Rules for a Successful Think-Tank

A brainstorming think-tank can be great if you follow the rules.

I have always had great success in using think-tanks to come up with new ideas and solutions in my companies.

Don’t limit to only one department with one mindset. My most successful think-tanks are a team of creative thinkers with diverse backgrounds who can offer different slants and perspectives.

As the think-tank leader, you should explain the mission, i.e. “New ways to increase market share.” You should be the moderator that keeps things on pace but no one, including you, dominates the conversation. Your tank-mates can create valuable ideas quickly if they operate within a set game plan.

Here are 13 Rules that will help you succeed:

1. No egos allowed. I have a sign outside my conference room that says “Please leave egos here.” You’re not in the tank to impress others with your brilliance and monopolize the time. A good think-tank is a cooperative supportive team where all thoughts are welcome and shared, and only the team succeeds.

2. Use a dry-wipe whiteboard. The bigger the better. I once had an entire wall in the conference room wallpapered with dry-wipe paper so we could get more ideas. If you can’t get a white board, use a large lecture paper pad. I prefer that each member have their own marker and go to the board with their ideas.

3. Stay on topic. Your idea for an iPhone microwave oven app is awesome, but not during a session on how to improve customer service.

4. One conversation at a time. When different conversations are going on within a team, no one can focus.

5. Encourage each other to participate. Often the shy person has great ideas that they’ve been quietly thinking about.

6. Go for volume. Getting to 100 ideas is better than 10. The more ideas you have the more chances you have for quality ideas. Try setting a goal for the number of ideas you'll get to in a certain amount of time to provide incentive.

7. Think fast & keep it short. Impulse thoughts and ideas are often sound and worthwhile. Got an instant thought? Write it on the board.

8. Encourage wild ideas. As Albert Einstein said, “If at first, the idea is not absurd then there is no hope for it.” Most great ideas and inventions were first silly ideas. (but remember #3)

9. Headline your idea. Make it quick and sharp, then move on to the next one.

10. Be visual. Sketch your ideas out for your tank-mates. It will communicate them more clearly than words alone, plus it might inspire some new ideas.

11. Review and build on the Ideas of others. This leverages the perspectives of diverse teams and can be especially useful when you feel like you're stuck.

12. Withhold judgment. Don't block someone else's idea. If you don't like it, look at it on the whiteboard and maybe you'll be able to build on it later. Remember, this is a Think-Tank, not a Shark-Tank.

13. Summarize and condense for action items. Assign action steps to follow through with sound ideas.

Have Fun. Even when the topic is serious, try to keep the pace loose. Anger and worry hamper creative thought. I’ve had great success with after-hours sessions over pizza and beer. If that’s against your rules, at least have brain fuel and energy snacks.

A good think-tank session not only produces results, it strengthens communication and inspires all participants to be more creative and think for the good of the company. Using these simple guidelines will help make your think-tank session a brainstorm instead of a drizzle.

Steve's Entrepreneur AA Club for Success (no, not that one)

Extra! Extra!

Let's talk about being Successful Entrepreneurs!

I apologize that I've been remiss in writing my articles for a few weeks. Being the entrepreneur and start-up junkie that I am, I've been very busy building yet another new company (which I can't discuss with you yet). So I have been writing a lot...business plans, executive summaries, comprehensive marketing plans, financial needs analyses, critical staff profiles, mission and vision statements - you know the drill.

Many of us have been entrepreneurs most of our lives. Our businesses have strived, thrived and occasionally died.

But we start again. It's in our DNA; it's not what we do - it's what we are.

Now, with the recession, many successful corporate business men and women have been tossed out on the street and are considering starting their own businesses and becoming entrepreneurs. I welcome you to our new and different world.

So for all of us Startup Junkies and you Newbies, here are some tips that I think can help you in starting and running your business, and you don't even have to read them.

I recently sat down for a short one-on-one interview to discuss what makes entrepreneurs more successful and share one of my best tips for your success: The Steve Baker Entrepreneur AA Club. (no, it's not that AA, and no there's no membership fee and no you don't fill your garage with crap to resell downline)

CLICK HERE to watch the interview (sorry, there's a 60 second ad first) and then post your comments, thoughts and ideas for success.
Oh, and please pass this on to others.

