The Winner's Brain
I have always had a keen interest in the brain - how it works and how to improve it.
I read a great book
The Winner's Brain - 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske. It is about maximizing the brain for success.
One of the points is the ability to thrive despite adversity. I have always ascribed to
Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap. And having a failure does not make you a failure. True failure is not trying. Although I ascribe to those, it is always worthwhile to have practical tips to make these sayings become reality.
The Winner's Brain single tasks. It is great at shutting out distraction. I am not yet as good at this as I will be. "Office workers switch tasks every 3 minutes."
One place I like to practice this is in airports. I say to myself that there is a lot of hustle and bustle that focus can allow me to shut out. Interestingly, airport distraction is easy because none of it matters to me. Unlike when I am in my office and the phone rings, someone stops by or even email comes in.
A bigger concept I am working on is saying no. I can be great on ignoring small distractions but kill my productivity by meeting with and speaking to everyone who asks for my time. I see a need to become more rude (which is not easily in my nature).
Motivation is one key to a winner's brain. I know when I am inspired, I am ten times as powerful and productive.
Winner's brains have good emotional control. I am great at that trait. So one out of 8 is not bad.
And of course there was a section on brain care. Brain care is basically body care. Exercise, eat right, sleep properly. And consume omega 3's which you will get if you eat right which typically includes lots of fish and some nuts.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Garden is great. Asparagus and
parsley winding down. Strawberries just beginning.
Niche can be a Competitive Advantage
I have been a niche player all of my life. I choose small markets and learn to be dominant in them. I prefer to be big in a small market.
Working in a niche allows focus on specialties. The more you do of the same specialty, the easier, cheaper and faster you get.
As I grow, the niches get bigger and bigger. Just because you are a niche player does not mean you need to be small.
I wrote a blog entry on the Canrock blog called "
A Fat Wallet is the Enemy of High Investment Returns" (this is a Warren Buffett quote). In that, I talk about the advantages of being small (like the Canrock Ventures fund).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My 95 year old inlaws just got email for the first time. They rank among my idols. My hope is I can keep doing new things into my 90s.
I worry I will need to send them my blog entry on
Limit computer usage. Would not want them to lose productivity.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And back by popular demand - the one and only Josh:
How to improve Klout Score
When I first heard about
Klout I naturally assumed it was KKK speak for someone in the Klan with power. Or perhaps the Klan enforcer who clouts people.
Klout is a scoring system that weighs influence in social media.
There is a great book
Return on Influence - The revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing by Mark Schaeffer that inspired this post. His book explains Klout and how it works in detail (although the nature of these things is they always keep a mystery about how they arrive at the numbers and they always change).
My Klout score is 43 and in reading what I have influence in I surprised myself. When I look at Klout they say I have influence in Ernest Hemingway, Religion and Spirituality, retirement (?), Pablo Picasso and William Shakespeare. I feel positively cultured. Perhaps my eldest daughter (who has a PhD in English Literature) should check my Klout just to know who she should call when she has a question.
Klout did find other things that I feel I do have knowledge on like social media, venture capital, entrepreneurship etc.
So why those scores for me? It seems they weigh Twitter and Facebook higher than blogging? On my update stream which I send to Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and a Tumblr, I send mostly quotations. Or course, many of those are quotes from famous authors.
How is Klout used? This is all about the desire of brands to know who their influencers are. The theory is then they can "buy" them to increase the buzz about their products. So brands pay for lists of influencers and then try to get them to speak about them by giving them coupons and free products.
The Problems with Klout.
The downside I see to publishing a Klout Score is people may greatly increase their volume in a world that already has too much information volume. In my opinion, more people need to "do not speak unless you can improve the silence". I even worry myself that sometimes my contribution is not needed or not adding value.
I worry that what get measured gets attention so people may focus too much on social media and not enough on real interaction.
I worry that people might spend too much time on social media.
As with SEO, I worry people will try to figure out how to game the system.
Top 4 ways to increase Klout Score (if you even care about increasing it)
1 - Say interesting things. Klout is a lot about people saying things about what you said and about how much amplification you get around your messages. Include links. Be social as in social media. Share.
2 - Be there. Klout does grade for just being in the conversation. Interact with others. Do not just try to speak. Have conversations.
3 - Do not try to game the system. I only add this because systems like these spend lots of time trying to figure out how people are gaming them. And like Google, they will ban or penalize the cheaters in the long term.
4 - Grow your network. Reach out to people and connect. The more your connections, the greater your influence (according to Klout) and the greater your chance of being retweeted or talked about.
Please tweet this blog post and retweet all the @jimestill you can. Oops sorry - forgot rule 3.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I contributed a chapter on
Venture Funding in an eBook. Wonder if that will improve my Klout score.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It has been overcast and raining a bit for the past couple of days. I say good because I am a gardener and we need the rain. Weather moods depend on outlook which is a choice.
And yes, the
parsley diet continues. My lunch:
Rippling
I tend to get much of my inspiration through reading. It is fast, always available and easy. I sometimes find a book resonates well with me but when I go back later, I wonder why I thought it was so good. And sometimes I think is abook is bad but when I re-read it a year later, I love it. I think different books speak to us based on the stage and current challenges we face.
Beverly Schwartz wrote a book called
Rippling - How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation Throughout the World.
Social media has changed the way most of us do things in a huge way in the past 10 years. For me, I prefer to use Linkedin to keep contacts. Clearly, I blog. And Tweet. I read blogs. I get more information from a wider variety of places. All because of social media.
