Some things I've picked up.

Leading on from the mentor article I’ve thought about where all the knowledge comes from and why it is passed on. People acquire it via experiences, collecting relevant information to their business needs, books, events, training, teaching and then decide who and how they will disseminate their knowledge. Sometimes it’s just in small nuggets of information or opinions or thoughts they think relevant to the receiver. “Come Grasshopper, grab the marble” comes to mind for those of us who remember the 70s.

So here goes –

* Get the right people in the room and great things can happen.

* You can’t continue to motivate people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. Passion is the best motivator.

* Too much choice can paralyse.

* Avoid regret, if only. People don’t act because they fear they will regret their actions. At the end, people only regret things they didn’t do.

* Relationships are simple. Not easy.

* You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Wayne Gretsky.

* There will be more clutter in our lives, due to the net, not less.

* People don’t buy a watch to tell the time.

* You could do Richards Branson’s job most of the time, just not the 10 minutes a day where he creates.

* Choose your employees, choose your future. If you replace just 15% of your employees a year, in 6 years you’ve replaced the entire company.

* Don’t overlook self interest. It’s always about them.

* Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.

* Middlemen rule. Most successful sites are middlemen. YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Google, LinkeIn.

* Listening is the ultimate core competence.

* A year from now you may wish you had started today.

* You have only one source of excellence, you.

* Frozen pizza was invented by Ron Smrek of the Tombstone Tap bar 40 years ago. It was eventually bought by Kraft and recently sold to Nestle, still under the name Tombstone Pizza. Yeah yeah, I can hear you now, why do you keep this information in your head?

Pass it on.

Attention span.

New research has found that at least half of the working population can’t keep their mind on the job. 12 months of research by Mind Gardener has found that more than 50% of workers in professions ranging from teaching to professional services, confessed to being distracted after 15 minutes of starting a task. Over 10 years they have found that being busy and multi tasking has led to a general erosion of production across all fields. I’m challenged to put in some jokes about blokes only capable of doing one task at a time and this research being aimed at women but that would be childish and lord knows us blokes could never be accused being childish.

I’ll stay away from the gender insensitivity and put my hand up and admit this happens because it’s hard to turn off nowadays with a constant barrage of information and tasks thrown at us as part of “the job”. Adding a 24/7 timetable instigated by technology intrusion such as smart phones and constant connection, adds weight to the idea that maybe we were better at our jobs before we were so rudely interrupted by everything. The research showed that it can take 50% longer to do tasks now because we are doing so many things at the same time. 65% indicated that their minds were too busy leading to a potential 35% productivity loss. Hanging round really busy people was also considered a cause to you speeding up and picking up a few more things to do.

Okay, this calls for drastic action on both sides, employees and employers, to get things done in an orderly fashion. The boss needs to know that you can only do one thing at a time and he will have to give you a running list of tasks to accomplish by 5.30pm. They will have to be prioritised so that completion of multiple tasks can be an orderly affair without giving your brain too many tangents to consider. You will dutifully complete the said tasks and clock off at 5.30pm with a clear mind to go home and watch one TV show at a time, all the way through without channel surfing, while making dinner, discussing the day’s events with your partner and occasionally playing with your children.

I think I just time warped back to a 1950s Ford factory, production line worker. Today, unless you are seen to be doing 1000s of things at once, the perception is, you may not be a high performer. That’s a tough ideal to live up to if you want to live a long life.

The brain is capable of processing 10,000 internal conversations on a daily basis, so the key to keeping up productivity is being aware of what drives your behavior and your busy brain and perhaps getting rid of some of the daily detritus that distracts you from doing your job more efficiently. A start might be to listen to all the data about having some breaks during the day (no not the smoke downstairs) and giving your brain a break before starting something new. What about leaving the Master Chef and Dancing with the Stars gossip for lunch and concentrating on the job at hand? That sounds a little dictatorial but it’s that kind of detritus that clogs up a beautiful mind capable of so much more.

