Category Archives: Marketing

May 15, 2012 · 2:33 pm

Firing on All Cylinders ~ An Example of Integrative Marketing

Key Concept ~ Developing and implementing a comprehensive marketing communications strategy takes time, but once the seeds begin to germinate you’ll find yourself firing on all cylinders!

Back on July 25th of last summer, I wrote a blog called Seven Ways to Cut Through the Noise and Reach Your Target Prospects.  Nearly a year later, I’d like to share with you how these initiatives have evolved to drive value for our business.

1. The Book ~ Published 14 months ago, The Transformational Entrepreneur has proven to have legs.  It was cited by the academic Journal of Economic Literature in March of this year and it also received some really positive, unsolicited reviews.  The book continues to be a catalyst for media appearances as well.  What’s most gratifying is how well the book is received by those who read it.  I see it helping people realize their authentic vision and purpose every day!

2. Blogging ~ I had been blogging, almost exclusively on this site, for five months last July.  We had just launched Leadership Development and Team Building.  Since then we’ve added Igniting Creativity in Business and have plans to launch four mores blog sites in the coming months.  Each is specifically tailored to match the audience with the value proposition we deliver within the market segment.  Call it micro-marketing, if you will.  Nevertheless, we’ve experienced consistently growing traffic and substantial readership extending to 32 countries.  Truly remarkable and I thank you all!

3. Articles ~ I was more engaged in writing for internet article sites during the early days of the blogs.  While the sites do drive traffic, and were very important in the early days, we’ve migrated more into mainstream media activities.  Just so much time in a day!

4. Videos ~ We continue to use HD video in a variety of ways to build value, both in communications and in content.  In our online resource repository, designed for our Accretive Coaching students, we’re using training videos to support the educational process.  We continue to document speaking engagements and limited demos as certain workshops are, and should, be private to the group.  We will be posting a recent speaking engagement from the Southeast Regional Certified Horsemanship Association’s annual meeting, but its release will be timed to coincide with a new service launch and blog site.

5. Social Media ~ Speaking of just so much time in a day!  This can be the proverbial rabbit hole if you’re not disciplined in the time you devote to it.  Like everything, I had my own learning curve sorting through it all and identify where, and how, I should leverage social media.  If you have something to say and are comfortable writing I highly suggest following some of the bloggers on Forbes’ website.  If you say something of value they’ll call out your comment, basically highlighting what you’ve had to say in the discourse.  From there people can jump to your profile which can lead them to your site(s).  There’s some real thought leaders blogging on Forbes.

The Wall Street Journal still drives traffic the same way, but more from the online article discussion threads.  The key is not to be too self promoting…add some value to the conversation!  If you pique someone’s interest they can easily follow your profile to your blog.  That’s really the point anyways, isn’t it?  At least it is in our business.

The other valued companion is LinkedIn.  This too has short learning curve.  Be sure to ask yourself if you’re talking to your peers/competitors or to your potential prospects.  It’s easy to catch yourself singing to the choir at first…think it through and look into the group membership, professional demographics.  I’ve met some fantastic colleagues and customers on Linkedin and some of the discussion groups are simply enjoyable!

6. Public Relations ~ The big coup, at least for me personally, was recently being interviewed in The Investor’s Business Daily. We’ve been focused on migrating our work into the mainstream for more than two years and the IBD is right on target with a circulation exceeding 600,000 readers.  Fun paper to read, too, I’ve read it for years.  They run a daily section on leadership that is intriguing.  We also were invited back to appear on Jim Blasingame’s program, The Small Business Advocate® and have a spot in Jim’s Brain Trust.  What’s really nice is all of my interviews with Jim are hosted on the Forbes website.  While all of this supports SEO, it really contributes to credibility.  The key is to keep chipping away at it and good things will happen.

For example, last month, during a one week period while we were working in Missouri we were in the IBD, the local paper (above) twice, and appeared (via tape delay…do they still call it that?) on the nationally syndicated, terrestrial radio show, The Career Clinic.  So much of this is due to the wonderful team at our PR firm, EMSI.  They truly deliver, have incredible talent on board, and employ a unique, pay-for-performance business model worthy of a look.

7. Trade Shows ~ I’ve wondered how effective exhibiting at trade shows has really been since the late 1990s.  If your prospect is a senior executive or business leader, chances are you wont find them wandering the corridors of a trade show floor.  Speaking engagements at conferences are proving to be much more effective at delivering our message and reaching our target audience.  We most recently presented at the Certified Horsemanship Association Southeast Regional Conference (video to post shortly) and at a private event with the VA and local Sheriff’s office in Missouri.