To Your Success!
Steve Baker

Steve is an entrepreneur, business advisor, author and avid poor golfer who has a passion for business and life.

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Is It Time To Bend Your Ethics?

These are the turbulent times that try one's soul.

Many of you are going through painful times in your business and personal life right now.

It gets tough when your back's against the wall and you are faced with maintaining your moral compass and your ethics.

I was recently interviewed about ethics and rather than write this article about it, I thought I'd let you watch the interview. (sorry, there's a 60 second ad first) Please click here to watch.

Click here to purchase PUSHING WATER UPHILL With A Rake with Free shipping

Your Baby's Ugly…and you've got bad breath

Your product or service must be perfect; after all you thought of it.
But guess what?

I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that 98% of businesses are small businesses. The bad news is that from 60% to 80% of new businesses will fail in their first five years.

After years of building my own companies and consulting growing businesses, I've found that too many business owners can't see their business through an objective eye, which often leads to their demise.

It takes an incredible amount of intense drive, determination and strong ego to breathe life into a business and create products from scratch, but it's also that same ego that won't let a business owner be objective about what their business needs to succeed.

The business is up and running at light-speed and management doesn't have the time or willingness to stand back and take an honest look at what they have created. They are too close to the problems to see them. Just like a proud parent, they have spent sweat and time creating this "baby," and they refuse to believe that it might be less than perfect.

I call this the "business parent trap." It is in this trap that business owners often create and introduce products that would not test out in the marketplace. There's an attitude of "Hey, it's gotta be great because I thought of it."

I've found that there are usually two basic things wrong with a business: the product (the baby) and the management (the breath).

So how do you assess your business? Are your employees going to tell you that you're headed in the wrong direction? Not likely.

Occasionally a consultant will be brought in to review the company's performance in a given area. Unfortunately, when management does bring in a consultant, they often are really looking for affirmation - not straight-forward constructive criticism. Unfortunately, some consultants are more than willing to "affirm for a fee."

If you're going to succeed, then someone needs to tell you if your baby's ugly or you've got bad breath. So here are some blunt yet truthful thoughts for your business, and perhaps you:

· GET OVER YOURSELF: Know yourself, trust yourself, believe in your self...then Get Over Yourself. You're really not the smartest person in the world. You built the business and know it better than anyone else, but no one else really cares how much you know.

· SPECTATOR SPORT: Conversation with you should not be a spectator sport for others. Remember that there's a huge difference between listening and merely waiting for your turn to talk. You hired your employees and perhaps a consultant because you assumed they had brains, so let them use them. Ask questions and listen to answers.

· JUST ANOTHER PRODUCT: Realize that even though you think that your new product or service is the greatest thing since the flip-top beer can, the world just sees one more product and must be convinced. You created this product and you know every function of it, but customers do not buy functions, they buy only benefits. Whether your product is a high tech internet service or a left-handed widget, you must show how it is uniquely beneficial to your customer. Functionality makes your products work, benefits make them sell.

· PAPER WEIGHT: If you have the skills to create a product, chances are that you don't have the skills to market and sell it. Many business owners think that marketing and sales are the simplest part of their business, so it is almost an afterthought. There is only one reason that inferior products outsell better ones; and that is successful marketing. Think of your marketing plan as the complete story book that sells your product. If your story book is a best seller, then your product will be a best seller. Without the right story that will build sales and distribution, your wonderful product is just another paper weight that is headed for a land fill.

· STAND BACK: Your competitors are not all stupid. Guess what? They think their babies are cute too, and they may tell better stories that make them look even better than yours. So stand back and look at yourself and your baby and try to look through the eyes of a disinterested party, because believe it or not, the world is a disinterested party.

Remember, there's a strong chance that you will not be in business in 5 years. As busy as you are, and successful as you think you are, you must set your ego aside and realize that there are things beyond your control.

