I write my blog because I continue to learn from; books, business leaders, attending conferences – and each of these lessons or insights I need to store somewhere so I don’t forget them. I use my blog as a repository to catalogue what I am learning. In addition I may well have formed an opinion about what I have read, seen or experienced and as such I write about that.

2227 days ago when I wrote my first post I didn’t know if anyone would read it… but I wrote it for myself. As time progressed I realized that in writing and sharing my experiences others could learn from them… it could become a source of education and insights for others.

Kim from Nest Interior Styling - A big congratulations

I received the email [below] and it made my day. We never know the impact that we may have on another – I don’t know how my words inspire or enrage readers, but when people let me know what they thought – it is all the thanks I need to keep doing what I do. A small ‘thank-you’ can go a long way.

“Hi Naomi

I started following your blog after your appearance on Secret Millionaire.  You posted something that struck a chord with me – ‘if it’s meant to be its up to me’.

At the time I was feeling unclear about my vision for where I wanted to take my business – I am a work at home mum & was feeling a little unsure as to my own confidence & abilities in ‘getting myself back out there’ but didn’t know how to get started.

I wrote this to you & you took the time from your schedule to respond, which in my own world was truly appreciated & meaningful.

I have since literally taken your words ‘if its meant to be it is up to me’ & created massive action along with it & have just had the most incredible year unleashing my creativity, learning more about myself & capabilities than I knew I had in me, both on a creative & personal level.

Learning the ‘balance’ of work & home will continue to be ongoing but I do feel really proud of what I have created & excited about where it is all heading in the future.

I have my own blog http://www.nestinteriorstyling.blogspot.com & have been selling my clay tags ‘mud by nest’ online & at local markets – & I am just loving it!

Back in June your blog ‘Humbled again touched me – I am sure you get asked many questions & for lots of advice as a respected mentor to others.

I just wanted to let you know, that sometimes mentoring, like you say does not necessarily mean a long term relationship & it is not just mentoring those at corporate professional levels that can draw inspiration from you.  I am a Work-at-Home-Mum and to me you took the time to acknowledge me & responded personally with some words that got me thinking clearer about the direction I needed to take, & as they say the rest is history!  Your mentoring job for me was done, short & sweet, & for that I genuinely Thank-You.

Have a Magical 2012 Naomi & may all your New Year Wishes come true!

Kindest Regards
Kim”

How wonderful! And this is why I share my journey and what I learn.

My blog is all generated from me… word by word, there is no product placement here. (So please PR agencies stop sending me press releases – I’m not going to write about stuff I don’t have an opinion on or things I don’t know.)

Kim – a big thank you to you for sharing your story and congratulations on creating your business… and I look forward to hearing from others – anyone want to share?

Volunteering Experience - at one of the few Elephant sanctuary's in Thailand

I am just back from holiday where the kids and I went to Northern Thailand to volunteer at an elephant conservation camp. This is one of the few places in Thailand where elephants are safe and able to live an elephant’s life.

Clearly we are a family of ‘experiences’ and I wanted us to experience the challenges and joys of participating in a volunteering program as well as getting an understanding of how an individual can make a difference to a community.

In the process I learned a lot about volunteering, cruelty, passion and culture; and making a difference in a community – much of which is relevant far beyond the elephant park. Back to my elephant story.

When people travel to Thailand – most delight when they see a real life elephant. However, what most tourists don’t know is the brutality that all off these ‘tamed’ animals have experienced in their lives.

Most ‘Western’ travelers would be aghast at the pain inflicted on these animals… and if they knew they would simply not go on the trek or watch the elephants ‘perform’ in a show. Asking an elephant to paint –is not a natural thing…it is only achieved after years of brutality.

In less than 100 years the Asian elephants numbers have been reduced by as much as 100,000. When the Thai government banned logging of the rain forests the mid 80s – many of the working elephants lost their jobs – if elephants are not earning an income their owners cannot keep them.

