The Changing Newsroom - Newspaper Quality Declining
There is an interesting buzz happening about "cuts" hurting the quality of newspapers. according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's study, called
"The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers." I am wondering is they are looking at an old paradigm. They say
stories are shorter (as if that is a bad thing). Perhaps newspapers are reasonably responding to what the readers want. One of the reasons I try to keep my blogs to 400-500 words is to keep readers interest. I understand the time limits we all face.
They say "
foreign and national news makes it into the papers, it is being relegated to less prominent pages." again as if that is a bad thing. Newspapers are logically figuring out that many other media sources are better and faster for foreign and national news - like
Internet and TV.
They say "
and eliminated television and stock listings. " Again - this is simple user demand. Users can get this on the
Internet faster and more easily and with more rich content.
Responding to changes in customer demands and responding to a changing world is a business imperative. And it does not make it bad.
I am not saying that all change is good. I am just saying it is just good business to respond to changes.
On Implementing Ideas and Confidentiality
"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
Howard Aiken
I have long said that ideas are a dime a dozen - its the implementation that counts. People often appraoch me with ideas. They want me to sign confindentiality agreements which I rarely do. Its not the ideas - its the implementation.
My advice for budding entrepreneurs and inventors is the execution is what counts. In some cases, this means "find a partner who can execute well". It is all the details that make a business run well. Of course as I write this, I worry that I give entrepreneurs an opportunity to wait and ponder. Just doing something will often get you ahead of the game.
And many people need a lesson in action. Nike has it right - Just Do It.
I am off to Just Do It now myself.
Good Day for a 10 Mile run
Busy day yesterday. Started with running the Nissan 10 Mile Race in downtown Toronto.
The weather was beautiful for a run. Light drizzle. About 18 degrees C (which is a bit warm but still OK). Overcast. Interesting how weather can be good for some activities and not so good for others.
I started the run feeling good. It was a fairly small race so I passed the start line in less than 30 seconds. But there were enough people that it was tough to strike a pace for the first K.
By just after the second K, I started to see 5 K runner who were running an out an back course come back towards us. It motivated me since I felt I was running strong that they had not started coming back at me earlier.
The rain had let up so I was starting to heat up a bit by 5 K. But it still felt good.
By 8K, I started to think - Why did I not just do the 5 K? and started to wonder about the intelligence of running in miles when we are Canada. We should be doing things in Kilometers. Although by 8K I also started to play games. For example, at every K mark, I ran 30 paces (which is about 1 tenth of a K) hard. I do this as it keeps my speed up.
By 11, I could finally say I run 5 K often so this should be easy to finish. And as 12, 13, 14 clicked by, it got easier and I could feel the end.
At 15, I pushed for 60 paces. Eased back but continued to pass people. I was determined to finish strong. But exhaustion (and lack of training) was kicking in so I slowed until I saw the finish. One runner passed me at a very fast pace so I sped up and passed several other runners.
In the end, I finished in 1:23:15 or about 8:20 per mile. Almost fast enough pace to qualify for Boston if I kept it up for another 16 miles.
There are similarities with running and business:
1. Success goes to those who prepare. My finish was commensurate with how much training I had done (clearly not enough).
2. Success goes to those who focus. I do a lot more than running (like weight lifting). This lack of focus hurts my running.
3. Success goes to those who persist.. Just showing up and keeping moving forward leads to success.
4. Success goes to those who are willing endure a bit of pain. (An old martial arts expression comes to mind Pain is temporary, pride is forever)
Do as You Want
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."
---
P.J. O'RourkeA friend worried I was not getting enough "downtime" and my schedule has been a bit agressive lately. My response was "I love what I do and only do the things I want to do". Seems to be the logical way to lead my life. This does not mean I only do the easy things. I want the consequence of success so am more than willing to do the tough things too.
And I have read way more books than I have "reported" on so:
I recently read,
The Road to Organic Growth - How Great Companies Consistently Grow Marketshare From Within by Edward Hess. Companies do it by:
1. They are generally in one business - most can define their business in one sentence.
2. The companies are relentlessly focused and disciplined - they do not take their eye off the ball.
3. They drill down to the line-employee level to ensure that their people understand the business and why their job is important, why certain measurements are being made, and how employees can contribute to their own success.
4. They incrementally improve with continual top-line and bottom-line initiatives by
They involve and engage their staff:
- The people doing the work need to understand the business and the importance of their individual jobs, as well as how their success will be measured and what is important to the success of the business.
