WHO AM I ? I SEE YOU ! The path to being Creative

  by  deichgnu 

Location: Tech world - a fantasy land that I escape into, once awhile to explore my weapons - most often future weapons - to conquer the unending war of productivity and efficiency. 

THAT DAMN AD

  by  samsungtomorrow 

Tirade of the market leader Samsung for the flagship toy Galaxy Note: 'Incredibly Creative!' Nice lovely piece of marketing stunt - I am truly in awe of the artist on the advertisement - the guy casually takes a picture, cuts a piece of it and blends it elsewhere to produce a masterpiece - no fuss - just buy the damn gadget and be 'incredibly creative'. 

AND I FLY

I just imagine myself how cool it would be to bring many unrelated different environments virtually together. And then eventfully show the magical artistry to my innocent non-techie family members! And beat my chest by pushing it on to the social networks galaxy and shine bright. 

BACK TO EARTH 

After this, I calmly analyze what I do with my current gadgets. 

I don't create much - I consume, consume and consume. I consume media, I consume internet, I consume documents. The creation part happens mostly on my PC. On-the-go-creation is a cool funky idea. And it stays just that way - an idea. 

SO WHAT MADE ME FLY?

Anyway, what captured my imagination and kept buzzing as a keyword in my mind was the word 'creativity'. I have been obsessed by the C word and am very keen on bringing this facet on to my work. My inspiration for this is simple - to be distinctly different (doesn't both the words mean the same???) from the 'run-of-the-mill' communication of ideas.

YARDSTICKS OF CREATIVITY

But here comes the tricky question - what is the yardstick of judging a work being labelled 'creative'. After pondering over this question for quite some time, I have arrived at two tags. One - Originality, Two - Effectiveness.

Rule 1 for creativity - Creative Replication - Such a thing doesn't exist. It is an oxymoron. Your work will never assume a creative trait - by soul - if it does not reflect your character. Maybe I can imagine 'Creative Adoption' in which you adopt an intent and communicate creatively in 'your language'. But there can never be a creative satisfaction if the communication reflects something else other than you. Period.

Rule 2 for creativity - If it does not reach, it is not creative. A creative piece of work drives a point home - effectively for a consumer of the work. A creative piece of work makes it easy for the consumer to digest by virtue of having better contact with the intellect and senses of the user. Thou that hath not touched, shalt not be creative.   

Now I am going to talk what is pertinent to us - Can I be creative from now on consciously? I think so - Yes. And certainly so because I am attempting. 

WHO AM I ? 

I am making a conscious decision to understand what I like & what I don't, When I get a point easily & when it is the hardest, what medium appeals to me & what repels. This way I know who I am - Through which I can bring the 'me factor' into my actions. 

I SEE YOU !

Next I an consciously trying to go one more yard - farther and deeper - to reach out my consumer. To touch and feel her. To create the link. 

PATH OF CREATIVITY 

I am consciously going to take the path of creativity and vow to be distinctly away from mediocrity. Sure, Sure - In this sojourn I will make mistakes, screw up things, get the critical stick - but I will embrace these. 

Lessons I learnt about being a good exhibitor

Exhibition time 

Your stall is set up, you have got your exhibitor badges, the laptops are connected to the external monitors and the brochures are arranged in the brochure stands. Your colleagues are on the stall, fresh and shining like a new penny.
Then the exhibition opens and the visitors swarm in.
Get set...All your exhibition preparations are soon going to get tested.

Typical 'Demo-er' life-cycle in an exhibition

On the first day, mostly you can see visitors stroll through your booth - with few moments of pause in front of your booth, with intriguing glances at the booth backdrop and then pick up a brochure, have a cursory glance at it and then leave in a hurry. Typically this group first wants to get a feel of the exhibition landscape and about who is located at which location. Later they analyse which of the exhibitors deserve a visit in their second lap.

Then there is one set of visitors who are more proactive and come have a chat with you. Ask about what the product / service offers - but do not seem to be heeding great attention to the answer that you give. At the end of your well crafted technical explanation, they state their company profile, exchange business cards and ask you to contact them directly by mail after the exhibition is over.

