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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Business Dance:

What leotards and pirouettes can teach business leaders

• on CEOs and Flies: p.05 • Protecting while Sharing: p.45 Calvin Cassar

Alan Alden

• Core Competences: p.53

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Editor’s Letter

L

ong have I suspected that every person unwittingly wears his soul upon his face. The kind-heartedness of a person is mirrored onto his facial demeanour, methinks. And down to the more mundane, there is the study of physiognomy - herein understood to signify the appearance of a person’s facial features. This study has been going on for centuries; in fact in the 5th Century B.C. Pythagoras was already basing his student selection upon how they looked.

If positive characteristical traits are embeddable within a person’s face, it could be argued that uncharismatic features display an evil core, and that, likewise, good looking people could not be evil. But whilst “Bloody Mary” the 1st of England doesn’t seem to have been much of a looker, Osama Bin Laden was arguably a goodlooking man.

Whatever the reality behind the study of the face may be, it is an undeniable fact that the likeability of the CEO behind a company on the stock market directly affects stock performance. This factor has inspired the journal to conduct its first visual interview, with a person who is known for his affability. I wish to thus thank Ivan Bartolo, the original founder of 6PM and the current Chief Executive Officer of 6PM Holdings plc, for his patience in having allowed us to subject him to this unique interview.

Enjoy your read.

Jason Attard

editor@the-executive.biz

Our Collaborators:

Published by:

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© All rights reserved. The Publisher’s written consent must be obtained before any part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the editor or publishers. Whilst every care has been taken in compiling contents, the editor and publishers cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. You are reminded of your right to refuse receipt of this publication and/or our other products or services by sending such requests in writing to Effective Marketing Ltd., signed by the person refusing receipt.

iMNG group | Ajiree Court, 04, Testaferrata Street | Ta’ Xbiex XBX1403, Malta | Tel: +356 2010 7775 | info@the-executive.biz www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 3

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

CONTENTS

MARKETING

MARKETING

15.

LIFE STYLE

37.

Marketing and Social Media

45.

Why vs ‘What?’

Albert Caruana

Jonathan Cremona

PLUS CA CHANGE Victor Calleja

INTERVIEWS Sarah Lanzon

Ivan Bartolo The Business Dance: What leotards and pirouettes can teach business leaders

IVAN The Great Communicator

07.

25.

COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS 3a

Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd

MAP.IT

...it’s fun: Helping Relationships grow stronger

a company transformed

The MAP.TIME Timesheet Solution

3a Global Meeting held in November November 2014 in Malta pg. 13 www.the-executive.biz

Couple Cards

pg. 25

pg. 41

pg. 47 The Executive 5

© The Executive

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“For me life is very simple. Life is a sushi bar. You’re there. You’re hungry. Food is passing by.

What you grab is up to you” Ivan Bartolo

Issue No. 62 - 2014

Q&A: Visual Interview with an Entrepreneur - Ivan Bartolo

The Executive

Introducing T he E xecutive Visual Interview Series

Ivan

the Great Communicator Interview: Victor Calleja Photography: Charles Calleja, FOTOISH The Studio

The man is an engine of success. He started a company, saw it grow, and developed it successfully in the ultra difficult international field of software development. He remained at its helm, brought in partners and turned it into a publicly-listed company.

A few months ago 6PM was a finalist in the European Business Awards, a most prestigious acclamation which means more international recognition. But 6PM’s most important recognition has been its core clients who have always seen in Ivan Bartolo and his team a reliable partner and support network for all their business.

My editor handed me an interesting though daunting brief. I was to interview Bartolo while Charles Calleja stood close by to capture Bartolo’s changing facial expressions while I questioned and prodded him. Bartolo sailed through this with amazing dexterity for a man steeped in technology he is still a profound and spiritual person. His main attributes are his forthrightness, farsightedness and honesty.

The following are snippets taken from the lively interview with Bartolo which capture the essence of Ivan Bartolo, who proves beyond doubt that integrity, business, success and even happiness can all co-exist. www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 9

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Who would have said that software, IT, would save lives?

What do you see in the future?

For the future of 6PM I see prosperity, but if you ask me what I see for the future of the world, globally, then all I see is chaos.

But if we act together positively I believe we can change the chaos into a better future.

I don’t believe it saves lives. It helps the clinician and provides you with good support decision systems.

Do you consider yourself a success?

What’s the better scenario: your own company or shareholders?

Shareholders. When the vision is shared by others it is a vaster one. Remaining on my own or with just a couple of partners would never have spurred us to the growth and inner strength we have as a publicly-listed company.

www.the-executive.biz

Yes, I do consider myself a success actually.

I believe I’m successful because I’m a firm believer in people.

I empower people. I am a person who includes everybody.

And success starts most of the time with happiness, which is being able to live with yourself without having any regrets.

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Do your eyes say the truth?

Are people scared of you?

