Cooler Water

The end of the road: S to Z

2010-12-07T18:35:00.002-05:00

S is for Sneezer: What do we call someone who spreads good ideas the way some people spread a virus? Seek out the sneezers, cater to them, organize them.

T is for Tribe: Human beings evolved to be attracted to tribes. Groups of like-minded people who share a culture, a connection and perhaps a goal. And each of these tribes seeks leadership. The opportunity today isn't to sell more average stuff to more average people. The real opportunity for you is to find and connect and lead tribes of people, taking them somewhere they want to go. That is success.

U is for Ululate: Not because it's relevant, just because it's the single best word in the English language!

V is for Very good: No one cares about very good. I can get very good from just about anyone, and certainly cheaper than I can get it from you. We don't have a competence shortage, not any more. No, I'm only going to be impressed by the personal, the magical, the artistic and the work of the truly extraordinary. Don't be just very good if you can help it.

W is for Worldview: I first encountered this term via George Lakoff. Your worldview is the set of expectations and biases you bring to a situation before any new data appears. Some people hear a politician say something and hate it, while others are thrilled by it. Is it the thing that was said or the person who said it? Some people hear that Apple is about to launch a new product and they get out their wallets, others flee--before they even know what it is. If you don't understand the worldview of the people you're dealing with, you will fail.

X is for Xebec: I hate it when A-to-Z listmakers cheap out on the X. Hey, a xebec is a three-masted schooner. And they're obsolete. Just like CDs, newspapers and a whole host of interesting but dated business models. Sorry. Imagine someone saying: "He's a nice guy, but that company he works for is a xebec."

Y is for You. You the artist. You the one who makes a difference. You the one who stands for something and now has the education and leverage to actually make a difference. Go go go!

Z is for Zoometry: Originally a term from zoology (pronounced zo-ology, in case you were curious), zoometry is the science of instigating and learning from change. This is the revolution of our time, the biggest one in history, and it's not just about silly videos on Youtube. One by one, industry by industry, the world is being remade again and again, and the agents of change are the winners. Be a part of the change!

My A to Z guide to today's best "success words": L to R

2010-11-09T10:54:00.004-05:00

L is for Lizard Brain: This is a huge impediment to getting what you want, and finding your calling in life. What some call the lizard brain is the part of your brain responsible for anger, revenge, fear, and anxiety (and also possibly reproduction). It's the original brain, the one that wild animals possess. The voice of the lizard: it's the resistance that holds you back, that causes doubt.. The resistance rationalizes, hides and sabotages your best work. Recognize your prehistoric lizard brain when it starts to kick in...then work to beat the lizard!

M is for Meatball Sundae: “Gotta get me some of that Social Networking. Blogs, e-mails campaigns, facebook updates, twitter posts, Google AdWords…”

STOP. As traditional business communications go away, the new digital tools seem irresistible. But they don’t work for everyone! Boring products (what I call “meatballs”) like Cheerios, Ford trucks, or beer only distract us with efforts to be socially relevant. When Budweiser spends $40 million developing “BudTV”—that’s a meatball sundae. Dressing up a boring business with bells and whistles no one wants and that lead to no new customers. The point is: avoid creating a meatball sundae. Use social media in business when it actually enhances your efforts.

N is for NOBS: Otherwise known as the new order business school. My rant about this points out that for most people, a traditional MBA is a waste of both time and money. The two biggest benefits--the selection process of getting in, and the social process of networking--could be accomplished without any classes at all. You can read more about this in my earlier post of April 2010 .

O is for Orangutan: I could have used the word 'monkey', but I already had an M listing, plus I love the way you spell Orangutan. Anyway, the primate is the best way to think about how people interact with websites. They're like monkeys in a psychology experiment, looking for the banana. Where's the banana, they ask? Keep this in mind if you are ever in the position of creating your own websites, for work or personal purposes. If your website offers a banana, people are going to click on it and respond. If they don't, they'll leave.

P is for Permission: Seth Godin's company, Yoyodyne Entertainment, is all about fun and games. But its mission is serious business. Godin and his colleagues are working to persuade some of the most powerful companies in the world to reinvent how they relate to their customers. His argument is as stark as it is radical: Advertising just doesn't work as well as it used to - in part because there's so much of it, in part because people have learned to ignore it, in part because the rise of the Net means that companies can go beyond it. "We are entering an era," Godin declares, "that's going to change the way almost everything is marketed to almost everybody."

The biggest problem with mass-market advertising, Godin says, is that it fights for people's attention by interrupting them. A 30-second spot interrupts a "Desperate Housewives" episode. A telemarketing call interrupts a family dinner. A print ad interrupts a blog. The interruption model is extremely effective when there's not an overflow of interruptions, but there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore.

The new model is built around permission. The challenge for marketers will be to persuade consumers to volunteer attention - to "raise their hands" to agree to learn more about a company and its products. Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers," he says. "It's not just about entertainment - it's about education."

Q is for Quitting: Sticking things out is overrated, particularly if you stick out the wrong things. In fact, I think you'd be much better off quitting most of what you do. The old saying is wrong--winners do quit, and quitters do win.

Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all. And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you're in a Dip--a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Dead End, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you fight the right fights, you'll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

R is for Remarkable: For years, marketers have talked about the "4 Ps." Sound familiar? This has become the basic marketing checklist, a quick way to make sure that you've done your job. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but it used to be that if you dotted your I’s and paid attention to your 4 Ps, then you were more likely than not to succeed.

No longer. It's time to add an exceptionally important new P to the list: Purple Cow. Weird? Let me explain.
While driving through France a few years ago, I was enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing in lovely pastures right next to the road. For dozens of kilometers, I gazed out the window, marveling at the beauty. Then, within a few minutes, I started ignoring the cows. The new cows were just like the old cows, and what was once amazing was now common. Worse than common: It was boring.

Cows, after you've seen them for a while, are boring. A Purple Cow, though: Now, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable. Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to. Boring stuff quickly becomes invisible.

The world is full of boring stuff -- brown cows -- which is why so few people pay attention. Being remarkable is the art of building things worth noticing. It is a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring. Not just because going through life with passion and guts beats the alternative (which it does), but also because it's the only way to be successful. Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable.

And that means you have to be a leader. You can't be remarkable by following someone else who's remarkable.

F - - -- K!

2010-09-28T11:43:00.001-04:00

Continuing the tour through my new A to Z "success words" for today's world:

F is for the Free Prize: People often don't decide to buy the best product, or support the best solution to their problems. Good ideas aren't always enough by themselves anymore--we need a compelling "backstory"--the "extra" free prize that really sells us. Reality talent show contestants have learned the importance of a backstory. Too often the most talented contestant is voted out in favor of the one with the better backstory, the tale of their struggle we fall in love with. Maybe business people should think more about their free prize--the credible and relevant backstory they can sell?

G is for Go-Go: No, not the dancers, but the philosophy that demands we keep charging ahead, setting aside our fears and anxieties while we try to make good things happen. You can't wait around for someone to deliver to you what you are looking for. Go-go and make it happen for yourself! It's something many of the young people I meet need alot MORE of...a little more go-go might just be what it takes to set you apart from your competition.

H is for Haters: There is so much in our society that is broken, and instead of working to fix things, too many folks just hate on everything. Hating is never the answer for success. Better to spend your energies figuring out how to improve things than pointing fingers at what or who is broken.

I is for Ideas: There are just not enough good ideas out there. Companies are spending billions of dollars looking for them. To be successful, you can't simply wait around for someone else to come up with the ideas. Create them yourself! Ideas are needed in every field, in every department, in every company. Innovators who are willing to think up new ideas will succeed, not followers. They are the people companies are looking for.

J is for "Just Desserts": What effort you put into a task, a job, an assignment, will get repaid to you in time. Believe it. Maybe you can fake your way through a class or a work project, but your "just desserts" will be waiting for you, somewhere, sometime. It never fails.

K is for "Kurpis-like": Maybe you've already seen it listed in the Urban Dictionary...I did not put it there...but it's not bad advice. Try to be more "Kurpis-like"--super-productive with a little go-go thrown in. Whatta ya say?

Check back next month for more success words...

My A to Z guide to today's best "success words"

2010-08-23T07:00:00.021-04:00

I love words. And new times sometimes demand new words because old words don't help us to see the world differently.

So I've been collecting some important new words that I think are relevant to our brave new world, and it occurs to me that sometimes I may use these words as if you know what I'm talking about. So with thanks to Seth Godin and a few others, over the course of the next few months, I will share 26 of my favorite new words that in these new times maybe you need to adopt for yourself:

A is for Artist: Our world needs more artists. But to me, an artist is not defined as someone who just paints or writes, but a person who brings humanity to a problem, who changes someone else for the better, who does work that can't be written down in a manual or textbook. Art is about bringing creativity and insight to work, instead of choosing to be someone who just regurgitates what you've been forced to learn. Learn how to be an artist!

