After the stressful process of looking for a new job while you're still employed, accepting an offer is a huge relief.
At last, you're free! You probably can't wait to share your good fortune with the world and tell your boss where she can shove that evil assignment she gave you last week.
You might think that since you're leaving, you don't have to worry what people think of you anymore. This is not the case. Unless you want to erase everything you've accomplished since you first accepted this job, your departure must be as strategic and deliberate as your arrival.
This starts with your resignation. Under no circumstances should you let on that you're leaving before you have a signed agreement and official start date from your new employer. If you jump the gun and blab to everyone and your job offer falls through, your best case scenario is that you've got egg on your face. The worst case, of course, is that your boss is insulted enough to fire you.
Here are some other suggestions for making a smooth exit:
• Tell your supervisor first: You want him to hear the news from you, not from someone else in your department.
• Give two weeks notice: Stay for the full period unless the company requests that you leave sooner.
• Be modest: Don't alienate your colleagues by bragging or chattering incessantly about your awesome new gig.
• Don't insult anyone or anything: Whether it's true or not, show that you regret leaving such wonderful people behind.
• Stay on top of your responsibilities: Remember that you're accountable for your work until 5 p.m. on your last day.
• Continue to adhere to office protocol: You worked hard for that corporate persona, so leave them with a lasting impression of professionalism.
• Review the employee handbook: Understand what you're entitled to regarding benefits and compensation for unused sick or vacation days.
• Organize your files: Make it easy for your colleagues to find materials so that they can transition your workload seamlessly and won't need to call you at your new job.
• Do a great job training your replacement: These people have been paying your salary. You owe it to them to leave your job in good hands.
• Don't take anything that doesn't belong to you: This includes office supplies and work products that were not developed by you personally.
Many companies request that departing employees do exit interviews with HR. The person conducting the interview, who probably doesn't know you from a hole in the wall, will usually expect you to divulge why you are leaving and how you feel about your experience with the company.
When it comes to exit interviews, the general rule is: If you don't have anything nice to say, lie. Stick to official business as much as possible, and if you must provide constructive criticism, proceed with tact and caution. While it may be tempting to use the meeting as a forum to spill your guts about the company's difficult personalities and insufferable policies, don't give in. Once you've made the decision to leave, airing your grievances won't do you a drop of good and the risk of offending people is way too great.
The most important thing to remember when leaving a job is to fireproof your bridges. It's a smaller world than you think and you never know when you're going to need these people again. And who knows? Maybe you won't even like your new job and will want to come back someday.
At the very least, you want to be able to count on at least one person at the company to serve as a reference for the future. During your last few weeks, do everything you can to leave behind a squeaky clean reputation. Be conscientious and thorough as you're wrapping up or transitioning projects. Even if you're leaving because you can't stand your department, act like a team player and keep your negativity to a minimum.
If your colleagues take you out for lunch or throw you a going-away party, congratulate yourself. It means you've handled your departure in exactly the right way.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
27 Great Tips to Keep Your Life Organized
Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits.
It’s a rare person among us who doesn’t feel the need to get more organized. I consider myself fairly organized, for example, but there are times when I get a little lax about my organizational rules, and there’s always room for improvement.
And if you’re already organized (read: you’re an organizational freak), chances are, you like to read about others’ organizational systems.
As such, there should be something for everyone on this list.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked all of you for your best organizational tips and tools. And you responded in force, with some great stuff. What follows are some of the best of the tips (tools will be in another post), edited for brevity and consistency.
I must emphasize: these are not my tips, but yours, and when you see the word “I” it refers to the reader writing the tip, not me. Names have been removed to protect the innocent.
- 3 Most Important Tasks. Writing down and making mental note of my top 3 tasks to get done for the day. Everything else seems to fall into place if I do that.
- An easy and workable task list, or to do list. While I love all of these handy web 2.0 apps, computer software, very neat gadgets like palms and really cool cell phones, they just don’t work for me. I’m a lazy woman, with an even lazier attitude. I might put a task in Remember the Milk, another task in my palm, one in my Gcal and send another text to my phone. With all of these different ways of doing things, I end up spending much more time trying to organize my to do list, or consolidate it, that I don’t get much actually done.
- Keep ubiquitous capture device. It might not be the same device for every location (I have a moleskine for work, but use my mobile for inspiration on the fly) but just being able to write stuff down when you think about it is key for me.
- Choose one tool and stick with it.
- Do one thing at a time.
- Do it now.
- Make use of the word no.
- Use the recycling bin/trash basket. Organizing unnecessary items is wasted energy. It is amazing how much more in control I feel just by ridding myself of now outdated articles I’d like to read “someday,” or countless meeting notes from which relevant action items have already been extracted.
- A (good) place for everything, and everything in its place. By finding places that are easy to get to for all the things I use most often, and places that are pretty easy to get to for the things I use less often, I spend less time dreading doing things and more time actually doing things. And the place for things you never use is elsewhere (trash can, place that accepts donations, etc.).
- Simplify, simplify, simplify!
- Put it away now. The single, simplest thing I do to stay personally organized is to put whatever tool, item, clothing, bag, hairbrush etc., away immediately after using it. I always know where everything and anything is so I never waste time looking for something. Very efficient. I could tell a stranger where to find anything in my home.
- Keep a to-do list that syncs with your mobile phone (so you can add stuff as and when you remember it). And make sure every item has a due date.
- Change. It obsoletes unimportant things. It brings down any method or idea that isn’t timeless. It brings up newer and more important things that you and others can’t resist anymore. Best of all: it’s an organizing tool that operates itself. You simply have to embrace it.
- Divide material into red, yellow, blue and green plastic file folders. For example, anything that has to be done today (paperwork to be given to a client, bills to be mailed) go in the red folder. Contact material or anything related to customer field support goes in the yellow folder. Your mileage may vary as to how you organize your briefcase, and like me you may also have project-specific manilla file folders as well, but dividing stuff up into just four color coded folders is a huge help.
- Flylady.net. She helped me realize that I needed to apply GTD principles to my home life and not just work. I had work under control using checklists, projects and next actions. I tried the same system at home and failed. Then about a month ago I discovered flylady.net courtesy I believe one of your blog posts. Wow, what a difference. My house is clean and so is my desk at work. Many if not most of her basic ideas are just like GTD in a slightly different perspective (control journal, baby steps) and also concrete methods for accomplishing next actions (2 minute hot spots, 15 minute timers). Her most useful tip was to put my daily/weekly lists into shiny page protectors in my control journal. I use a dry erase marker and voila no more killing trees or not doing my list because I can’t print it (or want to avoid the hassle). The best thing about this, I am more relaxed, my blood pressure is finally dropping and I feel less stressed.
