The Academy for Chief Executives, a leading provider of experiential business learning® facilitates groups of CEOs and Managing Directors who meet together every month to network and take full advantage of experiential learning. Part of membership involves members taking their issues to the table and discussing them with their peers.

At a recent meeting, one of the CEO members wanted to explore ideas on how to encourage a staff member to be more proactive.

It was explained that the team member appears reluctant to step up to the plate and accept their responsibilities. The individual is good at identifying a problem and informing others but doesn't seem to take any initiative or to be proactive in solving the problem.

Members in the group asked all sorts of searching questions and ended up suggesting a variety of approaches:

** The most radical being that the employee should leave the organisation promptly!

** Others included demonstrating and giving specific examples of rewarded pro-activity within the organisation

** It was also suggested that the individual should be asked what stops them from doing the next step

** We also discussed if there is a process for introducing solutions.

It was a rapid fire session and the presenter of the issue went away with a clear plan of action.

This is just a snippet of the advice given by our members. For confidentiality reasons we cannot divulge all of the advice provided – however, we do hold open meetings where guests are able to attend and experience for themselves the real power of 'The Board You Could Never Afford®'.

These were the words of Judy Piatkus, founder of Piatkus publishing, when she spoke at Entrepreneurs in London in November. It is a theme that is developing in the media, too as companies like Woolworth's and MFI go into administration and several major UK banks (and a number in the USA, too) move into effective nationalisation. As I write this, a rescue package for the big 3 motor manufacturers in the USA (all of them significant in global terms, too) has been voted down by the US Senate. The bloodletting has begun and the opportunities are out there.

Take Woolworth's. A fixture on the UK High Street for 98 years, it is fighting for its life and, whilst there are potential buyers for some of the stores in a break up, no one seems interested in taking it on as a going concern. Whilst, in some ways, that is not a surprise – the High Street stores have lost their way and the brand may not be worth saving – in others it is very surprising and a little concerning. Inside the Woolworth business is Entertainment UK, a hitherto profitable and growing wholesale business specialising in CDs and DVDs. That, too, will close its doors soon as no buyers have come forward to buy it out from the Woolworth carcass. We do live in cautious, risk-averse times.

This period of trading will also separate the true entrepreneurs from the 'lifestyle' business owners. Indeed, finding opportunity in the face of major challenge was a clear theme of the conference. Several speakers emphasised the need to remain open and vigilant for new opportunities rather than just battening down the hatches. As I note elsewhere in this months newsletter, taking on challenges is for me a distinguishing feature of entrepreneurs. We will certainly have a few to face in the coming months.

Entrepreneurs in London took place in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster on 20th November this year and around 650 people attended – a great turnout given the prevailing economic news. Around 150 of those were invited through the Academy for Chief Executives. The event was organised by Fresh Business Thinking who also publish this newsletter and the Academy for Chief Executives was pleased to be able to support the event.

Two of the speakers at the Conference, Ian McGeechan of London Wasps and Gareth Malone of the LSO and TV Presenter of 'The Choir', have inspired separate articles this month. I've picked just a few of the themes and learning's from some of the other speakers to highlight in this article.

What makes an Entrepreneur?
John O'Connell, Chairman of London Wasps saw the essential attributes of an entrepreneur as drive and passion, vision and leadership. Optionally they also should have a sense of humour and financial acumen (or know someone who has). Having good luck and impeccable timing would also be useful, he suggested. Gerard Burke of The Business Growth Partnership at Cranfield gave his take on the '10 Steps to Growth'. They included the importance of being passionate and wanting to succeed, working on the business not in it and being clear about your direction. Judy Piatkus remembered the importance, in her publishing career, of trying to keep ahead of the trend. Her business carried a lot of risk and had much money committed.

How should Entrepreneurs approach the downturn?
Gerard Burke suggested (as did Ian McGeechan), that you take time to know your 'enemy' and that you watch the pennies and know your numbers. Most successful businesses grow by doing more of what they know best rather than exploring new markets or developing new product categories. We should, he suggested, be aiming to become "small, big businesses and not big, small businesses". Growth, he said, is down to you, especially taking the time to develop your own skills and abilities and I can only agree.

