the ignore list

You should all read this Harvard Business Review blog post by Peter Bergman. He discusses two lists; a focus list and an ignore list. I'm sure we all think about goals, so I'm going to focus on the not so common ignore list. We are flooded with information on a consistent basis. It's overwhelming. We have too much to do. Everything seems like a priority. How are you going to get it all done? In today's information world, prioritize has a new meaning. It's not only what needs to get done and in what order. It's what can't we get to and what can we choose to ignore? As Bergman says, we need to ask ourselves: what am I willing to overlook? What doesn't make sense to me? What's not important to our achievements? What's going to get in the way of my success?

So tomorrow when you see an e-mail alert ask yourself, "Is this something I need to read immediately?" When you get an invite question, "Is this a meeting I need to attend?" Make sure you know what you plan on ignoring in advance. Achieve your goals not only by prioritizing, but by realizing what's not important to your company's, your department's and your own success.

difference maker: two

I've spent a couple of posts now on getting to yes.  I'd like to introduce you to William Ury, the author of the book.  Bill is a master negotiator.  In this TED speech he describes how he feels his ideas can help achieve the lofty goal of creating more peace in the world.  Bill talks about the third side.  When there is conflict there is always a third side that can play a constructive role in resolving disputes.  If you don't have 20 minutes to spare please listen to the first seven, especially how Bill responds to criticism with what I would call a positive no in minute six.

http://www.ted.com William Ury, author of "Getting to Yes," offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations -- from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

saying no

Earlier this month I had a post on getting to yes.  I talked about negotiating to find common ground.  Sometimes getting to yes first takes learning how to say no. Last week our email delivery team was dealing with an inventory problem.  We sent three emails to our customer base and anything further would be perceived as spam by our clients.  Of course a request came in late in the week for an email blast.  The marketing team filmed an on location video of our customers getting the most of our services, and worked with public relations to have the video air on a local news program.  The station posted the video on their site and marketing wanted to promote the piece via an email campaign.  Well, the answer was no, but we can't just say, "No, we don't have the inventory."   So, how can we communicate no in order to get to yes?

First, I think some praise is in order.  "Congratulations!  You did an amazing job on the video.  That is great for our company!  I understand why you want to launch the campaign this week and we can certainly use the publicity, but I'm afraid the open rate on the email is going to be really low.  We've already sent three emails this week, and another one from the company is going to come across as spam."  That's how you say, "No."

Let's work on getting to yes.  "So, instead of having a blast from the company this week why don't I do this for you?  We'll create a template for the account executives in the market.  If the email comes from the account executive it is more personal and more likely to be opened.  If that doesn't work for you, we can send it first thing next week ahead of some of the other emails that need to go out.  Or, if you really insist we'll send it tomorrow, but I want to reinforce that it will most likely not have the desired effect.  So, what do you say?"

Saying no in the right way can help you to more easily get to yes.  First, offer well deserved praise or understanding.  Next, explain why you are saying no.  Finally, offer some options.  Sometimes your customers aren't from outside the company.  They're you're colleagues.  When you are a service provider you have to treat your internal customers as well as you would treat your clients.

ideas

Heading into Thanksgiving weekend I thought I'd take a break from the blog and link to today's excellent post on Seth Godin's blog. Where do ideas come from?

1. Ideas don't come from watching television
2. Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture
3. Ideas often come while reading a book
4. Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them
5. Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom
6. ...

Read the rest over at Seth's blog.

what are you waiting for?

I was looking at a note that was passed around facebook a couple of years ago called 25 random things.  Number 17 on my list: When the kids are finished with college I’m going to build a computer program, learn to speak Mandarin Chinese, teach myself physics and climb a mountain.  When I reread that I said - what are you waiting for?  Am I getting the most out of my day? Why not start now? I was poking around amazon and came across How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. It seemed like a modern self help book title, so I was really surprised to find out it was written in 1910.  Here's a quote from the book taken from wikipedia. "Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say "lives," I do not mean exists, nor "muddles through." Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the "great spending departments" of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be? [...] Which of us is not saying to himself -- which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: "I shall alter that when I have a little more time"? We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is."

