October 2009 – Page 3

A Closed Door Policy

Ken Davenport’s post
How To Stay Free and Creative
As Your Company Grows
has a strong argument
for leaders having a closed door policy.

“A lot of entrepreneurs can be micromanagers;
keeping the physical door to your office shut
trains your employees to solve their own problems
before coming to you for advice and questions,
and it trains you to stay out of the little things
that will probably drive you crazy anyway.”

A closed door policy is difficult.
When I close my door
and focus on whatever big problem
or creative issue
I have,
I also have to accept
that the world (and business)
can operate without me.
Decisions are made without me.
Progress is achieved by others.
It is humbling.

Humble is good,
especially if it leads to success.

Close your door.
Train your staff to make smaller decisions
on their own.

Fear

I have an interview on Tuesday.
I’ve been on hundreds of interviews.
I know the answers by heart.
I have the timing down perfectly.

I still won’t sleep Monday night.
I still won’t eat breakfast Tuesday morning.
I’ll still arrive at the interview
an hour early ‘just in case.’

My fear of interviews will likely never go away.
What HAS changed
is how I deal with that fear.
I don’t let it stop me.
I don’t let it prevent me
from getting what I want.
I’ve learned to deal with it,
to perform WITH the fear.

Fear is an excuse
and people who make excuses
rather than take action
are rarely successful.

Communicating Constructive Criticism

You don’t have much choice.
If you want to be great,
you need to know
how to deal with constructive criticism.

Part of dealing
is learning how best you receive it.

I prefer to get the news
in writing first.
I read the criticism,
indulge in emotion privately,
think about it for a week,
and then discuss it
or act upon it.

I tell every manager
I work with
that this is my preference.
I have never had a manager
refuse to give me criticism
the way I prefer.

When I manage people,
I return the favor,
asking employees
how they prefer to receive criticism.

Learn how you best receive criticism
and then communicate that preference.

Nothing Motivates Like A Deadline

This week,
I have deadlines coming out
of every orifice.
I’ve been working on my own
all summer
but yesterday, by far,
was my most productive day.

That I have my most productive day
during a time of multiple deadlines
isn’t a coincidence.

Nothing motivates like a deadline.
If you’re spinning your wheels,
accomplishing nothing,
give yourself a deadline.
Better yet,
give a trusted friend permission
to hold you to that deadline.
Make the penalty for
missing that deadline
steep.

Then hustle your butt
to meet it.

Natural Talent Is Not Enough

Ten years ago,
a loved one had more writing talent
in his pinkie
than I had in my entire body.

Over the past decade,
I’ve taken courses,
I’ve written every single day applying those lessons,
I’ve listened to critiques of my work.

My loved one has been writing.

Today, I would say
that,
while he is still the more natural writer,
our skills are about equal.
A decade from now,
if this trend continues,
I will be the better writer.

Natural talent is not enough.
It isn’t enough in writing.
It isn’t enough in sales.
It isn’t enough in leading people.

If you want to be truly great,
you have to do more.

Starbucks’ Via

Some ClientK readers have emailed me
(I do like emails)
about the new instant coffee launch
from Starbucks,
asking for my opinion.

I think it is…
a great product launch
with not-so-great positioning.

Instant coffee is a huge market
and Starbucks can have a healthy chunk of it
WITHOUT
having to claim their instant coffee
is as good as
their gourmet barista-brewed in store coffee.

Starbucks does not
and should not
have to try to convert their store customers.
All they need to do
is convert the coffee drinkers
already drinking instant coffee.

In other words,
they started out going after one market
and ended up going after another.

Keep the market you’re targeting clear.

Networking Basics

I was at a mixer,
talking with a buddy.
Another friend came up,
I introduced the two,
and we chatted.
I noticed that the first buddy
didn’t really join into the new conversation.

I later asked her why.

She said that the new person
really only wanted to talk with me.

Incorrect.

If she only wanted to talk with me,
she would have waited until I was alone
(or she would have pulled me aside).
She fully expected and actually wanted
to talk with both of us.
She knew me.
She wanted to meet my buddy.

People make contact with you
because they WANT to make contact with you.
There are plenty of ways to avoid you.

Throwing A Bone

Yesterday
I attended the inaugural event
for the first
writer-in-residence
chosen
from the romance genre
at a Canadian library.

This was a very big honor
and
there was a lot of excitement around it.
So what did the writer-in-residence,
Deborah Cooke,
do?
She shared that honor.

During the question and answer period,
she deferred questions
to other published romance authors
in the audience
(myself included).

It moved the event
from being HER day
to OUR day.

We benefited by being looked to
as experts.
She benefited by communicating
that she has a team of experts
working with her.

Win-Win.

The 7 Laws Of Projects

Matthew E. May talks about
the 7 Laws of Projects.

Almost every law has to do
with the fact that
projects never, ever turn out as planned.
They can’t.
There are too many variables
and these variables are constantly changing.

Project managers keep track of these changes,
adjusting their plans for these changes,
helping team members deal with these changes.

Changes to the plans are expected.
They aren’t a reason to abandon the project.

UNLESS the changes make it impossible
for the project to meet its ultimate goal
(i.e. make a profit, launch the product, etc).

Opponents Online

One of my buddies
is a superfan of a certain author.
She regularly visits numerous blogs, forums, chats,
talking up the author and her books.

Recently there was a general discussion
about writing on a blog.
This author dropped in
and responded to ONE of the commenters,
blasting her for her opinion
(an opinion that other commenters shared).

The commenter?
You guessed it – the superfan.

Not only did she embarrass the superfan
but she obviously didn’t know who she was.

That was a silly mistake.
The superfan had her commenting name
linked to her blog,
a blog where the post for the day was…
a glowing review of the author’s latest book.

It would have taken the author 30 seconds
to know exactly who she was fighting with.

If you are going to fight online
(and I don’t recommend that you do),
make darn sure who you are fighting with.