Just as I said nearly a year ago, each one of these initiatives supports the next.  It’s circular and builds momentum like a fly-wheel.  Please keep in mind, this was all done on a shoestring, meaning you can do it too!  The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be firing on all cylinders!

© 2012, Terry Murray.

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March 12, 2012 · 10:00 pm

Performance Transformation Launches Igniting Creativity in Business

PR Newswire – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Performance Transformation, LLC™ (Venice, FL) announced today the launch of their new professional development programs and workshops designed to cultivate creativity in the workplace.

“We’re very excited to bring our innovative approach into the marketplace,” said Terry Murray, Founder and Managing Partner of Performance Transformation.  ”Regardless of your industry, creativity thinking is now a strategic imperative for cultivating and sustaining competitive advantage in the 21st Century.”

In fact, the 2010 IBM Global CEO survey identified the single most important attribute CEOs are looking for in future leaders is creativity and their ability to cultivate creativity throughout the organization.  However, a peer-reviewed research study conducted by Cornell University  and published in The Journal For Experimental Social Psychology identifies a disconnect.  The research identified a heretofore unseen bias in business.  High potentials that display creativity are often sidetracked on their way up the corporate ladder.

“The accelerating complexity of the global marketplace we’re currently experiencing is unprecedented,” adds Mr. Murray.  ”Creative thinking can no longer be relegated to the R&D or marketing functions.  It needs to be present at every touchpoint throughout the organization.”

More than four years in development and validation, the Igniting Creativity In Business series of professional development programs and workshops are entirely based upon peer-reviewed research from diverse, scientific disciplines.  Research findings from the neurosciences, emotional intelligence, biochemistry, Applied Behavioral Economics, Core Mammalian Emotional Systems, performance psychology, creativity research, Kolb’s Adult Learning Style Inventory, and quantum physics have been integrated into a multi-dimensional, innovative approach for sparking creativity and innovative thinking.

“For the past four years we’ve been focused on developing and delivering programs and workshops that align and optimize leadership, strategy, and organizational culture,” states Terry.  ”Our baseline programs, first released in 2010, Transformational Leadership, Adaptive Team Building, Igniting Breakthrough Sales, The Emotionally Resilient Nurse, and Warriors in Transition set the foundation for the next evolution in professional development.  When we saw the results from the IBM Global CEO Survey a year and a half ago we realized we had identified the fundamental elements necessary for promulgating creativity in business.”

In the past two years, more than a dozen research studies and surveys have been released by global consultancies, universities, and leading institutions all pointing to the growing disconnect between leadership and employees.  Economic volatility and the global recession contributed to this issue. On a macro level, more than 70% of employees are disengaged with their company.  Trust in leadership is at an all time low (10%) and fear dominates many organizational cultures.

Terry goes on to state, “Fear kills creativity.  It is part of our Core Mammalian Emotional System.  When we promote fear as a motivating factor, we get a predictable response; disengagement.  When we promote another of our part of our Core Mammalian Emotional System, seeking, we also get a predictable response; engagement and creativity.”

Today’s multi-cultural and multi-generational workplace provides significant opportunities for devising and implementing creative solutions to challenges and opportunities alike.  It does, however, require a fresh approach to leading, planning, and delivering a culture capable of engaging every human perspective in the business.

“Creative thinking requires both divergent thinking and convergent focus,” added Terry.  ”Diversity of perspectives, coming from diverse people is key.  Inclusion of diverse perspectives has never been more strategically important for companies than it is today.  The other key element for creative thinking that is often overlooked in business is novel stimuli.”

Performance Transformation delivers novel cognitive, emotional, and psychological stimuli through their proprietary Accretive Coaching Process℠, which can include Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning workshops.  The carefully crafted, ground-based exercises with horses introduces a novel, neurological response triggering the development of new neural pathways.  This approach, followed up with a rigorous educational and coaching process helps professionals shift their response to new challenges away from conditioned thinking into an exploratory, neurological response.

Terry concludes, “The challenge is to first promote the formation of new neural pathways in the individual through the introduction of emotionally, cognitively, and psychologically novel stimuli.  To break out of the wheel worn paths of conditioned thinking.  The brain is very conservative with energy, so it has a tendency to follow the path of least resistance.  Developing new neural pathways takes more energy than following established ones.  The more practiced we are in developing new ways of thinking, the easier it becomes to respond to unprecedented challenges in creative ways.  We then work to help client organizations connect and amplify the nodes of though throughout their company.  This approach to cross-pollinating organizational thinking is the key to success going forward.”

