17 posts categorized "November 2006"

November 29, 2006

Do business with the ED, not the ING

TK (Tim Koogle, former CEO and Chairman of Yahoo!) taught me several life/biz lessons in my short time knowing him in 2000 and 2001. He was the source of my Paul Galvin story (see earlier post, The Paul Galvin Story).

One lesson he frequently taught regarded the selection of business partners. He said that he tries to avoid business partners who were always in the “ing” mode. In other words, he said watch out for non-executors that are constantly thinking-studying-looking into—trying to do things. He said they seem to stay in a constant state of the ING and often produce only happy talk, not results.

Instead he taught us to seek out and do business with people who live in the ED mode of life. They studied it, cancelled it, implemented it, launched it, etc. This state of ED means that they have an execution culture and talk about performance instead of dreams.

This distinction is important. Since he taught me this, there have been radical changes in the business landscape where some companies made it and others collapsed under the weight of their ING thinking (and failure to get real things done). The companies that were ED focused (get it done, then talk about it) survived and actually thrived. The ING companies went belly up, their leaders bounced around and TK turned out to be sage in his advice.

Here’s the takeaway, when you talk with potential business partners, begin to focus on their language as it is a sure sign of their execution acumen.

Stay tuned for more of TK’s rules of biz-life.

Recommended read: Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charam

November 28, 2006

Don't say no over email

This week's video post comes from the USC Trojan campus.

In this interview I talk about the appropriate use of email -- given its inherent weakness in communicating one's intentions.

Please share this with your friends, especially if they are passive aggressive and hide behind their email.

Check out my Ebay store for full length DVDs

November 27, 2006

Make the 4th quarter stretch

Reggie

In my personal experience, the difference between a good year and a great year comes down to the incremental work I take on in the 4th Quarter – especially December. 

I know that typically I preach work/life balance, but in the case of the 4th Quarter, I actually think we lean too far towards time off instead of time on.

For those of you that book yourself for services (consulting, etc.), you should look at December work days as precious unsold inventory that will go to waste is not used.  You need to be willing to think about 4th Quarter special pricing, price flexibility and travel flexibility.  I typically send out notices to my clients and channel partners that we have some time/space in December and we are “taking offers.”  You would be surprised how much business you can actually hustle between the office Christmas party and New Year’s Eve.  Too often, we fall into the Christmas Consumerism trap and spend our time shopping, goofing and playing around.  It is easy to accept. 

But not if you have the mentality of a champion:  You win in the 4th Quarter by finishing.  You jump ahead of the competition through the conviction that the game of life comes down to the last fifteen minutes.  If you apply the 4-fingered leadership mentality to your business life, you will make a difference in your year – and your career.

Previously, before I worked for myself, I found that the 4th Quarter stretch can make a difference in your career too.   When I worked for a cable production company in the early/mid 90’s, I took over a key product sales project when another manager too most of December off and declined several requests to work overtime in the second and third week of December.  Six months later I ran all of sales.  When I was at Yahoo, I made myself available to the SVP Sales to travel in December in 2000 to make strategic sales presentations.  I kept the same sense of urgency from October alive in December.  This gave me unique face time with my SVP and also helped me position myself for the following year.  The result?  I was given a director title, a think tank and access to our biggest accounts.  My group (Yahoo Value Lab) always focused on the 4th Quarter stretch – we actually planned on it being the biggest and most active quarter. 

So whoever you are, take off your time for Christmas, but don’t treat it like Summer vacation for grown ups.  Look at your calendar today and find the unnecessary down time.  Find out what projects or tasks you can take on this month to make a difference.  Hustle for one more deal – make one more phone call.

PS – There is a lot of business to be done between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  Sales executives should note that many of their best Customers are in the office without full admin staff during that week.  That means they are more likely to pick up the phone.  Many of your best Customers are also in slow-mode in December, which means that they have more gaps on their calendar to meet with you. 

Recommended read:  Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

November 25, 2006

Immerse yourself in new music

Well, it's Saturday and time for my weekly entertainment recommendation(s).

The IPOD has become our generation's walkman. One recent trend, mostly in NYC, is to IPOD-jack someone -- trade IPODs and tune into someone else's personal radio station. It is a great way to discover new music and it is also a great way to get to know someone better.

I've weeded through dozens of CDs this year to put together my must-recommend tracks of 2006 (so far).
It's loaded on my IPOD shuffle, and burned on a CD that is in my car.