As the day progresses, you come across some valued visitors who are genuinely interested in knowing about your solution. They introduce themselves, state their company profile, clearly putting forth what they are looking for in our solutions and are eager to have a live demo of our product. During the demo, they are very engaging and receptive. They are proactive in getting their concepts reaffirmed and doubts cleared. Finally also state what they like about the product and / or what they feel is missing in our product. They also would be interested in knowing what can be expected in the future versions. Finally, they leave after having inquired about the price and exchanging the business cards. Overall a real good - 'value demo'.
But here's a catch associated - every value demo takes up good portion of the 'demoers' energy.

Over the next few days, you also get tired and even a little bored of going through the same script again and again. The enthusiasm you had while giving a first value demo wanes and slowly you start going through motions. As the show goes on, you spend more time sitting in the demo chairs, checking mails and doing your personal business. You also start engaging your co-exhibitors with the tittle-tattles. You settle for the fact that if some one 'really' wants the demo - they would approach you and wake you up from the slumber and engage you. Other customers - they may not be worth it. Subsequently, you begin to anticipate about the end of the day / show and dread about how wonderful and comforting the office environment was.

My story and my lessons:

All through my 6 year-old professional career, as an exhibitor I have participated in 6 international exhibitions (in Germany, England and USA). This has been my early story of exhibition experience until I decided to give it a thought about how to become a good exhibitor.
I am going to state below, few lessons that I learnt through my journey - which later I crafted and implemented to good effect.
And I can assure you, putting these into action will make you a very effective exhibitor.
These points are more directed towards exhibiting a  software product in an exhibition, but nevertheless- the gist of these points are relevant for all exhibitions. GO ahead and have a read!

Set your goal

First up, you need to ask yourself the question - Why am I attending this exhibition?
Though the straightforward answer is to sell the product - try to think in a holistic perspective. Or rephrase the question as 'Apart from selling the product what can I get out of this event?'
Being a technical person, my goal was to interact with the exhibitors, understand their workflow environment, evaluate their needs and helping them with a solution. I sought to understand and genuinely care for the visitor and build a rapport with them rather than merely sell the product.

Attitude

A good exhibitor will possess the attitude of a good host - warm, welcoming and pleasant.
Practice the following to exhibit these attitudes:

• Smile often.
• Be graceful.
• Be organized and ready.
• When somebody stops and looks at the stall - walk up to them (slowly) and inquire politely if you may help them.
• When the visitor talks about himself / his company / his background - do not interrupt. Acknowledge and whenever possible compliment as much as you can.

Set the tone for interaction

Invariably the first question faced by an exhibitor would be 'What do you guys do?' Have a catchy 15 - second answer for this. This generally sets the tone for further interaction.
So rather than being stereotypical - technically correct answer, you might try answering with a little more creativity, punch and positivism. As the old folks say - 'the first impression is the best impression.'

Demo iteration

While giving a demo - we need to know two things about the person to whom the demo is given:

• What is his competence level in the area?
• How much time he is willing to spend?

Sometimes, we can directly ask the person whether they need an in-depth demo coverage or just the outline. If you do not feel comfortable asking the above question, have 3 levels of demo. After each level based on his receptivity and his attention decide whether to proceed to next level.

• In the first level - show the most automated / sophisticated procedure which involves least clicks and hence we convey the idea that the software saves lot of effort and time. 
• In the second level - show the other semi - automated workflows. This conveys the idea that the software design is also flexible and can adjust and adapt to existing manual workflow.
• In the third level - show the database arrangement and about other configuration / settings involved. This level is mostly reserved for a technical / hands-on designer operator to show the depth.

Having a fixed demo script helps you find your feet initially (maybe during the start every day), but there is also a strong chance that you might get saturated / bored with the demos as you proceed. So as you gain your confidence in demos - play, have fun, personalize, improvise and innovate. Can you give the audience something refreshing at the same time relate to them on a more personal basis in a shorter time - that's the high point.

Interaction during demo

Presentation should be loud, slow and clear - Why?
Loud (Loud enough) - Somewhere people relate it to the confidence of the person in the product that he sells. It gives them a reassurance that the solution is right for them.
Slow and Clear - The person who is looking at your software is looking at it for the first time. His jargon might be different. So, the only way he can understand this is:
If he sees what's going on screen
Relates it with what you are saying and
Correlates (digests) with what's happening in his workplace.
As you see, this is an analytical process - not merely an 'Audio-Visual' process.
So give time.

Ask more questions - This helps in two ways.

1. It straightaway brings emotional involvement from the person and makes the environment more receptive. 
2. You can re-route your demo based on the feedback and become more relevant.

