Get Back UP!

So many times during your career (and mine), you will feel knocked down or frustrated or just plain stressed out because of a worry. Just face it, it is part of work (and life).

Vince Lombardi (famous American Football Coach) said "It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up".

Here are some things to do when frustrated or faced with disappointments.

Take a hike (or a run or a swim or a bike ride) to calm down, reflect and develop a strategy on how to address the issue. I run. It is amazing how fast the run goes by when you are thinking about addressing an issue (versus thinking how hard that hill ahead is going to be on your legs). Plus, you do come up with some dedicated time to think about the issue and I find innovative resolutions appear.

Never respond immediately to a frustrating email or someone's comment/action. Take a deep breath, count to ten and think about how others will take what you are going to do or say. As a leader, it is your responsibility to lead people out of disappointment rather than into it!

Most of us are not in life or death situations, it is not the end of the world so dont act like it is. Be sure and maintain the proper perspective.

These are the pot calling the kettle black because I struggle with these myself from time to time, but it is top of mind.

Here is someone's suggestion for dealing with worries:

When you have a worry, write it down and place it into a jar and forget about it, until once a week, you open the jar and worry about your worries. When its no longer a worry, remove it from the jar. You will see less and less worries in the jar!

You need an Unlimited Vacation?

During one of my first performance reviews, I was told that I did not work enough. I was perplexed as I received the highest rating, so I asked, what did I deliver that I was suppose to if I did not work enough? He proceeded to tell me "how it works around there to get promoted", I needed more "face" time at the office, come in early, leave late, show up on weekends periodically . . . so I asked, do we have an output standard or an input standard? He answered "well, it is more important to delivery quality work, but you still need to show yourself". Yikes. From that day forward, I always promised myself that I would focus on the delivery of the work and not how much "time" it took. If someone worked smart and got the project done quickly and high quality, so be it, that is excellent. It would be up the manager to provide what they expected to be a reasonable delivery time.

I found this article about a company that provides unlimited vacation. Yes, you heard me! One note, the Europeans are excellent at provided the "real" level of vacation and they actually take it all. Many firms in the US, provide limited vacation (two weeks), which in my opinion is not enough.

The Case Against Vacation Policy
IT consulting firm Bluewolf lets employees take as much vacation as they want, whenever they want—as long as they meet their goals
by John Tozzi

Michael Kirven, 38, and Eric Berridge, 39, didn't worry about a vacation policy when they started Bluewolf, their New York IT consulting firm, in 2000. As the startup added employees, the founders let staff take paid time off for holidays, travel, and rest when they wanted, without asking permission—just letting managers know as a courtesy. About 18 months later, with 10 employees, they made their ad hoc policy official. "If you want to take a vacation, take it," Kirven says. As long as workers met their goals, they could take as much time as they wanted, when they wanted. In other words, no formal vacation policy.

Kirven doubted the startup could sustain the approach as the company expanded. "I didn't think it would scale when we were at 20, then 50, then 100, then 150 [employees]," he says. Now, with a staff of 200, satellite offices in San Francisco and North Carolina, and $18 million in revenue in 2007 (disclosure: BusinessWeek's advertising department was a Bluewolf client in 2004), he doesn't consider the loose vacation rules a risk that employees will shirk their duties.

Instead, Kirven sees it as a competitive advantage. He makes it clear no vacation policy doesn't mean unlimited vacation. He estimates most people take three to four weeks each year; six or more would usually make it hard to meet objectives, he says. But there's no pressure to put in a certain number of days or hours as long as the work is getting done.

Holdover from the Industrial Era
Bluewolf is part of a small but growing group of companies of all sizes that let employees manage their own time. The most visible example is Best Buy (BBY), where an employee-led movement toward results-only metrics transformed the company's culture (BusinessWeek.com, 12/11/06). Outdoor gearmaker Patagonia lets workers at its Ventura (Calif.) headquarters surf during the day and offers up to two months of paid leave (BusinessWeek.com, 8/21/06) for employees to work with environmental groups. But giving workers complete control over their schedules is rare enough that Kirven says human resources people tell him he's crazy.

Counting days and hours is a holdover from the industrial era that makes no sense for information workers who can do their jobs without being at their desks at set hours, proponents of such changes say. "The reason companies have a vacation policy or time-off policy is because of the way work is structured: 8 to 5, Monday through Friday," says Jody Thompson, one of the Best Buy HR managers who upended the company's attitude toward time. Thompson and Cali Ressler just published Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, a manifesto for what they call the Results-Only Work Environment, or ROWE. "Work is something you do, not someplace you go," Thompson says. The pair now run a St. Paul (Minn.) consulting firm, CultureRx, to help companies switch to the model they pioneered at Best Buy.