Zak Goldsmith, former editor of the Ecologist and prospective parliamentary candidate emphasised that there are good business-based reasons for businesses to consider green activity even in an economic downturn. In a word where raw materials cost more and the cost of waste disposal is escalating, it makes economic sense for businesses to consider how to avoid wasting raw materials in the first place.

As a business turnaround specialist, Anthony Holmes shared his rules for surviving in a downturn. Most businesses will be affected to some extent; he contends and so must take action to avoid the worst effects. Always make sure you have multiple options to pursue, keep close control over implementation, limit your objectives and retain cash and maintain flexibility were some of his suggested approaches. Reducing time pressure by keeping things important but not urgent gives you more options and maintaining communication with banks, creditors and staff will ensure that there are no nasty surprises.

John O'Connell added a timely reminder that the cheapest source of finance is your customers. The more that you sell of your product, the better the cash flow – and cash flow is the lifeblood of businesses, especially now.

Mike Southon, The Beermat Entrepreneur, who hosted the afternoon session, added his own advice from his experience. In difficult times it is best to keep things simple and, where possible, to get advice and mentoring from someone who has been there.

The Academy for Chief Executives – leaders learning with leaders.
Investing in your own skills and knowledge is an important element of surviving in difficult times. The Academy for Chief Executives is a leading provider of Experiential Business Learning. It inspires its members to learn from each other, to creatively solve both business and personal issues and to ultimately become great business leaders. Through peer group learning – where Chief Executives and Managing Directors learn from each other, practical experts, a network of successful business leaders and expert coaching, Academy members are guided on a journey to greater success. With their Academy Chairman and peer group acting as mentors, they develop and grow their businesses and are inspired to be the best.

By Brian Chernett
December 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

If you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always got – I'm sure you've heard that saying before. It is, in my experience, true especially of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs, almost by definition, innovate - they make change happen. So you might think that, faced with the chance to do something different, entrepreneurs would rise to the challenge. Not necessarily.

At the Entrepreneurs in London conference in November, Gareth Malone, Community Choirmaster for the London Symphony Orchestra and presenter of television programmes 'The Choir' and 'Boys can't Sing' asked members of the audience to join in an experiment in singing. Some audience members questioned what singing had to do with being an entrepreneur and chose to avoid the session. Others rose to the challenge.

If you want to do something that changes a market or creates an opportunity - it has to be different. The 'dissenters' came expecting a 'business conference' but taking a different approach actually resulted in a lot of learning - provided that you were open to it.

Now what Gareth Malone knows about business is probably much less than he knows about music. He has shown - on TV - that he can take a group of reluctant non-singers and turn them into a credible and successful choir, working with the hardest audience of all - teenage children.

So what Gareth Malone knows about teams and especially about motivating them is of interest and use to us all. In his view you first need a clear vision of what is to be done. People - especially the leaders - need to be prepared to take some risks and you have to get the audience's attention. Malone does that with considerable energy and an unfailing (though strongly tested) positive attitude.

"Taking music into schools can be difficult. You need to create a real life experience to counteract the drudgery of much of school life. Challenge is important and it has to be an achieveable goal. The important difference is that it also has to be inspirational. For example, going to China to take part in an international choir competition or performing in the Royal Albert Hall."

Your team's motivation may also benefit from this approach. Are you energetic and positive when proposing new goals and approaches? Is the goal achievable but also inspirational? Can the whole team buy into it?

And when did you last sing 'Shine' by Take That with a few hundred other entrepreneurs?

By Brian Chernett
December 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

As Deloittes seek a buyer for Woolworths without apparent success, it seems inevitable that the familiar red frontage will finally bow out of the High Street in early 2009. Their departure should be a loss to the High Street, they used to be the UK's foremost retailer after all, but, along, I suspect, with most of their customers, I've lost track of what Woolies is for and lost patience with their lack of customer service.

In 1986, they seemed worth fighting for – at least as part of the Kingfisher brand. Even then they were a pale imitation of their former retailing glories but there were plans in place to make them relevant to a new generation of customers and to make them earn their place in the High Street of the late eighties and the nineties.

The bid for the Kingfisher Group by the Dixons Stores Group in 1986 certainly raised the temperature in Kingfisher. I was in management with B&Q, running their merchandise administration in Southampton. It was a period of rapid growth for B&Q and we were a major contributor to Kingfisher's earnings. Woolworths wasn't. When the Dixons Stores Group came calling, Kingfisher chose to resist the bid and to fight for their right to remain independent. The Chief Executive at the time, Geoffrey Mulcahy brought in McKinsey to produce a strategy for resisting the bid.