It’s hard to find that balance of productivity, creativity and time to be ourselves that we all crave, so where does the answer lie? Perhaps we could start by not answering the question of how are you, with “busy” and then not looking at our phones every 5 minutes to check messages and emails, flicking to Facebook or Twitter to check on what our friends are doing this very second and generally paying attention to what is in front of you, whether that be a task or a friend.

It’s just a thought.

A few years back a colleague recounted how he thought he was going deaf because he couldn’t hear his girlfriend when they were out at restaurants and clubs, so he went to a hearing specialist fearing the worst. The diagnosis came back all okay and when he asked the specialist what he thought, the doctor came back with a telling response, “Try to pay more attention when your girlfriend talks to you and you won’t be distracted by everything else going on around you.”

A lesson in that for all of us, in our “busy” lives.

P.S. 77% of the research population was female, so maybe they already knew us blokes couldn’t do more than one task at a time.

Not just role models but mentors.

What makes a memorable mentor? To find a mentor in your field of business is often a process via recognised bodies with accreditations to help you find your level of d mentorship. They generally have a specific field of expertise that you try and match to your goals while trying to build a relationship that will make the transfer of knowledge a smooth process. If you are lucky enough to be in an industry that recognises the need for mentorship, TIME (http://bit.ly/bYVq8P) comes to mind for the Travel Industry, then you are one of the lucky ones. It is often a difficult process to find the right people, who can take you to the next level.

So often, people don’t recognise those who have influenced and mentored them through periods of their life but these people are just as important, if not more so, than someone you specifically choose. I hear colleagues talk about past mentors without giving them that particular moniker. They talk about role models and influencers but mentors are much closer to the mark. Think about those people and ask yourself whether you have given them the due recognition deserved, for helping to guide and shape you in becoming who you are today.

Good mentoring can start as early as school when some teachers go beyond teaching and recognise potential to be nurtured. You pick up traits and behaviours from the best teachers and if I think back to my high school English teacher, Terry Cliff, it becomes apparent that over the 5 years we were together in the classroom, he raised my awareness in my potential and gave me the opportunity to grow outside of the strict educational guidelines.

My first business partner, Garry Muirhead, imparted the wisdom of relationships and connections to be fostered and appreciated from a business view. You sometimes get lucky and find yourself in a situation where people are ready to mentor you and this was the case with Garry, as he and I looked to expand our presence within the local travel industry. You need to be open and receptive to change so people are willing to spend the time on you.

It’s often the non formal mentors who have the greatest effect on you if you think back over your working life. One of my oldest friends, Pat Farber, who works in the US legal system is a constant benchmark for professionalism wrapped in an easy going and giving demeanor. Like formal mentors he is always there for me no matter what the situation requires and ever ready to pass on wisdom gained in areas I would never have access to.

If you think hard, there are many who have influence and mentor you on a daily basis but you don’t always see it as a formal process. I know for me, people like Janette Davie and Leith Mills among others in my industry, are a guiding light and perfect sounding boards for ideas and circumstances where wisdom, knowledge and relationships come into play.

If you are lucky enough to be in a formal mentoring program ( TIME comes to mind again ) you will reap the benefits but if not, consider those who have taken you further and raised you higher. Give them the appreciation they deserve and consider situations where you can reciprocate and pass on your wisdom and knowledge to others.

There is nothing finer, pass it on.

Credibility

Who do you believe nowadays? Your boss, your Doctor, your Financial Advisor, the Net, your Travel Agent?

You are about to spend $20,000, saved over some hard years on a holiday of a lifetime, maybe even to the World Cup. That’s a large amount of money that you probably wouldn’t lend to a friend or even give to your financial advisor, regardless of how good the market looks. Yet you are ready to hand it over to a small business owner in your local high street.

Why?

Is it the years of service delivery above and beyond your expectations, starting with the $399.00 Gold Coast special to end up at the $20,000 World Cup holiday of a lifetime? Is it the trust engendered by the small business owner because without your business they would cease to exist? All of the above plus many more reasons that live within the core of credibility built up over many years of a relationship that sometimes makes it feel like the travel agent is part of your family.

