Arent Management Consulting: Have you ever QUIT on Yourself?

Arent Management Consulting: Have you ever QUIT on Yourself?: I recently read an article about Quitting. It was 180° opposite my normal reading that is about Success. It got me thinking about “do we ...

Have you ever QUIT on Yourself?

I recently read an article about Quitting. It was 180° opposite my normal reading that is about Success. It got me thinking about “do we really give it our best effort”? The story as I recall mentioned Undergraduate study and the top 10% of the graduating class. Overall grades in each subject are so important to the overall GPA and class ranking to gain acceptance into Graduate School. It is due to this pressure that some students take “the easy way” out and apply for easier classes rather than Advanced Level courses in order to keep their GPA and class ranking at the top

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Do you “buckle” to pressure or “buckle up” and drive?  It is something that can be taught but once "someone takes the easy way out" is often difficult to change.  Consider the student who is taking tough courses and although ALL other classes, “A’s” are earned…In this particular situation where a B- or a C is about to happen, the student drops or waives the course so that their record stays unblemished.  This is the type of learning that fosters a “quitting” environment.  To avoid “quitting” we need to adopt a “Yes we Can” attitude.

• Practice, Practice and Practice again - "old" research indicates it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert.  If you were to practice 1 hour each day, that would equate to 365 hours a year.  Multiplied out, that would [if done every day]  require 31 years of practice!  Considering the fact that our world is constantly changing with new ideas and methods...a conservative estimate would be that to become expert in anything is impossible today.

• The MAJOR difference between Good and GREAT is effort.  How much time do you practice each day, week or month?

• Consider the pro athlete and the years of practice that they put into their skills ~ If it was easy, everyone would be a pro!  I have heard much negativity towards sports stars and perhaps I have voiced my opinion on occasion about the huge salaries that they command ~ The bottom line is that the skills of these athletes that have made them extraordinary did not come from natural talent alone,  It came from a lot of hard work.

• Headlines this past week showed that “average” CEO earnings were over 9 Million a year ~ On first glance, I was shocked but then again, these are not jobs for just anyone.  Much experience and practice came into being before one becomes CEO.

Own up to development and continue to practice every day.  Always be learning and dare to adopt difficult situations. Take pride in what you have accomplished and accept challenges.  As we stretch ourselves, we grow!  

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Arent Management Consulting: "Rags to Riches" - by John J Arent

Arent Management Consulting: "Rags to Riches" - by John J Arent: As a change of pace, once a month I am going to write a bio on a famous person.  This blog will be titled from "Rags to Riches" ...

"Rags to Riches" - by John J Arent

As a change of pace, once a month I am going to write a bio on a famous person.  This blog will be titled from "Rags to Riches" and appear monthly. My goal will be to share with you the background about a celebrated entrepreneur.  There are so many wonderful stories about people who “pulled themselves up by their shoe strings”.  These ground-breaking hard workers who catapulted themselves into prominent positions within the business world. My hope is to share with you how these people “invented” themselves and make a true difference in their own life as well as the lives of those around them.

My first edition of Business Entrepreneur is Mark Burnett.  You know Mark, don’t you?  I didn’t “know” him until I researched his background.  I knew “of him” due to the fact that there is rarely an evening where his name does not appear on our family TV screen.

Mark’s a TV and Executive Producer for a long list of blockbusters on TV.  He created Survivor and also was credited as creator of both The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice.  He serves as the Executive Producer of The Voice and has been involved with such highly rated shows as Shark Tank, The Contender, and Are you smarter than a 5^th grader?.  He has served as Executive Producer for the MTV Movie Awards and also three years running from 2010 through 2012 for the People’s Choice Awards.  He has also produced the Emmy Awards.

You can clearly see how Mark's background influenced his creation of several of these shows.  Mark grew up in the United Kingdom and came to California when he was 22 years old.  His first job in the US was as a nanny.  After being a nanny for a couple of years, he decided to go part-time selling T shirts at Venice Beach, CA.  Prior to coming to America, he was in the British Army and eventually rose to the rank of Section commander in the Parachute Regiment.  He was based in Northern Ireland and saw action in the Falklands in 1982.  His military background and fierce drive for competitive competition led him eventually to creating “Survivor”   


 This competitive spirit can be seen in the Apprentice, Contender and other shows that he has produced. The T-shirt business can be closely aligned with the Shark Tank where new business start-ups are discovered. Bringing these ideas and past history to fruition is the reason that I chose him for my first in a series.   The rest is now his history and legacy.


















