Margaret J. May holds a degree in physical education and sociology, and has certifications in fitness training, sports performance nutrition, and personal and life coaching. She spent the bulk of her business career in high-level information technology implementations with Capgemini Ernst & Young, Price Waterhouse and Andersen Consulting.
Margaret truly hit her stride, however, when she combined her passion for health, fitness and life planning, her naturally motivational spirit, and her love of business and technology, and then launched Champion4Fitness.
I've only recently been fortunate enough to get to know Margaret and the rest of her team, and experience the unique and highly energizing way they have combined the basic ideas of fitness, technology and business. Simply by assembling those things about which she is truly passionate, and determining what she needed to fuel her own passions for those things, she and her group have managed to produce a service that will not only help corporations succeed in implementing health and wellness programs, but actually produce a positive financial ROI for the companies that implement her system. (The ROI comes from reducing the massive cost of health insurance.)
So, why am I telling you about Margaret and Champion4Fitness? Because I'm going to let you in on a secret that helped Margaret launch her dream company.
I've spent my career either building sales teams and systems for my own companies, or helping my clients build their sales teams and systems. Which is to say I've immersed myself in innovation most of my adult life.
And while my bank account would love it if I could say innovation is rocket science and requires a mind like mine to master, the simple truth is that innovation is nowhere near as difficult as most consultants would have you believe.
So here's the secret -- a simple, logical, almost mechanical process for fostering the type of innovation that can help you hit your stride, just as Margaret has.
I call it the "Old Codger Brainstorm," because the best results happen when the people doing the work have more than 40 years of life experiences from which to draw. (Not that you youngsters don't have something to add or can't do this as well -- I'm just saying we old folks usually have more material available in our "attics.")
Like I said above, this is a logical process, so here's a step-by-step description of how to make this work.
Old Codger Brainstorm: A Recipe For Success
Objective
Find your team's common passions for life and business, and combine those passions in an innovative way to fuel your company's growth.
Resources Needed
You'll need at least the following to make this work:
- An expert facilitator who is proficient at conducting innovative brainstorm sessions with high-level executives. (Here, you'll get what you pay for -- the better the facilitator, the better the results.)
- A quality executive assistant who takes outstanding meeting notes.
- The top decision-maker at your company and five to 10 C-level or equivalent executives.
- A conference room with a flip chart that has either paper that can be peeled and stuck on the walls (like self-stick notes) or perforated paper and some tape. (Don't forget your markers.)
- An hour or two when you can assemble as a group.
Meeting Configuration And Homework
The top decision-maker at your company (chairman of the board, CEO, president, managing partner – whomever actually runs things) should schedule a one- to two-hour brainstorm session with his or her executive team (limiting the size as described above).
Prior to the meeting, each executive who will attend must assemble three lists:
- The five noncareer things about which he or she is most passionate. (Think all the way back through childhood.)
- The five career things about which he or she is most passionate. (Think at least back to the beginning of college and what guided your decisions about education.)
- At least one product or service he or she would buy to help fuel his or her passion for each of the 10 items on the lists. (For example, when I did this a few years back for my own company, I noted that cycling is one of my noncareer passions and that I would love to buy a complete set of custom cycling gear. For one of my business passions -- forming groups and leveraging their strengths -- I would love to find or start a program or join an association that would allow me to assemble and lead great business minds.)
Getting Started
When the meeting starts, the decision-maker should explain the purpose of the meeting and introduce the facilitator.
The facilitator will lead the rest of the meeting.
Exercise 1: Share Your Passions
Each executive should report his or her passion list to the group. Either the facilitator or executive should write these 10 passions on a single flip-chart sheet and stick it somewhere around the room when finished. (Don't discuss the 10 products or services that apply to these lists yet.)
At the same time, the executive assistant should be organizing the lists of passions so they can be sorted and weighted by frequency (eight of you love golf; three of you have a master's in anthropology; etc.) A competent assistant will have no problem figuring out the best way to do this.
At the end of the first exercise, the executive assistant should report the three most common noncareer passions, and the three most common career passions from the lists.
Exercise 2: Add Fuel To The Fire
In this exercise, the group will identify the products or services it would buy to fuel the common passions.
Specifically, the facilitator should write the most heavily weighted passion from the noncareer list on the top of a flip-chart sheet. Then all executives who listed that passion should explain the product or service they would buy related to that item, and why. (List these also on the flip-chart sheet.) Then anyone else with a new item to add to the list should do so, and you should post that sheet on the wall.
Repeat this process with each of the top three passions from each list. When finished, you'll have six sheets on the wall with several products or services listed under each passion.
Exercise 3: Brainstorm
The goal of the brainstorm session is to combine shared passions in sets of two (one noncareer and one career), then invent ways to leverage those two passions to produce positive results for your company. (For example, while they are no longer connected in any way, it was my love of cycling and of forming groups that sparked the idea that eventually led to my forming Yellow-Tie International.)
The facilitator should write the highest-ranking passion from both lists on a blank flip-chart sheet. Then he or she should summarize the things people in the room want that would help them fuel those passions. (This helps to get you thinking about the business aspects of your passions -- what people will buy.)
After the summary, group members should let their ideas fly, as the facilitator leads a five-minute brainstorm session on ways to combine those passions to produce positive results for your company. (This is where the facilitator's skill is important.)
And remember, no idea is too silly. During the brainstorm session, no one is allowed to be negative -- verbally or in body language -- about what someone else says. If, for example, someone were to say, "What if we did an anthropological study of how cavemen hunted, and compared it to the competitive aspects of golf? We might find an analogy that proves buying groceries on-line through our company is inevitable -- that it's actually in our evolutionary DNA!" (Okay, that is pretty silly. But the point is, you aren't allowed to say so during the brainstorm session. Who knows, there may just be a nugget in there that sparks that one idea that makes your company millions!)
Repeat this process as often as you can in the allotted time frame -- combining different sets of the top three passions from your two lists, summarizing what people would buy, and brainstorming ways to leverage those passions.
If you come up with a winner idea, then, as Roy Williams ("Wizard of Ads") says, "Pull the trigger and ride the bullet."
Bottom line: You can foster innovation and fuel your company if you learn to combine your passions, just as Margaret and her team combined their personal and professional passions to launch an entire company. And since this type of passion is contagious, I have no doubt whatsoever that Champion4Fitness is destined for greatness.
So what are your passions, and how can you combine them in new patterns and leverage them to generate success?
Answer those questions and let the storm begin.
P.S. If increased employee health and wellness, coupled with sizable decreases in healthcare insurance costs are two things that excite you, visit www.champion4fitness.com and contact Margaret -- she's great.
--
Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association
