professor Tourish’s work.  Simply stated:

Great leaders live inside their own heads and assess their impact on those they serve, just like great rock stars.

Bad musicians live in their own space and don’t know what’s going on around them, in the same way that bad leaders are emotionally bankrupt.

Professor Tourish and John Howitt will be outlining how leaders can be better coaches alongside some lessons in leadership from the likes of Prince, Anastasia, Meatloaf and Madonna at the free Leadership showcase event on March 22.  Contact the author if you would like to experience something similar closer to home.

For more information about Peter Cook:  The Rock’n’Roll Business Guru, visit The Academy Of Rock.

One of the unprecedented successes of the internet has to be the massive growth of the online betting and gambling industry, growing not only in the number of sites and companies offering their wares, but also in the huge amounts of revenue generated.

A report released way back in December 2006 from Merrill Lynch suggested quite rightly that the online betting industry was at that stage in its infancy, yet still generating a staggering $15billion.

The online betting and gambling industry had at that time already grown at a steady pace from around $3Billion in 2001, with year on year increments of size-able proportions.

In 2006 in the UK, government figures suggested that players throughout the UK and Europe were already playing their part in the industry spending around £3.5billion during that year alone.

At the time of the 2006 report Merrill Lynch predicted that the industry would continue to grow at a rapid rate and expected earnings in 2010 to be as high as $24billion.

Having brought in around $22million in 2009 it is  safe bet that the prediction is going to be close for 2010 but experts have put a figure of $25billion as more likely.

Incredibly the growth of the online betting and gambling industry continues to rise year on year at alarming levels, but it has plenty more growing to do to fulfill the prediction made by Merrill Lynch in 2006 – That the industry would be worth a colossal $528billion annually worldwide by 2015.

They have been spot on with their predictions so far, so is this figure really possible?

Incidentally, the latest survey into the online gambling industry found that 50% of gamblers are women.

Bill Nelson photo: Martin Bostock

Today, I’m looking at what makes a master of personal reinvention.  Not through the usual business suspects, but through the example of the music legend Bill Nelson.  I’ve been inspired to write this as I have just managed to get a ticket to see Bill at the filming of his ITV Legends concert in London on Saturday March 26th.  Check out the concert details if you want to be a part of this once in a lifetime experience to meet a true master of personal reinvention.

You might be wondering, just who is Bill Nelson?  And what can a rock star teach us about personal reinvention?  How is that relevant for us in our lives and work?  Some background…

Bill Nelson led 1970’s Art School band Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise.  In spite of his huge success, he disliked the ‘rock’n’roll circus’ and left considerable wealth and fame to pursue his own artistic and musical direction.   However, his influence on modern music is immense and pervasive.  Nelson turned down a job as David Bowie’s guitarist and is admired by Paul McCartney, Brian May, Kate Bush, Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Prince, The Foo Fighters, The Darkness, My Chemical Romance et al.

Reinvention is hard enough for most of us.  It’s even harder if you have a Rolls Royce, five sports cars and a mansion calling you to just do ‘more of the same’.  This is the situation Bill Nelson faced with EMI music in the late 1970’s.  Most of us are being asked to do some personal reinvention at the moment.   You may be trying to learn new things to get a new job?  Maybe you run a small business, struggling for contracts in a changing business landscape?  Or you might be instigating corporate reinvention to keep your company in tune with ever changing customer moods, wants and needs?  All these things require you to be excellent at personal reinvention and mastery of change.

So, what are Bill Nelson’s secrets for personal reinvention?  He wrote these down when contemplating a new album release and wishing to break away from simply repeating himself.  Bill kindly allowed me to interpret them in my book ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll’.   Let’s explore a couple of his principles:

Bill Nelson says “Do not be afraid of the ‘off’ switch”.  In my experience of composing and recording music, this means not continuously adding more layers to a piece of music and losing the simplicity and resonance of the piece.  It also means stopping when what you are doing isn’t working.  Many businesses would be better off if they were to adopt this principle, i.e. stopping things that are no longer wanted or needed rather than just carrying on regardless.  We are all creatures of habit to some extent.  There is often irresistible temptation and pressure to continue in the face of compelling evidence of a need to do something different.  Kodak experienced this with the death of conventional film processing.  Had they chosen to notice the trend some years back, they might have been in a better position to respond to market change.

