Change happens (as I can firmly attest to). You’ll never be able to expect what is about to happen – it’s like war, as the first arrow flies all plans are now forced to adapt. Managing the rules and risks are the key. If you can predict the most likely scenarios you’ll likely end up…
Selective Apathy
Sometimes as a young professional I find it hard to forget that the goal of things is the successful execution of business objectives which has little or nothing to do with personal objectives or goals. Personal objectives are achieved through the successful implementation of the business strategy. If the business is unsuccessful the rest is…
Weekend Work
Continuing with the lessons of a long week – had to do some deadline driven work this weekend. Sometimes it’s important to roll up the sleeves and simply do what needs to be done. When the only option left is to get things done you learn that it doesn’t matter what happened to put us…
Dumb but not Stupid
Last week was a rough week for me. Lots of really good lessons were learned – lots of life lessons – lots of business lessons. Somehow the week ended on a really high note though plus I learned the concept that it’s okay to be dumb as long as you aren’t stupid about it. Dumb…
Finding the Blue Ocean of Real Estate
In a sea of competition the water turns red with blood. If you want to find a way to separate yourself from the competition you need to find a part of the ocean where no one else is: the Blue Ocean. This is a pretty obvious notion once you’ve heard it. What I’m thinking about…
Unwritten Rules
Most of us go through life obeying some set of unwritten rules. Whether they are legal, cultural, personal or developed through training and experience we all have them. Unknowingly they dictate our actions. Being young and impressionable still (relatively at least) means that I run up against them a lot. I have lots of my…
Playing Crazy
Going off my recent post about Subject Matter Experts HBR brings me back around to the topic again – this time with a discussion around Managing Crazy Ideas. This dovetails very nicely with the thinking about subject matter experts because that same group is usually the one that defines what is crazy and what isn’t. …
The Value of a Deadline
Deadlines make us all more effective. They motivate us and present a wall past which nothing more can occur. Their use on reality competition shows should emphasize this. Those that do not finish before typically only blame themselves for it – not the rules of the game itself. Simultaneously, most of us delay work on…
Heading a little offbeat….
Sometimes it’s fun to think about the same topics but from a wildly inappropriate direction. Such as: What does commercial real estate and Swamp Thing have in common? The answer is not much, but the later can yield surprising takeaways that can be applied to many situations (particularly when written by Alan Moore and featuring…
Subject Matter Experts
I have a love/hate relationship with subject matter experts. On the one hand they have tremendous experience in a given area and can show you how to avoid common mistakes and issues that are likely to come up. They’ve seen solutions around just about every problem type and bring valuable knowledge. But on the other…