I have been thinking about Twitter as a social media. A lot of Twitter is an amplification of news. Good stories get Tweeted and re-Tweeted. And for that matter, Twitter is even a good filtering of information. If a Twitter person that I follow directs me to an article, I will read it (or at least look at it). Interestingly, the actual source of that media can be fairly small (like a blog) so the big media names have to constantly fight to have high quality articles that are worth reading.
In a sense, social media improves the quality of media because of this phenomenon. But I digress...
Rippling talks about how ideas and innovations "ripples" through the world as a result of social media. The title refers to Social as doing good and providing positive change. It is not a blook about how to create the next Facebook. Social media gives us power to do social good.
Rippling presents a model with 5 ways social entrepreneurs change social systems. These model can explain how deep and lasting change can occur.
It is a series of stories of real people who have made a difference in the world together with how they did it.
Rippling talks that "Dreams can defy reality" when there is Purpose, Passion, Pattern (Pattern refers to methods that others can copy) and Participation (of course nothing happens unless people follow).
Quotes "How many things have you not done in this life due to fear of embarrassment or insecurity?" Might that be limiting our possibilities.
At my stage in life, I struggle with trying to make a real impact on the world. Rippling inspires me to think and plan that more. And as with most things - actions win so just do it.
Just Some Stuff
Josh (my grandson) continues to thrive (need to start with the truly important stuff first)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Great press for one of the Canrock investee companies
HonestlyNow in
Blogher.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Canrock was awarded a $
4.5M funding from NY state to invest in start up businesses. Now begins the work of finding (actually, that part is fairly easy), nurturing and helping them grow.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
While other people might think the weather is bad here (it is raining), the gardens desperately needed the rain. A friend knows I am an avid gardener (despite bad allergies and needing to be careful to
prevent back injury) so asked "what grows well here". Of course my answer is "weeds".
I made another small garden this weekend. Moved lots of dirt. And have most things planted (radish, peas, spinach, beans, parsnips, beets, lettuce, pumpkin, squash). Now will have to see if I jumped the gun and planted too early or if I am a genius and can actually get 2 crops and lots of early vegetables.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Canrock made a new investment in
Soletron (more later on that)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AboutOne launched their new version.
The Twelve Absolutes of Leadership
Well the parsley is doing awesome. Italian parsley (the closest one) grows like a weed. I am eating a cup or more per day. Raw - just nibbling on it.
What I learned about parsley:
1 - Chewing it raw is a natural way to
treat gum disease.
2 - Parsley naturally eliminates bad breath.
3 - A cup of Parsley contains 21% of the daily iron needed and 100% of the vitamin C (if you believe RDA suggestions are right)
4 - I need to eat 100 cups per day just to get enough calories to maintain my weight. (and I suspect even that would barely make a dint on my crop)
5 - It is one way to stop smoking.
And no, I do not have any of these problems but I do have a bumper parsley crop. Asparagus is also doing well.
And I am way behind on my book reviews so a short one:
Gary Burnison wrote
The Twelve Absolutes of Leadership.
Burnison is an impressive guy. CEO of Korn Ferry. It seems logical he would know a thing or two about leadership not just because he runs his own company but as a recruiter, he would have seen hundreds of leaders. And he already a published best seller ("
No Fear of Failure")
I liked the simple one word chapter titles. 12 Absolutes - 12 chapters one for each.
The 12 absolutes are:
1 - Lead - This seemed like too simple of a place to start but the chapter is quite good. I got hooked by the subhead "Anchor yourself in Humility". I see a lack of humility in leadership and I think this does not serve us. Leader need to move above the me to the we.
2 - Purpose - This is the true enabler of any company.
3 - Strategy - In the end, it is all about execution.
4 - People - Clearly key to everything. I always had the theory that a leaders' job was to hire average people and help them grow to be above average (by empowering, training, coaching, mentoring and giving them the tools to do the job well)
5 - Measure - I find this easy on the "hard stuff" like sales, profits, delivery standards etc but always struggle trying to measure the "soft" like culture. I also find too often, measures are short term where the organization really needs long term.
6 - Empower - I am a big believer in this. No business can scale without empowering people - not just delegating but trusting them to make the right choices to help a company thrive.
7 - Reward - obvious. If the company does well, the people should do well.
8 - Anticipate - "It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan" Elanor Roosevelt.
9 - Navigate - the unexpected will happen.
10 - Communicate - key to all leadership.
11 - Listen - I would have put this before communicate.
12 - Learn - I love learning and always wanted any company I am involved in to be a constant learning company.
Some quotes:
"Leadership is the eighth wonder of the world - easy to intellectualize, but elusive to actualize"
"Leading is less about analytics and strategy and much more about making a difference in the lives of others."
"Leaders are mirrors of the organization"
"Leadership is Grace, Dignity and Restraint."
"Shared Purpose Creates Shared Urgency"
It is a good book.
Limit Computer Usage for Good Time Management
Intuitively, I know limiting computer usage is good for time management. I have even read about this often in my reading on time management. Some time management systems suggest only doing email at specific intervals.
Thursday I had a network glitch so had no computer for the first few hours. I was amazed at how organized my office is. I plowed through a pile of paper that needed dealing with. I got organized. I feel good for it.
So why don't I limit my computer use? Part of me prides myself in being crisp - fast to respond. Part of me likes to be "caught up" and having emails unread does not seem caught up. Part of me prides myself on handling volume.
But this short involuntary experiment has proven that limiting computer usage can actually be great time management.
So yesterday, again, I did not log in for half a day. Again - high productivity.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have been enjoying gardening. Moving lots of dirt and mulch but now my back is sore. Perhaps I need to read about
preventing back injuries.