It is reported that there may be as few as 3500 elephants left in Thailand – and most of these are in captivity – if they were to be returned to the wild there is simply not enough forest to support this population (Each elephant eats more than 100kg of food each day. Many elephants are completely malnourished because they are not fed properly in captivity.)

So many of the elephants are forced to perform for tourists to earn their keep…. unbeknownst to the traveler each of these elephants (during their juvenile lives) have had to endure days in a ‘crush’ – being tormented and mutilated by hooks until they are ‘broken’.

The videos we saw of elephants being ‘tamed’ where horrific – but there is no easy answer as Lek the founder of Elephant Nature Park has found. Whilst she provides refuge for 36 abused elephants and runs a successful volunteering program. (The kids and I delighted in feeding, washing and hanging out with these massive beasts)…. her program is a drop in the ocean. And to save an elephant is a very expensive exercise. Yet many Thai’s do not believe in the work Lek is doing…. with positive training and returning elephants to a herd. Elephants represent a livelihood for many Thai families – yet the daily cruelty is gut wrenching.

I wondered out loud “How can they allow this cruelty happen to the elephant which is considered a Thai national symbol?”My son responded “but look at what we do to the kangaroo Mum how is that different?”. Good point.

So I asked Lek – “what can we do?” – She said “to ban elephant ownership is not the answer. What we need are people to contact the travel writers, publishers and bloggers to let them know that the monkey, tiger, or elephant shows and activities in most countries are all facilitated through abuse toward animals… Urge them to give people the information so they can choose if they want to be a part of that.

She continued – “Lobby government, write letters, and agitate to change the law around animal cruelty. Elephants can still work and lead fulfilling lives, and they can be trained using positive reinforcement rather than cruelty. We have proven that over and over here. We can work (and play) side by side with an elephant without using force. It just takes longer, and costs a little more.”

This is a complex issue in a far away land. And I only had a small insight in the few days that I was there. But there is cruelty everyday here in Australia too and that is something we can do something about. (I guess that is why I am passionate about the role I play at Voiceless – even in a small capacity).

Activism alone will not change the world – it takes agitation, vision, leadership and passion. And laws do need to change, and society to see a different way forward.

And one person at a time we can make a difference – and make a fellow creature’s life a little more bearable. None of these issues are simple… but just because it has always been like that (I heard that elephants were being ‘broken’ more than 6500 years ago) does not mean that it is right – or that we can’t make a difference.

We can.

How are you going to make the world a better place this year? To provide support in your community – where your energy can make a difference. Let me know.

RedBallooners say Thank You by "Paying in Forward"

Friends have commented “RedBalloon is everywhere this Christmas” – and I have answered by saying “we need to be”. It is important for us to remind people of the power of a great gift – how giving the gift of an experience creates the opportunity of sharing great memories with that person. It is up to us to change gifting in Australia forever.

At this time I also reflect how fortunate I am, how lucky we are at RedBalloon – and to remember that we did not do it alone. So as I think how can I show my appreciation to all those who have helped me – perhaps I could ‘pay it forward’…

I am often contacted by entrepeneurs, business owners and professionals seeking a mentor. And I have tended to take an adhoc approach to these requests. The writing of this blog and the book some years ago – together with my speaking, there are plenty of ways that I share what I have learned. Sometimes people have a burning question – something that they just need a sounding board for…mentoring does not have to be a long term relationship.

So I was thinking what could I do to provide a more formal ‘Mentoring’ program. That would be fun, inspiring, educational and life changing. So I came up with the idea of hosting a mentoring weekend.

On 27 April 2012 at one of the RedBalloon Getaway locations a weekend for eight people (and their partners )who have burning questions. We could have round tables, one on one time – themed dinners. (I imagine there will be pre reading – so we are all on the same page)…

Any way if you think it is a good idea, or you would be interested and want to know details – send me an email via this blog by 16 Jan (I am wanting to ascertain if this is something that would be of interest)… also in your email you might want to mention why you would want to attend such an event.

