KnowlEdge Series

Leaders in every sector, every function, every size of organisation are increasingly trying to fix what they see as problems of consistency between local teams and those at Headquarters. For example:

Often, organizations respond by creating processes to ensure consistency to subsequently makes the problem disappear. However, the problem does not go away which is characteristic of dilemmas, recurring themes that dont seem to respond to the clear-cut fixes.

This interactive webcast is infused with small group activities to provide frequent opportunities for you to share personal experiences, ask questions and try out ideas and new behaviours in a safe and confidential setting. The process is engaging, fun, experiential and effective. You will examine real-life examples of business situations to clarify the concepts presented.

30 May, 2012 10:30 AM EST [10:30], 04:30 PM CET [16:30], 03:30 PM GMT [15:30] | 01 hr

In Part 1, participants will explore:

Allyson Stewart-Allen Director International Marketing Partners Ltd

Allyson Stewart-Allen is an internationally-recognised marketing advisor who helps leading brands to successfully trade globally.

An accomplished speaker, broadcaster and author, Allyson founded International Marketing Partners to help cli...

Lee Turlington Vice President of Global Product Patagonia

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Think Global, Act Local: Strategies for Success

As owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft is used to success. However, Kraft has found some of his own personal success -- away from Gillette Stadium.

Columbia University announced on Monday that Kraft will be inducted in the 2012 class of the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Kraft earned a bachelor's degree in history and economics from Columbia in 1963. Kraft was a member of the freshman football team in 1959 and the varsity lightweight football team in 1960, earning two letters in football. An injury ended his playing career early in his junior year.

As an alumnus, Kraft has remained active at Columbia, serving as a University trustee for two six-year terms. He was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Medal, the highest honor for a member of the Columbia community, in late 2004.

The induction ceremony will be held Thursday, October 18, 2012 at the Low Memorial Library on Columbia University's Morningside campus. Tickets to the ceremony and black-tie dinner are available by calling Cathleen Clark at (212) 851-9610.

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Robert Kraft to Be Inducted to Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Left Brain DGA, a Silicon Valley-basedDemand Generation Agency, today announced the one year anniversary of its partnership with personal computer giant Lenovo, an ongoing collaboration that has produced a series of successful demand generation programs.

We needed multi-disciplinary expertise to take our demand generation programs to the next level, said Steve Barnard, senior demand generation manager at Lenovo. After several months of searching for the right partner to develop and drive a comprehensive demand generation strategy, we recognized that most agencies are good at content, production or integration, but we needed all of these pieces under one roof. Left Brain delivers the whole package.

Lenovos need to deliver repeatable, predictable marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) across multiple markets and product lines with complex sales cycles required, among other things, a marketing automation tool. But after selecting Eloqua as the marketing automation tool of choice, Lenovo quickly realized the need to augment their demand generation strategy for optimal results. This included:

Lenovos requirements typify the complexity in buyer-centric B2B marketing today, said April Brown, vice president of demand generation strategy at Left Brain DGA. Success in B2B marketing requires a deep understanding of the behaviors and content consumption preferences of the modern buyer-centric landscape. Its essential to provide proven processes and technologies to support relevant lead nurturing and revenue generation.

Lenovos choice of Left Brain DGA to develop and partner to execute its demand generation programs strongly validates the unique processes we apply from our Left Brain Model, said Malcolm Friedberg, CEO of Left Brain DGA. Todays B2B sales environment is intolerant of cookie cutter marketing approaches and relies more on multi-disciplinary strategies that begin and end with knowing prospect and customer preferences in punishing detail. At the end of the day, were measured by our ability to help customers move the revenue needle in the right direction and the results of our Lenovo engagement point to a significant win-win for both organizations.

About Left Brain DGA

Left Brain DGA is a leading demand generation agency, serving some of the largest and best-known enterprise brands. The agency helps marketing organizations develop and grow successful demand generation programs. Its approach leverages a proprietary demand generation process model The Left Brain Model powered by marketing automation technology. The agency delivers a full set of services that span strategy, content, technology, analytics and optimization for demand generation programs.

Left Brain DGA is based in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

Excerpt from:
Left Brain DGA Partners with Personal Computer Giant Lenovo to Deliver Best-in-Class Demand Generation Programs

More than 60 per cent of transformations fail, but why should this be a concern for CIOs? The fact is major technology projects are often transformation projects. These projects significantly change the way organisations conduct their business and how work gets done. Unfortunately, the reality is that the success rate of transformations is less than 40 per cent. When these projects fail, the CIOs are often blamed for the failure. So why do so many transformations fail?

