Washington D.C.

I am in D.C. with my oldest.  This is his senior year.  I got to thinking about how leadership is transferred through the years, passed down from those who have gone before us.    Here are a few of the sights that put me in a pensive mood:

MLK monument

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

This one is just for fun...

The Smithsonian Castle

A Tuesday Breather for February courtesy of the wife...

I was reminded of this rule last week as I am every so often as a way to focus my time on the items I am best at and or produce the best results. Quantifiable only by you (and/or your bottom line if used in business)…

The 80/20 Rule works for life as well as in business. It is crucial for maximizing performance. Find the products or services that generate the most income (the 20 percent) and drop the rest (the 80 percent) that only provide marginal benefits. Spend your time working on the parts of the business that you can improve significantly with your core skills and leave the tasks that are outside your best 20 percent to other people. Work hardest on elements that work hardest for you. Reward the best employees well, cull the worst. Drop the bad clients and focus on upselling and improving service to the best clients. (From Entrepreneurs-journey.com).

More information/thoughts on the 80/20 Rule:
http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm
http://coffeeshopjournal.com/2008/05/02/john-maxwell-leadership-gold-session-three/

cliche

Today I am going to speak in cliches.  Our business had an epiphany this week...when there is so much change internally you realize nothing gold can stay...things aren't always as they seem...and there is never a dawn without a morning...it is never as bad as it seems.
Signing off
Peace out

A Tuesday Breather 11/1/11

This one courtesy of my wife. I like it a lot.

Do you know this man?  Extremely anxious to improve his life but shirks his work and feels justified in cheating his employer because of his low wages. 

Do you know this woman? Diseased because of gluttony.  She is willing to pay large amounts of money to better her health but unwilling to give up her unhealthy habits.    

Do you know employer like this?  Who cuts wages and cheats on his taxes to make a few more bucks.  When he finds himself in bankruptcy both in reputation and finances he blames circumstances not knowing he is the sole author of his condition. 

Prosperity: Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results…nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles…(From “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen).

The value of people

When I sit down and talk with employees about value they often get irritated, at least at first. I mean no one wants their value assessed right? We are all valuable as people, depending on your religious beliefs we have value from God. So how dare we discuss value? But to a business your value is measurable not as a person but as an employee. If your value is high then raises and promotions are possible. If your value is low you may not be here long. That's just the way it works.

But as leaders we also must remember to know and value people as people. They don't have to become our best buds and should never be drinking buddies but we need to get to know them enough to really understand them in order to lead them. And hopefully we learn to value their needs as highly as the needs of the company.

People

Funny how you don't realize what you have til its gone, I know cliche but true. I never realized how dependent I was on certain employees. When they left their knowledge base left with them. Now that knowledge base has to be recreated with new people which is time consuming. The good news is new people bring new energy and I am investing more in the new people because I realize how important they will become. Now I can't let myself forget that.....

Saying Yes!

“Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new.  Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids.  Even if it’s a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference.  Yes lets you stand out in a crowd, be the optimist, see the glass full, be the one everyone comes to.  Yes is what keeps us all young.”

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google

This is a tough one for me as I tend to be skeptical and stick to routine!