Not even many weeds yet.
The weather is so crazy that I have planted lots of things like beets, beans, peas, spinach etc. Going to try to see if I can get 2 crops in a year. Normally, I would not plant for at least another month.
I am already enjoying sorrel, parsley, chives and asparagus. Nothing seems healthier to me than eating my own organic produce within minutes of harvest.
Shackelton Endurance
Endurance -the story of Shackleton's ill fated attempt to reach the south pole was gripping. I listened to it on audio while on one of those long car rides where it was more efficient to drive than fly. I find a 5 hour drive is about break even to flying by the time you drive to the airport, wait for security lines, wait for the flight, fly for an hour, get a car etc and then you have to depend on the flight schedules. (Not true of course when flying private but the economics are way different).
I was excited to receive a copy of
Leading at the edge - Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition.At the same time Endurance set off to conquer the south pole, the Karluk set off to conquer the North Pole. Both ships were stranded in ice. Both sets of explorers had to endure unbelievable hardship. But, Shackleton's group pulled together. It was a story of sacrifice, teamwork and loyalty. The Karluk explorers drifted into theft, deception, lying, and mutiny.
This book delves into the why. How did Shackleton do it? From this, they derive the following 10 leadership lessons.
1. Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives.
2. Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors.
3. Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality.
4. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.
5. Reinforce the team message constantly: "We are one- we live or die together."
6. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.
7. Master conflict- deal with anger in small doses, engage dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles.
8. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.
9. Be willing to take big risks.
10. Never give up-there's always another move.
Brand Real
I love Branding. Brand to a company is like reputation is to a person. Like reputation - it can be invaluable and like reputation, it can be easily destroyed.
Reputation requires consistency. Brand does also.
I read Laurence Vincent's book -
Brand Real - How Smart Companies Live Their Brand Promise and Inspire Fierce Customer Loyalty. I liked the cover "Ingredients of Success Hype 0%, Trendiness 0%, Gimmicks 0%, authenticity 100% and Experience 100%"
Vincent talks about brand identity (how the brand looks and feels - like logo, color, name, slogan etc) and brand behavior (what brands do and why it matters). Many people who think brand think about the former but it is the latter that really matters.
"Real brands make promises that they keep". And this is why we pay more for trusted brands. We like consistency and good brands (like many franchises) deliver that comfort. Consistency in many cases is worth more than being great.
I like to think I am a sophisticated consumer who is not influenced by marketing and brand. Not true. I will often buy from someplace I know will treat me fairly even without trying somewhere else.
I liked the chapter on "Brand Inside - Why People are the Key to your Branding Strategy". It is the people but it is also to training, coaching, mentoring, tools and processes that are in place to make the people great and consistent with the brand.
The gist of the book - work on what your brand really stands for.
Good book - worth reading.
++++++++++++++++++++++
New technology -
speech jamming. I will get worried when people start bringing them to meetings with me.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The red eye light on the camera causes both Josh and I to look stunned.
Find Your Next
I read "
Find Your Next" subtitled "Using the Business Genome Approach to Find Your Company's Next Competitive Edge" by Andrea Kates.
I loved the title. I am a big believer in competitive advantage. And my "know yourself" attitude makes me gravitate to things that help me determine my advantages.
Find Your Next presents an organized way to do this. They call it a genome that consists of 6 parts:
1 - Product or Service innovation. Find what resonates.
2 - Customer impact. Does your community support it?
3 - Process Design. Align the how with the customer need. This can be execution.
4 - Talent and Leadership - It is about the culture.
5 - Secret Sauce. What is your differentiation.
6 - Trendability. Look to the future. What are the trends and can you capitalize on them.
The book is a how to, step by step guide that asks a lot of questions. I did not follow the process through for any particular company - rather, I read the book (so likely did not get the same value someone would who actually took the steps and did the exercises)
One of my all time favorite books is
Blue Ocean Strategy. Find Your Next strikes me as being a perfect companion book to that. Find Your Next is the how to guide for Blue Ocean.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
And
Canrock Ventures web company (not all of them - just the web properties) updates:
Honestlynow has re-iterated a few times (as expected in a start up) to the point where the user experience is great. This is sort of a
dear Abby online (the link goes to a blog post on why we invested in it and also will give insight in general into why we did all of these).
LoadnVote is still early and will need to iterate more. They are getting good traffic though and we think the site has viral potential.
American Health Journal struggles. This is a site with almost 4,000 high quality video interviews with doctors on everything from "
are there degrees of alcohol abuse" to "
How can you tell if you are having a stroke" etc. The challenge is that Google cannot tell that the videos are high quality and they also can only read words so do not really know the topics except for what is written in the description. And the competition to be found on medical topics is high. I am convinced through persistence, this site will end up making their numbers.
Hitfix thrives. People love their entertainment news.
I have mixed feelings that these sites might be creating more time waste and I am adding to it (except for American Health Journal). Conflicts with being the time management guy.
Take the Stairs
Take the Stairs - 7 Steps to Achieving True Success is book by Rory Vaden.
I agree wholeheartedly with his point of view. Don't just take the easy way - take the way that has the best results long term. As the title suggests - take the stairs rather then the escalator or elevator (a habit I do 80% of the time if it is less then 4 flights (and often the other is because I do not know where the stairs are))
His seven steps:
1 - Sacrifice. I do not like the wording since it seems like a punishment. The gist of it is - do tough things now for the success it yields in the long term. Like one of my
success mantras "Successful people do tough things".