© 2012, Performance Transformation, LLC™.

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February 16, 2012 · 4:06 pm

Why Our Intention Should be a Strategic Imperative

Key Concept ~ We need but look around us to see that the predatory, exclusionary business mindset of the 20th century no longer serves our best interests.  This fabric of the industrial age has grown threadbare.  The research that reveals the current leadership crisis is reaping the seeds it has sown by cultivating an endemic employee disengagement crisis.  Our intention truly matters, it is what resonates in the hearts of those we lead, and those with whom we wish to do business.

I was reading through the newly posted discussion threads from the groups I belong to on LinkedIn this morning and two in particular really struck me.  The first one was on a spiritually-oriented discussion group.  The individual that had started the group posted a rather scathing declaration that no promotional activity is acceptable in the group.  I can understand this, to a certain extent, as we’ve all been involved in discussion groups that are spammed and this can become more than a bit annoying.  But LinkedIn is, after all, a business social media site.  It isn’t Facebook, so shouldn’t we understand why people are on the site?  Because they have a business interest of some sort or another.  I know this is a fine line…one never wants to come off as a shill, and most discussion groups do have a promotions’ section.

What I found rather ironic about this particular post was how it was signed by the person that posted it…the individual’s name and “Group Owner”…on a spiritually-oriented group.  The individual also signs their name with one of those peculiar sequences that can appear, at least to me, to run like alphabet soup…CGI, BMOC, BPOE, ABCDEFG…Isn’t this a form of self promotion?  My point is, between expressing “ownership” and the presentation of credentials with signature, of which I have no idea of what they mean,  left me feeling a sense incongruity of intention.  My background is in the life sciences, so I truly appreciate when someone signs their name with Ph.D. after it…it represents a truly significant accomplishment. But isn’t our growing obsession with becoming certified, often by trade groups that are mere marketing organizations, just another form of promotion?  True certification indicates you have journeyed through an accredited school or training program that is recognized and meets the educational standards of a state board of education.

The other discussion group that was started was by a business coach offering to share the “Dirty Dozen”, his tips for making money in coaching.  The language caused me to recoil. Not cognitively so much, but on a deeper, emotional level. From my perspective, business coaching should resonate with positive intention, holding the space for both personal and professional growth for the one being coached. They’re both so closely intertwined, and many of the problems we see in business today are because people and their firm are thoroughly disengaged.

I read a study released late last year that indicated only 14% of employees believe their company shares their own personal values and beliefs. How can authentic engagement emerge in that type of climate?

I also deeply believe coaching should be highly inclusive. When I followed this gentleman’s link, I had to provide a litany of contact information before I could read what he had to say. For me, this again resonates with intention. I felt like this gentleman was trolling for prospects rather than reaching out with positive intention to share his wisdom. Please understand, my intention is not to be judgmental, it is simply meant to share what resonates within me when I hit landing pages that are a mile long, or must join another mailing list to access something that may have peaked my interest.

It’s readily apparent that the old ways of doing business no longer serve the broader interests of community and society. As Einstein so apply stated, “We cannot solve problems with the same level of consciousness that created them.”

Coaching is built upon relationship. Relationship emerges when we first connect cognitively (as I did when I was drawn to this coach’s discussion thread). Then we engage emotionally (which I couldn’t do because I felt a sense of coercion…I was offered a transactional deal for knowledge…I had to give something first, before I could receive the original offer…prior to seeing the actual value proposition).  Finally, we inspire and motivate others by touching the human spirit. With authenticity and transformational intention.

We all must make a living in this material world, I do not provide all of my business coaching services for free. But I do share my knowledge for free. This resonates with people, they feel my intention. If we look to the lessons from Applied Behavioral Economics we can fully appreciate that 70% of economic decision making is emotionally-driven, often unknowingly.  Intention truly matters.

I ask, as you head out into your business landscape to step away from business as usual, for just a moment and ask yourself how is my intention resonating with my prospects, associates, and colleagues?  It may open a door for a fresh approach that can truly drive sustainable, meaningful success!

© 2012, Terry Murray.

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February 14, 2012 · 2:13 pm

Finding Your Way Into Professional Journals ~ Performance Transformation, LLC™ Featured in MPI’s Meeting Planners Guide to Hawaii

Key Concept ~ A few months ago I posted a blog entitled, “Building Your Market Presence Brick-by-Brick”.  The process is one defined by persistence, and in my opinion, authentic intention.  By putting your firm out there, to generously provide your products or services for the parts of our community that are in need or at risk, good things can happen.  Not only for the community, but for your firm as well.  By bringing our pro bono Warriors in Transition program, which we began back in 2009, to Hawaii last October, we found ourselves in a feature article of ONE+, the professional journal of Meeting Planners International.  Positive intention, not from the ego but from the heart, resonates with others.  In expressing our intention to support combat veterans and their families, we found our message in the hands of 30,000 professional meeting planners we may have never reached in any other way.