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In Pursuit of Excellence

The XXX Olympiad is now less than 2 months away!

It is uncanny how the skill sets, strategies and best practices of both the Olympic athlete and effective business leader are so similar.  Below I will list 7 common traits...

In a few short weeks, the XXX Olympiad will be held in London.  Beginning July 27^th through August 12^th, I will be cheering for the USA teams to “bring home the gold”. 

I was researching what it takes to be an Olympian and was not surprised with the similarities that Leaders need to be successful.  Those high standards of professionalism and Gold Medal aspirations lead many to a feeling of perfection.  Leaders & athletes need to realize that perfection is impossible and that true leaders and award-winning athletes need to be rational about the “pursuit of excellence”.  It is not the individual but rather the team that makes something happen.  How we compete in the field of sports or in business ultimately tells us a lot about our individual character.  

With that said, here are the similarities that Olympian medalists and world class business leaders share in common:

• World Class Athletes and Top Business Leaders are strategic and they set realistic goals

• Both Olympians and effective Executive Management envision not only the short term consequences but also the long term when making decisions.

• Fort those Olympians in a team sport, the similarities are striking in that both seek strong ownership and engage in development of their teams to outperform the world’s best.  Even those athletes who compete in individual sporting events put their team in front of their own personal goals. Similarly those executives who are leaders do not suffer from egotism but rather are extremely humble and gracious.

• Both Athletes and top business executives are constantly learning and developing their skill sets.

• Retention rates of the team are well above the norm and the team is motivated and inspired to make it happen!  The team holds together and has a unified purpose due to the commitment and dedication of their athletes/employees adopting a common vision.

• When the bell rings, they answer!  They perform when it matters!  They deliver the gold!

• They know their competitors better than the competitors know themselves!

Go for the gold!

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Arent Management Consulting: NEVER FORGET

Arent Management Consulting: NEVER FORGET: the sacrifice that they have made for us!

Quotes to get Yourself Energized [Part III]

Due to your comments and requests from my posts the week of April 23rd,  I will be sharing with you additional quotes for inspiration, teamwork and belief with you each month.  I hope that you enjoy the following quotes and that they help elevate your thoughts and actions as we begin the unofficial start of summer here in the States. 

"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

Oprah Winfrey

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."Winston Churchill

“The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” Norman Vincent Peale

“A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.”Jim Rohn

“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” Colin Powell

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.”
John D. Rockefeller

“Work Ethic seems to be universally accepted as one of the most important factors contributing to one’s success. The harder you work – the more successful you’ll be. “Do a bunch by lunch…be a winner by dinner!” ~ Unknown.

 “Let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

“Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiseling and scraping and polishing.” ~ B.C. Forbes

 “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” ~ Napoleon Hill

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” ~ Tim Duncan

“The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.” ~ Wayne Gretzky

“Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers.” ~ Magic Johnson

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” ~ Muhammad Ali

“Every time you stay out late; every time you sleep in; every time you miss a workout; every time you don’t give 100% – You make it that much easier for me to beat you.” ~ Unknown

“There is no "i" in team but there is in win.” Michael Jordan

“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.” Sam Ewig

“Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.” Robert Half

“I won't accept anything less than the best a player's capable of doing... and he has the right to expect the best that I can do for him and the team!” Lou Holtz

“If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games.” Paul "Bear" Bryant

“It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up.” Vince Lombardi

“No one can defeat us unless we first defeat ourselves.” Dwight Eisenhower

“Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” Special Olympics Motto
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NEVER FORGET

the sacrifice that they have made for us!

Arent Management Consulting: Companies Long Gone & Mostly Forgotten

Arent Management Consulting: Companies Long Gone & Mostly Forgotten:                  Below is a list of companies that once had a major presence throughout most of the world.  Today, they are Out of bu...

Companies Long Gone & Mostly Forgotten

                

Below is a list of companies that once had a major presence throughout most of the world.  Today, they are Out of business! Over the weekend, I was researching some of these companies to determine what happened to them.  At one time, they were the superheros of industry, today they are hardly remembered.

These companies have died in the past several years and I have listed what I believe caused their downfall.  Please update if you have others.  How many of these companies do you remember?

Once the pride and joy of young bicyclists – Schwinn Bicycle Company.  Name Is gone…Today owned by Nautilus.

