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Here is Cydcor's review of The Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun.
About the Myths of Innovation: Author Scott Berkun explains how to transcend the false stories that many business experts, scientists, and much of pop culture foolishly use to guide their thinking about how ideas change the world. He asks readers to question where ideas come from, and what people focus on when discussing those ideas.
The book is a short yet still fun read. Berkun has a witty, and at times hilarious, writing style, and his personal experiences help to explain some of his counter-intuitive demythologizing.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: True leadership requires a great deal of knowledge and understanding of trends in many different areas. Being innovative is not only for lone geniuses, but is also for anyone who looks to improve himself or herself by being realistic and observant.
This book, if nothing else, will remind you that the world is not as simple as we think it is.
Our favorite part: Berkun begins the book with a great story of when he visited Google's headquarters and joined a tour group. He describes the moment when two of his co-tourists whispered to each other, pointing over to a group of programmers, saying, “I see them talking and typing, but when do they come up with their ideas?"
This lays the groundwork for the rest of the book. It's a question many people ask of any creative/innovative person. Scott Berkun continues to explore the fascination with innovation and the desire to find the “hidden secrets.” Like all myths, the ones behind innovation are derived from quaint stories from history like Newton's Apple and Archimedes' bathtub.
Cydcor is the recognized leader in outsourced sales solutions. To find out more about our company, connect to Cydcor on LinkedIn.
On Tuesday, June 2nd Cydcor held our first intern kick off party. Held at Triunfo Park, our six amazing interns got together for the summer of 2014 meet up to start the summer off right.
With fantastic food and company, we welcomed them with games such as football, Frisbee, corn-hole, and ladder ball. Camaraderie, teamwork, and building relationships towards success are a big part of our culture.
Team building and activities such as the ones we hold open communications and create leadership opportunities. Our interns and team members are able to express ideas and opinions, becoming more motivated to take on new challenges, all while having fun and developing friendships and productive work relationships.
Overall, our event was a success in those regards, enabling better communication, better relationships and encouragement to engage and express creativity. Take a look at some of the best photos of the 2014 meet up:
For more information about Cydcor, check out our CrunchBase profile.
Networking events can be a bit overwhelming, and if you don’t know what you're doing, they can feel like a waste of time. Follow these 5 tips in order to get the best return on investment at a networking event.
Be Prepared
Look over the list of attendees if possible. If a name strikes your eye, Cydcor recommends checking out their LinkedIn profile, or other social media or website and find out a little more about him or her. It’s easier to strike up a conversation with someone you’ve never met if you come prepared and can ask them specific questions about their time working at Apple or if they enjoy being a sales manager.
Make sure you have several business cards on you to hand out when you meet people that you’d like to chat with again. You can even go higher-tech and use apps like Bump to share contact information. Also remember to bring pens and a small notebook or tablet; they can be helpful if you need to take notes or jot down a piece of advice.
Come Prepared with Goals
What are you hoping to get out of the event and learn from the people you meet? Whatever it is, make sure you figure this out before you attend the event – that way you’ll know what to bring up and the type of people to talk to. Since some networking events cost money, only attend the ones that will help you reach your goal.
Show Up On Time
Unless the event is a “come as you please” event, don’t be the one that shows up late. Chances are that if you are going to an event at a place you have never been before, it is going to take longer than Google Maps estimates. Look at the route beforehand, and give yourself an extra 10-15 minutes to find the place—and parking.
Check out our job openings on Cydcor's LinkedIn for more information on joining our company.
Don’t Throw Yourself at Everyone
No one likes the person who talks with everyone in the room for two minutes, gives them their contact information, and heads to the next person. Networking is about making real connections; it’s not a contest to see who can pass out the most business cards. If you don’t think someone will be a good connection, you don’t have to give him or her your card. On the other hand, take your time talking and getting to know people that could become valuable connections. You don’t need to spend a half hour chatting with someone, but learn a little more about the people you talk to than just his or her job title.
Follow Up
This is by far the most important tip for networking. Who cares if you dressed well and came prepared – if you don’t follow up, that relationship means nothing. Connect on LinkedIn or send a quick coffee invite. Relationships take time to cultivate so make the most out of what you started.
Motivation, despite our best intentions, is never a constant state. Everyone wants to achieve something in their life, but sometimes one can struggle with the desire to stay committed or to make the changes they know they need. Cydcor is a firm believer that getting your motivation back is key to achieving any goal. Here are five tips to help you whenever you feel stuck:
Inspiration. Find the source of your drive. Figure out what gets you fired up and in tune with yourself. It can be family, friends, music, exercise or even inspiring stories of others who have achieved a similar goal. Once you identify your source of inspiration, you can be assured in times of doubt that you know what can get you going again.