Here’s our press release discussing the article in the MPI Meeting Planners Guide to Hawaii.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Performance Transformation, LLC™ (Venice, FL) announced today their founder and Managing Partner, Terry Murray, is to be featured in February’s edition of MPI’s  Meeting Guide to Hawaii.  The professional journal ONE+ has monthly circulation of 30,000 professional meeting planners.  The article, written by Elaine Pofeldt, focuses on the value of revisiting Hawaii as a viable and economical option for professional meeting events.

“We were really excited to receive the call from Elaine to be interviewed for her article,”  commented Terry Murray.  ”The series of workshops we conducted last October in Hawaii couldn’t have been more successful.”

In the article, Terry is quoted as saying, “Hawaii is a perfect setting for our programs.  Our developmental approach focuses on building competencies in emotional intelligence to improve leadership and team cohesion.  So, for us, the Aloha Spirit reflects and aligns with our philosophy and approach.”

The root meaning of Aloha comes from three Polynesian words.  Alo,which means sharing in the present moment.  Oha, which means joyous affection.  And Ha, which means the life energy of the breath.  The traditional greeting of Hawaiians involves an exhale of breath with each other to emphasize the Aloha Spirit.

“The traditional approaches towards leadership development and team building are no longer delivering the results our rapidly changing, multi-cultural business world demands, ” comments Terry.  ”Our evidence-based programs are designed to build presence, rapport and authentic empathy in our next generation of leaders.  These are the keys to inspiring teams of knowledge workers, to creating genuine engagement  Cultivating competencies the embrace inclusion and ignite cohesion are the keys to unleashing human creativity, the key driver of value creation in the 21st century economy.”

Performance Transformation was brought to Oahu by the nonprofit Palmarie Community Transformational Alliance to provide leadership development and team building workshops for their leadership team and launch Performance Transformation’s award-winning “Warriors in Transition” program.  The program is designed to assist active duty military personal, veterans, and their families successfully navigate the stress of the deployment cycle and eventual transition back to civilian life.  The program received a formal commendation by General David Petraeus in 2010 for “helping to create emotionally resilient families.”

“By the time our involvement in the the wars in the Afghanistan and Iraq finally wind down approximately two million of our fellow citizens will have been deployed in these combat zones,” adds Terry. “The VA is simply overwhelmed by the needs of so many of our veterans that are returning home with PTSD, or with the poly-traumatic effects of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury.  It’s up the community to step up and lend a hand to help these brave Americans transition home and find their way back to living successful and fulfilling lives.  To be able to once again enjoy the things their service has enabled us to enjoy, undisturbed these past eleven years.”

The VA estimates the rate of PTSD to be somewhere between 18% to 24% with OEF/OIF combat veterans.  Additional research indicates combat stress is impacting spouses and family members as well.   Performance Transformation’s innovate approach partners with licensed therapist to conduct Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy.  The approach enables Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to be conducted in real time, and with horses, instead of a traditional office setting.

“We discovered the CBT benefits during our presentation at the 18th Annual Military and Civilian Combat Stress Conference in L.A. in 2010,” adds Mr. Murray. “Most recently, we’re discovering our approach to working with horses also aligns seamlessly with Gestalt Therapy as well.  It’s an exciting time to be involved in Equine Facilitated Learning and in support of Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy.”

The concentration of the military in Hawaii presents unique challenges in the community.  It is estimated that 40% of Hawaii’s homeless population is comprised of veterans.  During their visit, Performance Transformation had the opportunity to introduce their approach to Councilman Tom Berg, who is working diligently in support of the islands veteran community.

“To come to the islands with such positive intention, and to have felt the Aloha Spirit directly in support of our work truly resonated with us all,” said Terry. “Last year we conducted various professional development workshops in Florida, Montana, and Colorado, but Hawaii was truly special.  The fact that we were able to conduct our programs at Equine808, the islands’ first and only horse rescue organization in support their mission added to our Aloha Spirit experience.”

You’re welcome to click here to learn more about Performance Transformation’s leadership development and team building workshops they conducted in Hawaii with a sequence of photographs of their approach with the horses.