- Everyone has to buy into a system of accountability and a culture of constant improvement.
- Only by giving employees "ownership" of their jobs can a company truly have a constant improvement culture that works.
- People need constant, reliable, and objective feedback in order to learn and improve. So they have a high focus on measuring results.
It was a good book - not great but just good. I did get some ideas and it was an easy, quick read. Certainly was attracted to the title.
5 Laws of Value
I am still in China. This is a typical multistory Chinese factory. Most are 5-7 storeys. And the elevators are for the product and raw materials - not for the people. Even the guests use the stairs.
I notice a lot more walking here. Even walking inside the subway stops are a long way.
There is not near as much obesity here as in North America. I thought it was just the chopsticks which slowed down the eating but I think the general activity level here helps.
That said - lots of North American chain restaurants are here so I suspect the unhealthy parts of the North American lifestyle will follow.
A friend emailed me the following that I thought was interesting and thought provoking. The 5 Laws of Value:
The Law of Value Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment
The Law of Compensation Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them
The Law of Influence Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first
The Law of Authenticity The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself
The Law of Receptivity The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving
Managing Email Volume - The Great American Timesuck
I am back from China. Thought I would share a couple of photos still though.
First one is of a case of water. I loved the French name (for my Eglish readers - C'est bon means it is good)
The second shows a factory at shift change. Thousands of workers stream through a dozen or so gates equiped with RFID readers that clock the time. Labour laws in China are getting similar to North America complete with increasing minimum wages, overtime pay, workers compensation etc.
A friend emailed me a
link to an email management software article. It is aptly called the
Great American Time Suck. Managing email is certainly a challenge and I am not sure software is the way to go. My 10 tips for Handling Email Volume:
1 - Deal with it once. If I can deal with an email start to finish in less than a couple of minutes, I just do it. Leaving it to read again then respond just takes more time.
2 - Train people you interact with on the email ettiquette you want. EG - I only want the person who takes the action in the to line - everyone else in the cc list. I also coach on unneccesary email - let people know when I do not need to be included.
3 - I generally leave my highest energy and creative times to NOT do email. The better I know when these are - the more effective I can be.
4 - Get off lists.
5 - I have a great folder system and many of the lists that I am on get automatically filtered to these folders. For example, all the email newsletters and publications go to folders when I can read at my leasure.
6 - Of course I love my Blackberry. It greatly reduces my time required to do email and allows me to use any idle minutes I might happen to have.
7 - Delete, delete, delete. You can always find it if you need it. I also keep slush files. Simply move emails to a July08 folder. Then find them there.
8 - Avoid email clutter in what you send. EG - use descriptive Subjects. Sending email creates more email. Don't cc everyone. No reply to all.
9 - If a message goes back and forth more than 4 or 5 times - just pick up the phone.
10 - Just do it. I find my stress level is lower if my email is clear. I end every day with no messages in my in box. (I might have a few in my to do subfolder).
Today is a photo blog on China. With my comments of course.
This photo shows factory workers at shift change. Does not do the mass of people justice. Thousands of people stream through gates with RFID tags logging their hours. China has people (1.3 Billion). They were fairly low paid (but that is changing. So they often added staff because it is low cost. I think with the new higher wages, there will be more focus on efficiency.
And in many ways China is ahead of Canada on environmental issues. This photo shows the tea cups in a factory. No paper of styrofoam.
This is a typical factory. 5-6 stories high. The elevators are only for product. People walk the stairs (including guests). No wonder the Chinese seem to not have the North American obesity problem. I notice this in the subways also - long walks. And of course chop sticks don't hurt - tough to eat too much.
Factories have shines. It seems the world all practises some religion. It is surprisingly strong here considering how it was outlawed for years. This shrines remind me of Mexico where the factories have Christian shrines.
Managing Growth Businesses
I am still in China. The photograph is a scale model of a factory complex. They use the scale model to do the tour since the facilities are too large to tour. (I thought the same about our new Guelph warehouse but we did a DVD instead).
The one pictured employs 8000
employees include
dormitories, police, hospital (more of an infirmary), - even a firetruck. These factories are small self contained villages.
Certainly a
fascinating cultural experience.
I recently read,
Managing Business Growth: Get a Grip on the Numbers That Count by Angie
Mohr. The title certainly attracts ones interest. I love growth and I understand the need to "get a grip on the right numbers". This is one thing SYNNEX has taught me well.
