T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

January 26, 2016

The Accidental Intrapreneur:Becoming the Knowledge Center CEO

MARY ELLEN BATES BATESINFO.COM

T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

What we’ll cover:

Thinking like a business ownerQuestioning assumptionsOffering greater valueEffectively communicating value

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

owl.li/WOsjH

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Thinking like a business owner

Are you seen as overhead?

… or involved in your org’s strategic goals

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

As an (internal) business owner, you…

leverage financial resources throughstrategic info acquisitions

enable smart risk-taking ensure better-informed decisions

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Understand your org’s strategic goals

Read your annual reportWhat’s highlighted?Where’s the money going?What’s changed since last year?Are you visibly contributing to those goals?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Who are your key clients?

C-suite or equivalentSpecial projects teamsStrategic planning, new initiatives

Value-creators, revenue-generatorsProduct development, major gifts officer, practice

group leader…

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

We love ALL our clients, but…

Triage the urgent from the importantHigh-volume client ≠ priorityDo an annual 20/20 Review

Turn lowest-value 20% to self-serveDevelop new value for highest-value 20%

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Question your assumptions

Where your clients go for infoWhat your clients really wantWhat your clients do with infoWhat they think you can do

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

“But this is what my clients ask for!”

Clients only ask you to do what they thinkyou can do

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

What do they value most?

“I’m sure that they value ....”

Oh, yeah???

Time for reality-check interviews!reluctant-entrepreneur.com/resources

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Reality-check interviews

It’s all about them, not youListen for limiting assumptionsListen for your competitionBe prepared to drop legacy services

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Reality-check questionsHow do you prepare for a strategic decision?What’s keeping you from achieving your goals?What do you wish you knew about our stakeholders orcompetitors?What Knowledge Center services would support youstrategically?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Purge your assumptions buffer

What is most valuable now?What should you retire?Who is doing interesting things?

What’s the scariest thing I could do next?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Are you frictionless?

How easy is it to find you?How easy is it to talk with you?How responsive do your clients say you are?

Have you asked them lately?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

ASK for complaints

Did you get what you needed?How easy was it to use?What would make it more useful?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Offering greater value

Good information isn’t enough (TL;DR)Provide answersTell a story, with pictures!Promote dissatisfaction with data dumps

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Explore the questions they didn’t ask

Request:I need info on hackers getting into cars’ onboardcomputers

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Explore the questions they didn’t ask

What geographic region?What companies are mentioned?Who is writing about it?Who’s being quoted?Was this one-time or ongoing?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Share of Voice charts

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G E C E N T E RC E O

Communicating value effectively

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

It’s our job to recognize and

demonstrate our value, not our

clients’ job to figure it out.

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

How do we do that?

Use language your audience usesReality-check interviewsYour org’s value statementInfo service providers’ value statements

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

From reality-check interviews

Why do you use the knowledge center?

How would you describe the knowledge center’sservices to a colleague?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Info co’s value statement

Factiva:

Helping today’s executives make betterbusiness decisions faster

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

When you describe yourself...

Is it a WHAT or a WHY?

"We search premium databases" or"We provide insights from the outside"

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

WHAT or WHY?

"We provide research services" or"We help staff make better decisions"

"We are experts in organizing information" or"We make critical research findable"

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Keeping track of the WHY

Do you track examples of your impact?

What changed as a result of your work?

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Are you counting what matters?

Activity metrics (ZZZzzzzzz)Econtent usage, # of research requests

Result metrics (!!!!!!!!!)Patents awarded, clients won, awards received…Don’t know? ASK!

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

“But they don’t listen!”

Trouble-shooting guide:Audience—WHO you are talking toMessage—WHAT you sayMethod—HOW & WHERE you say itTiming—WHEN & HOW OFTEN you talk with your

market

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

Our message:

The knowledge center hasstrategic info resources,

strategic info experts,and contributes to strategic goals

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

owl.li/WOsjH

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T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G EC E N T E R C E O

T H E A C C I D E N T A L I N T R A P R E N E U R : B E C O M I N G T H E K N O W L E D G E C E N T E RC E O

THANK YOU

To learn more about Factiva and contact sales, visitdowjones.com/factiva

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Mary Ellen Batesmbates@batesinfo.com

+1 303 772 7095BatesInfo.com | Reluctant-Entrepreneur.com

Twitter: @mebs