T-shirts and others with the trademark – Fruit of the Loom.  Now owned by Warren Buffett.

Bethlehem Steel – Once the 2^nd largest steel producer.  Totally out of business.

Polaroid – In the last decade or two, wiped off the planet due to digital photography.

Compaq – One of the big boys back in the day, owned by HP but no longer makes computers.

When EF Hutton speaks, people listen – apparently not after a scandal.  There is a potential revival happening 20 years after OB.

Eastern Airlines – One of the big 4 airlines who had a monopoly on the east Coast.  Strangled due to deregulation of industry in late 70’s

Pan AM – See Eastern, TWA and a long list of others.

FW Woolworths – one of my favorites as a youngster growing up.  The “5 & 10” store.  Died due to aggressive expansion into specialty.

Arthur Anderson -  Perhaps the largest accounting firms and one of the prestigious BIG 8 when I was in college – hemorrhaged due to scandal. 

Worldcom – Giant telecommunications company that went bye-bye due to accounting scandals.

Enron – See Worldcom, Arthur Anderson and a host of others.

Who will be next?  There are definitely some lessons to be learned from these once-super human companies. We should not forget about these companies, there are definitely some takeaways that caused their demise. 


I chose not to list the .com era on purpose. Perhaps for another day!

Arent Management Consulting: Unlocking Customer Value

Arent Management Consulting: Unlocking Customer Value: The number 1 source to collect valuable information about your business is from your employees.   Front-line  Employees, those who are i...

Unlocking Customer Value

The number 1 source to collect valuable information about your business is from your employees.  Front-line Employees, those who are in the field selling, those who are in the plant on the production line, those who are on the phones in the call centers, those who are serving food at your restaurant.  These are our front-line employees and the ones who are closest to servicing and supporting the customer.  Executive management needs to get a better pulse on how to get this clear, transparency of how customers truly perceive your products and services.

A key takeaway from this post is to gain input towards better understanding your customers, find the time to listen to the voice of your frontline employees. If you don't, you'll know less about your customers than you should

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Several ideas come to mind to help make this work:

• Schedule time of management to be with front-line employees on a regular basis.  Sales Management for the most part is an easy one, where the first line manager’s routine expectations is coaching in the field. 
• In a call center, the supervisor may work with a customer service person by alternating calls.  This will be a show and tell format and then gain better insight from the front line in group meetings at the end of the day.
• Manufacturing facilities offers many ways for first hand observation to take place...nothing better than to see a manager actually working in the plant.
• Restaurants need more than the occasional manager coming up to customers asking if there meal & service was excellent. Often times, this is perceived by the diner to be checking up on the waiter.  Management from time to time need to actually “wait” the tables or be a food runner from time to time.  This will add value to their inputs both to their employees and “up the chain” of management.
• Management in Department stores need to be out front instead of in their offices or storerooms.  A little bit of interaction with a customer, merchandising and working in the fitting rooms will go a long way to giving them a greater pulse on the action. In the fitting rooms, one hears first hand the perception that customers have about the store and product.

The bottom line is that management needs to be visible to the employee and ask for honest feedback without any kind of repercussion.  As illustrated, most times this can be done by “walking in your employees shoes” on a regular basis.

A second area that you may want to look at to “Unlock customer Value” is be segmenting your customer base.  Learn and differentiate what makes up that “super elite” group of loyal customers that you have.  The more accurate you are in defining that special group the greater your overall customer satisfaction rate you will have.  Take for instance a program that Apple perfected...

Apple has had a program that they developed which involves alignment of the customer with a key ingredient within their overall formula for success.  The program is by invitation only to select customers and asks for routine feedback up to 2X per month.  This “selective” process by invitation only allows you to gain specific feedback to focus on the type of customer that you are keying on.  For example, when Apple puts together a number of factors to come up with its “premier” customer, they can see better ways to engage and partner with them if they know what makes these “premier” customers tick.  Similar attempts have been tried by Airline and Hotel programs but not to the success of Apple.

As you gain confidence on the insights and observations of your frontline people you will gain a much greater pulse on your environment and business.  Never forget that a focus on quality and customer satisfaction is good business.  Everything happens at the "front-line"!

Arent Management Consulting: 3 tips to help Work-Life Balance

Arent Management Consulting: 3 tips to help Work-Life Balance: A ccording to a recent article in “The Atlantic”, the USA ranks 23 rd in Work-Life Balance.  This was somewhat surprising to me until I...

