Undiscovered Opportunities of the C-Suite

May 4, 2009 | blog

Sometimes you don’t know what you have in front of you. The opportunity to change.

That’s what lies before today’s C-Suite executives if they choose to explore it. What I’m talking about here, of course, is really about relationships. With the advent of social computing in the second half of this decade, the power has shifted from producers and marketers to people.

The challenge, of course, is for today’s executives to leap into the deep end of the pool and embrace these new relationships. To build new loyalty into their customer base, by demonstrating the ability to listen, learn, share and improve.

This is a great opportunity that current executives and VPs have that their predecessors didn’t have.  The ability to change the relationship and make it one built on the trust and respect of quality products and honest interactivity.  This goes equally for internal communications.  The opportunity to use these same open and trust building methods within an organization is huge.  Especially with organizations that are struggling with employee engagement and moral in these trouble economic times.

It goes beyond displaying good will, however.  Any effort in using social computing for building new relationships requires a commitment to open dialog, acceptance of public feedback (both good and bad), and the willingness to discuss this in a public venue.

The point here, is that our current executives have this powerful new option that their ancestors did not.  The question is, how many are of strong enough to take that bold step?

Image credit: Envios

The Art of Listening

May 30, 2008 | blog, leadership

Listen To MeSometimes it’s good to just sit back and listen to the conversation around you. There are many voices out there, and many stories to be told by those voices. One of the best skills to have is the ability to listen.

It’s a hard skill to learn too. How often do we jump into a conversation, with the intent to add our experiences and perspectives? Its human nature to share, to participate, to interact. So it’s important to make sure that you take the time to listen to what people are saying.

The benefits of becoming a better listener are not simply limited to hearing what people have to say, it’s letting them to tell their stories in their own words. It’s the people and their stories that are important. Learning about them and what they need is how you can better offer services and products to them – if at all. After all, not everything we do, or service & products we offer are needed by everyone.

Taking the time to learn about people, their stories, their needs, concerns, and wishes help us build not only a better community, but a better understanding of what we can do to be a productive part of that community. All that can comes from listening.

Photo credit: JosephGilbert.org

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