This is a simple short read intended for a start-up business. It has been a long time since I have done my own start-up and most of the examples used are about tremendously small businesses and start ups.
Because the book is so easy to use, I would still recommend it to any start-up entrepreneur.
There was a good section on mission statements that said the following. Mission statements should be:
1 - Measurable. You need to be able to determine if the goals are being met on a regular basis.
2 - Challenging. The goals should be a stretch to reach, but not unrealistic or unattainable.
3 -Focused. You will be using the mission statement to make operational and strategic decision in your business so the goals need to be sharply focused.
4 - Flexible. The goals should allow for individual interpretation within the framework originally envisioned.
5 - Clear. One of the most important facets of the mission statement is its ability to be explained and understood by everyone in the organization. Therefore the goals should be easy to understand and not marred with "business speak."
6 - Appropriate. The goals in the mission statement must work towards achievement of the vision statement. If the mission statement is not in perfect alignment with the vision statement, the overall goals will not be achieved and the business will be dysfunctional.
Semantic Web, Google, China and Questions
Right now I am in China. I wanted to shift the dates to accommodate someone but sometimes things just do not work out. So I am here.
It is always invigorating and thought provoking to see China. It helps me realize how small we are and how much more there is to do.
I found it captivating. Partly this could because of my long time fascination with the Internet and part of it because of my marketing mind. It tells of the cat and mouse game of spammers and how Google tries to outwit them (sometimes hurting innocent marketers at the same time).
I loved the section on the future of search. Ideally we want a search that gives us what we are thinking about - not just what we say we want. This is about filtering, presentation and understanding. It has a whole section on
Semantic Web which is another area I am fascinated with.
Highly recommend the book if you like thinking about the future and if you like marketing.
I invested in a Semantic Search firm -
Primal Fusion and believe in its future.
Quote for the day:
Judge of a man by his questions, rather than by is answers.
One thing I like about quotes is they can be challenging. Like this one. It assumes we should judge and I suppose we do. But is it right?
Of course I love the premise and always have thought "ask the right questions and you will get the right answers". Questions are important.
In Praise of Speed Reading
I have been flying a lot lately so have read lots. I am way behind in my book reports here.
As a constant learner, I think reading is about the best way to learn. And as an efficiency person, of course I want to read more and more quickly. A friend asked me how to speed read and this is my email reply:
I would suggest you get Evelyn Woods book from the library. Some ideas that increase the amount you can read and absorb without even speeding up are:1 - know your purpose. What are you trying to learn?2 - pre-read. That is read the table of contents, the slip cover, leaf through the book. You will find you retain more and know more of what interests you. Also, sometimes you will find the book is virtually summarized for you in the sub titles, insert boxes etc.3 - don’t read it if it is not good. Some people figure if they get a book - they need to read it. Variant on this - don’t read it all. I only read completely half the books I get.4 -high focus and concentration5 - simply pushing forward works. The more you do it, the more easy it becomes.6 - use your finger (or a business card). 20% of the wasted time in reading is re-reading the same thing7 - if you speak or mouth the words, you are slowing yourself down. Read in your head.8 - sometimes only read the first and last paragraph of the chapter, the article etc.9 - audio books are great.10 - I do not like book abstracts or summaries but some people do. If I read a good abstract, I like to get the book. A good source of summaries is Getabstract.
Look at studying reading like eating right. I know how to eat right but each article I read inspires me to eat a bit better and I get better and better at it the more I read about it. If you want to learn something study it. How else would you learn it? And you learn different ways -so listen to an audio book on it, read a book, ask an expert, attend a seminar etc.And the quote for the day:
"Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it"
---Henry David Thoreau
Small is Possible
On a recent flight I read my brother
Lyle Estill's new book called,
Small is Possible - life in a local economy. He calls this a non-fiction book and I am sure it is but it is unlike the other non-fiction books that I read. I would call it more of a storybook and Lyle is a great story teller.
It is a story about Lyle's life in a small town and the characters in that town.
In the book he did mention me...
"He (that would be me) is an insatiable entrepreneur who insists he be measured not by the vast pile of bad ideas, heaped at the bottom of the wall - but rather by those ideas that stuck. As a risk-taker he has figured out a way to stay in the possible, and not dwell on those ventures that stung him."
