Fons Trompenaars was the opening keynote at The Social Conference (#TSC12). He used the research of the attendees to talk about the dilemmas we are facing with social business.
His presentation was filled with remarks that got the audience laughing and thinking:
Lot’s of female in the audience. He is not used to it because in boardrooms there are not a lot of female in the board room. “We kick them out, when it gets tough they cry, or they get pregnant.”
“Asocial conference, we spend more time typing into our phone then talking to each other. Let’s make this a more social conference and talk with each other.”
“Why when we talk, we don’t feel?” MeyersBricks is crap. Our great icons, role models are probably 100% feeling and 100% talking. Why is that not a result from these analysis.
To innovate is to Combine Values That are not easily joined…. Therefore scarce… Therefore profitable…
Title of an article about an era that just ended: “Shareholder value – value of the people who never share.”
Most important dilemmas
Trompenaars did an analysis of the response of 123 respondents – 70 from the social conference participants. These are the 4 most important dilemmas that we face. This is the results from the research in relation to social media.
BTW: the fifth most important dilemma is Hi Tech vs Hi Touch.
The servant leaders – how can you lead to help each other – will be important in the era of social media and these dilemmas.
Trompenaars closes with the key takeaways
- The use of social media is loaded with dilemmas
- Our current professional are not educated to deal with them effectively
- Define challenges in terms of dilemmas, and avoid compromise
- Reach out to colleagues of different orientations
- Respect and practice both generic and local communication practices and business customs such as paraphrasing and active listening
- Make use of all types of media in communication
- Be aware of the power of your ‘default’
- Acknowledge that dilemmas are shared but their approaches are cultural
Great takeaways for any professional, also for the self-employed.
The video of the presentation by Fons Trompenaars
Dilemmas in securing the business benefits of social media
The outcome of the research Trompenaars did for the Social Conference can be found in the document below.
Fons trompenaars tsc12_research
