Why am I blogging?

It's been a year since I started my new career as a blogger. I did it in Finnish, with a purpose of trying out something new. I wanted to promote the awareness of my employee's top products in my professional networks.

Semi-private, semi-professional..

I started with a question on what is the "reason to market in the public sector"? (F)

Earlier this year a network friend of mine, Nathan Hangen, encouraged me to do it in English. So did a Greek entrepreneur-friend of mine. Yes, they were right: I do have a lot of colleagues all around Europe, business acquaintances all around the world. We share a lot of thoughts but it's impossible for them to read me in Finnish. The final push came from another network acquaintance. Morten Juul asked in his blog: "What will you commit to today?" .. Sure, why not?

The biggest minus at the moment, is that I severely suffer from lack of time. Our recent projects, the big change we're in middle of.. all too much! But I look forward to a time of better balance, though.

Benefits of blogging

Anyway, this last year has been incredible in so many ways! To find something interesting has become of bigger value: I want to stash it in a more organized manner in order to be able to return to it when I need it. After all, everything is connected, and this piece of information is connected to that sector of A and B and now is the time to blog about it.. You know, how it goes. Thinking according themes is something I've grown more into, and more systematic search of information is my constant aim.

Writing is an excellent way to organize one's thoughts, too! Professional (even semi-professional so) networks are pure gold in exchange of information and other support. The biggest reward, however, in my everyday work, would be the collaboration that has emerged in this new media between different government agencies.

How to find the courage?

So thanks Hanne(F), for your share! You came up with the back door: if it's not nice, you can always stop, saying it was a project that lasted while the main product was on for the audience. No shooting ahead, should I fail. Loved it!

Thank you Anja(F): you offered me a concrete here's-what-you-need-to-do-plan for setting up a blog in your book Blogi tulee töihin(F). Thanks to your book, it only took me a weekend or so to get things going.

Thanks Merja! You were the impartial outsider who could point out the outstanding example I was able to set for many alikes in the public sector. Thank you for your warm support. Our network is brilliant.

"Why on earth should a public sector agancy market anything? Tax customership?! Fiddle-dee-dee! You don't have a choice! So what is there to market for?" Let's see..

The answer for the need of marketing is, with a year behind me, is that marketing really is about networking, relationships, creating value to others. Not looking for leads but seeing people. You can't do it in your chamber! And more than that, you just can't own all the wisdom needed in your (lonely) head. It's time to get out: open the door and step out to the market to grow wise.

Spread your wings and start networking!

Blogging is one way to get out in the market. There you can reach and embrace the wisdom of crowds. Let your passion catch fire with others like you! I chose my knowledge and experience as my currency. The big question was How do you network? How big is the net I already have? But most importantly, how do I bring along the whole organisation?

It was a bit like pioneering in the wild wild west. It's good to have someone out there first, and then let's see how things will work out for her. After that we learn from her mistakes and can start the business with smaller costs. There are a few sparks already in the air: top management chose blogging as a way of sharing the new strategy. It was too early to launch a novelty with blogging. Instead, customer service caught fire!

Customer service is spreading its wings!

A couple of tax offices, or rather, their communications, marketing and service managers chose new media. Since there simply is not enough people to answer all the phone calls one at a time, they chose to get out there where their customers already are gathered. The means are an Ask us -column (F) in the biggest network society in Finland and a blog (F) in one of the biggest web journal communities

Trust is the main thing. You must have passion for your cause. But, in addition, the most solid currency in this new media market is the ancient nobility of helping thy neighbors. Those who can, have open ears and they are willingly helping those in need. Trust is being born. You want to recommend someone that you trust. Word of mouth creates the most powerful marketing. I rest my case.

So spread your wings and start networking. Your expertise is needed!

Earlier posts on new malls, R & D and experts and brands, unfortunately in Finnish:

Markkinointi muodostaa asiakkuuksia (16 Jou 2009)
Jokainen on brändinkantaja (4 Kes 2009)
Asiakas on laumaeläin (26 Tou 2009)
Ajatuksia asiakaskeskeisestä tuotekehityksestä (Haku)

Great thinking on trust and sharing:

Protect your ideas or launch them by Nathan Hangen
Future of Search Is More than Social by Baekdal

Social media drives green values to business (Vol.4)

Turning environment..