I believe they say more truth than my mouth. And I’m as honest as I can be. One of my biggest failures is that at times I am too trustworthy. In the past I wasn’t a straight-talker as I am now. I was shy so I didn’t look people in the eye. But I was still straight in my dealings.

No, I don’t think they’re scared of me. I think we have a great relationship—me and all my work colleagues. We always—and I sincerely believe this—work as a unit, as a great team. Even in our failings we remain a team.

Do your younger partners let you breathe?

Yes. They let me breathe because they are good partners, and very good business people, so they have as much vision as I do.

I think the 6PM people owe their allegiance to me and the organisation. One of the reasons we moved to bigger premises is because we want to shift their allegiance from me to the brand completely.

Something goes drastically wrong at the best of times. Anger management or angry management?

Anger management.

12 The Executive

www.the-executive.biz

Are you afraid of being fired?

Failings: we have all had some of these horrors. What was your worst?

My worst failure in life was that at a young age I never realised how important education is. I do believe that academic success doesn’t necessarily reflect success in life.

But what I really think I did wrong was that I went into business when still too young.

Not at all. It’s always a possibility. I’m looking for a successor at the moment. It is my responsibility to make sure we’ll have one over the next two years. And when we find the right person, and I feel that we are on the right track, I will realise it’s a good time to go.

I had started a company which failed completely. It was called Intel Programming and Services Limited. I was too young. I did not know how to deal with people.

Making the right choices is always part of success. As with everything in life, failure can be part of our life and moving on to new paths is a necessary passage. Life is a sushi bar.

You’re there, you’re hungry. Food is passing by. What you grab is up to you. And you inherently know when to stop.

Are you in direct contact with God?

Finally are you happy?

I think I would be arrogant if I said yes. I try, but...

I’m happy yes—but like all of us here on earth sometimes I have doubts and sometimes I’m angry. The spiritual helps to make us realise how small in the scheme of things we all are—but it also makes you realise you are an essential, even if small, part of the whole universe. And finally today I’m very happy and excited because I have never been interviewed like this. I think it’s very innovative. Thank you. I look forward to seeing it in print.

www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 13

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

Company Highlight: 3a

The Executive

3a Global Meeting held in November 2014 in Malta

A year ago, in November 2013, 3a launched its 3a Global Network, with the Malta and Cyprus firms becoming the founding members of this network. 3a Global Network has therefore become Malta’s first association of audit, accountancy and advisory firms which has utilised the experience of a jurisdiction with a diverse range of foreign investment and business involved in an array of different industries, to develop a network for member firms with similar objectives and values who seek to grow and handle clients with both a local and international growth perspective.

3

a Global Network’s vision is to become a leading professional services network worldwide, through the investment of resources physical and human as well as the latest knowledge sharing technologies and infrastructure. In this last year it has worked to make this quest a reality.

This culminated in the first 3a Global Firms Meeting which was held at The Palace Hotel Sliema on the 21st and 22nd November bringing representatives from firms with offices in London UK, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Czech Republic, Italy, Cyprus and Malta.

Throughout this event, a number of presentations and workshops were conducted focusing on 3a Global network tools and resources, firms’ technical presentations detailing advantages and information about each respective jurisdiction as well as technical workshops on relevant subjects.

3a Global Network is an ideal platform enabling SMPs in different jurisdictions to enhance their service offering. The Network offers these distinct benefits:

1. A bespoke cloud based IT infrastructure which shall ensure ease to search resources and information by each member firm as well as a tool for use by each member firm own staff and clients.

2. An online portal with a number of utilities which shall ensure exposure through investment in SEO and social media marketing and direct client enquiries as well as direct chain of communication between all member firms.

3. A set-up which will allow exposure of the member firms and their clients to international business and opportunities and access to experts in various fields in different key jurisdictions.

4. A fresh corporate identity inclusive of all the necessary tool and utilities which will ensure that all member firms have a standard approach in which they portray their image and their work.

5. A bespoke Quality Management System which has been developed on the needs of members firms to ensure cost effective quality and standard of service offering whilst at the same time retaining a personal relationship centricity with both other member firms as well as end clients.

3a Global Association Registered Office: Level 2, Palazzo Ca’ Brugnera, Valley Road, B’Kara BKR 9024 Website: www.3aglobalnet.com www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 15

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Issue No. 61 - 2014

The Executive

MARKETING

Marketing and Social Media Albert Caruana

The rise of social media provides significant challenges to marketing practitioners. Some understanding of what is going on is essential for effective decision-making. The significant growth in marketing in the late 1940’s and 1950’s came about with the rise of mass production, that could provide for a huge market represented by middle America and the concomitant rise of mass media, that made it possible for manufacturers to reach a willing market. It was especially the time when advertising became an important marketing tool. A similar parallel can be drawn with the rise of web 2.0, social media and how customers interact. It is this aspect that will be first discussed followed by an example of a success and a failure story, the need for a social media planning process and certain pitfalls, conveniently termed as the seven deadly sins, that managers should seek to avoid. www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 17

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

L

et us start by looking at web 2.0. First, can anyone remember what Web 1.0 was and what it was about? With Web 1.0 users were able to access and interact with sites on the multimedia platform that came to be known as the “World Wide Web”. A great majority of early websites were what came to be termed “brochure ware”. Websites were mostly used to find information and conduct online purchases of many kinds. Of course these are activities that consumers still do. But the medium has continued to develop. Contrasting Web 2.0 against Web 1.0, we can note evolution in terms of: Personal websites vs. Blogging; Publishing vs. Participation; Britannica Online vs. Wikipedia; DoubleClick vs.

