These Are A Few Of My Favorite Photos

 My dad has piles of giant dusty blue scrapbooks, they are crammed full of photos taped inside of us on various steam trains, old British red buses, and watching English football matches.

When I go back home to England I love looking through those albums. One the saddest lost arts due to technology is the decline of physical family photo albums. I occasionally create photo books for special events, but it occurred to me on my last VALuable insights of 2018 I’d provide a virtual photo album of some of my clients and my work in 2018. 

1. The most dramatic conference room: LA Lakers

I ran a Thoughtfully Ruthless session for Allison Howard, VP of Corporate Partnerships at LA Lakers, in their spectacular conference room with gigantic floor to ceiling windows overlooking their training court. Allison brought her team together at the perfect time, during the final days of preseason as everyone was preparing for the arrival of LeBron James. 

2. Amazon Executive John Phillips magically creating more time for his team

I worked with John at Starbucks and now he leads a global team at Amazon. Right before holiday peak he made the wise choice to bring his worldwide leadership team together to unlock capacity for Amazon’s distribution business. 

3. Retreat for Belkin’s Global IT Division 

CIO Lance Ralls knew his team around the world needed to galvanize to increase the impact technology has on the brilliant products Belkin produces. During our event many new ideas were created that would increase profit, and the team identified ways to save hours of time. 

4. Working with the Microsoft Teams and Skype organization

MIcrosoft has brilliant technology to increase productivity yet still knows to invest in their executives if they are to continue on their rapid innovation journey. I worked with GM of Skype and Microsoft Teams, Lori Wright, to identify new innovative ideas for the marketing team to increase their productivity and impact. 

5. Featured in Alumni magazine

Last year I went back to school and returned to speak at my former college, the University of Wolverhampton Crystal Lecture. This year they featured me in their alumni magazine. 

6. Genoa Healthcare executives at Terranea

If you ever need a destination resort for your next executive event I highly recommend Terranea Resort. Set on a former SeaWorld location, the views of the ocean, food, and service is spectacular. I worked with executives from Genoa Healthcare on two workshops; Being Thoughtfully Ruthless, and Influencing and Communicating with your Board for Maximum Impact. 

7. Donating Thoughtfully Ruthless to the Westridge Class of 2018

I wrote Thoughtfully Ruthless with executives in mind, so when an 18 year old senior at Westridge School for Girls read it and said she found it valuable, I decided to donate a copy to her whole graduating class. Copies got included in a care package in October.

8. An alternative to fluffy team building

I have spoken at 24 of Gartner’s Evanta Executive summits and if you know my work, you know I have strong objections to fluffy pointless team building. Prior to Seattle’s CMO Executive summit, the remarkable chef and entrepreneur Tom Douglas provided us with a memorable cooking lesson, the perfect way to bring together executives without uncomfortable futile activities.

9. Harvest Summit

I continue on the board of Harvest Summit, now in our third year. Our invite only field trip in Sonoma is the perfect place for executives to burst out of their usual circles of friends and explore the possibilities when unexpected pairings occur.

This is just a glimpse into some of my travels and work with my clients over the last twelve months. Other confidential projects have included unlocking rapid growth by working with executives on product roadmaps, digital transformation, creating innovation jump-starters, advising boards, and private executive advisory work. 

I’d love to hear what is on your horizon for 2019 and beyond. Email me or text me and we can set up a call or meeting so I can hear more and provide you with some ideas that will help you rapidly grow and innovate.

Now, I’ll get back to creating some more photo books…

Happy New Year!

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/

With Love From My Family To Yours

When I worked at Xbox my boss at the time, Don Mattrick, gave me some priceless advice when I was expecting my first daughter. He told me to create memorable traditions for my new family.

When we moved from Seattle to Los Angeles five years ago, the holidays were tough for us as a family because we had embedded so many lovely traditions around the holiday from going to a real British Panto at Fremont Theatre, to seeing the Gingerbread houses at Fairmont Hotel, to the giant holiday train at Seattle Centre. Moving to 80’ sunshine in December was an unusual concept to get used to! Then I remembered Don’s advice and we started to create new LA traditions of our own. My favorite is going to see the Manhattan Beach Fireworks each December, especially because local companies Sketchers and Belkin sponsor a spectacular event that includes shipping in snow for the kids to build snowmen and ride a sled race, right on the beach!

Here’s an unexpected picture of us all complete with snow and palm trees! 

Wishing you all a relaxing and giggle filled holiday time with your friends and family.

With love, from my family to yours,

Val

P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/

How To Write A Brilliant Book In Four Months

Are you dreaming of writing a book sometime in the future? 
 
Executives and entrepreneurs I work with often say to me, "Val, I could write a book with the stories I could tell." They are great storytellers, and they have valuable lessons they can share with others, but then they tell me they could never write a book because they don't have the time. I compiled this guide to help you write your brilliant book fast:

1. Learn from the masters
You would never train for a marathon with a coach who ran sprints, so don't listen to advice from anyone who hasn't written a book. My mentor, the rock star of consulting himself, Alan Weiss, has written more than 66 books, so his guidance has been priceless.
 
2. Know why
Before you start writing, you need to know why you want to write a book. As a leadership and innovation expert, my clients kept telling me that I had to write a book to share all of my ideas and stories with a broader audience. I wrote my book to help executives and entrepreneurs rapidly grow their business, magically create more time, and boost their energy.
 
3. Understand the business of books
You made a plan for your business; your book needs one too. If you're self-publishing, you can jump in and simply write your book. If you want to use a traditional publisher, I highly recommend reading Jeff Herman's Write the Perfect Book Proposal, which provides the ideal format and practical advice for pitching. 
 
4. Nobody can read the book that is still in your head
Eating ice cream can give you brain freeze, but productivity brain freeze is worse; it suspends you into a period of inaction that is as painful as it is inefficient. Productivity brain freeze may stop you from putting pen to paper. Whenever I had a slow writing session, it was because I had let my mind wander to questioning if it was the right time to write or if I needed to prioritize other projects, when I simply needed to ignore my brain freeze and just write.
 
5. Use an air-gapped PC
In an episode of The Newsroom, in which secret government documents were being leaked to appear on the news show, I learned that an air-gapped PC was one that had never been connected to the internet. At that moment, I knew that was precisely what I needed to increase my writing productivity. I wrote my book on a laptop that didn't connect to the internet and could not distract me.
 
6. Find your perfectly productive place
I love writing on the grounds of the Huntington Library, underneath the giant palm tree at the bottom of my garden, and on airplanes. They are my perfectly productive places where I have my best ideas. I don't get distracted, and write the most prolifically. Go and write where you are the most efficient.
 
7. Practice your stories
Everyone has his or her favorite dinner party stories, those tried-and-tested tales that you know will get a reaction from your audience. When I speak at conferences, I pay attention likewise to what gets the strongest responses. Test out your stories for your book when you talk to your employees and investors. Note which get the best reactions and include them in your book.
 
I wrote Thoughtfully Ruthless in four months at the request of my publisher, Wiley. My plan is to write my second book The Innovation Trifecta: How to Catapult Innovation by Developing a Symbiotic Relationship Between Creative, Business, and Technical Minds just as fast.

This time next year you could see your book on bookshelves around the world. The question is, do you have the thoughtful ruthlessness to do it?

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val