Listen, acknowledge and compliment - Do not interrupt when the other person talks. This way, you would learn more about the working culture and environment (including jargons) and thereby talk 'his language'.  

Mind your Body Language

Maintain a positive, energetic body language throughout. Your body language will reinstate to the customer that this is a comfort-zone environment. Use your arms and shoulders to explain, communicate. Laugh aloud when you hear a humorous remark from your visitor.
Subtle 'Mirroring' is a tried and tested way that makes the visitor feel more relaxed and encourages them to open up. It is the behavior in which one person copies another person usually while in social interaction with them. It may include miming gestures, movements, body language, muscle tensions, expressions, tones, eye movements, breathing, tempo, accent, attitude, choice of words or metaphors, and other aspects of communication.

Finish it off well

• Round off the demo by summarizing how your product would fit into his existing workflow and what benefits it can offer. 
• Agree on the action steps - the next interaction, the date and the medium. 
• Acknowledge the visitor feedback, thank him for his valued time and wish him well.  

Be grateful

Exhibitions offer you a wonderful platform to interact with the industry, peers and competitors. Be grateful for the medium and enjoy the presence and the people around.  

Every good demo given will make you more confident and enhances your CCQ (customer connectivity quotient). Every bad demo is a lesson - you are only getting better, enriched by it - if you are able to analyze and acknowledge.
The key is to be conscious and keep trying.








            

Don't google... yet...

  by  Aray Chen 

Google is a very good tool and is a necessity in this fast growing internet age. But it cannot serve as an answer to anything.

COMMUNICATE WITHIN FIRST:

In fact for some of the most important things, the answers lie within. Not every problem that we face have a direct answer to them. A lot of them may be subjective and open to one's own imagination. It is after constant and continual reflections within that we can find the answers to some of these things. We need to urge ourselves to communicate to the voice deep within. Resist your urge to google your question immediately and quickly look at what like-minded people have arrived at. In my opinion, googling must be the last resort that should follow after 'talking-hearing-within' and appropriately documenting your thought process. 

INTERNAL CHEMISTRY:

Googling habit or tech-gadget reliance immediately at the surfacing of a question retards the chemistry that one enjoys with his inner self. Progressively one starts believing that he does not have the capability to provide a solution. One becomes a cattle member following the crowd. Believing that a 'ready-made' answer - that will perfectly solve your problem - lurks somewhere in the internet, diminishes the 'YOU' individuality. It makes you one among the common stereotypes.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE:

• DOCUMENT WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AND WHY: When you reach a block, for which you have to find an answer - first document in your own words what are you looking to achieve / solve and why. This will help you set the context clearly not allowing you to distract. Use this to frame your search query astutely.
• PRESENT THE BIGGER PICTURE: This might follow immediately after documenting the issue or after gathering the first set of search results. How does the answer shapes the further proceeding of the project. This helps in looking 'beyond'. By this you don't limit your search to 1 answer - which is good in a lot of cases.
• ASK YOURSELF IF YOUR UNDERSTANDING THIRST IS QUENCHED: Ask yourself whether the answer that you have arrived is completely satisfying your understanding. If there are areas of uncertainties, document them and either research more or proceed further based on your judgement of the magnitude of the uncertain areas.

WHEN TO USE GOOGLE:

• Validation of properly established opinions and calculated assumptions
• Events, locations and people searching
• Direct answer questions such as math related issues
• Documentation templates

Finally remember to constantly revisit / evolve what you are looking for.

Traits of the "rainmakers" and how to become one

"The Rainmaker Professional", Photo Credits: amrufm via Flickr 

The Rainmaker:

Each day of our lives, we get to meet a lot of people doing their work. These people may be selling their product / service to us or they may be our clients or they may be our colleagues. Once awhile during such interludes, some one amongst this crowd may throw up himself / herself as a 'rainmaker'. The coining of the word 'rainmaker' might be more biased on the economical scale and personalized to an institution - but the intent that it is being used here in this post is simple. 

'Rainmaker' is the person whom we want to be associated with. With whom we yearn to enter into a business. Whom you would love to have on your team list. When it is said that these rainmakers throw themselves up amongst a crowd - it barely is by verbal acclamation, but they stand out by their approach towards the work. What is subtle is that the other people in the crowd, although have an envious attitude towards these people, eventually gravitate towards their work.

