The power of Gut!

Very often within corporate corridors and in life, we dismiss the power of intuition, the power of gut oftentimes to our peril.

As a keynote business speaker, I argue that we should focus on developing this ability and that intuition is truly the entrepreneur's language.

On my many trips around the world, going with the flow and following my gut lead me to many powerful learning experiences.

"The movie “Notting Hill” had been enjoyable. Now, I needed to go to the toilet as a matter of urgency. One problem, the passenger on my right side was blocking my way and he was asleep. Not wanting to disturb his siesta time, I struggled with nature for another few minutes. Finally, I had no choice ... well actually I had but this was not a desirable option!

“Sorry” I gently shrieked.

“Can I get by you, I must go to the bathroom”. He politely moved aside. Nature had obviously called other people on the plane also, as a queue had developed. Never one to miss an opportunity I engaged the girl in front of me in conversation. She was going to work in Jerusalem for a few days. A taxi was waiting at the airport to collect her. My thoughts were to go to Tel Aviv, then travel to Jerusalem a.s.a.p. and station myself there. The more I spoke to her, the more obvious it became that a direct route to Jerusalem would be the most appropriate choice. This is what I chose to do, in the interesting company of the “Belfast girl”.

We arrived at her hotel in Jerusalem in the early hours of the morning. As there was no room at the Inn where she stayed I ended up, limited budget and all, staying at the American Colony Hotel, a well known landmark in Jerusalem. And why not, I was to learn that all the stars stayed there, Lauren Bacall, Alec Guinness and Peter Ustinov among others ... but they could afford it, and I wasn’t a star.

The next day I moved to my friends hotel, less than a third of the price, still too expensive! The staff were excellent, Bassam the Manager was articulate and informative. I explained my dilemma ... my objective was to interview people whose stories could teach and inspire others. The more angles to the story the better.Remember Bassam was the manager of a hotel, not the manager of the Jerusalem Post or any media outlet. Regardless I believe everyone can have an inside track!

“Would you like to interview one of the leaders of the Palestinian Prisoners who has just been released?” he asked me that afternoon.

“Yes”, I exclaimed, excitement oozing out of every atom in my body. The thought of interviewing a “terrorist” or “freedom fighter” pushed adrenaline through my cells.

This was a coup, wasn’t I happy that nature called at the appointed time ... or was it someone else? Yes, the magic of mission. The whole event reconfirmed in me the importance of trust. All I needed to do was turn up, trust and follow my intuition.

Can you remember the last time you were drawn to something that you hadn’t legislated for in your plans? As a keynote Business Speaker I advise you to look at honouring these promptings in the future and have no regrets. Intuition = pure connection.

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ASK your audience to gain a competitive edge

More and more companies are asking visitors to pitch them their ideas. For many this represents the ultimate dream! Many successful websites and online businesses have been built on the vibrancy of their audience providing content. Think eBay, YouTube, Wikipedia and the hundreds of thousands of blogs and forums on every topic under the sun! As a keynote Marketing speaker I am often asked the keys to generating ideas – certainly one of them is to ask the audience because it has been shown that People create profits.

Probably one of the great examples of this was cited in the book Wikiconomics.

Goldcorp, a US mining company posted all its proprietary information on the internet and invited the public’s interpretations (with cash incentives) of where the ore was located. The process brought the company from $100m in revenue to $9bn.

Transparency - trust not secrecy - is the way forward.

How can you ask?

Why not have your own RENTACROWD session to generate new ideas for your business? This involves inviting a small group from diverse backgrounds to brainstorm new ideas, potential improvements etc.

The rules of engagement are simple: every idea and opinion is noted and honoured regardless of how ridiculous it may seem.

This allows free flow and potential association.

Based on my own experience, I have found that the most creative ideas came from some weird and wonderful suggestions from my advisors.

Remember creativity happens where different ideas meet.

The Apple Genius Bar came from Steve Jobs’ question ‘how do we create a store that has the friendliness of a Four Seasons hotel?’ The Four Seasons had been identified by a focus group as a place where you get the best service. The answer was ‘put a bar in our shops, but not an alcohol bar - an advice bar!’

Business Week wrote this idea off before it even began and said ‘Sorry Steve, Here’s why Apple stores wont work’ but Jobs persisted with his vision of “a buying experience as good as our products,’ and in 2006 Apple had the highest annual sales per square foot ($4032) with Tiffany’s trailing behind at $2,666

At a basic level, every company should host an internal forum/blog where employees can share and co-create new ideas for the business.

If your search is for new product ideas, why not incentivise it by giving employees a share of the revenue if their idea is implemented?

Any modern thinking keynote marketing speaker will extol the virtues of thinking outside the book and coming up with creative ways of finding that killer idea – that killer incremental improvement that may give you the competitive edge within the marketplace.

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