At a meeting in Wembley Conference Centre, Mulcahy addressed over 3,000 managers from B&Q, the newly acquired Comet chain and, of course, Woolworths. With him on the rostrum was McKinsey's lead consultant, Archie Norman, who presented the bid response. Woolworth were already in the process of changing their merchandise mix and the bid accelerated that. No longer would Woolworth sell food – they were already being overtaken by the supermarkets – and clothing for adults was also dropped from the mix. What remained was toys, gifts, confectionery, entertainment, home and garden accessories, kitchen accessories, kids clothes and cosmetics – many of which are still carried in Woolworth stores. Even then it seemed an unfocussed mix.

Woolworth has been part of my growing up. As a child I bought pocket money toys there – marbles, toy soldiers, Matchbox cars – and, as a teenager, they were one source of music – a major retailer of the pop single. As a UK retail group they would have been 100 years old next November. Heritage lost to a number of factors that meant that Woolies probably couldn't survive as they were.

For a start, there are specialist retailers covering all of their product categories – and in most cases doing it better or cheaper – or both. The were saddled with large High Street spaces when the bigger retail outlets had moved out of town and morphed into variety stores themselves. Take a look at an Asda or Tesco and every product line that Woolworth carries is likely to be available there, to be bought as part of the weekly supermarket shop.

For the past decade, it seems that Woolworth have depended on their music and entertainment sales to keep customers coming and cash flowing. As the internet and, specifically, iTunes and Amazon, has carved out a huge niche in the delivery of entertainment, Woolies have suffered, perhaps more than other retailers.

Retail depends on a two stage process of which stage one is to get customers to come into the store. That depends on how their customers view the proposition, the display and attraction of the storefront and their reputation with those who have been attracted into the store before – 'is it worth bothering to go in?' Stage two – getting customers to spend their money - is totally dependent on stage one and on the availability of the right goods at the right price and on customer service. On a totally subjective level, it seems to me that, for some time, Woolies have been struggling with stage one and failing on stage two.

There are no guarantees in business and positive sentiment will not make a retailer profitable. I'm sure there are many people who are as sad as I am to see Woolies pass but it is clear that very few, if any, of those people are prepared to invest more money to save them for the nation.

At the 'Entrepreneurs in London' conference in November, I had the pleasure and privilege to listen to one of the great coaches of Rugby Union, Ian McGeechan. McGeechan was there in his role as Director of Rugby at London Wasps and his coaching record speaks for itself.

Wikipedia notes that "In 1986, McGeechan became the assistant Scotland coach to Derrick Grant and in 1988 he was promoted to coach. In 1990, his team won a Grand Slam victory in the Five Nations Championship. McGeechan was the British and Irish Lions coach in 1989, 1993 and 1997. In 2005, he coached the midweek side on the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand on the invitation of Sir Clive Woodward. He will again lead the Lions on their 2009 tour to South Africa. McGeechan was appointed Director of Rugby at London Wasps in 2005 after an unsuccessful and unhappy period as the Scottish Director of Rugby. In his first season of 2005/2006 he led Wasps to the Powergen Anglo Welsh Cup title, beating Llanelli Scarlets in the final at Twickenham. In his second season, London Wasps claimed the Heineken Cup."

When it comes to achieving success through teams, McGeechan suggested, there was nothing complicated. It was about doing what he calls the "World Class basics." Those basics are about self-awareness and self-knowledge. Specifically knowing "what drives me, what is my role and how I do that. Under pressure you go back to what got you where you are". The ability to do the basics is all about people "being 'good enough' at what they do and then it is about teamwork. When I need to know what to do to improve, I think about who is the best at it and ask what would they be doing in this situation? Then I do it, whatever it is."

Leading a successful team is about having the right people and about the chemistry between them. "At Wasps we review every single thing we do with the aim of improving all of the time." That requires everyone, including the leadership team, to be honest enough to admit to their mistakes.

"You need all sorts of individuals in order to become a team and they need to have a single mind about what we are and how we achieve it. We have to know ourselves and where we want to be, understand the environment in which we will be operating and know the opposition better than they know themselves". Leadership is not necessarily a static thing. "But when we are in the field, we don't have one leader. Leadership is shared. If someone is best at one aspect - they are the leader".

