Alan See

Alan See

MindLeaders
Alan See is CMO and Vice President at MindLeaders. His background also includes time as an associate faculty member at the University of Phoenix where he facilitated courses in Marketing and Management Theory. He holds a bachelor of arts in business and an MBA from Abilene Christian University.
  • 0 comments 176 reads
    Posted on 2012-05-14

    Performance reviews shouldn't be this scaryAs soon as I bit that piece of candy I knew it was trouble.  Yes, I chipped a tooth and that meant a trip to the dentist.  The process of getting a crown wasn’t that bad though.  Then again, I used noise cancellation headphones to drown out the sound of the drill.  I also asked the dentist to use both Novocaine and Nitrous Oxide.  In short, you could say that I really didn’t want to be there. So where does the phrase “I’d rather go to the dentist than [you fill in the blank]” come from? What type of task or obligation is so hideous that you’d rather subject yourself to a root canal than deal with the event?  A simple search uncovered a few examples:

    • According to research...

  • 0 comments 305 reads
    Posted on 2012-05-02

    Only sBuilding a culture of learning starts with managers.mall amounts of the learning people do in their jobs takes place in a classroom.   In fact, the 70/20/10 Learning and Development Model based on research by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger for the Center for Creative Leadership suggests the following ratios:

    • 70% of learning occurs through experience
    • 20% of learning occurs through others
    • 10% of learning occurs through formal training

    Based on the numbers above it appears that on-the-job training is at the head of the class.  That probably didn’t come as a surprise did it?  Most people will agree that practical experience is a good way to...

  • 0 comments 789 reads
    Posted on 2012-04-06

    Former Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams’ keen ability to watch a baseball and react with a precise and powerful swing led him to the Hall of Fame. But he had a difficult time trying to pass on that skill. When he retired as a player and became a hitting coach, he was known to admonish his players repeatedly with: “Keep your eye on the ball,” likely not understanding that few players could follow a baseball as closely as he could.  A talented athlete isn’t always an effective coach.

    The same is true in business. A salesperson with an exceptional record for consistently surpassing quotas may not necessarily be a good fit as a manager of a sales team. Managing takes different skills. His or her sales experience over the years may not be enough to propel him or her into a leadership role. Perhaps that tenacious salesperson could become an effective manager, but not without training on how to guide and motivate his employees.

  • 2 comments 1,209 reads
    Posted on 2012-04-02

    In a fast changing business environment do “I remember when” or “when I was your age” stories have value? My twenty something year old children listen to my stories - sometimes. My twenty something year old direct reports listen. Of course I also do their performance reviews, so they might feel compelled to do so. Do you think these less senior people are occasionally tempted to roll their eyes during some of those business fables? Actually, I’d be surprised if they weren’t because I know I was when I was their age.

    I’m not put off by an occasional eye roll. For me it signals that the message has been received, and in truth I probably told that story knowing that would be the reaction. Besides, time goes by fast, meaning it won’t be long before today’s less senior people have eyes rolling at them. That’s the way it’s supposed to work when you’re mentoring the next in line. If you have direct reports what are you doing to mentor them? Mentoring is one of the oldest...

  • 3 comments 1,412 reads
    Posted on 2012-03-01

    Research shows that we tend to remember:

    • 10% of what we read
    • 20% of what we hear
    • 30% of what we see
    • 50% of what we hear and see
    • 70% of what we say
    • 90% of what we both say and do

    In other words, you are more likely to learn and retain when you are fully engaged in the material. When I’m facilitating classes I keep those statistics in mind because it suggests that the students who are active discussion leaders, and are fully participating in the group assignments are engaged with the concepts I’m trying to get across. In short, they usually perform very well, and are a blast to have around.

    As a marketer, I also like to reflect on what those percentages might suggest as it relates to customer engagement and retention. Net promoters, advocates, evangelists; whatever you call them, when they are engaged with your brand it’s a blast. But then again, does life always need to be a blast for marketing folks? Many social media...

  • 0 comments 1,047 reads
    Posted on 2012-02-01

    Peter Gibbons (employee): The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy; it's that I just don't care.
    Bob Porter (consultant): Don't...don't care?
    Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob. I have eight different bosses right now.
    Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?
    Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.
    Bob Slydell: Eight?
    Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

    Remember the film Office Space (1999), the satire on corporate culture that had us laughing at the many ways a company's managers humiliated its employees and how its...

  • 0 comments 1,602 reads
    Posted on 2011-08-31

    Beloit College recently released their Mindset List for the class of 2015.  This year’s list contains 75 items that provide a look at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of this fall’s entering class.  Most of this year’s freshmen were born in 1993, just for fun; take a look at the world through their eyes:

     

    • There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.

    • States and Velcro parents have always been requiring that they wear their bike helmets.

    • The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been...

  • 0 comments 1,392 reads
    Posted on 2011-08-17

    Think about what first attracted you to your home.  Your initial impression as you pulled up and viewed the unique landscape and exterior architecture.  Realtor’s call it “curb appeal.”  First impressions are important, as we all remember this warning: "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."  In fact, psychologists, writers, and seminar leaders caution that we only have from seven to seventeen seconds of interacting with strangers before they form an opinion of us.  With so much at stake have you considered your Twitter curb appeal?  What I’m talking about are the elements...

  • 0 comments 2,382 reads
    Posted on 2011-07-29

    Somewhere in America, a business leader is standing in front of an audience prepared to use the phrase “Our most important asset is our people.” Do you think they really mean it? What about other key assets, for example:

    1. Real estate

    2. Rights to natural resources like oil and gas

    3. Cash reserves

    4. Patents

    5. The corporate brand

    OK, that’s not really a fair question because people are not something that’s owned by the company. Your “people” do walk out the doors of your business every night though. What would happen if they didn’t come back to work the next day? That could create a big mess, because for some organizations when you lose people you lose income. But still, nobody likes to be thought of as an object of production. So does the phrase “people are our competitive advantage” set a little better with you? That one is not so great if you are a not-for profit organization. After...

  • 0 comments 2,097 reads
    Posted on 2011-07-26

    Imagine two people entering a crowded room.  The first person bursts in and announces:

     

    “Here I am!”

    The second person walks in, looks you in the eye and says:

    ...