The benefits for staff are clear. Workers at Bluewolf's Manhattan headquarters in a converted 15th-floor loft enthuse about the flexibility the company offers, and the bottom-up culture that supports everything from volunteer work to green initiatives to team trips to the gym. And when the vacation time isn't enough, Bluewolf accommodates workers who want to take unpaid leaves, including one who took a year off when each of her three children was born.

But what's the business case for tossing the vacation policy? For companies rooted in the information economy, like Bluewolf, which is adding staff quickly, the freedom helps attract and retain motivated workers, especially Gen Yers who resist punching clocks.

linkedin connections Kirven says the company's turnover is next to nil—so low that three people who left recently decided to return. Bluewolf has no HR staff. Instead, it relies on a quarterly audit from a lawyer to make sure the company complies with labor laws. And Kirven estimates the company saves $250,000 a year by not having bean-counters tracking time.

Identifying Goals is Key
To make it work, everyone is measured on performance goals that contribute to Bluewolf's bottom line. That means financial targets for salespeople, billable hours for analysts and project managers, and client retention rates for customer service people. Tim Johnson, Bluewolf's sales director, hasn't had a problem with people taking too much time off or with grumbling from co-workers left behind. "Everyone understands you have to work harder when people take off," he says. They're rewarded with the same freedom their colleagues have, regardless of position or seniority. And the time off is real time off—while many Bluewolf workers telecommute, when they go on vacation they're encouraged to leave their laptops and BlackBerrys behind.

Working this way is not for everybody, and it can backfire if the company doesn't have clear and measurable targets for each employee. "The key to making this work is helping your management to be able to identify good goals," says Bob Kustka, president of Fusion Factor, a Norwell (Mass.) workplace-productivity consultant. "There are those people who need structure, who left to their own devices will not do what they need to do." But plenty of companies offer highly structured work environments, and Kirven positions Bluewolf's flexibility as a differentiator that attracts talent in a competitive IT labor market.

A Growing Trend?
It also keeps people from burning out. While Kirven estimates he takes only about two weeks of vacation a year, he appreciates the culture of work-life balance that Bluewolf has built. "I don't want to work 80 hours a week and travel all over the globe. I have small kids myself," he says.

Such a policy isn't realistic for every company. Kirven and Berridge funded Bluewolf without any outside equity investors; Kirven imagines many VCs would quash a vacation policy like Bluewolf's. But the formula seems to be working. Bluewolf is projecting $31 million in revenue for 2008, up from $11 million two years ago. And Kirven thinks the approach won't be unusual for long. He sees more companies adopting similar policies, and not just in IT but in professions like law, where much of the work can be done on flexible schedules. "My prediction is that in 10 years, this will be what most people are doing," he says.

Now, hurry up and finish that project so you can take a few more days off!

Joke of the Weekend XI

Well, you need a slight understanding of algebra for this Joke on the
Value of human capital (then why do you search for knowledge so much?)

Engineers and scientists will never make as much money as business executives. Now a rigorous mathematical proof that explains why this is true:

Postulate 1: Knowledge is Power.
Postulate 2: Time is Money.

As every engineer knows,

Work
---------- = Power
Time

Since Knowledge = Power, and Time =Money, we have

Work
--------- = Knowledge
Money

Solving for Money, we get:

Work
----------- = Money
Knowledge

Thus, as Knowledge approaches zero, Money approaches infinity regardless of the Work done.
Conclusion: The Less you Know, the more money you Make.

Swallow your Pride

Okay, yes, I am competitive. There is a true story that I was running a 10K with a colleague (one who does Ironman Triathlons, and double marathons) in Boston, MA and with about 200 meters to go (about 200 yards for US readers), I point to a building behind us and asked what is that building. Well, being a semi-local, he looks back and stares and asks which exact building, in the meantime, I have started run full out so I can get to the "finishing line" before he does. Needless to say, I "won" but not because I was faster, because he was laughing too hard to catch up . . . Yes, I like to win if playing casually . . . sorry, there is just something inside that makes me that way, and I can not stop it.

Well, it did come to a sort of stopping.