Google AdSense; Page views vs.

Cost per click; Content management systems vs. Wikis. These contrasts indicate what has changed and give some indication of what is becoming increasingly possible.

Web 2.0 is the Internet “now” to Web 1.0 as the Internet “then”.

Web 2.0 has more to do with what people are doing with technology than technology itself. Soon after the dotcom bust of 2001, Tim

Marketing and Social Media

O’Reilly suggested the term Web 2.0 to describe the new reality.

Web 2.0 is seen as “the way that business embraces the strengths of the web and uses it as a platform.”

Indeed web 2.0 is best thought of as a platform that allows for a series of application progressions which enable the social phenomena of collective media and that facilitates consumer-generated content.

Kaplar and Haenlein in 2010 defined social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content.” Besides User Generated Content, or UGC in short, this aspect is also known as Consumer Generated Media (CGM) and Consumer Generated Advertising (CGA).

Social media are essentially vehicles for carrying content. This embraces a number of applications that include: Social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, Blogs, Micro blogs such as twitter, Picture sharing sites like Flickr, Video sharing sites like YouTube and Social news websites such as Reddit.

Social media have characteristics that distinguish them from other media in that content can be created using highly accessible (easy to get to) and scalable (reach large numbers) publishing techniques.

Social media represent technologies that allow the transformation of monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). Because they are within the reach of many, social media transforms individuals from content consumers into content producers. Indeed, power comes from the fact that we as users or consumers are all connected via the web.

Social Media is a function of the technology, culture and government of a particular country that necessarily condition the extent of creative expression by consumers. It allows for the production of content to shift from the exclusive domain of firms to consumers.

Moreover, the web allows interaction among consumers that effectively empowers them to make their point. This represents a marked departure from the ‘one to many’ model of communication traditionally practiced by firms in advertising.

Synopsis Organisation culture must be built on trust and fairness.

Structures must be in place to ensure individual growth, empowerment, involvement, reward and motivation.

In Performance Evaluation, the focus should be on the future development needs and not on the past and what has

Dove’s repositioning to a metabrand was successfully accomplished via the ‘Campaign for Real Beauty”.

www.the-executive.biz

gone wrong.

The Executive 19

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Marketing and Social Media Much of the web 2.0 environment is based on humour and satire.

“

Any good strategy starts with clear objectives. What do you want to do?

Do you want to listen, talk, energise, support, embrace?

Seven Deadly Sins Paralleling the seven deadly sins that have been used in a Christian tradition to highlight humanity’s tendency to sin, Jay Baer, a social media strategist, lists seven deadly sins of social media implementation that management needs to be aware of and avoid.

Sin 1 - Deafness: management needs to actively listen to what is being said about the brand. This is at the core of social media.

Sin 2 - Slowness: If it takes management too long to react the opportunity vanishes. Web 2.0 is very much a ‘now’ environment.

Sin 3 - Caution: If management encourages everyone to be really careful, they will end up doing nothing. There is a need to delegate and empower if the firm is to facilitate social media conversations.

Sin 4 – Phoniness: social media users are often savvy and can tell when things are not as they seem. Participating in your own praise is generally not a good idea. It is critical to seek engagement at par.

Sin 5 - Greed: Managers need to be willing to share information. A failure to provide useful content will not earn the firm customers’ appreciation.

Sin 6 - Inflexibility: Managers need to recognise that it is not they that make the rules and web 2.0 is a separate world with its own rules. It is they that have to adapt.

Sin 7 – Seriousness: Much of the web 2.0 environment is based on humour and satire. If you cannot take the heat do not stay near the fire.

www.the-executive.biz

Stories of Success and Failure These developments represent both an opportunity and a challenge to firms. Two examples will be provided; the first deals with Dove, a Unilever brand, and the second with United Airlines.

”

Briefly, the case of Dove represents an interesting success story.

Dove was a soap brand that over the years had highlighted its unique differentiating character via its claim of keeping skin soft because it had a significant cream content. As part of its brand rationalisation, Unilever sought to create a number of metabrands that would encompass a whole range of products. Dove was chosen as one such brand that would encompass a range of personal care products.

Clearly this required repositioning.

It was achieved via their very successful ‘campaign for real beauty’.

