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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
 Being the President and CEO of YOU, Inc. isn’t easy, is it? Taking full responsibility for your work and for the results of that work can seem daunting at times. Let’s face it; it’s easier to play the blame game.
Creating a positive brand is one thing, living the brand is quite another matter. It’s not about the logo, it’s about the benefits. People buy our brand because of the benefits they receive from what our brand has to offer.
If you work for someone else, the brand you represent is directly related to the caliber of work you do and the kind of relationships you forge. Remember, your brand is the identity you’ve established within the organization you work for. Your brand represents what sets you apart in the workplace. It’s what makes you different from everyone else.
Here are four ways to promote your brand in the workplace:
1. Be a great teammate.
You don’t work in a vacuum and you don’t live in a cocoon. You’re interacting with people every day. You and your brand are being judged by the contributions you’re making to the projects you work on and the people you work with. Being a solid contributor to the team is one of the surest ways to create a strong brand in the workplace.
2. Establish yourself as an expert
Just knowing how to do your job isn’t enough. In order to add remarkable, measurable and distinctive value to your organization – and to the people you work with – you need to become an expert at what you do. An expert knows his or her job from the inside out, becoming the “go to” person for direction and advice.
3. Become a visionary
In order to build a remarkable brand, you’ll need to see beyond the present. People will be looking to you to know what’s coming up on the horizon. You don’t have the luxury of living in the present – which is quite all right – because the present doesn’t last very long. Strong brands stay strong because they’re future focused, always looking for a new and better way.
4. Focus on results
It’s not what you say you’ll do that will establish your credibility as a valuable brand. It’s what you actually produce that will determine your value in the workplace. Pragmatic results are what count. Your value to the organization and to the team will be measured by the results you produce – not by the promises you make.
See why I said it’s easier to play the blame game than to take responsibility for results? Be a great teammate, establish yourself as an expert, be a visionary and focus on results. If you do those four things, your brand will be as strong as any in the marketplace. And so will your value.
Tags: brand, identity, results, value, visionary
Posted in 2012 | No Comments »
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Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
 Getting the right things done is the key indicator for being effective. It’s not the quantity of work one accomplishes in the course of a day but rather the quality of the work that determines value and real productivity. In order to make sure our focus is on achievement and not activity, we have to understand the pure value of time.
We can obtain quantities of every other resource except time. Time is our most limiting resource, so time management is foundational to getting the right things done. Getting the most important things done in those precious hours and minutes we’ve been given is the key to valued performance and real productivity.
Because our time is so valuable, it only makes sense to maximize the time we have each day. We do so by focusing on those vital few things that make the greatest contribution to the success of the organizations we work for. Getting things done through people is the common definition of the manager’s role. I would argue the primary role of the manager is to make those important few contributions that help move our organizations forward.
Toward that end, it’s essential to identify what our most important contributions are. Let’s do a little reflective thinking for a moment and try to determine what we need to focus time, attention and resources on – in order to contribute to personal or organizational success.
1. What tasks, activities or projects contribute most significantly to the bottom line?
2. Am I carving out time – every day – to work on bottom-line activities?
3. What’s keeping me from doing those things I should be doing? In other words, what should I stop doing that’s keeping me from my most important projects?
It’s question number three I want to focus on right now. Knowing what not to do is at least as important as knowing what to do, if we want to maximize performance and productivity. Creating a “Stop Doing List” is one of the most effective ways we can narrow our focus and zero in on those few things that move our performance and our organization forward.
Create Your Stop Doing List
In an effort to eliminate or reduce those activities that do not contribute to your effectiveness, identify three things you could stop doing – right now – that would enable you to focus on those things that really matter.
Notice I said “…things you could stop doing.” Creating a “Stop Doing List” doesn’t necessarily mean the task or project won’t get done; it just means you won’t be responsible for making it happen. Warning! We often find ourselves doing things – just because we always have – things that really have no meaningful effect on performance, productivity and results. We do them because we’ve always done them. That’s a bad plan!
Set yourself apart from the crowd by clarifying your most important tasks, and eliminate or minimize those things from your schedule that rob you of your most precious resource – time. Create a “Stop Doing List” and keep it in front of you all the time. More importantly, share your “Stop Doing List” with the people who rely most heavily on you for success and achievement. Enlist their support in helping you stay focused and on track with your real priorities.
A word of warning, though; choose these people carefully, for not everyone really wants you to succeed. Choose your success partners carefully.