- Unapologetically take control of your time and priorities.
- Sort at the source. My favorite organizational tool is my post office box. I visit it once a week (usually Saturday), stand at the counter in the lobby and sort my mail. I use the P.O.’s trash bin. What comes into my house is only what I need to have. Bills and letters and checks go into my inbox (which by the way is a box with a lid that is wrapped in lovely fabric and has a yellow bow on it so it looks like a present sitting on my desk). Reading material goes on the table by my chaise lounge which is where I do all my reading.
- A sheet of paper, a calendar and a white board. I’ve found that the easiest way to organize myself, my days and so forth is a good paper calendar, a sheet of paper that I divide into four sections and a medium sized white board. For my paper the top left section is my actual running to do list for today. The top right section is my running grocery list, or list of things I must purchase. The bottom left is for notes such as calls I made, who I spoke to, appointment dates. The bottom right is whatever I need to move to another day. If I’m told to call back on Monday, then I note that on the calendar. As for the white board, the kids can make notes (Can I spend the night at Brian’s on Friday? Grandma called), and I can jot down things as I think of them to be added to tomorrow’s to do list. My calendar, and the white board are in the same location, so I can transfer short notes if need be. I carry my paper task list with me everywhere, so I can make notes at any given moment.
- Color coding. I’m a visual person, and I find that color-coding my various lists and calendars minimizes the time I have to spend looking at them. This worked especially well when I was in school: I dumped every class syllabus into Outlook, and then color-coded every class period (blue for paper due, yellow for quiz, red for test, etc). It took awhile to set up, sure, but then for the rest of the semester I only had to glance at Outlook to get a very clear idea of what kind of week I was going to have.
- One binder. I use a binder cleverly labeled “@ 2007″ with the following divisions:
- @ Today - With my Emergent Task Planner from davidseah.com;
- @ Week - The remaining days of the week ETP’s as a skeleton;
- @ Year - All my historical sheets;
- @ Diet - Which tracks what I have eaten for the day;
- @ Fitness - Which tracks my workout routine for the day. My binder is with me all the time and it has helped me become a better employee, family member and relationship guy.
- Write down, execute and tidy up on the way. These are is my organization bible. I’ve been living that way since more than two years and I can say that I’m an organized person.
- A little whiteboard on my bedroom wall. I have it separated into two sections, a “todo” and a “today”. “Todo” is a list of general things I have to do, like get my car inspected, buy someone a present, etc. Then “today” is what I need to do, obviously, today! Things can be moved back and forth as appropriate. I find having a specific list for today helps push me to get the important things done in a timely manner. I also keep two things permanently on the “today” part, which are meditation and exercise. This seems to help.
- Note cards. One can write tasks on them — one per card, or in a list (depending on the type of task in question; I do both). When doing one per card, the stack serves as an easy prioritization scheme. But wait, there’s more: They can be arranged on cork boards, shared, annotated, torn up and rearranged. They can be used as placeholders, as mini-white boards and as tokens to model ideas. They are easy to carry around, and to attach to other documents. Further, different colors allow for a visual representation of different kinds of todo’s (as can different annotations). Finally, they are cheap and most importantly of all: easy (much easier than software) to reconfigure as needs and projects change.
- Never rely on a single point of failure. I’ve seen people pay $1,000 to hear speakers at a conference and only have one pen to take notes. It’s a great feeling when one thing breaks, gets lost, or runs out of power, and you have another one in reserve!
- Have.. less.. stuff.
- Delegate. Learn to trust people with critical tasks in all areas of your life. When you learn to effectively delegate tasks you actually find that it is easier to keep the stuff you cannot delegate better organized.
- You control your life. Whatever electronics or paper you use, make them work for YOU not the other way around. Does Outlook really have to stay checking your email every 5 minutes? Maybe, but I bet you’ll get a whole lot more done if you check it a few times per day. That goes for the Blackberry too! After all, there are so many tools, and one to fit everyone - so use what works, but make it work for you!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Guys' Rules
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down
Finally , the guys' side of the story.
( I must admit, it's pretty good.)
We always hear " the rules "
From the female side.
Now here are the rules from the male side.
These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered "1"
ON PURPOSE!
1. Men are NOT mind readers.
1. Shopping is NOT a sport.
And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!
1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem.
See a doctor.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.
1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one
1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not wor th the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.
1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really .
1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation,
or golf.
1. You have enough clothes.
1. You have too many shoes.
1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!
1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;
But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.
Top 10 Rejection Lines Given By Women (and what they actually mean...)
10. I think of you as a brother. (You remind me of that inbred banjo-playing geek in "Deliverance".)
9. There's a slight difference in our ages. (I don't want to do my Dad.)
8. I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way. (You are the ugliest dork I've ever laid eyes upon.)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (I don't want you spending the whole night or else you may hear phone calls from all the other guys I'm seeing.)
6. I've got a boyfriend. (I prefer my male cat and a half gallon of Ben and Jerry's.)
5. I don't date men where I work. (I wouldn't date you if you were in the same 'solar system', much less the same building.)
4. It's not you, it's me. (It's you.)
3. I'm concentrating on my career. (Even something as boring and unfulfilling as my job is better than dating you.)
2. I'm celibate. (I've sworn off only the men like you.)
1. Let's be friends. (I want you to stay around so I can tell you in excruciating detail about all the other men I meet and have sex with. It's that male perspective thing.)
Now the male perspective on the same issue:
Top 10 Rejection Lines Given By Men (and what they actually mean...)
10. I think of you as a sister. (You're ugly.)
9. There's a slight difference in our ages. (You're ugly.)
8. I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way. (You're ugly.)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (You're ugly.)
6. I've got a girlfriend. (You're ugly.)
5. I don't date women where I work. (You're ugly.)
4. It's not you, it's me. (You're ugly.)
3. I'm concentrating on my career. (You're ugly.)
2. I'm celibate. (You're ugly.)
1. Let's be friends. (You're sinfully ugly.)
9. There's a slight difference in our ages. (I don't want to do my Dad.)
8. I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way. (You are the ugliest dork I've ever laid eyes upon.)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (I don't want you spending the whole night or else you may hear phone calls from all the other guys I'm seeing.)
6. I've got a boyfriend. (I prefer my male cat and a half gallon of Ben and Jerry's.)
5. I don't date men where I work. (I wouldn't date you if you were in the same 'solar system', much less the same building.)
4. It's not you, it's me. (It's you.)
3. I'm concentrating on my career. (Even something as boring and unfulfilling as my job is better than dating you.)
2. I'm celibate. (I've sworn off only the men like you.)
1. Let's be friends. (I want you to stay around so I can tell you in excruciating detail about all the other men I meet and have sex with. It's that male perspective thing.)