Do your team members understand who your company is and how it does its work? Do they know their role and when they are needed to lead? Are they capable of doing their World-Class basics?

By Brian Chernett
December 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone.

Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

CEO members from experiential business learning group Leaders Forum 9 enjoyed a session full of great content and insight into employment issues from expert Ken Allison. The workshop, "Hiring to Firing" (built around an Alan Sugar storyline which really works) was delivered with authority, skill and good humour. Ken managed to bring to life a subject matter which is often thought of as a little 'dry'. He received great feedback from members including "You made this topic accessible and interesting - I now realise that I can be proactive and take preventative actions to avoid tribunals and poor staff outcomes - which is really motivational"

This session gave us many take aways, including:

1. Answers to employment law questions that CEO members are currently tackling;
2. The confidence to deal with legal challenges made by employees;
3. An awareness of forthcoming legislation;
4. An understanding of how to deal with poor performance, attendance and conduct;
5. Exactly how to hire and fire within the law!
6. How to protect our commercial interests

and above all

7. Increased peace of mind!!

Ken was the Runner Up in The Academy for Chief Executives' 2008 New Speaker of The Year Awards - and we now know why! This session comes thoroughly recommended.

Joanna Jesson,Chairman Leaders Forum 9

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

CEO members of experiential business learning group Academy Group 29 took part in a highly interactive and practical workshop delivered by media expert David Walter (pictured below). The ability to perform well on radio and television and to communicate effectively with print journalists is essential.

In his career in broadcasting, David Walter met and interviewed every British Prime Minister from Harold Macmillan to Gordon Brown. Recently, David has helped many people in the business and other worlds to prepare to deal with crises. A specialist in reputation management, he can illustrate the right and the wrong way to deal with a crisis when a company's future is on the line and when the performance of its chief executive on the media can make or break it. He believes that the leader of any organisation needs to acquire the skill to deal with the media, and that this skill is transferable into many other situations.

David gave our CEO members lots of opportunity for practice radio and TV interviews. Whilst some members felt a little apprehensive upfront, the verdict was that it was much easier to do than one might have thought.

David gave very helpful feedback and members learnt from observing each other.

Main takeaways were:

1. Understand what and how to prepare for media interviews - very applicable to more traditional sales situations as well.
2. Recognise the power of stories and have good ones ready for use.
3. The importance of bridging to your key message.

Academy Group 11 Chairman, Joe Adams, also rates David, commenting:

"This session reminded me of media training which I had undergone whilst being chairman and MD of Encyclopaedia Britannica. David Walter is a master at relaxing people but at the same time, he succeeds in getting the adrenaline flowing to perfectly recreate the atmosphere of a hostile interview. He interviewed half the room to simulate a radio interview and the other half of the room he did a 2 minute television type interview. He then played back that interview on the TV monitor. I must say, I was impressed by the quality of my member's interviews, as indeed, was David. But despite this innate professionalism, there was deep learning for all concerned. I believe they are now ideally prepared should they ever have to face the daunting and oft times, traumatic impact of a hostile media interview. This is Academy learning at its best!"

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

Neil Ryder delivered a most interesting and thought provoking session to CEO members of experiential business learning group LF66 recently. This talk is particularly relevant to today as we look to create the most effective, efficient pro-active and integrated businesses.

Neil (pictured right) outlines the roles necessary maximise the effectiveness, efficiency and pro-active entrepreneurship of an organic organisation.

He talked in depth about the Lifecycle Stages and characteristics of a business, this really has nothing to do with time, as businesses can get stuck at a stage and never move on.

The four roles need constant revisiting to ensure they are in balance. It is this balance that keeps and develops great businesses and keeps them at their prime.

Wayne Gretzky's (ice hockey player), quote is particularly apt, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Sandy Murray,
Chairman
Leaders Forum 66

It is important that we get much closer to customers than ever before, so that in a fast changing world we can try to respond to their needs.

I am driving to Winchester on Tuesday where I had arranged to meet a special client for lunch. At Swindon an accident has stopped the traffic. I ask my PA to ring Jane and they agree we will meet half an hour later than planned at the Black Boy pub. The yellow petrol light is flickering but I must get there for the new time of 12:30.