Tags: achievement, manager, productivity, quality, results, value of time
Posted in 2011 | No Comments »
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Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
 Successful people in every profession and high achievers in any endeavor have at least one thing in common – they’ve developed the ability to get things done and to achieve desired results.
This ability is actually a highly developed habit that has little to do with brilliance, an abundance of talent or being connected – it has everything to do with sticking with a project until it’s finished.
Here’s the definition of habit: a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition. This is the perfect descriptor of the man or women who has developed the ability to get things done. It’s a behavior they engage in frequently.
It’s been estimated that as much as 83% of what we do – we do because of habit. Our behavior, for the most part, is not predicated on genetic predisposition or rules and regulations, it’s predicated on chosen behaviors.
That being said, here are five habits that when adopted will create the behaviors of success and achievement.
1. Abandon Perfectionism
Waiting for the perfect time to start a project almost always results in delays. The reality? There is no perfect time, no perfect condition, no perfect person. Start now, regardless of the circumstance.
2. Don’t think something to death – take action.
Here’s a fact of life: the longer you think about doing something, the greater the chance it won’t get done. Break the habit of thinking something to death. Just do it! Amelia Earhart said: “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. Fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”
3. Live in the now
Don’t worry about what you should have done, or what could have been, just focus on what you can do now. Yesterday is history and tomorrow has yet to come. What you have is today, this moment, this opportunity, so take advantage and do what you can do today.
4. Commit to “Results”
Success and achievement are about doing, not about dreaming. Develop the habit of focusing on results. Not after the third cup of coffee, not after you read your email, get something accomplished as early in the day as possible. The coffee can wait and so can yesterday’s news. When faced with an important task or project see the end from the beginning and focus on seeing the task fully completed.
5. Develop the habit of initiative
The ability to initiate is what separates winners and losers. They don’t wait for the right time or for someone’s permission to take action. Initiative is a developed behavior not a natural talent. Since our daily behaviors are driven by habits – we can develop the habit of initiative. Once we assess what needs to be done we can quickly take the necessary action(s) to create the results we want to achieve.
Tags: achieve, habit, initiate, perfectionism, results, success, worry
Posted in 2011 | No Comments »
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Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
 People at the top of every profession and those in important management positions in any organization have at least one thing in common – they’ve developed the ability to get things done early and often.
This ability is actually a highly developed habit that has little to do with brilliance, having tons of talent or being connected. It has everything to do with a highly developed habit for getting results.
Here’s the definition of habit: a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition. This is the perfect descriptor of the men or women who’ve developed the ability to get things done. It’s a behavior they engage in frequently.
Here are seven ways to ramp up your performance and productivity, and seven good habits to formulate or nurture that will guarantee a more productive day
1. Abandon Perfectionism
Waiting for the perfect time to start a project almost always results in delays. In the real world, there’s no perfect time, no perfect condition, no perfect person. Start now, regardless of the circumstance.
2. Don’t be a thinker, be a doer.
Here’s a fact of life: the longer you think about doing something, the greater the chance it won’t get done. Break the habit of thinking something to death. Do it!
3. Trump fear with action
It’s widely known that the greatest fear for most people is being asked to speak in public. Oddly, my greatest fear is that I won’t be asked to speak in public, but I digress. Action is the best cure for fear. Do whatever you’re afraid of doing, and do it now! Action builds confidence and confidence conquers fear
4. Live in the now
Don’t worry about what you should have done, or what could have been; just focus on what you can do now. Yesterday is history and tomorrow has yet to come. What you do have is today, this moment, this opportunity, so take advantage and do what you can do today.
5. Commit to action – For everything!
Success and achievement are about doing, not about dreaming. Develop the habit of getting down to “it” right now. Not after the third cup of coffee, not after you read your email. Set busy work aside and get something important done. The coffee can wait and so can yesterday’s news.
6. Develop the habit of initiative
People at the top of every profession or at the top of their field have a rare quality called initiative. The good news is that initiative is a developed behavior (habit), not a natural talent. You too can develop the habit of getting things done, when they need to be done, by developing the habit of initiative.
7. Follow the advice of Larry the Cable Guy
“Get ‘er done!”
Tags: achievement, action, doer, doing, fear, habit, initiative, management, now, organization, perfectionism, performance, professional, results, success
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
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Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
 While reading Seth Godin’s book, “Poke The Box,” I came across an interesting piece of information I’d like to pass along. Godin relays the findings of a study conducted by Dr. Jan Souman, of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.