In business there is no instant credibility, even with major brands, you constantly need to prove again and again you are someone to trust with the hard earned dollars. Even though your product may always work according to the promise, it doesn’t preclude iconic brands like Apple being one bad innovation or BP one oil well catastrophy away from losing a large slice of its market share? For the small business owner it is a constant fight to stand out from the rest and once they have that bond with their clients, they need to do everything possible to hold onto it.

A recent example comes to mind of an agent let down by an overseas supplier of World Cup inventory, one week out from the start of the games. With over $150,000 worth of airfares, accommodation and game tickets to be replaced before clients became aware of the issue, the skill and dexterity shown by people who value their relationship with their clients above all else was uncommon. The stress the agent put themselves under would make most companies buckle but with credibility and reputation on the line and a promise fulfilled over years of exceeding service levels, mountains were moved to regain the lost content.

People make compromises daily on all sorts of business and life decisions but the one they need to hold the fort on, has to be credibility, for without it, why bother, why are you here and why would anyone want to deal with you?

The clients going to the World Cup will never know how much work and worry went into reinstating their dream holiday because for them it’s all about the promise of delivery and behind that sits unwavering credibility. Their credibility remains intact by virtue of understanding the value of their clients over everything else.


“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Warren Buffett.

3 is my favourite number.

Choice has never been greater in today’s society. To walk the aisles of your supermarket, to browse the net for the best buy, to picking your style of coffee or even finding your new favourite TV show, choice has exploded onto our society, to reign confusion over all. Time spent looking, finding, analyzing, trying to choose and eventually giving up under a tidal wave of confusion has led to decision paralysis.

It is difficult enough to keep up with the speed of change without adding multiple choices for everything we use and do on a daily basis. It’s fine to make fun of the fact that 100 TV channels give us no more quality than 20 years ago but decision paralysis in other areas can make life difficult. How many cereals do we need, how to choose from 30 cars in our budget, standing in front of 50 LCD TVs on sale and figuring out which school to send your child to, all lead to choice overload.

So much so that people pull back on making any decisions at all and then have the marketing departments take the cue that there are obviously not enough choices, otherwise why didn’t the consumer buy something? The cycle of overload continues to grow bigger.

Barry Schwartz in “The Paradox of Choice” gives a simple example of what can be accomplished with a cut down version of what you are looking for. Two tables of popular jams were set up in a supermarket, one table had 24 kinds and the other table had 6 kinds. Both tasting tables were popular with the customers. At the end of the day it was a surprise to find the table with 6 jams generated 10 times the sales that the table with 24 jams did. People simply could not choose from all the jams on the 24 table. In other areas of business this decision paralysis can be found when there are choices to be made between service and cost minimization, quality and speed to market and revenue growth versus profitability.

So what is the answer?

Having encountered this wall of confusion myself, when needing to replace a TV, a car and sundry technology, I now go buying when I have only 3 recommendations from trusted peers and my own knowledge base. Having said that, I intend to make 2 my best friend (after all it’s hard to find really crummy products) and look forward to making my life easier and never getting caught in decision paralysis again. So choose your number and go forth and decide.

Now if I could only get past that cereal aisle at Coles.

Pay peanuts and .....

The US government via its transport department has looked at a bill to ban peanuts on aircraft in the USA. A nod to the many allergies that threaten people’s health and cause consternation among their fellow fliers. Where will it stop?

Travel writer Christopher Elliott pointed out some of the issues facing the bill, which included -

1) Banning the serving of peanuts and all peanut products by both U.S. and foreign carriers on flights covered by DOT’s disability rule.
2) Banning the serving of peanuts and all peanut products on all such flights where a passenger with a peanut allergy is on board and has requested a peanut-free flight in advance.
3) Requiring a peanut-free buffer zone in the immediate area of a passenger with a medically-documented severe allergy to peanuts if passenger has requested a peanut-free flight in advance.