Can't believe that I may even miss this new deadline so I put on a CD to deflect my thoughts. It goes into the slot OK but the screen does not tilt back to vertical. That means I've lost my Sat-Nav.

Sometime later my PA uses her Google map to talk me to the pub for 12:25. I ask to see the menu but am told the pub does not do lunch on Tuesdays. I am waiting outside in the rain and Jane appears at 12:30 precisely. She smiles, waves and parks. I tell her the news. Now Jane is a very attractive female and is clearly not used to being messed around by idiots.

We agree that I'll follow her into town and eat there because she has another meeting at 13:30. But now my petrol light is full on and she drives fast, round two full car parks where we must have been just a blur to the good folk of Winchester. Eventually we find a multi storey. Jane parks up by the entrance and I carry on up, round and round. It's a Pay and Display. No coins, so I race back down, round and round to find Jane clicking her high heels impatiently by the entrance. She has no more coins so I jog back up and just lock the car.

I'm sweating now but Jane nonchalantly sweeps us into an adjacent hostelry. It's 13:10, we've got 20 minutes. We order two lamb burgers and at 13:20 there is no sign of any staff. I find a waitress smoking outside and plead for faster service.

At 13:25, the fire alarm goes. Everyone gets up and makes for the exit. I remember my credit card is behind the bar. I say to Jane, "You wait outside I'll just get my cr....... but Jane is looking at her watch. Our time is up.

And so we shake hands. I'm finding it impossible to know what to say. So Jane says, "Goodbye and thank you." Then she is gone.

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

Academy Groups 5 and 32 had the benefit of a really powerful workshop with Anne Riches (pictured right) who travelled from Australia to speak to the groups this month. Anne worked with us on her "Almond Effect" concepts - designed to help organisations and individuals overcome barriers and resistance to change.

The main obstacles are the inbuilt patterns that we all have, formed by our early conditioning and habit. These resistances are multiplied by the affect of the amygdala, a part of the brain which responds to threats and dangers.

Anne offered us the ADKAR systems to help make change less threatening to the recipients and increase the likelihood of effective change:

A = Awareness (of the need for change)

D = Desire (build and reinforce Desire for the change)

K = Knowledge (knowledge and skills needed to implement the change)

A = Ability (demonstrated ability to implement and change and achieve the desired performance level)

R = Reinforcement (actions to reinforce and support the change process

When engaging in a major change project within an organisation or team, Anne recommended the creation of a 'change team' who together could brainstorm (or use similar creative processes) to explore each of the elements of ADKAR to build a better picture of all the issues involved, and to increase engagement.

Anne was keen to point out that we should explore all issues surrounding "Awareness" - for example

- How does what I do fit into the bigger picture?

- What change is needed and What's in it for Me?

- Whats's NOT going to change?

- What change in my behaviour is needed?

All in all, a very useful workshop for both organisational change projects and for personal change/goals.

Lots of take-away value - recommended.

Peter Pritchett,
Chairman, Academy Groups 5 and 32

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

Our members know how you feel. They've faced these questions many times before and done something about it. They've joined The Academy for Chief Executives.

'The Board You Could Never Afford®' is just one element of membership – your opportunity to share pressing issues and challenges with a peer group of like-minded leaders every month.

Need to know more?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type of challenge you could share with your own exclusive 'Board' -

At a recent meeting, one of the CEO members wanted to explore ideas on customer retention (having just lost a significant business customer).

The ideas generated included:

- Communication across the organisation who the the Key Accounts were;

- Appointing a "champion" for each Key Account;

- Having a thorough understanding of what is important to each Key Account.

Academy speaker, Phil Jesson (pictured, right), provides some really useful advice on building an effective key account management strategy. His top 4 tips are:

1. Find out how your customers feel about you by conducting regular key account audits. Focus these particularly on where the key account feels you are exceeding, meeting, or falling short of their expectations.
2. Become an expert in the key accounts world. Build on one piece of paper where the key account is today, where it wants to be in the future and how you can help them get there.
3. Treat key account management as a team sport. Establish different levels of contact between your organisation and their organisation.
4. Set objectives for each key account that will (a) add value; (b) improve your own business; and (c) develop relationships between your two organisations.

Free downloads on Key Account management are available from Phil's website at www.philjesson.com.

