Posted on Mon, Nov 16, 2009
More great musings from Nathalie today: it's all about sharing stories and inspiration. Join us...
This has been a month of a very specific brand of inspiration, the African and female kind, to be precise. So I've decided to share the wealth and start a conversation!
It started last month with a Ted Talk by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie about the misconceptions and dangers that come from a want of diversity in stories. Shortly after this, I had an opportunity to meet the Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Nicholas Kristof at a World Affairs Council talk on women in developing nations, part of his and Sheryl Wudunn's "Half the Sky" movement. I attended the talk with another accomplished activist (and photographer), Phil Borges, who kindly agreed to speak at an event I am organizing this Thursday on the subject of Women Empowered.
At the same time that these events unfolded around me, back at the ranch (Lionbridge) I have had the serendipitous privilege of contributing as my team worked diligently on an initiative that will support Microsoft with its mission to bring the benefits of technology to people worldwide. Through the Unlimited Potential program, which is charged with cultivating their next billion customers, Microsoft is contributing to the preservation of local languages and cultures. Something this Global Misfit can enthusiastically connect with!
In a lovely confluence of themes and worthy causes, last Friday the two accomplished women on our team heading up the collaboration with Microsoft's Local Language Program (LLP) embarked on a long flight to represent us at the LLP Africa summit (press release). Inspiration is everywhere, including right under my nose!
I can't help but feel elated to be a part of the increasingly important process of creating the diverse stories of the African experience that are needed in order to contribute to the empowerment of its diverse peoples. Moreover, I am thrilled to be so close to the forefront of the much overdue influx of business capital and creative entrepreneurship that I wholeheartedly believe can (if managed ethically) ultimately make a substantive and sustainable difference where so many generations of global aid have failed. Here are a couple interesting talks by prominent African personalities on the subject:
In the spirit of Chimamanda Adichie's call for moving away from the single story, I invite you to share your African story. Whether you've lived there your whole life or only traveled to Africa as a tourist, I would love to get your insight! In return, I will do my best to represent those stories and hope that you will check back in the next week as I share the experiences of the Lionbridge team in South Africa upon their return.
In the meantime, I'll be here soaking it all up vicariously and dreaming of South Africa!
Here are a few more relevant links that I think are worth a look (and yes, I am an official Ted addict... please no interventions yet!):
Posted on Wed, Oct 21, 2009
Nathalie shares her thoughts on the business empathy in the midst of Localization World...
Tonight was a typical day in the life of a Global Misfit. I was at a fabulous event hosted by Lionbridge at Localization World (full disclosure, I am totally biased here, remember who I work for) . No matter how many years pass in this industry, I never cease to be amazed by the eccentric company I'm lucky enough to keep.
We celebrated in a great bowling alley space and the party was, at least on the surface, not unlike any other Silicon Valley conference... with one rather notable exception, in the form of an army of global citizens we had the privilege of hosting, such as:
- The Peruvian (photography hobbyist) from Adobe who moved here with every intention of going home after grad school and never left.
- The start-up CEO from New Zealand who speaks perfect Spanish (seriously, hardly any accent at all!) with a slightly South American flavor despite having lived in Guatemala.
- The Argentinian from Cisco who lived in Colombia, speaks Portuguese and likes to argue with his colleague from Cameroon about soccer and who beat who in the last world cup.
- The sales guy with a Southern drawl, who lived in Spain, sold industrial agricultural shipping containers in Guayaquil, Ecuador, now lives in DC and spends a week a month selling into Apple & Cisco.
As I walked around the room full of the wild cast of characters, I was reminded of an article I read yesterday on
Noreena Hertz. In it she says she believes "in a globalist agenda, but globalization isn't just allowing companies to trade freely all over the world. It's about what rights and responsibilities come with that."
And I couldn't help but wonder how one might go about bottling the collective wisdom in tonight's room full of multilingual, global misfits. If it's true that you have to walk in another person's shoes to truly have empathy, then no one understands better than this group, the rights and responsibilities that come with globalization. Most have lived it first hand, and live it every day.