Now the male perspective on the same issue:
Top 10 Rejection Lines Given By Men (and what they actually mean...)
10. I think of you as a sister. (You're ugly.)
9. There's a slight difference in our ages. (You're ugly.)
8. I'm not attracted to you in 'that' way. (You're ugly.)
7. My life is too complicated right now. (You're ugly.)
6. I've got a girlfriend. (You're ugly.)
5. I don't date women where I work. (You're ugly.)
4. It's not you, it's me. (You're ugly.)
3. I'm concentrating on my career. (You're ugly.)
2. I'm celibate. (You're ugly.)
1. Let's be friends. (You're sinfully ugly.)
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Interesting article on software development experience
Top ten things ten years of professional software development has taught me
Edit: My old server didn't really have the power to feed all the visitors. This is a static copy of the blog post. Unfortunately, no comments can be accepted.
I was reading this top ten list yesterday, and I thought I can problably come up with my own list of things no-one told me before I started developing software for money. This is my list.
Object orientation is much harder than you think
Maybe it's just me, but coming from Computer Science class I thought that OO was easy. I mean, how hard can it be to create classes that mimic the real world? It turns out that it's pretty hard. Ten years later, I'm still learning how to model properly. I wish I spent more time reading up on OO and design patterns. Good modeling skills are worth a lot to every development team.- The difficult part of software development is communication
And that's communication with persons, not socket programming. Now and then you do run into a tricky technical problem, but it's not at all that common. Much more common is misunderstandings between you and the project manager, between you and the customer and finally between you and the other developers. Work on your soft skills. - Learn to say no
When I started working, I was very eager to please. This meant that I had a hard time saying no to things people asked of me. I worked a lot of overtime, and still didn't finish everything that was asked of me. The result was disappointment from their side, and almost burning out on my part. If you never say no, your yes is worth very little. Commit to what you can handle, and if people keep asking you for more, make it very explicit that this would mean not doing something else. What I did was to have a list of stuff that I needed to do on a piece of paper with me. When someone asked for something, I showed them the list and asked what I should bump to have time to help them. This allowed me to say no in a nice way. - If everything is equally important, then nothing is important
The business likes to say that all the features are as crucial. They are not. Push back and make them commit. It's easier if you don't force them to pick what to do and what not to do. Instead, let them choose what you should do this week. This will let you produce the stuff that brings value first. If all else goes haywire, at least you've done that. - Don't over-think a problem
I can spend whole days designing things in front of the white board. That doesn't mean it will be any better, it just means it will be more complicated. I don't mean to say you shouldn't design at all, just that the implementation will quickly show me stuff I didn't think of anyway, so why try to make it perfect? Like Dave Farell says: "The devil is in the details, but exorcism is in implementation, not theory." - Dive really deep into something, but don't get hung up
Chris and I spent a lot of time getting into the real deep parts of SQL Server. It was great fun and I learned a lot from it, but after some time I realized that knowing that much didn't really help me solve the business' problems. An example: I know that at the table level, SQL Server will not take an IU lock - it will only take a IX lock. This is a performance tweak, since most of the time, the IU lock will have to be escalated into a IX lock anyway. To find this, I spent countless days experimenting, I read loads of material and talked to Microsoft people at conferences. Have I ever had any use of this knowledge. Nope. - Learn about the other parts of the software development machine
It's really important to be a great developer. But to be a great part of the system that produces software, you need to understand what the rest of the system does. How do the QA people work? What does the project manager do? What drives the business analyst? This knowledge will help you connect with the rest of the people, and will grease interactions with them. Ask the people around you for help in learning more. What books are good? Most people will be flattered that you care, and willingly help you out. A little time on this goes a really long way. - Your colleagues are your best teachers
A year after I started on my first job, we merged with another company. Suddenly I had a lot of much more talented and experienced people around me. I remember distinctly how this made me feel inferior and stupid. I studied hard, reading book after book but I still didn't catch up. They had too much of an advantage on me, I figured.
Nowadays, working with great people doesn't make me feel bad at all. I just feel I have the chance of a lifetime to learn. I ask questions and I try really hard to understand how my colleagues come to the conclusions they do. This is why I joined ThoughtWorks. See your peers as an asset, not competition. - It all comes down to working software
No matter how cool your algorithms are, no matter how brilliant your database schema is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if it doesn't scratch the clients' itch, it's not worth anything. Focus on delivering working software, and at the same time prepare to continue delivering software using that code base and you're on the right path. - Some people are assholes
Most of the time, most of the people around you are great. You learn from them, and they learn from you. Accomplishing something together is a good feeling. Unfortunately, you will probably run into the exceptions. People that because of something or other are plain old mean. Demeaning bosses. Lying colleagues. Stupid, ignorant customers. Don't take this too hard. Try to work around them and do what you can to minimize the pain and effort they cause, but don't blame yourself. As long as you stay honest and do your best, you've done your part.
How To Market Your Web App
So after 1 year of fund-raising, planning and development, your shiny new beta web app is finally ready... and now you think it's marketing time. You want to reach thousands of users as quickly as possible. Aha, you think, the cheapest and shortest path is viral marketing - via blogs and social news sites. So you turn to your favorite sites like digg, del.icio.us, TechCrunch and (of course) Read/WriteWeb. Somehow your email to Michael Arrington or Richard MacManus gets noticed above the hundreds of others, so your site gets featured and then other blog coverage follows! Yippee, this is the fame you were waiting for! But a few days later....absolute silence. No one is talking about you anymore, the activity on your site diminishes to nearly zero, and the new 'poster child' web 2.0 app is something else.
Like a nightmare, isn't it? But unfortunately, this horrible peak-then-slump scenario is very common in the web 2.0 era. The Alexa graph below illustrates this with a well known example, in this case following a TechCrunch write-up:
The reasons for this very common pattern are simple to guess. The web 2.0 savvy audience is overloaded with all these fancy new sites that come up everyday; and this audience will try a lot of apps, but not necessarily become a permanent user. That's why you are very vulnerable to get quickly forgotten, if you don't offer them something very useful and enduring.
The upshot is that timing your app/site promotion is very important. Even though popular blogs and news sites are a great way to attract community and VC attention, you should know when to show yourself. Below is a categorization that we suggest all upcomers consider before any marketing push...