At one point he talked about
his blogging and how he was finding it difficult to come up with topics and someone suggested that he needs to entertain people. I found his book very entertaining and this is something that I should probably consider more in my blogging.
I love the book and found it easy and quick to read. Lyle is a great writer (and always has been).
I don't agree with everything in the book. I think supporting small just for the sake of supporting small has some flaws. His book lays out many reasons why small can be better value. And if it is better value - then clearly I support it.
Although small is possible, I am going to strive for big. I wonder if Lyle will still like me?
The Bucket List
Yesterday on my flight back from Dallas I watched a movie called
the Bucket List. The movie refers to things to do before you kick the bucket (an inelegant way of saying, before you die).
The story line is two elderly men with cancer one of whom is wealthy. Both of them make a list of things that they wanted to do before they die. Money was no object so the movie tracks them flying around the globe. Each time they completed an item on their list they crossed it off.
This ties in nicely with my goal setting exercise in my TIME LEADERSHIP book. I have a goal setting exercise where one of the parts to list your lifetime goals. Anything you want to do, be, have,or accomplish in this lifetime.
What I saw in the movie is that they mostly wanted to do things. What I find in my own list is I mostly want to accomplish things.
As I reflect on what my Bucket List would be, a lot of it would be spending time with friends and family.
Read the
"60 Minutes to Clear Goals" Article here.
Learn Peoples Communication Preference
I was on George Torok's
Business in Motion Radio show yesterday. He also gave me a copy of his book -
The Secrets of Power Marketing which I am looking forward to reading. I gave him a copy of my
Time Leadership book so I suppose we are even.
On thing I like about "beinging known" for something like Time Management is people often send me tips. I thought the following tip was a good one:
"In essence it is to ensure you clearly understand what communication medium each person in your network is most comfortable with (VM, Txt Msg, Email). If you are trying to reach a person on email and frustrated due to lack of response, you may find they rely on text messaging as their main source of communication and switching to text messaging them will get you a rapid response and therefore save time and move things forward much quicker. In the old days the choice was VM and Email. Now Text Messaging has emerged as a new medium the younger set has embraced (some older ones too..). Food for thought."Simple tip and makes sense.
Saying No - Time Management 101
I am back in California. Very aggressive travel schedule. 5 weekends in a row with travel. I must like it or I would not do it.
Travel gives me time to think. I was thinking about Time Management secrets. The basics. One basic is to say NO. I am good at the theory but not as good at the practise.
One of the tricks in Time Management is saying no and this is one of the greatest difficulties I have had to deal with over the years. I wouldn’t say that I am even good at it today.
One thing that has helped me to say no is learning to know myself well. Learning what gives me energy and what zaps my energy. As a result I tend to only say yes to the things that give me energy.
This said, there can often be too many things that give me energy so I could end up being too busy which in itself can zap my energy.
Canadian are known for their politeness, so I think it is my Canadian politeness that causes me to not say no enough to things.
One quote that helps with saying no by Jack Canfield is, "
Its not against you, its for me".
A while ago I had the most beautiful no experience from a friend of mine who had said she was going to attend a seminar of mine on Time Management. The gist of the email was… it is unlike me not to keep my commitment and I am very sorry but I am finding myself with too many other commitments and I would appreciate if you would excuse me from this commitment.
With a turn down like that, how could I do anything but think more of her.
So thinking about how I can politely turn things down.
The Value of Original Ideas
I had some good press on my blog this week. I was selected
#1 business blog by HR world that all managers should bookmark. (I would just suggest subscribing because it is easier than checking a bookmark - see the box on the side to do that).
And
Wally Bock named my post on
What Gets Measured gets Done as one of the top 5 best business posts of the week.
This is great because sometimes I think that I do not have any original ideas because I read so much and learn a lot from other people.
Despite this I think there is value in providing simplification and the synthesis of ideas. It also offers value to take ideas from one area and apply them to another.
Quote for the day:
"You are the same today as you will be in five years except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet"by Charlie Tremendous Jones (I guess a name like that says a lot)
Pain is Temporary, Glory is Forever
There is a sign in the hotel fitness centre where I am staying that says "stop at the first sign of discomfort". This is a great hotel for losers (and I don't mean weight loss losers).
One of the reasons it is easy to be successful is many people have stayed in that hotel and read that sign and made it their life principle.