Here's my ITUNES imix playlist of cool new music, enjoy!
Tim Sanders 2006 Indie Fall IMIX

(NOTE: You need to have ITUNES installed to see this playlist)

For more on the value of IPOD-jacking in your leadership and relationship life, see this recent post:
Develop A Sincere Interest In Others

November 23, 2006

Let your thanks be your shield

Every one of us is challenged, almost daily, by emotional gravity. Something or someone in life does something that brings us down. Work conditions can make us frustrated and cynical. A simple disagreement with your work buddy results in a freak out and a bad day.

Most of your outbursts, or lapses in friendliness, are the result of an inner dialogue that recounts all of your unmet needs. You convince ourself that life sucks, and externalize it with anger. The inner dialogue feeds on itself, just like negative energy tends to do. You lose control of your thoughts and you run out of room -- and then you emotionally collapse and lash out.

Learn a relationship/professional lesson from Thanksgiving: Giving thanks can give anyone an extreme emotional makeover -- even your crusty old uncle.

Here's a quicktalk video I produced two years ago, while still @ Yahoo, that offers a simple technique to help you defy the emotional gravity of life that serves as the great equalizer.

A Thanksgiving Solution

Recommended read: The Power Of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

November 21, 2006

Assume they know already.

I just received an email from an old friend, with a link to If I Did It on Amazon. He asked me, “Can you believe this guy? What will the publishers think of next?” I wondered if my friend had been in a coma for the last week. Had he not read the reader responses (eg. "we did it!")??

When something happens at Yahoo; the stock drops, a disgruntled exec writes a manifesto -- I get the announcement through email up to a dozen times from well wishers.

Every day our email inbox gets cluttered with two kinds of spam: commercial spam and friendly fire. Friendly fire is when you are buried with well-meaning but highly redundant content. Even in our family we have one netcaster who sends us dozens of emails a week – we call him Uncle Spam.

We focus on reducing spam, yet become spammers ourselves when we play towne crier and send out dozens of emails/videos/etc. every day to our mailing list (often in CC, where anyone could reply to all and start a vicious cross-post). Most of the time, we accompany it with “thought you’d like to know” and they usually just delete it (after it finally downloads on their black berrys at the airport).

Let all try a different approach. If it is on the homepage of Yahoo in the news box, everybody knows. Deal? If it isn’t a piece of strategic information (your competitor is in play), lets err on the side of silence.

In the future our best email pals, like a good blogger, will surprise us with useful insights that we haven’t already been exposed to. Hopefully we’ll learn from them and start to give our email partners in life “good return on attention” and be part of the solution instead of the problem. It’s good to be a maven, we just have to give people more credit.

Recommended read: Simplicity by Bill Jensen

November 20, 2006

Execute: Now That's Innovation!

Here is my weekly video post and it is on a subject near and dear to my heart: Execution.

There is so much talk out there about how to increase the level of innovation in our companies. Dozens of books exist to give insight on how to create a creative environment to foster innovation. The premise seems to be that innovation is a creative issue. What I've found in my business life is quite different. Innovation is the result of execution. Anything else is happy talk.

Recommended read: Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charam

Buy one of Tim's vidoes at his Ebay Store

November 19, 2006

Give Bob a try, bang Mark's drum.

Every month or so, I send out a newsletter to thousands of folks I've met in the last five years. I call is the Lovecat newsletter and you can sign up from any page of my official web site.

Each newsletter recommends two books and two records. I always hyper analyze the selections I make each issue, and this month I stepped out of my indie-in-the-moment skin and recommended my readers to partake of Bob Dylan's Modern Times. It is a lights out great record from a guy who is a master of melody and guitar playing -- not just change the world lyrics.

Excerpt from the November Newsletter:
MODERN TIMES by Bob Dylan is a modern masterpiece a real record in a time of digital demo tapes. Every song on the record demonstrates his mastery over time and space. From fresh blues to boogie, he nails every song. I am not a traditional Dylan fan, but this record converted me. You owe it to yourself to experience the music fountain of youth that is 2006 circa Dylan.
Modern Times by Bob Dylan

*

I've been jamming with Mark Schulman this year -- working on some material to "bring the band back." More on that later. Mark is also a speaker and philosopher, as well as one of the greatest drummers on the circuit. He's touring now with Pink. His website is not only a design masterpiece, it has a great little shockwave application you can enjoy right now -- his virtual drumkit. Mark offers all visitors a way to play his current kit, drum for drum and sound for sound. Check it out here.