I'm going to take it on myself to get started with something new. I don't know if it's going to be one of the four on my facebook list, but it's time I get the most out of my 24 hours. It's easier today than ever before. Are you getting the most out of your life? Are you trying something new? What are you waiting for?

something that matters

Each day I receive one of Hugh MacLeod's gapingvoid cartoons. This was Hugh's cartoon from Friday. Last week was exhausting, and I was moving slowly when I saw this cartoon. I often reflect on the work that we do, and wind up asking myself whether or not we're doing something that matters. I want to make sure that when I go to the office on Monday that what we do has purpose, and that we can make a difference. We connect our members with our customers. We provide a platform to bring them together and hopefully everyone benefits. Of course, some benefit more than others and we have a client relations team that makes sure our customers are designing their pages on our platform to attract many members to their company. Shortly after seeing Hugh's cartoon I got an email from Cathy one of our relationship managers. We've been gathering testimonials from our customers and she forwarded one to me. Well, after reading it, Cathy sure made me feel that we're doing something that matters. One of her customers wasn't getting the returns they expected. Their platform page performance was trending nearly 50% below average. Cathy worked with them to change some images and other items on their page. In just one month the customer's performance is now trending 33% above average! Cathy is helping the small businesses that partner with us succeed. Cathy matters to her customers.

Cathy is one person who is part of one team that is part of the many teams that make a difference at my company. Over the years I have found that I am working with a group of people who are successful because what they do matters to them. They go out and do their job to make a difference, and when that happens our customers, our members and our company benefits. Everyone wins. Are you making a difference? Are you doing something that matters?

fear.less

fear.less is a new online magazine that tells stories of people who overcame their fears and wound up victorious.  Seth Godin has an article in this month's edition with some remarkable insights on fear.  Real fear is when you're in the desert and there's no water.  Real fear is when you're in the woods and run into a bear.  Real fear is primal.  The fear that you and I experience isn't really fear.  It's anxiety.  Why do we worry so much?  Why are we afraid?  What's the worst that can happen?  Maybe we'll succeed. I think that's it.  We're afraid of success.  If I fail, I'm not going to starve and I can certainly pick myself up off the ground and get back to life, but if I succeed then what happens to me?  That's really what's driving our anxiety.  If I give a customer great service they're going to call me more often.  If I make an extra sales call I'm not going to have time to enter my contracts.  I have a great idea to pitch, but what happens if they really like it?  If we double revenues over 3 years we'll have to add a large amount of staff and all those people and our investors will be looking to me for direction.  Wow!  Success can be scary.  The thing is, if we can get past our anxiety, and do something meaningful it's bound to be exhilarating.

Don't be afraid of the things you have to do.  Simplify; clarify; focus.  Put your anxiety behind you.  Accomplish great things.  There's nothing holding you back.

getting to yes

Last post I tried to form a habit. Well, it's weeks later and all I can say is life got in the way.  It's time to give it another shot. Years ago I sold ERP Software to mid-sized companies. The software company gave me a book to read, and then I had to read it again a couple of years later in business school.  It's called Getting to Yes. There is no business skill more important than bringing people to mutual agreement.

The line of business I work in caters to thousands of small customers.  For years we were the only company who provided our type of advertising platform.  This allowed the company to have strict credit and discounting policies.  If it didn't comply with the policy we said no.  It was black and white - non-negotiable.  Over the years, the company garnered a reputation for being difficult to work with and arrogant.  Of course we also started to face competitors and our sales growth slowed.

I spoke earlier about simplifying and our goals of increasing sales, average order size and retention rate.  We can't continue to be black and white in our policies if want to achieve these goals.  I was chatting with our EVP and she told me, "I want us to find a way to say yes."  That reminded me of the book I mentioned from business school.  We may think the discount the sales rep wants to offer is too high, or disagree with the customer's disputed payment, but we can't simply say, "No."  We have to find common ground.  We need to find a way to bring both parties to an agreement.  We need to get to yes.

habits

Research says it takes 66 days to form a habit.  I don't know if everyone feels this way, but I think habits  have a bad stigma about them. Instinctively, I think of biting nails or smoking... you know, the bad habits.  But really most habits aren't bad.  Good habits can have a major impact on how you go about your work.  When was the last time you intentionally set out to form a habit? I have a goal of two blog posts per week.  If you look at my history, I rarely hit that goal.  How can I turn blog posting into a habit?  I've made exercise a habit.  I wake up early each morning and workout within 30 minutes of getting up. I can try writing at the same time every night - after the kids go to sleep.  The problem with late night blog posts is I'm bound to be too tired to think (like this rambling post to nowhere - ha!).  What could be more effective?  I can write every day on the train ride into work.  Better yet I can do that and associate it with something enjoyable - like a hot cup of coffee.  I'm setting out to form the habit.  Hopefully when you check back toward the end of December you'll find a two post a week minimum is the norm.