No successful person that I know stops at the first sign of discomfort. In society we have high respect for those who persist - those who work through discomfort. We respect those who do the tough things. We respect people who earn degrees, who have black belts, who are great
athletes, who are high achievers in their field. The greater the dedication required to achieve the goal, the greater the respect. Or put another way - the greater the discomfort a person can work through, the more respect.
There is a martial arts slogan:
Pain is Temporary - Glory is Forever.One mantra I repeat often is "Successful People do Tough Things". I will ignore the sign.
What Gets Measured Gets Done
I am in California. The weather is beautiful. Hot but not the humidity we have at home now.
What gets tracked and measured gets done.
One of the reasons that I have been able to stick to a workout routine for the last 15 years is that I track what workouts I do. The simple act of tracking is enough to make me want to keep doing it and keep doing it well.
Yesterday was a great work out day. I ran 5K before I flew out. Then after I arrived, I lifted weights and ran 15K (9.4 miles because I am in the US). Now for some reason I am sore.
This idea is similar to a blog post that Nate Collier wrote on
making things into a game. For me I have made it a game to make sure that I get my workouts in. And tracking them is my scorecard.
And if its a game - then it is fun (even though most admin work for me is not top of my fun list)
The Perfect Thing
I read a great book by Steven Levy called,
The Perfect Thing, How the iPOd Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness. As the title says, the perfect thing is largely about Apple’s iPods and how they were introduced, what happened historically and the cool factor. Of course SYNNEX is a huge seller of Apple iPods so there was interest from that.
I can see that it can apply in other product areas as well.
Early in the music business, whenever anyone tried to set up any ability to sell music other than through the traditional channels, the music companies sued. The music industry seems to have a huge number of lawsuits and it appears that the music company used lawsuits as a way of trying to maintain monopolistic positioning.
Never underestimate the wow-factor of design, wrote Carl Rohde in his 2003 – 2004 Global Cool Hunt Report, even when in quantitative research, respondents hardly ever mention the importance of design as part of their buying decision-making process.
The interesting thing about cool factor is that it could be like the pursuit of money or happiness. If someone tries to pursue money, happiness, or coolness, they often do not achieve their goal, this tends to be a by-product. In the case of coolness, it tends to be the by-product of having great products that inspire users.
There is no doubt that the iPod has changed much of the world.
One of the things that I love about the computer distribution business is that there will always be new things. Early in business, I was concerned that there would not be something to distribute next year because we already sold people the capacity and products that they needed. What I have found over the past 27 years is that there are always new things and always changes and this provides opportunity.
Junior Achievement Banquet
I spoke at a
Junior Achievement Awards banquet last night. I always love the enthusiasm of youth. I love that many of them want to start businesses. Their fears in starting a business are that other companies are bigger, more established and have more resources.
My fear as a larger business is exactly the opposite. We have resources and are well established but this means we are not as nimble as we need to be. It means things can cost more than they should. Overheads can be higher. The battle for larger business is to try to act small.
Established companies can also struggle with change. We all fondly remember the good old days. It is good to have memories but success means we need to change. What worked yesterday will likely not work tomorrow.
I am a business optimist. There are always opportunities for all businesses at all times - regardless of the size.
The challenge a larger business has is it takes a much larger opportunity to make an impact. I even suggested that any of the students could easily start a computer distribution company tomorrow. They could sign 10 lines that sell $3-500,000 per year each and have a nice business. It is tough for a company the size of
SYNNEX to sign a line that small.
And the quote for the day:
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity"
---Frank
Leahy
Top 6 Ways to Learn
I was going to say that although I am not a student, I enjoyed the
blog posting at college at home on 57 tips. I think most of them apply to business (although tip 22 - don't skip class perhaps translates to don't skip work?). Perhaps someone should do a top 57 tips for business.
Like I said, I was going to say I was not a student but then I thought, I am a student. I pride myself on being a life long learner. Whenever I have a challenge, I head to the library (OK so I delegate and usually have my capable assistant, Pam, go) and get books on what I am finding challenging.
I even spend time learning how to learn faster. My efficiency tendency. The following at my top 6 ways to learn and my angle on how to do it efficiently
Top 6 Ways to Learn:
1 - Read books - take a speed reading course
2 - Read magazines - the same speed reading course pays off
3 - Listen to audio Books - I always do this while I do something else (like drive)
4 - Attend a seminar - I get the most value if I know what I want to learn when I go
5 - research online - I always use a pen and paper to make notes.