And at the end of the day, reaching people in the global market is - at its very core - about connecting and understanding people's culture, language, and tastes... which is what empathy is all about, right?
All that to say, I realized tonight, I'm in the business of empathy! It's not about going global, it's about getting local... and empathy is the key to doing it, and doing it well.
Peace.
Posted on Wed, Oct 14, 2009
Today, Nathalie Molina talks about customer loyalty and a great Caribbean restaurant!
Here's another "are you kidding me!?" story from the consumer trenches.
I had a little gathering in my home a couple Sundays ago, and hired my favorite local Caribbean restaurant to cater the event. To give you some background, this is a small, but well-trafficked restaurant in a busy main-street of what is currently a trendy, up and coming neighborhood. They've been written up in all the local papers and websites, and even host a regular musical event twice a month.
While I can barely fathom how, Theo (the charming and cheerful owner) always recognizes me and comes over to check in on the latest happenings in the neighborhood. He spends as much time with me and my group when the place is bursting at the seams as on a quiet evening on a slow night. So I wasn't surprised that Theo decided to deliver the catered food to my house himself. I was surprised however, when he noticed that I was running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off, and promptly decided to take over manning the kitchen for me!
I was inordinately grateful just to have the owner of a popular local business deliver warm food! On time no less!
Instead Theo went to work putting together a gorgeous buffet spread that was presented so beautifully (with things he dug out from my cupboards that I didn't even remember I owned!) that I noticed my guests hesitated to eat it when the time came! He found some pans and warmed things that needed warming and even made sure that the various garnishes were presented just so.
Then when the first few guests started to trickle in, he snuck away and gave me a big hug on his way out the door!
Are you kidding me!?
Theo has owned multiple businesses and spent his early days learning customer service the Nordstrom way, so he knows customer service...but this time he really went off the deep end. Thankfully!
And the resulting goodness is hard to measure, but here is a quick run down of the things I saw come from this, (mainly for anyone who ever wonders if their good work ever goes unnoticed):
- The event was a book signing with Rosanne Olson, who apart from being well known in her own field (she was on the Today Show promoting her book last year), is very well connected locally and took Theo's business cards home with her that evening.
- Before Theo left I was able to introduce him to a number of other guests who all ended up gushing about his food and going home with his cards and plans to visit him soon.
- In chatting about his business while we prepared for the event, Theo told me about his plans to franchise, and I gave him a copy of my absolute favorite book on the subject, and offered to introduce him to a number of gurus in the field who I know will be great contacts for him.
- It's been two weeks and I still think of Theo daily (how many multi-million dollar marketing campaigns succeed at that?).
- I don't plan on catering with anyone else anytime in the near future (and I have about 5 large events I'm helping plan in the next couple months).
- I am extremely grateful for his help last month, and it's come up in MANY conversations (and I've given out at least 20 of his cards).
While it seemed like over the top customer service at the time, if you think about the results (customer loyalty, glowing references, word of mouth advertising...) and the fact that this all represented about an hour of Theo's time, it's really baffling why more of us aren't camping out in our customer's kitchens cooking them up something nice!
Posted on Mon, Oct 05, 2009
Today, Nathalie talks about pianos and people...
Doing research recently for piano purveyors, I found myself in a bit of a quandary.
I am a huge believer in the benefits of letting your personality shine (and I'm in good company). In fact I think that businesses that do well today are showing their human side and tapping into the idea that people buy from other people.
People! Not bots or telephone prompts. Real people, with personalities, quirks and little idiosyncrasies, that's what makes the process of interacting with a business, a true exchange between humans. While it's understandable that this becomes harder as growth happens, if the success of companies like Zappos teach us anything, it's that it is -in fact- possible.
So the decision to steer clear of the large piano franchise in the area (with the polished but largely uninspired website and a not-so friendly salesperson) and instead go with a local business (with a rudimentary but highly informative & charming website) was a very simple one. The website looked like something from 1997, but contained the entire life story of the owner as well as a lovely -if slightly verbose- chronicle of his passion for pianos. The owner's personality most certainly did shine through, and I was convinced this is where my business would land.