B is for Bootstrapper: A bootstrapper is someone who starts a business with no money and funds growth through growth. The internet has made bootstrapping much easier than ever, because the costs of creating and marketing remarkable things are cheaper than ever. It's really important not to act like you're well-funded if you're intent on bootstrapping (and vice versa). You can read the Bootstrapper's Bible for free.

C is for Choice: I didn't coin the term the Long Tail, but I wish I had. It describes a simple law: given a choice, people will choose. For business that means that digital commerce enables niches, and presents an opportunity to offer choice. Offering lots of choices--aggregating and enabling the long tail--accounts for the success of eBay, iTunes, Amazon, Craigslist, Google and even match.com.

D is for Darwin: Things evolve. But evolution is, well, evolving. While it used to take a hundred thousand years for significant changes to happen to our physical culture, the nature of information and a connected society means that 'everything' might change in just a few months. Ideas that spread will win--and people and companies that can "go Darwin" learn from their mistakes and will lead the rest of us.

E is for Edgecraft: Brainstorming doesn't always work so well, because most people are bad at it. They're bad at it because their lizard brains take over moments before a big idea is uttered. "Oh no!" it says, "I better not say that because if I do, it might be a BAD idea and then I'll have to defend it." And so brainstorming quickly becomes clever stalling and timewasting. Far better is to practice "edgecraft." Someone announces a new direction for a business ("we'll be really convenient, we'll offer our menu by fax,") and then the next person goes closer to that edge, topping it, ("we'll offer it by email!") and so on, each topping the other in any particular direction.

The coming melt-down in higher education

2010-04-29T17:30:00.004-04:00

For 400 years, higher education in the US has been on a roll. From Harvard asking Galileo to be a guest professor in the 1600s to millions tuning in to watch a team of unpaid athletes play another team of unpaid athletes in some college sporting event, the amount of time and money and prestige in the college world has been climbing.

I'm afraid that's about to crash and burn. Here's how I'm looking at it.

1. Most colleges are organized to give an average education to average students.

Pick up any college brochure or catalog. Delete the brand names and the map. Can you tell which school it is? While there are outliers (like St. Johns, Deep Springs or Full Sail) most schools aren't really outliers. They are mass marketers trying to attract the largest number of people they can accommodate.

Stop for a second and consider the impact of that choice. By emphasizing mass and sameness and rankings, colleges have changed their mission.

This works great in an industrial economy where we can't churn out standardized students fast enough and where the demand is huge because the premium earned by a college grad dwarfs the cost. But...

2. College has gotten expensive far faster than wages have gone up.

As a result, there are millions of people in very serious debt, student loan debt so big it might take decades to repay. At some point, word gets around. We won't get fooled again into believing that it always pays off for everyone.

3. The definition of 'best' is under siege.

Why do colleges send millions (!) of undifferentiated pieces of junk mail to high school students now? We will waive the admission fee! We have a one page application! Apply! This is some of the most amateur and bland direct mail I've ever seen. Why do it?

Biggest reason: So the schools can reject more applicants. The more applicants they reject, the higher they rank in US News and other rankings. And thus the rush to game the rankings continues, which is a sign that the marketers in question (the colleges) are getting desperate for more than their fair share. Why bother making your education more useful if you can more easily make it appear to be more useful?

4. The correlation between a typical college degree and success is suspect.

College wasn't originally designed to merely be a continuation of high school (but with more binge drinking). In many places, though, that's what it has become. The data I'm seeing shows that a degree (from one of those famous schools, with or without a football team) doesn't translate into significantly better career opportunities, a better job or more happiness than a degree from a cheaper institution.

5. Accreditation isn't the solution, it's the problem.

A lot of these ills are the result of uniform accreditation programs that have pushed high-cost, low-reward policies on institutions and rewarded schools that churn out young wanna-be professors who have merely learned how to ace a multiple-choice test instead of experiences that turn out leaders and problem-solvers.

I think we're about to see significant cracks in old-school schools with mass market degrees.

Back before the digital revolution, access to information was an issue. The size of the library mattered. One reason to go to college was to get access. Today, that access is worth a lot less. The valuable things people take away from college are interactions with great minds (usually professors who actually teach and actually care) and non-class activities that shape them as people. The question I'd ask: is the money that mass-marketing colleges are spending on marketing themselves and scaling themselves well spent? Are they organizing for changing lives or for ranking high? Does NYU have to get so much bigger? Why?

The solutions are obvious... there are tons of ways to get a cheap, liberal education, one that exposes you to the world, permits you to have significant interactions with people who have new ideas and who matter, and to learn to make a difference (start here). Most of these ways, though, aren't heavily marketed nor do they involve going to a tradition-steeped two-hundred-year old institution with a wrestling team. Things like gap years, research internships and entrepreneurial or social ventures after high school are opening doors for students who are eager to discover the new.

The only people who haven't gotten the memo are anxious helicopter parents, mass marketing colleges and traditional employers. And all three will be waking up soon as they face new circumstances.

(with credit to Seth's Blog for the courage to publish this)

10 Reasons Why You're Going to Fail

2010-03-17T15:57:00.003-04:00

Not this class, or any of your other classes necessarily. I'm talking about failing in a general sense. Failing at something you think you want.

Failure is something that happens to everyone at some point, but this doesn't mean it is unavoidable. In fact, failure can be fairly well predicted. Consider the following list of the ten most common predictors of failure. Does anything sound familiar?

1. It’s not your passion. If it doesn’t make your heart beat fast or cause your mind to race when you’re trying to sleep, you’re probably doing the wrong thing.

2. You don’t have a plan. You need a vision, and you need to identify specific steps to make that vision become reality. That can includes a time management plan, a financial plan, or a strategic plan.

3, You’re waiting for everything to be perfect. Instead: test-drive it. Beta-test that new idea. You’ll fall into the trap of inaction if you think it has to be absolutely right from day one.

4. You’re not willing to work hard. Sorry, but everything worth pursuing in my life has involved discipline and perseverance.

5. It’ll outgrow you. Keep learning. Keep growing. But more importantly, build a team of people including leaders that can be who you’re not.

6. You’re banking on successes from the past. I’ve watched organizations hang on to a good idea for too long. Time passes. Momentum fades. It’s risky to let go of the past and jump on the next wave.

7. You’re unwilling to stop doing something else. Complexity is easy. Simplicity takes discipline. You can’t build a healthy marriage if you’re unwilling to give up dating other people.. Who/what do you need to stop dating?

8. You tend to do things alone. Anyone can hire from a resume. You need to find people you want to share life with. In the long run, great relationships will get you out of bed in the morning.

9. You won’t have the tough conversations. When breakdown happens (and it always does), someone needs to put on their big-boy pants and initiate the difficult conversation that leads to relational healing.

10. You’re afraid of failure. When fear consumes you, it will cause you to do stupid things. You’ll let negativity distract you. You’ll embrace the known, and grow comfortable with mediocrity. The more often you fail, though, the more often you’ll find success.

I think this is a really great list to work through when embarking on a new and challenging initiative. Agree/Disagree? Any thoughts on what may be missing from this list?

Become Friends with your Enemy: TIME

2010-02-06T11:05:00.003-05:00

There was a time when technology promised us more freedom – freedom to enjoy ourselves more, freedom from the drudgery of mundane and repetitive chores. In other words, we were promised more time. But we seem to be busier than ever before, frantically racing against the clock to do more and more, and technology hasn't really solved our problems. It only seems to make life more complicated.

With the right approach, however, we can stop seeing time as our enemy and start to enjoy getting things done easily and effectively.

Time is flexible
This is rule number one – there is always time to do what you want to do. It’s all a matter of priorities. If something is really important to you, then you will find time to do it. When we say things like, ‘I don’t have time,’ what we’re really saying is ‘I don’t want to do it’ or ‘it’s too boring’ or ‘it’s too difficult.’ You can’t do everything, but you can do what matters.

So decide what’s really important
So what matters to you? Some stuff – a lot of stuff – just isn’t worth doing because it isn’t very important, so why waste your time on this? If you run through your week, you’ll probably find a lot of things that you thought you needed to do but which really weren’t important at all. Things that fall into this category can effectively be forgotten, so before spending time on something, ask if it really matters.

Do what you love
We always find time to do what we love. When you do what you love, you do it well – you make a good job of it and you are rewarded along the way. Some things you just love for no discernible reason, and doing these things is no chore. When you’re doing something that makes you feel good and gives you a sense of purpose and achievement, you are at your most effective.