Bill Nelson adds “Refuse to sing when no words appear”.  An excellent lesson for most of us to learn.  Why do most songs have to have lyrics?  Why do most websites have to have text?  Why do most businesses have departments they don’t need? and so on.  Masters of personal reinvention don’t slavishly copy success recipes.  They adapt and improve upon them to precisely meet their needs and those of the people they serve.  If you want to serve yourself well and your customers, by all means use success recipes as basic ‘templates for life’.  But also question their relevance and precise fit for your particular circumstances.  In the words of the master himself “Stay young, and keep in touch”.  This means that you should approach new opportunities with a fresh mind.  Always check to see if your success recipes are still up to date with the world around you.  If you’ve been in business for any length of time, there can be a tendency to think that you are invincible.  Hubris in business is a killer, as Marks and Spencer, Sony and many others nearly found out.

The coaching lessons from this are:

• If what you are doing isn’t working, stop, think and do something different

• Question the things that are the essence of your success from time to time

I’ll be writing more about Bill Nelson’s principles for reinvention in future blogs.  If you want to read more about personal and corporate reinvention, read Sex, Leadership and Rock’n’Roll or come along to our next free event on March 22. If you fancy meeting Bill Nelson in person at a champagne reception after the ITV Legends show in London, check out the ITV Legends concert

For more information about Peter Cook:  The Rock’n’Roll Business Guru visit Academy Of Rock.

Finding the River: The Energy Self-Help Guide for Surviving Life's Challenges

Based on the authors extensive research, Finding the River: The Energy Self-Help Guide for Surviving Life’s Challenges is a book of personal discovery, both for the author and the reader alike. Looking at different traditions, Finding the River clearly lays out each idea with intriguing and enlightening exercises (of which there are over 50) in a clear and concise manner, helping the reader get a rounded knowledge of each technique.

The easy to read style, along with the authors expansive knowledge and passion for the subject, make Finding the River a joy to read.

Finding the River: The Energy Self-Help Guide for Surviving Life’s Challenges covers a number of therapeutic modalities such as Endorphin techniques and meditations, relaxation and pacing methods using Ultradian rhythms, Energy Medicine exercises, and EmoTrance and Emotional Freedom (EFT) techniques.

This self help book explains and takes the reader through various meditation techniques sourced from Buddhist, Hindu, and Tibetan traditions; teaches ways to clear your clutter, Space Clear and create a sacred place in your home; provides exercises and techniques for dealing with stress, burnout, coping with change and coaxing oneself out of limiting comfort zones; explains the power of the mind and the value of developing awareness of oneself; the importance of connecting with Nature; as well as a whole host of other ways to help yourself through the challenges of life.

Finding The River also explains ways and rituals to use all these techniques throughout the changing energies of the seasons so that the reader may learn to be more in tune with the natural world and experience a greater balance and harmony within themselves.

The book has been called “Valuable and encouraging for anyone on the path of healing and spiritual development” by teacher and author William Bloom, and respected Energy Medicine teacher Madison King believes “This uplifting book is an Aladdin’s Cave of wisdom, practical information and techniques from myriad disciplines.”

This book is invaluable for anyone who wishes to delve into the ocean of Holistic Therapies and personal development, and will guide them through the four seasons, connecting them to Nature and giving them simple ways of working with holistic energy, both within and on outer levels. Most importantly, Finding the River teaches the reader to weave the various techniques together, to help them promote peace and happiness in their lives.

Finding the River: The Energy Self-Help Guide for Surviving Life’s Challenges is available in paperback from bookshops and the Amazon Kindle store.