Fast forward to a few weeks later, and I am sad to report that I have compiled a litany of business basics that appear to have completely escaped my friend, the local piano guru. From returning my phone calls in a timely fashion, to reading emails or delivering when promised...the list is long, painful and unfortunate.
And here we come to my quandary...
- the big dogs without personality don't get my business
- the little mom and pops without business acumen don't keep my business
- will someone sell me a piano already!? sheesh!
Having existed as both a bootstrapped entrepreneur and a director in publicly traded industry leader, my take away is this:
The proverbial holy grail of success, in any venture, lies in the carefully choreographed dance between being good at what you do (expertise), while also being great at letting your personality shine and connecting with your audience through phenomenal customer service.
In my experience, few businesses do both of these things, and the ones that do, hold the cards for the future generation of businesses. And to the little ones who blame their size and limited resources for customer service failures, I would simply say...look over at the big dogs, blaming their size and scale for the distance and difficulty connecting to their audience.
Big, little, broad, or niche, no one has the edge here...let your personality shine. People -have always, and will continue- to buy from people!
Wish me luck on my search!
Posted on Wed, Sep 16, 2009
Here is another great blog from our Global Misfit, Nathalie Molina...
"Well done is better than well said." Benjamin Franklin
A trap all of us fall into, albeit with the best intentions, is to make grand plans about how we're going to solve problems and tell people "it'll all be taken care of in a few weeks time". I see this in business as much as outside of it.
I could write a small novel on this one. But really it would boil down to this: Don't promise. Just do.
Do whatever fabulous thing you're doing, improve, change, cook up a model that will save money, improve reporting, revolutionize quality. Do it. Then once it's done, show up and tell people (your customer, your boss?) about it. Your customers will love you for this (apply it to life, your friends and family will love it too).
Posted on Wed, Sep 09, 2009
Today Nathalie Molina talks about constraints...
The subject of constraints has popped up a lot lately: From my daily work meetings, and a business plan for an interesting non-profit idea that a friend is cooking up, to the twittersphere and beyond. While the concept of constraints being the seed of creativity is well known in the art world, I get the feeling that we've experienced too much abundance in the business world to really remember what it means to translate that idea into the arena of commerce. With budgets being cut, and losing some of my customer contacts to a recent round of layoffs, I'm increasingly reminded of my more Spartan college days. While I remember never really feeling like I was doing without, I am nonetheless baffled now to grasp how I survived on so little. I remember how I finagled my way into getting the owner of a car dealership to let me pay for half of my new Jeep by building them a web site (weren't the 90's fun?), or how I got a fabulous sushi chef to regularly feed me great Toro in exchange for six packs of mediocre beer, and how I always found a way to come up with cash for trips, adventures or whatever emergency shopping the next social event required. I remember having a lot of close calls, but in the end, somehow things always worked out.
My thought?
More and more of us are going to have to tap into those scrappy selves, and if you never experienced it, you'll likely have to learn. You'll have to learn what to do when your marketing budget is slashed (try getting a comp'd flight to Vegas and borrowing a buddy's conference pass to meet a client and catch the Al Gore talk! True story!), when 20% of your team gets cut or when that 401k contribution plan gets shut down. I wonder if the creativity to inspire and make things that are artful and inspiring, can also translate into creativity and scrappiness to make lemonade out of the little tiny lemons we're all being asked to squeeze these days? My sense is the answer is yes, and it'll be a beautiful thing to watch, as well all tap into that scrappy ‘make-due' mentality that once served us so well, and kept things so simple, back in the days before twitter and under-water mortgages.
Posted on Wed, Sep 02, 2009
Another great post by
Nathalie Molina...
I grew up with a piano. And, truth be told, I've lately been having a rather wild streak of what I've decided can only be called "good Juju." So here's what I figure...if I want the streak to continue, I should do what I can to keep the momentum going. Makes sense, right (humor my superstitions, please)? To that end, I decided that while it is completely unnecessary and possibly even impractical, I would listen to the little voice in my head that has recently been asking me "wouldn't it be wonderful to have a piano in your home again?"
