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We continue the sometimes joyful and sometimes painful path to try to be better human beings - this is only possible because we can rise above logic, that we find the wonder and hope, the language and words to inspire us and keep us going. Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Connecting the Arts and Business

The Arts are supported by the wealthy, many of the top business people in any society

Today Arts activities and events are valuable networking opportunities for doing Business

The UK has set up a whole organization called Arts and Business (see link) just to get more happening, for example: to create partnerships so that business is supporting the arts and gets something directly out of that support, e.g. publicity, goodwill, community building, employees volunteering and feeling good about it

What other Arts Business win/win connections might there be?

On the site, I found this article:
http://www.aandb.org.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,5,448,470

CREATIVITY CRISIS LEAVES UK BUSINESS AT A DISADVANTAGE

Some extracts -

* UK businesses are facing aa shortage of creativity skills at senior levels

* 60% of FTSE 500 companies now require their CEOs to have creative skills

* 48% require creative skills of their Sales Directors

* Businesses in the FTSE 500 see creativity skills as one of the main engines to business success, and seek creative people to join their Boards of Directors

* Reasons for 86% of board candidates failing to meet this criteria are

· A lack of creative mentors and suitable training (36%)

· A dull and unexciting physical work environment (27%)

· Work ethos, where the atmosphere and working practices are not conducive to the development of creativity skills (23%)

· Lack of training in general education (14%)

According to Arts & Business CEO Colin Tweedy:

"The arts are a good place to start and have a unique ability to inspire individuals to think and act differently and to increase levels of creativity and innovation. It can start by inviting a poet to speak about creative writing to developing a more complex arts access and development programme.....If businesses are to overcome the creativity skills deficit, then all that is required now is actual engagement with a primary source of creativity - the arts."


And how does this Connect to Customers?

Creating Customer Experience requires much more than mundane transaction completion - the aesthetics taught by being involved with ART, provide valuable insight into what it takes to develop with Customers authentic emotional impact and emotional connection - some call it Brand Loyalty - so that Customers feel good about doing Business with your company.

Just look at the success of the Apple iPOD and the new Nano - aesthetic creativity inside!

We have moved well beyond supplying the basics, customers want more and will pay for more:

style! design! coolness!

Friday, September 09, 2005

Its the Customers Stupid

Tom Peter's blog - well I just found it, what can I say?

I like it a lot when he says in his August 25 2005 blog "Black Dogs, Loved Ones, etc" :


It's the People, stupid! It's the Customers, stupid!

My great friend Warren Bennis said, "The best thing a leader can do for a Great Group is to allow its members to discover their greatness."

My late colleague Boyd Clarke added, "I have always believed that the purpose of the corporation is to be a blessing to its employees."

End of quote from Peter's blog.


I'm downloading Tom Peter's ePaper on PSF - the Professional Service Firm

114 pages, free at www.ChangeThis.com listed under September 7

Tons of very useful papers about the new Customer Economy


I found out about Tom Peter's blog from http://zane.typepad.com/ : Zane's blog

And got to Zane's blog from

www.heartofbusiness.com

where Mark Silver is doing well by doing good.

He's combining the Karma bank and the Money bank and creating $ocial Capital:

"When you want to make a difference and you need to make a profit"


And how did I find Mark Silver's site? Because I was looking for a new domain name....

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Social Customer Manifesto

My post today acknowledges and recognizes an important contribution by Christopher Carfi

The Social Customer Manifesto

* I want to have a say.

* I don't want to do business with idiots.

* I want to know when something is wrong, and what you're going to do to fix it.

* I want to help shape things that I'll find useful.

* I want to connect with others who are working on similar problems.

* I don't want to be called by another salesperson. Ever. (Unless they have something useful. Then I want it yesterday.)

* I want to buy things on my schedule, not yours. I don't care if it's the end of your quarter.

* I want to know your selling process.

* I want to tell you when you're screwing up. Conversely, I'm happy to tell you the things that you are doing well. I may even tell you what your competitors are doing.

* I want to do business with companies that act in a transparent and ethical manner.

* I want to know what's next. We're in partnership…where should we go?



Sounds like a Customer Manifesto to me!


Now if this is the Customer Manifesto - what is the business manifesto?

And in the light of the National Katrina Disaster on many fronts (hurricane, flood, loss of NOLA, government's contract with citizens) - what is the government manifesto?