It is a great tragedy that so many people do jobs they hate, seeing their work only as a way of earning money to enable them to really enjoy themselves at weekends or during vacations. Such people are truly wasting their time. Of course, we can’t just choose to change our job, bur it is possible to find ways of enjoying our work – there are good things about every job, and by focusing on these things, they will grow and the job will become more enjoyable.

Delegate whatever else you can
If something needs to be done, ask if you have to do it yourself. If you hate ironing or cleaning, and you have the means, you can just pay someone else to do it. There is a certain puritanical streak in many of us that says ‘we must do it all ourselves,’ but there is no reason why we should spend our time doing things we dislike when we can leverage our resources. If I pay to get my ironing done, I avoid a job I hate and I get the job done properly by someone who takes a fraction of the time.

Don’t try to race against the clock – it always wins
Some people are forever clock watching, always racing to finish before a certain time. Deadlines are fine and, indeed, necessary in many instances, but to be continually driven by the need to finish something by a certain time and get on to the next thing is exhausting, unsustainable and, in the end, not an effective way of operating. By focusing on how well you do something instead of how long it takes, you are likely to be more effective.

Focus on how much, not how often
If, like me, you have a busy and continually changing schedule, it can be hard to stick to a routine. Suppose I decide that I am going to go the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. For a week or two, I manage it, but then I need to go on a business trip or I have a lot of late meetings one week, so my schedule falls by the wayside.

To get around this, instead of the routine, I can focus on how many times I intend to go to the gym in, say, a month – twelve times, for example. Then, when I have a relatively light week, I can go more than three times, and when I have a busy week, maybe I can only go once. But in a whole month, I can almost certainly find time to go twelve times.

The benefit of this is that you are not continually feeling you must do a certain thing at a certain time, and racing against the clock. Of course, you need to record your progress – every time I go to the gym, I mark my calendar, and at the end of the month I see that I’ve done my twelve visits – easy!

Just do it
If you have to do something, and you intend to do it (neither is necessarily the case for any given task that comes your way), then my advice is – just get on with it. Procrastinating will only put off the inevitable. Of course, you sometimes need to choose the right time to do something, but don’t use this as an excuse to avoid doing something that really must be done.

And finally, some advice from H. Jackson Brown, Jr.:

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

The Pause that Refreshes

2009-12-01T18:39:00.002-05:00

Feeling overwhelmed by all your obligations?

SO stop! It’s time to plug into something that YOU choose-something that can renew your batteries and refresh your interest in work AND life. Unlike the bobble-headed figures that nod “yes” at every touch, you DO get to declare “time out” and place yourself first.

How? Here are some ideas:

#1: Retreat in order to advance.

Take yourself away for at least two nights and three days to a place for a silent retreat. Yes-silence! Forbid yourself from using the phone, the television, or the internet. It’s time to listen instead to the voices in your head that have been trying to get your attention for ages. Write what you sense. Think on paper. And make resolutions that speak to what matters most.

#2: Experience something far a field from your profession.

Play chess or read a book that is NOT in your chosen line of work. Select something that piques your curiosity. The notion is to look for connections or ideas that might stimulate a new way of looking at your work or your life. Former elementary teacher Gail Wenos studied ventriloquism and discovered a new way to teach adults!

#3: Stretch yourself.

If you take an exercise class once a month, try going two more times. If you cook the same food the same way, alternate with a new cookbook. One guy I know saw himself as totally ill-equipped to ride anything that had less than four wheels. But he took motorcycle lessons and his sense of personal accomplishment grew.

#4: Practice your art every week.

Everyone has an art. It might be hammering nails or singing in the shower. It might be designing a garden or counseling a friend. But it uses a talent you’ve got and when this talent is engaged, you burn brightly. You leave the time refreshed. Put this down as a personal “no matter what” on your day timer.

#5: Throw out what weighs you down.

Read only those things that are meaningful to you. Can the clutter as well as the people who are the constant complainers and gripers. Ditch the weight of unnecessary purchases and their financial burden. Give clothes you haven’t worn in over a year to Goodwill . Remember, every ounce counts.

The end of the upcoming year often gives us a chance at some personal time to retreat. Which one of these ideas might help you to regenerate for the challenges ahead? What can you do to make that happen?

How to Become Smarter

2009-11-14T18:24:00.005-05:00

Intelligence is your ability to learn, reason, understand and master many subjects. It’s your aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts and meanings.

Knowing a great deal is not the same as being intelligent; intelligence is not information “alone,” but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used. -Dr. Carl Sagan

Here are five ways to increase your intelligence by showing you how to enhance your capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding and mastery.

5 Ways to Become More Intelligent

Read Often
It sounds so obvious, but...do you REALLY do it? Do you realize that through reading you can learn in a few hours what took someone else decades to learn? Reading not only informs, but it also increases your capacity for learning, thereby increasing your intelligence.

Although knowledge is not the summation of intelligence, it is the foundation of intelligence, so it’s crucial that we cultivate the joy of reading.

It’s an amazing thing, people who become successful write down how they did it, and then sell that information for a few dollars. For a few dollars and a few hours you can literally pick someone’s brain; you can buy a piece of their intelligence.

Reading gives you insight into great minds and sharpens your intellect. This allows you the ability to make greater logical connections because reading gives you more pieces of life’s puzzle. By reading from a multiplicity of sources, you gain the wisdom of many.

Reading (blogs like this one) is a great way to increase your intelligence. Remember, readers are leaders, and leaders are usually intelligent.

Teach Others
“Those that understand, teach.”- Aristotle

Teaching increases your capacity for reasoning, a critical aspect of intelligence.
Anyone who’s ever successfully taught anything realizes that teaching increases your capacity to reason. When you teach, you’re often required to view what you’re teaching from a variety of perspectives.

“I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.”-Abigail Adams

When you teach, it’s often essential that you question what you believe in order to deal with objections and oppositions that are sure to arise. Teaching is often more beneficial to the teacher than the student.

Get Into Action
Action increases your capacity to understand a subject. As the old proverb goes, “In all thy getting, get understanding.”

You can have information, and you can teach what you know, but you will never fully understand a subject until you put it into practice. If you want to significantly increase your intelligence related to cooking, don’t just watch the Food Network, and don’t just tell someone how to cook; you must master cooking yourself by trying, failing, and perfecting the act of cooking.

You will always understand things better when you do them yourself. Knowledge gives you the pieces of the puzzle; understanding helps you put the puzzle together.

“A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.”-Henry David Thoreau

Master One Subject
Mastery is a sign of intelligence. Mastery comes from focusing on one subject until you fully understand it. If you can fully understand one subject, it will help you to better understand other subjects. In other words, mastery will increase your aptitude for grasping truths. If you can master playing the piano, you will better understand music in general.

Additionally, if you can master any subject, you will understand what it takes to succeed.

Bonus: Watch More Television
You probably didn’t see this one coming.

By watching more television, you can become more “well-rounded.” Of course I’m not referring to watching more of the The Simpsons, I’m talking about watching television shows that offer an educational message such as political shows or shows on The Discovery Channel or The History Channel. These shows can increase your capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding as long as you don't choose educational shows that also stress you out.

By putting these principles into practice on a consistent basis, you will begin to take on the characteristics of an intellectual. You'll be surprised how far that can take you. Your capacity to learn will be stretched, your reasoning skills will be utilized, and you'll overall be a much more interesting and admirable person.

Do you agree?

6 tips to rock your career

2009-08-12T19:01:00.010-04:00

There are millions of brilliant people pursuing aggressive careers who have their sights set on great achievement. While their efforts are surely nothing short of genius, many lack the soft skills that could really put them over the top. These are the qualities that make good people great. Practical and time tested, mastering the following fundamentals will make if difficult for success to elude you.

1. Out of Box Thinking
Many dislike this term but the concept works. All it requires is thinking about problems through a different set of eyes, or different dimension. Sit back and try to solve the problem from the eyes of a 6 year old, turn things upside down, and absolutely challenge the norm. Go outside and sit in a subway station (or somewhere you generally don't sit to work) and think about why other solutions have not worked. What has worked?

Remember the best ideas come from people who are hands-on with their work. When everyone thinks and recommends a lackluster approach, lackluster results will follow. Change your surroundings, change your views, change your thought process and come up with a killer idea!

2. Taking Ownership
When no one is willing to own it, be the first to grab the opportunity. A process involving various stakeholders normally loses momentum and vision suffers. A process with a good leader, input from others, and true direction, has a much better chance of success. Be the person that jumps in and takes on a new project (just don't over-commit). An ability to own a task and work towards success is a skill which gives long lasting returns.