This is just a snippet of the advice given by our members. For confidentiality reasons we cannot divulge all of the advice provided – however, we do hold open meetings where guests are able to attend and experience for themselves the real power of 'The Board You Could Never Afford®'.

The lot of a boss can be a lonely one but The Academy for Chief Executives provides a regular forum for company heads to meet and share problems and ideas. David Elliott of Ulster Business went along to one of their meetings to find out how being able to emphathise with peers is helping some of Northern Ireland's most progressive bosses thrive ...

Spreading The Load

It's said a problem shared is a problem solved. But it's also said it's lonely at the top. In other words, there aren't many people a company boss can turn to when a problem needs talked through or ideas need bounced around. After all, few bosses want to air their insecurities to employees and indeed, few employees will give an honest answer if it means telling the boss she or he is plain wrong. The Academy for Chief Executives, (or ACE), aims to circumnavigate that problem by bringing together chief executive officers and managing directors on a regular basis to tackle the big issues faced on a day-to-day basis.

"The idea was to create a community of business leaders with a shared vision," says The Academy website. "People who are passionate about responsible leadership; who want to acquire new business skills and knowledge; and who strive to improve the performance of their business. A community of CEOs and MDs who are willing to share their experiences, and through trust and support, help each other achieve extraordinary things."

Extraordinary perhaps but it was intrigue that took Ulster Business along to a session of the Northern Ireland branch of ACE at the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick. Intrigued by the chance to hear the problems of some of the country's brightest bosses and intrigued by what on earth an ex-professional poker player - the guest speaker for the afternoon – was going to teach a bunch of business leaders.

Download the full article as it appeared in the November '08 issue of Ulster Business here >>

© Reproduced with kind permission of Ulster Business. www.ulsterbusiness.com.

What a brilliant day Monday 17th was. Michael and John did a great job of keeping it all in check and the networking was invaluable, both with chairs and with other speakers. Thanks from me to everyone involved with organising it. I write though for a reason. I made several observations during the day just a couple of which I will write about here. I should say that I bring up both subjects out of respect to all who attended and with the understanding that these are my observations and not necessarily shared by any other speakers or chairs.

When my ex wife and I separated in 2005 we spent some time in our house dividing up some of our possessions. One incident reduced us both to tears, of laughter. At some point in our ten-year marriage one of us had purchased some pictures for a wall. When we reached the pictures I said "you can have those, I never really liked them anyway." To which she replied "I don't want them, I think they are horrible." We had both tolerated those pictures for goodness knows how long because we both thought the other one liked them.

My reason for telling you this is because I saw something similar in the open and honest session we shared on Monday when speakers and Chairs went into different rooms to discuss our gripes against the other.

If we were to take another look at both lists we would probably realise that the things that have brassed us off as speakers have also brassed the chairs off as well. Perhaps we should just decide to communicate a little more, and more often, in order to iron out challenges before they take root. I know that I have been guilty of allowing myself to become involved with the occasional "let's slag ACE off" conversations and indeed I witnessed a couple of interesting ones on Monday. It was while listening to one particular 'gripe' session that I got to thinking about choice, and one question in particular. "Who has the ultimate choice as to whether a speaker addresses a group or not?"

The answer I came up with (and it is of course open to discussion) was that we the speakers have the ultimate choice whether we speak to a group or not. Of course we cannot address a group without an invitation from a chair to do so, that goes without saying. As a speaker though I retain the right to accept or decline that invitation. I am also aware that this is not a revolutionary discovery, I am absolutely certain that every speaker listed on the Academy web site (and there are a LOT of speakers listed on there) know that they can accept or decline any invitation to speak. So why then did I hear several speakers, some of whom have spoken for the Academy many times, complaining about the low fees that speakers are paid and the lack of respect that those low fees apparently displayed towards speakers?

Correct me if I am wrong here but we are all aware of what the fees are before we accept a gig with the Academy. If they are too low for you or display a lack of respect why not just invoke your freedom of choice? My simplistic way of thinking tells me that if you think the fees are too low and display a lack of respect say no. If however you choose to accept the gig then turn up, deliver your best presentation as if you were earning top fees and stop whinging about it.

