Category: Corporate Games

A fear of any CEO
is heading a company
whose complete product line becomes obsolete.
That happened to Cris Ashworth
of United Record Pressing
yet the company and his leadership survived.
Survived the mass consumer move
from vinyl records to CD’s to digital.
Survived with a core business still in vinyl.

How did they do it?
They embraced going niche.
They targeted DJ’s
(avid users of vinyl).
They played up the novelty,
the quality,
the colors,
the artwork.
And now, they offer hosting of digital downloads
driven by special codes on the records.

A loved one is looking at a layoff. 
He doesn’t know when it’ll happen
but it will happen.  
That’s a sure thing
(the company is bleeding red ink uncontrollably). 

Until then,
he’s living on borrowed time. 
That isn’t a sad thing. 
It is a rare opportunity to plan for change
before it happens. 

If you are in the same situation, 
use this gift wisely. 
Plan and prepare…
and be thankful.  

Being asked for help is an honor.
The asker is consciously putting herself in the askee’s debt.

In order to have this honor repeated
(thus building a power base),
there are some simple rules to follow.

Always take the request seriously.
It takes a lot of guts to ask.
Even if you can’t help,
be polite and timely about it.

Give the best help you can
(or refuse the request).
Try to exceed expectations.
If you’re asked for information on firearms,
give not only the information
but additional online sources.

And

Keep the request for help quiet.
Don’t broadcast to the world
that the asker needed help.
If you need to get additional assistance
from another source
and have to mention the asker’s name,
ask her permission first.

Researcher Dr. Monika Ardelt has concluded
that “wise” people use two common strategies
for handling a conflict. 

They remove themselves mentally 
(and sometimes physically)
from a crisis situation and
they concentrate on positive actions
to resolve the situation. 

Both reduce the emotion and 
eliminate the time wasting finger pointing.   

The calmer you are,
as the leader,
the calmer everyone around you will be.     

As time is limited,
saying no to some projects is a must. 

Is that a bad thing? 
No. 

As Peter de Jager in
So?  You’re A Manager… Now What?
says
“While saying ‘no’ is not
what management or clients want to hear,
it gains credibility and respect
when combined with a perfect track record
for always delivering when you said ‘yes.'” 

If you say ‘no’ when you need to,
your clients will believe you
when you say ‘yes’. 

Recently, in one of my volunteer gigs, 
I was asked to make an impromptu presentation.  
The person doing the asking knew darn well 
I didn’t have the necessary new information
everyone else did 
and I ended up looking like a complete jack a$$. 
I was angry, very, very angry.  

Did I lose my temper? 
Nope.  
To do that would have benefited no one and
would have hurt my agenda. 
It also would have set me up as a junior jammer,
unable to control my own emotions. 

Being unable to manage your temper
is the kiss of death.
As AskMen puts it,
“If you can’t manage yourself,
you sure won’t be able to manage others.”

When I say I’m going to do something,
I do it.  
A male high school English teacher of mine
ridiculed romance novels. 
I stood up in front of the class and
said that I’d write a romance some day. 
In May, almost 20 years later,
my first romance novel will be published. 

Keeping their word is a sign of all great business leaders. 

Robin Sharma in The Greatness Guide says
“The Merchants of Wow among us understand
that a person’s word is their bond. 
And that every promise kept builds credibility,
the foundation of trust. 
So make the commitment to be impeccable with your word.” 

In the organization I’m currently working in,
there are filing cabinets everywhere. 
In the four months I’ve been there,
I’ve never seen anyone take anything out of those files. 
They put paper in. 
It doesn’t come out. 

Why? 
Because the filing cabinet is dead. 
Search has replaced it. 

Douglas Merrill, chief information officer for Google
in February’s Men’s Health says
“How much easier is it to organize ourselves
if instead of thinking of the world in terms of filing cabinets,
we start thinking of the world in terms of search? 
For example,
when I come across something interesting
on the Internet,
I don’t worry about whether I’ll ever use it. 
I just dump it into my personal online cloud. 

Organization then becomes this loose pile of information
that’s growing forever, and
you don’t care,
because every time you ask a question,
you get everything back that’s relevant.”

I watched a documentary on The Battle Of Stalingrad
a few days ago. 

This turning point of World War Two
is a clear example of the power of focus
(and also of staying nimble,
the old way of fighting losing out
to the new street fighting style). 

Wanting to conquer both Stalingrad and the Caucasus,
Hitler split his highly trained Sixth Army into two. 
The troops were spread too thin over enemy terrain,
resulting in disaster. 

Are your troops spread too thin? 
Are you trying to launch too many products at once? 
If so, stop, regroup and live to launch another day.     

A study of interviewers and interviewees
by Development Dimensions International Inc.
and Monster.com
reveals the secret to a great interview…
mutual respect. 

The number one complaint (77%) from hiring managers
was about job candidates being late for interviews,
being poorly dressed or unkempt. 
The number one complaint (68%) from candidates
was about hiring managers acting like
they had no time to meet with them. 

Two contract gigs ago,
I cooled my heels in a hallway for an hour. 
When the CEO finally saw me,
I didn’t receive a hint of an apology. 
Did I end up working there? 
After an initial refusal, yes,
but at more than my usual fees. 

There is a cost to lack of respect.