The WAIT List
The Wait list consists of sites that should be more patient to market themselves. This is certainly the largest category, with these 2 broad types of web 2.0 sites:
- Social / User Generated Content Sites
- Verticals
Social sites need existing user activity before getting promoted. For instance, a social networking site with no members won't be interesting at all. So if you get dugg, sure you'll get thousands of people arriving to check out your social network - and maybe even sign up. But more likely they will be disappointed that not much activity is happening, so they will leave your site with bad memories and may not come back.
In the case of verticals, the problem is more about competition. Rather than immediately publicizing your site, it may be better to focus on differentiating yourself from others and gradually building up a user base.
Also, most of the sites that fall under one (or both) of the above 2 categories require you to sign up first. But generally users will be reluctant to join ghost sites.
The best way of marketing for sites in the WAIT list is to focus on their niches, spend very little and attract targeted masses over time. One example comes from the March 2007 issue of Business 2.0 Magazine. A company called Betty, which sells dye for "the hair down there", spent just $2000 for space in a Las Vegas beauty tradeshow brochure and created enough buzz from that to get featured on the Jay Leno Show. The company expects $1 million in sales this year! Other successful examples are Dogster and Maya's Mom - they are both vertical and user-generated sites and they attracted most of their initial user base from pet and mothers magazines.
The bottom line is that WAIT list sites should find their niche, enlarge their user base there, then come to the web 2.0 savvy audience to show off their force and attract VC attention.
Spotplex, the site shown in the diagram above, is a very good example of a site that should have WAITED.
The WALK List
The walk list includes sites that should start promoting their site on web 2.0 blogs from the beginning. Most of the WALK candidates come from Web Utilities. For example:
- search engines (unless they're vertical);
- Instant Messaging mash-ups;
- Webtops;
- File hosting agents;
- Translators;
- Browser add-ons.
The reason why WALK list members are so different than the previous WAIT list members, is that these sites don't need prior popularity. The site's attractiveness depends solely on the quality of their service. So there's no critical mass of user base required before promoting themselves.
The RUN List
This is the smallest category, with perhaps just tens of sites. The success of these sites depends on web 2.0 media, so they should solely focus on getting themselves featured there. Actually most of them are no different than the WAIT list, except that their niche is web 2.0 itself! Two great examples are BuzzShout and Go2Web2. Obviously, the web 2.0 audience is open to such services, so there's no better place for these sites to get exposure. Blog widgets is another category can be added to the RUN list.
Conclusion
There are three main strategies then, to market your new web app or site:
1) WAIT list sites should find their niche, enlarge their user base there, then come to the web 2.0 savvy audience to show off their force and attract VC attention;
2) WALK list sites, such as search engines and browser add-ons, can go after that elusive digg frontpage or Read/WriteWeb feature now [Ed: preferably both!];
3) RUN list sites should do everything in their power to get attention from web 2.0 sites!
What are your thoughts on this - agree, or do you suggest other strategies?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The 5 Most Common Mistakes Made By Startups
Ben Yoskovitz | March 15th 2007 - 06:43
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Starting a Business, Business
Entrepreneurs are no strangers to mistakes. Mistakes will happen - with considerable frequency - and the value in making those mistakes is learning from them and avoiding them in the future. You can also study the mistakes of others that came before. Plenty of successful entrepreneurs are quite open about mistakes they’ve made, why they made them and what they learned. We don’t need to keep repeating each other’s mistakes over and over.
But, that’s quite often the case. When it comes to startup mistakes you’ll see many companies making the same ones over and over.
Here are 5 of the most common mistakes made by startups:
- Staying in Stealth Mode Too Long. New startups seem quite fond of stealth mode (or its newer cousin “ninja mode”), when they’re hiding under the radar but still hyping just enough to try and pique interest. But stay in stealth mode too long and you run the risk of disappearing off the radar. Never mind the fact that you can’t sell your new product or service while in stealth mode and therefore can’t generate any revenue. There are plenty of reasons why startups launch too slowly; really you need to force yourself to launch and get past all the excuses.
- Not Focusing on the User. Who are you building your new product for? Who is the precise target? Many startups can give a generic answer to that question, but very few of them are really honed in on the specific wants of their “perfect user.” This is a combination of too little research and too much enthusiasm for what they think is “the next killer idea.” This mistake is compounded if you’re building something that you wouldn’t use yourself. Building something you would use makes things easier - you’re the target user. Otherwise you need to take a much more pragmatic approach.
As well, many startups take the approach of “being everything to everyone.” That strategy never works. You end up being nothing to anyone.
- Trying To Do Everything. If a task isn’t core to your business try and outsource it. Entrepreneurs are extremely fond of saying they wear many hats (which is true!) but there’s a limit to what’s reasonable in the hat-wearing department. Lots of things can be outsourced, and although you’ll be paying someone else to do the work, you’ll be freeing up precious time of your own. That time will be infinitely more valuable than the money you spend.
- Not Having Enough Infrastructure. Many startups don’t have the proper tools in place to start their business. Primarily, money and time. It’s getting cheaper and cheaper to start companies nowadays but it’s never free. Lots of people start companies without realizing how much money it’s actually going to take. When they clue in, and decide they don’t have the money to invest (or they’re not willing to part with it), they’re in trouble.
Startups face similar challenges with time. People often start companies while working full-time jobs. It’s doable but damn hard. And as soon as the startup gets a bit rocky or other interests come into play, the startup company gets shelved or delayed. Paul Graham comments on this beautifully in The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups. His theory is that people get into startups half-heartedly and that’s what kills them. I think that’s part of the answer. The other side of that coin is that people truly do care and believe in what they’re doing, but they don’t have the infrastructure and bandwidth in place to make it happen.
Infrastructure issues are also related to a startup’s lack of connections and resources to find good vendors, good hires, mentors and people to rely on. A couple guys in a garage may have a great idea and tons of talent but when they need help securing a loan or handling a business-related task they may not have the network or foundation in place to support them.
- Forgetting About Branding, Marketing and Sales. I know there are examples of companies succeeding with a “build it and they will come” approach. Some people argue if you build something people want they’ll find it and plunk down their hard-earned money. It happens. But more often than not you need to develop real, actionable and savvy branding, marketing and sales strategies. You might have a great product and the wrong message. Or a killer software application that no one knows about. It’s rare to have a startup where the founders (or one of them) has real experience in branding, marketing and sales. The result is either all the founders do it (and often poorly) or they all pass the buck.
You can take a “build it and they will come” approach and hope for the world to pick up your scent and fall in love with you, or you can figure out how you’ll get the message out, what that message will be and how you’ll generate leads. Go with the latter.