They leveraged both traditional and social media (e.g., Dove evolution on YouTube highlighting why our perception of beauty is distorted) around the theme that everyone could be beautiful.

Social media is empowering to consumers so a quick search will show up various examples of satire and humour and the discussions that the brand was able to nurture in its successful attempt at repositioning.

The Executive 21

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Marketing and Social Media

“

Social media is empowering to consumers so a quick search will show up various examples of satire and humour and the discussions that the brand was able to nurture in its successful attempt at repositioning.

” In the case of United Airlines this was a fairly straightforward case of a singer, Dave Caroll, who checked in his guitar as part of his luggage on a flight with United. The guitar was damaged due to poor baggage handling by the loaders.

Complaints to the airline got him nowhere so he decided to write a song that he played and posted on YouTube. The national TV networks in the US picked it up and it went viral. Of course, as an aspiring singer the person concerned had his agenda too.

Both cases leverage the empowerment the various social media platforms that the web provides and its diffusion among increasingly networked customers.

Social Media Planning Process Social Media looks easy. Establish a Facebook page, go on Twitter, post on YouTube and you are done. Unfortunately, it is not so easy and it is particularly hard when you target 18 to 30 year olds.

As in all aspects of marketing, understanding people is critical. You cannot assume your content is relevant. You need to say something interesting and to target the 10% of influential users that ultimately www.the-executive.biz

can reach the rest. This requires a solid understanding of how social networks work. It is worth bearing in mind that users may not pay attention to what marketers say but they do pay a lot of attention to each other. In addition, besides an external audience, marketers also need to think of the people within the organisation. Who is going to champion this? Buy-in and support from senior managers is critical.

Any good strategy starts with clear objectives. What do you want to do? Do you want to listen, talk, energise, support, embrace? What do you want to talk about? What do you want to change? Can you quantify this? How will you get buy-in? Good strategy also requires adequate structure for implementation and social media cannot generally be handled effectively by the traditional centralised structures. It is a ‘now’ medium that requires ‘now’ decisions and reactions. Only when objectives are clear can one start to think about which social media platforms lend themselves best to support the current strategy. A major attraction of social media against other types of media is measurability.

If clear and measurable objectives have been set, the web provides an array of sites (e.g., Google analytics, Twitanalyzer, social mention) that can provide an array of metrics that can be very useful.

There is much in social media that is new and which we do not readily understand. A few decades ago mass media represented an important tool that marketing could use to foster exchange.

Today we are faced with a new medium that provides both challenges and opportunities that require astute thinking for successful implementation of marketing activities and exchange.

This article summarises a presentation at a seminar organised by The Executive Events.

Albert Caruana is Professor of Marketing

at

the University of Malta and at the University of Bologna, Italy.

The Executive 23

Issue No. 62 - 2014

Company Highlight: Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd

The Executive

Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd: a company transformed Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd may be a new name in the insurance market, however the broking firm, previously known as KDM Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd, is no stranger to the industry. The company has been offering insurance broking services to its clients for a number of years, and many of these clients have been with them since its inception. “We are happy to partner with the M. Demajo Group, which has over a century of experience in various commercial sectors, Godwin Bencini, the insurance expert and Graham Bencini, a Certified Public Accountant by profession, and to have them on board as shareholders within the operation,” said Mr. Kenneth De Martino, company chairman. “With Godwin Bencini in the driving seat as Managing Director, we are confident that we can exploit the right synergies to maximise the potential of our operation.”

G

odwin E. Bencini has a long and successful career in the financial services industry. With over 40 years of experience in the insurance field, he is considered to be a leading authority on insurance in Malta. He has set up Professional Indemnity and Medical Malpractice insurance policies for various professions, including architects and physiotherapists. His expertise and excellent reputation in the field, is considered to be one of the major assets of Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd. “Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Ltd will continue to build on its reputation as a reliable, quality insurance broking service provider to the corporate market” stated Mr Bencini. “We are known as the go-to broker for niche markets and specialised classes of insurance. We will strengthen our position in that area as well as extend our service offering to new markets. All our employees are very well versed in their particular area of insurance expertise. Our diverse knowledge and experience places us in a position to offer all round expert support and service to existing and potential new

clients. This, coupled with the high level of quality service which both KDM and M. Demajo Group are synonymous with, will lay the foundation for a positive and successful future together.”

Accord Insurance Brokers PCC Limited is licensed as an insurance broker Protected Cell Company (PCC) in Malta and Europe.

This will enable cells to benefit from their insurance broker licence with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) which brings about a number of practical (and financial) benefits to large organisations and insurance brokers worldwide. Their set up can be of particular interest to foreign brokers seeking to redomicile, to international trading companies with a large insurance spend, and to prospective insurance brokers. Currently Malta is the only full EU jurisdiction with a PCC facility, and Accord; previously KDM Insurance, was the first licenced broker PCC. All the new partners realise the potential for further development of the PCC operation and discussions are already in progress with prospective clients to explore the options further.