3 tips to help Work-Life Balance

According to a recent article in “The Atlantic”, the USA ranks 23^rd in Work-Life Balance.  This was somewhat surprising to me until I read that the top 10 countries were all in Europe.  Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands were 1,2 & 3. In an economy that is challenging to say the least, we need to work on ways that we can be more productive yet maintain some sort of work-life balance. "A lot of people are having a more difficult time finding balance in their lives because there have been cutbacks or layoffs where they work. They're afraid it may happen to them, so they're putting in more hours," says psychologist Robert Brooks, PhD, co-author of The Power of Resilience: Achieving Balance, Confidence, and Personal Strength in Your Life.

Here are some ideas that may help bring more of a semblance of balance into your life:

• Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg married his long-term sweetheart this past weekend.  In their arrangement, Priscilla demands “100 minutes of alone time each week and one date each week”.  The need to schedule time with your family and friends is critical so that you can stay energized.  All work and no play  will eventually cause burnout.  Build time for your spouse, children, church and other activities beyond work!

• If household chores are not up your alley ~ delegate to outside sources.  I personally enjoy mowing the yard.  It is peaceful to me.  If you don’t like it, hire an outside person and it will free you up for other tasks that you may like.  I have tried so many times to be a “repairman” fixing things around the house.  One thing that I am finally realizing is that I am “all thumbs”.  It costs me much more in the long run trying to do these jobs by myself.  Learn to understand what you can do and can’t do.  The extra time can be devoted to fun things with your family and friends!

• Build time into being physically fit.  Either first thing in the morning to get those endorphins going, during lunch or after work, plan your schedule to include at least 30 minutes of cardio each day.  It will help keep you fit both physically and mentally.  This “alone” time helps to clear your brain and boost your energy levels.

Our hard work enables us to have many luxuries but it also can cause serious problems in health and social gatherings.  If you have any additional comments on balancing work-life, please share!  Have a great day!

Arent Management Consulting: 5 BAD HABITS to STOP!

Arent Management Consulting: 5 BAD HABITS to STOP!: Most of us have read Stephen Covey’s book on the “7 habits of highly effective people” .  This is not a blog about GOOD habits but rath...

Arent Management Consulting: Hospitality ~ A KEY to SUCCESS!

Arent Management Consulting: Hospitality ~ A KEY to SUCCESS!: I always thought that the hospitality industry was composed of Hotel or Restaurants .  My oldest son’s bachelor’s degree was in hospital...

Arent Management Consulting: 3 Ways to CRUSH Micro-Managers

Arent Management Consulting: 3 Ways to CRUSH Micro-Managers: In today’s volatile employment sector, one needs to have a certain endurance to survive an abusive work environment.  We all know ...

Arent Management Consulting: Social Skills for Effective LEADERSHIP "A to Z"

Arent Management Consulting: Social Skills for Effective LEADERSHIP "A to Z": There are certain social skills that can readily identify with leadership. These skill sets are mostly coachable and can be deve...

Arent Management Consulting: What they don't teach you in Graduate School

Arent Management Consulting: What they don't teach you in Graduate School: Always be Learning!  I have mentioned LEARNING several times in my blog and thought that I would devote a separate post on this vital su...

Arent Management Consulting: You need your profile on Linkedin !!!

Arent Management Consulting: You need your profile on Linkedin !!!: I first want to say that I am not employed by Linkedin .  I will now try to sell you on why you need to get your profile on ...

Arent Management Consulting: Michael J. Fox ~ A Canadian-American Inspiration

Arent Management Consulting: Michael J. Fox ~ A Canadian-American Inspiration: I will start this week's blog with a story that aired on Friday Evening’s ABC evening News, the person of the week was Michael J. Fox ...

Arent Management Consulting: Moving From Good to GREAT

Arent Management Consulting: Moving From Good to GREAT: Anticipate failures and learn from them It’s well documented how Hall of Famer Michael Jordan was cut from his High School Basketbal...

Moving From Good to GREAT

Anticipate failures and learn from them

It’s well documented how Hall of Famer Michael Jordan was cut from his High School Basketball Team.  If Michael had given up...?  How many times did it take to get WD40?  The 40th try!  How about Thomas Edison and his countless inventions....Thousands of trials and errors!  

