An IBM Global CEO Study found that less than 50% felt their organization were prepared to handle a volatile and increasing complex business environment.

This is not surprising since most corporation as still operating on a 20th century command/control business model that focus on internal efficiency not adaptability to rapidly changing external forces and dynamics.

In the upcoming Social Business Executive Summit, I will describe a framework that will dramatically increase organizational adaptive potential. My talk

Social Business Strategies for Adapting to the New Normal in Business

is in the opening session on May 25th.

There are 9 other speakers who will also shed light on the challenges. This is a free online event sponsored by CustomerThink.

Click to register.

The Social Business Executive Summit

On May 25-27 CustomerThink will host six free webinars on Social Business. Join us!

Register Now!

You can pick and choose from the sessions that interest you the most, from strategy to online communities to using social media to boost your marketing, sales and service operations.

Session Topics:
* The CEO’s Challenge: Creating and Leading a Profitable Social Business Strategy
* Transforming Marketing to Listen, Influence and Drive Sales-Ready Leads
* Best Practices to Create Online Communities to Engage Customers and Increase Loyalty
* Transforming Sales to Align with Social Buyers and Close More Deals
* Best Practices to Create a High-Performance Organization with Employee Collaboration
* Transforming Customer Service/Support to Profit from the Wisdom of Crowds

Each session will be conducted in an interactive panel format featuring experts from the Founders Council of our new community, SocialBusinessOne.com. Bring your toughest questions!

I will be speaking in the first session on “Social Business Strategies for adapting to the New Normal in Business.

Registration is FREE, and all attendees are eligible to win an iPad.

To learn more and sign up, please visit:

Register Now!

Hope to see you online next week!
Regards,
John Todor

John will be speak with Connie Hill of VeraCentra and Barbara Cerf of New York Life Insurance at Loyalty Expo in Orlando, June 6-8, 2010.

Our topic:

Winning Profitable Customer Relationships.

More information…

John’s upcoming webinar
What’s Driving Loyalty Loss and What Can You Do About It?

May 6, 2010

Sponsor by Loyalty 360 and VeraCentra.

Free Registration

For at least the past 5 years, the tried-and-true formulas to boost sales and market shares of brands have been become increasingly irrelevant and losing traction with customers.
(John Gerzema and Ed Lebar, The Trouble with Brands)

To understand what is relevant and does get traction with customers, it is critical to recognize that the pursuit of market share and commodity sales are not the same thing. Germane to this distinction are the two buying personalities I have discussed elsewhere. Here is the short version that makes it especially relevant to this differentiation. (more…)

This virtual Summit features thought leaders in Social CRM, Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media Marketing from the Founders Council of SocialBusinessOne.

Over a three-day period, CustomerThink will host six webinars focused on social business strategy, customer communities, employee collaboration and how social computing will transform marketing, sales and customer service.

This will not be “death by PowerPoint.” Each session will provide plenty of time to get your specific questions answered. Bob Thompson, Founder of CustomerThink and SocialBusinessOne, will chair the Summit and serve as moderator for all webinars.

In the opening session John Todor of The Whetstone Edge will be discussing:

Social Strategies for Adapting to the New Normal

Register now

Recently, my wife and I spent a lovely weekend at the Boonville Hotel which highlighted some key principles for delivering a great customer experience.

First, a little background, Boonville is located in the Anderson Valley wine area of Northern California – a beautiful location for a laid back weekend. With only 10 rooms, it is like you are a guest in a country mansion. The ambiance is fantastic but the people are what make’s the stay so pleasurable. Everyone is genuinely friendly, not contrived but genuine and relaxed. It is clear from the start they you are welcome guest. The staff has an uncanny ability to greet you without intruding, whether are reading in the library or enjoying a glass of wine in the garden. (more…)

IBM is a 114 year old company – one that is remarkable in its ability to reinvent itself, to adapt to current business conditions. Here are some of the ways they are shifting from a 20th century command & control enterprise to a flatter, more collaborative, innovative, engaged and agile organization, one prepared to face 21st century challenges.

A quote for a recent IBM study sets the stage nicely.

67% of employees in mid to large organizations believe there are people in their company who could help them do their job better but, they don’t know how to find them or engage with them.

Well, Casey Hibbard has spelled out how IBM does this and more in her recent blog post:

How IBM Uses Social Media to Spur Employee Innovation.

This sort of open and collaborative organization is not just vogue, it is essential of a company is going to thrive in today’s fast-paced and increasingly complex business climate.

Change is the only constant! We have all heard this before, but…

…let me embellish and illustrate how it can impact your business and career in the immediate future.

John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison have been taking about the Big Shift, radical changes happening in the business world. Here is a particularly relevant quote:

The more the business environment changes, the faster the value of what you know diminishes. Success hinges on the ability to participate in a growing array of knowledge flows.

Sounds ominous but few people take it serious enough to dramatically change their behavior. Maybe this will be the motivation. (more…)

SocialBusinessOne is a CustomerThink community, focused on “social business”—how businesses are adopting social computing to engage with customers, improve employee productivity and create a competitive advantage. Some of the major topics covered include social media marketing, Social CRM and Enterprise 2.0.

I am excited about being a founding council member of this new community and looking forward to contributing, interacting and learning. I highly recommend that you visit the site and check out the range of thought leaders who make up the founding council. Diverse, involved and provocative comes to mind. Their involvement alone will attract many others who are taking an active role in this emerging field.

Please join in.