6 - ask a mentor/expert/friend - email can really make this efficient (I wonder if this is why no one is replying to my emails?)
Although I am a big
believer in "knowing what you want to learn" - often the best and most impactful learning comes when you are not looking for it. Sometimes this is learning from experience.
"You can finish school, and even make it easy – yet you never finish your education, and it is seldom easy." -
Zig Ziglar
Napoleaon Hill's view on Time
I am deeply saddened by the
murder of an ex-neighbour, Alison Fisher Lall. She used to babysit my children when they were young. Certainly shook my kids.
A friend emailed me this piece from 1921 about time that I thought was appropriate to share. Seems time is timeless.
Time by: Napoleon Hill
"Time flies, you say-ah no! Time stays, but we go."Time is the only priceless treasure in the universe! Time is the friend of all who are true unto themselves and who play the game of life squarely with their fellowmen, but it is the mortal enemy of all who cheat and all who try to GET without GIVING a fair equivalent. Time heals wounded hearts, rebuilds lost faith and eradicates hatred, envy and jealousy. Time strikes the scales of ignorance from the eyes and reveals to all who will see, the beauty and glory and happiness that are born of wholesome love for humanity. Time is the mighty hand that rocks the eternal cradle of progress and nurses struggling humanity through that period during which man needs protection against his own ignorance.Time softens the human heart and separates man from his baser animal instincts. Fortunate is the man who learns, before the age of forty, the cleansing value of time.Without the aid of Time the Law of Compensation falls flat and becomes practically inoperative. Time is forever changing, tearing down and re-building mankind, therefore no man can be properly judged except he be weighed over a considerable period of time.Character, good or bad, is the sum total of the handiwork of Time, through the aid of which one's thoughts and acts have been slowly woven into character. Time builds character out of whatever it finds to work with, but never goes outside of one's own thoughts and acts for material.Time compensates the human race for all its virtues and exacts appropriate penalties for all its mistakes. That which it doesn't pay back to or exact from the individual it hands to or collects from the community."If I had the time to learn from you How much for comfort my word would do; And I told you then of my sudden will To kiss your feet when I did you ill - If tears aback of the bravado Could force their way and let you know - Brothers, the souls of us all would chime If we had the time!"Source: Napoleon Hill's Magazine. September, 1921, Volume I, Number 5, pg. 29.
Stopping 100% is easier than stopping 50%
My brother
Lyle has just released his new book
Small is Possible. He is doing a reading at the
Bookshelf in Guelph on Tuesday, June 17
th @ 7:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome. I have been to another of his readings and he is a good reader so it should be good.
My brother
Glen has also been writing. Articles about the
comeback and energy efficiency of rail. This particularly interests me since
SYNNEX is a logistics company and we have to seriously look at the impact higher energy costs have on the distribution chain. My limited experience with shipping by rail tells me there needs to be a disruptive shift in tracking and moving trains to make it viable in the fast moving computer industry.
Interesting blog on
the future of search at Primal Fusion.
I have noticed an interesting trait in people - especially those who like to overindulge (and I include myself in those people). It is easier to be 100% than 50%. For example, it is easier to be a tee-
totaller than cut back drinking.
I do not eat red meat so it is very easy for me to just say no. It is a rule. I
occasionally eat chicken but want to only eat it maximum once a week. It is tougher to keep this rule than the eating no red meat rule.
Firm rules can be a great way to change.
I guess it is like habits. If I work out every day when I get up, it is easier than working out some days.
Make My Day
Today was mostly a travel day. Tough to keep on top of my emails and calls. I did manage to squeeze in a 5 mile run though so I guess I must not be too swamped.
I had a nice email from a SYNNEX customer today saying our service was great. Was not even addressed to me - it was to one of the sales reps. Although it was a little thing - it made my day. I wonder what little things you (or I) might be able to do to make someones' day.
And an inspirational quote for the day from Thomas A. Edison:
"
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves"
I take this as a challenge and intend to live up more to my capability.
Change is Opportunity
This is officially 3 years of blogging for me. I have posted 460 times or once every 2-3 days. Assume I take 20 minutes to write a post (see my how to
write an article in 20 minutes article), that's over 150 hours of blogging. Although likely it is double that since I often research a bit and am not as efficient at blogging as I know I can be.
Seems like I have been blogging longer than that. When I started to blog, it was cutting edge. Now it seems everyday. Things certainly change quickly.
