Debates In Business

Some view debating as bad. They envision nasty comments back and forth and there being a winner and a loser.

That might be so in politics or in structured debate challenges, but not necessarily in business.
In business, I believe debating is actually an empowering conversation - a good thing! :)

Debating is the flow of ideas. It's a place where ideas & information from both parties (or both sides) can flourish and topics and agendas can be solidified or finalized. There is nothing healthier & stronger in business than these 2 things alone!

On a personal level, there are even better aspects that comes from a debate. Your intellectional development is enhanced because you learn different points of view that might allow you to see things differently, or you learn an entire new set of data that you weren't aware of that the opposite party presented.

At times, you also utilize your negotiation skills because with certain topics, especially in business -it's not about right and wrong, it's about coming to a meeting of the minds, a mutual agreement, and perhaps a compromise on one party's part. Negotiation skills is one of the essentials for a business professional to be successful.  Great place to practice them is in a business debate. :)

Debates in business can often be referred to as a heated discussion or a challenging conversation. But with those negative words, comes some outstanding situations at times.

The values debate encourages - reason, tolerance, the careful weighing of evidence - are applicable in life. As you grow as a person, the more practice you have with these, you become more of your best self and thus become better for others. So these values should be cherished and nurtured.

Debate is what makes democratic societies so free and flourishing - rich in people driven thoughts, values and ideals. True democracy can not exist without debate.

There is no such thing as a debate without at least 2 passionate people coming to the table. The icing on this cake is that a debate inspires creativity and it re-charges passion! It takes ordinary topics or issues and brings explosive life to them!


And it also envokes a sense that anything is possible when two differing viewpoints get combined or when two people come together to address a topic or issue. It also sheds light on the understood message: that there is much to always learn, no matter how experienced you are, how old you are, or how knowledgeable you are on a topic.

So as you can see, what some would view as a negative situation filled with harsh words or underhanded tricks, (oops, that's politics :) ) is actually a positive, empowering and transparent action in business!

Now that you have my point of view - why not start a debate this week? Remember, you aren't stirring trouble, you are encouraging the open exchange of thoughts and ideas. Nothing could be healthier & more empowering for you or your business!

See what comes from it. :) See who is eager to participate & who shys away. See if you can finally fix that long term problem. See if you can figure out that way to align with another or that company you have always wanted to, or to solidify a partnership, or to once and for all, establish a collaborative work environment, etc.

The key to a solid & fair debate in business is you go into it with the mindset that something good will come from it, you might learn a thing or two, and you will keep it civil. If that is the driving & underlying message both sides begin the debate with, it should go quite well.

I would love to hear how this goes, so please share your stories with me!

“Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.”

– Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay

Kickstart Your Idea/Project

A few days ago, I came across a new company based in the USA called Kickstarter.

This is a genius idea! :)


This is a way to take your project to the masses to gain market interest, and to gain money to fund it!

This is the best way to do it these days, as there are zillions of projects and not enough money or real investors to fund them all.  So I rank it exceptional - for a bunch of reasons:

Ease of use, it's organized, anyone can do this, the chance to get your project in front of the world, the chance to fund your project, less hassle then with angel investors, partners, VCs or banks, the wait time is how far you set the deadline out - so you have control of this, you get to meet other innovators and entrepreneurs, it's a free and great way to test the market interest, but mostly because it does exactly what the name of the company is - it gives a kickstart to your project! :)

Here's how Kickstater.com works:

1. Your project can be about anything. The categories are large. It can be for fun, or for business.

2. You must set a deadline date (so your project can't run endlessly).

3. You must set the dollar amount you wish to have donated.

4. People can still support you/your idea, even if they can't donate money.

5. People can donate money if they want - it is through Amazon, so it is secure and global. The smallest donation is set at $1 USD.

I think this is key. If people really love what you have or they find it will fill a need, they will donate, even if it is only $1.

Steve Jobs proved it. We are in a massive recession with high unemployment numbers and many struggling, yet on April 3, 2010, Easter Weekend to boot, everyone had money for an Apple iPad that they didn't need (lowest price starting at $500+tax) and had extra $$ to buy more cool Apps. If $550+ was nothing to 2 million+ people, I am sure $1 is the same - if your idea is great enough to them.

6. No risk. If the amount you set as the dollar amount is not achieved by your deadline date, then no one's credit card is charged (that originally did donate). So that means if you set a goal of $5,000, but people only donated $2,300, you don't even get the $2,300, you get nothing. But if you did make the $5,000 goal by the deadline date/time, only then is everyone's credit card charged.

7. You can surpass the amount of money you set as the donation request amount. So if you set the donation amount to be $5,000, and you still haven't even reached your goal date yet, and you have already raised $5,500, you can keep collecting money up until that deadline date (from then on out, donator's credit cards are charged immediately)

8. Kickstarter keeps 5% of any project money gained. {Very lucrative for them - as they do nothing really - outside the original hard work they did to build this robust platform and promote themselves too}

This is a fabulous, organized system that allows you to push your project really hard for xx amount of days, without going through the horrendous process of angel investors, VCs, etc.

And again, I like it because it is also a viable, real-time indicator if your idea/project is really great or not - but then again, you have to spend the effort to promote it like wildfire, so the indicator is not without its errors.

They are in beta mode -so currently only USA projects can be accepted, although anyone globally can donate. They are also - at this point - capped on the amount of projects their system can handle, but they are taking requests for when they can add more.

This is a cool way to get your project known, and do the grassroots efforts efficiently. :)

Give Kickstarter a look! I really loved one on there - BioCurious.org - so I donated a few bucks to support them. I look forward to them reaching their goal and seeing 'my investment' go to good use:)