For additional information please visit Accord at their new offices at 141, Old Bakery Street Valletta, visit their website at www.accordinsurance.com.mt or contact them on 2552 3636. www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 25

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

Q&A: Interview with an Entrepreneur - Sarah Lanzon

The Executive

The Business Dance:

What leotards and pirouettes can teach business leaders Sarah Lanzon is a professional dancer who has made her professional debut in 2006, when she was chosen to choreograph a 30-minute performance for the opening ceremony of the Euro-Med Congress of Radiographers held in Malta. Since then, Sarah has taken her dancing career to new heights and has recently started her own business which is based upon her passion for dancing and helping others. www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 27

Trade Finance Solutions engineered for business success

FIMBank is an international trade finance specialist with an established reputation as a dynamic and customer-driven provider of trade finance solutions.

FIMBank is headquartered in Malta and benefits from a growing network of international offices.

fimbank.com

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

S

arah Lanzon has been dancing for as long as she remembers; yet when asked to pinpoint the moment when she decided to become a professional dancer, she says that the decision emerged in a very spontaneous manner. After having successfully completed her Russian Ballet Society soloist ballet exam at 16 - one of the youngest candidates ever to sit for it - she felt it was only natural to take her dancing career further and two years later she enrolled at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester, where she studied a variety of styles of dance performance.

Interview with an Entrepreneur: Sarah Lanzon

Sarah Lanzon also offer specialised dance classes and physical therapy sessions for people with disabilities or mobility problems. By tailoring her approach to the specific needs of her clients, she provides a service that uniquely addresses their needs not just from a weakness perspective, but more so from a holistical one.

This is not unlike the emphasis on individualised customer service and tailored solution that characterises innovative businesses.

After completing her academic studies, Sarah moved to London where she applied her dancing skills in a variety of settings where she could help other people improve their lives. She was asked by businesses to teach their employees stretching exercises, correct posture and preventive techniques to avoid injury.

Having dedicated a significant amount of time doing voluntary work in Malta, Sarah also decided to apply her dancing skills in therapeutic scenarios.

While in London, she also worked at Parkinson’s UK, an organisation that supports people with Parkinson’s and researchers searching for a cure for this debilitating condition. She fondly recalls her experiences of watching patients and their carers; often wives and husbands, dance together and having fun. She thus became aware of the power of dance to improve one’s life.

In April 2013, Sarah hosted an intensive dance retreat which focused on body awareness: helping people become more aware of tensions in their bodies and through this awareness begin undoing bad posture habits that lead to back and neck problems, which are very prevalent in the local population.

A month later, following the success of that retreat, Sarah moved back to Malta and people began asking her for more classes that would teach them about body movement and injury prevention. Deciding to embrace both the artistic as well as the therapeutic aspects of dance, she founded ‘Plethora Dance’, an organisation whose name reflects the manifold application of dance as well as the great variety of styles.

www.the-executive.biz

photo: Lock and Key Photography

Besides creating the choreography for dance productions and working alongside engaged couples on dance routines for their wedding day, Sarah is regularly engaged by companies to offer health and safety classes to their employees and teach about movement efficiency and measures to reduce neck and backache due to standing or sitting for long hours. She demonstrates how people can become better at caring for their body through stretching techniques and better awareness.

The Executive 29

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive Indeed, one of Sarah Lanzon’s key competencies is her ability to focus on the person standing before her as a whole organism. To illustrate this point, she offers a comparison between a specialist who examines a patient complaining of a painful knee by looking at the knee only, whereas she would look at the person as a whole and take into consideration other possible causes for this condition, such as flat arches due to an incorrect walking technique. Having a narrow focus when looking at problems, even business challenges, is often the cause of much frustration for leaders. Taking a wider perspective and thinking in the long-term rather than the short-term often allows unseen possibilities to emerge.

This ability to look at a given situation holistically is complemented by Sarah’s tendency to build on a client’s strengths rather than focus on weaknesses.

A lesson learnt from her experience in dance is that the body very often has opposing areas of strength and weakness. An area of stiffness in the body is usually accompanied by another area that is more flexible. By highlighting and building on a person’s strength, she lays the groundwork that provides the self-confidence necessary to tackle problematic areas successfully.

www.the-executive.biz

Interview with an Entrepreneur: Sarah Lanzon

When focusing on strengthening any weakness, she points out the importance of regularly reminding the person of previous success. This not only encourages a person towards further growth, but also serves to place any temporary setbacks or flatlines in a wider context of continual improvement, a suggestion that is just as relevant in the therapeutic setting as in the business arena.

Sarah Lanzon already had a clear idea of the work that being self-employed and launching one’s own business involves thanks to her parents and many of her relatives who were in a similar situation as she is nowadays. Although she was never directly involved in her family’s concern, she appreciated the lengthy hours that attend being self-employed. As founder and director of her own company, Plethora Dance, Sarah has had to take several decisions of her own including overseeing marketing and administration work.