There are many common barriers to success. Many organisations have learned to overcome these barriers and improve their success rates, so here are the top 10 barriers to transformation success and strategies organisations have used to overcome them:

Change is not easy. Change threatens our role, routines, work-practices, relationships and sense of control. We react by resisting the change. Many organisations increase the resistance by not having a clear and compelling vision for the change. When the vision is unclear, people are likely to be sceptical about the change in direction.

If people dont understand why a transformation is necessary, they will not join you on the bus. Leaders of successful transformations tell a compelling story that describes why change is necessary, what the future will look like and what the journey will involve. A good vision of the future has to be realistic and attainable. This vision has to be supported by clearly defined one to two year stretch goals and must outline the steps intended to achieve these goals.

One of the single biggest reasons transformations fail is because they do not have a visible and active sponsor. When the top leadership team is not seen to be actively championing the transformation, the rest of the organisation assumes (correctly) that this is just another initiative. As a result, the urgency for the need to change diminishes. Sponsorship is more than just attending the kick-off and occasionally sending memos or emails about the transformation.

When there is a track record of poorly implemented endeavours, people tend to not expect much when new changes are announced. Visible and strong sponsorship promotes a feeling that things are different this time. A strong sponsor will visibly support you, execute change and support you when roadblocks hamper the process. He or she needs to continually offer insight and guidance to keep things moving, and will offer ideas to resolve issues and broker solutions when needed.

In transformations, while there is agreement about the vision, each leader needs to act independently to achieve the vision. Leaders need to know the value of interdependence. When interdependence is not recognised between key players or groups, change in one area will often cause resistance in another.

Interdependence requires all parts of the organisation to act collectively to achieve common goals. Each leader must support the success of others. Leaders must accept that sometimes decisions that are good for the whole can be bad for their unit.

Lack of effective leadership also manifests as lack of middle-management support. When mid-level managers are not enrolled in the change process and lack a sense of involvement and ownership, they resist collective action.

The magnitude of the transformation challenge can be overwhelming for many organisations, resulting in ill-defined plans, priorities and structures.

Originally posted here:
Transformation success

This article is written by a member of our expert contributor community.

Does your business success or failure depend on what you do? Or what the world does to you?

Your answer will depend on what your own personal "locus of control" happens to be. Locus of control is a psychological term first coined by Julian B. Rotter in 1954 and it refers to how much individuals believe they can control events that affect them. Psychologists believe it's an essential element of all of our personalities.

Your locus (a Latin word meaning "place" or "location") can be either internal or external. If you have an internal locus of control, you think you're in charge of your life. If you succeed, you take the credit and if you fail, you blame yourself. If you define yourself with an external locus of control, however, you believe other people, your environment or a higher power controls what happens - you're helpless. That means it's easy to point the finger at everyone but yourself.

Obviously, most of us don't operate with a locus that's completely internal or external. But generally, we're more on the scale towards one or the other - and each have their own characteristics.

If you have a primarily external locus of control, you're more likely to:

* Believe luck, chance and/or fate decides what happens to you.

* Be negative and give up more easily when setbacks.

* Not reach out to create new relationships or try to repair old ones.

See the article here:
How Your Locus Of Control Impacts Business Success

Two ex-Disney staffers aim to grab the top slot in children's online games.

The internet entrepreneur Phil Mason shows galactic ambition when he talks about his online children's game, Little Space Heroes.

''We plan to be the number one market leader in this space, ahead of Disney,'' says the 40-year-old founder of the Sydney start-up, Bubble Gum Interactive.

Judging by the third-party funding and grants that his business has secured, it is clear that Mason, a former online executive with Disney, has convinced investors that his lofty aims are achievable.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Mason is tapping into the lucrative market for internet games for children as young as six, while treading carefully around parents' concerns about their children's online ventures.

Bubble Gum Interactive launched Little Space Heroes, a virtual universe in which children can play online, late last year. Today, the company says children in more than 50 countries log in to the game, with a new player signing up every 10 seconds at weekends. The start-up is staying mum on its total membership, but expects to reach about 20 million users by the end of 2013.

''We've seen the huge potential for virtual worlds for kids because there are 250 million kids worldwide aged six to 12 who have access to the internet, and that number is growing,'' says the company's marketing and community director, and former Disney employee, Paul Gray.