Key take away: Emotions sell products.
As my team would attest, I am the epitome of an analytical, extremely fact-driven thinker. If you're trying to convince me to approve an investment, don't simply tell me that it's going to help us "win the hearts and minds of our customers" (an admittedly, very honorable endeavor), instead give me the measurable data that shows what will happen to the bottom line or the customer satisfaction ratings, present the risks in terms of a quantifiable margin of errors and by all means, show me the P&L!
And yet, I'm considering buying/renting a Piano during a recession because of a streak of good Juju!
That's right. Emotions sell.
Before you even have a chance to start pitching, somewhere in the mind of your customer is an emotion, just waiting for you to tap into and assuage. Do your research, understand the larger context, the deep history of the problem you're trying to solve. Moreover, if you're managing a strategic sales initiative of any scale, get to know the personalities, understand their priorities, their goals and ideally, what keeps them up at night.
You will be brilliantly surprised to find how much good business Juju is waiting for you if you hit the mark and understand the underlying "why" behind what your customers are telling you!
Posted on Tue, Aug 25, 2009
Today
Nathalie shares her thoughts on Life and Business...
At the risk of being a bit cliché for coming up with metaphors for life/business while on a motorcycle ride, I am hoping to share with you a thought I had recently while enjoying the long curvy roads here in the US Pacific Northwest.
Life and business are like riding a motorcycle: it's a balancing act, of often times seemingly contradictory elements.
- Direction: Before you suit up and head out, you pretty much have to know where you're going to end up (a destination).
- Focus: You have to be singularly focused on the road directly in front of you, around the corner doesn't matter if you don't swerve around the roadkill 5 feet beyond your front tire.
The Fine Print
Now, I would be dishonest if I said that you're completely ignoring what's around the corner when riding, of course you're not. But that's where the balancing act starts, that dance in your head between intensely focusing on the pavement in front of you, while also downshifting for that exit you happen to know is just around the next bend. Also direction is a fluid thing, it cannot be taken as something fixed or immovable. Both in business and in life (just as in riding) I'm a huge proponent of experiencing the journey, and I'm especially fond of heading out the door with one agenda, only to change it as you go. Business plans, likewise, have to be living, breathing entities (see my thoughts around adaptability). By design they have to be able to evolve, grow and remain useful as a tool to help anchor and remind you of your vision, your purpose. As a team member recently told me, 'anchors can be lifted and dropped someplace new, that's what they're made for!'
Posted on Fri, Aug 14, 2009
Here is a great blog by
Nathalie Molina...
I recently saw a truly inspiring show at the ACT Theatre in downtown Seattle, called the Breaks. Bamuthi was awe-inspiring. His work was a combination of movement, poetry, music, film, photography... and interaction with a very eager audience. Goodness all around.
This clip in particular (a funny piece about what Scorpio's are feeling now that their ruling planet has been deemed NOT a planet after all!) resonated with me because like Bamuthi's depiction of the Scorpio dilemma, we're all dealing with increasingly ephemeral business contexts.
- What do you do when all the old best practices don't work?
- Or when what delivered like clockwork before now fails with equal consistency?
- Or when what succeeded fabulously in the US fails you spectacularly abroad?
Paradigms are in shift, whether we welcome that with open arms or fight it with intensity.
I guess the main thought Bamuthi inspired in me was the understanding that there is beauty, creativity and yes, humanity in the fight. We are, after all, only human.
But once we're done mocking the changes, or even better, laughing at our own often comical resistance to change... there is inspiration in looking beyond our well-laid strategies and taking in the moment. The dynamic, ever-changing moment!
Businesses are, after all, human, and therefore beautifully adaptable.
Posted on Thu, Aug 06, 2009
Today Nathalie Molina is sharing her personal experience with linguistic agility. Read on...
