As an organization, are all of the goals you set achievable? If the answer is yes, you should probably try resetting your target levels. The purpose of goals and metrics is not to achieve them, it’s to provide a target for improvement.
#CRE and the #Yahoo situation – it’s about culture!
I am finding the Yahoo having no work from home employees discussion curious – and likely just a media creation. To ask a question: which is more productive: Working in an office with others of my group. Normal functioning office where I am free to work with whomever as necessary. Politicized office where I sit…
Sometimes you have to let your team win
On long, grueling projects sometimes the small victories along the way are most critical not just for morale but for being able to show progress. If after every victory you immediately send the list of all the new things that need to be done your team never gets that opportunity to feel the victory. Victory…
Growing up in the Country was a Great Thing
I was born in the foothills of the Appalachian’s in Kentucky. It is one of the biggest advantages that I have over many of my peers and colleagues. The lessons tat I learned growing up there left me with a different basis of operations. Those that have lived in cities their entire lives (or stayed…
Customers and what they think they want.
This isn’t a post about how customers aren’t always right. No, this time is to make sure that the sales and development people in the world understand the motivations that customers bring to the table. There is a difference between a customer’s desires before they buy a product or service and after they have completed…
If a hacker really wanted to have some fun – the mute button.
It dawned on me today exactly how reliant so many of us are on our mute buttons working as advertised. Push a button and suddenly no one else can hear what you say. Vent all you want, they’ll never hear it. The Mute Button’s use has become ingrained into how we operate. If some enterprising…
Removing the brand from the equation
HBR again brings another great thought on the value of brands. The thinking behind the No Brand movement is that you should stand out without a name. If Steve Jobs or Bill Gates were standing quietly and anonymously in a crowd of tech experts they would still standout without needing any identifying information. Their brands…
If I can’t keep your attention, then I probably don’t deserve to have it.
Attention is the lifeblood of success. You have to grasp the minds of an audience if you want to influence. To grasp their minds you must engage with them for a period of time. Attention is not something easily given either. Attention is something earned. There are many workers in this world that believe that…
The customer is not always right.
They never have been, never will be. To pretend otherwise is to focus only on such a narrow part of the problem as to miss sight of the big picture. Customers come to you because they have a need that they can’t solve themselves. Either they are not capable of doing it themselves or they…
What is 30 minutes?
1.25% of a standard work week. More than the amount of time in a month you have in the IT world if you are trying to maintain 99.95% up time. 1/2 the length of the average calendar meeting. Both not a lot of time and a whole lot of time – at the same time.