The good news is that almost every mistake can be undone, and it’s rare that one mistake kills a startup completely. So feel free to make them - but skip those listed above…
Friday, March 09, 2007
How to Develop Your IT Skills and Raise Your Standard of Living
“Are you dissatisfied with your career? Do you want to make more money? Well, my friend, I’m about to offer you the opportunity to learn how to make more money and keep your career in the IT industry.”
“I’m about to tell you how to make more money, lose weight, and get the girl or boy of your dreams. That’s right, for two easy payments of $19.95, I can show you how to live a better life, have more energy, be happier, win the lottery, travel the world, discover the meaning of life, find the holy grail…blah blah blah…”
You have heard it all before: infomercial, so-called know-it-alls and “experts” who solicit career and financial advance. They say it can be done with little effort and all you have to do is send them some cash. In turn, they reveal the secret to resolving life’s problems.
The truth is: it ain’t that easy, kid. But it ain’t impossible.
The information technology (IT) field is highly competitive, and it’s only getting worse. As more fresh-faced college kids flood into the employment pool, getting a good paying job has become an up-stream swim. Moreover, as the basic costs of living increase, you’re going to need more income to stay afloat.
Career advancement doesn’t have to be aimless pursuit. By staying on top of your game, you can earn more or make splash in better job-ponds.
To make more money, take a trip down one of four roads: get more education, work freelance, start a business, or look for a new job.
Get More Education
To an employer, the more you know, the more you are worth ($). In the job market, education is king. To an employer, your educational pursuits indicate that you are both serious and motivated. Moreover, as you learn more, you know more, which makes you that more useful.
Ouch! Yes, it stings a little, but the reality is that career advancement means assuming greater responsibility; you have to know how to do more.
Let’s face it: getting a promotion or earning more money at work is a Darwinian pursuit: only the strongest thrive. You must strive to appear to be the strongest, most useful employee with the most to offer. Learning more and getting more education is a sure-fire way to show that you deserve to drive the herd.
There is a couple easy ways to get more education to appear more “useful” to your employer:
Earn a professional certificate: Professional certification implies that a person is qualified to perform a specific job. Professional certificates are supplemental to a two or four year degree. They help to solidify and intensify a person’s knowledge in a particular field.
For computer-fluent individuals, some useful professional certificates are:
- Information Technology Pathway Certificate
- Information Technology Management Certificate
- Internet and Website Development Certificate
- Introduction to Computer Programming Language Certificate
- Certificate in Web Design
Professional certificates are easy to earn, affordable, and can be completed in a few weeks at an education institution, both online and on-campus.
Take a class: It is important to stay abreast of new technologies as they emerge. Perhaps you need only to learn a few new tricks of your trade.
The key here, however, is to inform your boss you’re taking a class. Your boss or supervisors will then be privy to you increasing your working-knowledge of new technology or business models. In turn, they see you as a much more capable employee, poised for promotion.
Find Freelance work
A good money-making method is to work freelance. Freelance IT professionals, web designers, graphic designers, and internet marking gurus are in high demand.
Good resources for finding freelance work in IT are
However, if you go down this route, there advantages and disadvantages:
Pros:
- You (usually) determine how much you want to get compensated for the work
- You easily boost your resume with each freelance opportunity
- You keep 100% of any profit earned
Cons:
- Quality freelance work can be difficult to find
- The income stream is not steady
- Freelance work can be time-consuming if you already work another job
Overall, many graphic designers, web designers, programmers, and other IT-folks are able to make a nice nest of cash while they work other jobs. Some people are even able to work solely freelance and give up their fulltime jobs.
Start Your Own Business
Starting your own business can be an exciting or exasperating experience; all the hard work and sacrifice can either make or break you.
But don’t let that scare you. Staring a business venture is easier than ever before. Here are some tips on finagling this without driving yourself insane:
Start slow: At all costs, restrain yourself from diving head-long into starting a business. You may still need a steady flow of income while you start your business, as you will most likely not have a lot of business at first. Though you may have a genius business plan for making millions, at least initially, you’re going to need to get your ducks in a row.
Spend a lot of time to get the business ball rolling. Don’t quit your day job yet.
Set obtainable goals: As you formulate a business plan, set some small goals. Focus on making extra-pocket money in addition to your current employment salary.
Take a Break: Don’t burn out. Take some breaks. If you work 40 hours a week already, don’t dedicate 30 more hours to your business. Spend the weekend tweaking your business plan. Spend only a few hours on week nights. Spend your lunch hour making client sale-calls. If you start to feel discouraged, take a breather. Put up your feet and come back to it. In the end, you will be able to keep sustain sanity much longer.
If All Else Fails, Look For a New Job
Sometimes, you need to know when to throw in the towel and look for something else. If you’re stuck in a dead-end job, this may be the time. No matter how much education you have, without an opportunity for advancement, it’s hard to stay motivated.
The IT field is very competitive. The key to landing a better, higher-paying job is standing out from the crowd.
Overhaul Your Resume: Clean up your resume. Re-work, re-word, and re-format your resume.
When re-working and re-wording your resume, remember the following:
You are the best at what you do.
You have a proven track-record of success.
You stand out from the rest.
When re-formatting your resume, clear out the clutter. The following elements should be readily apparent on first glace:
- Name and Contact Information
- Summary of relevant skills
- Previous Employers
- Job-duties
- References (two to three)
- Bonus: Personal website
A personal website is a good way to showcase a portfolio and to shamelessly gloat.
Compose a Killer Cover Letter: Many people forget the importance of a cover letter: it is a formal “Hello, this is why I kick ass.”
Compose a cover letter that is straight forward but commands the attention of the reader. When creating a salutation, use the manager’s name instead of “to whom it may concern,” or “Dear sir or madam.”
When writing the body of your cover letter, remember this is the formal declaration of your awesome-ness. Discuss instances in previous jobs where you have been an innovator or problem solver. Many employers want to hire a sharp, forward-thinker. Other tips:
- Keep it brief! Two pages are too much. Wrap it up in a single page.
- Spell-check.
- Grammar-check.
- Keep it Simple Stupid! Straight forward always wins over flowery language.
- Be grateful. Thank the person for taking the time to read your cover letter. They probably have to read hundreds. Don’t be another blip on the radar.
Landing the interview
So, you’ve gotten the call to come in and show them your face. Take a shower; wear nice shoes, put on a smile. You get but one (maybe two) shot at face-time.
During the interview the inevitable question is always, “why are you leaving your current job?” Be honest…but not that honest. The last thing an employer wants to hear is that you are on the hunt for a bigger-pay-day. Tell them you are looking for “career advancement.” You want a challenge; you are looking for a more rewarding career. Never say you want to make more money. They already know that, what else can you tell them?