Never, ever allow Failure to dim your view of the future.  When you truly find a position or career interest that you are passionate about, strange things begin to occur.  The energy that you get is incredible when you are on a mission.  It will help you through many obstacles along the way.  When you are doing something that you truly care about, your enthusiasm will be quite evident.  When you have a special skill or aptitude for a particular line of work, you will give 110%  each and every day!

Develop a Strong Support Team

Establish a strong network of colleagues and partners.  When you have like-minded people working with you, the sky is the limit.  It is not as important to be buddies with your team but search high and low to have diversified people with the similar goals to help complement each other.  Collaboration is key!

Always be learning!

As we have talked about several times in previous posts, the more educated you are on your goals with clear action steps and timelines, the better you will be at achieving them.  Always be learning has become a mantra of mine and in order to maximize productivity, you will need to be constantly learning and open to new ideas and processes.  We do not always have to re-invent the wheel, first check out best practices of those who have been successful before us.  We can also learn a great deal by looking at the past to avoid potential obstacles as we forge ahead!  Be adaptable and resilient!

Planning

Look beyond the next three to six months.  It is important for short term wins but let’s take a global look at the long term.  How you anticipate drawbacks will often have a remarkable effect on your decision to proceed.  Try to envision the comprehensive picture when making decision and in the planning and organization mode of increasing productivity.  Do not any under circumstance repeat failures. Learn from them and move forward. Don’t get paralyzed by the analysis that you do but keep in mind that the time you invest in proper planning will rarely have a negative impact the final results. 

Keep yourself Physically and Mentally Fit!

Getting your endorphins going will help you relieve stress and anxiety.  It will help complement your natural energy level and allow you to focus in a concentrated fashion.  Circadian rhythms can have a significant impact as well.  This is a field of study that I learned about years ago as it relates to respiratory and other body functions.  "Timing in a 24 hour period of time" can have a dramatic impact on productivity.  It has to deal with “timing the day” for peak impact.  Some people do better in the morning, while others in the afternoon etc…..When selecting your work team, pay some attention to this if you are on any type of scheduled work arrangements.

Stay focused on Targeted Customers

The greatest return on investment will be earned by a concentrated effort on a relatively small percentage of the total customers.  The 80-20 rule needs to be employed for all companies seeking to achieve a greater return on investment.  This small grouping of customers will return at least 80% of the total revenues on average.  When we can confidently identify these customers we have a real plan in place for success.

And finally....enjoy and 

Have Fun!

As I have noted several months ago, real job satisfaction happens when employees live in a trusting, productive environment.  A key mentor in my career taught me that having fun is an indispensable part of being productive because it energizes you and provides an environment for interaction and support.  When such environments exist, it will often increase the quality of your work time which allows you to accomplish more. Isn’t this a great situation….? An increase in the quality of work will undoubtedly increase quality of work and also productivity!  You just cannot beat that!

Michael J. Fox ~ A Canadian-American Inspiration

I will start this week's blog with a story that aired on Friday Evening’s ABC evening News, the person of the week was Michael J. Fox. Do you remember young “Alex Keaton” from the sitcom “Family Ties”?  How about Marty McFly in the “Back to the Future” trilogy?  His leading roles in “Teen Wolf” and “Doc Hollywood”?  Today, he continues to entertain with recurring roles as a lawyer in the TV series, "The Good Wife".

This giant of a man who measures 5’4” once wanted to be a hockey professional. Although not having size as in height, he has the biggest heart in the world. Growing up in Western Canada, like many “frozen yankees”, he wanted to play hockey, instead he brought us laughter and enjoyment on TV and the Big Screen. This Canadian-American brings inspiration to the world.  What more could anyone ever ask for in life?

It’s hard to believe that Michael was diagnosed with Parkinson Disease 20 years ago!  Despite this debilitating illness, Michael continues to bring joy and happiness to those around him.  He was pictured with his wife and children beaming as if he had everything in life.  He does!  When this disease stopped him from making movies, he continued to do good and became the World’s largest private funder of Parkinson Disease with 300M. His work has enabled an earlier ID of the disease to help match candidates for clinical trials earlier when symptoms first begin to appear.  As crazy as this sounds, 45% of all trials have zero patients up til now.  Michael is making a difference and has become a leading advocate for research into this malady. 

