Bloggertone updates

Larry Page And Google: Individual Empowerment Requires Forceful Leadership!

Posted: 12 Jun 2012 01:31 AM PDT

The two things sound contradictory. Individual empowerment conjures up the kind of freewheeling atmosphere of invention and curiosity we heard about in the earlier days of Google. On the other hand, forceful leadership sounds like the famous Apple ad of the mid-eighties' with lemmings being marched off a cliff.

The seemingly chaotic style in the early years of Google eventually led to a fair amount of dissatisfaction in Google's overall progress, and was the reason that co-founder Larry Page was named CEO about a year ago.

After studying Google's problems and talking to successful leaders like Mike Bloomberg, Page moved quickly to reorganize Google around seven specific areas where he wants Google to make big progress: search, ads, You Tube, Android, Chrome, commerce, and social networking. Ram Shriram, a long time Google board member, commented "He had a very clear sense of the organization he wanted to have and handpicked people to run large areas of the company and set their objectives."

After selecting those seven areas of focus, Page worked on defining clear short- and long-term goals for the leaders of each group. "In some ways we have run the company as to let 1,000 flowers bloom, but once they do bloom you want to put together a coherent bouquet," said Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder.

Related: How Well Do You Know Google?

Empowerment for the employees?

So which of the Google worlds (pre-Page and post-Page) really represent individual empowerment for the employees. It somewhat depends on how you define empowerment. Webster says empowerment is "to give authority or power to." That sounds like post-Page. Too many free-spirited HR wizards would put the word empowerment right up there with enlightenment and finding some kind of inner joy and satisfaction from doing what you want. That sounds like pre-Page.

Personally, I think most people who select to work in industry are primarily interested in seeing things happen and being part of a group of people who are successful in the marketplace. Gutsy leaders make the decisions that define where the big impact is desired and assign individuals to make it happen. To me, that is empowering to the individuals involved. They are given the authority to do what needs to be done to achieve a specific result.

One thing the leader does not want to do is define the area of impact too narrowly, and I fear that is happening with at least one area of Google, namely Google +, their social networking service which is a very Facebook-like product. If the leader of Google+ defines the task as generating a viable competitor to Facebook, all that will happen is a continual chase to catch up with a very dominant leader. The task needs to be defined as developing and launching a very unique, new social networking service that far surpasses Facebook and has numerous new features that cause those under 20 years of age to realize Facebook is no longer cool.

In summary, businesses exist to generate profitable growth via products that make competition seem outdated. To achieve these results, some forceful leadership is needed to define the areas of where impact is desired, and empowerment (i.e., like Webster, give authority to) is needed in charging specific individuals to create and make it happen!

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Image: thehindu.com

The Business Coalition: Partner To SME's Expanding In US

Posted: 11 Jun 2012 12:46 PM PDT

Dennis Warren is a co-founder & president of The Business Coalition and tells us about this non-profit organization that encourages and assists foreign-based companies in their efforts to conduct business in the United States.

What was the inspiration for The Business Coalition?

The realization that there are more small to medium companies looking to invest in the US than there are resources available to assist them. Most of the larger companies can take care of themselves and do not need any assistance.

The small to medium size companies; however, can benefit from a coalition of US business owners who collaborate with State, Federal and foreign consulate offices to see these international companies receive the support they need. In supporting these companies,our goal is to help create jobs and opportunities here in the US.

Most of the companies we help start small and look to grow their US operations over time. As a result, these companies fly beneath the radar screen of most governmental agencies. Without any outside guidance, these companies often take years to develop or abandon their efforts after several years without success.

What are the aims for TBC?

We strive to accomplish the following:

Create jobs and business opportunity in the US by assisting foreign companies in their efforts to invest in the US.

Accelerate the time it takes a company to bring their product or service into the US market.

Support State and Federal agencies as well as foreign consulate offices in their trade & investment activities.

What types of businesses work with TBC? Is the organization designed to work mainly with larger companies, small to mid-sized businesses or entrepreneurs?

We focus our energies on working with small to medium companies who are well established businesses in their home country.

In many cases, we also collaborate with the professional service providers, business consultants, government organizations and for-profit agencies hired by these international companies.

What is the most common query you receive on the site?

The number one question we are asked comes from US product suppliers or professional service providers who want to know how they can become one of the companies that we send business.

How do you gather the different professionals to collaborate with TBC?

When a company that we are assisting asks us to make a referral, we want all our referrals to be to someone we know. If there is not a product/service provider that we know that fits the need than we will choose someone who was referred to us by another company we trust.

What is the most important thing you think people should know about TBC?

The companies associated with The Business Coalition donate a lot of their time to see these companies entering the US market are successful, as a result we have to be very selective on who we decide to help. Once we decide to help a company; however, we continue to work with that company for as long as they want our support.

We stay engaged with these companies for several reasons:

(a) to see how the Coalition can be of further assistance,
(b) check on the quality of any referrals
(c) to provide feedback to the State or Federal agency as well as any consulate office who originally introduced the company to the Coalition.

What would you like people to take away from visiting your website?

The role of the Coalition in supporting an individual company or agency can vary dramatically from one of education, mentoring, promotion, event organizing, referrals, networking, etc. We see are ourselves as a long-term partner to the business community prepared to do our part to help the US economy prosper.

To any product or service provider who wants to join our Coalition that they need to be prepared to roll up their sleeves and take a proactive role or there will not be a seat at the table for them.

Our message to the international company looking to enter the US market is realize the journey may not be without its challenges; however, we are here to assist you be successful.

If your SME is thinking about entering the US market, you can contact Dennis directly at dennis[at]thebusinesscoalition.org or visit the website at www.thebusinesscoalition.org

Many thanks to Dennis Warren for taking the time from his busy schedule for this interview and telling us about The Business Coalition.

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marți, 12 iunie 2012