It seems Dr. Souman studied what happens to us when we have no map, or compass, or landmarks to help us keep our bearings. His research on people lost in a jungle, a forest, or in the Sahara desert, with no means of determining a specific direction, showed that they ended up walking in circles. Try as they might to maintain a straight and steady course, they inevitably ended up back where they started.
At the conclusion of Dr. Souman’s research, he wrote: “Don’t trust your senses, because even though you might think you are walking in a straight line, you’re not.”
That little piece of research really got my attention. As a speaker, writer and consultant in the field of performance improvement, I was struck by the analogy of the outcome of people lost in a wilderness and the outcome of individuals and organizations lost in the wilderness of the status quo. They’re both walking in circles.
The Wilderness of the Status Quo
One of the most dangerous places I find my clients is in “the wilderness of the status quo.” They may think they’re moving forward and making progress but, in fact, they’re simply walking in circles. They want to improve performance and productivity but they’ve lost their compass and they have no guide. They’re walking in circles by doing the same things the same way, year after year – but expecting different results. They’re lost! But they’re making good time.
Sometimes the status quo can seem like a safe place to be, especially if it’s led to some degree of success in the past. The problem is what got you where you are won’t get you where you want to be. The old adage, ”Success breeds success,” isn’t true at all. More often than not, success breeds complacency. We reach a point where the success we’ve created causes us to put our business or career on cruise control. We’re not adjusting our course when needed, and we’re not cognizant of what’s going on around us. We’ve lost the horizon – we’re actually walking in circles.
Getting Out of the Wilderness
First and foremost, recognize the wilderness for what is truly is – a very dangerous place. It’s dangerous because when you’re walking in circles, you feel you’re making progress, but you’re really not. You’re simply walking. Walking in circles is analogous to just being busy but, as you well know, being busy and being productive are very different things. Think of being busy as being lost – but making really good time.
Exiting the status quo requires a good map (plan). Last year’s map won’t do. You’ll need a map of the current landscape. You’ll need to know exactly where you’re going and you’ll need to understand the terrain. Where’s the quicksand? Where are the obstacles you’ll need to face or avoid all together?
While having a good map is important, having a good guide may be even more important. Partnering with somebody who recognizes the status quo for what it is can help accelerate your exit. A good guide understands the dangers of the wilderness. He or she knows where the alligators are and can help you avoid them altogether.
Lastly, remember Dr Souman’s warning: “Don’t trust your senses, because even though you might think you are walking in a straight line, you’re not.”
The last thing you or your organization needs to be doing is walking in circles. When you find yourself right back where you started – on an all too frequent basis – maybe it’s time to get a good map and a good guide. There’s no success and no real achievement when you’re trapped in the wilderness of the status quo.
Tags: achievement, circles, complacency, forward, guide, map, performance improvement, productivity, progress, results, success
Posted in 2011, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
 All actions don’t carry the same weight. Some actions we take during the course of the day will have a greater impact on our day than others. The question becomes: how do we decide which actions will produce the best results?
One of the most effective ways I know of for deciding which actions will provide the highest yields is to apply the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule.
This amazing concept was originally proffered by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto and has been used by management and performance improvement gurus ever since. In its essence, the concept holds that a minority of causes or effort leads to a majority of results.
For example:
20% of products result in 80% of a company’s profitability.
20% of defects result in 80% of production problems.
80% of sales will come from 20% of the sales team.
You wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.
The 80/20 rule applies to every area of our lives. Personal and professional.
Here’s a very practical way to use the 80/20 rule as a time management tool. Dedicate 20 percent of your workday to the activities that will produce high-level results.
Under this scenario, if you work an eight-hour day, you’d carve out roughly ninety minutes to work on your highest priorities. And it doesn’t even have to be ninety continuous minutes. You could set aside two forty-five minute sessions or three thirty minute blocks of time to get those pesky high priority projects completed.
An hour-and-a-half a day. focused on your highest priorities, will produce immediate positive results, such as going home from work knowing you made a significant dent in those few things that have the greatest impact.
Give Pareto a try. Then let me know how well it worked for you.
Tags: 80/20 rule, actions, improvement, management, pareto, personal, produce, production, professional, profit, profitability, results, sales
Posted in 2011, Uncategorized | No Comments »
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Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
 Sometimes the simplest questions are the hardest to answer. Have you ever taken a walk with a five year old? Logic indicates that simple questions should be easy to answer but that’s not often the case. Simple questions are often difficult to answer because they force us to think or, worse, they force us to self-assess.