How can you use habits for personal growth?  How can you use habits to strengthen your teams?

thunderbirds

Tonight I have a guest blogger. Ellie Charter is a friend and colleague of mine. She comes to work each day seeking to make a difference. She is an artist. Here what she has to say: I attended the Air Show at Offut Air Force Base recently. This was only my second experience at an Air Show. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I was amazed by so many talented pilots who showcased their skills. Most of these pilots flew one plane at a time and put on exciting solo flights. While the solo acts were very entertaining, the finale of The Thunderbirds really resonated with me.

Six planes, worth billions of dollars, flying at insanely high speeds with thousands of eyes on them – can you imagine the pressure? Flight formations so close that I was certain their wings would inevitably touch at some point and result in disaster. Yet, they performed flawlessly. How? How can 6 individual planes, with individual control panels and individual strengths and weaknesses pull together as a team and perform perfection?

• Communication
• Training
• Trust
• Expectation of Success
• Ownership of Responsibility

As I thought of these characteristics and continued to marvel at their performance, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to my work. In the past year, we have continuously worked hard to improve on traits I just mentioned. All the while, we work at insanely high speeds to remain top of our game. We have several different departments, all using our own programs and controls. Thus, we depend on each other to communicate and avoid collisions and failures. The success of our team is not based on one solo performance, but the ability of all of us to look beyond challenges with our systems, beyond our own agenda and focus on the team goal. It really doesn’t matter that a team or individual gets to perform the spotlight fly by – it’s so much cooler when we all fly in formation, in sync, and blow the minds of our fans.

We must not look at the road ahead as being filled with unrealistic goals. Instead, we should step up our game - communicate more, take ownership of the jobs given to us, and expect success from ourselves and each other.

We are the elite Thunderbirds in our industry and intend on doing everything in our power to stay there.

--Ellie Charter

self assessment

I have two sons.  They are both bright kids, but they learn very differently.  My older son was given a self assessment called "Knowing How I Learn".  It turns out his strongest learning preference is kinesthetic.  He's the type who looks for challenges and exciting projects.  He's a doer.  I think my younger son is more of a visual learner.  He likes to see someone else do what he needs to learn.  He's an observer. Self assessments are very valuable.  I wrote earlier this year about Strengths Finder 2.0.  It was a very helpful in finding out my strengths in the workplace.  I was recently pointed to an online personality test called the Jung Typology Test.  I highly encourage you to take the test.  It's only 72 questions and will help identify your personality.  After you take the test the site will tell you your personality type, and also provides links to a couple of different descriptions of your personality type.  There's also a link to the Jung Career Indicator based on your type.  For a shorter personality description you can look here after taking the assessment.

It turns out I am an ENFP - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving.  A short description: enthusiastic, idealistic, and creative. Able to do almost anything that interests them. Great people skills. Need to live life in accordance with their inner values. Excited by new ideas, but bored with details. Open-minded and flexible, with a broad range of interests and abilities. I certainly like to think that's an accurate description.  I read somewhere that Mark Twain was an ENFP, and that's good enough for me.

Why don't you find out something about yourself and give it a try?!

simplify

I work in a very complex division of my company.  There are multiple advertising products to sell and several sales messages to pitch.  There are times when our sales reps lose focus and they're not sure what to sell and how to sell it.  Communication problems are prevalent.  Goals aren't clearly defined.  Budgets are too high.  The compensation plan recently changed.  Complexity creates a environment of fear.  Fear breeds upon itself.  It starts with, "I'm not good enough."  Soon enough it becomes, "My boss doesn't think I'm good enough."  Then, "I'm going to lose my job and that will hurt me."  Paralysis sets in and nothing is accomplished. What can we do?  Simplify!  My business line has a new EVP.  She has defined three goals.  1) Increase new sales; 2) Increase the average order size; 3) Increase our retention rate.  All projects and sales goals are evaluated on these three clearly defined, simple goals.  It's so much easier when you simplify.  You know where to direct your efforts.  You choose the products to sell that drive toward these goals.  You know what to do.  You are confident.  The budget is no longer too high and the compensation plan makes sense.  You can do this!