2 - Commitment. It is our decision what we commit to. The greater the commitment, the great the chance of success.
3 - Focus. He really nailed this one. This is an area that I personally am not good at. I tend to want it all so focus on everything (and I don't think that is what he means by good focus)
4 - Integrity. Speaks for itself.
5 - Schedule. Create a schedule that meets all your needs. To some extent this also touches on success habits.
6 - Faith - Put faith into enjoyable results, not enjoyable processes. (goes a bit against the zen I try for which is enjoying the process. Although in the end, I would not be happy without the results)
7 - Action. You are much more likely to act your way into healthy thinking than think yourself into healthy action. In the end, it is the actions - not the thoughts that make things happen.
I loved the chapter on procrastination. Some quotes:
"When we have diluted focus, we get diluted results"
"In the absense of disciplined focus, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia."
"We don't pay attention to things we don't first give our intention to."
I am up early today because my sleep got thrown off yesterday. No - not the time change - Elizabeth and I voluntarily went fishing. Boat left at 4 which was really 3 with the time change so I was up at 2. On the ocean for 13 hours. And we have enough fish for the month. 5 dogfish (small sharks), one ling and one 20 pound pollack.
I dried a bit - fish jerky, one of life's healthy pleasures.
So is this sort of like taking the stairs? I could just buy fish like everyone else. Saves me to fishing, they cutting, the freezing etc.
Imgur Infographics
I follow trends and one trend I see the the trend towards infographics.
1 - best time to tweet to get retweeted is 5 o'clock.
2 - tips like "prior to opening up Twitter, decide how much time you are going to spend on it" (this is a good tip for any "idle" task like
Honestlynow,
LoadnVote, TV, video games etc.)
3 - Twitter is adding 500,000 users per day. Seems incredible.
4 - Average emails sent and received is up in 2011 to 228 from 142 in 2007.
5 - Set aside "batches of time" to tweet. (another good time management idea - group similar tasks together - means you only sign in once, you are faster because you get into a speed pattern, saves cleanup (if you are doing things like cooking, painting etc.)
Stats courtesy of
The Gap Partnership.
Hiring For Attitude
Hiring For Attitude - A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting Star Performers with Both Tremendouse Skills and Superb Attitude is a new book by Mark Murphy.
"46% of the people hired will fail in the first 18 months on the job - 89% of the time, it's because of attitude"
I was first attracted to the "Hiring for Attitude" since my experience is people with good attitude seem way more engaged and are also more fun to work with. I often see the role of leadership as managing attitude. I always figure "People are going to have an attitude - may as well help it be a good one".
What I was worried about in a book on hiring for attitude was missing the skill, background or talent. Good attitude is great but it is clearly only one part of the puzzle.
The book has a number of interview questions suggested to figure out who has good attitude (I also learned that some of my favorite questions were bad ones like "what is the last book you read" and "what are your strengths and weaknesses" - Murphy believes these are asked too often so everyone has a rehearsed answer. Good questions are those that separate the good attitude from the bad attitude). It also explains how to build good interview questions.
Murphy is a big believer in textual analysis. Analyzing words to figure out if someone is telling the truth and to figure out their attitude. EG - high performers use past tense verbs when explaining a past situation because they are recalling a real situation. EG - People with nothing to say often hide behind fluffy adverbs.
Good attitude usually comes down to taking responsibility. I know in life, people tend to be more successful if they accept responsibility and it is not "the world did it to me".
Good book for anyone who is involved in hiring.
A Picture says 1000 words
Sometimes a picture says a thousand words.
I am worried now to go into Whole Foods because they sell vegetarian fed meat and I am largely vegetarian.
And don't you just hate those fire extinguishers that are flammable? At least the one in this picture is non-flammable.
Superpowers
I thought everyone would like to see my grandson Josh lifting weights in the pool. Why not do 2 things at once? Can't see the writing on it but it looks like about 10 Kg.
He must have superpowers. Speaking of superpowers:
I am a big believer in self knowledge - know yourself for success so I was attracted by the book title
Bring Your Superpowers to Work - your Guide to More Clarity, Confidence & Control by Darcy Eikenberg.
As the title suggests, this is a book about discovering your strengths and using them. According to Eikenberg, your superpowers are:
Your gifts (I consider the whole list to be gifts)
Your passions
Your experience (I was lucky in life to have rich experiences early. This created momentum which has served me well in life. A bit like compounding interest)
Your Attitudes (I figure I can control some of this)
Your Abilities (again - I can learn)
Your resources
Your relationships
Your community
Your Learnings
Your failures (I always say "
Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap")
Your Assets (I consider all these to be assets)
Your special talents
and other special stuff about you.
The book goes on to talk about now only how to discover them but how to harness them. It is full of hints and tricks. Some of the best ones are the obvious ones like "do the work", "click less to connect more", "make the uncomfortable your new comfortable" etc.
I am a big believer in self knowledge. The better I understand myself, the more success I have. So of course I loved the book.
Happy Valentines Day
Thinking Josh will get all the girls this valentines day.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have had feedback on my
See Do Time Management System which I agree with. It works well at home but poorly in the office.
I think this is partly because home stuff tends to be similar in priority. I think it is partly because the time spend Seeing and Doing might have actually not been used productively at all.
As with all time management techniques, they are meant to be filtered. Use them when appropriate and use them where they work for you.