Photo courtesy of Precision Photography of Honolulu.

© 2012, Performance Transformation, LLC™.

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January 19, 2012 · 3:00 am

Interview with Larry Whitler and Robin MacBlane on the AM Ocala Show

Key Concept ~ I was invited back to speak with Larry Whitler and Robin MacBlane on the radio program AM Ocala earlier this week.  Here’s a podcast of the interview.  

Larry and Robin are remarkably conscious and generous hosts.  They’ve been great advocates of my book and my philosophy towards creating a mindful approach for entrepreneurial success in the 21st century.

We explored the critical drivers of entrepreneurial success including:

~ Leading with positive intention.

~ Leading from a perspective of being of service; to your clients, prospects, and community.

~ The resonate value of embracing a mindful strategic planning process.

~ Value-based pricing strategies.

~ How one’s perspective towards their value proposition can redefine their entire market.

~  The critical nature of emotional and cognitive engagement in driving entrepreneurial success.

~ How we can define success on our own terms.

~ How the human spirit is the source of courage and resiliency with successful entrepreneurs.

~ The interplay between entrepreneurs and investors.

~ How we can all succeed in launching our own business…regardless of our age.

It’s a lively and fun discussion and I hope you’ll find some value in listening in!

You can listen to to interview by clicking the play button below:

© 2012, WOCA-AM Ocala.

© 2012, Terry Murray.

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November 18, 2011 · 4:50 pm

Conducting Your Year-End Market Review ~ A Helpful Checklist

Key Concept ~ Conducting a self-assessment regarding year-to-date performance is a critical first step in calibrating your strategic plan for 2012.  Here’s a comprehensive checklist you can use to help assess your sales and marketing efforts to date.

One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur is one of immersion.  We often can get caught up in the day-to-day, when the business may feel like it is running us, rather than the other way around.  To help entrepreneurs see the forest through the trees here is a checklist of due diligence sales and marketing questions you may wish to ask yourself as we come to the close of 2011.

1.) What is the consumption capacity of your target market segment?

2.) Did the demand from your target market segment grow in 2011?  What is the historical and forecasted trend?

3.) How have you navigated any barriers to entry in 2011?  Are you creating barriers to entry for your competition?

4.) What does the competitive landscape look like now?  How has it changed in 2011?  What does this mean for you in 2012?

5.) What are your competitors strengths, weaknesses, and strategic direction?  How have they changed in 2011?  What do you anticipate for 2012?

6.) Are you marketing a disruptive technology (one that challenges the status quo and industry dogma)?  If so, what did you accomplish to build credibility with early adopters and opinion leaders in 2011?  Plans for 2012?

7.) What compelled your prospects to do business with you in 2011?  How does this translate going forward?

8.) Was your pricing strategy effective in 2011?  Implications for 2012?  Impact on future revenue and profitability?

9.) Were your profit margins healthy in 2011?  Where are you on the price/value continuum vis-a-vis your competition?

10.) Did you branch into multiple segment opportunities with your products/services in 2011?  Is there an opportunity to do so in 2012?  What is the cost/benefit analysis for doing so?

11.) How did you define and profile and target prospects in 2011?  Was it accurate?  Did you achieve what you had set out to achieve?  Does this need calibration for 2012?

12.) What did you see as an average adoption rate for your products/services in 2011?  Is this what you anticipated?  Do you need to fine tune your perceptions of your sales cycle?

13.) Was your sales cycle in alignment with your projections?  What did you learn about lead times in 2011?  Any changes anticipated for 2012?

14.) Did you use a Customer Relationship Management tool in 2011?  Any changes needed for execution in 2012?  Are you fully leveraging your database to build strong relationships?

15.) Was your sales strategy validated in 2011?  Any changes needed for 2012?

16.) Did you execute a Professional Standards Strategy in 2011?  Was it effective?  Did you recruit support from key opinion leaders in 2011?  How does this affect your plans for 2012?

17.) Did you create and execute a detailed marketing plan in 2011?  Was it effective?  How did you measure ROI?  How does this influence your marketing plans for 2012?

18.) Did you execute a formal brand strategy in 2011?  Did you build brand equity as a result?  How does this influence your brand strategy for 2012?

19.) How effective was your marketing communications strategy in 2011?  Did you meet your budget?  How did you measure ROI?  Implications for 2012?

20.) Did you develop and conduct sales training in 2011?  Was it effective?  What are the skill gaps that need to be addressed in 2012?

21.) Did you execute a sales channel strategy in 2011?  Was it effective?  What needs to happen to improve channel relationships and revenue growth in 2012?

