Oct 08 - Insight and cupcakes!

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Kids playing in the fountain at Grant Park, Chicago

Macy's Marshall Fields Store, State Street (that great street!) Chicago

So after my 5 weeks of fun in Chicago during July/August my consulting pipeline was a little dry; then I wrote a business plan, and things started happening (they say goals tell us what to care about, but there's something extra-universal to it all too!).

In the past month or so I've been playing with clients working out ways to collaborate in complex corporate environments (defining it, putting systems in place to make it more predictable), training some trainers, and updating the Consultant's Guide for 2008.

On my agenda for the next few months is the Australian Facilitator's Network Conference in Bathurst, NSW. I'm running a half-day combining improvising techniques, the idea of the opposable mind, NLP, the neurological research I've been reading and anything else that comes to hand. The Conference is 26 - 28 November 2008. My session is on November 27th. I'll be doing a similar session at the International Association of Facilitators' conference in Vancouver in 20-23 April 2009.

It's always so much fun to do something new and be out there with people who are making change!

Cindy

In this month's ezine we have:

• Improving your consultancy: making your business more enjoyable and a business building compendium; methodology tools; branding seminar; book keeping
• Managing better: books by chapter; MBTI, insight and advice
• Fascinating: Sun, ceremonies and pencils
• Fun: Cupcakes, life stories, word pictures

Your Consulting
business

Dusk over Wrigley Field, Wrigleyville, Chicago

Internet access points, University of Chicago Student Centre

Ideas for making your business more enjoyable

Michael Neill from Genius Catalyst had an interesting article on the complaint-free week. I'm not sure it's even possible, given who I am, but it is an interesting systemic change to make in your business if you're so inclined. I also discovered Michael's business building compendium - it's a free pdf you can download (you will go through his shop interface, but it costs you nothing. The compendium is focused more on mindset than anything else (it's not "how to", it's thinking about how you think).

Useful methodology tools

At the very practical end of the spectrum Nicola Andler has just published a handy new book of tools and techniques useful to consultants. If you need some more methodologies or models, check it out. Its major selling point for me is that it's in hard copy (so you can have it with you onsite), and it goes through why, when and how you might use different tools; it also cross references within the book, and has summary tables of all different kinds so you can find what you want.

You can find similar information at 12manage.com where just about every management theory, tool and idea, from Marketing to Strategy, to Human Resources has been summarised (in several languages) in just one page.

And of course my site also has free tools for running your business (invoices, time sheets, rate calculator, sample terms and conditions, that kind of thing!) which are less strategic and more practical. So knock yourself out!

Marketing and Branding

Ashton Bishop from Step Change Communications is running his branding seminar the Coached Marketing Seminar for Small Business on December 6 2008 in Sydney; I did it in July - it will cause you to rethink and prioritise your marketing efforts. Tell them I sent you.

And some easy to understand tax stuff

If you're a small business in Australia, then this short article on book keeping may be useful - it treats car log books, when you need a tax invoice for an expense, and when you need a travel diary.

Managing better

Apothecary at the Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago

Gorilla, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago

Get a book by chapter

I'm finding more and more that books I buy keep me interested for one or two big ideas, and then the rest of it I've heard or seen already (more than 20 years of reading business books, I guess). So I was happy to discover that Made To Stick is a business book about change now released by chapter. You can just buy the chapter that you want, and the price is quite reasonable ($2.99USD per chapter).

Inspired, I've released chapter 6 of the Australian Consultant's Guide (how much to charge). As I complete my 2008 rewrite the other chapters will become available too. It's $6.36; but if you like the chapter and want to buy the book, you get $5 off the cover price (so low risk!).

Getting more type knowledgeable

Maybe you're already an MBTI facilitator (Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator - the most popular personality styles indicator in the corporate world today), then you'll perhaps be interested in this workshop.

The program is being run by two of the Board members of the Association that guides the ethical use of psychological type (the Association of Psychological Type International) - one of whom is based in the USA and is unlikely to be out our way for some time. Program is in Brisbane on Monday Dec 8 and Tuesday Dec 9 2008, and early bird pricing closes on Thursday, Oct 23 2008. Contact Jill Chivers at The Corporate Compass for more information: Call Jill Chivers on 0416 074 911, or check out this course outline.

Oh, and it should probably go in the "fascinating" section, but for those of you who are type-savvy, check out this blog which lists other blogs by the type of their writers!

Insight

It turns out that the neuroscientists are thinking about insight. This July New Yorker article, Eureka Hunt summarises new "insights about insight".

They say that to have insight into a problem, we must stop focusing on it. Hence the epiphanies we tend to have in the shower, while shaving, putting on make up or when lying in bed in the morning. I have begun "disciplining" myself to take an extra 10 - 20 minutes lying awake in bed in the morning, and my problem-solving has become less stressful. Love it!

If neurology is your favourite thing and you want to improve your own brain, then I've been recommended That Memory Book - How to Deal with Distractibility, Forgetfulness and Other Unnerving Hijinks of the Middle-Aged Brain by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin - yet to read it, but it's on my list!

Take a moment!

This piece of insight doesn't surprise any of us at first glance, and it's quite an interesting read. Taking advice or making decisions when angry doesn't work according to Wharton Researchers.

Fascinating

Waiting for the El: Wrigley Field Stop, Chicago

Sun, ceremonies and pencils

In the fascinating category this month:

• Check out roofray, who are using Google Earth's amazing maps to calculate solar energy potential for individual homes
• Then this pencil collector's page
• Then dabble in some old Olympic closing ceremonies as reported by the London Times

And Fun, fun, fun

Paperweights on display at the Art Institute of Chicago

Wordle picture based on a handout from Life is not a Rehearsal from Ludic Creative

All about Cupcakes

Professional food photography makes a difference. I loved this site on cupcakes with a History of cupcakes, recipes and a slideshow on decorating cupcakes. But then I visited Martha Stewart's site and the cupcake photography was so much better!

Life story in 6 words!

For fun, there's a 3:06 minute youtube video promoting a book with 6 word life stories (all collected from an internet competition apparently). Whether you prefer a Deepak Chopra "Danced in fields of infinite possibility" or a more practical "Anything's possible with an extension cord", or maybe the title of the book "Not quite what I expected". It's a way to make you smile today! You can fast forward through the first 30 seconds if you like, to get to the fun part.

Word pictures

And if you've got a moment, slip over to wordle.net and put in a slab of text from your website or marketing materials. Wordle will make a "picture" of it, making the more often used words bigger and the less often used ones smaller. Check out the one we did from a handout for Ludic Creative's Life is not a Rehearsal, (just to the left here!)

Let me know what you like about this ezine - or anything you'd like to see more of!

C

Cindy Tonkin The Consultants’ Consultant
Certified Management Consultant

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