I find it highly effective at home if I set a time limit (otherwise I can spend all night and never get any downtime which is not the goal). 45-60 minutes of see do around the house can get a lot done and reduce my stress a lot.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HBR had a great article on "the 24 hour rule". The gist of excellence can be created by simply responding to all communication within 24 hours. The article was talking about internal communication but I thought it also applied to external communication. This speaks to having excellent systems for dealing with email volume. (although suggesting that might just be adding to
Internet Compulsion Disorder (thought it was an interesting comment that most people use Google to figure out
how to get rid of internet addiction))
The article was talking about Ford. An excerpt:
We spend a lot of time hunting for problems. During launch, people are driving cars, they're running tests, and they're doing things that can lead to the discovery of a new complication that could delay a launch. Say I'm an engineer who suddenly finds such a problem. I probably want to solve it on my own if I can--that's human nature. But it's not the right impulse. If I sit on a problem for too long, working on it in isolation, the whole team—and the launch timeline—may suffer.
So we put a rule in place. It says: 'You have 24 hours to take a new and emerging issue, try to understand it and see if you can resolve it yourself. After that, you have to go public with it.' It's an escalation process. Because with a lot of these issues, we can solve them pretty quickly by applying the intellect we have in this company.
Be Zen for Focus
Often I find my mind racing.
My new
See Do Time Management System where I just do something when I see it works well on tidying and cleaning but is actually less efficient in many cases. EG - If I see that the dashboard needs dusting so whip inside to grab a damp rag and wipe it. This is less efficient that getting a bucket and detergent and doing the whole inside.
Why it does work well for tidiness and cleaning is often the time used would not have been productively spent anyways.
The See Do system is sort of like the time management trick "always leave a room just a bit neater/cleaner than when you arrived".
Excellent time management requires more focus than See Do. So I am working on being more zen when I work.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I read a great book with a title that really resonated with me "
Real Leaders Don't Boss" by Ritch Eich. The subtitle is Inspire, Motivate, and Earn Respect From Employees and Watch Your Organization Soar.
The gist of the book is captured in the title. I have long suggested that leaders ask not tell. And inspire - not demand. Doing this though is tremendously subtle. What is the how of how to do it? This book attacks just this problem.
I particularly liked the chapter on "Real Leaders know the difference between character and integrity". Character is about values and our moral compass. Integrity is about doing what you say you will do. Both are critical leadership traits.
It is a good book that should be a must read for any leader. My wonder is if the ones that will read it are the ones that do not need to and the ones that should read it don't.
This book is a bit like "
Its all about Leadership" that I blogged about on the
Canrock Ventures blog.And as leisure reading, I read "
It Happened on the way to War". An outstanding book about a marine who started an NGO in one of the worst slums in Africa. It is a page turner.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And in the Canrock world, one of our newest investee companies launched
LoadnVote. It is similar to
Honestly Now as it is an online site that people would spend time on for entertainment and interest (like Youtube).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am not much of a music person and do not even follow pop culture but of course I heard that Whitney Houston died. It is tragic when someone young (she was 48) dies in any circumstance. Unfortunately in her case, it no doubt had to do with not beating her drug addiction problem.Sad.
Brothers Weekend - Solving the Greece Problem
I am just back from Brothers' weekend - an Estill brother tradition for 20 plus years. It was a great weekend (although we still miss my
brother Mark).
I find on brothers' weekends I often laugh more in a short weekend than I do in a month.
The weekend was held at my youngest brother, Lyle's house in North Carolina.
At first I was honoured to be invited to help solve the Greece problem but when I arrived I found out it was a grease problem (my brother Lyle owns a
Biodiesel plant).
Busy weekend. I helped Lyle deliver a truckload of biodiesel (well, perhaps not helped but road shotgun). We kayaked on the lake and saw a bald eagle. While Glen and Lyle built a new chicken coop, I caught dinner in his catfish pond. Lyle is a lot more self sufficient than I am.
And of course we played lots of cards and reminisced.
We remembered with fondness when we were young boys asking mom what we could do. She replied "you could always go beat up Lyle" (teasing mom).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the flight I read an awesome book -
Ownership Thinking - How to End Entitlement and Create a Culture of Accountability, Purpose and Profit. See the review on the
Canrock Blog.
The See Do Time Management System
Lately I have been using a slightly different time management technique which I call the "See Do" method. As the word implies, I see it and I do it.
This method works great for keeping things clean and tidy. See a spot, wipe it. See something out of place, put it away.
In email. I get an email and deal with it. Previously I had often used a 2 minute rule. If I could deal with it in less than 2 minutes I would but leave the longer ones. And during busy times, I would reduce that to a minute or less.
The see do method helps reduce stress and that nagging feeling there is something still ahead to do. Essentially, all tasks are fully completed.
Where the system has flaws and things required to make it effective:
1 - All other time management systems (including the ones I write about in my
time management book) use a priority system. Know your big goals and work on them. So to make the See Do system more effective, I try to keep my work space tidy and have a list of my high priorities printed and on my desk.
2 - Some chores are best done all at once because it takes time to set up or tools. An extreme example would be painting. It would be ridiculous to touch up one chip because the time to get the paint and brush out and clean them. So part of the system has to include some logic. Leave the vacuuming until you do more than just a minute.