Let's move on from environmental challenges to new business ideas evolving from the need of sustainability.

I believe the only way to weave environment into business is by looking at the entire environment of the business through value chain thinking.

Environmental value chain analysis offers a way to manage the business processes as an entity that takes environment into consideration.

..into new business ideas

Passion drives change. BSAG was born of the relentless passion of Ilkka Herlin. Same passion drives environmental investments in Canada.

Private passions that have driven the environmental movement for decades are now spilling over into mainstream business ventures.

Material efficiency is often the key factor in cutting variable costs. But that efficiency should be looked at as a bigger picture: one must optimize the entity. It is possible to streamline the use of a certain ingredient in the production process and, at the same time, increase the cost of its final waste disposal. There, too, the answer lies in life cycle analysis.

Material efficiency should thus be connected into the management system, as is often done with the energy efficiency. Efficiency thinking should be based on value chain analysis, says professor Juha Kaila, Helsinki University of Technology (InnoSuomi 2009). R&D is facing the challenge of how to get the most out of the raw material in its total life time. The scope is about to change as the life cycle cost must include also the cost of recycling.

A change toward non-tangibles?

How about Slow movement? It offers yet another view in consumption. Slow life allows room for services that do not exploit the environment. Non-tangible services are bound to burden less than producing tangible goods. An excellent example on that are different charity projects: Buy a cow - donate a well - buy a vaccine - or plant a tree are all examples of a non-tangible gift (F) to someone who already has everything.

As you can see, sustainabity makes sense. It also opens new horizons for innovation.

Social media drives green values to business (Vol.3)

If you care about you reputation, you'll know, both intuitively and explicitly, what and how to do - and how not to. This should apply to business, as well.

Brand is definitely one of the most valuable assets to any business. Brand management must bring along risk management covering customer experience. Customers nowadays live more and more constantly in their social networks.

Firms may "own" their brands, but brands really live in the heads of their consumers. Companies must constantly nurture and actively manage their brands at the speed customers form opinions about them. -Real-time Brand Management, Harvard Business Review

Therefore quality of service, the core product itself, must be supported with an excellent array of customer service use.

Managing environmental risks

But the core processes need to be acceptable, too. The business is not allowed to bring harm to people, never to its customers, nor to its employers; but not to the environment. Not any more. Today business processes need to be sustainable.

I believe Nestle was one of the first 'naughty ones' I remember hearing of when I was a kid. Back then there were no computers in every day life, and the most 'social media' there was, was shopping at the same time with your neighbors =) Well, 30 years later, Nestle is in trouble again. This time in Facebook. The topic has changed: this time it is palm oil.

They will not accept unethical behavior. Their opinion might matter to your customers. (Vol.2*link corrected*)

Even the most cautious preparations get caught by surprise. Preserving the environment, let alone the ultimately vulnerable rain forest, must have been a top priority in an multi-million investment of Botnia in Uruguay.

Environmental challenges bring sustainability and new business ideas. To be continued..

Social media drives green values to business (Vol.2)

It is time to dive into the bigger picture. You might have been asking, what on earth connects the dots from green values to hardcore moneymaking.

The answer is customer, the citizen, the Conscious Consumer. He or she is more and more often willing to enlighten also others in his or her no-cost social media networks.

Not hurting the nature means most of all responsibility in all business processes. And this is where we bump into ethics. If the right choice costs more, your bottom line is bound to suffer. Mission impossible? My previous post at Vol.1

China and Finland, cases mentioned in Vol.1, were crimes covered by the traditional press. South-Korean girl not taking care of her dog waste or a blogging mother at the mercy of a multi-national conglomerate are examples of the power of this new media. It offers those long-needed channels through which to participate and do our share for the mutual cause.

That's why nature is also your business!