As you know, I’m a real fan of Peter Drucker. Some years ago, Mr. Drucker, working with colleagues in his Leader to Leader Institute developed a list of five key questions every organization should ask itself. These questions were not designed for program assessment or for individual performance review but rather as an exercise in self-assessment for any organization.
You’ll notice that the underlying purpose is to help organizational leaders assess the value they are bringing to their customers. Answering these questions will provide real insights into your organizations strengths, how you deal with change, how much you foster innovation, respond to customer needs and how adept you are at looking for future opportunities.
Self-reflection is sometimes painful but always beneficial if taken seriously. So with the intent of helping our organizations get better at what we do, lets take a quick look at the five important questions Mr. Drucker and his colleagues asked.
Question #1 What’s Our Mission?
Mission describes you organization’s reason for existence, not what you make or what service you provide. Mission is about why you do what you do. The Disney corporation’s mission is to “Make People Happy. Notice it doesn’t say anything about theme parks, movies or music. Mission describes what your organization will be remembered for.
So, what’s your company’s mission?
Question #2 Who is our customer?
Whether you call recipient of your product or services a customer or client, the bigger question is who must be satisfied with for my company to achieve desired results? It’s also important to remember your primary customer is not your only customer. There are always residual customers out there who can benefit from what you do. Also, customers are never static. Their faces and needs are always changing. And, you probably have customers you need to abandon.
So, who are your customers?
Question #3 What does our customer value?
This may be the most important question of all and yet is probably the least often asked. Too often we assume we know what our customers value instead of, oh I don’t know, asking them! When was the last time you contacted your customers to find out what they valued, instead of what you wanted to sell them? You might be surprised by the answers.
So, what does your customer value in their relationship with you?
Question #4 What are our results?
Let me cut to the chase here to say profits cannot be your only means for measuring results. The fact is the bottom line is only one indicator of results; it’s not the only factor. Progress on achievement needs to be weighed in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Qualitative results are measurable. They have depth and breadth and usually provide rich data Quantitative results are intangible, they often describe standards, expectations or how lives are touched by the products or services you provide.
What are your results? Are they the results you really want?
Question #5 What is our plan?
This self-assessment process should lead to a plan that outlines your organization’s purpose and future direction. The plan will include a vision and a mission statement. It will describe strategies, measurable objectives and action items that must be accomplished in order to fulfill the organization’s purpose.
The right questions lead to the answers needed to develop a focused and relevant performance plan for any organization in any sector of the economy. Remember, failing to plan is planning to fail. A good plan starts by asking the right questions.
Tags: assess, customer, leaders, management, mission, plan, process, questions, results, value
Posted in 2011, manager's minute | 1 Comment »
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Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
 We live in a time when we think we’re productive based on the number of items we can check off our to do lists. Most of us are on the run from the time we wake up in the morning until late in the evening when we click off the late night news. Our days are a blur. Our weeks become a blur as well. Even though we find ourselves being extremely busy, we realize we’re not very productive.
We all agree that being busy and being productive are not the same thing, yet we continue to crowd our calendars with one activity after another. Or, worse yet, we don’t even have a calendar, we just go, responding to one crisis after the other.
Busy people do have options regarding their time and, specifically, what they do with the precious minutes and hours in their day. We can have more control over our days and our time that we give ourselves credit for. When we do, good things happen; we’ll have more productive lifestyles; we’ll lower our blood pressure; and we’ll have heightened self-esteem.
Here’s how to take control of your day:
Understand the difference between urgent and important.
Urgent tasks are typically those things that must be done right now or within the immediate future. An unexpected project from the boss, for example, is a good illustration of an external source of an urgent task, but urgent tasks can be self-inflicted as well. Putting off a project or a report until the last minute creates urgency. Being busy makes us feel important. The downside to living in the world of urgency is we’re worn out at the end of the day and frustrated because we let the really important tasks slide – again.
Important tasks are seldom urgent, and there’s the rub. Because they aren’t urgent, these tasks are superseded with busywork or with something we’d rather do first. Important work moves our lives and businesses forward. Focusing on the important requires long-range thinking, as well as taking a hard look at the current realities. As a result, focusing on important matters often forces difficult decisions. Doing those things that matter most just isn’t as sexy or as much fun as running around at 900 miles an hour with our hair on fire looking real busy.
Taking Control
1. Take the time to compile a list of those things that matter most. On a personal basis, such a list might involve health or nutrition issues, more time with the family, or getting control of finances.
2. Professionally, the list of important projects might involve the development of a business plan, or a performance plan for your key employees. It might involve think time for new products or services.