Realistic goals. One of the biggest reasons people find themselves setting up goals and not achieving them is that they set the bar too high. Don’t sabotage yourself by not being realistic. Set your major objective and have smaller steps along the way that can help you get there. Breaking it down into smaller, more manageable goals will help motivate you. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being able check off a goal from your list and track the progress you’ve made.
Anticipate. When setting your objective, anticipate potential pitfalls that might occur and create solutions before the problem arises. A study done in 2009 regarding goals found that those who were taught to foresee obstacles were able to quickly find workarounds by having a back up plan already in place. By knowing in advance of potential hurdles, those who anticipated were then mentally committed to following their backup plan instead of becoming discouraged and giving up.
Step Back. While you move forward with your goal, sometimes stepping back can help you. You can gain clarity by stopping to re-evaluating your goals and remembering why you set them. This can help motivate you to move forward, and you’ll make better progress.
Find encouragement. Make a commitment to those around you by letting them in on what you’re trying to achieve. Telling others can get them excited for you and keep you accountable. Friends and family are excellent sources of motivation because they generate enthusiasm for your project. Most people are better at keeping promises and commitments to others than they are to themselves. Committing to others can make it more likely that you will reach your goals even when faced with challenges along the way.
The following is Cydcor's review of The Good Listener: Better Relationships through Better Communication by Hugh Mackay.
About The Good Listener: Now in its second edition, the Good Listener is a guide to communication within relationships by social researcher Hugh Mackay. Originally published as “Why don’t people listen?” the book discusses communication and why it is difficult for most people to properly communicate ideas to others.
One of the more interesting ways that Mackay teaches communication skills is by creating a fictional, and rather dysfunctional, family. As Mackay explains it, “most of us learn about communication from our families,” and by illustrating communication problems through the issues of a single family the reader will hopefully retain the lessons more completely.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: Communication is one of the most important skills for a leader to learn. Not only does clear communication help leaders to motivate and inspire their people, but it also helps organizations to promote discipline and strategic alignment. The very best leaders are good communicators and many otherwise excellent companies struggle based on communication issues within their leadership.
Mackay does an excellent job of explaining why listening is important to improving relationships, and provides practical advice on how to listen and resolve conflicts through communication.
Our favorite part: Our favorite passage appears rather early in the book and sets up the entire premise for Mackay’s thesis:
“The real mystery is why, when we are so keen to communicate, we so consistently fail to take into account what our experience should have taught us at a very early age: the fact that, generally speaking, people only pay close attention to things which directly concern them- things which are relevant to their own situation, their own needs, their own interests- and, even when they do listen, they will be listening to everything in their own way.”
Mackay goes on to explain that people are not blank slates on which we can write our messages, rather every person has their own mechanism for viewing the world. Everyone sees the world very differently, and because of this we often communicate in a way that makes sense for us but not to others. It’s an eye-opening look at why communication fails, and how it can be repaired.
Cydcor is the global leader in outsourced sales. Follow Cydcor today for more information on careers, sales and other business information.
Cydcor was started in 1994 in Canada and has since grown into a leading source for outsourced sales teams. For twenty years now, Cydcor has offered solutions to high level, Fortune 500 Companies looking for new ways to increase their revenue. Our friendly, driven and highly trained team deploys sales superstars into the regions our clients need Cydcor the most and produce results.
Here are some of the milestones we have accomplished in the last twenty years:
Here is what our core executive team had to say for all of Cydcor's accomplishments:
"We offer a unique expertise within our sales channels. Our clients know we deliver above and beyond our goals; the salespeople in the field are experts who understand the sales that the client needs. The offices band together as teams, working to help one another reach personal development goals that will catapult them to success." – President Jim Majeski
"We deliver proven results that make us the leaders in outsourced sales. This couldn't have happened without vision, tenacity, and commitment to achieving the best results for our clients possible." – CEO Gary Polson
"Our reputation as a leader in outsourced sales solutions stems from the fact that we are experts in our industry with the ability to be flexible for our clients. The ability we have to deliver outstanding results has catapulted us into a growing, successful company with an abundance of opportunity." – Chief Operating Officer Vera Quinn
Want to know more about what it's like to work for Cydcor? Check out our testimonial page!