Not to make fun of people’s allergies, after all I have a serious allergy that is work related and flares up every Monday morning, but shouldn’t some airline be thinking about marketing allergy free flights? What would that aircraft look like? Clean, devoid of food that could cause reactions and amenities only available to passengers willing to part with excessive amounts of money. In fact it would be easy to strip away any and all inclusions that could cause irritations, headaches, nausea, reactions and anxiety without trouble.

Why not have an airline that includes nothing but a seat and everything else comes as an extra payment and so reducing the chance of an allergy attack caused by giving away free airline food or amenities. Hang on, aren’t there a lot of those airlines already flying around? Ryan Air comes to mind along with a host of low cost carriers.

I can see Michael O’Leary now, advertising his airline to the world’s allergy sufferers as the balm to their flying anxieties. No peanuts on his flights unless you are prepared to part with a lot of money and what self respecting allergy sufferer would do that?

The problem is solved; fly low cost, which may not be the most comfortable, nor the best service but allergy free.

Can't stop, won't stop.

Seems I’ve joined another generation. I used to be a “Boomer” and then because we refuse to get older I was a “Late Bloomer” but now it seems I’m labeled again because I don’t want to stop working. “Generation why stop working” is a bit of a mouthful but aptly describes the attitudes and focus of many of my friends and colleagues. Thankfully I haven’t had to work in the bowels of a coalmine and that subscription to Fitness First has kept me mobile and energised because I intend to keep on keeping on. Apologies to British Paint and John Mellion.

The decade jokes about 30 being 20, 40 being 30, 50 being 40 only go to show the change in thinking, environment and cultural shift of people wanting to work because they enjoy it. The American Pew Research Centre found that 54% of those working over the age of 65 did so because they wanted to, with only 17% needing to because of the money.

Work in the travel industry has never been based on pure physical work, which is an advantage to this generation. Some say that overseas educationals, hotel visits and late night functions contribute to early ageing but they in fact become part of the legacy of information and relationships required to perform at peak capacity in the industry. The travel industry, more than others, does hold onto its people, because passion and motivation keep them coming back and give them the chance to contribute for much longer than other sectors.

Is this a good thing?

It certainly is, if the industry wants to pass on skills, knowledge and relationships built up over decades to the next generation of travel specialists. It’s a good thing to keep all that knowledge, as long as possible, to give the up and coming even more of an opportunity to learn.

But the clock is ticking and unless we get to 60 being the new 40 and 80 being the new 60 with wonder drugs, that knowledge will soon disappear.

So while the “why stop working” generation hangs around, do yourself a favour and connect with as many as possible because once they are gone, so is the knowledge.

Everyone is in sales.

I’m not in sales is a common reply from many in the business community when asked what they do. I could never sell is also heard from people who look down on the sales department as they head out for another ubiquitous cup of coffee with a client or march door to door, cold call or head for a late lunch with no imminent return scheduled.

Of course the title is much closer to the truth if your company produces or markets anything nowadays. From the first contact the customer has with your company to the continuing relationship you should develop all the way to the CEO, sales is involved. Every service is a sale, every meeting is a sale, and every conversation with a client is a sale. The last time your kids convinced you to stop at McDonalds it was a sales job. The last time you talked your partner into attending that less than kosher weekend with the boys, it was a sale.

The “I’m not selling anything” line does not work if you are honest with yourself. From selling yourself and your image on a daily basis to helping your company survive to traversing the world of social media, all aspects of your life involve some kind of sales.

To make you the best, the skill is in finding your level of comfort on the integrity scale of selling. Do you believe in your product? Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in the integrity surrounding the sales conclusion? If you answer yes to the above then you aren’t just selling you are advocating and your level of credibility is such that people are looking to you for opinions and reasons to buy from you.

The highest level of salesmanship belongs to the rare few who sell nothing but are so revered for their opinions, knowledge and credibility that people take their view on products and marketing so seriously as to become evangelists for their views and sell for them.