Vacationing in Bar Harbor, Maine (for one of my favourite commenters to a blog, yes, that is in the USA), I had to swallow my competitor nature. By the way, if you get a chance, it is a nice spot in the world (from someone who has traveled around the globe). Here is the scenario: My wife, two sons, and I went for a sunset cruise tour on kayaks. Now, I have kayaked many times before and enjoy kayaking on the lakes/rivers in and around Austin, Texas. While I have kayaked on the sea before it is different than lake or river kayaking. Anyway, we have two two-seater sea kayaks and I have my youngest son with me (thinking that we would not be paddling too much). Well, we were the best team, the tour guide would point to where he wanted us to go and by golly we were the first there! The tour guide kept asking our kayak to slow down, but it was not easy to because of the slight wind and current, but we did our best. Then we were finishing our tour and saw our ending point, and the tour guide said "go for it", well, we started and then realized my wife and son #1 were way behind. So what does a good husband/father do, finish in first place or return and make sure they are doing okay? Yes, I turn our kayak around and go back to see if all's okay. (The son in my boat who happens to be a little competitive and disagreed with my strategy). So, we go back and then somehow we get stuck on some rocks, and then we are behind everyone, as we get off the rocks, we are facing the wrong direction and the wind picks up and makes it very difficult to turn this ship (as we drift out to Nova Scotia). So, I am paddling as hard as I can (my son was too tired to paddle any more). The tour guide notices us struggling (since think he was not too happy with us that we were going so fast to begin with), and he comes back to us and proceeds to tie a rope from his one person kayak to ours . . . oh my, how embarrassing, I thought about arguing and challenging the guide a race to the finish line, and instead swallowed my pride (it was his responsibility to get us back safe and sound), so we paddle in together to the wonderful smiles and laughter of all the other kayakers who had already finished the tour.

The lesson that I learned . . . Nice Guys Finish Last! So, if I happen to be running with you or playing some game and you fall or get injuried, forget about it, I am continuing!!!! Oh, not really, but sounded good!

Team Motivation

I have always viewed change as opportunity and not a negative . . . however, there are those that continue to embrace the old ways and dont want to go in another direction (especially when things are not going well). It is difficult to change directions because people are comfortable in the current ways things are done. With any growth agenda, you must be flexible and change directions. It is has interesting for me in that in just a few months, our directions have changed (although continued to same vision), so it is important that you remain grounded in what the end result is but also be flexible to change directions to reach that point (because some times there is "traffic" or "construction" that block your current path).

Here is an interesting article in regards to changing direction and motivating people to adopt the changes.


9 Ways to Develop Team Motivation
Take a cue from the ancient Greeks to help steer your employees to success.
By Nilofer Merchant

When we work with teams, we often find that members agree in principle, yet may not support the direction of the company.

How often has this type of scenario unfolded at your smaller business: The company decides to move sales (or marketing, or finance, or any other unit) in a new direction. An announcement goes out, a meeting is held, heads nod in agreement. Then day two merges into week two and that soon becomes month two. Somewhere in there you realize that no one is supporting the new direction. And there's no talk about it -- life goes on just as it did before. It's as if all the planning, meeting, and strategizing never happened.

First you're mad, then you blame yourself, then you wonder what you could have done to get the point across and keep things on track.

Thucydides, in his "History of the Peloponnesian War," wrote about the solution one general came up with in ancient Greece: "...burning their boats so as to have no hope except in becoming masters of the country." This legendary military decision eliminated all possibility of retreat. The troops knew there was no way out but through, and performance occurred because the situation narrowed the options to perform or die.

Now, business isn't basic training and you can't act like a Marine drill instructor at Parris Island to motivate your employees (much less burn down the office), but you can set the stage for excellent performance. How? Here are nine ideas any smaller business leader can start using immediately:

Specify the Destination
Your team needs to know what the new destination is and how to get there. How you communicate that influences whether you'll get there. Why that destination? Why is it important? Make sure the goal is worth pursuing, announce the new move, and make sure there is a specific launch -- a particular date and even an event will help your team remember that a large change occurred.

Make the Move Necessary
Those who want to hang onto the old boat will burn up with it. There must be a penalty for clinging to the old. For example, the point of demarcation might be a change in procedure. For example, changing the form of ID required to enter the building; after a certain date, you can't get in without the new. Mark the change with tangible and intangible elements to reinforce the desired behavior in all areas of the company.