Social media is a means to build social (environmental) awareness. That's why sustainability is a value that is - and must be - on the rise. As Esko Kilpi put it: There is a shift of paradigm going on.

That paradigm is something big; so big that not one business can afford to neglect it.

As people are testifying odd weathers, reading scary reports and watching terrifying pictures from natural catastrophes they are also searching for information. Web offers them loads of details, also and more and more often misbehavior and neglect of companies, among other things.

Be aware: those who care just won't turn away. They will not accept unethical behavior. Their opinion might matter to your customers.

Gradually this "Mission impossible" type of equation is becoming reality. Winning fast profits at the expense of someone else - and the nature - is turning social media audience against anyone trying it. Dare you try?

To be continued..

Social media drives green values to business (Vol.1)

A breakfast seminar a few weeks ago. The stage is set for two extremely radiant thought leaders: Esko Kilpi and Ilkka Herlin(F).

The main theme for the day was to approach a triangle that didn't use to (or did it?) have anything in common: the Business, green values and social media. Now this all has changed: social media has brought the essential elements together: around the customer - citizen.

The discussions were elevating. The brief history of Baltic Sea Action Group was a great thing to hear. It is a story of one man. But in my mind, it's also a story of building a brand - something that can be bigger than just us as individuals.

Timing is important in order to be heard

At our best we are a rich combination of our values, experiences and contacts. Bring in a pinch of passion, mix it with inspiration and other talented, passionate people - and there are no limits what can happen!

This is what Ilkka has built. His interests, career, family backgrounds.. it all has taken him to where he - this cause - is now. His passion and actions for the nature and the Baltic Sea had to wait for about ten years for others to wake up and join the cause.

During those years came another man, who after not becoming the president of the US of A concentrated his energies working against the climate change. His work has been spreading the word, waking up those others. Yet another influential man, Bill Clinton, has used his influence and networks to gather resources for the benefit of the things he believes in.

Wake up! Do nothing and we're gonna be in deep *you know*.



Looking for a change

Let's think about the traditional business drivers for a minute. Financial laws demand that business create profits to the owners. Everything evolves around the quarterly reporting for the P/E.

This responsibility to spend wisely applies, of course, to the public sector, too. What I am saying, is that short term planning simply isn't enough. It is extremely difficult to build financial models, scenarios if you will, that could actually bind together income from the further future with the expenditure invested today. In other words, how do we justify the cost of doing something slightly outside the scope of the next quarter, or two years in the public sector? How do we build the scenario in monetary terms?

Eternal growth is an impossibility

Esko put it this way: We all have been taught that full employment can only be achieved it the annual growth of GDP exceeds 3%. Thus what we need to do is to make sure that our expenditure grows; that's how we best help our neighbor in need of a job. What about the Third world? It's our turn, they claim! And all the statistics show that the poor planet just can't cope the exploitation of the natural resources. On the other hand, the amount of waste goes beyond reason.

It is our turn to give way to other people's needs.

But that doesn't have to mean the destruction of the western businesses! It just calls in for new business ideas, like recycling the raw materials. You just need to come up with the idea that turns recycled materials into desirable products thus generating lucrative business. Take a look at Globe Hope.

Not hurting the nature means most of all responsibility in all business processes. And this is where we bump into ethics. If the right choice costs more, your bottom line is bound to suffer. Mission impossible?

NO! In China you could, for a while, add plastics into milk to make it more nutritious - only as far as you got caught (and might lose your head). In Finland the waste company was able to dump the waste into storm drain - until it got caught and lost its reputation and hence business deals.

But it must be impossible to justify a bigger expenditure in favor of something general, say nature? There the cost is bound to generate no money, only something, not measurable, that will benefit somebody else, right?

WRONG! Nature is everybody's business. Businesses', too.

To be continued..

Leader is like a Captain

Driving an organisation to its goal is a bit like being a captain.

You set the goal, choose the way and steps to get there, set the tasks for your team - and lift their spirits.

A recent HBR article reflects on making good decisions.

