Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Solair, an Italy-based IoT service that was founded in 2011 (and not the U.S.-based company that makes retractable awnings). Solair already used Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to offer its services, so it’s no surprise that Microsoft plans to integrate its technology into the Azure IoT Suite. For now, though,… Read MoreWhen someone doesn't say yes, they'll often give you a reason.
A common trap: Believe the reason.
If you start rebuilding your product, your pitch and your PR based on the stated reason, you're driving by looking in the rear view mirror.
The people who turn you down have a reason, but they're almost certainly not telling you why.
Fake reasons: I don't like the color, it's too expensive, you don't have enough references, there was a typo in your resume.
Real reasons: My boss won't let me, I don't trust you, I'm afraid of change.
By all means, make your stuff better. More important, focus on the unstated reasons that drive most rejections. And most important: Shun the non-believers and sell to people who want to go on a journey with you.
When someone doesn't say yes, they'll often give you a reason.
A common trap: Believe the reason.
If you start rebuilding your product, your pitch and your PR based on the stated reason, you're driving by looking in the rear view mirror.
The people who turn you down have a reason, but they're almost certainly not telling you why.
Fake reasons: I don't like the color, it's too expensive, you don't have enough references, there was a typo in your resume.
Real reasons: My boss won't let me, I don't trust you, I'm afraid of change.
By all means, make your stuff better. More important, focus on the unstated reasons that drive most rejections. And most important: Shun the non-believers and sell to people who want to go on a journey with you.
Lead generation has come a long way. The way in which leads were developed during Roman times was through word of mouth. As technology advances, the way in which leads are acquired also changes. Before understanding how far we’ve come today, and where we’re going, we must understand where lead generation started. Read More
The next version of SQL Server, Microsoft’s flagship database product, will launch on June 1, the company announced today. The release follows Microsoft’s usual round of public previews and release candidates since the company first announced this update in 2015. Maybe the biggest difference between this release cycle and others is that the company first tested many of the new… Read MorePerhaps you can't see it, but we can. That 2 x 4, the board set right across that doorway, about 5 feet off the ground.
You're running it at it full speed, and in a moment, you're going to slam into it, which is going to hurt, a lot.
This happens to most of us, metaphorically anyway, at one time or another. But when it happens repeatedly, you probably have a hygiene problem.
Emotional hygiene, personal hygiene, moral hygiene, organizational hygiene--useful terms for the act of deliberately making hard decisions, early and often, to prevent a 2 x 4 to the face later.
Worth a pause to highlight that: hygiene never pays off in the short run. It is always the work of a mature person (or an organization) who cares enough about the later to do something important in the now.
When the doctor scrubs with soap before a procedure, it's not because it's fun. It's because she's investing a few minutes now to prevent sepsis later.
Way better than getting hit in the face with a 2 x 4.
More than 10,000 people attended the Lincoln Douglas debates, and yet they debated without amplification.
It's only quite recently that we began to disassociate talking-to-many from talking loudly. Having a large and varied audience used to mean yelling, it used to be physically taxing, it would put our entire body on alert.
Now, of course, all of us have a microphone.
The instinct remains, though. When we know that hundreds or thousands of people will read our words online, we tense up. When we get on stage, we follow that pattern and tense our vocal cords.
We shout.
The problem with shouting is that it pushes people away. WHEN YOU SHOUT IN EMAIL, IT SEEMS ANGRY. Shouting creates a wall between us and the person at the other end (even though it seems like many people, sooner or later, there's one person at the other end).
Shouting destroys intimacy, and it hurts our impact, the impact that comes from authenticity.
We feel speech and words long before we hear the words, and we hear the words long before we understand them.
The solution is simple: whisper.
Practice whispering.
Whisper when you type, whisper when you address a meeting.
Lower your voice, slow your pace, and talk more quietly.
The microphone will amplify your words. And we'll hear them.