So where are you on that scale? You have to ask yourself the serious questions and if you come up with answers not to your liking, it may be your belief in the product or it may be your image and integrity you are concerned with and that may be time to make a change.

People don’t like to be sold but they love to buy. Why not from you?

Don't it make you wanna go home now?

I’m not from here. Like a lot of people, I’m from somewhere else. I’m an immigrant and like a lot of my friends growing up I always had a desire to go home. It just wasn’t that easy at first. It was a wanderlust that drew me to travel and I distinctly remember my first overseas trip to New Zealand after graduating high school. That seems an odd statement now with airfares so cheap that it’s not unusual to graduate high school and be blasé about travel.

I took a lot of shorter trips before I eventually went back home to Germany (when it was still west) because it was a long way to go from Australia and very expensive at the time. Everyone living in countries not of their birth eventually feel that pull to go back home. The VFR (visit friends and relatives) sector of the travel industry is without a doubt the strongest and most robust because of the driving sentiment, of wanting to reconnect and continue relationships that matter the most, family.

About 9 million people fly everyday somewhere in the world and statistics say that the VFR market is at around 30% of that total. That’s 3 million people a day going home to somewhere and someone. The big travellers used to be the Mediterranean countries but they have now settled so well in every part of the world and eventually brought out the family that they now no longer need to travel back home. The big movers are the Asian countries with the Chinese becoming the vast movers amongst the VFR market. With China slated to build 90 airports in the next decade we will see an increase of Chinese travellers and immigrants to the four corners of the world? We might even see an increase in Chinese restaurants. Whatever happened to them all? Like all travelers they will feel that pull to go home once they have settled in foreign lands?

As the Joe South song from the title aptly described, so much had changed from my childhood memories on that first trip back home that I had to readjust my thinking on the reasons to return home again. So much had changed that I was more a tourist than someone going home. In the end not such a bad thing, as it opened my eyes to change. The reason I now travel is for new experiences and people I have met who keep the connection going that used to be just for family.

Sometimes the reasons for becoming a VFR traveller seem one directional, as in just going home but in the end become so much more. 3 million people a day, going home, will have similar experiences that will open their horizons. With 10,000 more aircraft flying the skies in the next decade there will be a lot of people looking to go home.

Will you be on one of them, going home for the first time?

Birth Notice. T.I.M.E.

Thursday 10 June, 8 proud parents being the committee, announce the birth of the Travel Industry Mentor Experience at the Blue Hotel. Baby and parents are all doing well and looking forward to a healthy growing experience over the next few years. The DNA of the parents involved, point to success and achievement by all, with a new infusion of leadership for the travel industry.

As proud parents we are prepared to nurture and give our best so that T.I.M.E. gets the full attention of the industry and mentees working with chosen mentors become the future leaders so needed for the industry to carry on. As parents we give of ourselves for all the right reasons and expect that our child T.I.M.E. will be accepted and become part of the fabric of the future.

We would also like to thank the doctors involved because without them this would have been a much more difficult birth. Doctors Gavin Smith ( RCCL ), Justin Montgomery ( Creative Holidays ), John Borghetti ( Virgin Blue ), Gai Tyrell ( Sabre ), Jenny Lorkin and Russell Butler ( Avis ) and of course the great medical facilities aiding the birth of our baby, at The Blue Hotel Woolloomooloo.

We often ask about where the next leaders will come from and the answer will be our baby, T.I.M.E. The benefits to the industry are unlimited, just as children hold the key to our future, so does T.I.M.E. for the travel industry.

So from all the proud parents, Penny Spencer, Judith O’Neill, Marie Allom, Mike Hatton, Rick Myatt, Justin Montgomery, Glen Cusack and I, we look forward to our baby’s first graduation in 6 months and a future of providing leadership to the industry, for many years to come.

"To provide knowledge, guidance and advice to aspirational individuals within the Travel and Tourism industry allowing them to advance and grow their career."

The third place.