3. Make time in your daily schedule to work on one aspect of an important project. Important tasks typically can’t be done in one fell swoop. They need to be broken down into a series of incremental tasks. Turn off the cell phone and shut down email and Facebook; both are tremendous distractions and real productivity killers.
4. Tell a friend or colleague what you intend to do in terms of becoming more productive and less busy. Ask them to help hold you accountable. Start slowly. Pick one important project – break it down into five one-hour tasks and schedule time during the next five days to attack the project.
You’ll be amazed at the results!
Tags: activity, busy, calendar, important, productive, results, urgent
Posted in 2010 | No Comments »
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Saturday, May 1st, 2010
 Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important projects which must be done in order to move our life, our career or our business forward. It’s all too easy to convince ourselves that being busy and being productive are one and the same. Big mistake!
The same holds true for being effective and being efficient. Doing something unimportant well does not make us effective. Requiring a lot of time to finish a project or complete a task doesn’t make the task more important.
Here’s the key question to ask yourself: Am I being productive or am I just being active?
Being Selective Is the Key to Productivity
The two characteristics of high performers are: the ability to separate the urgent from the important, and second, the ability to focus their time and attention on those tasks that will complete important projects or produce the greatest results.
One of the best ways I know of to separate the important from the urgent is to apply the Pareto Principle. Also known as the law of the vital few or the 80/20 Rule, Pareto says the majority of productivity will come from a few select actions or activities.
The stark reality is most of what we do on a daily basis has little impact one way or the other in moving our most important projects forward. Unless we’re very selective in how we structure our day, the important will fall victim to the urgent. We’ll end up majoring on the minors, and what would otherwise be a productive day will be lost.
Being selective and doing less is the path to productivity. Identify those few critical tasks that contribute most to moving your career or your company forward. Schedule time during the day to work on those vital few tasks and don’t allow that time to be affected by trivial things. Hint: most email is trivial and meaningless. So are most phone calls and most office visits.
You have more control of your time than you give yourself credit for. Schedule your priorities. Ask yourself, if I could only accomplish one important thing today, what would it be? Once you make that important decision, schedule time to make it happen. The key to being more productive is doing less.
Tags: business, busy, career, control, effective, efficient, important, order, productivity, results, tasks, time, urgent
Posted in 2010 | No Comments »
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Thursday, March 18th, 2010
 People at the top of every profession and those in important management positions in any organization have at least one thing in common – they have developed the ability to get things done early and often.
This ability is actually a highly developed habit that has little to do with brilliance, having tons of talent or being connected. It has everything to do with a highly developed habit for getting results.
Here’s the definition of habit: a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition. This is the perfect descriptor of the men or women who have developed the ability to things done. It’s a behavior they engage in frequently.
7 Ways to Grow the Habit of Getting Things Done
1. Abandon Perfectionism
Waiting for the perfect time to start a project almost always results in delays. In the real world, there is no perfect time, no perfect condition, no perfect person. Start now, regardless of the circumstance.
2. Don’t be a thinker, be a doer.
Here’s a fact of life: the longer you think about doing something, the greater the chance it won’t get done. Break the habit of thinking something to death. Do it!
3. Trump fear with action
It’s widely known that the greatest fear for most people is the fear of being asked to speak in public. Oddly, my greatest fear is that I won’t be asked to speak in public, but I digress. Action is the best cure for fear. Do whatever you’re afraid of doing, and do it now! Action builds confidence and confidence conquers fear.
4. Live in the now
Don’t worry about what you should have done, or what could have been, just focus on what you can do now. Yesterday is history and tomorrow has yet to come. What you do have is today, this moment, this opportunity, so take advantage and do what you can do today.
5. Commit to action – For everything!
Success and achievement are about doing, not about dreaming. Develop the habit of getting down to “it” right now. Not after the third cup of coffee, not after you read your email, get down to “it” now. The coffee can wait and so can yesterday’s news.
6. Develop the habit of initiative
People at the top of every profession or at the top of their field have a rare quality called initiative. The good news is that initiative is a developed behavior (habit), not a natural talent. You too can develop the habit of getting things done, when they need to be done, by developing the habit of initiative.
7. Take a lesson from Larry the Cable Guy
“Get ‘er done!”
Tags: action, business, do, done, fear, habit, initiative, now, organize, productive, results
Posted in 2010 | No Comments »
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Being the President and CEO of YOU, Inc. isn’t easy, is it? Taking full responsibility for your work and for the results of that work can seem daunting at times. Let’s face it; it’s easier to play the blame game.