Ok, so, what is language? As this is a deeply esoteric question, one that far more skilled folks can and have given us insight into (some pasted below for your consumption), I will skip the science. (you're welcome)
A few great talks on language:
Instead, I'll focus on my experience on the subject, and provide you with some thoughts about how to market to multilinguals.
MY EXPERIENCE
My first language was Spanish, a confluence of the Ecuadorian and Colombian flavors, which is in itself a bit of a challenge. Culturally there are substantive differences between these, and for a little girl the struggle to understand why the paternal grandmother should be addressed in the formal "usted" but the maternal in the more casual "tu," was an exercise in linguistic agility.
My second language was English, a language that will forever be associated with school, work and a sense of "otherness" that I have become fluent in, but remain distinctly apart from.
What this means practically, is that when I stub my toe or get cut-off by someone in traffic, the colorful words that come to me are most often, Spanish ones. The same is true for those moments in life when I am communicating sorrow, or discussing my fears or doubts. Spanish, for me, is the language of soulfulness and primitivity. It's the emotional language that I learned, in those early years of life when emotions were paramount, above all else. It's the linguistic fetal position that brings comfort and sanity when everything else fails.
For me, English is the language of my adult life, of structure and learning, the language of business. Ask me to tell you my assessment of the viability of a business plan or the results of my latest P&L analysis...in Spanish...and prepare to see a lot of hemming and hawing. My career has developed entirely outside my country of origin, and while I can quote you Neruda and tell you about the beautiful movie I experienced last week, entirely in fluent Spanish; my business vocabulary exists entirely in English. You could argue of course that this is purely about experience, a year working in Latin America would give me a crash course in the latest and greatest Spanish business-speak, right? While I know this to be true, the reality is, learning and experiencing are two vastly different things.
I can learn business-speak in Spanish, but my experience was built in English. My creativity and confidence in the domain of business was built on a foundation of English language ideas, on uniquely US-based values and logic.
Likewise, because I live in the US now, I can (and have) learned the language of emotions and relationships in English. But my first exposure to that world, my experience of all things emotional, came from a world where only Spanish was allowed.
WHERE LANGUAGE LIVES
So the languages we speak become worlds unto themselves; worlds with associations based on our experiences. I contend that whichever world those experiences developed first, in earnest, is where they will forever live and feel at home. What this means is that we can visit and be skillful in those other worlds (linguistic agility), just like I can and regularly do visit the world of emotions in English, but the natural and comfortable home for my emotions will always be in the world of Spanish.
What does this say about telling your story to multilinguals? What does it say about branding and marketing to hispanics in the US (or any other cultural group)?
In my view it fuels the argument of many analysts before me, who have already touted the importance of learning the specific nuances of every group you're trying to speak to. Puerto Ricans in New York are a different audience than Mexicans in Los Angeles or Cubans in Miami. Within those groups you can probably find even more distinct groups (by age, income, education), each with a story and unique experience.
Ok that's fair, and perhaps obvious, especially when you think about what a failure in this arena can cost. As recently as the 2005 presidential election in the US, control of the white house was the price paid by the party that failed to employ this strategy in their marketing efforts targeting hispanics.
LINGUISTIC AGILITY
The other dimension that is critical here is the one of linguistic agility, and being cognizant of what world people's various experiences live in. Are you targeting a population that is 3rd generation and barely conversant in the language of their ancestors? Or are you targeting folks who, like me, might have certain aspects of their lives (emotions, family, health) firmly rooted in their non-English language world, despite their English fluency?
This goes beyond just knowing your audience. This is about knowing what story you are trying to tell and which world that story belongs in. In Hispanic families, health is a family affair, and even if your target audience is a 2nd generation, fully fluent English speaker, if you want her to consider your alternative treatment for her newly diagnosed breast cancer, you'd be well served to tell her your story in both the language she's been educated in (English) and the language that she'll be talking to her family in (Spanish).
Bottom line, language is inextricably tied to culture and emotions. What emotions are most closely tied to your product or campaign? Are you speaking to your audience in the language of that emotion? Or are you asking your customers to communicate with you in a language that distances you from their world?