Employers want to know that you’ve got staying power and that you won’t jump ship if you get passed over for a raise. They want to know if you have the ability to rise to challenges and deliver the goods. Most importantly, they want to know if you are worth the salary.
Keep Your Eye on the Prize: While looking for a new job, you may be enticed by a job that is closer to where you live or one with a hip or cool environment.
Be advised that if you are looking to make more money, you are going to have to compromise a bit. If you accept a position that offers a lower salary than what you are looking for, eventually, you are going to have the same financial frustrations you previously worked to resolve.
Essentially, the key is finding a job that offers upward mobility. A little hard work and face-time with the boss will get you to where you want to be.
“Now is the time to make more money and be happier with your career. You can do it, and I guarantee that you too can be on the road to riches.” And if not, in the very least, you will have learned more and done more than the rest of the computer-nerd herdFriday, February 02, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Few Conversation between Indian Customer Care and So Called Clever people of the world
Few Conversation between Indian Customer Care and So Called Clever people of the world
1) Tech Support : "I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop."
Customer : "Ok."
Tech Support : "Did you get a pop-up menu?"
Customer : "No."
Tech Support : "Ok. Right click again. Do you see a pop-up
menu?"
Customer : "No."
Tech Support : "Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up
until this point?"
Customer : "Sure, you told me to write 'click' and I wrote
'click'."
----------------------------------------
2) Customer : "I received the software update you sent, but I
am still getting the same error message."
Tech Support : "Did you install the update?"
Customer: "No. Oh, am I supposed to install it to get it to work?"
--------------------------------------------------
3) Customer : "I'm having trouble installing Microsoft Word."
Tech Support : "Tell me what you've done."
Customer : "I typed 'A: SETUP'."
Tech Support : "Ma'am, remove the disk and tell me what it
says."
Customer : "It says '[PC manufacturer] Restore and Recovery
disk'."
Tech Support : "Insert the MS Word setup disk."
Customer : "What?"
Tech Support: "Did you buy MS word?"
Customer: "No..."
--------------------------------------------------
4).Customer : "Do I need a computer to use your software?"
Tech Support : ?!%#$ (welll pretend to smile)
--------------------------------------------------
5).Tech Support : "Ok, in the bottom left hand side of the
screen, can you see the 'OK' button displayed?"
Customer : "Wow. How can you see my screen from there?"
Tech support : ##### ***
--------------------------------------------------
6) Tech Support : "What type of computer do you have?"
Customer : "A white one."
Tech support : ******_____####
--------------------------------------------------
7). Tech Support : "What operating system are you running?"
Customer : "Pentium."
Tech support : ////-----+++
--------------------------------------------------
. Customer : "My computer's telling me I performed an
illegal abortion."
Tech support : ??????
--------------------------------------------------
9).Customer : "I have Microsoft Exploder."
Tech Support : ?!%#$
--------------------------------------------------
10).Customer : "How do I print my voicemail?"
Tech support : ??????
--------------------------------------------------
11). Customer : "You've got to fix my computer. I urgently need
to print document, but the computer
won't boot properly."
Tech Support : "What does it say?"
Customer : "Something about an error and non-system disk."
Tech Support : "Look at your machine. Is there a floppy inside?"
Customer : "No, but there's a sticker saying there's an Intel
inside."
Tech support : @@@@@
--------------------------------------------------
12). Tech Support: "Just call us back if there's a problem. We're
open 24 hours."
Customer: "Is that Eastern time?"
--------------------------------------------------
13). Tech Support : "What does the screen say now?"
Customer : "It says, 'Hit ENTER when ready'."
Tech Support : "Well?"
Customer : "How do I know when it's ready?"
Tech support : *** ---- ++++
--------------------------------------------------
The best of the lot
14). A plain computer illiterate guy rings tech support to
report that his computer is faulty.
Tech: What's the problem?
User: There is smoke coming out of the power supply.
Tech: (keep quite)
Tech: You'll need a new power supply.
User: No, I don't! I just need to change the startup files.
Tech: Sir, the power supply is faulty. You'll need to replace it.
User: No way! Someone told me that I just needed to change the
startup and it will fix the
problem! All I need is for you to tell me the command.
Tech support::
10 minutes later, the User is still adamant that he is right. The
tech is frustrated and fed up.
Tech supports
hush hush)
Tech: Sorry, Sir. We don't normally tell our customers this, but
there is an undocumented DOS
command that will fix the problem.
User: I knew it!
Tech : Just add the line LOAD NOSMOKE.COM < http://nosmoke.com/> at the
end of the
CONFIG.SYS . Let me know how it goes.
10 minutes later.
User : It didn't work. The power supply is still smoking.
Tech : Well, what version of DOS are you using?
User : MS-DOS 6.22.
Tech : That's your problem there. That version of DOS didn't
come with NOSMOKE. Contact Microsoft
and ask them for a patch that will give you the file. Let me know
how it goes.
1 hour later.
User : I need a new power supply.
Tech support : How did you come to that conclusion?
Tech support : (hush hush)
User : Well, I rang Microsoft and told him about what you said,
and he started asking questions
about the make of power supply.
Tech: Then what did he say?
User: He told me that my power supply isn't compatible with
NOSMOKE.
-------------------------------------------------
Height Of all (Too Good)
15) customer care officer: I need a product identification number right
now and may I help u in
finding it out?
Cust: sure
CCO: could u left click on start and do u find 'My Computer'?
Cust: I did left click but how the hell do I find your computer?
1) Tech Support : "I need you to right-click on the Open Desktop."
Customer : "Ok."
Tech Support : "Did you get a pop-up menu?"
Customer : "No."
Tech Support : "Ok. Right click again. Do you see a pop-up
menu?"
Customer : "No."
Tech Support : "Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up
until this point?"
Customer : "Sure, you told me to write 'click' and I wrote
'click'."
----------------------------------------
2) Customer : "I received the software update you sent, but I
am still getting the same error message."
Tech Support : "Did you install the update?"
Customer: "No. Oh, am I supposed to install it to get it to work?"
--------------------------------------------------
3) Customer : "I'm having trouble installing Microsoft Word."
Tech Support : "Tell me what you've done."
Customer : "I typed 'A: SETUP'."
Tech Support : "Ma'am, remove the disk and tell me what it
says."
Customer : "It says '[PC manufacturer] Restore and Recovery
disk'."
Tech Support : "Insert the MS Word setup disk."
Customer : "What?"
Tech Support: "Did you buy MS word?"
Customer: "No..."
--------------------------------------------------
4).Customer : "Do I need a computer to use your software?"
Tech Support : ?!%#$ (welll pretend to smile)
--------------------------------------------------
5).Tech Support : "Ok, in the bottom left hand side of the
screen, can you see the 'OK' button displayed?"