Sarah says that she learnt many lessons about running one’s own business after she founded Plethora Dance, and although she does not have a mentor, she was and is always able to depend on a wide network of friends and relatives who support her and provide her with any guidance needed when facing any challenges.

The Executive 31

Prevention and Early Resolution of Conflict

Mediation Training Institute (MTI)

Established in 1985, MTI is the foremost provider of training, certification, licensing and consulting in Workplace Conflict Management and Mediation.

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Discover what Conflict is Costing your Organisation When Mediation works and when it wonʼt Consequences and Types of Conflict Preliminary Meetings with Employees Contracting for Agreement Managing the Context Video Demonstration Practice by Learners …and more!

Successful participation leads to being awarded the “MTI Certificate in Managing Workplace Conflict”.

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Services offered are not intended to be legal advice and never to be interpreted as such. To obtain legal advice, please refer to your legal counsel.

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Interview with an Entrepreneur: Sarah Lanzon

Business lessons from the dance floor During our interview with Sarah Lanzon of Plethora Dance, several similarities between dance and business were raised. Here we summarise eight of the most salient points that emerged during the interview:

•

•

Naturally, a life spent dancing causes one to become very sensitive of their body. Sarah’s first lesson to business leaders is not to neglect their bodies, despite the stresses involved in running a business.

Becoming aware of one’s body can be as simple as closing one’s eyes and mentally scanning their bodies from top to bottom for tension, such as clenched jaws or hunched up shoulders.

•

One’s body is one’s ultimate source of energy. Take care of it by stretching and exercising regularly.

•

Think holistically -- physical fitness is only one side of the coin, emotional well-being is equally important, particularly when working in groups or teams. Sarah believes that a company should at least be united in its vision, if not necessarily in the methods to be used.

Her family were instrumental in this regards, as were relatives and friends who also run their own businesses. Naturally, she also mentions her boyfriend as a source of emotional support that helped her work through some of the toughest challenges involved in setting up her own business.

Whilst Sarah has often had to deal with many aspects of her business on her own, she regularly collaborates with other dance professionals or entrusts people she deems appropriate for the job at hand. She explains that although she is the one calling the shots when dewww.the-executive.biz

•

Stretching does not apply only to the body; stretching one’s organisation may involve taking bold moves that open possibilities hitherto untapped.

•

Challenge people if you need them to be creative. Giving them the trust to explore their ideas will reap benefits not only in terms of innovative ideas but also in improved team spirit and morale.

•

Focus on the positive. Every system has strengths and weakness, just like the human body. Channelling your energy in building on the positive can help you gain confidence and unlock solutions that help you to tackle problematic areas.

•

Study ideas in fields that are very different than your own. An interdisciplinary approach provides the right mix of ideas and perspective that can precipitate creative solutions that are impossible to reach otherwise.

signing a new choreography, she always empowers others to explore their creativity and come up with original artistic visions that they can build upon collaboratively.

In closing, the step that Sarah Lanzon has taken of owning her own business was as graceful and carefully thought out as one of her pirouettes on stage. Her business acumen has been uniquely shaped by her dancing background, blending both areas seamlessly, which is proof of the effectiveness of her interdisciplinary approach both when interacting with clients as well as in managing her own business.

The Executive 33

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Executive Humour

Executive

HUMOUR

“You busy?”

“Just keep an eye on the wind, OK?”

“My last comment ‘appeared’ to be inviting feedback.

Do not be fooled”.

www.the-executive.biz

The company’s marketing strategy became increasingly sophisticated.

The Executive 35

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

MARKETING

WHY VS

‘What?’

Jonathan Cremona

If you’re into football, you’ll know that tactics alone don’t win anything, F.C. Barcelona, for example, do not just deploy great tactics but they also have great players and a phenomenal attacking strategy, whereby it allows them to switch tactics in the same match and still win games as their underlying strategy will always be that of keeping ball possession and wait for the right opening in their opponent’s defence line.

This is possible because the squad’s mindset has assimilated an underlying strategy. Barcelona understands that its USPs are speed of play, great technical players and great dynamism once ball possession is lost. Without having recognised these attributes they would have never been able to produce such exciting football.

Learning from this soccer analogy, we can understand that in business, a holistic strategy is what tilts the balance to one’s advantage and this can only be achieved by asking the right questions and acting accordingly.

W

hether it’s in management meetings, business development opportunities or speaking to a group of people, I’m being often asked the same questions: “Should we start using chat on our website?”, “What more could we do with Facebook?”, “What do you think of Google Plus?” and “How do we use YouTube as a marketing channel?”

But unfortunately the most vital questions never get asked. Everywww.the-executive.biz

one is so busy getting excited about the channels and tactics that they completely ignore the strategy and the brand. It’s tragic that a great number of managers do not have the faintest idea of what makes their offering attractive to their audience.

We get bogged down in so many excel sheets, power point presentations, fancy terms, numbers, profit margins, rrps etc that we end up forgetting the reasons why we do have a customer base in the first place.

