Another recurrent theme among professionals is that of ‘trusted advisor’ – or not. Damien Wild says:
Now with 73% of young people telling the Bright Ideas Trust (the social enterprise fund set up by Apprentice winner Tim Campbell) that they don’t trust accountants, you have to wonder whether that gradual decline will steepen. And how quickly.
The survey to which Damien refers should be seen in the context of entrepreneurship. In the UK, we’re pretty good at getting started with an idea but we’re often lousy at following through. There are lots of reasons and sure, there are plenty of barriers to success. As far as I can tell, practitioners fall into one of four basic types
- Moaners – constantly bitching about clients that won’t pay for services – lots of those
- Mechanics – compliance focused and satisfied with what they get from that activity – lots f those as well
- Movers – making a difference to client lives – few
- Shakers – wild thinkers who are dreaming up new ways to do business – very few
Except in a few cases, professionals tend to be insular, rarely looking outside their professional circle to understand client need in an effort to respond to the changing market landscape. So if the survey is to be believed, where are our bright young things turning to for inspiration? Damien cites the recent spate of ‘reality TV shows’ like Dragon’s Den as a source for inspiration.
While I laud the idea, let’s not forget that TV is there to entertain. It is therefore hardly surprising that on these kinds of show, the majority of participants are little better than stooges for the panel of ‘experts’ to humiliate for our viewing pleasure. There are lessons to be learned but TV is not the place I’d want to consider as my ground up education platform. At least not in this form.
Damien says that standard fare offerings like Business Link London are adjudged ‘poor.’ I’d agree. These sites push all the wrong things – regulation, grants, forms, finding an accountant, formula feed marketing. You can go to college and get all that. And be equally bored in the process. There has to be a better way.
Clicking through Vecosys, I became absorbed with Ryan Carson’s Vitamin. Or rather the 75 comments made on Mike McDerment’s post about choosing a company name. Mike’s post set off a fascinating AND useful stream of great ideas and advice. WTF? What’s this got to do with innovation or the profession. Plenty.
When I was in practice, our firm had a 7 syllable name. Mike recommends two syllables – something I’ve unwittingly ended up doing. Remember Deloitte Plender and Grable aka Dollittle Plunder and Grabbit? Is there something about the profession that drives us into creating increasingly convoluted and tongue twisting names? Perhaps. Back to Ryan Carson.
He’s full of great tips and ideas that are all the more potent because they’re coming from someone in the trenches:
I had an amazing conversation with Ryan Allis, the 22 year old CEO of Intellicontact. I am so impressed with how he has taken his company from a small shop to a multi-million dollar company with 50+ employees, in about three to four years.
What really struck me though, was how he knew his numbers inside and out. He is absolutely hard-core about measuring everything. It was like a slap in the face – as CEO of Carson Systems, I just don’t know enough about what’s going on.
No mention of professionals but I bet someone somewhere has sat down with Ryan and got his attention. We need to get better at doing that. BTW – check out Intellicontact’s manifesto. Illuminating. And also check out the Goodman Jones story to which Damien refers- those folk are both Movers and Shakers.
Disclosure: Goodman Jones is a sometimes client.
Technorati Tags: Goodman Jones, innovation, intellicontact