3. Eagerness to Learn
After a certain period, a job becomes monotonous and people become bored and eventually even lazy. They lose all the zeal to learn new things and although they won't admit this, their actions would make you believe they have thrown in the towel and are satisfied with a status quo life and career. If you really want to move ahead, don't get into this rut. Don't tune out.

Always remain eager to learn; you never know what knowledge or capability will push you up in your career. Remember, you need an open mindset and positive attitude to approach work. If you are constantly learning, it will be tough to be or appear to be interested in mediocrity.

4. Willingness to Help
Much of life is give and take. Work is no exception. If you are the person that is constantly stepping out of your comfort zone in order to help others, people (most) will return the favor when you ask. That's the key though, you have to be willing to help someone and not too proud to ask them for help when you need it.

5. Solution Seeking Mindset
People love to talk about problems. However, when you ask for their solutions, they aren't willing to go on record with sweeping changes. The majority of employees lack an attitude to solve issues and prefer to keep them burning. A positive mindset can send the right vibe and give you a lot of attention. Don't avoid complainers, listen to them just long enough to hear the problem, then try to come up with a solution.

6. Humility
Arrogance never attracts more people than humility. When you know your work and are humble about it, there is no reason that you would not be appreciated. Humility needs to be pitched with much care lest people take undue advantage of you. Strike the right balance and you will see its real magic.

It is a jungle out there.You not only need to survive but flourish too. Develop a killer attitude for success and no one will stop you.

Gone fishin'

2009-05-15T08:06:00.002-04:00

Everyone needs a break every now and then, and so I am headed off for a brief summer hiatus. I'll return to this blog in late August or early September with a new series of management insights to share with you! Enjoy your summer!

Gen X and Y appear to have an image problem.

2009-04-25T16:06:00.004-04:00

According to a recent survey by JobFox, recruiters aren't too keen on Gen X or Yers. Only 20 percent said they were "generally great performers" as compared to 63 percent who said baby boomers (age 43-62) were great performers.

Ouch.

It gets worse. According to press materials, Gen Y (people under age 28) was also classified as 'generally poor performers' by the largest number of recruiters polled. Thirty percent of recruiters classified them as poor performers, followed only by 22 percent of recruiters who classified seniors as poor performers..

Double ouch.

But JobFox's CEO Rob McGovern thinks that managers and recruiters are missing the boat. Managers, he says, must "learn new ways to incorporate Gen X and Y views into the workforce."

OK, I agree. Managers and recruiters always need to be looking at how they can use an individual's strengths to help a company and boost the bottom line.

But I think it's more than that. I think both Gen X and Yers need to be better at their own personal p.r.. I think that if they wait around to get the respect they believe they deserve, they may find themselves waiting a long time. Because whether they deserve the slacker reputation or not, the problem is that it exists.

Believe it or not, however, you are being handed a golden opportunity to turn things around as the economy takes a nosedive. How? Let us count the ways:

1. Staying sane. Gen X and Y have lived a life of upheaval. They've grown up with AIDS, 9/11 and Britney not wearing any panties, so they don't get rattled easily. Right now the older folks in the workplace are pretty well freaking and stressing about everything from how to make their house payment to watching their 401(k) tank. If today's new workers demonstrate that -- while they understand the seriousness of the issues right now -- they are still upbeat and positive about life, it could have an enormous impact. Inspiring others to keep it all in perspective can demonstrate real leadership, and that's just the kind of reputation they need to develop.

2. Save others time. No one is more crazed these days that workers trying to balance the demands of their private and professional lives. But GenYers have grown up juggling, and have found technology enhances their lives. Young workers are in a great position to help other workers find ways to use technology to make their lives better. There's no way that anyone would be called a slacker for helping give someone more time with their kids or do their job better. Just be careful: You don't want your help to come off as smug or arrogant. Read Chris Brogan's post to make sure you do it right.

3. Provide the global view. The world has been delivered to GenY through television and computers since they were old enough to use a sippy cup. They have friends working in Darfur, they listen to bands from Japan and think nothing of IMing contacts in Istanbul or India. If they can keep their workplace informed on how events in Cambodia or Russia or Brazil may be impacting their business and bottom line, it could be enormously valuable. And let's face it -- those that contribute to the bottom line are seen as valuable -- and top performers.

While there are plenty of people telling managers that they need to treat GenYers better and learn to appreciate them, I think that GenYers may have to do some of the heavy lifting. They shouldn't wait around for someone to discover their strengths -- they should find subtle, but very meaningful ways to change perceptions that will have a real impact on their career success.

What are some other ways young workers can improve their image?

Is Your Definition of Success Making You Miserable?

2009-03-19T17:02:00.003-04:00

Is your definition of success a fatal mistake?

For some, success is defined in terms of the dollar amount on a paycheck. For others, it's the title on their business card. Others may define success in terms of the accolades and awards they have won.

But the problem with how people define success these days is that when they're forced to change it, they can't. Look at the businessmen who have committed suicide because they have lost fortunes. Consider the workers who are fired and then go back to work, armed with a gun.

Extreme cases, sure. Not everyone considers killing themselves or others when their livelihood is threatened. But it does point out that maybe we need to revisit our own definition of success.

Start by completing this definition: "Success to me is...."

After you complete this sentence, then review it and determine if you're on the path to achieving that success. If you were to lose your job or money tomorrow, would your definition of success still be valid? Or, would you consider yourself a failure?

I remember a job where I worked long, stressful hours and often labored for a boss who had mood swings like a freaking roller coaster. It made for a tense situation, to say the least. One day I was talking to a co-worker and the exhaustion was overwhelming. I felt so dissatisfied, frustrated and even angry. Then it hit me: If I died that day, I didn't want the only thing on my tombstone to be "Always met his deadlines."

Ugh, I remember thinking. I wanted my life to account for more than that. It wasn't until months later that I started making some real changes in my life, changes that I know made me much better able to balance my life and devote time and effort to more than my job.

Right now, times are tough and some of us are beginning to panic. But I think it's a golden opportunity to really think about what is important in your life, and weed out the things that don't really matter.

You are the one who must define what success is to you. One thing I know for sure: You are more than a job title, you are worth more than a number on a paycheck and you are more than an award to hang on your wall. Is the destination you have in mind worth the road you must travel? Only you can answer that.

So, how do you define success?

Tick,tick,tick,tick, tick....

2009-02-22T09:22:00.011-05:00

Let’s say you have a typical life and try to live it in the healthiest way. You might allocate your 24-hour weekday this way:

Sleep: 8 hours
Exercise: 1 hour
Work: 8 hours
Eating: 2 hours (leisurely)
Hygiene: 1 hour
Travel: 1 hour (Commuting back and forth)

That would leave you a whole three hours for time with friends or family, shopping, preparing meals, chores, errands, sex, and of course homework. If you have a dentist appointment, or your talkative relative calls, or if American Idol has a two-hour special, you’re tapped out.

It’s a challenge to live a happy life if you aren’t giving enough attention to all of those categories, yet doing so is nearly impossible.

One time management strategy is to become independently wealthy, freeing up eight hours a day. But that option isn’t available to many of us. And apparently it isn’t all that fulfilling because most rich people continue to work full schedules.

Another strategy is to ignore the fact that you would be slowly killing yourself and decide to sleep and exercise less. That frees up several hours a day. The only downside is that you get fat and die.

A third time management path is to work less than you could, live economically, enjoy each day as it comes, and try not to think about living on cat food when you retire.

Which strategy have you picked?

Well I am here to say there is a better way!

Time management skills are especially important for chronically stressed New Yorkers, who often find themselves performing many different jobs during the course of a single day. These time management tips will help you increase your productivity and stay cool and collected.

1) Realize that time management is a myth.
No matter how organized we are, there are always only 24 hours in a day. Time doesn't change. All we can actually manage is ourselves and what we do with the time that we have.

2) Create goals.
Remember, the focus of time management is actually changing your behaviors, not changing time. A good place to start is by figuring our what the goal is for your day. Prioritize everything else around this. You should start each day with a time management session prioritizing the tasks for that day and setting your performance benchmark, using something like the chart below. Put your day's tasks in one of the boxes depending on if it is URGENT or NOT URGENT to get to today, and if it is IMPORTANT or NOT IMPORTANT to your long term goals. If you have 20 tasks for a given day, how many of them do you truly need to accomplish today?

3) It’s all about PLANNING!
Think of this as an extension of time management tip #2. The objective is to change your behaviors over time to achieve whatever general goal you've set for yourself, such as increasing your productivity or decreasing your stress. So you need to not only set your specific goals, but allocate your effort to meet those goals. Write down how much time you will spend on your priorities each day, and track them over time to see whether or not you're accomplishing them, and what is derailing you.

