I’ve been called a messy person.
I’m a piler.
If information is not important enough
to file in a binder,
it is in a pile.

Is being messy a bad thing?
Not if you’re organized.
Studies show that messy people
make more money than non-messy people.

Why?

Mess analyst David H. Freedman thinks
it may be because the world is messy
and neat people can’t cope.

He also says
“If you’re going to do stuff,
you will make a mess.”

With succession planning,
business leaders have a choice.
They can promote from within
or they can look outside of the organization.

Which route to take?
It depends on what future challenges
the company will face.

Business succession expert
John Szold advises
to groom internal candidates for leadership
if the company expects the future
to be “business as usual”,
with
no fundamental changes.

If the business landscape is expected to change
dramatically
(the merging of tv and internet as an example),
then an outside candidate may
have the new skill sets required.

I saw an interview with guitar great
Carlos Santana.
He talked about the importance of
goals and plans.
He feels that without them,
a person is at the whim of others.

“There are a lot of whatever people.
I don’t want to be a whatever person.
I’m not a control freak
but I’m not a victim.”

Don’t be a whatever person.
Have a plan.

In March’s Men’s Health,
Matthew McConaughey says

“I don’t like to leave crumbs.
I like to do things right,
and not cheat to get ‘em done.
That’s what a man does.
I don’t owe anybody anything.
I never go anywhere
and worry,
‘Oh shit,
so-and-so’s here.’
I don’t have crumbs in my past.”

That’s what smart women do also.
Don’t do anything you’ll be ashamed of
later.

Having spent a couple weeks overseas,
I’m now battling jet lag.
I’m lucky.
I can ease into the new time zone.

But what happens when you have
a business meeting half way across the world
that you have to be ‘on’ for?

There are a couple tricks I use.

If I live in New York
and have a meeting to attend in London,
I try to make the meeting for the afternoon.

I drink plenty of water after landing
(not before as I don’t like to use airplane toilets).

Because I usually sleep on the plane,
I take night flights
and by night, I mean night in my destination.

U.S. Cellular has instituted
No Email Fridays.
Exactly what it sounds,
no emails allowed to be sent or received
on Fridays.

Excuse me?

A phone company cutting off communications?
All because an executive
doesn’t understand how to manage
his own email?

Here’s the thing,
“forcing” people to communicate
YOUR way
means that less people will communicate.

If that’s what a communications company wants…

A local department store was going out of business,
inventory being sold off.
Some treasures?
Choose Life tees from the Wham era.
Original bell bottoms.
LP’s.

As a consumer,
I found it interesting.
As a businesswoman,
I found it sad.

This inventory,
a shirt here, a belt there,
all came with ongoing costs.
Warehouse space, insurance expenses,
someone having to move it.
It contributed to the department store’s failure.

Obsolete inventory is not free to keep.
If it doesn’t add value to your company,
get rid of it.

Sexism still exists in business,
especially the higher up
in the corporate rankings you move.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing
for the savvy businessgal.
Sexism, as with any ism,
is weakness
and weaknesses can be exploited.

It is very easy to manipulate someone
when you know what
their hot button is.
An obvious example of this
is the 2 on 1 pitch.
A male buddy and I
will walk into a pitch to a sexist V-P.
The male buddy will pitch
my preference,
I’ll pitch the alternate
(I always give execs a “choice”).
An easy sale.

In May’s Men’s Heath,
FBI Profiler John Douglas shares a brilliant way
to test a job applicant’s integrity.

“Employees are 15 times more likely
to steal than customers are.
So set up an integrity test.
Leave a file marked “confidential”
on the waiting-room table
or a $50 bill under a magazine.
Then ask the receptionist
to watch if he bites.”

Well worth the $50 lost.

After working through yet another long weekend,
I got accused by a former coworker
(whose BBQ I dodged)
of being a workaholic.
I prefer to call it passion
(and smart evasion tactics).

I don’t work for work’s sake.
I am, actually, quite lazy.
I work because I am passionate
and have purpose.

Working on my projects makes me happier
but overall,
workaholics are no happier
or unhappier
than the average person.

If you look at the twenty questions
of whether or not you are a workaholic,
it is all about balance
and purpose.