So as we say ‘Good Bye’ to 2011 – Let’s think about all those people we need to thank for assisting us on the journey – and begin to create what 2012 will be.

George Clooney meets Martha Stewart in Sydney

Last week is still a blur – I remember at one point chatting to George Clooney he asked “Has Martha Stewart had arrived at the event yet? I have not met her before.” I answered “Yes she is over to the left – would you like me to introduce you…?” Too funny – as it transpired photographers ensued and he met her during the photo shoot. [Naomi always the networker.]

I enjoyed a great team-cooking event in Melbourne (searching for new experiences is part of my job description) I also attended the premier of the new Mission Impossible movie – which my kids thought was ‘pretty good.’ And that is saying something.

This week

Monday: One on Ones – and taking Dexter to the Small Animal Hospital … he has had a limp for about three months – so the surgeon is taking a closer look
Tuesday: Visiting our production partner – to say thanks for all the amazing work they have done this year as elves, later in the day I’ll be catch up with the past winners of the NSW Telstra Business Women’s awards
Wednesday is a RedBalloon board meeting, and RB leadership catch up and later a reunion of university buddies
Thursday is the Best Buddies Australia board meeting
Friday: Christmas eve eve celebrations at RedBalloon – my favorite time of year.

L to R - Michael Fertik, Jeff Taylor, Russell Simmons, Karen Beattie, Martha Stewart, Muhammad Yunnis, George Clooney

On Monday I had the fortune of participating in the Growth Faculties Leadership Summit. Six leaders, with different styles and methods took to the stage to share what they had learned about leadership.

Martha Stewart at 70, gave an energetic and passionate insight into her life and the creation of her personal brand. She did speak of how her role now is about rebuilding the business after the decline following her incarceration. Though she believes that her brand remains what it was. (I understand that in the US not all would agree with her).

Her story is engaging and fascinating and there was much to learn.

Martha said:
“Without an open mind you can’t be a great success”
“I’m fundamentally curious”
“If you write a book you become an ‘expert’”
“Never ever talk down to the customer & we need to be where our customers need and want us to be”
“Everyone needs to believe in what they are doing.”

She started her career as a model, then moved into stock broking, before starting her catering business. There is no doubt that this is a woman who has been completely driven since her childhood and at 70 she is equally driven. The question I was left with is “Does she define her success in dollars – or in the contribution to others, I was unclear on this.”

Muhammad Yunnis

How different the next speaker was… Muhammad Yunis, Nobel peace prize winner (who I had seen in September). He shared with the group the notion of Social Business – a new business model. Businesses that are created solely to solve a problem. Not to provide dividends – but also not a charity or not for profit.

Muhammad said:
“I asked myself the question can I make myself useful for other human beings?”
“I try to solve problems by creating a social business”
“It is easy to undermine the value of others if you are disconnected.”
“Crisis is in the conceptual construct in the theory of economics.”
“Most business is based on selfishness – and this is not sustainable as we are now seeing with the economic crisis’s.”
“Charity dollars only have one life as it goes out, it does not come back – social business dollars go around to be self funding.”
“Human creativity is endless but often we cannot see.”
“You can change the world if you can solve the tiny problems that then get replicated.”

Then we had the father of hip hop speak, Russell Simmons, who discovered the music and poetry of the streets back in 1972 – and it took him years to bring that culture to light, in music, film, clothes and TV. He too has influenced culture – it has been altered forever. Here is a man that is consumed by his passion for art, expression and poetry. He believes that you cannot create greatness with a commercial outcome in mind. Commercial outcome will come when greatness is created.

