VocaLinks Inc., established in 1998 by P…
VocaLinks Inc., established in 1998 by Peter Butler and Phil Huffman, is a small, privately owned, service driven company providing speech to text and text to speech training, product sales and technical support. It is located in Toronto, yet provides service across Canada with a team of 50 full and part-time employees. The company’s signature statement “Unleashing the power of speech” outlines a vision and direction for the core products and services – Dragon NaturallySpeaking®, Kurzweil 3000 and SMART® technologies. They are Canada’s first Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Gold Certified Partner and the only SMART® certified training center in Canada.
The company provides training and assistive technology support in a variety of ways for educators, students and parents, healthcare providers, business ventures, but started by providing dictation service to medical practitioners. They have business links and partnerships with SMART technologies, Cambium Learning, Nuance, Metroplex, Crick Software and Phillips. Their customer list includes education, healthcare, legal and business clients. With a unique product offering and an experienced training team, this company provides specialized and responsive customer service, as highlighted in this video. Having attended their Spring Education Conference and meeting the leadership team, I learned more about the company and it’s vision for service.
Since VocaLinks is a privately held company, without a board of directors, it is solely run by the two key members along with a core group on the leadership team which includes finance, administrative, scheduling, IT consultation, technical support, sales and customer relations. The company recently opened their first training center since most services have been provided in client-centered locations across Ontario and Canada. Very little can be discovered about Peter Butler or Phil Huffman, so an evaluation of their background, skills or motivation is a challenge. The entrepreneurial attributes identified on their website include the qualities of experience, passion, commitment, dedication, enthusiasm and knowledge. Having met the VocaLinks team at the Spring Education Conference, these exemplify the core elements of their staff and leadership team.
Personal Reflection:
Reviewing this company profile and investigating the people involved has provided me with a glimpse into what a successful venture requires – a core product offering, a niche market, strong partnerships (internally and externally) and dedicated visionaries to establish the path of development. After reading Stephen Denning‘s book “The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling“, I am reflecting on the need for the leadership of any venture to have a compelling story to spark action, communicate who they are individually and as a company, convey values, promote collaboration, share knowledge and lead their team and clients into the future. There are hints of the story in the VocaLinks venture, but it is elusive and not clearly evident. As an aspiring entrepreneur, am I a storyteller? Can I present a personal and a venture narrative in the areas identified by Denning? As an educator with over thirty years of experience in the field, my stories are many and varied. Can I discover, rewrite and share them to communicate, promote, share and lead into an educational venture marketplace?
With my investigations into the leadership team at VocaLinks resulting in little more than the information available on the company website, I reflect on the notion of ‘open leadership’ as outlined by Charlene Li. The idea that being transparent, authentic and present in an open marketplace in order to garner an audience who may then become clients is an unsettling concept. Li identifies ten elements, divided into two categories, in her efforts to define what it means to be ‘open’ in today’s business environment. The category of information sharing includes explaining, updating, conversing, open mic, crowdsourcing, and platforms, while the category of decision making includes centralized, democratic, self-managing and distributed. These are elaborated in the book and in a webinar series. As I investigated VocaLinks and other ventures in the education technology marketplace, I reflect their comfort, as well as on my own comfort, at being open, transparent, authentic and present within social technology and web based communication. Awareness and planning for this form of leadership is essential for market success. This is certainly something worth considering.
References
Introduction to VocaLinks Inc. Retrieved from http://www.vocalinks.com/site/vocalinks/assets/pdf/Intro_to_VocaLinks.pdf
Our Team [image] Retrieved from http://www.vocalinks.com/index.cfm?pagepath=About_Us&id=36679
Posted in: Week 04: Entrepreneur Bootcamp
Deborah S 9:39 am on May 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great post, Helen! Your discussion about authentic leadership reminded me of the characteristics of authentic leadership by Robin Sharma (author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, and The Saint, The Surfer and the CEO). He postulated that authentic leaders: speak their truth, lead from the heart, have rich moral fiber, are courageous, build teams and create communities, deepen themselves, are dreamers, care for themselves, commit to excellence rather than perfection and leave a legacy. I think the ability to lead often makes or breaks a venture.
Deborah
HJDeW 11:01 am on May 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Deborah, you hit on the one thing that really became obvious for me during this investigation – the impact of the leadership style and presence of the individual and team. It is very evident in their communications, relationship with the public and their customers, and in how they ‘sell’ their service or product. Helen
Claire Burgoyne 12:27 pm on May 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Helen, your personal reflection with its focus on storytelling and open leadership serves as an excellent resource to those about to step into the role of entrepreneur. I’m reminded of J.E. Chamberlin’s “If This is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?” The ability to tell our stories shapes us, defines our direction, and determines our successes or failures. As Chamberlin says: “We need to understand our stories because our lives depend upon it.”
Thanks for sharing.
Leonora Zefi 7:15 pm on May 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Helen,
As usual, a very insightful analysis and a particularly thoughtful reflection. In addition to all the attributes you have pointed out and we have seen in many entrepreneurs, I would say that the ability to identify that niche market/client base and be responsive, innovative in the approach but also having that freedom to take risks and make decisions fast without having to go through the layers of “red tape” are factors for success with those ventures.
Thanks.
Leonora
dubiend 5:20 pm on June 2, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It’s great to see a Canadian company offering services and products in assistive and general education technology. I’ve just learned in EPSE 410 how important it is to use products that are research-based in assistive technology. While these products often cost much more than those available on tablets, the educational value is much greater. Unfortunately, not enough people know this, and the spread of tablets and their convenience is chipping away at the assistive technology market while offering a learning experience that may not be up to par.
gillian 8:06 am on June 3, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Helen,
I particularly enjoyed reading the reflection on your post. I commented on another post that it is the story behind each venture that I found the most interesting when doing my own research and then reading the posts of others in this activity. I wonder how many investors look beyond the numbers to the inspiration or the ‘narrative’ as you call it when deciding whether or not to open their wallets?
Putting yourself ‘out there’ certainly has new meaning in the digital world!
gillian