Want To Take Your Success to the Next Level? Think Collaboratively in the New, New Economy
Picture this, you’re reading your local news, Financial Times, or the WSJ and the article is highlighting the success of somebody you know, somebody who has gone further, faster, toward YOUR dream of success. Instead of saying… “..that proves it can be done, or well done - how can I add to that fabulous idea, often times our competitive thinking jumps in first to say, “That $%@! she will succeed instead of me!
So, what should a Savvy Lady do?
Begin by changing your thinking. That [old] way of thinking about your competition is so 2008- back then it was about crushing your competition because otherwise how would you get your piece of the pie? Not the approach to attracting success in the new, new economy.
Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity. -Goethe
Part of what keeps people from reaching the next level of success or from implementing their ideas, is because they are still trying to re-enter their same field, grow their business or career in the same old ways; they are beating their heads against the wall repeating old tactics that no longer work.
Hello, you had me at Collaboration
The way we do business, any business, is changing. Are you ready for the coming economic shift in how you’ll conduct your business going forward?
The days (and ways) of doing business via simply supplying your clients with the right information, at the right price, are gone. The new social era is made up of consumers that are smarter and they are looking for smarter suppliers. One of the most impactful ways to embrace this new era is finding intelligent and empathetic businesses and individuals. Seek out those that can deliver innovative, one stop shopping solutions, through collaborative “partnerships”. The power of collective wisdom should never be underestimated! No one is creating success in a vacuum and you shouldn’t either.
Collaboration should be a main ingredient added to your success mix. If you want build your wealth, expand your financial acumen, grow your customer base, manage your team more effectively – and more, you should be seeking out collaborative partners that will can allow all stakeholders to capitalize. Investing time to find the right collaborators is worth it. Apply the same principles and perform the same due diligence identifying the right collaborative partners, as you would to diversifying your portfolio. Knowledge is power and applying it collaboratively can have your return on investment increase exponentially.
How has collaboration influenced your success?
Want to reprint this article? Please include below:
Janet Wise, Founder: The Collaborative Factor ™ has a Masters Degree in HR Development, and is a successful corporate Learning & Development expert responsible for designing, leading and managing global leadership development programs at Fortune 500 companies, with more than fifteen years experience helping top corporate executives become more effective in their business and personal lives. The Collaborative Factor ™ is NYC based, on-line networking community, for corporate professionals, women interested in starting their own business, AND open to all women inspired to seek excellence. Working with select, forward thinking organizations and not-for-profits, as collaborative advisor; offering custom-designed programs, facilitated networking events and personal development programs, in a unique format that encourages collaboration. To explore how collaboration can enhance your success, visit www.collaborativefactor.com
Posted by Janet Wise on November 14th, 2010.
Categories: Building Your Team, collaboration, leadership, strengths, women.
Are you looking for innovation in all the right places?
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| Collaborative Factor: Your Ideas Increase Exponentially! |
There is a common myth out there that many of the greatest innovations/ideas came into being during a “Eureka” moment – “Eureka, I’ve just figured out how to solve world hunger!” An instant flash of insight that came out of nowhere. According to author Steven Johnson who wrote Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, that is far from the truth.
The human brain has roughly 100 billion neurons which are designed to receive, process and transmit information. Creativity is a physiological event that is triggered when our brain generates new neural connections. And that happens through exposure to and exploration of a multiplicity of different perspectives, opinions, ideas. Conversations are the vehicle for that exposure and exploration and the Collaborative Factor leading to new insights and innovation.
“We get more good ideas by connecting them than by protecting them”
Prior to the Enlightenment, people lived more individually. Gatherings were less frequent and, when they occurred, were formal and structured with clear, agendas. Later, as coffee and tea were introduced and affordable to the masses, people began frequenting coffee houses and socializing in new ways. There, they began engaging in informal conversations without particular agendas, more aimless. This type of interaction allowed people to present themselves more fully and fostered a rich environment of collaboration and sharing of fresh ideas. (Starbucks has leveraged this experience successfully and built it into their brand). So, invigorated and eager to connect with others, ideas began flowing. There was a profusion of notable innovations in art and literature, philosophy, science and technology, politics, and architecture.
Again, spontaneous genius rarely occurs. We can’t create in a vacuum. If we don’t have access to new concepts, we remain locked in our own agenda, restricted to our own concerns and opinions and worse, we remain territorial and don’t want to “give away our secrets”. How does that behavior serve us or the world?