Russell said:
“Some people say keep your eye on the prize – but I don’t agree. If you keep looking at the prize you are likely to bump into things along the way.”
“Most industries are blind to new things coming.”
“I aspire to a post racial America – we are a long way from that – and Hollywood is really blind, it is not inclusive.”
“I believe that people will see what is cool in each other – this is aspirational.”
“My passion gave me a different life, I found a way to express myself – most of those I grew up with are either dead or in jail – every person needs to find their purpose.”
“If you want a long career then you need to make sure that your life’s work is the expression of what you really are – not what you think people think they want you to be.”
“No matter how rich you are you can only sit at one seat at a time.”
“Wealth comes from making your work meaningful – it is a state of consciousness.”
“Business often starts from a pure vision of creative expression this often gets lost. Come back to it.”
“I believe in economic justice in the US – a bigger conversation must take place about equality.”

George Clooney

Then we had actor George Clooney speak about his work in Sudan.

[It is interesting to note that for this session the organizers had sold seats just for this speaker – so the numbers in the audience swelled to double – so we have a nobel peace prize winner with a lifetime of changing the world – but who people want to see and hear from is the celebrity. This paradox was not lost on George Clooney.]

George said:
“I now have the ability to use my celebrity to shine the light on areas that only have darkness – I can bring these issues to the world.”
“When people try to discredit your intentions – simply know more than they do about the issue.”
“You have to be involved – see it, feel it, be there, understand, know the facts, the people.”
“It is easier to be in advocacy than politics – you don’t have to compromise and you can stay truly focused on the issue.”
“Success I understand to be just for a mere moment in time. – That moment I need to use to turn it into something worthwhile.”
“I don’t take myself seriously – but I do take my work seriously.”
“The role of the leader is to say ‘Put down your pencils and hand in your work.’ – to know when to bring the plan together.”
“Leaders need a clear voice that says ‘This is what we are going to do.’ As well as robust diplomacy, individual belief and an understanding of the power of shared voice.’”=

Jeff Taylor founder of monster.com took to the stage to admit that Australia was the only place where he had failed in creating his job board business. However he did succeed in 50 countries with 6000 employees. Jeff gave his view on why each person needs to be his or her own CEO. That is ‘you are the CEO of your own life’ and he shared his ‘FAME’ concept.

Jeff said:
“F:  Create a workplace where people can be a Free agent”
“A: Train like an Athlete, ready to play the game of your life.”
“M: Prepare like a Marketer, know your key message.
“E: Engage like an entrepreneur.”

The final speaker for the day was Michael Fertik speaking on reputation. As a marketer of course I have understood always that as individuals and as a business the only thing we really have is our reputation. Michael shared with us how volatile social media has made reputation – and that we have no control.

72% of employers apparently look at social media as part of their recruitment strategy – and 49% have changed their intentions of employing an individual based on what they learned.

Face recognition software will mean that we have no privacy and that anywhere anytime our image can be ‘tainted’. This is true for companies and individuals – and bad stories whether true or not hang around online forever.

What a special day… A day of learning, being in the presence of greatness, inspiration and debate. I was most fortunate to attend a dinner with 60 others at the Shangri La with the speakers. This is where I had the chance to ask the questions that I had wanted to during the day.

Well-done Growth Faculty for putting together such an event…

End of year celebration for Kochie's Business Builders team

Last week at RedBalloon we were full of the joys of Christmas. The IT team hosted our final company meeting of the year and were massively creative with their festive theme ; including beaming in their colleague Dave from Perth to have him appear in a cut out Santa via Facetime – (I guess you had to be there).

As part of the planning process and moving my role to be Founding Director I needed to update my job description in line with our new format. This is the job description I came up with:

• Vision, values, alignment
• Strategy development and direction
• Spokesperson & Brand ambassador
• Mentor & coach, role model and sounding board (for RedBallooners throughout the business) – accessible daily
• Accountable for the brand experience – customer, employee and stakeholders  – accessible daily

I was sad to miss the launch of the book True Leadership by Lisa Rubenstein... the week got a way from me.

Though I did attend the Dell Women’s Entrepreneurship evening on Tuesday as well as attend the wonderful drinks function at the home of the founder of Anywhere Travel in Vaucluse (very special to be in someone’s home for a business event).

