''Inspirational People''

I wanted to write about inspirational people. We think we meet them in business occasionally and use them as inspiration for ourselves to progress,make money, whatever. But occasionally we are woken up and things are put into a truer perspective. By those who really change lives and outcomes for others . I am blessed in that I am married to such a person. How do I know that? I'll tell you.
Many of you will know my wife Lisa developed the Grace App for autistic people. An assistive technological aid for people with communication problems. It was designed for our daughter Grace and became a success both nationally and globally, winning several awards including WSA World Mobile and several Social Entrepreneurial awards. I was living inside this story for several years, so in many ways did not fathom how it was seen from outside.
Over two years ago, as my wife Lisa made her first TV appearance on RTE with the announcement of the Grace App, a young girl in Skibereen watched the story and was inspired.
Niamh Cadogan had an Autistic brother without an educational placement and with significant communication difficulties. She set about changing that for her brother. Within months she had lobbied her school Principal( a compassionate man) to open an Autistic unit in the school and raised money for devices to be used as assistive tech to help her brother and the other kids in the unit communicate their needs. She named her project '' Amazing Grace'' after Grace App. It was a great success and Lisa was invited to Skibereen to open the unit. Lisa proudly cut the ribbon and was warmed by the hospitality of the people of west Cork.
Niamh continued to raise money for Autistic children under her ''Amazing Grace'' project despite being diagnosed with Leukemia. She soldiered on and and was quickly recognised by the local Lions Club as one to watch. Lisa said that this girl ''would go on to be CEO of Global companies''. She had that determination that if no one answered the front door. You went around the back with a sledge.
Niamh's project won the National Lions Club project for Ireland and she was to represent Ireland in Birmigham mid Feb. Two days before the trip and having undergone twelve months of chemo and radiotherapy, Niamh was told she could not travel. The Leukemia was still in her blood samples. She was devastated that she couldn't compete. Niamh returned to therapy and sadly passed away surrounded by her family on Monday morning at 8am.
And so it is that people who inspire sow a seed in others which grows so that we all will gain. Inspiration that transcends adversity whether it's wealth ,health, politics, bureaucracy and gets things done. In Niamh's case it was health. Something sadly uncontrollable for her. She leaves behind a strong message for those of us lucky in health who have achieved less than she did in her short life. Do your best and succeed. May God Bless you Niamh and Thank You for the changes that you have made.,
Bill

Social Media. Does it work?

Yes it does!
I was wondering the other day as to why such a question would even need to be asked as the answer always seemed obvious to me. So I recalled the two recent instances in corporate Ireland where I came across resistance to the suggestion that it works. I did this in order to see if there was some commonality between them. Was it technophobia? Fear of the unknown? Laziness?

Case one was  a moderate size company with over 200 employees, €30m turnover, Politically well structured .But Struggling to survive The decision as to use or not of Social Media rested with the Marketing Manager. He was a well paid individual who worked long hours but seemed to produce very little in the way of visible promotion such as Press,TV or Radio. Given budget constraints and the cost of same, that was hardly surprising. However a SM campaign by  Facebook or Twitter would hardly have cost more than the time of a moderator to answer queries, remove offending posts,etc.  Yet there was no Facebook page, no Twitter and a resistance to the suggestion that either be employed.

Case two company had no Marketing Manager. Instead they outsourced to PR and Marketing Consultants to the tune of €150K per year. All of the Consultants rejected suggestions that SM was a good idea for the company and either refused to use it or said they would and didn't. The company took the initiative to hire a SM officer Part Time to create a Blog, Facebook and Twitter account to spread it's message. The Consultants always competed to take credit for any success generated in media or marketplace and soon even started to claim credit for profile generated by the SM officer.
However the success of the SM campaigns was easy to measure as there were definite footprints that could be traced. A Cost/Benefit analysis was then easier to conduct. the losers were the consultants who had their hours and rates slashed. The winner was the company. The cost of the SM officer was small in comparison and the results were real and measurable.

So, what problem with SM did the two resistant parties in the two respective companies have in common?
Laziness? No, they all worked long hours.
Technophobia? No, they were both progressive in most areas of their operations and MIS.

Both were expensive and found it difficult to demonstrate tangible results.
Social Media is low cost and in case two worked effectively and demonstrably improved revenues for the company.That is why there is resistance in many businesses to employ Social Media to spread a company's message. Companies pay dearly for the excuses. Dearly in financial terms and dearly by way of missed opportunity.

BALD EAGLES.( Not just a numbers game.)

The Bald Eagle is a Bird with powerful symbolic relavance for the peoples of North America. Long before it was adapted as the Seal Of The US Presidents office, The Bald Eagle was the ultimate symbol of power and majesty for the North American Natives.
Bald Eagles are at the top of their food chain and have few natural enemies. They live mostly by fishing in the lakes and rivers of North America and are known for their spectacular hunting skills.
However, it has been observed (Hope Ruttledge 2001) that Bald Eagles are only succesful in one out of every nineteen dives into the water in pursuit of fish. He expends considerable energy in these forays and risks drowning or death by hypothermia if dragged down by a fish. He must combine judgement, skill, experience, focus and strength if he is to survive. He cannot waste energy and must be mindful of that when selecting his targets.
In the world of sales we can adapt many of the eagles' behaviours. It is not merely a numbers game. We need to be measured and focused as to where we expend our energy and like the eagle, we need results to survive.
One in nineteen is a perhaps too low a bar to set ourselves, But I generally expect a one in ten success ratio/result. If we exceed all the better. It's about judgement.