Inevitably what we end up doing is just trying to splash our brands all over the place believing that we’re using brilliant marketing tactics, but is this the most productive way to go about it?

Synopsis Organisation culture must be built on trust and fairness.

Structures must be in place to ensure individual growth, empowerment, involvement, reward and motivation.

In Performance Evaluation, the focus should be on the future development needs and not on the past and what has gone wrong.

The Executive 37

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive How can we come up with the best tactics when we have no idea what makes our products desirable? A great way to overcome this pitfall is to stop asking “what” and earnestly start asking “why”, because it is the only way which will empower us to truly understand our unique selling points and which will also help us connect fruitfully with our audience.

Some pertinent “why” questions to ask during our next strategy meeting are: • Why do people love our brand?

• Why do people buy from us?

• Why do they tell other people how great they think we are?

• Why are people loyal to us?

• Why would they never trade us for a cheaper price or item?

www.the-executive.biz

Marketing and Social Media

“What” is actually the tactics; it’s deciding between investing in a fully fledged website or a pimped out Facebook page or spending our entire marketing budgets on tv advertisement.

It’s about the things we can do because we already know where our consumers are, what they’re saying about us, and how we can manage

to add value to the online environments that they’re currently occupying.

“What” should be the natural consequence of the “why.” We need to appreciate that without a strategy and deep respect for the fact that we are the guardians of our brand, everything else is just a pointless tactic.

Jonathan Cremona has over five years experience in he tourism sector marketing Malta as an English Language teaching destination. His transition to the Conference and Incentives sector introduced him to the automotive industry, where he now markets popular brands such as Fiat Alfaromeo, Hyundai, Toyota and Lexus. For the past year Jonathan has been promoted to work in the Business Development department at the Debono Group.

The Executive 39

DIMENSION + BEARING

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Like all living things, organisations suffer from illnesses, ailments, Like all living things, organisation suffers from illnesses, disorders and weaknesses.

There are all types and sorts. ailment, disorders and weaknesses. There are all types and Some areSome hardly others slowslow you down andand keep you back. sorts. arenoticeable, hardly noticed, others you down keep Butyou there are those that simply kill your business. back, but there are those that simply kill your business.

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Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Company Highlight: MAP.TIME

MAP.TIME

Wouldn’t you like to eliminate paper-based and Excel Timesheets? The MAP.TIME Timesheet solution allows your employees to enter time worked on particular projects in an easy to use and simple web based system. You can then manage billing, track productivity and view reports to aid in your project management.

M

AP.TIME allows you to utilise your resources efficiently by providing you with real-time project information.

This information will allow you to plan efficiently for the future and help deliver your projects on time, every time.

MAP.TIME is part of MAP.SUITE our integrated cloud based solution which provides our customers with a simple, easy to use suite of products designed to enhance productivity. The suite currently has 5 products available: MAP.TIME, MAP.CRM, MAP suite.JOB, MAP.BOOK and MAP.COURSE. These products are completely modular and can be purchased with any number of the products activated. The advantages to using MAP.SUITE are: • Web based system allows the system to be accessible from any PC on your network or should you wish from any PC connected to the internet.

• Easy to use interface requires very little user training allowing you to start working as soon as possible.

• Since the products are already integrated, future additions of products are simple and data already added to the system will be instantly available to the new product.

• Based on robust technologies that are easily scalable to any number of users and contacts.

• If the system is hosted on our servers there is no need to pay for costly Server and Database licenses.

Integration Our solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with most Line of Business applications or financial solutions. This removes the need to enter billing information into multiple systems; the entire process is quick and hassle-free.

Our integration package allows you to: • Import client, project or job information from virtually any Line of Business application.

• Export billing information to virtually any accounting software if you prefer to use your existing accounting package to generate invoices.

• Export actual invoice information to virtually any accounting software.

For more information or to sign up for a free 30 day trial please go to www.map-suite.com or contact us at: T: +356 20994343 or at info@mapitmalta.com

www: www.mapitmalta.com www.the-executive.biz

The Executive 41

24 Hour Chauffeur Driven Services

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Lifestyle

PLUS CA CHANGE Victor Calleja

Fashions change, sometimes drastically.

See any photo of yourself thirty or twenty years ago and if you don’t laugh at yourself, your hairstyle, your shirt and tie, or dress or makeup, you definitely have a serious problem, the operative word being serious. You need to take yourself rather more lightly and learn how to laugh more, at yourself, at life, at anything around you.

43 The Executive

www.the-executive.biz

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

F

ashions change and we adapt to, and adopt, new ideas without realising.

Take trousers. For a few seasons— or weeks—they are fashionable drainpipes; then by the time you accept that trousers should be narrow and tight comes a new wave dictating that trousers should be monstrously flared or pleated.

We - or some fashion icons - have even come to accept shorts being worn with jackets.