The KISS principle applied.  Keep It Simple and Straightforward.  There's no need to over complicate.  Set simple goals and create projects and products to achieve them.  It sets a winning attitude throughout the organization.

small wins

Have you ever stared at a project list and felt nothing but overwhelmed? It's like walking up the stairs to my attic. I get to the top, see the mess, quickly shake my head in dismay, turnaround and walk back down the steps. The scope of work is too overwhelming. The end goal is out of reach. I'll never be able to get this finished. Dan and Chip Heath talk about shrinking the change in their book Switch. Sometimes you only need to get started. Take 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there and eventually you have a series of small wins. In technology, projects are broken into epic stories; epic stories into user stories; and user stories into tasks. It's easy to look at a task, get started on it and finish it. Before you know it you've knocked out a user story, and all of a sudden these small wins start to snowball. The project doesn't seem as daunting.

This same method can be applied to any goal or change. If you have a sales goal that seems impossible, break it down and shrink the goal. I want to make 50 calls over the next two days and close 10% of them. Over the next two weeks I want to write a chapter of my book. Shrink your objective and earn some small wins.

Who wants to spend ten minutes with me cleaning the stairs of my attic tonight?

don't be a cog

Today my ten year old son was on a learning website called Study Island. He's a smart kid who's heading into fifth grade and had straight A's in fourth. On Study Island, which is only accessible through schools, he has the high score in the state for one game and several other top 5 scores in other games. Today as he was showing off to me he gave me a disturbing answer to one of my questions. I asked him, "Why don't you start trying out the fifth grade games?" His answer, "Because my teacher told us not to." Wow! Is that what what the public schools are teaching our kids? Don't take initiative. Don't try something that might be difficult. Fear failure. Obey orders. The way I see it our schools are ancient institutions. They were designed to turn people into cogs. If you do what you're told you'll get a good, steady job. The problem is the good, steady jobs are not the same as they were 30, 40 years ago. We don't churn out machinery, parts and other factory items anymore. To succeed today you need to be able to stand out - not blend in. As a manager I will never tell you what not to do. The best people I've worked with always want more. They look for the next challenge and rise above it. If they fail it doesn't stop them. It only makes them want more. Don't be a cog in the system. Be a Linchpin. Stand out!

just do it

I spend a lot of time in meetings, or I should say I waste a lot of time in meetings.  Most meetings start 5 minutes late.  Then it takes 10 minutes to setup the video conferencing.  Once the meeting begins there's no agenda.  Often we have meetings to plan other meetings.  We hypothesize.  We dream up of new processes.  We talk about what we should be doing.  Sometimes we even talk about why something is impossible when we haven't even tried it yet.  Enough is enough.  Let's stop talking about what we want to do and let's just do it! Meetings can only be productive when everyone is focused.  That's the responsibility of the organizer.  The problem is most people either don't have the time to prepare for the meeting or simply don't know how to run a meeting.  The organizer must begin by stating the goals.  She must keep the conversation on topic and keep the talk moving forward.  At the same time she must recognize productive conversation and allow these to continue.  If people are no longer needed in the meeting she should let them go.  If they were never needed they shouldn't be invited in the first place.  Believe me, people don't want to be invited to meetings if they're not needed.  Make an effort not to waste productive time.  Be sure to keep meetings short, focused and productive.

destination

I've been working at the same company for 11 years. In the days of building widgets that many years in a factory wasn't very long. Today the factories are largely gone and products are developed by the creative process. 11 years tenure in this kind of environment is more unusual. What keeps me at my company? I've been fortunate enough to have managers that put me in an environment where I could create. They gave me the space I needed to do my best work. Now that I'm in management, I do the same for the people who work with me. I do my best to prepare their workspace. It's my responsibility to plow the field so they can sow the seeds. I point out the destination and provide an environment where creative people can draw the map. Simon Sinek has written a book Start with Why. He writes about leadership. Almost all people can describe what we do. Some of those people can describe how we do it. But very few people can tell you why we do what we do. The best leaders start with why. When you start with why like minded people want to follow you. As a leader it is my job to inspire my team with a destination - the why. I then provide them with the support they need to tell me how we will get there. To do this I try to create an environment for success. I make sure I provide the tools and needed support, and leave adequate space for them to work in. I am not looking for face time or long hours on the job. I'm looking at the benefit of their creations, and the value they provide in getting us to our destination.