The secret to success does not lie in knowing everything; the secret lies in knowing what you don't know, and finding those who do. I’ve been successful because I seek out constructive criticism, asking others to tell me my baby’s ugly…but tell me why.

Are You A Twitter Quitter?

Cartoon created by Steve Hearn

"To Twit or to Quit Twit, that is the question."



I have mixed feeling about Twitter.

Twitter is the free Internet-based service that allows people to follow the 140-character messages or "tweets" of friends and celebrities which could be sent to computer screens or mobile devices and in turn send their own instant thoughts to those same people and more who follow them. It's basically short text messaging that goes out to many at once.

I was told by many friends that I was stuck on stupid in the stone-age and just had to start using Twitter to get into the real new world. I took a very good class on Twitter and set out to share my goings-on with the waiting world. I was told that I should strive to get as many people following me and I in turn should follow them and read their 140 character impulsive thoughts because they would be reading mine.

I also read that using Twitter could help my business grow if people get to know and like me.

So I started "tweeting" but could not bring myself to confess to total strangers that, as a successful businessman, I had time to share that my grass is growing.

I've been using Twitter for awhile now and I must confess that in reading other people tweets, what I've found is that a whole lot of people have a whole lot of time on their hands and want me to know that they are enjoying a cup of coffee somewhere or that they're stuck in traffic (and tweeting this important information while they're driving…hmm, I see a new traffic law coming).

It also does not seem to be two-way communication but rather a narcissistic "Look at me and what I'm doing." I very rarely see anyone respond or comment on others tweets, they just keep telling others about themselves.

I kept thinking, “Maybe I am stone-age stupid, I don’t get this.”

Well, this week I read a Reuters report - "Today's Twitters are often tomorrow's quitters" The article reports data that questions the long-term success of the latest social networking sensation used by celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Britney Spears. President Obama used Twitter during last year's campaign.

Sounds like the new wave, but data from Nielsen Online, which measures Internet traffic, found that more than 60 percent of Twitter users stopped using the free social networking site a month after joining.

"Twitter's audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month's users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent," David Martin, Nielsen Online's vice president of primary research, said in a statement. "For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention."

It has enjoyed a recent explosion in popularity on the back of celebrities such as actor Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey singing its praises and sending out "tweets" which can alert readers to breaking news or the sender's sometimes mundane activities.

Twitter does not disclose the number of its users but according to Nielsen Online, Twitter's website had more than 7 million unique visitors in February this year compared to 475,000 in February a year ago. But Martin said a retention rate of 40 percent will limit a site's growth to a 10 percent reach figure over the longer term.

"There simply aren't enough new users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point," he said in a statement. Martin said Facebook and MySpace, the more established social network sites, enjoyed retention rates that were twice as high and those rates only rose when they went through their explosive growth phases. Both currently have retention rates of about 70 percent with Facebook having about 200 million users.

"Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty," said Martin.

My conclusions so far:

Starting out on twitter is like using a spoon to carve a steak. It might work but you need more utensils to work effectively. I have discovered that there are a great many tools out there to make Twitter more effective, like Twellow, Twellowhood, Tweetstat,Twitterfriends, Twitpwr, Twtpic, TweetBeep and more. But you need the time and desire to learn how to use each of them to get the most out of Twitter.

Twitter is a fad. It's great for celebrities, but don't for a minute think that they are following you back. Okay, I confess that I do want to have a million adoring fans following ME, just like Oprah, hanging on my every thought to make their lives more complete and then rushing out to buy my book, PUSHING WATER UPHILL With A Rake.

But back in the real world I have no illusions that if I am following 5,000 people and don’t have time to read their comings and goings that they are all going to be actually following me or caring about what I’m doing or not doing.

I think Twitter might have value if used in conjunction with other networking media. Successful internet networking needs to be more related to personal networking and less about chatter. I have found success with smaller sub-groups on twitter that have shared values and geography, like Denver Twitter Connection. These types of groups are twittering within twitter much like groups on Facebook.

So for now, I’m not a Twitter Quitter, but I’m certainly not a fan.