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., May 16, 2014 -- Cydcor, the leading provider of professional in-person sales teams, announced the company will be moving to a new location to continue serving its thriving network of independently-owned sales offices and significant internal growth.
Cydcor's new 40,000 square foot headquarters will be located in Agoura Hills, California, and be double the size of their current location in Westlake Village. The new building will have a Silicon Valley look and many outdoor spaces exclusive to the company. It will host a collaborative and open landscape that accents Cydcor's corporate culture of collaboration, teamwork, and innovation.
"Cydcor was able to double the size of their footprint while maintaining the ability to remain on one floor," said Bryan Lewitt, Senior Vice President for brokerage firm CBRE. "Additionally, the new location's amenities include free covered parking, balconies, an atrium, and building top signage."
The new headquarters is also conveniently located near the U.S. 101 freeway, providing easy access to clients, sales office visits, and new hires from Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The new expansion and space will help support Cydcor's clients and tremendous network of independently-owned sales offices across the country.
"We have doubled in size since we moved to our current location five years ago – demonstrating how we consistently fulfill a unique niche for our clients and provide service to our field offices," said CEO Gary Polson. "Cydcor's growth is consistent, strategic and deliberate, and our business is resilient to the varying economic climates."
This is Cydcor's third move in just more than ten years. Cydcor started with about 2,900 square feet in 2001. In 2005, Cydcor started knocking down walls to gain and additional 6,800 square feet, and then again by adding a separate suite for another 2,000 square feet in 2007. In early 2009, they moved to the current location in Westlake Park Place, a 27-acre campus style office development, where they occupy the entire fourth floor with 19,000 square feet.
Want to learn more? Like Cydcor on Facebook and follow them on LinkedIn.
About Cydcor
Cydcor is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face Cydcor sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, home entertainment, energy, and financial services. Serving Fortune 500 and emerging market clients in the business-to-business, residential, and retail channels through in-store marketing initiatives, Cydcor works with a network of over 300 independently-owned corporate licensee (ICL) Cydcor sales offices, providing clients access to more than 4,100 sales professionals. The privately-held company is based in Westlake Village, California. For more information about Cydcor, go to www.cydcor.com.
While Cydcor knows there isn’t one way to achieve goals and become successful, there are certain truths about a successful career that remain. Especial for those choosing a career in sales, these ten laws will guide you through to generating a good income for your clients, your company, and yourself. These laws are based on classic clichés you are tired of hearing, but there is still value behind them.
What are your laws of success? Let Cydcor know on Facebook or Twitter!
Here is Cydcor's review of The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman.
About The Personal MBA: This is a pocket version of what you would learn in business school. Getting an MBA is a big commitment of both time and money. One book can’t replace an education, but The Personal MBA provides tools and resources to get you in the right direction to become a successful business leader. Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume. The book argues that true leadership comes from self-driven individuals and not from school.
Cydcor recommends this book to future leaders because: It explains the big concepts of navigating both the corporate world and the path of entrepreneurship. These concepts include The Iron Law of The Market (being limited to the size of your market and how to identify large, unsaturated ones), The 12 Forms of Value (many ways to create value for customers), The Pricing Uncertainty Principle (knowing how to support charging more), and 4 Methods to Increase Revenue (the ways in which you can earn more money for your business). The book covers the nuts and bolts of running a company, large or small.
Our favorite part: Kaufman provides a long list of examples of people who did not need an MBA to succeed in business. Quotes from prominent businessmen to motivate you is also a great help, and when you want more information, the book also contains a list of the “99 Best Business Books” for further learning.
Cydcor is the global leader in outsourced sales. Follow Cydcor today for more information on careers, sales and other business information.
This week Cydcor wanted to post a round-up of our favorite content on Cydcor Reviews, our book review site. Recommended for team members by team members.
Linchpin was written by marketing expert Seth Godin, who believes that finding career success today depends on learning how to market one’s self. Linchpins are an upcoming role in the world of tech, start-ups and the age of entrepreneurship. The linchpins are those that come up with new solutions, break the mold, and foster creativity in companies. Linchpin is about learning how to break out of the systemic roles traditionally in the workplace and implement new ideas where you work. Often, the linchpins are the indispensable people in the background, empowering others, but staying out of the spotlight. They often have a less specific role in the company, but rather focus on specific needs as the work scape morphs and changes. Godin believes everyone has something brilliant to offer, and being able to harness that brilliance and bring it to the workplace can equal success and happiness.