According to Susan Scott, author of Fierce Conversations (Fierce Conversations) and Alisa Deitz, Coach and Courageous Conversations Facilitator, (Alisa Deitz) interesting, serendipitous and brave conversations build those new brain neural connections needed for creativity. Conversations enable ideas to be born, to be shared, to be nurtured, and to blossom. It is the nature of how our ideas are shared, how they connect with other ideas and how we perceive the connection at a specific moment that creates profound results.
Imagine Doubling or Tripling Your Talent, Intelligence and Experience. What would that mean for YOUR success?
Indeed, there must be keen respect for proprietary information; and you’ve no doubt heard me write about the importance of protecting your intellectual property (for legal advice: Renee Duff, Esquire), however, Innovations take root in an open, fertile information environment where there is a wealth of conflicting, exceptional, contradictory, unexpected, astonishing perspectives. They germinate over time before manifesting. And the collaborative factor is part of the incubator process. In the right environment your ideas can explode exponentially!
How Can You Experience The Collaborative Factor? 
I’ve been invited to work with select, leading edge organizations and not-for-profits – to consult, design, and facilitate custom-designed Collaborative programs for their members at New York Women Social Entrepreneurs and Dynamite Youth Center Foundation. Additionally, I host “public” workshops. Please contact me directly to explore how collaboration can make a difference to your success and/or your organization’s success.
AND…did you know…
I am almost finished writing an e-book, along with my business partner at A Seat At the Table www.poshplacecards.com, Gail Bigley, on Intentional Entertaining. This is taking our concept of conversation starter place cards and applying the theme to successful social entertaining.
Janet Wise, MS
Founder The Collaborative Factor(tm) #917-733-3078 janet@wisesolutions4u.com
ABOUT: Janet Wise, Founder of The Collaborative Factor(tm), has a Masters Degree in HR Development, and is a successful corporate Learning & Development expert responsible for designing, leading and managing global leadership, client focus, and professional development programs at Fortune 500 companies; with more than fifteen years experience helping top corporate executives become more effective in their business and personal lives. The Collaborative Factor is a philosophy to for women inspired to seek excellence! As a NYC based networking community for corporate professionals and those interested in starting their own business AND open to all women inspired to seek excellence. Offering facilitated networking events, corporate, small business and personal development programs, in a unique format designed for collaboration.
The most successful people in business and in life have a team of advisors, shouldn’t you?
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Posted by Janet Wise on October 18th, 2010.
Categories: Building Your Team, Networking Tips, Uncategorized, collaboration, leadership, strengths, women. Tags: alliances, business development, collaboration, conversation, corporate, development, innovation, leadership, strategy, success, training, women.
Successful, Collaborative Leaders Who Know How To Leverage Their Strengths Will Out Perform in 2010!
Conventional wisdom tells us that we learn from our mistakes. The Strengths Movement says that all we learn from mistakes are the characteristics of mistakes. If we want to learn about success, we must study successes!
The conventional definition of a strength as “an activity you’re good at ” is not wrong, it’s just incomplete.
I was first introduced to Marcus Buckingham’s www.simplystrengths.com seminal work on Strengths based leadership while managing global leadership programs for Fortune 500 companies – I encourage and support the paradigm shift taking place – which is why I offer participants in The Collaborative(tm) program exercises to uncover their strengths AND to take action where they will be at their most energized, creative, and brilliant. Afterall, if you are to be a successful Collaborative Leader – you will need to know what you excel at and how to leverage that!
You probably already know what you’re good at – you should be asking to know where you will be at your most creative and generate the best new ideas.
You want to know where you will improve the most as you train, practice and grow. More than identifying your strengths through personality tests, the strengths movement will bust through myths giving you: greater clarity (which translates well to understanding your unique positioning with clients); free your strengths so you make the most of what strengthens you (cutting out what weakens you); and allows you to Speak Up with authenticity and conviction.
Collaborative Advice: Consider identifying how to use your strengths to make a tangible contribution – to really put your strengths to work. When you offer your talents to the world and stand in that strength, surely it will benefit all of us, as the world truly needs your contributions.
To find out how you can experience a quantum leap in your business that will play to your strengths, participate in next Collaborative(tm) program Beginning Feburary 1st.
ABOUT: Janet Wise, Founder of the The Collaborative (tm) holds a Masters Degree in HR Development, is a former corporate Training & Development expert responsible for curriculum design and managing global leadership and professional development programs at both Fortune 100 companies and international law firms. With more than twelve years experience facilitating action learning programs and helping top executives to become more effective in their business and personal lives she brings that same dedication to helping women find the right resources to build flourishing businesses and careers. Look for Janet’s book coming 2010: The Collaborative Factor (tm)
The most successful people in business and in life have a team of advisors, shouldn’t you?
Posted by Janet Wise on January 3rd, 2010.
Categories: Uncategorized, strengths, women.