22.) Review your sales compensation plan for your channels and sales associates.  Did this result in the behavior you wanted?  What changes should be made, if any, for 2012?

23.) Did you execute a sales support strategy in 2011?  Was it effective?  What performance gaps need to be addressed for improved performance in 2012?

24.) Did you add to your customer preferential advantage in 2011?  What can you do to build your competitive advantage in 2012?

25.) Is there an associated service opportunity for your business?

26.) Are your customers emotionally and cognitively engaged with your brand and business?  What can you do to strengthen these relationships in 2012?

27.) Are your associates emotionally and cognitively engaged with your leadership and business?  What can you do to strengthen these relationships in 2012?

28.) Did you employ Professional Development Plans for your associates in 2011?  Will you do so in 2012?

I hope these are helpful for you in support of your year-end review!

© 2011, Terry Murray.

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October 17, 2011 · 9:16 pm

Building Your Market Presence, Brick by Brick by Brick

Key Concept ~ Getting your value proposition into the market is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.  Creating a mindful communication strategy is just the start.  Sticking with it, and executing with authentic intention and persistence can create a groundswell of visibility in a relatively short period of time.

As we turn the bend into the last quarter of 2011, we find the strategic planning season once again falling upon us like the colorful leaves of autumn.  It is a time of retrospection and reflection of what strategies are working well and those that may be best left behind.  Let’s face it, as intrinsically motivated entrepreneurs that are continuously looking forward, we often don’t take the time to fully appreciate what we’ve accomplished in the recent past and how these accomplishments are building our visibility and momentum going forward.

We at Performance Transformation, LLC™ began the year with the publication of my book, “The Transformational Entrepreneur ~ Engaging the Mind, Heart & Spirit For Breakthrough Business Success”.  This was no small feat, representing the culmination of more than two decades of real-world experience that took nearly three years to write and publish.  One must take into account, even the most highly publicized and promoted book can take upwards of nine months to gain traction in the book market.  And that’s what we’re starting to see.  Approximately six months after publication, we’re beginning to see how the cornerstone of our communications strategy is resonating strongly with its intended audience.  Entrepreneurs are embracing the book’s lessons and experiencing how, when these lessons are applied, their own success is accelerating at an unprecedented rate!

Here’s a synopsis of what we’ve experienced in just the past six months as a result of executing on our communications strategy:

We presented at the annual American Society for Training and Development Conference in May.

We’ve conducted nine interviews on both local and syndicated radio programs around the nation.  We’re about to schedule an additional eleven in the coming months.

Our value proposition has appeared in Forbes, on MSNBC, on The Investor Business Daily’s site, and on NewsBlaze.com, venues that have approximately 40 million views per month!  Our work has also been picked up by literally dozens of other local, business oriented websites around the country and the world.

Our articles are being published by larger and larger internet venues, most recently on AOL Jobs, which has nearly 4 million views per month.

“The Transformational Entrepreneur” is beginning to receive unsolicited book reviews, and positive ones at that (you should know, traditional publishers pay book reviewers and book reviewing companies to hawk their titles…it is a subtle manipulation of public opinion to drive book sales…most reviews are not independent, they’re paid for)!  The book reviews are beginning to be picked up by other sites as well.

In just a little over six months, our blog postings, press releases (which we employ judiciously), and published articles have enjoyed tens of thousands of unique views.  The top three sources of our traffic are Linkedin, The Wall Street Journal Online, and Google.  And we don’t even invest in Google Adwords or pay to be on any “lead development sites”!  Our search engine optimization is organic, based upon our cumulative activity on the web.

In just the past three months, we’ve been on the road a solid two months, conducting our workshops and programs in Florida, Colorado, Montana, and Hawaii.  We’re also forging partnerships with additional organizations in Florida, Missouri, Illinois, and New England for next year. 

My point is, you can do this too!  And for a lot less money than you may think.  The world is changing in unprecedented ways and your communications strategy must reflect this new environment.  The key is to hone your value proposition and execute from a position of discipline and structure while still being nimble in your thinking.  You’re welcome to drop us a line and we’d be happy to explore how our approach can help accelerate your market presence and resulting market traction as well.

© 2011, Terry Murray.

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October 15, 2011 · 11:26 pm

Executing Your Vision with Aloha Spirit

Key Concept ~ The Performance Transformation team was recently in Hawaii working with a client to help bring support programs for combat veterans and their families to the islands.  The programs our team delivered were life changing and authentically transformational for those that attended.

