Impressed by impressionists

Many people enjoy fine pieces of art, but how many try to understand the success factors behind an artist's celebrity? What could you learn from Claude Monet – besides painting?

Long after their creator passed away, Monet’s Water lilies, Jardin in Giverny and Cathedral of Rouen attract millions of visitors to the world’s best museums every year. Extraordinary talent, you’ll say. Indeed, but there were dozens of other gifted and - less known artists. So what’s the secret of Monet’s striking success?

• Relationship management. Monet was targeting to become celebrated: to sustain his relationships with influential art patrons, sponsors and galleries he always painted enough copies for all of them.
• Discipline. He was extremely disciplined and productive. The one famous painting you find in a museum today was often painted more than 20 times before that final version; the work on Cathedral of Rouen stretched over 3 years. (Now, other museums are happy to exhibit the sketches.)
• Innovation. Looking for new and unique motives to paint, Monet actually created his own garden, in Giverny, where he worked for 43 years. The result: Nympheas and The Japanese Bridge you won’t find anywhere else. 

What applies to Monet works also for your life and your business. What makes you stand out? There are many talented people around, as there are great business ideas. Success and –ultimately – celebrity come from something else, see above.

P.S. And drop in at Monet’s garden in Giverny, Normandie, France, you’ll be impressed!  

This blog is from our Friday noon memo #45. Interested in regular updates? Sign up here.

© Copyright by New Pace Consulting SA, 2010. All rights reserved.

Are you mobile enough?

Do you know the commercial “because change happenz”? This insurance company refers to a singular, and often unpredictable change like an earthquake or an oil spill. But there are also incremental–yet powerful–global change processes that fundamentally revolutionize societies and businesses. Have a look at the telecom industry:

• Over the last decade, the number of mobile phone users has quadrupled.
• Today, 75% of mobile devices operate in developing countries – and only 25% in the “developed” world. Ten years ago, this proportion was exactly inverse.
• In many African countries, access to mobile phones means nearly as much as access to fresh water and food. The expenses for mobile communication in Africa are growing faster than those for water and energy.
• Global mobile teledensity is expected to surpass 100% within the next decade, and probably earlier. That means, in ten years every citizen on Earth will have access to mobile telecommunications.

Is this a revolutionary change? Yes. Is it as visible as the launch of the new iPhone model? Not really. Experts say the mobile revolution will impact our lives and businesses more than the computer ever did. The conclusion for your business: embrace the new technologies to stay ahead and thrive or become a prey. And now – time to download our latest podcast.

This blog is from our Friday noon memo #34. Interested in regular updates? Sign up here.

© Copyright by New Pace Consulting SA, 2010. All rights reserved.

New Pace provides value through multiple channels. It’s your choice:

• Twitter: Tips and tricks for thriving in business and life, updated several times a week .
• The New Pace Blog: Articles for higher performance of people and organizations, updated weekly.
• Newsletter: Each Friday noon you get fresh ideas and inspiration.
• Podcast: Compact high-value content in 5 min, “rather than the 1 hour talk that we get from our managers." (quote from one of our subscribers).
• Peer-reviewed articles on other platforms, such as BPTrends.com and ezinearticles.com.

You are Greek, too!

Are you already “Greek-sick” after all the headlines of the past weeks? We are, yet we could not resist to draw some lessons from this case. A state is like an organisation, it can be mismanaged, and face the same challenges: 

1. Reality is never what it seems to be. In different locations, cultures, or business units people have a completely different view on reality. What is imperative for some might be facultative for the others. And even numbers and "hard facts" are virtually never absolute, at least not for all of the stakeholders.
2. No high performance without discipline. However, to motivate people for discipline requires always a shared vision and a clear strategy. Do all states share the same vision of Europe? You know the answer. What about your company's vision and strategy? Are they clear to everyone?
3. Strategy execution – our favourite topic. What we saw in Greece and the EU is nothing else than poor strategy execution. The vision might be great, but turning it into daily action with all sorts of stakeholders is a different story. Well, there are methods around, and perhaps the EU leadership team should look into best practices from private organisations – it’s never too late to learn.

What do you think, should New Pace offer support to the EU leadership team to achieve better strategy execution? Comments welcome.

This blog is from our Friday noon memo #29. Interested in regular updates? Sign up here.

© Copyright by New Pace Consulting SA, 2010. All rights reserved.

Remember the Front Lines ...

We have been in the slit trenches for 61 days. The frontlines are in our district, gunfight lasted the whole night, bombs fall the whole week. […]  God knows what will happen to us. […] The days are warm, sunny and clear.

Serafima Voronina, a women living in Stalingrad during the terrible house-to-house fighting in fall 1942, left these words in her diary before being killed by bomb attacks. Months later, a soldier found her diary in the city’s ruins.

These days, we celebrate the 65^th anniversary of the end of World War II. Even if other headlines dominate the current global attention we should never forget the horror of those years that left millions of people dead, and hundreds of millions homeless and expelled.

New Pace is proud to support an innovative international project that combines photographs from the today’s city of Volgograd with the diary of that war victim…. The effect is emotionally moving. Learn more about this project.

Why are we engaged in such a project? Because we deeply believe that keeping the memory of the past helps build a better future. As consultants, we see it as our responsibility to look beyond the daily headlines.

This blog is from our Friday noon memo #28. Interested in regular updates? Sign up here.

© Copyright by New Pace Consulting SA, 2010. All rights reserved.