Thursday I delighted in sharing lunch at Fratelli Fresh in Bridge Street with many of the regulars of Kochies Business Builders TV program. I really enjoyed the vivid debate on many topics from retailers to interest rates.

And in between all that I was with customers both in email and on phones supporting our customer experience effort at this busy time. (So excited that we added close to 25,000 to our BHAG last week alone… YAY!)

This week

Monday: Lunch with Matha Stewart and Dinner with George Clooney… not quite – but we will see how the day pans out at the Growth Faculty Leadership conference.
Tuesday: Briefings for upcoming speaking engagements
Wednesday: Premier for the Mission Impossible in Melbourne
Thursday: Business Round Table in Melbourned
Friday: Writing, (or Customer experience emails)

Customers look different now

This week we have seen the demise of Fletcher Jones and the opening of Top Shop. My 15 year old daughter texted me, saying ‘I’m even more excited than when Zara opened – it is British and I love it – when can we go?”

Many Australian retailers are left thinking “what happened – where did our customers go?”. We are in the peak of Christmas season and there is not one retailer in Australia who is not holding their breath and ‘hoping’.  As we know however ‘hope’ is not a strategy.

From the online world I can see so clearly what is likely to happen over the next few years. But I don’t have a massive infrastructure or team – I don’t have to move a mammoth organisation into the position of competing against global players.

Think of the traditional retail customer experience: we battle the traffic, search for a parking spot, deal with lousy weather – and then try to find someone to serve us– when we finally do find someone to assist we discover that the retailer does not have the color, quantity or size you need. No wonder people are choosing online… it is soooo easy.

I’d hate to be in the business of having to have all the right stock in all the right places at all the right times – being served by all the right people… how hard is that?

What can retail businesses learn from the entertainment business?

What if retail outlets became show rooms – where as a buyer once your color and style are determined you have your item delivered at no extra cost direct to you the very next day. Not schlepping your purchases from store to store – wasting hours, with hurting feet – that would be an experience.

Retail in Australia is about to make a massive shift and not all will make it. I hate to say it – but it is all about the experience. In speaking to the MD of  Chanel Australia he says that their concept stores go from strength to strength – people love being immersed in the brand – and you just simply cannot achieve the same experience in a department store.

Fletcher Jones did not grow with it customers. I have just come from a business lunch in the city – half the attendees were wearing jeans….

Please retailers – wake up  – listen to your customers and give them something worth fighting for. I understand that the reason why Top Shop is opening stores here – is because they have been shipping so much product here via their website they realised what a fantastic market it is.

Bring innovation back to retail… for instance young Eliza Roberts (11) has started her first business  – in the northern beaches of Sydney she has started a Pet Birthday cake business… in the first month she sold 30 cakes. She knows her market, she provides fab service – and people are very much getting the ‘entertainment value’ of being able to talk about the experience of their purchase.

Retailers it is time you gave your customers a ‘good time.’

Hair raising experience this one.

Okay so it is half way through the week and I’m just getting to my blog. It is Christmas after all and I think I am still recovering from last week.

My week did not go exactly as planned – but it did go to other peoples plan. My colleague had put a ‘speaking engagement at the airport’ in my diary. This was in fact a complete ‘set up’ – the team was playing a trick on me – they got me to the airport and RedBalloon extreme category manager Jay Bardon announces “Surprise we are taking you in a brand new Helicopter on one of our brand new experiences” – Exclusive to RedBalloon Night flight over Sydney (it was not actually night but that is a detail).

So within minutes of leaving the office thinking I will be presenting to a group of aviators – I’m taking the helicopter view of Sydney feeling very loved and very lucky that I have such an amazing team who don’t mind playing a few tricks on me…

In addition to doing my first ever gig as an MC for Voiceless, I was on the stage at the Ultimate Job event talking about the importance or purpose, as well as cheering on the Best Buddy pair of the year at Best Buddies day… Last week I touched or worked with six not for profit organizations in various capacities.