The Aloha Spirit of the Horse

Aloha!  I never fully understood the meaning of this term, but I do now.  In traditional Hawaiian culture, the Aloha Spirit is a way of reaching self-perfection; of acknowledging one’s own presence and the presence of another through the breath of life and mana (divinity) that resides in all people and living beings.  It is a way of creating and sharing positive feelings and thoughts, which aligns meticulously with being a Transformational Entrepreneur.  Aloha Spirit resonates beyond one’s self throughout the entire community.

Adaptive Team Building with Aloha Spirit – October, 2011, Hawaii

The Performance Transformation team just returned from Oahu where we were hired to conduct a series of workshops for our client, the Palmarie Community Transformation Alliance and their partner, Equine 808 (Hawaii’s first and only horse rescue organization).  These organizations exemplify the Aloha Spirit and are to be commended!  The two nonprofits have come together in authentic partnership to serve those that society has forgotten; our veterans, their families, and abandoned horses and feral donkeys.  It is difficult to fully describe the healing effect the rescue horses had on our homeless veterans, active duty service personnel, their dependents, and people in addiction recovery.

We started working with Palmarie a few short months ago, conducting our Transformational Entrepreneur Process™ with them to create a mindful strategic plan.  In less than six months, our client completed their plan, established a partnership with Equine 808, has met with a top five defense contractor and community leaders for funding, and made significant contact with a key politician that has offered to introduce legislation to donate stables, infrastructure, and land that has been turned over to Hawaii by the U.S. Navy.  Their momentum and execution of their strategic plan is remarkable!  It is a shining example of what can emerge when Vision aligns with Intention and a highly structured and mindful approach to strategic planning is embraced.  Simply put, our approach works; for both for profit and nonprofit organizations!

If you’d like to see more images and a detailed description of our work together, please click on our blog, Leadership Development and Adaptive Team Building.  This is what being a Transformational Entrepreneur is all about…and it resonates with the Aloha Spirit!

Photos courtesy of Precision Photography of Honolulu.
© 2011, Terry Murray.

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October 6, 2011 · 10:26 am

The Resonance of Steve Jobs ~ Lessons for Transformational Entrepreneurs

Key Concept ~ Transformational Entrepreneurs change the world in ways that resonate in peoples’ hearts.  Steve Jobs discovered this years ago, and his legacy offers lessons we can all learn from to lead us from challenges to championships.

I’m writing this blog tonight from a condo in Makaha, Oahu on my MacBook Pro, the surf pounding away just outside the open sliding glass doors singing its eternal song.  One that will out live us all.  It is a reflective night for me, and one I wish to share with you.  Steve Jobs passed on today, falling from our realm due to pancreatic cancer.  I lost my own father in 1999 to the same disease, a mere two months after he retired from thirty years of service at Polaroid Corporation.  I was 36 years old at the time and only a few weeks shy of my being promoted to Vice President of International Marketing with STERIS® Corporation.  Something that would have made him proud beyond words if he had lived to see it.  There’s a personal nexus in this reflection for me on several levels.

The reason I’m in Hawaii tonight is I’m helping a fledgling nonprofit called Palmarie Community Transformation Alliance introduce a program to the islands that I helped create called Warriors in Transition.  The workshop is designed to assist combat veterans and their families transition from the military to civilian life.  I first came to these islands thirty years ago, as a Naval Intelligence Specialist, following in my father’s footsteps, and his father’s before him, and his father’s before him.  I was fifth generation Navy.  I came out to the Pacific to find my own stride in the sands of the footsteps of my forefathers, quite literally.  As my service drew to a close, my Dad helped me apply for college while I was at sea off the Persian Gulf, at his alma mater, The Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire.  My father was a member of the school’s first graduating class in 1963, the year I was born.  In fact, my first home was in married student housing at UNH.  Upon my return to civilian life, my father bought me an Apple II to help me with my studies.  I was thrilled with this remarkable device.  I would come home from class each day and transcribe my notes from lectures onto its 128K memory, green screen glowing, onto a floppy disk, my text book beside me to gather in all I had learned that day.  It was Steve’s machine I was engraining my knowledge upon.