I guess I should even things up a bit now. Personally this is the first meeting I have attended with the intention of becoming pro-active with the Academy. Any engagements I have accepted to this point have been me reacting to invitations. So it was interesting for me to see and hear exactly what you are looking for...or not as the case may be. For the most part I could accept what it is that you require from a speaker. However one of the items on the list of gripes seemed to be somewhat incongruent with what I was constantly being told when I spoke to chairs, especially by one chair in particular. The gripe I refer to was that you would like to see less speakers telling other speakers stories. During a conversation with this particular chair I was attempting to say who I was. I was constantly interrupted mid-sentence by them saying "I don't want to know what you have done. I want to know what you can do for my members." (As a foot note here I made a conscious decision that given the choice I probably wouldn't work with that chair.)

I cannot speak for other speakers but if you don't want to know what I have done why are you even contemplating booking me to speak? My entire story is based around what I have done. What I can leave your members with is based around what I have done. I am an inspirational humorist. Inspiring people by humorously telling my story and then hopefully inspiring (influencing) others to do the same or similar is what I do. If you want speakers to stop using other speaker's stories then at least do them the service of listening to their own. We are all sick of hearing about the four minute mile and just how many star fish can you hear about before you decide to make a difference yourself? As a speaker I agree with you, it is why I claim to be authentic (entitled to acceptance of established credibility) because my material is, for the most part, experiential.

I speak about my successful battle against obesity....some of your members will say "Me too."

I speak about my successful battle against depression...Some of your members will say "Me too."

I speak about feeling like giving up in business and in several races and physical challenges but then taking that challenge by the throat and saying "I'm not done yet!"...Some of your members will say "Me too."

I speak about surviving more than one divorce and still maintaining strong relationships with my ex wives....some of your members will say "Me too."

In short what I do is about ME. What your members choose to do with the information I impart during my workshops is about THEM. I say again that if you only want me to tell my own story then at least give me the courtesy of listening to it.

All that said I still found my journey South of Sheffield most beneficial and a very positive use of my time. Let me repeat that it was great to catch up with old friends and hopefully make some new ones. I will certainly be one of the first on the list for the next one.

Clive Gott

Good business leaders, like you, often feel very alone. Running a business is tough. Key decision making, company direction, clarity of strategy, personal development; it's a huge responsibility and it's entirely yours. Little wonder you're sometimes sleepless in the small hours or struggling to answer those really big questions.

Who can you turn to for totally impartial advice?

We'd like to share with you an example of the type speaker session you could experience every month as a member of The Academy for Chief Executives:

If you have ever wondered how to improve your ability to communicate with people in your team, then consider doing what my Academy group did last week and try communicating with a horse.

My group of business leaders, MDs and CEOs spent a half-day working with Lisa Brice, who is also an NLP Trainer, and with her horses. It was a most enlightening and enjoyable experience and one that I recommend to any business leader.

In order to work with a horse, you first need to create rapport. That is not as simple as it sounds. As Lisa comments on her Horses for Courses^tm site, "Horses live in the moment and will give us immediate and honest feedback about how we are relating to them. They provide a fantastic mirror; the way we approach horses is often how we approach other relationships and interactions. Horses are prey animals and humans are predators. Our hardwiring is completely different. Mastering how we can find a common ground for understanding and communicating opens up the dynamic opportunity of learning how to communicate with anyone, in any given circumstance."

As we discovered, working with a horse – Lisa calls it 'equine assisted experiential learning' - is less about knowing how to speak to a horse and much more about establishing resonance through body movement and body language and about your attitude to the task.

As with all experiential learning, it is not about success on the day but more about what you can take away from it. In this case, what I took away was the application of some of the techniques that worked with the horses to the push and pull of leadership. Communicating with people may not always seem to be a similar process, after all we're intelligent and react to logic. But it might pay to remember that we are animals, too, and react at an instinctive level just as the horses do.

In order to communicate well with your team and resonate with them, it pays to remember their preferred style of approach, to keep your body language congruent with the words you use and to use the feedback from their facial expressions and body language to adjust the delivery of your message.

I'm a strong believer in continuous change and improvement. Just as you cannot ask horses to do anything that involves sudden change, so it is true of business and the people in your team. Change is best when it happens naturally and progressively.

If you create a sudden change, it may not only be the horses that will be frightened.

