Yves Rossy is the first man to possess the climb performance ability of an airplane using only his body movements to steer: the Icare’s dream reality !

Mikkel Viesergaard has hit upon a very simple idea called the Life Straw. Life Straw is a product that filters out 100% of the bacteria and 99% of the viruses from tainted drinking water for those whose lives are typically in underdeveloped countries.The straw is used like an ordinary straw with the exception of a filter designed to remove “toxins” to humans that typically induce diarrhea. Harmful bacteria and viruses are a medical concern because they’re killing 6,000 people per day. I’m betting this number does not influence other diseases that are a result of not having fresh water or those conditions where dehydration causes someone to be susceptible to other diseases.

The products range from $4US to $15US and allow a family to drink for a year out of one straw. The personal model filters a minimum of 700 liters or 84 gallons, while the family version filters a minimum of 15,000 liters or 3962 gallons of water.

Pretty incredible. So the next time you’re trying to be creative, realize the answer might be in your hands.

Check out our blog on the Snake Well Technology: a similar conclusion.

Some facts from the Life Straw website:

• More than one billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water - i.e. around 1/6th of the world’s population. (Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)

• The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 km. (Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)

• The average weight of water that women in Africa and Asia carry on their heads can be anything up to 20kg - the equivalent of your airport luggage allowance. (Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)

• Diarrhea kills over 1.8 million people per year and chronic diarrhea is a leading killer of people with AIDS. (Source: World Health Organization)

• In Africa, diarrhea is four times more common among children with HIV and seven times more common among adults with HIV than their HIV-negative household members. (Source: Mermin J, et al.)

• Diarrhea affects up to 90% of HIV patients. (Source: Bartlett JG, et al.)
  

• Diarrhea is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected children.(Source: PEPFAR)

• “In a study among HIV-infected persons in Uganda, use of safe water decreased diarrhea-type illness by 36 percent”. (The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)

Q. Why do old men wear shorts, black socks and loafers?

Because over the course of their lives, they learned that what mattered so much in their early days eventually didn’t really hold much meaning when they were older.

The wisdom of age, to some degree, is not about learning more; it’s about realizing what’s important and what’s not. At some point, maturity drives us to realize, “It doesn’t matter.” And in the grand scheme of life, many trivial things don’t.

What everyday opportunities are you ignoring that could teach you the lessons of pushing the extraneous aside and living life in a way that black socks and loafers actually don’t matter. (I just hope by the time I get to this point in my life, there are technologies that I can set that will never let this happen to me.)

For the past year I’ve taken my mountain bike to a local dirt path, put on my helmet and then started riding. One day, I stopped to read the sign that was the marker for a particular entrance. (The text is retyped below.)

Historic New York
The Erie Canal - Canvass White

When work on the Erie Canal began in 1817, little was known about canal engineering, and construction depended on the ingenuity of many persons. Canvass White (1798-1834), a surveyor, greatly facilitated canal construction by perfecting hydraulic cement. White discovered in 1818, near Chittenango, a “meagre limestone” that could be used to form a mortar which hardened under water. His discovery of this abundant, easily prepared, waterproof cement immensely improved construction techniques.

The Erie was a practical school for acquiring engineering knowledge. Resourceful contractors, surveyers and local workmen planned the canal through a wilderness. They drove stakes, bored holes, felled trees, pulled stumps, blasted rocks and dug in swamps. They built canal banks, towpaths, waste weirs, culverts, aqueducts, locks and gates.

When they finished in 1825, they had constructed a 363-mile canal across the state. It was considered the foremost engineering achievement of the time. Western New York flourished with new, cheap transportation. The canal insured the place of New York City as the nation’s greatest port and city, and it hastened development of the Mid-West.

The modernized State Barge Canal System, consisting of the Erie, Champlain, Oswego and Cayuga-Seneca Canals, was completed in 1919.

What I loved is that this is a true example of how innovation is always all around us, even on history’s time line.

White saw a challenge and  figured out how to make hydraulic cement which I’ve got to believe not only change the canal building but changed building forever. Boiled down, innovation happens often when everyday normal people are doing everyday normal work.

The next time someone pushes for complete equality, consider this quote by Coach Jon Gruden. “I do treat people differently, yeah, because I’ve yet to meet two people who are the same.”

No two employees, vendors, customers, bosses, or anyone else are the same. He’s right on the money.