Customer : "Wow. How can you see my screen from there?"
Tech support : ##### ***
--------------------------------------------------
6) Tech Support : "What type of computer do you have?"
Customer : "A white one."
Tech support : ******_____####
--------------------------------------------------
7). Tech Support : "What operating system are you running?"
Customer : "Pentium."
Tech support : ////-----+++
--------------------------------------------------
. Customer : "My computer's telling me I performed anillegal abortion."
Tech support : ??????
--------------------------------------------------
9).Customer : "I have Microsoft Exploder."
Tech Support : ?!%#$
--------------------------------------------------
10).Customer : "How do I print my voicemail?"
Tech support : ??????
--------------------------------------------------
11). Customer : "You've got to fix my computer. I urgently need
to print document, but the computer
won't boot properly."
Tech Support : "What does it say?"
Customer : "Something about an error and non-system disk."
Tech Support : "Look at your machine. Is there a floppy inside?"
Customer : "No, but there's a sticker saying there's an Intel
inside."
Tech support : @@@@@
--------------------------------------------------
12). Tech Support: "Just call us back if there's a problem. We're
open 24 hours."
Customer: "Is that Eastern time?"
--------------------------------------------------
13). Tech Support : "What does the screen say now?"
Customer : "It says, 'Hit ENTER when ready'."
Tech Support : "Well?"
Customer : "How do I know when it's ready?"
Tech support : *** ---- ++++
--------------------------------------------------
The best of the lot
14). A plain computer illiterate guy rings tech support to
report that his computer is faulty.
Tech: What's the problem?
User: There is smoke coming out of the power supply.
Tech: (keep quite)
Tech: You'll need a new power supply.
User: No, I don't! I just need to change the startup files.
Tech: Sir, the power supply is faulty. You'll need to replace it.
User: No way! Someone told me that I just needed to change the
startup and it will fix the
problem! All I need is for you to tell me the command.
Tech support::
10 minutes later, the User is still adamant that he is right. The
tech is frustrated and fed up.
Tech supports
hush hush)Tech: Sorry, Sir. We don't normally tell our customers this, but
there is an undocumented DOS
command that will fix the problem.
User: I knew it!
Tech : Just add the line LOAD NOSMOKE.COM < http://nosmoke.com/> at the
end of the
CONFIG.SYS . Let me know how it goes.
10 minutes later.
User : It didn't work. The power supply is still smoking.
Tech : Well, what version of DOS are you using?
User : MS-DOS 6.22.
Tech : That's your problem there. That version of DOS didn't
come with NOSMOKE. Contact Microsoft
and ask them for a patch that will give you the file. Let me know
how it goes.
1 hour later.
User : I need a new power supply.
Tech support : How did you come to that conclusion?
Tech support : (hush hush)
User : Well, I rang Microsoft and told him about what you said,
and he started asking questions
about the make of power supply.
Tech: Then what did he say?
User: He told me that my power supply isn't compatible with
NOSMOKE.
-------------------------------------------------
Height Of all (Too Good)
15) customer care officer: I need a product identification number right
now and may I help u in
finding it out?
Cust: sure
CCO: could u left click on start and do u find 'My Computer'?
Cust: I did left click but how the hell do I find your computer?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
The 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 Rule: A few observations about being in a leadership position.
From :
The MineThatData Blog
Kevin Hillstrom's views on Multichannel Forensics and Database Marketing.
The 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 Rule: You'll find that your co-workers fall into three camps. About a third will support you through anything. About a third could take or leave you. Another third are generally against you. Your job is to do outstanding work, with integrity, so that the middle third sides with you, silencing the last third.
Save Your Pennies: For most, the ride eventually ends. So save your pennies.
Don't Listen To Them: Even if you do a good job, that silent third will tell you all the reasons why your ideas are bad. If you're doing an average job, or you are threatening the status quo, the remaining third becomes vocal --- very vocal. Don't listen to them. They will criticize anything you do.
Everybody Is Fighting A Great Battle: You can see this in the eyes of your employees. Somebody had a child who spent the entire evening throwing up. Another employee's mother just passed away. Yet another employee spilled a latte on his slacks. Everybody has problems that superceed work. To them, these problems are epic, mighty battles. Recognize this, and manage to it.
At Some Point, You Have To Choose Between People And Money: This is probably the biggest decision you'll have to make. Somewhere along your journey, you will be asked to drag your staff through mud in order for the business to make more money. If you want to go to Heaven, choose your staff. If you want to be a superstar, side with Money. If you figure out how to effectively deal with this tension, please let me know how to do it!
If You Are Working More Than Fifty Hours A Week, You Are Failing: Contrary to popular belief, the burned-out executive lifestyle is not all it is cracked-up to be. If you are working longer than 7-5 or 8-6 or 9-7, you are failing. Either your staff is not ready to take on more work, or you have failed to hire the right number of people to do the work, or you have failed to effectively say "NO" to projects. Every hour over fifty is one hour you will never get back with your spouse, children and hobbies.
Bad Behavior Is Your Fault: You need to set expectations in the first few days of your new assignment. The longer you let certain behaviors fester, the harder it gets to change them.
Honesty > Politics: You can make a choice to be honest with your folks, or you can be political and choose not to share non-confidential issues with them. Side with honesty. If you aren't honest and trustworthy, your folks will paint their own canvass. That leads to gossip. Gossip kills productivity, and gossip kills relationships between employees.
If You Did A Great Job In A Forest, And Nobody Saw You Do It, Did The Great Job Really Happen? At some point, you have to figure out, within your culture, how to effectively market you and your team. In many cases, the marketing of you and your team is more important than the outcome of the work you actually do.
Support Your Boss, Or Leave The Company: Some of my biggest mistakes happened when I did not support my boss. If something unethical is happening, tell somebody, and then consider leaving. If you have a difference of opinion, make the choice to support your boss and move on, or leave. Arguing gets you nowhere.
Know The Profit And Loss Statement Inside Out: Those who know the p&l know how to cost-justify projects and initiatives. Not surprisingly , these folks get things done.
If You Want To Be Appreciated, Lead When Sales Are Increasing: Ever notice how quick folks are to hire those who have worked at successful companies? You can do outstanding work at a failing company. But if your goal is to be an upwardly mobile executive, align yourself with the updraft. A whole generation of online marketers and search experts are doing this as we speak. You don't hear a lot of "He did a spectacular job of keeping CD sales flat at Tower Records", do you?
