How good is your writing? find out in a few simple steps

Without any further ado, let me get straight to your writing.

Agreed, you don’t want to be a writer, that does not qualify you to write badly and not care about it. For starters, people who read your writing get traumatized for understanding what you have written. People with low self esteem might think its their fault, while it was actually yours.

Writing is all about ease of reading. (Easier said than done, most people write only for themselves, in which case, this article is of no use to you. Go back to what you were doing. This article is for those who write for others)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_test

Please click on the link above for the technicalities of the theory, this article is written to raise your interest, that’s it.

Did you know the Reader’s digest magazine is written with a readability ease of 65.

In the state of Florida, all insurance documents have to have readability above 45.Yes, it is a law which ensures a man with average IQ can understand the terms and conditions in a language he can comprehend.

The readability ease score for this document is 66.5 (Note: that’s almost Reader’s digest standards)

I recommend this concept to improve your writing, if you think you can do better.

Educational gaming is on the rise

This is good news for WisdomToolz. As you dwell deeper into the article it also highlights our biggest fears

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/05/03/educational-gaming-on-the-rise-but-funding-remains-a-challenge/

Our biggest fear is the attention game based learning gets versus simulation. Simulation and games are two different methods. I should confess, for want of a better example, I’ve introduced the simulation concepts to many clients as “Game based”.

Enjoy the article

Is Analysis a skill OR a frame of mind?

WisdomToolz successfully implemented a program titled “Performance Analysis toolkit”, the program was designed to help delegates get the analysis frame of mind while MS excel was merely a tool to aid analysis.

One of the main reasons behind “paralysis by extensive analysis” is the focus on the tool more than the output the analysis provides. Six sigma projects are more about common sense, but they insist on Pareto charts to identify major causes, is Pareto the only way to find out what your burning problems are?

Well, not many black belts will be able to answer that. Pareto is a tool, it is not analysis.

For more on the Performance Analysis course, you can click the link below

http://www.wisdomtoolz.com/corporate-offering-performance-analysis-tool-kit-simulation.html

Intuitive Analysis- Our new offering

WisdomToolz was commissioned to conduct a Performance Analysis program at a Client location. True to our vision, we decided to take on the program from a different perspective.

Usual programs would approach the program from Excel point of view while we decided to think analysis as a skill and excel as a means to achieve.

The program teaches delegates to use Intuition to look for solutions, in the journey to solve the mystery, they are encouraged to use excel.

I’m happy to report the approach as a success, delegates have welcomed the program. Today is the last day of the session, I can foresee the value they would derive from this exercise.

Many more milestones ahead, this is just the beginning…..

Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others

Again, this quote is not mine, but it was too good a point not to share.

In our experience promoting our new simulation courses, I’ve seen the difference between visionary leaders and the others. Visionary leaders want the best for their teams and they ask tuff questions to us before making that buying decision. We love it.

What we don’t understand is the OTHERS, they don’t know what they want and they don’t care what their team needs. We are looking for methods to reach out to the OTHERS, they seem to be the majority population.

I was reading a manifesto called “Stop Stealing dreams” by Seth Godin, it clearly states the root cause of the current leadership crisis at most corporates. All of us were educated in the 1925 style industrial economy compliant education system. The only aim of that system was to produce a workforce which could obey the terms and conditions set by the industrialists. Things have clearly changed since then.

The fact that you are reading this article is proof enough that you appreciate thoughts, it is time to act of them. All the very best.

Discipline is remembering what you want

David Campbell’s quote finds mention as the title for this blog, simply put, it defines our achievements so far.

We were clear about what we wanted to accomplish as a company, then we took steps to reach there. It is a difficult question to answer, if you posed “Have we achieved it”. The answer is in no certain terms.

Here is what we want to achieve (we’ve only taken baby steps)

“We want to change the way people learn on this planet”

Simple, yet a interesting challenge to overcome.

When the grass is green on the other side, may be they take good care of it there

This one made a lot of sense. This quote is by Cecil Selig. It speaks volumes about aspiration. We don’t usually see or even care why the grass is green on the other side.

I’ve decided to ask what is that the other person is doing to make his side look greener henceforth.

I promise…….

When do you know you have a great idea?

I’ve seen a few trends when people like your idea, they may not appreciate it they way you like it. Look for the below statements and you know you have managed to shake their intellectual lethargy (Pun intended)

1. I know someone who does something similar, very interesting

2. I had a similar idea, not in the same domain though (And they will give you their spin)

3. I like the flow, I was wondering if we can work on something on a different platform?

When you hear this from the person/organization, you know you have made some in-roads there. Now it is all about capitalizing on it. There is where the sales professional in you rolls up the sleeve.

What has never been doubted, has never been proven

When we (WisdomToolz) embarked on a simulation based platform to making learning a pleasure, many well-wishers (Those who wanted me to be safe than sorry) insisted on taking the time tested route. Start small, expand it with market response, strike gold at the end.

We decided to heed to a few sensible ones, but we decided to have a healthy disrespect towards time tested methods in the Training Business. We would have been another training company if we tried the time tested methods.

I’m happy to announce the response of the market as superbly encouraging.

We will soon change the learning landscape for good. Await a few more path breaking changes at WisdomToolz.

Your friendly neighbourhood educationalist…….

Superb learning for Salesmen

This is a quote from Zig Ziglar.

“Every sale has five basic obstacles. No Need, No Money, No Hurry, No Desire, No Trust”

No Need :- The biggest obstacle which can be avoided only if you do your homework. Prospecting can reduce the number of No Need customers. Gone are the days of Ariel bombing, the new word in sales is “Sniper shots”

No Money, No Hurry and No Desire – is what you encounter after your pitch. The easy one to overcome in this list is No Hurry. At least, you can give them an offer to hurry up and pick up a discount. Higher the number of No Desire is a clear reflection of poor salesmanship. No Money should always be read as “I don’t have the money to buy what you are selling, I only have money to buy what I want”. Matching the Clients want with your offering is the only way to tackle this

No Trust- Lesser said the better. This is where reputation building matters. Your Facebook updates, your linked-in updates, your tweets,…are reflection of your personality. Be careful of your online reputation, thanks to traffic, most people would start moving meetings online. They will check you out online, so its as important as personal grooming during a face to face meeting.

So, what messages are your online updates sending to your prospect?