After home and after work, is there somewhere else you like to hang out? What about the local pub or your favourite coffee shop ala Friends? It could be a place where everyone knows your name and Norm sits by the bar pontificating on the merits of Sam’s beer. It’s a place of comfort brought on by familiarity.

So what about that weekend away place, that you can now afford to fly to, because airfares have become so cheap?

Sociologists defined that third place as being somewhere you are just as comfortable as home or work. Starbucks used to be the third place for a lot of people, till they shut a whole bunch of them down. Now the low cost carriers would like to convince you that you can have cities and destinations as that third place. Somewhere so easy and cheap to get to, that you do it on a regular basis and as such become comfortable with the surroundings.

Are they wrong?

Airfares cheaper than bus fares certainly go a long way to encouraging people to get off the lounge and find that third place, even if they didn’t know they were looking for it. For me that third place is slowly turning into Melbourne. I’ve become acquainted with its laneways and arcades as I mooch around for my next coffee, because $49 fares should not be taken lightly and be bought at every opportunity. Australia has an airfare price war breaking out at regular intervals and you should endeavour to use them to find your third place.

Internationally, airfares are cheap enough from Australia that you could find your third place within Asia and get there on a regular basis. The locals remember your favourite meal or drink and you know just where to buy that special gift. How great would that be?

I don’t know how much time you have left to find that third place, as the airfares we have had for the past few years, will slowly disappear as airlines raise their yield and bring their profit agendas back into line.

Starbucks did you a favour by closing down. Get on a plane and go somewhere different. You never know, it could turn into your third place.

A tale of two hotels.

As the saying goes “if you build it they will come”, but they may not come back. How often do you pour over the brochures and spend hours on the web researching to find that gem to make your holiday memorable? You’ve decided to spend that little bit extra because you’re worth it, which of course raises that expectation level even higher. How often does the marketing get you in, only to disappoint with staff failing to recognise the importance of your decision in choosing that particular accommodation.

So to arrive at the 5 star Resort and find a trainee checking you in should be the first sign they may not care as much about you, as they should. The upgrade promised is only half what you expected and when you ask for some extra bits it seems they want to penny pinch you into submission. I see this all the time with major hotels trying to do the low cost airline model and give you a cheaper rate for the accommodation and then bludgeon you with exorbitant prices for breakfasts, internet access, baths, parking and in room videos and dining.

On top of that, staff has no empowerment or training to then sooth over any client issues. They repeat the management mantra of how much extra the on costs are, making you feel they are doing you a favour.

Often this occurs in fabulous locations and you reconsider your initial frustrations and focus on why you chose the destination and just get on with the holiday. This of course won’t solve the issues for the hotel or resort but most people end up voting with their wallet and don’t come back and to add salt to the wound, denigrate the accommodation to their friends. The worst of all scenarios.

A recent hotel stay in Queenstown, suffered from the above. They are fortunate to be situated in the jewel of New Zealand floating on Lake Wakatipu engulfed by snow capped majesty because without the surrounds they would be in dire straits. They have an opportunity to capture the upper end market but their attitude towards their guests along with mismanagement of the cost model will always have them scrambling to regain the high ground.

The above at one end of the spectrum, leads into one of the best at the other end. It’s not enough to build a fabulous edifice of marble and technology to encourage business unless you can man it with the equivalent in staffing. People become the soul of hotels.

The Villas in Seminyak Bali have been around for about 10 years and aim for the upper end of the market along with the Queenstown hotel. Their advantage is their staff, most have been employed since opening, which look for ways to make your stay memorable and go to great lengths to build a relationship that will bring you back, just for them. Is the accommodation as flash as the newest villas being built in Seminyak? Not quite, but the genuine rapport of the welcoming staff, wash over you and The Villas and paint them with all the values you are looking for on your ideal holiday.

This success comes from management understanding and appreciating their guests while looking for CLV (customer lifetime value) to continue building on their foundation of staff before cement. If you build it, no matter how impressive, it is not enough in today’s competitive market. Like software without people, hotels and resorts without engaged skilled staff will not survive.