4) Eliminate personal time-wasters.
For one week, for example, set a goal that you're not going to take personal phone calls while you're working. Or you’re not going to reply to text messages as soon as they come in. Or you’re not going to check e-mails every hour and stop to respond to them. We eat up a lot of unnecessary time during our day by interrupting our productivity with other distractions. Control the time you spend on such distractions and you’ll accomplish more during the day. For instance, reading and answering email can consume your whole day if you let it. Instead, set a limit of one hour a day for this task and stick to it.

5) Establish routines and stick to them as much as possible.
While crises will arise, you'll be much more productive if you can follow routines most of the time. Routines are time savers because they lessen the amount of time you need to decide what to do next.

6) Be sure your systems are organized.
Are you wasting a lot of time looking for things? Take the time to organize. Develop systems. Is your computer filing system slowing you down? Redo it, so it's organized to the point that you can quickly lay your hands on what you need. What other things can you organize?

7) Don't waste time waiting.
From getting stuck on the subway to doctors appointments, it's impossible to avoid waiting for someone or something. But you don't need to just sit there and twiddle your thumbs. Always take something to do with you, such as a report you need to read, a checkbook that needs to be balanced, or just a blank pad of paper that you can use to plan your day. Technology makes it easy to work wherever you are; your PDA and/or cell phone will help you stay connected.

You CAN be in control and accomplish what you want to accomplish - once you've come to grips with the time management myth and taken control of your time.

Which one(s) of these ideas would work for you? Are there any other time management ideas can you think of?

Obama has his Cabinet--do you?

2009-01-30T09:48:00.001-05:00

As Barack Obama continues in his first days in office, he'll be surrounded by trusted advisers.

Before he makes a decision, he's likely to consult members of his Cabinet. He'll probably ask their opinions on everything from foreign policy to domestic issues. In the end, of course, the final decision will be his. But he will make that decision based on input he's received from people he trusts and respects.

So, who is in your Cabinet?

You may think you don't need a trusted group of advisers. After all, you're not the president of the United States, and may believe that it's a luxury reserved for world leaders.

Not so. In fact, no one may need a Cabinet today more than someone trying to get ahead.

That's because times are tough. It's hard not to be pessimistic about the future, at least for the moment. But with a Cabinet in place, you not only can do a better job of keeping difficult times in perspective, but you can have in place people to advise you when times are bad -- and good.

Who should be in your Cabinet? Well, let's consider who Obama has chosen. Some descriptions that come to mind: Smart, savvy, experienced and diverse. His advisers are not shrinking violets -- and Obama has reportedly encouraged them to be true to themselves and offer their unbiased opinions.

That's exactly what you're aiming for with your Cabinet: Smart, savvy, experienced and diverse. Now, let's look at how you put a Cabinet together:

* Make a list. Think of those you've worked with in past and current positions, or others you've met through various professional or academic functions. For your Cabinet, it's best to steer away from personal friends and family members. You want people who are more concerned with what's best for you professionally, rather than just becoming emotional about what happens in your career.

* Don't rush. Putting together your Cabinet won't happen overnight. You need to carefully consider each person, develop a comfortable relationship with them, to be able to begin to access the strengths and experience they can offer. And, you need to be able to offer something in return -- this is supposed to be a relationship that is beneficial for them as well. Perhaps you'll be a Cabinet member for them or be able to offer valuable contacts or help when needed. If you don't think you can offer reciprocal benefits, you may need to consider someone else.

* Who has your back? In the working world it can often be tricky to know exactly who to trust. A person may say they have your best interests at heart, but actions speak otherwise. When looking for a Cabinet, think about who has covered for you at work without whining about it. Or, the person who gave you a heads up about a new project that you might like or the person at another company who alerted you to a great new job that was opening up. Your Cabinet members should be supportive of you, and show they have your best interests at heart.

* Be realistic. Your Cabinet isn't going to do your work for you. That's still your responsibility. They're in place to give you advice, to act as a sounding board and to give you their honest opinion whether you're doing the right thing or headed for disaster. Don't abuse their talents and don't take them for granted. Make sure you always offer something of value in return, and you and your Cabinet will go far in the coming years.

The time is now to begin managing your career. It can begin by building your own Cabinet or Board of Advisors. What are some other ideas or considerations for building a career Cabinet? Do you have any experiences to share about trying to build your own?

See you in January!

2008-12-22T11:54:00.001-05:00

Taking a little year-end/new year break.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a wonderful winter holiday season.

I'll be back in January with some more ideas to think about in 2009!

Choosing the frame that complements the picture.

2008-11-05T18:13:00.000-05:00

A famous experiment by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky went as follows:

Imagine that the US is preparing for an outbreak of an unusual disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative medicines to combat the disease have been proposed.
Assume that the exact scientific estimates of the consequences of the medicines are as follows:

If treatment A is undertaken, 200 will be saved.
If treatment B is undertaken, there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved.

Which one of the two treatments would you prefer?

Kahneman and Tversky found that a substantial majority of people would choose treatment A.

Then they gave another group of people the assignment but with the following description of the (same) options:

If treatment A is undertaken, 400 people will die.
If treatment B is undertaken, there is a one-third probability that nobody will die and a two-thirds probability that 600 people will die.

They found that, in this case, a clear majority of respondents favored treatment B! But the treatments really are exactly the same in both cases…!? How come people’s preferences flip although they are confronted with the exact same set of choices (be it described slightly differently)?

It is due to what we call “framing effects”, and they greatly affect people’s preferences and decisions.

For instance, In the first case, treatment A is described in terms of the certainty of surviving (which people like), but in the second case it is described in terms of the certainty of dying (which people don’t like at all!). Therefore, people choose A when confronted with the first treatment description, while in the second case they favor B, although the treatments are the same in both situations.

This effect is quite omni-present. How you frame a problem or solution to someone (e.g. your boss) is going to influence substantially what option he is going to prefer. How the people who work for you frame a situation while presenting to you, is also going to determine what you will choose.

Did I frame this in a way that can be of help to you?

The Ultimate Productivity Habit

2008-10-10T09:13:00.000-04:00

I was lecturing in one of my classes the other day and noticed that NO ONE was writing anything down. Now I realize that not everything I have to say is important, but the fact that no one was writing anything made me think about the lost art of writing.

I do believe if something is important enough to remember, it’s important enough to write down. This doesn’t just apply to class notes or random to-do tasks or events to put on your calendar. I write down everything: goals, ideas, what I spend money on and useful thinking points from books. The reason to write isn’t to keep records, but to be more aware.

Writing focuses your thinking. When you write something down, you aren’t just creating a paper record, you’re changing the way you think about it. Writing down a goal changes a whim into a conviction. Writing down your expenses changes excessive spending from a bad habit to a conscious choice. Writing down your idea turns a vague suggestion into a clearer concept.

Writing is like an upgrade to your thinking. In the normal flow of thought, you can’t edit typos and make adjustments. If you get distracted, it can be hard to return to your place. And since your short term memory is only about 5-9 items long, you can’t think over more complex ideas.

When you start writing things down, you have an upgraded level of thinking about them. Writing things down makes you more aware of opportunities and problems, like a temporary boost to your IQ.

What Should I Write Down?

Obviously you can’t write down everything. You can’t write down everything said in a conversation. Writing down everything you eat or everything you do can eat up a lot of time. Writing is valuable because it forces you to focus, so writing down everything would ruin the purpose.

You should write down anything you feel needs more clarity. If you need to get in touch with how you feel about something, write about it. One of the best exercises I ever did came from the Julia Cameron book "The Artist's Way" in which she suggests you wake up every morning and just write 3 handwritten pages of whatever comes to you mind. It does not need to be profound thoughts, just write and keep writing whatever is on your mind until 3 pages are filled. You will be surprised after awhile how this exercise will focus you on your concerns, and more importantly what you can do about them.

Trust me when I say that this exercise changed my life. No kidding.

If something is important and worth getting done, it is probably worth writing down. Ask yourself what things could use more focus in your life. Writing isn’t an instant cure that will immediately make you more productive. But it makes you far more aware of what needs to be done and how well you are doing it.

If there is a part of your life that is unknown, inconsistent or in poor shape, you should consider writing more down about it. Write down ideas and make records while you’re working on it, and spend time writing your thoughts when you’re taking a break. If you can keep writing for a few weeks, it can reveal solutions to problems you didn’t even realize you had before.

I suggest committing yourself to writing something down for at least a month. Writing isn’t a natural habit, we weren’t born with the skill and it’s one of the first pieces of technology we had developed. As a result, if you don’t commit to continuing it for a few weeks, you probably will return to relying only on your short-term memory. Thinking is good, but writing plus thinking is even better.

Monkey Business

2008-09-05T18:38:00.000-04:00

Here's an experiment that involved 5 monkeys, a cage, a banana, a ladder and a water hose. Tell me what you think.