Good luck with the rest of the tour, Mark!

November 17, 2006

Bury Friedman's concept of social responsibility

One of the greatest economists of all time died on Thursday Nov 16. Milton Friedman, the OG Chicago school professor, made a difference in the world with his work. He influenced Greenspan and more importantly, he influenced entrepreneurs from Bill Gates to Warren Buffet.

I minored in Economics in the 80’s and studied much of Uncle Milty’s work. His book, Free To Choose (co-written with his wife, Rose) is a must read almost thirty years after its initial publication.

However, one of Friedman’s ideas that I disagree with is the following: “The only role of a company in society is to make profits.” He believed in Adam Smith’s concept of the invisible hand of the market. If a company was bad for society, the invisible hand would wrench the means of production away from it. If a company made a profit, it was an indicator of its contribution to society. This is an outdated pre-econ/technology concept. Nestle made a profit in third world countries selling baby food formula to mothers that mixed it with contaminated ground water. Wal-Mart made money paying people substandard wages. Tobacco companies make money day after day creating lung cancer in humans. Companies can make money without providing enrichment for the community or planet.

We cannot expect non-profits and the government to fix all that is broken in our society. The whole spirit of capitalism and entrepreneurship is to create a company that “can change the world.” But with the rise of the stock market and easy access to cash, we serve the church of the shareholders. We treat them (mostly economic transients) like they are owners. So if we serve them with profits, that’s all we have to do.

Companies like Whole Foods believe that profits are the means to create a bigger enterprise that can make the world healthier. Their legacy will be in promoting the organic food revolution.

There are dozens more companies that see their role in society as one of citizenship. They appreciate the incredible synergy that businesses generate. I am currently conducting research on these companies and how they see the role of business in a broken society. The world is changing. The kids of tomorrow (and their grandparents) will reward companies that add social-value. They will buy from them, work for them and value their stock. Friedman’s concept of the role of company is outdated. It doesn’t account for the ongoing progression of economic value in society.

Let’s bury his idea with him. Rest in peace Uncle Milty. You were a mighty voice against Keynes and government intervention. You mastered the science of inflation accounting. But companies today need to step up and join forces with non-profits, charities, bloggers and governments – and bring our force to bear on the myriad of social needs that surround us. You can’t be right all the time, dude.

Recommended Read: An excellent article and blog thread on Friedman, including a debate on the subject. Rethinking The Social Responsibility Of Business.

November 15, 2006

Wash your hands, resist sugar.

As this is the cold and flu season, I'd like to give you some advice on how to travel safely.

Every year I travel between 150 and 200 days. The key to my year is remaining healthy. The way I see it, every major bout with a flu/cold will cost you about 10% of your annual productivity. Over the last few years, I've built up habits that reduce the number of colds I get per year. Currently, I average only one!

I won't dump all the ideas on you at once, I just want a few to sink in. Please don't think I'm a germ freak or Type A to even think about these things -- but in my business sick time is down time is lost time.

Here's my first installment of tips for effective business travel:

1. Wash your hands like Howard Hughes. Seriously. One the most common ways you will catch a cold is through touch. When you travel, you would be shocked to know how many commons you touch along the way. The pole in the train. The pen at the ticket counter. The laptop tray in security. Too many times we only wash our hands when we go to the bathroom. When I eat out, the bathroom is my first stop, to wash my hands. The rule of thumb is that you wash your hands for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday.

2. Sub out sugar throughout your diet. One physician devoted a lifetime of research for a book to study the relationship between sugar and our resistance to bacterial infections. The more sugar you eat, the less bacteria your body kills. This explains (along with extremem weather) why the holiday season yields more colds and infections. Check out an article that summarizes the findings here.

A few years ago, mostly in response to the South Beach Diet, I replaced sugar in my diet with Splenda. From coffee to candy, I purged sugar out of my diet. Things that turn to sugar, especially potatoes without any oils, I stopped eating too. Not only did I shed a few pounds, I also resisted bugs that knocked other people over. This holiday season think diet = immune system fuel. Russel Stover makes a killer sugar free chocolate. Brocolli and ranch make a great substitution for fries and ketchup.

Recommdation: Count the number of commons that you touch next time you take a business trip. Count the amount of sugar you eat when you travel.

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