IBM did a
CEO Survey that cited change as one of the most dramatic factors in today's environment.
"CEOs reported a surprising level of optimism about change as an opportunity to build new competitive advantage. Overall, 83% of surveyed CEOs expect substantial change in the future, an increase of 28% in just two years. "I have always said "change is opportunity". This is the way most CEOs feel. At the same time, we all feel not as prepared as we think we should be. I think that fear is what causes me to study so hard. And the belief that my competition will no study as hard as I do so I will be able to thrive.
Part of doing well during change is experimentation and speed. Both things that bigger companies tend not to be good at. So my challenge at SYNNEX is to get us to be big but act small.
Our deepest learnings tend to be our experiences but in times of change, often those experiences do not serve us well. The buggy whip manufacturer who sent out more sales people and redesigned a better buggy whip (all things that worked in the past for him) soon found himself out of business. That is why I think constant learning is so important.
In times of change, it is critical for us to constantly challenge our assumptions. It tends to be false assumptions that trip us up.
Off to study more.
The Birth of Plenty - A Must Read
I spoke at a University of Waterloo Engineering Alumni event with
CBET tonight. Good crowd. Great questions. I often find I am inspired to be even better organized and better in business when I talk. There is truth to the old adage "the best way to learn is to teach".
I read an awesome book on economics called
THE BIRTH OF PLENTY - HOW THE PROSPERITY OF THE MODERN WORLD WAS CREATED by William J. Bernstein.
The gist of his message was very positive and gave me great hope. Strong economies and economic trade bring peace. As a business person it is always gratifying to know that you might be doing the world some good. More than just providing jobs but actually helping world peace. Commerce is the start of all peace in the world.
Throughout the book, he talks about four prerequisites for economic growth:
- Secure property rights, not only for physical property, but also for intellectual property and one's own person - civil liberties, safety. This speaks poorly for trade barriers and isolationism. This speaks poorly for countries with high corruption. Milton Freidman said, "You cannot have a free society without private property".
- A systematic procedure for examining and interpreting the world - the scientific method. The book gives many cases where parts of the worlds lose ground due to the banning of technology.
- A widely available and open source of funding for the development and production of new inventions - the modern capital marketplace.
- The ability to rapidly communicate vital information and transport people and goods. SYNNEX is a distribution company so we certainly contribute to this one.
One scary statistic was the earth's population. At the birth of Christ, there were was slightly more than 250 million people by 1600 there were half a billion. In about 1800 there was a billion and by 1960 it was 3 billion and there is currently about 6 billion people. Population is a world problem.
There was an interesting section on natural resources and the wealth from those and how they actually hurt economies (as a Canadian with natural resources, this is somewhat worrisome). The example they used were countries such as Nigeria who have abundant natural resources but lack wealth and have weak economies and countries like Singapore, Holland, Switzerland, and Japan have been economic powerhouses with few natural resources.
The author also pointed out that the lower the wealth of the country, the greater the economic growth. This means over time everything equalizes.
Near the end of the book, it pointed out the problem of wealth concentration. As a CEO, I have been a beneficiary of wealth concentration but have seen how it can be very damaging. Certainly it has been very damaging for the reputation of business people. I worry this will be a challenge we need to address (and I speak against my own self interest here).
This book is a must read. Read it!
Dr. Chris Bart on Managing People
We are embarking on an anonymous survey of our staff. We do this to get feedback and see if we are improving and what areas need more focus etc. I always get valuable information - especially from the comments. Will be interesting this year in light of all the changes that have happened and the tighter economy.
I read a book yesterday by
Dr. Chris Bart called
The Tale of two Employees & the person who wanted to lead them. It is written in story format which in this case makes it slightly more interesting. The book is a very short read (took less than an hour).
Since I am taking a course (on
how to be a good corporate director) from Dr. Bart, I found it even more interesting since I could "hear" his voice in it. His favourite expression is "this is not rocket science". And if you read the book, you will think it is totally simple.
The story definitely tells how to drive a mission statement through a company (Chris Bart is a Mission Statement Guru). It also provides common sense coaching hints for any manager.
Summarizing the book on why people fail to follow through on acting on their company's Mission Statement:
Don't know WHAT to do.
Don't know WHY they should do it.
Don't know HOW to do it.
Don't know that they should CARE.
Don't GET IT. (these people need to move on)
And of course the book uses simple examples on how to get past these stumbling blocks. This is not rocket science but it works.