The 5 monkeys were locked in a cage, after which a banana was hung from the ceiling with, fortunately for the monkeys (or so it seemed…), a ladder placed right underneath it.

Of course, immediately, one of the monkeys raced towards the ladder, intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as he started to climb, the researcher sprayed the climbing monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, however, he would also spray the other four monkeys…

When a second monkey tried to climb the ladder, the researcher again sprayed the monkey with ice-cold water, and applied the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise for the third climber and the fourth one. They all learned their lesson about how things work: they were not going to climb the ladder again – banana or no banana.

But the experiment did not stop there. In order to watch what happened, the researcher replaced one of the old monkeys with a new one. As expected, the new monkey spotted the banana, thinking “why don’t these idiots go get it?!” and started climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water treatment, ran towards the new guy – and beat him up. The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, got the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana or no banana.

When the researcher replaced a second old monkey with a new one, the events repeated themselves – new monkey ran towards the ladder; other monkeys beat him up; new monkey does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail: the first new monkey, who had never received the cold-water treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it), with equal vigor and enthusiasm, joined in the beating of the new guy on the block.

When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.

Fianlly, a 5th new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward the ladder only to get beaten up by the others. But ask yourself this: why would these all new monkeys beat each other up over the banana, when none of them ever experienced the cold water treatment? Probably like human because they learned: "that’s the way we do things around here”…

I got this story from a colleague. It reminded him – and me – of quite a few of the organizations we have seen. Over the years, all firms develop routines, habits and practices, which we call the firm’s “organizational culture”. As I am sure you know, these cultures can be remarkably different, in terms of what sort of behavior they value and what they don’t like to see, and what they punish. Always, these habits and conventions have been developed over the course of many years. Very often, nobody actually remembers why they were started in the first place... Quite possibly, the guy with the water hose has long gone.

Who do you want to be? The monkey that goes along, or the one who questions “the way we do things round here?” You may initially take a beating being an agent of change, but actually you might be doing something valuable for the organization. And there's a banana in it for you if you learn to question the status quo...

Taking a Short Break

2008-05-26T09:34:00.000-04:00

This 2 minute diagram is meant to represent a person, possibly me with hair, stepping away from his keyboard. I am taking a break for a number of days and don’t expect to be back on this blog until late August or September. In the meantime feel free to comment on the historical entries posted here, or look for the debut of www.EdwardKurpis.com coming live in late June or July.

The last few weeks have been rather interesting ones for me workwise. It is an exciting time, but unfortunately I can’t explain why at the moment. There is a lot to be pondered, and so I find myself doing a lot of pacing up, forth, back and down:

This is why I need a break...and some new shoes. See you soon.

Picasso's Top 7 Tips for a Better Life

2008-05-08T17:35:00.000-04:00

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor and creator in many creative fields. He’s perhaps the most well-known painter from all of the 20th century.

He also had some interesting things to say about life that are applicable to management. Here are my 7 favorite tips from him.

1. You have to believe to be able to do.

“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”

This is a great quote because it doesn’t just say that you should “believe in yourself!” It explains why you need to believe in yourself and your ability to do something to actually do it.

The funny thing is that it’s hard to see how much your beliefs control your performance and how you see your world when you are used at looking at things from just one perspective.

When you think you can do something instead of not, your perception of that thing changes. And your perception of yourself too. Without those changed perspectives it will be hard to find the courage, motivation, enthusiasm and whatever else you may need.

If you think you’ll fail, you are likely to hold yourself back or even trip yourself up (sometimes unconsciously). If you on the other hand think you can do something your mind will start to find solutions and focus on fixing things instead of whining about them. From all of the stimuli around you things, solutions and opportunities will just start to pop up. Without that focus on the right thing, on your ability to do, your mind may not find the resources and solutions that are needed.

2. Push your limits.

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

Pushing yourself and stretching is necessary to grow. And the more you push yourself the quicker you can grow.

But it can be scary. My best tip so far: stay present as much as you can while doing something you cannot yet do.

This can greatly decrease possible negative feelings that are holding you back. And with those feelings out of your mind and body it becomes easier to focus, to feel positive feelings and actually perform well and learn to do whatever you have set your mind upon.

3. Don’t wait for inspiration or the right moment.

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.”

Inspiration can show up on its own, waltzing in through a door or a window. But doing things that way makes work inconsistent – both in quality and quantity - and you spend a lot of time waiting.

I find that it’s better to follow Pablo’s suggestion and just start working. For the first minutes what you do may suck quite a bit and it’s hard going. But after a while inspiration seems to catch up with you. Things start to flow easier and your work is of a higher quality.

If you feel inspired one day that’s great. Use your inspiration. But don’t limit yourself to the moments where you feel inspired or you feel like the moment is just right to do something. Act instead. A lot of the time you can find inspiration along the way. Or accomplish whatever you want to do despite the moment not looking just as you would like it to.

4. Act.

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

I know. If you have been reading this blog for a while you may have noticed that talk about taking action is included in a lot of the articles. But that’s because, as Picasso says, action is the foundation. Without taking action any information – no matter how useful – will be pretty useless. This is also the part of personal growth or just life that is often forgotten or perhaps avoided.

It’s scary. It can feel difficult to do it. Or you may not feel like it’s the right moment now. But developing a habit of taking more and more action can make a huge difference.

5. Ask the right questions.

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.”

It’s easy to ask yourself the wrong questions. To ask yourself questions that just will give you answers that confirm that you are incompetent, foolish, wrong and tell you that your future is limited. Questions that will sink you instead of help to lift you up.

So instead, ask yourself empowering questions.

When having a seemingly negative experience ask yourself: what is good about this? What can I learn from this? There is always something you can learn and have use for to create positive experiences later on.

When interacting with others ask yourself: How can I bring even more value (understanding, help, practical solutions, fun, excitement etc.) to this interaction?

In just about any situation you can always ask yourself: what’s great about this situation/experience? This is a quick way to shift your mood and thoughts into more positive, resourceful and empowered forms through gratitude.

There are of course many more empowering questions you can ask yourself. I think the main point is to reframe the questions you ask yourself into positive questions that open up - instead of closes – the door to opportunities and possibilities.

6. See the hidden beauty by not judging.

“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”

One of big advantages of becoming more present in your everyday life is that you decrease the amount of analysing and labelling you do to the things/people in your surroundings. You don’t judge as much.

This might sound strange but in the moments when you are present the ordinary world becomes more interesting and wonderful. Colors can seem brighter. Your see more aliveness in trees, nature and in people. You see the wonder of all your man-made gadgets and stuff. Things that most often seem common, routine and boring become fascinating and something you can appreciate.

It’s like you are observing your world with more clarity and curiousness. Like a little kid again, discovering things while they still feel fresh. Before they have just become walking, talking and growing labels with years of associations and thoughts attached.

7. It’s not too late.

“Youth has no age.”

Don’t let social conditioning tell you what you can or cannot do just because you are of one age or another. Age is most of the time just in your head anyway. Take tip #1 into consideration and choose for yourself what you can do. And use tip # 6 and ask yourself the right questions instead of ones that limit you.

And, remember, the present moment is all there ever is anyway. So don’t get caught up in the past too much. Most of the time you really don’t have to act consistently with what you have done before. If you do, then that’s your choice. And you can decide to do something different too. Right now.

It is really only too late to change if you look at your life as a time-line. If you learn to become more present, if you learn to live more in the now, much of that thinking just falls away. You realize that you can consciously choose and do pretty much whatever you like in the present moment and built a future with new possibilities.

Managing through un-bear-able situations

2008-04-05T09:23:00.000-04:00

Our story starts at a bridge over a deep lake in northern Nevada. A bear was making its way across the bridge one Saturday in 2007, when some vehicles crossing the bridge scared the bear into jumping over the edge. Somehow the bear caught the ledge and was hanging on for dear life. There it is, hanging on by its fingernails. It manages to pull itself up, but now there’s no way to get off the bridge and back to safety. I guess most of us have felt like that sometimes. We’re startled into making a sudden decision, hoping to find a place of safety, only to find ourselves going over the edge and facing a long, long fall towards certain disaster. We manage, somehow, to cling on and prevent the fall, but now we’re stuck. We can’t see a way out. We have nowhere to go and no route back to security.

Stuck in a dark place

The authorities, alerted to the bear’s plight, decided that nothing could be done to help before nightfall. So there’s the bear. Darkness is coming on. It can’t get off the bridge. It has no food or water.

What would you do?

I suspect many of us would panic and maybe even put ourselves at risk of falling into the ravine below. We would certainly want to do something as quickly as possible to get out of our dilemma.