Christmas is in full flight at RedBalloon and as a result any spare moment I had I got in touch with many many customers as part of our ‘All hands on deck” approach to the customer experience. I found it quicker to pick up the phone and respond to a customer query in person. I got some pretty funny reactions when people said ‘is that really you?’ or classic ‘I wouldn’t have been so stroppy in my email if I thought you were really going to answer it.’

I continue to love being on the phone to customers. As did our marketing, IT, corporate and PR people – we enjoyed sharing the experience of being with our customer experience

'Retro' BBQ barefoot bowls bash

execs helping out with our Christmas, which meant by the time we got to the Friday afternoon ‘barefoot and bowls RedBalloon Christmas bash’ – we had plenty of stories to share and delight about. The team had chosen ‘retro’ as the theme.. which somehow transformed into an ‘80s’ theme. Why is it that I thought ‘retro’ was ‘60s’?

This week (in Sydney every day – amazing)

Monday: one on ones and Christmas at RedBalloon
Tuesday: PR Review and Company meeting
Wednesday: Book Launch ‘True Leadership’
Thursday: Lunch with David Koch
Friday: It’s all about the customer experience

Kofman’s basic premise is two fold: Firstly that great leader’s take responsibility for their actions, as well as how they choose to react to any situation that presents itself.

Secondly, a clear sense of purpose is critical to successful leadership. A leader cannot buy commitment (as I have said on many times– “no amount of money will keep people happy long term if you don’t capture their hearts and minds.”, and “discretionary effort something people choose to give, it is not something you can ask for”)– which means that it is up to the leader to inspire people to ‘the noble cause.’

“If a leader demonstrates that his purpose is noble, that the work will enable people to connect with something large – more permanent than their material existence – people will give the best of themselves to the enterprise” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Clearly the actions we take as a leader speak very loudly to those around us.

My father told me as a child “Do as a say not as I do.” Which he said tongue-in-cheek, but I always a bit confused by this – my mother would say “people will judge you by the jobs you don’t like doing – not the ones you do”… As great people said:

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” Emerson

“We must be the change we want to see in the world.” Gandhi

Simply ‘Actions speak louder than words’ which both my parents drilled into me.

As leaders what we ‘do’ moment by moment creates the culture around us. I cannot expect people to arrive on time for a meeting if I do not do so myself. I must pitch in a lead by example if we are in need of extra support in answering customer emails. Quite simply our actions set the tone – and the values.

“As the leadership team goes so goes the rest of the organization”. So the question remains do you operate from a clear sense of purpose and do you take responsibility?

Too often people blame the circumstance or someone else – because somehow we find it difficult to fess up to ‘I stuffed up’.  For example, the traffic did not make me late – I didn’t leave early enough. So often we find excuses to justify our own behavior.

How would it be different if you said to yourself –  ‘Anything that effects me is my problem and I am part of the problem’

• Consider: “You are the pilot to your own life.”
• Consider: “What is your businesses noble purpose?”

How would you explain to your child your company’s purpose in a way that makes you proud? (and maybe this applies to parenting too)

Looking forward to a RedBallooner Christmas

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas…. Oh it is ‘the season’ and I do love it, such a time of celebration. It seems as if the last week rushed by, with interviews and a speaking engagement – and lot’s of meetings and writing – but really my focus now is all about being part of the best Christmas ever at RedBalloon.

I had a wonderful week in Melbourne being very productive and enjoying the city. Melbourne is such an important market for us at RedBalloon and I am always happy to be the nominated RedBallooner to support our customers and suppliers in such a fabulous city.

Coming up this week:

Monday: One on One meetings, hang out with the corporate team and meet the CEO of Good Beginnings
Tuesday: Best Buddy pair of the year review and supporting the RedBalloon Customer Experience team
Wednesday: Keynote at the Aviation Club and MC for the Voiceless Awards event
Thursday: Brisbane for meetings
Friday: RedBallooner Christmas party