Happy Mothers Day
My mother emailed me this one:
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL .
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."
7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER .
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"
15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."
19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"
20. My mother taught me HUMOUR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"
24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"
Driving vs Walking
Just back from a day in Fort Lauderdale meeting with customers. Great people. Not exactly a holiday but it was warm and nice there.
Neil Reynolds wrote an interesting Globe and Mail article on
driving vs walking. The gist of the study he wrote about was that it is greener to drive your car than walk because the food you need to consume to support yourself on a walk.
The absurd part of the logic is it assumes the person who drives will eat less food. Simply not true. They will likely eat the same so weigh more so it will cost more gas to drive them. Or alternatively they will get on a treadmill and burn more greenhouse gasses.
It did make a good point that the food we eat does cost energy (which is one reason I am mostly vegetarian).
Of course I am not the person who should be blogging about this, it should be my environment brothers
Glen and
Lyle who do blogs largely about
environmental issues.
The Power to Simplify
I was in a meeting today where highly complex technical software was discussed. The discussion got mired down as a result of complexity. My sense is it will not sell or be able to be used unless it can be simplified.
A large part of good communication is simplification. Keeping things short, clear and to the point makes communication work well. People understand it better and remember it better.
Like a good book, well organized books that simplify win. There are few new ideas, there are only clarifications and simplifications of old ones.
Part of the goal then is to learn how to simplify Making things easier and simpler is smarter. This is a true art that we all should work towards.
Energy and Time Management
My quote of the day:
"There is a difference between doing the things you have a right to do and doing the right things"Who said it?
Speaking of getting the right things done (I know different kind of right)...
I read
an interesting article on time management in Harvard Business Review. (Aren't all time management articles interesting).
I will let your read the original article to get the points:
1 - break your responsibilities into categories.
2 - Ask what percentage of time to spend in each category.
3 - Check alignment of this with colleagues and superiors.
Then it give some tips on execution.
I liked the article and it follows the tried and true - know your priorities and spend your time where the priorities are. What I would add though is a section on energy. In many cases, it is not just the time, it is the creativity and energy that makes the true difference in getting the right things done.
Thought Viruses and NLP
As the economy tightens, I have given much thought on how to thrive in a downturn.
It occurs to me that companies tend to over react in the short term at the expense of long term health and prosperity. Of course this is easy to say if a company is prosperous, they have the luxury of thinking longer term. But in the end, it is those companies (and people) who think long term that win.
Changing topics completely:
I recently read "
Thought Viruses - Powerful Ways to Change Your Thought Patterns and Get What You Want in Life" by Donald Lofland. It is an excellent book but takes a long time to read if you actually do the exercises which are probably worth doing; although I didn't spend the time to do them all.
Donald Lofland is a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner. He also has a PH.D. He talks about how we can change our thought patterns and re-program ourselves to reach the success that we want.
With Spring coming on, I am starting to get hay fever and allergies and there was an interesting chapter on how using NLP, someone can cure allergies. This is definitely something that I am looking to try. If anyone knows a good NLP practitioner, I would be interested in speaking to her or him.
There are a total of 40 exercises in the book on everything from discovering your mission, setting life goals, setting priorities in life, looking at your personal uniqueness and your values, etc., through to looking at specific thought patterns.
This book is worth reading. And read it with an open mind because some of the concepts are a bit "out there" or unbelievable.
The Wealth of Nations
I am really enjoying the beautiful weather. The snow is almost all gone except for small patches on the ski hills.
I reread (more like re-scanned) Adam Smith's famous book,
The Wealth of Nations. It is a fairly aggressive book based on its size with almost 1,000 pages of fairly fine print of which half of it is dedicated to the supply and demand of corn. But it is surprisingly readable and even interesting. And it is the basic textbook of all economics.
Wealth is defined as production capability or what we might call GDP.
I figure with a changing economy, it never hurts to brush up on the basics. We are in a period of sharp changes in supply and demand. It is important for business leaders to try to understand what impact this will have on them and their companies.
One principle that Adam espouses is the division of labour.
He also talks about principals, those are the people that supply the capital that is put to use by the agents (people who apply the capital). His view is that people should not do both, they should do one or the other. It is an interesting thought.
He is very harsh on protectionism (as am I).
I am not going to recommend reading it because the size is too daunting for many people. I am suggesting thinking of the changes in our economy and how to thrive with them.