The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell is an in depth look at how ideas get made into wildly popular companies, books or trends. Everything from television shows to teen smoking, popularity of ideas is modeled like an epidemic. There are carriers, those that evangelize the idea and get people excited about it. Malcolm Gladwell explains that there are three types of people involved in spreading an idea: connectors, mavens and salespeople. Connectors are people with a wide social network that are good at creating communities to rally for the concept. Mavens are knowledgeable experts that enjoy educating the public on their area of expertise. Salespeople are gifted at drumming up excitement for new things.
Lincoln by David Herbert covers the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Lincoln was raised in rural Indiana in a poor household. The book follows Lincoln’s perspective as he picked himself up through poverty and through political savvy made his way into prominence quickly. The book examines his character, his key advisors, and reveals his human flaws as well as his greatness. Biographies and autobiographies are excellent sources of inspiration for anyone looking to achieve professional goals. Lincoln is an especially beloved figure for Americans because he was raised in poverty and came from a disadvantage to well educated men raised in wealthy homes in cities.
Competitive Advantage is a model for creating and managing an enterprise successfully. Porter offers tools for analysis that are taught in MBA programs around the country. Michael Porter is a professor at Harvard Business School, and lectures and writes prolifically on managing a business. Tactics such as the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis teaches critical thinking that is crucial to successfully leading a company. Porter also discusses strategy at length, and helps businesses to either produce a scale economy or define a niche that will keep them profitable.
Onward is the story of how Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz turned Starbucks around after a downturn in financial performance. Schultz explains that while the recession definitely had an impact in the loss in profits for the massive international coffee and specialty company, the biggest factor was a shift in company culture. Onward explains Shultz’ decision to return to the CEO position after a departure to implement a hands on strategy to bring his company to its most profitable year ever. Between 2008 and 2011, Starbucks was able to find its way again and Schultz continues to lead it to record profits every year.
Want to learn more about Cydcor? Check us out on the Cydcor LinkedIn page for our career advice, job news and more.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., May 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cydcor, the leading provider of professional in-person sales teams, announced the company is celebrating its 20 year anniversary – marking two decades of providing leading, professional outsourced sales solutions to clients in many diverse industries throughout North America.
Cydcor, founded in 1994, fulfills a unique niche for Fortune 500 and emerging clients. With robust capabilities and thriving organization of over 330 sales offices and more than 4,000 sales professionals and growing rapidly, the company provides clients with business-to-business, residential, and retail sales solutions to reach target customers. This expertise combined with their proven track record and long-lasting client relationships has helped Cydcor excel as the premier outsourced sales solution.
"The decision to use Cydcor has enhanced our sales capabilities while creating and developing a unique and valued partnership," said Chris Poshni, Vice-President, Independent Business Sales at Moneris.
What has Cydcor grown into?
During the last 20 years, Cydcor has defined a unique space for itself unmatched by others in the industry. From its humble beginnings to the pacesetting organization it is today, Cydcor has accomplished these notable milestones:
Top performers
At Cydcor, top-performing, talented team members in all departments – ranging from Quality Management and Legal to IT and Finance – support the field of independent offices and their teams. In 2013, six field promotions to senior leadership positions demonstrated the ongoing opportunity for personal and professional growth.
Senior Executives – Their Insight
"We offer a unique expertise within our sales channels. Our clients know we deliver above and beyond our goals; the salespeople in the field are experts who understand the sales that the client needs. The offices band together as teams, working to help one another reach personal development goals that will catapult them to success." – President Jim Majeski
"We deliver proven results that make us the leaders in outsourced sales. This couldn't have happened without vision, tenacity, and commitment to achieving the best results for our clients possible." – CEO Gary Polson
"Our reputation as a leader in outsourced sales solutions stems from the fact that we are experts in our industry with the ability to be flexible for our clients. The ability we have to deliver outstanding results has catapulted us into a growing, successful company with an abundance of opportunity." – Chief Operating Officer Vera Quinn
Want to learn more? Like Cydcor on Facebook and follow them on LinkedIn.
About Cydcor
Cydcor is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face Cydcor sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, entertainment, energy, and financial services. Serving Fortune 500 and emerging market clients in the business-to-business, residential, and retail channels through in-store marketing initiatives, Cydcor works with a network of over 330 independently-owned corporate licensee (ICL) Cydcor sales offices, providing clients access to more than 4,000 sales professionals. The privately-held company is based in Westlake Village, California. For more information about Cydcor, go to www.cydcor.com.
Contact: Gail Michalak, Cydcor, 805-277-5500
SOURCE Cydcor
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