Dismantle the Old Infrastructure
Don't continue to support the old business. If you've decided to let go of your router business, consider selling it, renaming it, or some other way of making it clear that things have changed in a fundamental way. Don't feed the old systems by providing them a large slice of the budget, mentioning them in company-wide meetings, or including them in sales off-site. They're gone -- bury them.

Talk About the New
With every meeting, there should be a conversation that acknowledges and brings the new product or department into focus. You've got to reiterate how important these new people, new roles, new products, or new processes are to bringing in revenue. Relate them to current operations; spend a disproportionate amount of time talking about the new. As a leader, you signal to your team what's important to you (consciously or unconsciously) by how much time you spend on it. If you tune in and talk about it -- the team will, too.

Only Hire in the New Focus
Look for people that match the new way of doing business, the new line of products. If engineering needs to regroup around Linux, don't hire lots of experts in Ajax or Perl. Make sure that every new hire extends your reach into the new space by providing knowledge and capabilities that will help you get where you're going.

Reward People Based on the New Focus
Compensation can sharpen performance. Salespeople in particular have an amazing ability to focus on their compensation plan. Use the plan to guide behavior so that your company reaps the rewards and gets the kind of results you wanted when you first determined what the new destination would be.

Minimize Maintenance of the Old
In the midst of a large change, it's easy to spend too much time and money on a product you're trying to move to life support. Determine the appropriate level of maintenance so that customers are taken care of, but don't spend a dollar more. Refer them to new models and services so that they migrate to what your organization is fully involved with.

Create a Crisis
Recently, an executive I know brought in Bain consultants to tell their board of directors why their current business has limited growth. The executive needed a third party to carry the message and signal loudly that the old business wasn't performing. This was a big company, but the idea holds true for smaller businesses as well. The board got the message because they saw the "suits" walking around holding meetings, which sent the signal more loudly than she could have done herself.

Put a Process Behind It
A process concentrates thinking and sends a subliminal message to the team that "this is valuable and it's here to stay." Make sure the team knows you think the new services offering is important by using a process for reinforcement. Eliminate support for the ad hoc methods that provide patchwork results. Stick with what's measurable and repeatable.
Your team certainly picks up what you say in meetings, on the phone, in e-mail, and over the course of the day. Additional input comes from what you do. Show people you're serious about burning the boat and taking a measured risk on that shiny new product, process, or initiative -- your revenue depends on it.

Being an Entrepreneur

A comment on one of my postings ask me to write on what I am doing. Well, I am an Entrepreneur. I get asked many times, wow, you are lucky, no politics, not having to deal with a big company, rewarded for your effort. . . well, all is true, but again, it is not all perfect either. I found this article that hit home on being an entrepreneur. Is it in you?


The Realities of Being an Entrepreneur
It's not all rosy, but it's certainly rewarding.
By Tamara Monosoff

I'm often surprised when I talk to people interested in starting their own businesses. When asking about my experience as an entrepreneur, they'll say, "You're so lucky," or "It must be great to be out of the rat race." Statements like this make me smile because they couldn't be less true. Luck has nothing to do with it. As for the rat race, while different, it's faster than ever.

That's why I wanted to share the realities of being an entrepreneur. First, a disclaimer: At the end of every day, I wouldn't trade my current situation for any other option, and I'm grateful to be able to do what I truly love. However, being an entrepreneur isn't the easy, carefree career path that many believe it to be; it's actually quite the opposite. When everything is invested in your own business--time, money, passion and creativity--it can border on obsession. And when you work from home or your spouse or family members work with you, you rarely, if ever, leave the office--at least from a mental standpoint.

Let me start with a few hard truths of being an entrepreneur:

1. It's stressful. If you think meeting a boss's deadlines or demands is tough, try meeting your own, especially when your personal savings are on the line. Maybe you've already taken out a second mortgage and your credit cards are maxxed out. Or maybe you've borrowed money from family and friends and you're on the hook to pay them back, ASAP. This type of pressure lights a fire under even the most laid-back personalities. Not only will you feel the pressure to get your business off the ground, but you'll also feel the added pressure to do so quickly to regain some semblance of financial security.

2. It's never-ending. Yes, it can be thankless to work for someone else, knowing your skills and talents are ultimately making someone else a bundle. But in most jobs, you can leave the work behind when you go home to enjoy your family, friends or hobbies. As an entrepreneur, the workload can be intense, especially during the early stages when you are the CEO, CFO, HR person, sales staff, marketing guru, tech guy, office manager, and janitor. With all these roles, there's rarely a moment that you feel your work is "done" for the day. There's always something more you could be doing, like researching new markets, writing press releases, contacting new media, cold calling new sales outlets, developing new products and the list goes on. And that can eat away at time formerly devoted to family, leisure activities, workouts or relaxation. It's a difficult balance to strike.

