The Practical Leader

Brain Power still important

2010-05-10T10:00:00-04:00

This is something neat that we found in " Wired" and involves a comparison between the capacity of the human brain and today's Internet. Interesting stuff, and it looks like the Net will remain dependent on the brain after all.

It discusses all the computing power on earth including pc's, cell phones, pda's etc..., and the One Machine or planetary computer.

"By 2040, the planetary computer will attain as much processing power as all 7 billion human brains on Earth".

It is great to think globally, but we succeed in life by acting locally with our own brain helping it run to its capacity.

At the Practical Leader this begs the question; What are you doing to enhance your brain as your primary earning and managing asset?

Did you know that on average, most people spend more money on the outside of their heads (haircare, haircuts, cosmetics and facial therapy), than they do on the inside of their heads (learning and skill building) on an annual basis?

How much is too much to spend on the inside of your head?

Wise words from Einstein

2010-05-03T14:43:00-04:00

"Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts".

- Albert Einstein

The practical leader understands this principle intuitively, but the rest of us have to learn it.

In the rush to prove to ourselves and others that what we are doing to improve ourselves, our team, and our organization is working, we end up feeling compelled to look for immediacy in change.

The change agent is often the member with the highest degree of personal accountability, which is why he/she champions change in the first place.

The impetus to change is always a dissatisfaction with the status quo. It is best to remember that -and repeat with us- people hate change and will often question the messenger.

So, this situation you are trying to improve upon hasn't created itself overnight and neither will the solution be paying off tomorrow.

Success is gradual, especially where change involving people, their processes, and culture is the goal.

What are some of the "soft" wins that you look for early in your organization when change is initiated?

Swimming Naked and more on Tides

2010-04-27T15:38:00-04:00

We like swimming naked. There… we have said it. It's out there. When and where that happens we’d rather not share with you.

We recently heard a story attributed to investor Warren Buffett in which he used the following analogy about evaluating businesses when times get tougher:

At high tide when the water is in you can look over a beach and see everybody swimming. You see a lot of heads and everything looks good. People are enjoying themselves, having fun and looking quite the same.

When the tide goes back out and those still swimming find themselves thrown up onto the sand, you can then see who has been swimming naked…. And sometimes it can be pretty ugly…

The same analogy can be used when tougher times expose bad managers, ineffective leadership and generally inefficient people practice and processes.

Engaging your senior team in developing itself is an ongoing event and not something to be left until someone is on the sand, naked, exposed for all to see by those who might look to that person for direction.

Making ongoing senior development a key strategic and competitive advantage is a sound business practice.

Even getting them away off site to discuss how they see the business is a start.

What are you doing in the upcoming quarter?

Tiger and Hank

2010-04-22T13:12:00-04:00

Other than to the avid golf fan, one of the two pictured below is not that well known.

The more recognizable guy is of course Tiger Woods.

The other guy's name is Hank Haney and he is a golf swing coach.

Even the non golf fan has heard that Tiger is doing quite well with his career and outside of endorsements of 100M+ annually, he also makes a small stipend 7-9M a year (last 8 years) playing in and winning golf tournaments. He is on track to become pro sports’ first billionaire athlete if he isn’t there already.

Most would say Tiger should be the one giving lessons as he is very successful and extremely knowledgeable on the game of golf.

Now back to Hank.

He bills Tiger over 1M a year to get together with him at regular intervals to evaluate and consult him on his golf swing.

It is not a sign of weakness to engage a consultant.

Window Washers and Sales People

2010-04-19T00:21:00-04:00

There are two guys outside our window right now washing the windows.

This has to be one of the scariest jobs that anyone can sign up for. When the winds are blowing it must be even worse. Yet, with the proper safety precautions and training it is done successfully everyday and the failure rate (though somewhat final) is one that is manageable.

A sales position is different in that it is probably the easiest looking job to an outsider, yet on many different levels, one of the most demanding to actually do successfully.

