p.s. Love you Ella

I like babies. I don't like other people's babies, but I like my own. In this case, I really like my granddaughter Ella. One year old, cute as a button, she watches to see if I'm up for anything silly. Having raised three daughters, I still have a good inventory of silly, so she's never disappointed. We play peek-a-boo, make faces, clap hands, share food, and she plays along. It's pretty cool.

Here's why I'm writing this. My granddaughter plays as long as I'm responding, if I stop, she gets bored. As long as she gets feedback, the games continue. If I shut down, ignore her, she may try once or twice to reactivate the game, but eventually will go about her own business. At age one, her business consists largely of bringing all room contents down to floor level. It's a big job because we have some big rooms.

Kids grow up, go to school, enter the work force and guess what, - they still do the same thing. They play with those who respond, they ignore those who don't respond. Manage your time better, be selective and respond to those things which drive your agenda. Not all emails deserve answers. Not all conversations need your input, and not all phone calls need to be returned that day. Not all Facebook silliness needs a silly reply this minute. Twitter, - that doesn't even deserve a mention. LinkedIn, - there's a child's toy masquerading as a grownup tool. Guard your time, there's a million babies who want to play, who want your time.

1. Respond to things which drive your agenda, not the other guys.
2. Some conversations just aren't necessary.
3. Do what's right, do what's next.
4. It's ok, to say "no" and not have a reason. It's one of the perks of growing up.
5. Clean up your workspace, put everything out of sight, filed, etc.. Work from a plan, a deliberate agenda.
6. Instead of prioritizing, make a list that represents a productive day. A list that says, if I did these five things today, it will be a good day!
7. Work has three sizes. Skimpy, correct, and overbuild. Do it just right. No more, no less and move on. But do make sure it's just right.
8. Measuring is how we stay in touch with reality. Besides measuring we have stories. Measuring is better.

If you don't respond to a baby, they leave you alone. If you don't respond in the workplace, they leave you alone. To focus, to move your work forward, sometimes you have tune out all the babies that want your attention. I admit babies are a lot of fun, but take my word, - you won't get any work done once you say yes to a cute baby!

See you in September, subject isAbsenteeism, Attendance Management and sick news that 60% of all sick days are not taken by sick people! (click for Attendance Management brochure)

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. B2B Sales process engineering is being repeated in Richmond in October. Ask Rachel for details. Click through for brochure here.

p.s. Love you Ella

The Economy

Things are good but I don't like it. I see a strong local economy surrounded by a larger uncertainty and I'm uneasy. The European nations are floundering, the USA will probably default because either way, Obama is sure to get the blame. In 2008 when the recession first hit, I never thought I'd be writing this three years later, but here we are.

Do we care about the mess that surrounds us in spite of our own Canadian good fortune? Well, - yes and no. I'd prefer if the USA was booming, but we're also not doing bad without it. Our natural resource sector is selling strong to Asia. Manufacturer's are competing, and doing ok. China's wages have doubled reducing their price competiveness. Real estate is strong, but parts of Canada will go soft in 2012. BC has ongoing sales to Asian investors which keeps values high.

So worry or not? From a management perspective I'm paying attention to two things. Maximizing sales, and maximizing production throughput. We're building systems and hiring what we need, in an effort to make sure any work that presents itself will get done and done well. We want loyalty and repeat. In unstable times you rely on your network. At the same time we're maximizing our marketing and sales like never before. Whatever favourable business window we're benefiting from now I want to fully exploit. I have no idea if or when it will close again.

A shrinking economy hurts only the bottom, the worst companies. The strong companies take business away from the weaker players and stay profitable. If BC stays strong, I'll be strong and it won't matter. If the world drags BC down, then I'll be taking business away from my competitors and still be strong. Either way, things will be good for us.

We'd like to become detached from local and maybe even world economies. Microsoft ran like that for years. They were so strong and far ahead of everybody else economic fluctuations had no effect.

Build advantage, build throughput capacity, build sales, and your company will be safe!

See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. See you on September 14th. Subject: Absenteeism and Attendance Management.

p.s. We're repeating the B2B Sales Process Engineering seminar in Richmond. Oct. 5th. Same as what we just completed in Surrey for 100 sales and sales managers. It was successful, over subscribed to, we turned people away. This is your chance to re-structure your entire selling system.

The First Sign of Consciousness is Thinking About Time!

Bloomberg business, good content. Layout customized for Bubbles, the Trailer Park Boy, (a show about life between prison terms), with the beer bottle lenses. Type runs margin to margin with no white space. What a struggle. I read somewhere they have a 28 year graphic director wunderkind. He may have been influenced by the people who reskinned Windows 7.0 and gave us a different look at the rather reasonable price of utter confusion. In the animal world there is no why. Seems that's creeping over into the human world and I'm not sure it's all good.

Did you know the first sign of consciousness is thinking about time? I still remember getting out of school in grade one for summer vacation. I could not comprehend September. It was so far away my 6 yr old brain couldn't understand it. Time is the grid against which we measure things. Measuring is our main access to reality. The measure "6" is neither good or bad until placed against a timeline. Six of what and over what time?

Some tips on managing time,

1. Ask "why" often. A lot of things just don't have to be done.
2. Interruptions mean you stop thinking. Deep thought requires no interruptions.
3. Use time tools. Calendars, planners, journals, CRMs, files, to do lists, etc.
4. Crisis is 11th hour response. Too late, manage better.
5. Learn to say No.
6. In an average office, people spend over 33% of their time looking for things.
7. People with clean workspaces are more productive. Period.
8. Your body clock. Respect it and get more done.
9. Measure, record, observe patterns.
10. Time gets sucked up at the intake stage. Organize at intake.
11. Work has three sizes. Too little, too much, and just right. Do it just right.
12. Health matters when it comes to productivity either mental or physical.
13. Rationalizing and explaining is for the guilty.
14. Theory of constraints applies to time management. Find the one single thing that's stopping you.
15. A brain needs to be managed. Use paper, take action.
16. A mind is like water. When it is still it gets very clear.
17. In the end we're all still dealing with people. Human nature rules everything.

Next week Sales process re-engineering seminar. Full. No more bookings. Please think about attending September event.

For everybody else, see you on Wednesday, for breakfast,
Wolfgang

p.s. Next week, remember location is the Guildford Golf and Country club on 152nd street.
p.s. Eli Goldratt passed away, I'm sorry to hear. A great mind. (TOC, The Goal, etc.).