The game revolves around a colourful science fiction story: a villain robot, who is afraid of the dark, has begun pillaging the heroes' galaxy for light. Players are invited to become space cadets to find him and rescue the universe, making friends along the way.

The site works on a ''freemium'' model. Children can create their own heroes and play for free. A $6 monthly membership allows them to personalise their looks, upgrade their spaceships, have little critters and access some member-only zones and online parties.

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Virtual hit leads to real world success

By David Danna - June 15, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT, NOK, RIMM | 0 Comments

David is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

A recent report from IDC projected that Androids growth would slow starting this year and that the new growth platform in mobile operating systems will be Microsofts (NASDAQ: MSFT)Windows Phone. Further they predicted that by 2016 Windows Phone would claim 19.2% of the mobile operating system market. This would put Windows Phone behind Googles (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android but ahead of Apples (NASDAQ: AAPL)iOS and Research in Motions (NASDAQ: RIMM)Blackberry. Android is expected to drop to 52% of the total market. Remaining the top mobile operating system on sales from companies like Samsung, HTC and Googles recently acquired Motorola. This projection also has Apples iOS market share shrinking slightly to come in third place by 2016 behind Android and right behind Windows Phone.

Whether this exact projection comes to pass, Windows Phone will begin a slow but steady rise in market share this year. This will be in large part because of the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) built Lumia line of phones which are rolling out globally under the Lumia brand and include four models the 610, 710, 800 and 900. This long term partnership with Nokia allows Microsoft to launch a global brand for Windows Phone with the Lumia line and gain traction at several different price points. The budget models, the 610 and 710, will be more appealing in developing markets or to anyone on a budget. The higher end 900 will be more appealing in developed markets and people who are used to paying hundreds for their smartphone. Lumia 900 sales have remained steady on AT&T. The heavy advertising campaign for the AT&T 900 could well be boosting sales of other Lumias being sold in the US such as the Lumia 600 on T-Mobile. Best Buy has also reported that Lumia sales remain decent, though they are not as strong as sales of the top tier Android phones.

A Microsoft executive also stated recently that Windows Phone had captured 7% of the Chinese market after just two months on sale there, a very good sign moving forward. There are over a billion mobile customers in China and hundreds of millions more will be coming online across Asia in the coming years. With this in mind Microsoft has a 2,500 team dedicated to optimizing Windows Phone for the Chinese market. Apple has also had issues getting the prices of the iPhone low enough to appeal to customers in developing markets, though this has changed somewhat with the low priced iPhone 3GS. Additionally the iPhone is currently missing from Chinas largest mobile operator China Mobile due to China Mobiles use of proprietary wireless technology. Should Apple strike a deal with China Mobile that would create additional competition for Android and Windows Phone in China.

Microsoft has a long term deal with Nokia to produce a full line of high quality Windows Phone smartphones all under a unified brand. They are seeing decent sales in the US and they have a team in place to work in their global success, especially China. Microsoft is also rolling out new features for their products, including Windows Phone. One of the latest announcements is called SmartGlass, this connects Microsoft products and would allow you to resume a movie on any windows device you owned. But SmartGlass goes well beyond that, if you were watching a TV show on your Xbox you could get additional information on your Windows Phone or Windows tablet like a map of where the characters in the TV show are. SmartGlass is designed to give your further information around activities such as the map of the TV scene, or designing a play on your Windows Phone to be used on your Xbox NFL video game.

Microsoft is hoping that content providers will use SmartGlass as a platform to provide additional content and information while youre playing a video game or watching a movie. If they do, this could set windows up with a connected ecosystem that includes your phone, TV (through an Xbox) tablet and PC.

Microsoft is also previewing the next generation of Window Phone, Windows Phone 8 later this month. Microsoft is keeping tight lipped on what we can expect from Window Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, but it is likely that the next version of Windows Phone will support multi-core processors. This would be a big step forward in allowing Windows Phone to compete with Android and iPhone. Blackberry is also launching its new operating system, Blackberry 10 later this year and Blackberry already has a global brand and is available globally. The question is whether Blackberry 10 will be good enough to grow their 78 million and shrinking user base. Alongside Blackberry 10 and Windows Phone 8, Androids new operating system will be previewed this month named Jelly Bean as will Apples new version of iOS.