In this post,we are going to discuss about the approach of our rainmakers towards work. Some people seem to be naturally blessed with these traits while some go through a lot of experiences to imbibe these traits. But here's the good news: the first step towards becoming a rainmaker is being conscious of these traits. After realizing it has to be put into action and then eventually by practicing it again and again, it has to become a characteristic. 

Acquiring these traits present a huge challenge that involves addressing the minute little things in the path but the rewards are very high. You will build up a huge self respect and also be respected by others in your working circles. In the long term, you will be viewed as a 'Go-getter' and become a very influential person in other's life. Ultimately you will start attracting positiveness in all the spheres of your life.

Anatomy of a rainmaker:

Now lets do the mental anatomy of our rainmaker. Here is the list of traits of the 'I-like-to-work-with' individuals that we come across:

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm encourages a person to stay open to tasks and face their underlying challenges rather than focusing merely the outcomes. Don't get me wrong - Results do matter. But keeping a constant focus on the results alone is akin to eating merely for having one's stomach full. You have got to enjoy the taste of the food. Rainmakers are process gourmets and this paves way for acquiring a cognitive mindset.

 
Devotion

Devotion to one's job is placing the work ahead of one's personal interests, egos, likes & dislikes. In Hindu principals - it is the highest virtue to be possessed by an individual and is treated as a means for attaining spiritual salvation - 'Karma Yoga'. One can often watch rainmakers would just stretch a little bit more to get the work done even when conditions are unfavorable or when people are satisfied.   

Passion

Passion arises when the work done makes one feel good about oneself. In other words, it is ignited when the core value of an individual is addressed. Rainmakers associate and bind their core values strongly to the work they do. And passion can make any task that looks tiresome to others, a satisfying pleasure trip for one. 

Focus

Focus is born when an assignment poses itself as a challenge. The quest of mastery of work - makes any task a challenge, notwithstanding the magnitude of the task. One would get to observe the rainmakers get 'into the zone' when they encounter challenges. In those Zen moments, one can feel the peak of concentration.

Resourceful

In order to be resourceful, one should venture into unknown territories. Here the focus is on lateral (horizontal) growth and not merely longitudinal (vertical). No doubt rain makers are proficient at what they do, but they also chip-in with significant contributions that could take the pressure of a working partner. Being resourceful also demands that you have a helping nature and a willingness to play the team game.

Troubleshooters

Experience results when one has the courage to time & again put oneself in a vulnerable, difficult position. And as one gains experience - one also gets composed, balanced and peaceful. All of these resulting from the 'been-there-seen-it-all' attitude complemented by a 'constant-improvement' attitude. Rainmakers  would not be deterred by anything and by virtue of which they have people wanting to come to them for refuge.

Composed

Being composed helps you put things in proper perspective. One's judgment and cognitive quotient shoots up when things are approached with a calmness. Rainmakers are real shock-absorbers for the rest of the team. Contributions from a composed person who has clarity of thoughts are always valuable. 

Patiently curious

Curiosity reflects a constant desire to expand oneself in his/her field. However curiosity with desperation works often in a negative way. Curiosity when constant and aided by patience and action results in a positive working mode. Rainmakers are naturally curious - but their patience often results in practical work-around when they do not have a clear answer. This makes them very effective. 

Forward looking

Planning / plotting before acting arises out of a person's tendency to avoid harm or difficulty. But this forethought fuels the evolution of an amateur into a professional. Rainmakers make sure all the bases are covered and often have an alternative plan up their sleeve just in case something fails.

Deliver more

Last but one of the most business relevant trait is add more value than what is expected. How good it is when someone gifts a fountain pen with ink filled in it. That is the art of delivering more. This comes from putting oneself in the shoes of the user and think what adds more value to the transaction. When rainmakers are approached with a service, one can be rest assured that they think more than what is requested and then offer greater value.

RECAP:

At the end of reading this exhaustive list, one might feel overwhelmed by the number of traits listed here. But these traits will throw up as choices or decisions one can take sides in real life circumstances. Identifying and choosing to take these positive decisions will slowly build you up into a rainmaker.

 

The first time I came across this term in a popular John Grisham novel - initially it represented a street smart person. But as I began encountering my work heroes in real time - it felt very relevant to tag them as my world's rainmakers. Today, I would like to challenge you - to be conscious of these traits and try to imbibe them, put them into action at your work and become rainmakers.