Links for April 25 2010

• Silence is a Leadership Trait by Samuel Bacharach

  Quote: Between the words, between the actions, between the political strategies, leaders must create silence. Silence that allows for ideas to be absorbed. Silence that allows for emotions to settle. Silence that allows for bonding and healing. Silence that allows people to sit unthreatened and unchallenged.

• How business hoodwinks itself by Sigurd Rinde on thingamy

  Quote: Your focus slowly shifts from idea, customer understanding, and free-thinking development to efficient production/service delivery, better channel deals, development restricted to “what you know” (i.e. what your production/service can handle) and your customer relationship shifts from “curious partnership” to “pushy marketing” (adding “social” to the CRM does not count).

• The Missing Link in Strategic Planning by Jamie Notter on Get Me Jamie Notter

  Quote: You never stop listening and engaging your system in an ongoing conversation about what is valuable, what works, what matters, and what has meaning. It’s not just monitoring. It’s engaging in ongoing conversations. It’s allowing ideas from the periphery to bubble up. It’s much more precise definition of what works and why.

• Keeping Data Safe From IT Snoops by Mike Schaffner on Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms

  Quote: IT has the keys to all the sensitive data in your company. This includes not only payroll and personnel records, but also financial records, trade secrets and intellectual property, data regarding pending acquisitions, product launches or other strategic decisions. A rather scary thought if you don’t trust your IT folks.

• Too Busy to Onboard Your New Executive? I Don’t Get It! by Tim Tolan on Fistful of Talent

  Quote: With the cost of human capital to a company’s bottom line, much more attention needs to be paid in developing a comprehensive, well defined on-boarding plan. Period.

• Bad for the Customer, Good for the Stock Price: Wait, What? by Charles H. Green on Trust Matters

  Quote: There will be the more-than-occasional situation where the right thing to do is simply not the profitable thing to do. That’s when you find out who’s ethical, and who’s simply hustling their own customers.

• Giving away a magician’s secrets by Seth Godin on Seth’s Blog

  Quote: if you’re having trouble persuading people to buy what you sell, perhaps you should sell something else. Failing that, perhaps you could talk about what you sell in a different way.

• Rise of the Marketing Technologist by Scott Brinker on Chief Marketing Technologist

  Quote: Marketing technology isn’t just software you buy — it’s also software you create. Web applications, widgets, Facebook apps, iPhone apps, Android apps, interactive ads, the semantic web, and even the connected features of your products are now part of marketing’s realm.

• Square Pegs, Round Holes, and the Peter Principle by Terry Starbucker on TerryStarbucker.com

  Quote: right hiring decisions go beyond core competencies. The personality profile also has to match.  Because ultimately, that is what you really cannot chang

• Narratives Over Numbers by Fred Wilson on A VC

  Quote: I would encourage all entrepreneurs and everyone who is selling something to someone to focus on narratives over numbers, particularly when you are in the initial meeting. If the person you are pitching bites, there will be an opportunity to go over the numbers later. But you have to get yourself that opportunity and story telling is the best way to get there.