Managing Stakeholders need not be a Pain!

Just finished doing a new video on managing stakeholders. The number of projects that fall by the wayside, go over budget and time is just not funny. One tool I've found useful is the Stakeholder Trust Net - that maps 8 parameters and how we are doing on them with our stakeholders.

If you would like to get a copy of the Trust Net mail me and I'll be happy to share the pdf with you. Remember to send it to all your key stakeholders. You just might find some interesting things you should pay attention to!

Constraints are Good!

I pre-ordered Chris Guillebeau's book - The $100 Start Up. And that got me thinking. Could this really work? I haven't yet got my hands on the book, but it makes me think that some of the ideas are likely to be similar to that subversive book 'The 4-Hour Work Week' by Tim Ferris. (A must read if you want to mess your mind!)

But why talk? So while I'm waiting for the book to reveal its wisdom, I decided to take the plunge and do a $100 Start Up and see what happens. Now $100 is not much. Even in the fast depreciating Indian Rupee it would work to a mere Rs.5600.

Constraints are good. The force you to be creative instead of throwing money at the problem and hoping it would go away. Right now I have some ideas that are sitting in the back burner. Time to make a call on which one to bring forward!

Watch this space...

Overcoming being Stuck

This morning while working on a new book I got stuck. For a while it all became slow and then blank... you know the feeling of staring at a white sheet of paper (ok, screen) and thinking 'now what?!'

I resorted to my favorite ways of getting unstuck. Here are the ones that have worked for me.
1. Gaze out of the window while having a cuppa tea
2. Look up inspirational videos on YouTube
3. Watch a cartoon (yeah, right!)
4. Pick up a book from my library I haven't looked up in a while
5. Talk to my coach

The principle is same. If you look where you've always looked, you'll always get what you always got! In short new perspectives come from new frames.

What new frames could you generate for the challenge you have?

Peer Pressure to Transform the World

  Despite being a Pulitzer Prize winner, Author Tina Rosenberg didn't get the accolades she should have for her excellent book 'Join The Club'.
We tend to think of Peer Pressure as negative. Well, Ms Rosenberg pulled out some fine stories on how it was used to make a positive difference.

A not-so famous but amazing example is about 11 Serbian young people called Otpor, (yes, like Outpour!) who toppled the hated war criminal Milosevic. Not by fiery speeches but by making rebellion 'cool' with street theater and humor. That group of 11 grew to over 70,000 and history was made. What's even more interesting was how this group taught the Tahir Square uprising in Egypt to do the same thing!

Movements are built around similar principles. Cut smoking? Dignity for people? Cut tuberculosis? Its all here. If you want to add big value, this book has some exciting possibilities to build on.