Most sales people get thrown into the role without any sales training and competency development other than what they get hired with. If they get any assistance, it is usually a one time event expected to last them their entire career.

Time and again, we meet low performing sales people who buy into this type of thinking. Our experience in initial conversations with these same individuals in corporations that engage our services, is that they feel being untrained and in the daily battle, is a badge of honor.

There is a problem

Subsequently, millions of dollars worth of market opportunity gets wasted in the field when your potential customers, who are looking for ways to do what they do better, turn away from your solutions due to an inefficient sales process.

Are ineffective sales processes holding your firm back from communicating the value of what your firm offers?

Rubber Bands

2010-04-14T15:24:00-04:00

Is there not a whole lot more rubber bands in the world than there were just a few decades back?
I receive a few everyday with my office mail. They seem to be everywhere and they are obviously cheap and expendable.

Are the Chinese pumping out rubber bands non-stop?

I remember growing up in a house where rubber bands were always saved as they were rare and considered an unnecessary expense for a household to be buying. I think many of us growing up in the 50's, 60' and 70's would remember the same thing.

At my house we took it further.

We even had a special spot in a special drawer where we knew that one might be found if we needed one. This was the same drawer that used twist ties and those plastic bread clip things were kept.

It was just above the cupboard where we saved margin containers. Actually I should say this is where the margin containers stack started. After a few years the original stack had fallen sideways and we knew that to find the head we had to open the cupboard door several feet away from the start to find the other end. It was like one big honkin' plastic python!

To my knowledge, we never had to admit that we didn't have any used containers.

Upon rethinking our situation, we decided that we could probably make do with about 10-15 containers and the python was thrown out.

What are you holding on to in your business that might need to be refreshed or you may need to rethink? Is it people, processes, procedures...?

Some processes evolve over time to becoming more comfortable than they are effective ways of doing things.

Low Tides, Tough Times and Tuning up your Market Proposition.

2010-04-09T10:35:00-04:00

There is a saying in business that a rising tide raises all ships. The idea transference is that good economic times and a bull market allow a lot of businesses (especially publicly traded ones) to appear to be in better shape than they actually are. Investors flock into the latest craze and ultimately get taught valuable life lessons.

We’ve been there…

Bear markets are said to return money to those who are supposed to have it in the first place. Much to the chagrin of those who have it and lose it due to inattention to market fundamentals etc…

We’ve been there…

Low tides serve to beach some boats rendering them useless; much like tough economic times rid the market place of ineffective businesses and business models.

The tension of wondering whether your business, its market positioning and overall business model is vulnerable to competitors and apathy (both internal and market oriented) can be a distraction, but this time can be put to effective use if you decide to take action.

"Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning."
- Winston Churchill

Having a properly facilitated management review where all decision makers and thinkers in your company can come together to gain clarity on what the business looks like to each of them is an efficient way of defining what is common and what is not in a management team.

The process can be invaluable and serve to center collective viewpoints around the things that matter NOW. Action steps can be formulated and energies channeled back to what are the ideas that all can rally themselves and others around.

The Deal you get going in, is the Deal you get going out

2010-04-05T11:17:00-04:00

The first we heard of blogging was earlier in the decade.

A core belief that we learned some years back and have since tried to adhere is “The Deal you get going in, is the Deal you get going out”. It’s the simple concept of managing expectation and deliverable up front so both parties are happy and satisfied with a transaction.

Giving our ideas away seemed like a silly idea. Stating opinions seemed like a better idea.

Offering a combination of free ideas and opinions in a blog of our own that people like to read, find the content valuable and ask for more, seems like the right deal to start with. So we are glad you are here.

So our own “Deal” is to seek out and identify topical information that a reader can read today and use tomorrow.

It will cover the following areas…mostly:

Enhancing people and organizational effectiveness

Eliminating managerial headaches

Engaging others in positive pursuits

Having the right kind of conversation with ourselves, our workforce, our clients and our community

Some of the content will be our own and some will be ideas and concepts of others in the field that we find interesting and the hope is that you will too.

More to come, stay tuned…