The next morning

The bear, however, had a better idea. When the authorities returned on Sunday morning, they found the bear sound asleep on the ledge.

In our action-obsessed society, everyone is constantly urging everyone else to “do something” to cure any bad situation. The last option that comes to mind is often the best: to stay patient, retreat, and consider our options.

The current financial mess is a good example. Banks and finance houses got themselves — and us — into this mess by a mixture of greed, limited ethics, and deciding that nothing mattered much except short-term profits. Regulation was ignored or evaded by a mixture of accounting sleight of hand and the creation of novel “investment vehicles” that were outside the regulations, because no one had dreamed them up before. The result was easy profit, followed by the current period of staring into the abyss and knowing that you have no obvious way out.

What do they do? Do they wait patiently to see what occurs, to see which loans are, in reality, good ones and which have to be written off to experience and a hard lesson learned?

No, they yell loud and long for a government safety net. Are those the same folks who despised regulation and “government interference” in the market when times were good? Who loudly proclaimed the idea that “the market is always right” and asked only to be left alone?

Indeed they are. Only now they’re in a mess — entirely of their own contriving — they want the rest of us, the taxpayers, to bail them out.

The bear didn’t yell, but it did get a safety net.

Rescue comes

After securing a net under the bridge, the rescuers tranquilized the bear, which promptly fell into the net. The net was lowered to the ground. After a few minutes, the bear woke up and walked out of the net.

Let’s look at similar situations as they affect individuals. We get into a mess and feel trapped. Maybe we start to panic. There’s no clear way out. And no authorities on hand to bring us a safety net.

What do we do?

Most people start running around, frantically trying to find a solution. If the bear had done this on the ledge of the bridge, the chances are it would have fallen off. The same is true for us.

No one’s mind works clearly when they feel stressed and panicky. That makes managing hard to do. But, if we succumb to the urge to “do something,” it’s very possible that we’ll grab onto the first seemingly viable answer that presents itself..."satisficing ." It may help us out, but it’s much more likely to make the problem worse

Learning the lesson

Like all the best stories, this one has a moral. The bear was panicked by circumstances (the vehicles on the bridge) into making a bad move. It jumped out of the way, over the edge of the bridge, and found it was hanging on by its nails over a drop into disaster.

Somehow it was able to pull itself up onto a narrow ledge. Now it’s safe from instant death, but still in a very bad situation, with no obvious way out.

When you’re confronted with a bad situation, sometimes the best solution of all is to do nothing, sleep on the problem, and carefully assess your alternatives. Patience often succeeds where immediate action may only makes things worse. Leadership through careful consideration of your options frequently works better than action for action's sake — for people and bears.

The top 5 business maxims that have to go

2008-03-18T08:07:00.000-04:00

Much well-known business advice is sadly obsolete but can still be found in articles, business books and, not least, in daily use in the workplace. It seems that some companies are still guided by thinking that is sadly out of date - if it was ever true to begin with.

The worst of these old maxims are not only wrong, they’re bad for people and bad for business. Businesses who use them are making their employees unhappy and are harming the bottom line.

Here’s my pick of the top 5 business maxims in serious need of an update - with a suggested replacement for each.

Old maxim #1: Failure is not an option

Meaning: We absolutely, positively must succeed.

Guess what: No matter how many times you repeat this maxim, failure remains an option. Closing your eyes to this fact only makes you more likely to fail. Putting pressure on people to always succeed makes mistakes more likely because:

People who work under pressure are less effective
People resist reporting bad news
People close their eyes to signs of trouble

This is especially true when it’s backed up with punishment of those who make mistakes. Peter Drucker provocatively suggested that businesses should find all the employees who never make mistakes and fire them, because employees who never make mistakes never do anything interesting. Admitting that mistakes happen and dealing constructively with them when they do makes mistakes less likely.

Also, failure is often the path to new, exciting opportunities that wouldn’t have appeared otherwise. Closing your eyes to failure means closing your eyes to these opportunities.

New maxim: Failure happens. Deal with it.

Old maxim #2: The customer is always right

Meaning: The customer is king. We satisfy our customers’ every need.

No. No, no, no. This tired business maxim often means that loyal hardworking employees are scorned in favor of unreasonable customers. It also, ironically, results in bad customer service.

“The customer is always right” makes employees unhappy and unhappy employees almost always give customers bad service.

New maxim: Happy employees means happy customers.

Old maxim #3: Never be satisfied

Meaning: You can never be satisified and complacent in business. You’ve always gotta want more.

This is a bad mistake which rests on a very fundamental misconception, namely that being satisfied means that you stop acting. That satisfaction breeds complacency and therefore that a happy, satisifed company will be passive. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a constant sense of dissatifaction in an organization sends one powerful message: We’re not good enough! The irony is that this results in worse performance.

People who constantly appreciate all the good in their organization and express their satisifaction create a much more positive working environment characterized by more:

Motivation
Energy
Self-confidence
Happiness at work

This is not about closing your eyes and pretending things are great if they’re not. It’s about appreciating the fact that people in constant states of dissatisfaction erode an organization’s will and ability to act. The trick is to appreciate what you have and still aim for more.

Replacement: Always be appreciative but never complacent.

Old maxim #4: Nice guys finish last

Meaning: We can’t be too nice in business. In fact, being nice may hinder your career and impede results.

That’s just not true, of course we should be nice at work. This doesn’t mean that you have to be nice to all of the people all of the time, but it means that you absolutely can be a nice person and succeed in business. Unpleasant people hurt the bottom line. In a networked world reputation matters, and it’s more important to be generous and likeable than to be ruthless and efficient.

New maxim: Nice guys get the job done.

Old maxim #5: Grow or die

Meaning: A business is either growing or dying. A business can’t be successful if it’s not growing.

It’s interesting to see how growth has been elevated to an automatic good, questioned by very few businesses and executives. Growth certainly has some positive effects especially because it creates new possibilities and challenges for an organization and its people. I’m not saying that growth is bad but that growth isn’t always right for every business. Sometimes a business might be better off spending a quarter or a year not growing but simply consolidating existing business. Consequently not growing or even shrinking does not automatically represent business failure.

That’s what Semco’s CEO Ricard Semler meant when he said this:

There is no correlation between growth and ultimate success. For a while growth seems very glamorous, but the sustainability of growth is so delicate that many of the mid-sized companies which just stayed where they were doing the same thing are much better off today than the ones that went crazy and came back to nothing. There are too many automobile plants, too many airplanes. Who is viable in the airline business?

If someone asks me, ‘where will you be in 10 years’ time?’, I haven’t got the slightest idea. I don’t find it perturbing either if we said, ‘look, in 10 years’ time Semco could have 500 people instead of 3,000 people’; that sounds just as interesting as 21,000 people. I’d hate to see Semco not exist in 10, 20, 50 years’ time, but what form it exists in, what business it’s in and what size it is are not particularly relevant.

Growing also entails its own risks, especially fast growth on borrowed money. This almost killed Patagonia in the early 90’s. Founder Yvon Chouinard says this:

It was back in 1990 or so and we were growing the company by 40 to 50 percent a year and we were doing it by all the textbook business ways — adding more dealers, adding more products, building stores. Growing it like the American dream, you know — grow, grow, grow. And one year we predicted 40 to 50 percent growth and there was a recession and all the sudden we only grew 20 percent. And at the same time, our bank was going belly-up and we had cash-flow problems and it went to absolute hell. And I had been the person who had never bought anything on credit in all my life. I always paid cash for everything, and to have to call someone and say, “I’m sorry, I can’t pay my bills this month,” was killing me. And I realized that I was on the same track as society was — endless growth for the sake of growth.

That’s when I decided to put the brakes on and decided to grow at a more natural rate — which basically means that only when our customers want something do we make more, but we don’t prime the pump.

New maxim: Grow when you gotta.

Wrap-up

The scary thing about maxims is that they’re often accepted unquestioningly because they come in the shape of old addages which are repeated - a little like nursery rhymes used to educate children. That means it’s not enough to oust the old maxims we need to replace them with new ones that are guaranteed to bring better results for people and for the bottom line.

Annual Mary Kay Seminar

2008-02-10T13:22:00.001-05:00

Managing organizational culture?

How Not To Run A Meeting

2008-01-03T17:17:00.001-05:00

(I do not endorse the book plugged at the end of the clip.)

Happy Holidays to All!

2007-12-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

Best wishes to you for a happy holiday season and the best new year!

It's Not Easy Being HOT...

2007-12-04T09:31:00.001-05:00

...and by HOT I mean a Hands-On Teacher... (if you don't understand this post so far, I have not lost my mind...it's a MGT 3120 thing...)

