2016 was a great year here at Box Thoughts. There were some ups and downs but overall I think the content was our best yet and sets a really high bar going into 2017. Here are 8 of the most read posts during the year. Just received my @geteero (3 units for home) and set…
No one likes Red/Yellow/Green status bars – which is why they sometimes work and often fail.
Status lights are everywhere on reports. On-track? Show it as green. Having issues? If they are moderate put yellow, if they are serious put red. No one wants their area shown in red but surely it’s just a simple status that doesn’t mean much. Much of business success and failure is built from human psychology….
Big ideas rarely live up to expectations unless a bunch of small ideas happen first.
A lot of us are chasing the next big thing and trying to come up with the next big idea. We’d love to start the next Uber or Facebook or Google and change the world (while make just a couple of dollars in the process). We’d love to find that idea that turns out to…
My updated thinking on Makers versus Managers
It’s been almost exactly 2 years ago since I last visited one of my favorite concepts of Makers versus Managers. To refresh those unfamiliar with the concept, the idea is that Makers are most productive in 4-hour blocks of free time whereas Managers work best in 30-minute blocks of time. Makers are busy applying thoughts…
If content is king, what is the content on the corporate side of CRE?
A colleague of mine sent me this video from BMW Films not long ago. Watch it because it’s simply a great video: https://youtu.be/jzUFCQ-P1Zg Why does BMW have a Films division and why did they create a 13-minute movie starring Clive Owen? Because content is king. If you want people to pay attention to your brand,…
It’s currently pouring down rain outside, that means it is time to stop and reflect.
Is there a better time to just stop and think than when the rain is coming down? There is something about the sound of rain on a roof that is calming to me. It is especially calming when the rain is much needed in the region. Take some time today to step away from the…
Sometimes the best way to have control is to delegate out responsibility.
Control and responsibility go hand in hand. Some people see that they have responsibility and then try to control everything around them through micromanagement. Some people see that they have responsibility and become paralyzed by the inability to choose a path forward. Then there are those that realize responsibility and teamwork go together and that…
The quality of a decision is directly related to the degree risk is accounted for in it.
Risk mitigation and decision making are two topics that go hand-in-hand. You can’t make good decisions without understanding the risks that come with the various choices. Risk is not always a negative consequence. A lot of time risk goes by another name: opportunity cost. Risk can often be best described as the downside difference of…
Self-reflection is the best way to self-improvement.
I am a big believer in the process of active self-reflection. To really improve yourself you must look closely at yourself and see the good, bad, worth and ugliness. We are all made up of grey areas. There are parts to us that are sometimes good, sometimes bad. If we don’t understand when it moves…
Want to save yourself time and stress? Remember to setup or update your IFTTT rules.
I’ve been using it for awhile as a sort of behind the scenes application but I was talking to some friends that shockingly had never heard of it. If you have heard of the app If This, Then That go check it out in your app store of choice or at ifttt.com. Essentially what the…