A management consultant friend had recently been made redundant from his job as a project manager. He’d asked his boss for a transfer as he needed to take up a job closer to his home in the west end of London. His boss told him that he wasn’t being moved to London, he was being moved to Halesworth, a new upmarket shopping centre in Northamptonshire. It seemed that all was fine, until the company’s accounts department sent him a polite yet quite heavy-handed letter asking him why he hadn’t filled in the form with the correct information. My friend had filled in the details as honestly as possible, and had done so because he had noticed that the company’s latest financial results were much better than they had been in the past.
The problem with that company was that none of its directors had bothered to tell him that they were advertising for mobile phone consultants. His new employer had chosen a few well-known names from a mobile phone directory and sent him over to the UK to find these people. His new role meant that he would be short of the mobile phones and required to purchase them on his arrival. His new employer’s first duty was to enquire whether he wished to take my mobile for managers quiz for me. My answer would determine whether or not he would get paid to do an exam for free. That could hardly be a bad thing, could it?
I can only think of one other situation where taking a free mobile phone for a course I had started would have been a good idea. Someone had asked me to give a tutorial to a group of computer programmers on a particular piece of software and asked if I would take it on as a free training session. I accepted the invitation because it was one that I really needed at that point in time. If the group didn’t need the software then it wouldn’t pay to go and buy it!
So, I did just that when I took my mobile for managers quiz for me. Naturally, I was excited about getting the chance to show off my skills on this free course. On the first day I put it to the test and went through the same questions as I usually do. Only this time I made notes along the way and as soon as I completed the test I emailed them to myself. Then I started to look up the phone numbers. It turns out that all the people in the course were members of an online management community called the Association of Independent Corporate Professionals or AICP.
Turns out that the course was run by one of the AICP’s senior executives. So, what I learned is that they have a lot of different material to offer their members. One of the topics they cover is actually called “How Your Mobile Phones Can Save Your Business.” It covers everything from how using your cell to connect with your team can be more effective than using headsets and then goes right into some of the specific examples they use to show just how true that is.
The course has helped me learn a lot more about my mobile phone and the business I work for. There are many other things it has taught me too. Because it was free, I have actually been able to take my mobile for managers quiz for free too. It is something I would definitely recommend to anyone looking at a mobile phone.
As a final thought, I should mention that the person who runs the course is a graduate of Harvard Business School. I’m sure there are some other geniuses behind the AICP but this is the cream of the crop. You can take my mobile for managers quiz for me for free from the official website. All it takes is a few minutes of your time and you will gain some valuable insight into one of the most important tools any business owner can own. Make sure you take it.