His life is full, and he continues to live it!  The lessons that he teaches are core to belief and life success.  "Happiness is a decision" ~ “Choose to be Happy”  ~  “If life gives you a bag of hammers…build something”

5 BAD HABITS to STOP!

Most of us have read Stephen Covey’s book on the “7 habits of highly effective people”.  This is not a blog about GOOD habits but rather those habits that need to be broken.  How often have you run into situations or people like these?

Getting an e-mail that is ALL caps.  If there is one way to get under my skin, send me a message that “yells” at me without any way of responding.  Thankfully, it does not happen often but did you ever get one and how did it feel?

• People on cell phones in public spaces.  I have heard so much on airplanes, restaurants, shopping malls and even in church where the communications are just inappropriate. Here are two examples of what I have heard [and wish that I didn't.] One time, I heard a guy on an airplane talking with HR and how he was going to fire the SOB.  As the phone conversation got more heated, his voice escalated.  Soon, it appeared that everyone within five aisles of him knew about this person who was about to be fired. Has this ever happened to you?      

Perhaps the craziest conversation that I had to hear was one in church where the communications appeared to be a tryst.  This was before mass but it was getting "hot & heavy".  I must say it was difficult to pay attention to the rest of the services and I did not shake their hand at the sign of peace.

• Inappropriate pictures being sent on e-mail and through text messaging.  You just do not know who will eventually see these pictures and when and where they could come back to bite you.  I will never forget a story that I heard when someone gave their colleague their phone to view a picture.  The picture was a group photo from a previous business meeting…the screen went dark and to get it back on other pictures began to emerge.  Needless to say by the time the phone had passed through several of her colleagues, this person's face was the color of a fire engine! 

• The constant jabber who simply will talk all day and never listen…enough said!

Finally, my #1 pet peeve is people who boast about themselves all the time.  Have you ever come in contact with such a person.  We all know it is important to be confident but to be infallible?  Most people believe that one of the skill sets that all leaders need to exhibit is humility. 

Have a super weekend and enjoy the super springtime weather here in the Northern Hemisphere! Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope that the fall weather is delightful.  

This topic is one that could grow appreciably as far as the social taboos that you have witnessed. I am sure that you have others stories, please share or comment and we can update this post in a few weeks!

Why all the IPOs? Be Careful!

Facebook’s  IPO was scheduled for today as I put together this post.  I believe that it will be one of the largest IPOs in history behind GM.  Perhaps on valuation, it could surpass GM but we will see.   As mentioned previously, I am not a stock guy and my understanding of IPOs is limited, however common sense tells me that some companies are rushing to take advantage of the IPO spree that we appear to be on.

I am not implying that Facebook needs money or is rushing into an IPO but the timing of their offering gave me the thought to revisit the crash where “fly by night” organizations were popping up all over the place.

After years of flat-line growth following the financial collapse 12 years ago, IPOs appear to be alive and well.  Many industries are taking part.  The chart below courtesy of Renaissance Capital shows the upward trending that is happening with MORE IPO's ALREADY through April 2012 than at any time going back to 2000.  

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Are these companies built to last?  A few seem to have debuted recently with minimal vision for the future.  I visited the past and the implosion that happened in the dot.com era which eventually brought about the bubble burst and many people who were caught off guard lost everything.  Don’t look now, but the same thing may  be happening…The indicators to me show that the majority of these IPOs lack strong leadership, vision, direction & purpose. 

• Do your homework on your IPO and why it needs the cash...

• Will the loss of autonomy be a burden to the new publicly traded company as it relates to increased reporting and competencies?  How will their competition and customers react to the increased communications that will be required? 

• Cutting corners to build  a company base ~ Are the plans in place to market the new product?  How much has been done to carefully plan out the launch?  Are the leaders in place the right people?

• What is the potential market?  Are they marketing one product or many?  Who are their competitors?  What value does the product bring above and beyond currently available products?

• Do they have positive cash flow now?  Why is the IPO needed?  Is it for expansion or is it to buy back shares or pay off debt?

• Where did the executive management come from?  Have they hopped around from one start-up to another?  There is a “network” of executives in many industries that appear to be jumping from one company to the next.  Getting rich quick and leaving shortly after the IPO happens. 

The bottom line is that many companies today do not seem to be focused on long-term outlooks but rather the immediate returns that can be significant in the short-term.  In no way am I an expert on stocks or investing. I wanted to post this simply as an alert to some of the observations that I have seen as it relates to management of these start-ups.  If you have additional comments, please post, we can all learn from your thoughts.  Thanks!