With new versions of virtually all the mobile operating systems launching this summer or fall Windows Phone will face continued tough competition. With new features, a new version of Windows Phone and excellent hardware and branding provided by Nokia, Windows Phone will see growing success in 2012. iOS and Android will continue to grow, both spurred on by new versions of their operating systems and the potential for an iPhone 5 and a full line of stock Android devices sold directly from Google under the Nexus brand. Windows Phone will continue to be more successful in China than it is in the US where Nokias international reputation is strong. One place Windows Phone may pick up customers is from corporate and government employees who may want to drop their Blackberrys for another platform if Blackberry 10 is not successful. For these customers security is paramount and Microsoft could leverage their large corporate and government contracts to help them sell Windows Phone as part of a package.

The IDC report projecting Windows Phone will have a .2% (19.2% for Windows Phone and 19% for iOS) edge over iOS in four years is pretty much a shot in the dark. Especially because a report from IDC a few weeks earlier showed a drop Windows Phone market share from last year. Windows Phone will grow, slowly and steadily going forward and will be part of a complete platform that is taking shape from Microsoft, but the exact success remains unknown.

The rest is here:
Can Apollo Make Windows Phone an Over the Moon Success?

June 14, 2012, 1:26 p.m.

Eva Moskowitz, the charter chain operator, has been planting schools in New York City at a breakneck pace, with five expected to open in August.

But that hasnt kept Ms. Moskowitz, a well-known workaholic, from taking on another job: that of author.

Ms. Moskowitzs book, Mission Possible: How the Secrets of the Success Academies Can Work in Any School, which she wrote with Arin Lavinia, a former public school teacher and the literacy coach for the Success Academy Charter schools, will be released June 26. The publisher is Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley.

The slender book Ms. Moskowitzs second is part polemic on school choice, with Ms. Moskowitz and Ms. Lavinia extolling the virtues of competition as a means of improving the nations failing public schools.

It is part how-to guide, with the authors offering specific teacher-training tips and information about the Success Academy literacy program, THINK literacy, and including the tenets of what Ms. Moskowitz terms joyful rigor.

But the book also provides personal tidbits interesting to anyone who has followed Ms. Moskowitzs career from college professor to city councilwoman to operator of a chain of nine schools.

In it, Ms. Moskowitz says she was well-trained in math and science at the New York City public high school she attended Stuyvesant but did not graduate with stellar writing skills. She tells the story of writing her first paper at the University of Pennsylvania and receiving a D.

She was directed to the universitys writing center, where she spent countless hours during her four years there toiling over papers for various classes. It was an uphill battle, she wrote. But I worked incredibly hard on it and came out the other end knowing how to write.

News of the book release has sent frissons through the education blogosphere, with fans posting invitations to a Washington book launch at the end of the month. It is being hosted, in part, by a pro-charter advocacy group, Democrats for Education Reform.

Continued here:
SchoolBook: In New Book, Success Academy Operator Promotes Charter Schools and Offers Advice

June 14, 2012, 1:26 p.m.

Eva Moskowitz, the charter chain operator, has been planting schools in New York City at a breakneck pace, with five expected to open in August.

But that hasnt kept Ms. Moskowitz, a well-known workaholic, from taking on another job: that of author.

Ms. Moskowitzs book, Mission Possible: How the Secrets of the Success Academies Can Work in Any School, which she wrote with Arin Lavinia, a former public school teacher and the literacy coach for the Success Academy Charter schools, will be released June 26. The publisher is Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley.

The slender book Ms. Moskowitzs second is part polemic on school choice, with Ms. Moskowitz and Ms. Lavinia extolling the virtues of competition as a means of improving the nations failing public schools.

It is part how-to guide, with the authors offering specific teacher-training tips and information about the Success Academy literacy program, THINK literacy, and including the tenets of what Ms. Moskowitz terms joyful rigor.

But the book also provides personal tidbits interesting to anyone who has followed Ms. Moskowitzs career from college professor to city councilwoman to operator of a chain of nine schools.

In it, Ms. Moskowitz says she was well-trained in math and science at the New York City public high school she attended Stuyvesant but did not graduate with stellar writing skills. She tells the story of writing her first paper at the University of Pennsylvania and receiving a D.

She was directed to the universitys writing center, where she spent countless hours during her four years there toiling over papers for various classes. It was an uphill battle, she wrote. But I worked incredibly hard on it and came out the other end knowing how to write.

News of the book release has sent frissons through the education blogosphere, with fans posting invitations to a Washington book launch at the end of the month. It is being hosted, in part, by a pro-charter advocacy group, Democrats for Education Reform.

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In New Book, Success Academy Operator Promotes Charter Schools and Offers Advice

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Fit, figured and fantastic