Center versus business unit

Business units do their job on the front line, close to the customer whereas the center is the one who can see the big picture. It can set the broader goals, and it keeps the organization focused on winning.

The way I've come across this phenomenon, I would now strongly go for the centralized option. For it seems to be that only with the bigger picture can one tell between different choices, which of them will benefit the organisation most. The sub units tend to sub-optimize and their aim is easily focused on the short term revenue/goal.

Dreaming about brilliant leadership

On the other hand, I still dream about tools that would steer the whole organisation to one commonly set direction without the parts wanting something of their own. - Have you found that toolkit yet?

Nick Morgan wrote a nice article in Forbes. In Leadership Is All About Emotional Persuasion he points out a few things defining successful leadership:

Persuasion means changing someone's mind. If the mind isn't changed, the person hasn't been persuaded. -- So a leader's job is to change minds, to push followers to make new decisions.

Something alike can be found in Pentti Sydänmaanlakka's thinking. In his book on intelligent leadership (Älykäs johtajuus Talentum 2004), he, too, defines leadership as a process: "Leadership is a process where the leader effects an individual or a group in order to reach the common goal" (translation mine).

A heart-warming example in Sydänmaanlakka's book names a few principles regarding leadership:

Emphasize the meaning of the customer

Give room to people who make things happen

Acknowledge competence

Inspire yourself and everyone to top results

Function versus function

Who actually does the balancing act between product development and marketing during the design of a new product? Let's assume marketing is the function to tell what the customers want, and the R&D project has some slightly different goal - who will bring the common goal to decision-making?

Cross-functional decisions seem too often to elude in compromise solutions, not to mention the frequent need to be revisited because the right people were not involved from the start!? On the other hand, if we would really act customer-centric (not just talk about it), shouldn't this problem vaporize away, this instant?

Inside versus outside partners

Good decision makers recognize which decisions really matter to performance. Knowing that together with the commonly shared goal are, in my experience, the main elements to make any organization prosper.

Good decision makers, a.k.a good leaders think through who should recommend a particular path, who needs to agree, who should have input, who has the ultimate responsibility for making the decision, and who is accountable for follow-through.

Good leaders thus make the process routine. And, as the result, they gain better coordination and quicker response times.

In times like these, we need good leaders.

Taxation in Twitter?

From the Finnish perspective it looks awesome: behind the Atlantic they're already using social media to help people file their tax returns!

Okay, it's a tax consultancy business.. And sure, the taxation differs from what we have here in Finland. Plus, we Finns in Twitter are so few..

A question to you: do you remember seeing another article, say in six months, about this agency and its thoughts on social media? I really hate the constant search; browsing all the tags and link lists and bookmarks and coming out empty handed, all the same =(

Mashable wrote about a Twitter team of fourteen, ready to serve on this new channel. I guess here, in the middle of the snow, the first ones of us only start to stretch our boundaries towards the new media.

So it seems quite a wild thing to handle questions concerning taxation with only 140 marks. But let's take a look at the tweets:

Hi Mike. Which browser are you using? Site is up and humming along. Let me know how we can help. ^sg

Isn't that just the basic customer service on how to use our products? We could do that.

Tax councelling in Twitter?! Or any other public conversation? We're are being careful since the information in taxation and our customership are private. On the other hand, where the customers share topics in conversation there they seek for advice with each other. And if there is no one to know for sure, they're bound to find also some wrong answers. So wouldn't it be just great to make sure the advice given is correct?

The team is taking the service to new channels (to broaden its funnel) where new customers can be addressed and forwarded to the real answer, longer than just the famous 140 marks.

Where's my refund? Good question. Here's an answer: http://bit.ly/dr5wbB ^C

This is multi-channel at its best, Twitter, a blog and a community site.

Mashable was also pondering whether the team will have enough resources once the rush heats up as the April 15th draws near. All the best to you, Twitter Team!

By that time we are only starting our business here in Finland. The pre-filled tax returns start arriving in mail after which you're supposed to check and correct the income and the deductions. This year you can file rental income in the web. Stay tuned.