3 - The See Do system can cause the simplest things to take what seems like forever. And often the added time spent is not spent on high priority things (which is the problem most people have with time - they spend most of their time on the low priority). For example, I walk into my den and notice my gloves on my desk so put them in the closet and notice the stuff on the closet shelf is messy so I straighten that and notice the floor to the closet is dusty so clean that and notice my shoes need polishing... An hour later, I finally get to my desk to get something important done (although my workspace is much neater and I feel better about things)
4 - I think it works best if this system is used in conjunction with other systems. So now I am mostly using this in my "down times". When I am energized and in high work mode, I still use my usual "work on the top task first"
So I do not advocate See Do all the time and not for everyone but adding a bit of it can be another way to get more done.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I read a good book by Gary Hamel -
What Matters Now - How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation. (I love the long subtitles they use for books now - they tend to be quite descriptive)
Ironically (based on the See Do blog above), the first chapter starts with "What Matters Most" and talks about values. This is the first step I advocate in
goal setting and time management.
It starts with all the things that are bad in leadership - greed, myopia, denial, deceit, hubris etc. then it moves to "discovering farmer values", "renouncing capitalisms dangerous conceits" and then on to "reclaiming the noble".
Section 2 is all about innovation. He sees innovation as hope and a cure for all the nasty he noted in the first section.
Section 3 "adaptability matters now" - something I have long advocated. The section inspired thought on how I could be more adaptable.
Section 4 - "Passion matters now"
So why did I like the book? It challenged me to think. It supported many of my views on leadership. It is well written. (and I learned a new word - fealty - our talents, treasure and people are a trust rather than just a means to personal gain)
What did I not like about it? There was a lot of "Leaders are bad people", "capitalists are bad" and even the title implies something awful like "relentless change". Perhaps some of my feeling here are misplaced guilt like the guilt I get for being a man when I read about a man doing something bad (and truthfully, it does seem that men do most of the bad stuff).
YPO in Panama
I am just back from a YPO event in Panama. I had never been there. Interesting country.
If I were to invest in Latin America (and I do not - lots of business close to home), Panama would be my choice. They have only 3.5 million people and have a canal that delivers $3.6 Billion in revenue which keeps the economy stimulated. And the Billion in profit goes to pay for education and other government services.
And Panama signed a neutrality pact which means they cannot have any navy or military so there is no tax to fund that.
Only downfall might be the differences in income from lower to upper class and proximity to drug economies.
It was a great holiday.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And no blog is complete without a picture of my grandson, Josh.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Interesting
article on Interest Networking on Primal Fusions' blog. It is a trend that I think is important. (and I have put my money where my mouth is and have invested in Primal)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And the "good habit" of the day. Never shower without breaking a sweat first. I find I can do this in a few minutes. (or will this rule just mean people shower less)
Simple Works
A friend emailed me the following (although as a brevity guy, I slightly edited it):
A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time.
Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort.
The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $2 million) later they had a fantastic solution - on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the line.
A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. "That's some money well spent!" - he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.
It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should've been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren't picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.
Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory(Jim's comment - at least he goes down to the floor), and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.
A few feet before the scale, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin.
"Oh, that," says one of the workers - "one of the guys put it there 'cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang".
Management Tips
We finally got a bit of snow. It is beautiful. And grandson Josh continues to flourish. He does quite an ab workout (I tried doing it). Lying on his back and kicking his feet and hands. It is tough.
I read a neat little book by Harvard Business Review that is just called
Management Tips. It is divided into 3 sections - Managing Yourself, Managing Your Team and Managing Your Business. Each page is a short stand alone tip. There are about 200 tips. An example:
"
Be Confident But Not Really Sure.One of the keys to effective decision making is confidence. Even if you only have temporary convictions, act on them. If you doubt your decision while making it, trust in your leadership may erode. Strong opinions signal confidence and provide others with the guidance they need. But resist the urge to stick to your decision. Have the humility to realize that you might be wrong if better information comes along. And be prepared to change your mind and correct your course if this happens."
Like all things you read, it all needs to be filtered. My observation on this tip is:
1 - I agree with being definite and deciding and being fast.
2 - I also think there needs to be good research and preparation in advance to help the right decision up front. I see leaders who change their minds too often as ineffective.
3 -I believe in humility.
Have a great day.
How to get Over Writers' Block
One of my most viral posts of all time was "
How to Write and Article in 20 Minutes" which was read well over 1,000,000 times. I used to write more about writing so thought I would do another one on the topic.
Speaking of going viral, my second most viral post "
60 Minutes to Clear Goals" was also plagiarized hundreds of times. Not sure why that one was and the other was not.
I have not blogged for a couple of weeks here so feel guilty and must have writers' block.
Some days I am so full of good ideas (at least in my own mind) that I worry I cannot capture them all. I even jot notes so not to miss them. Other times, I cannot even think of what to write. I know many writers (and that is not really what I am - it is just a part of me) have the same problem. So I thought I would do a short post on writers' block.
5 Ways to Get Over Writers Block
1 - Just start writing. Write about anything. In the worst cases, take any book off the shelf and turn to a page and then write about that. Basically this is garbage writing to get the mind and fingers working.
2 - Read about how to write. Reading about writing can be inspirational. Read about
how to get over writers' block.
3 - Start research. Often the cause of writers' block is the lack of background information. The writing flows well when you feel well prepared.
4 - Keep a file of writing ideas. When the ideas flow too quickly or time doe not permit writing, capture them in the file. This can be a treasure trove of "starting" gems.
5 - Take a break from writing. I find that I only have so much good material in me and when I write too much, I can burn out. I think that may be why I have not posted here for a couple of weeks. I have split my posting among various sites (like the
Canrock Blog,
CMA Blog and I even have done some of the writing for sites that
SEO Pledge (one of our investee companies) does like
How do you live within your means. So I have written too much so taking a break from writing will help.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have been enjoying this crisp weather. Yesterday it was sunny but about -7C (20F) with a bit of wind when I started a 6 mile run in Sunken Meadow (a Beautiful long Island Park). When I got in the car, I noticed an icicle of sweat from my hat. I did not have my blackberry or would have taken a picture.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have a natural interest in SEO. The recent
Google change certainly changes that landscape. By including results from other Google properties first, they are capturing much more of the search results. Ultimately they may end up keeping us on Google only. They will own all the information.