It is a tough task to run a community of individuals where authority and respect have to be earned every day. Few people can do it well, consistently and successfully, because it demands an unusual combination of attributes. But these are characteristics you too will need as you take your rightful place among the management ranks of the future. I try everyday to hold on to these ideals, and they are what I also wish for you to find and maintain:

A belief in oneself is the only thing that gives an individual the self-confidence to step into the unknown and to persuade others to go with you where perhaps no one has taken them before. But this has to be combined with constant self-questioning, the humility to accept that one can be wrong on occasion, the acceptane that others also have ideas, and that listening is as important as talking.

A passion for the job provides the energy and focus that will drive your organization and you must always try to act as an example to others. But this also has to be combined with its opposite, an awareness of other worlds, because a sole focus on your own ideas can turn to blinders, and an inability to think beyond one's own box. Great leaders find time to read, to meet people beyond their own circle, to go to the theater or see films, to walk in other worlds.

The leader must have a respect and love of people, because in a community of individuals, those who find individuals a pain and a nuisance may be respected or feared, but they will not be willingly followed.

Yet this attribute, too, requires its opposite, a capacity for aloneness, because leaders have to be out front. It is not always possible to share one's worries with anyone else. Few will thank the leader when things go right, but many will blame the leader if things go wrong. Great leaders have to walk alone from time to time. They also have to live vicariously, deriving their satisfaction from the growth and successes of others and giving those others the recognition that they deserve.

Living with these paradoxes requires great strength of character. It also requires a belief in what one is doing. Although it may seem so now, money alone may not be enough to provide the motive to live with these contradictions. Even a love of power is insufficient, because power irons out the contradictions rather than holding them in balance. I believe great leaders are bred from great causes, but leaders at their best will also breed great causes. Until and unless business embraces a cause bigger and more beneficial to society than enrichment of self and shareholders, it will have few great and memorable leaders that will stand the test of time.

I wish you all the best as you carve your own way through this management maze. It has been a pleasure and honor to have met you all. Please come back and visit me...even if only through this blog in the future.

--prof K

The Leadership Secrets of "Attila the Hun"

2007-11-05T07:57:00.000-05:00

"We should rule the world." --Attila the Hun

Attila the Hun was a member of a nomadic Asian people in search of global conquest. By AD 432, Attila the Hun had become a leader of historic repute. He gained so much power that his army consisted of 700,000 warriors, and he was content with nothing less than the ransacking of Rome itself. The Huns had a reputation for cruelty and barbarism that was not undeserved. They ate their meat raw (often human flesh), had little use for virgins, and possessed a strong appetite for murder and mayhem. No one could look Attila in the eyes, not even any of his 400 wives.

***

Back in 1987, a very famous and controversial leadership book was written, called "Management Secrets of Attila the Hun." The book pretends to be a collection of campfire stories told by Attila while training his chieftains to be better leaders. Of course there's no historical evidence that Attila ever had such fireside chats, but it's an interesting way for the author to infer what Attila might have said under such circumstances.

Here are a few of Attila's secrets that the author claims are fully appropriate for the business world. What do you think? Is there any wisdom in behaving like a Hun today?

YOU'VE GOT TO WANT TO BE IN CHARGE -- You've got to be ruthlessly ambitious. Never be bored, disinterested, or cowardly in any way. Good leaders are lustful leaders. Power is like sex, but don't appear overeager, just extremely determined to succeed under any circumstances, fair or unfair.

PICK YOUR ENEMIES WISELY -- Do not consider all opponents, or everyone you argue with, as enemies. These are accidental enemies. Choose your enemies with purpose. They may be people you have friendly relations with, and in fact, you should let them think of you as a friend, all the while never telling them anything, and lulling them into a state of complacency and acting prematurely.

EXPLOIT THE DESIRE TO ENJOY THE SPOILS OF WAR -- Harness your peoples' desires for short-term gains. Grant small rewards for light tasks. Reserve heaps of booty for other times, and be generous with items that hold a value to yourself. Never underestimate the ability to buy obedience.

EXPECT CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT -- You must encourage learning and innovation among those you lead. This can be done in several ways, by creating competitions among the people. Never allow them to wander aimlessly. Regularly upgrade your standards of performance.

NEVER CONDONE A LACK OF MORALE OR DISCIPLINE -- Terminate people at the first sign of disrespect for the common good, but by no means stiffle individualism or punish the innocent who don't know the common good. Definitely, do not allow uncontrolled celebration. Pillaging and looting are only fun if done in the name of one's mission. Discipline will build morale.

Does Your Generation of Managers Have What it Takes to Succeed?

2007-09-28T07:59:00.000-04:00

They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life.

This is YOU--often called "Generation Y"-- a force of as many as 70 million, and the first wave is just now embarking on their careers — taking their place in an increasingly multigenerational workplace.

This age group is moving into the labor force during a time of major demographic change, as companies around the US face an aging workforce. Sixty-year-olds are working beside 20-year-olds. Freshly minted college graduates are overseeing employees old enough to be their parents. And new job entrants are changing careers faster than college students change their majors, creating frustration for employers struggling to retain and recruit talented high-performers.

But unlike the generations that have gone before them, it is said that Gen Y has been overly pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and high-maintenance. They also believe in their own worth, even though frequently that worth has not yet been proven in the marketplace.

"Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York. "They've grown up questioning their parents, they question their teachers, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.' "

•Work-life balance isn't just a buzz word. Unlike boomers who tend to put a high priority on career, today's newest workers are more interested in making their jobs accommodate their family and personal lives than vice versa. They want jobs with flexibility, telecommuting options and the ability to go part time or leave the workforce temporarily when children are in the picture. Will this laid back approach lead to the same pace of advancements earlier generations have created for their future generations?

•Change, change, change. Generation Y'ers also don't seem to expect to stay in a job, or even a career, for too long — they've seen the scandals that imploded Enron and Arthur Andersen, and they're skeptical when it comes to such concepts as employee loyalty. They don't like to stay too long on any one assignment. This is a generation of multitaskers, and they can juggle e-mail on their Blackberrys while talking on cellphones while trolling online.

"They're like Generation X on steroids. They walk in with high expectations for themselves, their employer, their boss. If you thought you saw a clash when Generation X came into the workplace, that was the fake punch. The real managerial tests are coming now."

Conflicts over casual dress. In the workplace, conflict and resentment can arise over a host of issues, even seemingly innocuous subjects such as appearance, as a generation used to casual fare such as flip-flops, tattoos and capri pants finds more traditional attire is required at the office.

Angie Ping, 23, of Alvin, Texas, lives in flip-flops but isn't allowed to wear them to the office. "Some companies' policies relating to appropriate office attire seem completely outdated to me," says Ping, at International Facility Management Association. "The new trend for work attire this season is menswear-inspired capri pants, which look as dressy as pants when paired with heels, but capri pants are not allowed at my organization."

And then there's Gen Y's total comfort with technology. While boomers may expect a phone call or in-person meeting on important topics, younger workers may prefer virtual problem solving. This can lead to communication breakdowns.

Conflict can also flare up over management style. Unlike previous generations who've in large part grown accustomed to the annual review, Gen Y'ers have grown up getting constant feedback and recognition from teachers, parents and coaches and can resent it or feel lost if communication from bosses isn't more regular.

"The millennium generation has been brought up in the most child-centered generation ever. They've been programmed and nurtured," says Cathy O'Neill, senior vice president at career management company Lee Hecht Harrison in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. "Their expectations are different. This group expects to be told how they're doing."

More than 60% of employers say they are experiencing tension between employees from different generations, according to a survey by Lee Hecht Harrison. The survey found more than 70% of older employees are dismissive of younger workers' abilities. And nearly half of employers say that younger employees are dismissive of the abilities of their older co-workers.

Is this how to spell success?

Is this any way to manage?

2007-08-27T13:18:00.001-04:00

"The Great and Powerful Oz has spoken!"

Ever have a boss like this? Proclaiming his wisdom from on high...commanding others to do his bidding through intimidation...belittling his subordinates for merely speaking up. I've known quite a few of these so-called management types: lots of huffing and puffing, all smoke and mirrors, but in the end, very little substance. Is this what management should be about?

I don't manage like this, and neither do most good managers. In the end, good managers are less wizard-like and much more like Dorothy in their approach: they develop a strong vision (getting home/getting to Oz), they encourage their staff to believe in themselves even when they are uncertain about their own skills or abilities (Dorothy lets the Scarecrow make many decisions for the group--not bad for someone with 'no brain'!) They always motivate, communicate, and advocate for their people. And of course they solve their own daily problems... how shall I say this, creatively...

Think about the ways Dorothy becomes the real "great and powerful" manager in this film. Many of the principles she adheres to will prove to be valuable tools for future managers like yourselves as well. We'll be discussing more about management styles as the semester progresses...