No matter how nice you are as a person, it's likely that you have rivals, adversaries and foes -- even enemies. They say bad things about you behind your back. They hamper you at work.

In the Moving Ahead newsletter, psychologist Bruce Katcher says you can win them over by asking them to do you a small favour.

That sounds counter-intuitive. But it follows the psychological notion of "cognitive dissonance." The theory maintains that we all try to maintain consistency in our attitudes and behaviours. So when we do a person a favour, we tend to like him more as a result.

It's also known as The Ben Franklin Effect, since the inventor-statesman-philosopher practised it, noting, "Enemies who do you one favour will want to do more." When a political opponent in the Pennsylvania state legislature was annoying Franklin, he asked that adversary if he could borrow a rare book from his library. When they next met, Franklin reported the adversary spoke to him for the first time "with great civility" and they eventually became great friends.

So identify your enemy. Ask for a small favour, something that requires the adversary to expend some (but not Herculean) effort. Then proceed as if you are no longer enemies. "If your future interactions with this person are to be positive, you must treat him or her as a colleague, not an adversary. Otherwise, your attitude may negate the newly gained feelings of good will toward you and, instead, perpetuate the ill-will of the past," Katcher concludes.

See: http://www.amanet.org/movingahead/editorial.cfm?Ed=752

Family business expert Tim Habbershon calls it "the hot zone." It's the years in which two generations are both involved in running the family business, the older generation as president and the younger person as president-elect.

He tells Entrepreneur.com that to get through this hot zone successfully, you must embrace it: "It can be a positive experience and even a great opportunity. It's a time when you have different perspectives, experience levels and skill sets."

Whatever the differences between the generations -- stodgy vs. progressive, risk-oriented vs. cautious -- the company has the gift of complementary resources. That should be celebrated rather than bemoaned.

The big problem, he says, arises when the business owners "stay in the parent-child relationship, with the senior entrepreneur playing the parent role and the younger one acting out the teen rebellion stage. The parents, in other words, are trying to stay in control, and the children are trying to get control."

It's important that the different generations treat each other as business peers, with mutual respect for what they bring to the business and open communication. He says one way for a parent and child to get that parity is for the younger generation to do something new within the company: "It may be good for successors to start another division or business, or launch another product line. They have to find some entrepreneurial activity, where they can have a sense of autonomy and some success of their own, out from under the wings of the parents."

See: http://www.entrepreneur.com/

One day, marketing guru Seth Godin was walking down the street and a guy came up to him and asked, "Do you have a dollar for four quarters?" The person held out his hand with four quarters in it.

Curious, Godin engaged the person, who looked like a panhandler, and gave him a dollar bill for the four quarters. The fellow then asked: "Can you spare a quarter?"

Godin found it a fascinating interaction -- and a lesson in marketing.

First, the panhandler engaged him, with a fair trade. Then with a relationship established, and knowing Godin has a quarter in his hand, he made a request that was more difficult to turn down than the normal panhandler's "can you spare a quarter?"

On his blog, Godin concludes: "Too often, we close the sale before we even open it. Interact first, sell second."

See: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Andrew Solnordai, a regional manager at the Gulf & Fraser credit union in B.C., who is responsible for a nine-branch operation and more than eighty employees, has committed to meet with each of those employees every quarter. At a time when all of us are overwhelmed with meetings, he has committed to 320 meetings a year in that effort.

On The Harvard HotList, consultant John Baldoni says you should consider the same practice with your employees. It will allow you to learn the reality in which employees work. It will offer ideas on how you can help them to succeed, fulfilling the principles of servant leadership and the philosophy that when an employee succeeds both of you succeed.

See: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/baldoni/2008/10/be_a_better_leader_add_300_mee.html

• Consultant George Torok says "success demands you sweat the small stuff. Just ask any Olympic athlete. Not all the small stuff -- but the right small stuff." (Source: Business in Motion blog)
• If clients who have agreed to give you a testimonial freeze at the actual prospect of writing one, ask them to finish this sentence in 25 words or less: "I really like (service/product/person) because…." (Source: Engageselling.com)
• If you have given up on the paperless office but still want to reduce paper usage, look at three approaches: Duplexing, in which you print images on both sides of a sheet of paper; reusing blank sides of previously used sheets for a separate purpose; or switching to a lighter weight of paper. (Source: Indoor Environment Department)
• If you network often, buy a permanent name tag. Including your company's logo in it will enhance your impression and give conversations a starting point. (Source: Productivity Café)
• Wondering what chart to use for a report or presentation? Try the guide at: http://www.extremepresentation.com/uploads/images/choosing_a_good_chart.jpg (Source: Lifehacker.com)

Links:

See: Business in Motion blog
See: Engageselling.com
See: Indoor Environment Department
See: Productivity Café
See: Lifehacker.com

It's always best to get ahead of the problem, as it seems you are trying to do. As with any strategic change, you need to carve out time to attack the problem, before you're forced to react later.

No non-profit has sufficient funding for what it wants to do. There is always a mismatch between desire and reality. And clouding any strategic discussion is human emotion -- concern about the people you employ, and the people you serve, and what might be lost for them.

Start by going back to first principles. What was your original purpose -- the reason why you exist? As you have grown, your ambit has inevitably changed. What do you actually exist to do now? If you were to be starting again, from a blank slate, which programs would be the most compelling and which ones less appealing. In future, what should you exist to do?

Follow up that philosophical discussion with another one. Which is more important: The number of clients you help in an activity or how much you help any one individual client? Give that abstract concept meaning by discussing it in relation to specific programs, some of which are of particular value because they touch many people and others because of how greatly they help the more limited number of people they target.

Since it's a philosophical discussion, expect people to be on both sides of the equation (and in the middle) -- and remember there is no correct answer. You are seeking a respectful dialogue that helps clarify the differing views that will emerge if you have to trim programs.

Try mapping your activities on a matrix in which the two elements -- call it numbers, and impact -- form the x-axis and y-axis. You don't have to be exact. You just want to work up a picture of which activities seem to fulfill both objectives, and where the tensions lie.

Those strategic discussions will help you in future, whether you are forced to trim back or even if you hope to add new programs. Obviously any actual discussions get tangled up in the reality of staffing and the complexities of funders' policies, but this prepares you to tackle your budget more effectively. You will have refreshed your purpose, and developed an understanding of how best to fulfill it.

A Dual Perspectives topic in Wired magazine recently caught our attention -- is the 30-second spot past its prime? Viewers outside traditional television (who prefer interactive media) tolerate just one quarter the amount of advertising broadcast by classic media. And along with growing impatience with ads that interrupt, we have "smart" ads and video spots that now run on multiple platforms.

As a screen-obsessed culture today, we watch spots on tiny mobile screens and digital displays on public transit; we notice ads streaming into online video games and "pre-roll" commercials that precede video clips on websites.

A Nielsen executive expects the future role of the 30-second spot may be only to anchor broad campaigns in a "hub and spoke" manner, with more targetted and/or interactive media tied in to support it. But at the same time, while a VP from Starcom says the 30-second spot is "sorely in need of a makeover," the Super Bowl had no trouble delivering 100 million viewers with 30-second spots going for $3 million each. We welcome your thoughts.

8020Info helps teams develop, communicate and implement more effective strategies. We would be pleased to discuss your needs and welcome enquiries at (613) 542-8020, or by email at watercooler@8020info.com.

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