SMAC4u

This work by Marcelo Bernardes was originally posted on LinkedIn . As an undergrad student, I had to complete courses that did not seem to have value for real life. The arguments used at the time to justify this approach were: We have to prepare you to be a professional, regardless of the actual field/industry you might end up working on, so we should cover all bases This way you know in which book/body of knowledge to find the information, in case you ever need it during your career We are teaching you to “learn how to learn” While “learning how to learn” continues to be a critical skill today, the knowledge currently available over the internet has made the ability to cover all bases a questionable goal. And the speed of change, makes knowing the “right” book a daunting task. On the other hand, being able to quickly derive value from the (learning and financial) investment is increasingly desirable. And soft skills like the ability to work in groups (in ...

  This work by Marcelo Bernardes was originally posted on LinkedIn . Having had the chance to lead Professional Services teams around the globe, let me tell you the "secret" to make a successful career out of it: partner with all the sales teams your work with ! Far too often, I partnered with or coached Professional Services associates who would not find this approach easy or even natural. If you find it hard to partner with your sales team, please give me five minutes of your time, so I can elaborate why it makes sense. If partnering with sales does not sound natural to you after reading this article, please share your point of view and let me know where the rationale failed! Understanding the sales mindset Let me share what I learned from the sales people I worked with. Sales salaries (base+compensation) may be structured so the base salaries alone are not enough to keep people around ( PayScale ). So, the sales team is very motivated to meet and ...

This work by Marcelo Bernardes ( @marcelobern ) was originally posted on LinkedIn . I have been tinkering with the concept of using crowdfunding to drive corporate innovation and I believe it can be done. While companies like IBM are experimenting with an internally focused corporate crowdfunding approach ( HBR , Time ), I believe a customer focused corporate crowdfunding approach can deliver far more value. So, let me share with you how you can unlock this value for your organization. Standing on the shoulders of giants In the article from Henry Chesbrough , he explains that: "You have to fight – and win – on two fronts (both outside and inside), in order to succeed in corporate venturing". This internal and external duality is a natural way to describe the corporate entrepreneurship challenge, and it is complementary to Peter F. Drucker 's five simple questions ( Amazon ): What is the mission? What are our results? What is our plan? Who is the...