3. It's frustrating. Maybe you've partnered with someone who doesn't have your best interests at heart. Or you've received a shipment of damaged products that you need for a trade show the next day. Or the media appearance you spent days preparing for is suddenly cancelled due to a natural disaster. As an entrepreneur, these types of situations happen on a regular basis. (I speak from experience; all of the above happened to me.) The truth is that you never know what's around the corner and it can be extremely frustrating when you've planned to spend a day on product development, only to find out that you have to repair the cases of product packaging that came apart during shipping.

So with this kind of stress, pressure and workload, why, then, would anyone subject themselves to being an entrepreneur? The answer is simple: the positives outweigh the negatives:

1. It's rewarding. When you're successful, you reap both financial and emotional rewards. There's no better feeling than seeing a product you've worked hard to develop on store shelves, or when you've provided successful service for a grateful client. It's exciting to make a sale or win a new client when you know it's from your own hard work; it's gratifying when customers tell you that your product, service or example has made a difference in their lives. And of course, turning a profit and knowing your business is financially stable are extremely rewarding as well.

2. It's flexible. Once you work for yourself, it's common to feel you could never work in a conventional 9-to-5 environment again. I believe it's mostly due to the flexibility. Yes, you may work more hours, but you can do so on your own terms. You can stop work at 3 to pick up the kids from school without asking your boss for permission. You can work from midnight to 4 a.m. if you're a night owl. You can work from home or your own office with daycare on-site. When you're the boss, you call the shots, and the new freedom can be exhilarating.

3. It's the chance to create. Many entrepreneurs are driven by the need to build something great, help other people, or leave something behind. Perhaps it's a business that your children can join and grow; maybe it's the legacy of creating something that will be around long after you're gone. No matter what the motivation, creating something from nothing that grows and develops through the years can be almost like raising a child; it's your baby, and you've nurtured it to its current level of success. That type of fulfillment is difficult to duplicate in most other career paths.

I would add that the frustration for me is the (1) not be able to move fast enough (patience is not my middle name) and (2) you dont get the initial respect that you do when you have a big name company on your business card, you have to earn it more. The reward in this is that I feel that I can be as successful as I want to be if I work hard and do a good job, the sky is the limit!

Don't Look Back!

How many times have you seen when someone leaves an organization, it seems that anything and everything that went wrong and goes wrong over the next year is that departing person's fault? It has become such a common theme in our business environment that it is just expected. Blame the person who left (it's that easy). It is even worse when a senior leader departs, it seems that whatever good has happened in the past or continues to happen is because of the people remaining and everything that had gone wrong in the past or goes wrong (even after departure) is the fault of the departing leader, including such things as gas price increases, the economy faultering, and heard even global warming was to blame.

As a leader, it is important to stop this view, this makes no one accountable for any problems within the organization because all problems were the responsibility of a particular person who is no longer within the organization. Things go wrong in business all the time, no business is perfect. It is important to focus on resolution of any particular problem or issue with the team you have in place. Placing blame does no good. After resolution, debriefing on how the issue can be prevented in the future is the most productive time spent. (anyway, the people pointing the blame are usually the ones who are really to blame and covering up their issues).

I just wish that people would speak up before any departure about issues and address them at that time versus conveniently waiting until someone leaves and then "only one side of the story is told" and that becomes fact. Time and time again, I have stated, do the right thing even if in the minority. Standing up to wrongful blaming is one of those times because reputations are on the line.

I say to all, it is not worth looking back, focus on the future, people will say whatever they will say, you have no control over history (or those who like to revisit history). The facts are the facts even though some might misinterpret them! Actually, they are sometimes amusing (I know of one case that everybody who could spell the initiative was the inventor of it, how could 100 people come up with one invention I dont know but hey people take credit sometimes for something that they were on the fringes for but no real impact). When you leave (not if you leave, but when), leave because you are running towards an exciting opportunity versus running away from something, because when you run towards an opportunity you wont look back, but running away, you will constantly be looking back . . . Focus on the Future! There are lots of exciting opportunities out there, if you did good things in one place, you will do it again in another place (and maybe even be rewarded this time).