What Great Salespeople Do
I have enjoyed a lazy few days (lazy even though there was lots of working out - although lots of food so it likely was a net zero). e-mails and calls have been few. My productivity is actually quite low. Or perhaps my important productivity is quite high.
Although I'm not caught my normal frantic pace, I have had some time to think.
Part of my thinking led me to my views on being long-term. I posted a
blog post on the Canrock site with my views.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Life is about selling. I read a great book by Michael Bosworth and Ben Zoldan called
What Great Sales People Do–the science of selling through emotional connection and the power of story. The book talks about the power of stories so of course it is filled with interesting stories.
What great salespeople do boils down to 5 things:
Vulnerable–sales people are willing to show their vulnerability. They do not need to be perfect.
Caring–great salespeople show their caring.
Authentic–great salespeople are authentic ( this ties into the caring, people know if caring is fake)
Listen–great salespeople are great listeners. I personally recall many meetings where I said very little and the customer was impressed. People like to be listened to.
Storyteller–people like to listen to stories. People remember stories. People retell stories.
The book goes on to elaborate on each of these 5 characteristics and includes examples of where they might be used. It also tells us how to improve in each one of those key areas.
One cute story used for illustration in the book (to show a lack of understanding and functioning on a purely intellectual level) comes from a movie I enjoyed -
The Social Network. In the scene, Erica is trying to break up with her boyfriend Zuckerberg. Typed verbatim ( so mom excuse the language):
Erica–"Going out with you is like dating a stairmaster. I think we should just be friends."
Zuckerberg - "I don't want to be friends"
Erica– " I was just being polite I have no intention of being friends with you. Look you're probably going to be a very successful computer person. But if you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you are a nerd. I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true it be because you are an a&*hole"
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Speaking of movies, I quite enjoyed the conspiracy theory movie "
Who killed the electric car" on a recent flight. It is an excellent documentary worth watching. There was one line in the movie that struck me:" people want us(Americans) to live like Europeans" and it was said as if that was a bad thing. And I did take it out of context so you have to watch the movie.
I hope for the world in 2012 is that the environmental tide changes and people start thinking more about conservation and treating the world right.
New Years Resolution Time
I have had a busy couple of weeks. Lots of travel. Lots of family time in Canada. All good.
One habit that serves me well is the gratefulness habit. And I have a lot to be thankful for. Like the beauty of my son (uncle Dave) with my grandson Josh.
And the beauty of Canadian snow.
I like New Years. I always spend time thinking about my goals.
I like the process of setting goals. I like developing the action plans. I like devising my success habits that will help me.
I am also thinking of un-success habits. Things I do which take time but do not deliver results. Having a stop list is sometimes as important as a start list.
Goal setting starts with knowing what is important to me. The more I can clarify that, the better I can devise goals that align with it.
Now I am thinking about the
self discipline to make them all happen.
I wrote a blog post on the
Canrock Ventures blog about setting goals for companies and how leaders can use them to inspire. And while writing this, I am thinking if I need to focus on better writing in less places. I have lots of blogs I contribute to now.
The Trust Edge
I am thinking about writing a book called the 2 minute solution (or perhaps the 3 minute solution). Fill it with habits that take 2 minutes. Suggest people adopt only a few. So I am experimenting with some. For example, I never shower (and I like to shower daily) without doing 2 minutes of hard exercise first. This can be
pushups (and I am sore after doing only 100
pushups for 3 days), lunges, squats, squat jumps(if I have no weights), or run 1/3 mile. I am not sure why but I am finding even that simple habit to be daunting.
Another 2 minute idea - write a list of what I am grateful for (and I know that would take way more than 2 minutes but ...).
Still thinking about it and for that matter I need to decide if writing a book is my best use of time. To a large extent, writing has been
commodicized (and worse, some writers even make up words like
commodicized). And I am too much of a business person to not look at where the value choke points are. I also do not want to contribute to the "noise" if I am not adding enough value.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am sure it will surprise everyone that I read a book.
The book was "
The Trust Edge - How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships and a Stronger Bottom Line" by David
Horsager. I love the way the full titles of books these days describe the book. "Trust, not money, is the currency of business and life".
The gist of the message is leaders need trust and there is a lack of trust in the world today.
Horsager cites numerous examples of low trust and explains the damage that causes. He also describes the value of having high trust. He goes on to explain how to gain trust.
I know that with trust, leaders can do great things and with low trust, nothing happens.
He talks about the 8 pillars of Trust. One I particularly liked was 3 - Character - People notice those who do what is right over what is easy.
There are sections in the book that echo those found in most self help books (like my
Time Management book). It even has a section on time management and how to handle email more efficiently. He includes what he calls magnetic traits with corresponding
repellant traits. Things like Grateful vs Thankless, Good Listener vs Talker, Optimistic vs Pessimistic, Honest/real vs Exaggerating. I can identify with each trait. I do not see them as black and white, rather they are all on a continuum.
I loved the many
quotes throughout. Gives me many more to
tweet. There was even another quote for me about habits by Charles Noble "First we make our habits, then our habits make us.
The book is well researched with 13 pages of footnotes.
Merry Christmas to all.