Further back in time, trousers for men were seen as truly barbarian and the ancient Greeks and Romans disdained them. If someone from those classical times ever comes back to visit they will be truly aghast to see us all.

Then there is the length of the trousers. I come from an era which dictated that only nerds wore trousers short. In Maltese we used to call anyone with trousers not amply covering his shoes as the guy off to cross the river. And a barrage of laughter would follow.

Now the best-looking models all wear their trousers an inch or two above their shoes. Or has that changed again these last few days?

Other more disastrous ideas and decisions have long—and sometimes irreversible—effects.

People of my generation sported sideburns or massively padded shoulder pads. All could so easily be dumped and with no effects. But fast forward and imagine the youth of today having second thoughts about their tattoos and piercings.

What can they do to get back their pristine body? When I was young tattoos were the sole domain of sailors, ruffians and the true and www.the-executive.biz

Plus ca Change

tested low-life. Oh and some royals boasted them too—which again proves my point that only the lowlifes had their body inked.

and its history—and the price tags of all their works show that what was rejected then is valued highly today.

Nowadays bodies like David Beckham and Angelina Jolie have been turned into art - or grotesque - galleries. It’s quite frightening to think, as some have hazarded, that once old, flabby and wrinkled, the good-looking tattoos will seem definitely tired and tiresome. But my major worry is worse - when the fashion changes, as all fashions do, how are the tattooed going to explain themselves away in the future?

It is hardly acceptable today to tell a woman - can a woman ever be called a lady nowadays? - she is beautiful. You risk being accused of objectifying her and making her seem loose, useless or dependent on looks to win her position.

Beauty should have longer sellby dates but humanity proves otherwise. What was beautiful then is hardly allowed today—there are no rules which withstand the race, and rage, of time.

Let’s creep back to fashion and how we looked some centuries ago. Men today are seen as vain and doing all they can to groom themselves into Adonises. When you laugh at a male in your life who preens and ogles at a mirror think of when men - men for heaven’s sake! - used codpieces to make their private parts more evident and pronounced.

You have to tread most cautiously for fear the good mores brigade will slap a fine on you. Even paintings and how we see them and adorn our houses with them change all the time. It is not only Picasso and his cubist friends who struck terror into art which was previously representative of beauty.

When the Impressionists changed the way art was perceived and took art out of the atelier and into the plein air by painting nature with changing hues, lights and movement, horror and mayhem ensued. They were called refusés and not allowed to exhibit with the other painters of the day as they were not considered deserving of being called artists. Refused then by society and critics, they are today an important part of art

The idea of codpieces must have been to get all women to swoon in anticipation of pleasure and fun to come. There was a time when the same males, to be masculine and alluring, had rouge plastered on their faces, wore silly fake wigs, sillier pantaloons and shoes and wore more embroidered silk than any bride today would think appropriate.

Life changes, life is fun because nothing, even that which seems irrefutably certain, can be certain tomorrow.

Victor Calleja has been involved in publishing, marketing, and anything concerning the written word, for over thirty years. He is now a part-time but very opinionated journalist who delves deeply into a number of subjects.

The Executive 45

Issue No. 62 - 2014

The Executive

Social Highlight: Couple Cards

COUPLE CARDS ....it’s fun:

Helping Relationships grow stronger

CoupleCards is an innovative idea which helps couples develop the necessary skills to communicate, connect and strengthen their relationships.

E

ach card carries a message which if selected by a couple member, would convey a feeling to the partner. The back of each card carries hints which can be used to help the couple convey their feelings in regards to the message being specifically carried by the card in question.

set, packed with techniques and positive experiences which can be used to develop the relationship.

It is human nature for the other person to bring up the past in such instances. This often widens argumentation. This is one of what the cards describe as ‘bad moves’.

Once the couple has played a number of good moves, then comes the ‘Making Up’; the couple can solve the issue in a ‘winwin’ situation. Many times one finds that, having discussed the problem, the problem mightn’t have been that problematic after all.

Going through a bad move may harm the relationship and is not conducive to solving the problem.

At Couple Cards, we want couples to find the time and place to discuss their issues, to each other’s feelings and needs and to share them with their loved ones in a loving way.

The cards display a number of ‘good moves’. These are a tool www.the-executive.biz

Making use of good moves creates a level of intimacy within the couple which will contribute to solving the problem.

What price would you pay to help couples strengthen their relationship? It is priceless, so the idea is to give Couple Cards as a gift in workshops which all couples are invited to attend. The initiative is run on a completely voluntary basis by Relationships are Forever Foundation. The foundation welcomes donations & sponsors. For more information visit www.couple cards.com The Executive 47

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Express Trailers - Reliability and Trust for over 50 years Whatever it is, whatever the weight, wherever it is located and wherever it is destined, we Express Trailers - Reliability and Trust for over 50 years can transport, we can provide managed warehousing, we can be trusted. We will deliver!

Express Trailers - Reliability and Trust for over 50 years

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