Arent Management Consulting: Lack of Training can be Fatal to your Managers

Arent Management Consulting: Lack of Training can be Fatal to your Managers

Lack of Training can be Fatal to your Managers

I will start this post out with a story.  It is fictional and any similarities to real life people is simply in your mind!  J 

Oliver is a recent graduate in management with an undergraduate degree.  He goes to work for a small company with a total of 6 employees.  He does extremely well as a salesperson and quickly shows his value to the sales-dependent company. In time, the company hires a couple more salespeople and within a year, they decide that they need to have someone manage those other salespeople.  The company has grown to 15 employees, and Oliver is selected to manage the “growing” sales team” of 6 sales people.  The company is out of business within the next 6 months.  What happened?

This story is exaggerated and could lead to a number of reasons for going out of business.  Since my blog is on business best practices particularly as it relates to management my thoughts will be focused on inadequate management training.

Most small businesses today are not unlike the story above.  They do not have the infrastructure to have training and development programs on site.  Often times, they do not think in the long term about what needs to be done and ultimately fail.  In the case of poor Oliver, he was quoted as saying “what I learned in College was all I needed for success.  I proved it in my first year, I know how to manage myself, but they (sales people) didn’t care.  I was successful...I am not sure why they weren’t listening to me”.  Oliver was doomed from the start.  He didn't realize that he had to learn new skills to be a manager and the small company failed in providing him the necessary training.  

In some cases, companies think of management training as HR related complying with workplace issues such as conformity, administration and harassment.  They may also focus on other areas such as finance, forecasting and budgets.  The MAJOR lack of training by most companies is PEOPLE management training which is key to long-term success!

How to fix this problem?

Pre-Promotion development ~ If at all possible, employees should be developed prior to being considered for advancement.  Most larger organizations have formalized management development programs in place. The resources spent on T&D oftentimes is the difference between long-term success and failure.  If you do not have the funds, staff or knowledge internally you will need to go to external support to adequately train your managers not only on workplace rules but “people skills’ such as coaching, leadership, delegation, hiring, conflict resolution, disciplining, presentation skills etc…

Core curriculum ~ Using either internal or external consultants, set up a syllabus of important “people skills” seminars that will be conducted on a regular basis.  Some of these will be mandatory and some will be for advanced learning.  The idea of a syllabus is so that classes can be changed as needed to accommodate changes that are evolving over time.

Gain ideas from business best-selling books ~ Too many books to mention, but anything from Brian Tracy is a good start. Perhaps if feasible you could have a journal club started to discuss the takeaways and best practices from selected books.

Research business periodicals ~ Harvard Business review articles as well as many others are great case study reports.  You could set up a conference similar to the manner described above.

Browse ideas on the internet~ There are wonderful blogs on the internet about successful business practices and management ideas.  Most authors of these blogs have many experiences which can help develop skills necessary for success.

I hope that this "lights a fire" for the need to constantly upgrade the skills of your managers!  if you have any ideas to add, please share.  Thanks and have a super day!

You need your profile on Linkedin !!!

I first want to say that I am not employed by Linkedin. 

I will now try to sell you on why you need to get your profile on Linkedin and be active on their professional social networking platform.  According to research that I did recently, Linkedin is gaining 120 new members every minute of the day.  Total profiles now number over 161 Million people from over 200 Countries.  I recall watching “60 Minutes” back around the beginning of this year when the host suggested that resumes will become a thing of the past and that ALL employers are looking for “internet footprints” of their future employees. 

2 Tips that I would like to share with you on building your Linkedin profile.

 

Your professional background is your “life story”.  Treat it as such but do not fib.  Outline your career highlights, promotions and awards.  Your involvement in outside interests such as coaching, volunteering, schools and organizations will tell a lot about who you are beyond work.   Remember that this is a professional social networking group.  Make sure that everything that you post is professional.

As part of employment, most companies will do a reference check.  Often times this is done in a perfunctory manner as most of us know.  However many a position has been lost when a reference check does not match.  The same can be said for Linkedin.  It is great to have references particularly from superiors, colleagues and direct reports if possible.  Don't overdo it.  It will cast a certain sense of soliciting endorsements of your work. 

I hope that you become ACTIVE in Linkedin.  It is far and away the best professional networking site on the planet!  It also helps immensely in re-connecting with former friends, colleagues and classmates!