difference maker: one

I would like to introduce you to Dr. Pawan Sinha. He is an incredible man who is committed to doing and rethinking. This man has climbed Mount Everest - literally and figuratively. Pawan identified a problem. We can all identify problems. Most of us like to point them out to others, and even complain about them to our confidants. But let me ask you, how many of us actually do something about it? It's easy to complain about problems, but it's difficult to do something about them. Dr. Pawan Sinha identified a problem AND he's doing something about it. 30% of the world's blind population reside in India. Many children in India are born with congenital eye problems. Over 50% of these cases are treatable, but much of the population has little access to modern medical care. In response, Pawan created Project Prakash - a humanitarian effort to bring medical care to the treatable blind population in India. Importantly, not only did Pawan decide to do something about the problem he identified, but he challenged the status quo and found holes in Nobel Prize winning science.

Neuroscientists, David Hubel and Torsten Weisel were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981 for their research into processing in the visual system. Hubel and Weisel contended that the brains of patients who received treatment for blindness past age four or five are not able to process the information being transmitted from the eye to the brain. Pawan poked holes in their science and testing, and added a scientific mission to the humanitarian effort of Project Prakash. Pawan is proving the Nobel Prize winners wrong. Project Prakash is not only providing much needed care to the children of India, but Pawan is breaking ground with research into how the brain's visual system develops.

Pawan Sinha's speech at the TEDIndia conference is nearly 20 minutes long. It's incredibly moving and well worth your time. We all have the capability to make change in our worlds. We may not have the same impact Pawan has made, but there is no reason why we can't change the things around us for the better. Make a difference. Challenge today's notions. Have an impact.

Pawan Sinha is changing the world. What's Stopping You?

http://www.ted.com Pawan Sinha details his groundbreaking research into how the brain's visual system develops. Sinha and his team provide free vision-restoring treatment to children born blind, and then study how their brains learn to interpret visual data. The work offers insights into neuroscience, engineering and even autism.

reputation

Repetition builds your reputation. Do you look up and smile as you walk down the hall or do you look down to avoid eye contact? Repetition builds your reputation. Do you always treat people with dignity and respect or can you be arrogant and belittling? Repetition builds your reputation. When you're under a deadline do you maintain a positive attitude or do you complain about expectations? Repetition builds your reputation. When a customer has a problem do you quickly respond or do you ignore them or pass the buck to someone else? Repetition builds your reputation. Do you complain about problems or do you try to solve them? Repetition builds your reputation. A friend of mine has a maxim, "Always do what's right, even when no one is looking." That is the essence of strong character. Reputation is character's shadow. If you concentrate on growing your character the shadow it casts will be long and wide. Be positive. Make the tough choices. Do the right thing. Be consistent. A positive reputation will surely follow.

difficult things

Almost all things worth doing are difficult. You've probably heard a variation of that before. A friend asked me if I was concerned about repercussions from my blog. He had a blog at one time and his former company came down hard on him and forced him to shut it down. My first reaction was defensive. What am I doing wrong with my blog? Have I said anything damning? As I thought about it, though, I realized that this blog is my brand. This is who I am; this is my philosophy; this is how I work. After a decade at my company I better have challenged the status quo and put myself out on the line often enough to have an impact. If what I say in this blog doesn't create a stir and inspire debate among my colleagues then this blog isn't worth its space or my time. This is worth doing. Each time I publish I want it to be difficult. I don't ever want to settle or compromise for fear of the consequences. I hope I can make you think and consider alternatives to your routine. I hope I can contribute to inspiring change in the way you go about your day. I hope I can open your mind, so you can make positive changes in your organization. This blog is real. It's about how I try to make an impact in my world. This is my brand. I have nothing to hide.

complacency

Complacency is dangerous.  The world has never changed as quickly and as dramatically as it is now.  You can't afford to sit still and watch it go by.  You'll be left behind.  If the competition doesn't pass you by, the trends will.  People and companies need to change. We need to ask ourselves, how?  How can I continue to improve my strengths?  How can I make an impact?  How can I get my ideas noticed?

We need to ask ourselves, why?  Why is this process in place?  Why do we use this design?  Why are we watching the competition?  Why are we following this trend?  Why aren't we focused?

Seth Godin suggests we think in terms of 'if only'.  I could be more effective if only...  We could streamline our process if only...  Our customers would get more from us if only....

There's no time for the status quo.  We have to see the waves as they form and pick the right one to ride.  We have to see our destination and then build a new road on the map.