It takes a lot to surprise me these days (i am just too old I guess) but I have to tell you that last night I was surprised…very pleasantly I have to say. I was invited to the first anniversary of the BNI Lisbon Lider Club (which when said in Portuguese sounds like Bennie…). BNI is a 22 year old business and professional organisation that allows one person from each trade or profession to join a chapter (group…and you can have various chapters in a city). With over 4,900 active chapters, and 100,000 members, it is said to be the most successful business referral organisation in the world. (more…)

 

 BNI and the Jets [3:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I actually forgot where I took this quote, so I immediately apologise to the author….(found it….) but I think it’s something Startups and even experienced companies should be aware of. The extract of the article that is interesting is this - which should be remembered by all would be entrepreneurs:

Companies like Dogster that constantly examine user data - especially the discouraging stuff - are finding the information increasingly vital online. “Instead of working on a feature for months trying to get it perfect,” Rheingold says, “we’ll work on something for two weeks and then spend two or three days listening to users and fine-tuning it.”

Where old-economy giants once boasted of running “zero-defects” operations, today’s successful Internet businesses embrace defects as a way to get things right. Some management consultants even advise their clients to “get good” at screwing up.

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I have, for some time now, been looking for the PERFECT explanation as to why I get sleepy spells in conferences. I mean, we have ALL (and I mean ALL) been caught closing our eyes when someone’s presentation is, quite frankly, not up to scratch. It doesn’t matter how interesting the theme or how beautiful the person making the presentation actually is. If you have a boring PowerPoint, it will make for a boring presentation.

So, if you think your presentations fall into this category YOU SHOULD HAVE A LOOK AT THIS….

In fact, if you are going to make a presentation in the near future, YOU SHOULD ALSO HAVE A LOOK AT THIS:

http://lifehacker.com/software/presentations/stop-death-by-powerpoint-323554.php

And while you are doing that, you may also want to look at these:

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/visual_simplici.html

http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2005/11/it_was_one_of_t.html

Your next presentation will surely be different…..I know mine will…..

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I long, long time ago, while doing my A Levels working for the Coop (a supermarket chain in the UK) the manager of the store (Mr Harrington (who actually was encouraging me to become a future Coop manager…..) said to me “Ken, we are not going to put all those horrible poster in the front window. I want people to see from the outside in….or they won’t be able to see the woods for the Trees”. (more…)

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Last night (22nd March) in Lisbon I saw this year’s (2006) Nobel Prize for Peace Muhammad Yunus make a presentation of the work that he has been involved with over the last 35 years with Micro Credits.

You may or may not know about Micro Credits (and if you don’t know about Micro Credits, then I suppose you have been in hibernation for the last 10 years at least). It was the “invention” of Muhammad Yunus and the story behind the man is just about the purest most incredibly singularly unselfish thing that anyone can possibly imagine. Much has been written about this and there is no point me trying to compete. However, if there is a God in this world, you can be sure that he is standing next to this simple man.

The auditorium of the Gulbenkian in Lisbon holds 1.200 people….all seats were taken….and there were still people standing at the back. And some seconds before Muhammad walked onto the stage, there was a sudden silence in the hall that was almost as though we were waiting for a God….indeed we were waiting for someone special. And the moment he stepped onto the stage, this more than 1.200 people burst into a sustained applause that must have sent shivers down his spine…..it certainly did mine.
The mixed audience (from Ambassadors to the mere mortal) knew how to welcome the man from Bangladesh and he will remember the warmth of this reception of Lisbon for many years to come.

And what is quite striking is that this man, a Phd in Economics, can describe the complexity of his experience in such simple works. He formed pictures in three words and basically rewrote the banking world principles, so that the poorest of the poor people could be given a chance to live a life…simply be given an opportunity.

And turning extreme poverty into a business opportunity, where the only beneficiaries were the poor, must be seen as a one of the wonder of our lives.

People like Gandi, Mandela and now Yunus…all of whom we have been fortunate to have touched our lives…must become our heroes…they must serve as our inspiration and our reason for living…they must help us to understand that in this unique planet, we are all one and we are all part of the misery and poverty and therefore all part of the solution to, as Muhammad so simply says, Rid The World of Poverty.

At the end of his story, again the more than 1.200 people ALL stood and applauded the Man…and I honestly believe that we would all still be there, had he not decided to leave the stage after several minutes…it was a truly amazing feeling…truly amazing!

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