Do Not Fall In Love Your Company: The blogosphere is filled with marketing experts promoting the myriad benefits of 'brands', with an adoration seldom paralleled in society. We focus a disproportionate amount of energy on the magical power of Apple, or Nike, or Starbucks, thinking any company or any idea can result in the success Apple, Nike or Starbucks experienced. Build the brand!!! We offer advice for every brand (improve your customer service, clean up your stores, give me a free phone, listen to your customers, do these things and we'll love you). When is the last time a 'brand' loved a person? When is the last time a company was there for a person when something awful happened to the person? Leaders can be there for people. Co-workers are usually there for people. The Human Resources department is there for people. Brands are never there for people. The purpose of a brand is to facilitate the transfer of wealth from customers to shareholders. When this transfer of money is not happening as efficiently as it should happen, your job is in jeopardy. The 'brand' will chew you up and spit you out in a heartbeat if the 'brand' thinks you are in some way impeding the re-distribution of wealth. Fall in love with your company, and your feelings will inevitably be hurt when your brand turns on you.
Celebrate The Victories: There are untold victories in everyday work life. Appreciate and recognize people for making these things happen. I can certainly improve my skills on this one.
Give Credit: Your people are responsible for everything that happens. You may think your vision is legendary, even bordering on brilliant. Your vision doesn't happen without your people --- people who put aside their dreams to make your dreams come true.
Please add to this list, offer your contributions based on what you've learned.
The MineThatData Blog
Kevin Hillstrom's views on Multichannel Forensics and Database Marketing.
The 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 Rule: You'll find that your co-workers fall into three camps. About a third will support you through anything. About a third could take or leave you. Another third are generally against you. Your job is to do outstanding work, with integrity, so that the middle third sides with you, silencing the last third.
Save Your Pennies: For most, the ride eventually ends. So save your pennies.
Don't Listen To Them: Even if you do a good job, that silent third will tell you all the reasons why your ideas are bad. If you're doing an average job, or you are threatening the status quo, the remaining third becomes vocal --- very vocal. Don't listen to them. They will criticize anything you do.
Everybody Is Fighting A Great Battle: You can see this in the eyes of your employees. Somebody had a child who spent the entire evening throwing up. Another employee's mother just passed away. Yet another employee spilled a latte on his slacks. Everybody has problems that superceed work. To them, these problems are epic, mighty battles. Recognize this, and manage to it.
At Some Point, You Have To Choose Between People And Money: This is probably the biggest decision you'll have to make. Somewhere along your journey, you will be asked to drag your staff through mud in order for the business to make more money. If you want to go to Heaven, choose your staff. If you want to be a superstar, side with Money. If you figure out how to effectively deal with this tension, please let me know how to do it!
If You Are Working More Than Fifty Hours A Week, You Are Failing: Contrary to popular belief, the burned-out executive lifestyle is not all it is cracked-up to be. If you are working longer than 7-5 or 8-6 or 9-7, you are failing. Either your staff is not ready to take on more work, or you have failed to hire the right number of people to do the work, or you have failed to effectively say "NO" to projects. Every hour over fifty is one hour you will never get back with your spouse, children and hobbies.
Bad Behavior Is Your Fault: You need to set expectations in the first few days of your new assignment. The longer you let certain behaviors fester, the harder it gets to change them.
Honesty > Politics: You can make a choice to be honest with your folks, or you can be political and choose not to share non-confidential issues with them. Side with honesty. If you aren't honest and trustworthy, your folks will paint their own canvass. That leads to gossip. Gossip kills productivity, and gossip kills relationships between employees.
If You Did A Great Job In A Forest, And Nobody Saw You Do It, Did The Great Job Really Happen? At some point, you have to figure out, within your culture, how to effectively market you and your team. In many cases, the marketing of you and your team is more important than the outcome of the work you actually do.
Support Your Boss, Or Leave The Company: Some of my biggest mistakes happened when I did not support my boss. If something unethical is happening, tell somebody, and then consider leaving. If you have a difference of opinion, make the choice to support your boss and move on, or leave. Arguing gets you nowhere.
Know The Profit And Loss Statement Inside Out: Those who know the p&l know how to cost-justify projects and initiatives. Not surprisingly , these folks get things done.
If You Want To Be Appreciated, Lead When Sales Are Increasing: Ever notice how quick folks are to hire those who have worked at successful companies? You can do outstanding work at a failing company. But if your goal is to be an upwardly mobile executive, align yourself with the updraft. A whole generation of online marketers and search experts are doing this as we speak. You don't hear a lot of "He did a spectacular job of keeping CD sales flat at Tower Records", do you?
Do Not Fall In Love Your Company: The blogosphere is filled with marketing experts promoting the myriad benefits of 'brands', with an adoration seldom paralleled in society. We focus a disproportionate amount of energy on the magical power of Apple, or Nike, or Starbucks, thinking any company or any idea can result in the success Apple, Nike or Starbucks experienced. Build the brand!!! We offer advice for every brand (improve your customer service, clean up your stores, give me a free phone, listen to your customers, do these things and we'll love you). When is the last time a 'brand' loved a person? When is the last time a company was there for a person when something awful happened to the person? Leaders can be there for people. Co-workers are usually there for people. The Human Resources department is there for people. Brands are never there for people. The purpose of a brand is to facilitate the transfer of wealth from customers to shareholders. When this transfer of money is not happening as efficiently as it should happen, your job is in jeopardy. The 'brand' will chew you up and spit you out in a heartbeat if the 'brand' thinks you are in some way impeding the re-distribution of wealth. Fall in love with your company, and your feelings will inevitably be hurt when your brand turns on you.
Celebrate The Victories: There are untold victories in everyday work life. Appreciate and recognize people for making these things happen. I can certainly improve my skills on this one.
Give Credit: Your people are responsible for everything that happens. You may think your vision is legendary, even bordering on brilliant. Your vision doesn't happen without your people --- people who put aside their dreams to make your dreams come true.
Please add to this list, offer your contributions based on what you've learned.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
What does love mean?
.... An article that I read the other day........
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds,
"What does love mean?"
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her
toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca- age 8
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
Chrissy - age 6
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6
(We need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6
"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8
"My mommy loves me more than anybody . You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6
"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt."
Chris - age 7
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
Lauren - age 4
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)
Karen - age 7
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8
And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a
contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly
gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard,
climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
"Nothing, I just helped him cry"
.... An article that I read the other day........
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds,
"What does love mean?"
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her
toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca- age 8
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
Chrissy - age 6
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6
(We need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6
"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8
"My mommy loves me more than anybody . You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6
"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt."
Chris - age 7
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
Lauren - age 4
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)
Karen - age 7
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8
And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a
contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly
gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard,
climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
"Nothing, I just helped him cry"
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