What Do You Think? Please share your comments. You too can tell me I'm stuck in stone age stupid, just tell me why.

Recession Sing-Along

The economy is in the toilet
and the recession is going on and on.

What can WE do about it?

Walt Handelsman, Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist and animator has created the Recession Sing-Along. The classic "West Side Story" is enjoying its Broadway revival. Now comes the remix, "Worst Slide Story."

So sit back, relax, turn up your speakers and sing along. CLICK HERE

As I say in my book, sometimes life is to serious to take seriously, so keep your sense of humor.

Have You Failed Real Big Yet?

"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again,
only this time more wisely."
~ Henry Ford

Years ago I was in the midst of trying to find investor groups that would allow us to take our company public. We needed some more firm commitments to complete the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of our stock.

We met with a prospective investor who ran a large fund in Seattle. He had once been a successful professional baseball player, and though he was now 70, was still quite fit. He came across as a good ‘ol boy, but he was as sharp as they come. He spent a day and a half with us, doing his due diligence by going over our operations and meeting with our employees.

Over dinner, Hal asked my partner and me the strangest question. “Boys, when was the last time you failed real big?”

My partner and I gave each other a bit of a startled look and I replied, “Excuse me sir?”
I chuckled and said, “We haven’t and we certainly don’t intend to start now. We have a sound plan and it doesn't include failure. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, because you will,” Hal replied. “It’s not a matter of if, only when. I was just hoping that you had already gotten it out of the way.”

We gave a quick glance to each other and passed on Hal’s strange remark. We instead steered the conversation on how successful we had been in building previous companies. As we ate dinner, we nonchalantly intertwined how we both grew up in farm towns and started working at an early age, and how we had been raised with a good old fashion Midwestern work ethic. As we were sipping our after-dinner drinks, Hal gave us the news.

“Well, boys, I’m going to invest in you. I don’t bet on the horses, I bet on the jockeys, and I think you two have the determination and persistence to ride anything across the finish line.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said. “You won’t be disappointed.”

We completed our offering and had incredible success. At the end of our first year we had over $500 million in revenue. We were unstoppable. But here’s the short version ending to the story: along came a $1.4 Billion lawsuit and a pesky stock market crash and our company exploded. We had to cease operations and my partner and I both ended up losing everything we owned and filed bankruptcy.

Now that, my friends is failure.

What did I learn from this big failure?

Very smart people with strong business plans will fail along the way; some from their own mistakes and some from unseen circumstances. But as Hal told us...you will fail.

I had to restart my life and finally wrote a book, PUSHING WATER UPHILL With a Rake about my story to help others plan for great success and cope with unforeseen failure.

I speak to many business groups and college business students about becoming entrepreneurs and you should see the look on their faces when I guarantee them failure on their roads to success. I promise them three things as they think about becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own businesses:

1. It will take longer than you think
2. It will cost more than you project
3. You will fail along the way…and that’s good.

Okay, I can hear what you’re saying out there. “Wait a minute, Steve, you’re telling students that Failure is Good? What kind of negative advice is that?”
Oh, I’m sorry, I should have told them that the business world is like grade school soccer; you’re a winner just for being there and hey, here’s your trophy (but I digress, the preceding was merely an editorial comment by this writer.)

It’s great advice because the sooner we know that failure is part of the game, the sooner we prepare for it. As I explain to the students, their real education begins when they get on the playing field of business and start learning from their mistakes and failures.

Every quality education in life is expensive. You could say I bought myself an honorary MBA/PHD in the school of hard knocks. Did I learn a lot through my experiences? Yeah, a ton. If we learn by each failure and apply what we learned, that’s education. If we fail and do the same thing again, that’s stupidity.

So, do I wish you a failure of my magnitude? No way buckaroos, that’s my record.

What I do want is for you to remind yourself to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and go forward with aggressive plans. Never let the fear of failure hold you back from taking risks but know that, in some form or fashion, failure will come. Then embrace the lessons that you learned and move forward, smarter than before, towards your next success.

Sometimes in business and in life, you can do everything right and it all goes wrong.

Get over it. Move on, and Succeed.