As I matriculated up the ole’ corporate ladder I found myself investing in one Mac after another, unhappy with the frustrating slop MicroSoft and the clone machines heaped upon the masses.  I invested in Steve’s technology with my own money, when I had little, because it gave me an edge.  His vision enabled my vision to emerge.  Today, the resonance of Steve Jobs touches everything I do.  Not simply transactionally, as my firm edits our own videos on Final Cut Pro or the use of the iPhone or when I meditate to tracks from iTunes.  But in the lessons in behavioral economics and emotional engagement I speak to with every client we engage.  With every veteran I engage.  Steve got it.  And he got it before the rest of us did.  Just try to pry his technology from the hands of his customers, I dare you!  We are emotionally engaged with the elegance of Apple technology because Steve Jobs understood that we are emotional beings.  When we engage the heart, the mind follows…as well as the wallet.  Human beings are motivated by our Core Emotional Systems.  This has been proven scientifically by Dr. Jaak Panksepp (Google him…it’s worth a look).  It has to do with our primary survival mechanisms…it’s what has kept us alive long enough to evolve to the place we are today.  It’s why our Experiential Learning Workshops involve horses.  Yet these Core Emotions; Seeking, Fear, Panic, Rage, Caring, Playfulness, and Lust, still motivate and drives our behavior.  Whether we’re aware of it or not.  That’s another lesson, one of Emotional Intelligence, which Steve mastered decades ago.

Passion matters.  Vision matters.  Intention matters.  It resonates in those that we lead and those that we do business with as Transformational Entrepreneurs.  It’s how we change the world for the better.  And none did it better than Steve Jobs.

So as I sit here tonight, after working in the anti-technology environment of the old Dole pineapple plantations with veterans of Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, holding the space for them to engage in their own emotional intelligence in order to process their pain and trauma with horses rescued from despair, I find myself coming full circle.  Of understanding the emotional context of what it means to be a human being.  Of helping those around us find their own vision and path to healing and redemption.  Of thinking of my father…and of Steve and what he’s accomplished.  He held the courage to be a visionary.  He was thrown out of the company he founded only to return to it once the corporate hacks had lead it to the brink of demise (Apple was within three months of running out of cash upon his return) and lead it to the second most valuable company on the face of the planet.

Find your vision.  Find your courage to follow your vision.  And what the hell, change the world while you’re at it!  Steve did.

© 2011, Terry Murray

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October 4, 2011 · 5:22 pm

How Authentic Community Service Can Be Your Most Powerful Networking Tool

Key Concept ~ Transformational Entrepreneurs work towards creating positive change for those they serve.  Community service is a natural extension of authentic intention and can open some surprising doors for your business.

Those of you that follow this blog may have noticed new articles have been a bit light over the past week.  The reason for this is the Performance Transformation team is currently in Hawaii conducting a series of Equine Facilitated Learning workshops in Leadership Development and Team Building for a client.

We’re also here assisting a nonprofit introduce our Warriors in Transition workshop to the islands in support of our combat veterans and family members.  Warriors in Transition employs our proprietary Accretive Coaching Process℠ along with ground-based experiential learning exercises with horses to help veterans build emotional intelligence and life skills.  In doing so, we support successful transitions from military service back to civilian life, as well as support active duty military families throughout the deployment cycle.  The program, which we also conduct in partnership with Quantum Leap Farms in Odessa, Florida, was formally commended by General David Petraeus in 2009.

Researching, developing, and validating the Warriors in Transition program was no small undertaking.  It is the culmination of three years of pro bono effort and investment.  Yet, the potential we saw in our approach for creating positive, transformational change for our veterans and their family members was so strong we felt compelled to reach out in support of this valiant community.  As we moved forward, we also came to realize the approach, when conducted in partnership with a licensed psychologist, offered exceptional therapeutic opportunities for veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  In effect, the exercises with the horses enable Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to happen in real time.

To the point…

The nonprofit we’re helping here in Hawaii was able to secure a meeting with a major defense contractor to discuss potential funding and invited me along to present our program.  On Sunday I was joyfully covered in red dust, leading an Equine Facilitated Team Building workshop with a wonderful team of people on a former pineapple plantation overlooking Honolulu, Diamondhead, and the vast Pacific Ocean.  The next day, I found myself on the 26th floor of a palatial, downtown high-rise, meeting with some of the most influential business leaders in these islands.  The gentlemen we met with embraced the mission of Warriors in Transition and basically opened up their rolodex and told us, “Tell them we told you to call them…they’ll want to know about this.”

So, because three years ago I saw an opportunity to be of service to our veterans and their families, and acted upon it with authentic intention, I find myself accessing a network of business and community leaders I would have never met any other way.  I find myself in a part of the world and in a culture I could have never accessed on Linkedin, Facebook, or any of the other social media marvels of the day.  Yes, it takes some time, but it is all about building strong relationships and leading from a perspective of service.  Your intention must be authentic, and if it is, it will resonate in others.  And some amazing doors will open before you!

© 2011, Terry Murray.

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