Why People Fail
Today will be a great day. I am already feeling productive. Ran 5 miles. Read a book. Life is good.
Part of what added to my productivity this morning was
planning ahead(said redundantly for emphasis). I planned last night what I was going to do today. I even had my running clothes set out. Makes it all happen seamlessly.
I worry a bit that I am a busyholic. I always seem to be swamped. I know that it is my choosng though so I must like it like this.
The book I read was
Why People Fail - The 16 Obstacles to Success and How You Can Overcome Them by Simon Reynolds. I normally like reading about success although I do always say
Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap.
I loved the book. It starts with a chapter "Unclear Purpose". It is so obvious - the main cause of failure is not lack of clarity. "Vagueness leads to failure". The chapter goes on with concrete examples of how you can set your purpose. It even suggests setting a purpose for the week. For me,
purpose comes before goals. The book tends to lump them together.
There is a good chapter on low productivity and what to do about it (perhaps a trick like planning ahead might work).
And one of my favourites - Daily Rituals (or habits). Something that I have blogged a lot about.
I guess if I have any beef with the book, it is the negativity of the title. It really is a success book.
Just Tidbits and Links
I notice there is talk of a total
cell phone ban while driving including handsfree and with a headset. I have mixed feelings. I am such a productivity person that it would make car time even less productive. Not sure how much safer it would make things (although I hate unsafe drivers too). I do think it will drive voice technology (voice dialing).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hatsize (one of my investments) is giving away a free
Cloud Automation Guide.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Honestlynow (one of my investments) now has no password required. Will be interesting to see how that impacts the numbers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My brother Glen published his
solar results on his blog (supporting another investment
Estill Energy).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Karma411 (you get the idea - another investment) got good mention in an
article on crowd sourcing.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I was
interviewed by Collaborative Innovation.
Reviving Work Ethic
I read a short book -
Reviving Work Ethic - A Leaders Guide to Ending Entitlement and Restoring Pride in the Emerging Workforce by Eric Chester.
Sometimes I like short books as they suit my short attention span.
I love the topic. One of my strengths and one of the things that I attribute my business success to is my high work ethic. I have often wondered why I am so driven. Interestingly, the people I seemed to attract in business also had tremendous work ethic. EMJ and SYNNEX were high work ethic companies.
For me, work ethic is about hours and time but equally importantly about focus and productivity with that time.
I was correctly "called out" for a previous post that implied that young people feel entitled and are not willing to do the work to get the reward. There is a perhaps a part of us that wants to think "when we were young, we worked all the time and walked uphill both ways to school - not like the young kids today".
I do know that work ethic is partly tied to energy. And as people age, their energy decreases. I wrote a guest post on "
Ways to keep your work ethic".
I know my work ethic is less now than when I was in my 20s. I am wondering if I need to change my list of strengths and remove that one (by choice). I ask myself if I really want to be the hardest working. It has been a competitive advantage but...
Reviving work ethic talks about 4 quadrants of workers - the Idle, the Lucky, the Cheating and the Valued. (Sad that 3 of the 4 quadrants seem negative).
Chester then writes about how to move employees to the Valued quadrant by techniques like find your style, develop trust, value tact and timing, tell stories and cast a vision.
It is a good and thought provoking book.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I wrote a
post on Market Research on CMA Blog.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I have long known that email is a productivity tool but also a huge time suck. A multi billion dollar French company -
Atos is doing away with email! Banning it. And they are a tech company. Will be an interesting experiment.
I have blogged previously on
How to Deal with Email Volume.
I would worry that they would become insular without it.
Eat More Kale
I love early mornings. There are so many things I like to do (work out, journal, occasionally blog) and I seem to be more productive then. The problem is I also like late nights and the two do not mix well.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I believe in protecting intellectual property. I encourage all my companies to have good processes in place to keep things a trade secret or patent them. I also believe in having a brain though.
Chick-fil-A is suing a tee shirt producer who is making tee shirts that say "Eat More Kale" saying it confuses people with their slogan "Eat Mor Chikin". I suspect they are losing tons of business. I know I always confuse kale with chicken.
I am wondering if there is a course they can take on common sense and perhaps spelling while they are at it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Speaking of courses, Execusense has a
course for CEOs on iPad tricks and tips that I might do Friday.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Speaking of kale, the garden continues to produce even though it is almost December! Carrots, parsley, squash and leeks are all still great.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I notice that Linkedin has gone viral (or perhaps I have reached the tipping point for me where the network effect has kicked in). I get 3-5 or even more invitations to connect daily. The interesting thing is I thought it already was viral.
I read a Carmine Gallo book - "
The Power of foursquare - 7 innovative ways to get your customers to check in wherever they are". I liked his
book on Steve Jobs Presentation secrets. I like this one even more.
I often try new technologies. Some I stick with and others I drop as "not for me". Foursquare is one I dropped. Perhaps I am not the right demographic. I thought it would not go. So much for
predicting the future.
The Power of foursquare explains the success of foursquare - 0 to 10,000,000 users in 2 years.
Gallo creates an acroymn - CHECKIN to explain how companies should connect with with people where they are:
Connect your brand
Harness new fans
Engage your followers
Create rewards
Knock out the competitors
Incentives your customers (seems a bit of repeat of create rewards)
Never stop entertaining
Gallo explains each step with interesting case studies. I particularly liked the case study about a nonprofit that raised $50,000 using a "check-in" campaign. I have an interest in
social media for fundraising since one of my investments - Karma411 does this.
Good book. Worth the read.
Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on this site.
Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users
based on their visit to this sites and other sites on the Internet.