Brian Chernett, Chairman Academy Group 2

Sometimes sport can demonstrate the best (and worst) aspects of leadership and management. Some of you may know of my love for cricket but, on this occasion, it is football that has attracted my attention and a team that is showing signs of turning a bad season around – though there is still a long way to go.

Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) opened their season without a win. Weeks into the season they were bottom of the Premier League with no wins and two points to show for their efforts. The Spurs Board decided that they needed new leadership, parted company with Juande Ramos, their manager, and signed up Harry Redknapp. Redknapp had already turned round Portsmouth and the Board believed that he could do the same for Spurs.

The Board could not have dreamed that their decision would have such an immediate effect. Tottenham won their first match with Redknapp in charge and, until they lost last Saturday to Fulham, "Redknapp had presided over three victories and a thrilling 4-4 draw at Arsenal" (BBC Sport). Suddenly they are scoring goals and winning games.

Redknapp has pretty much the same team at his disposal as Ramos, so what has changed? Commentators are seeing it as a change of management style and good people management on the part of Harry Redknapp. The players are working for him so what made the difference? Simply, it seems that he went to talk and, importantly, to listen to them and they seem to have trusted that he would do the right things for them. He appears to be speaking their language (even though there are many languages in the team). It is the language of respect and trust.

As Alan Hansen comments on the BBC Sport website, "Redknapp will also have played a massive part. I am sure he will have taken (Darren) Bent to one side and said one or two things of a positive nature to try to get the best out of him.

Harry will have judged what sort of treatment Bent requires, whether it is the arm around the shoulder or the kick up the backside. Whatever approach he has taken, it has worked.

If I was summing up Bent's renaissance, I would attribute it to three things. What Harry has said. How Bent has reacted to his manager's words and how Spurs have started to play well again.

Redknapp has overseen a truly remarkable change in fortunes at Tottenham but it was their resilience that got the show on the road again in the first place."

So how does Redknapp's success affect how you work in your business? Times are tough and may get tougher. You will need every ounce of support that you can get. So now is the time to talk to your stakeholders and to LISTEN to them. So, talk to them, ask their advice, have the positive intention that you will use what you learn. Feed back to them as you move on. If you also place trust in your key people and recognise their abilities, you will discover that recognition is a powerful motivator – more powerful as a positive motivator than more money according to Abraham Maslow.

Being listened to and recognised together can make a massive difference to the morale of your team and that will improve your results.

By Brian Chernett
November 2008

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This article first appeared in Freshbusinessthinking.com's Virtual Director Newsletter.
Visit www.freshbusinessthinking.com to subscribe.

Barnsdale Hall Hotel in Rutland provided the venue for a very different Academy Speaker Showcase this week. The format of the day grew out of feedback from The Academy's existing speaker community – Director of Speaker Development, Phil Jesson commented,

"One of The Academy's core values is to openly give and receive feedback, so we were keen to act upon feedback which suggested we could improve our communication channels with existing speakers."

The day had four objectives – to present an opportunity to network; to provide a platform for existing speakers to promote new products and topics; to foster a relationship where speakers and Academy chairmen work in partnership; and finally, to recognise this year's 'Speakers of the Year'.

"Two of our established speakers, Michael Tipper and John Cremer, provided excellent facilitation throughout the day. Opinions and views were openly discussed and worked on together towards some open solutions. There was a lot of good learning, particularly on how The Academy and its Chairmen are working with the speaker community." Concluded Phil.

Feedback from speakers included,

"A great day: enjoyable and instructive. I'm glad I came."
- Raymond Walley

"An excellent opportunity to build on old relationships and develop new."
- Molly Harvey

"Lots of good continuous feedback and suggestions from all sides."
- Rob Brown

Winners of the 2008 Speaker of The Year Awards were:

New Speaker of the Year:

Winner: Caspar Berry

Runner up: Ken Allison

Speaker of the Year:

Winner: Roger Martin-Fagg

Runner up: John Cremer

And Brian Chernett's Founders Award went to Nigel Risner
for a decade of service.

On collecting his award, Roger Martin-Fagg commented, "I am delighted to receive this accolade from such a demanding audience especially as my speciality is the dismal science! I am sure that Academy members are better prepared than most for the recession as a consequence of the sessions we have enjoyed together. Thank you all very much."

For details of the next speaker showcase, please email speaker@chiefexecutive.com.