Maybe today was just different in that I noticed something that I don’t normally remember. When the mail arrived, there was a copy of a catalog from a company that I’ve traditionally only known online. This is a type of software company.

The catalog hit me for two reasons. The first was that it was paper and the second, I found items in it that I would never have noticed if not for the paper version.

Sure I’d been to the site many times and have actually purchased products on at least a half dozen occasions, but that does not mean a customer knows what you offer just because you’ve got 50,000,000,000,000 items in your database. What it means is that through a search or through an ad, your customer/visitor finds you for a specific reason. Then, if your site is good enough to move people through different pages and towards other items, they take in the data and possibly purchase.

This one catalog had me flipping through pages. So 1989, but in a good way.

In fact, I found a software package I may never have taken the time to notice. It’s called Timeliner XE, a software program that generates time lines specifically targeted to those involved in teaching.  However, it also could be used for other purposes.

Here’s how it works. You set up a time line or use an existing template to start a visual. You pick the type of visual and then start adding dates and references. As you add the information, the time line appears and in doing so, gives a different perspective to the data. If you need a search engine, the software opens up Google without leaving the program, and you can input what you like as you see it. All this happens while the software generates your reference files for later use. This means you don’t have to go back and ask, “What page did I find that photo on?” It’s stored for ease of use and so, in academia, you don’t get called for plagiarizing.

The whole package is only $99.00.

I was introduced to this “find,” simply because the company opted for a different way of selling its products and services. In this case, it was an older approach to selling…paper!

Next time you think you’re being so fancy selling your product, try using some older technologies. They might enlighten your customer.

Also, check out Timeliner’s video demo. You might find it useful.

“Why study the stars? They all look the same to me.”

Ascribed to an apprentice of Galileo

Makes one wonder how often assumptions are made that in retrospect, are self limiting.

HP has set up a  nifty little site that helps you set up a new fax machine.  Yeh, I know, what’s a fax? Unfortunately there are people who still want faxes.  I prefer to send everything as a PDF image so that it’s digital.

Check out the site at:  HP FAX TESTER

Here’s a great tool for setting up meetings for a group of people.

One person sets up the possible meeting times and then the others get to pick when they are available.

Quick and easy.

Click Here: http://www.doodle.ch

I recently realized that my sunglasses had lost one of those nose holders that make the glasses sit comfortably. Having never lost one before, I thought I’d visit my local optometrist’s office down the street for the repair work.

When I entered the store, the lady behind counter looked up and asked how she could help.  While handing her the glasses, I explained that I lost nose piece and asked if I could get a replacement.  I considered the repair would be fairly simple.

I was told that Prada glasses have a special fitting and that the optometrist would need to see the glasses to determine if they’d need to special order the part.  He was to be in on the following Monday.  I left feeling a little cheated by Prada for making a specialty nose clip and by the store, since I believe the person who helped me should have been able to check inventory.

A few days later my son and I decided that a quick unscheduled trip to fly to NY City would be a lot of fun; plus I could also catch up with a group of friends from Camp Idylwold who were going to meet at the US Open.

Jake and I arrived the day before so that we could visit the Museum of Natural History, eat in Little Italy, and tour the Alex Beard Studio in Soho.  On our return walk to the hotel, I spotted a Sunglass Hut and thought just maybe they could help, because I had purchased the glasses at a Sunglass Hut in Rockefeller Center.  The lady I met looked at the glasses and said I should stop down at the Lenscrafters around the corner on West Broadway.

There I was met by Delcia who, upon first glimpse of the glasses, told me this was an easy fix and the cost would be $10.  She warned me that I would not have a Prada nose piece set but one of another brand.  I thought to myself, who cares!   She motioned for us to sit at one of the counters as she opened a box with enough nose pieces to fit every pair of glasses for an entire office building in Manhattan.

We selected two options and then she replaced the old with a completely new set all the while handing the glasses as if they were the most valuable item I could own.  Within minutes, the noes pieces were on and we started to do the micro adjustments to get the correct angles.

She asked, “These are a gorgeous pair of glasses. I’ve not seen anything similar. Where did you get them?”

I told her the Sunglass Hut uptown near 5th Avenue.  Little did I know that these were the magic words.  I had no clue that Luxottica owned and managed the Sunglass Huts, Lenscrafters and managed the optical units in Macy’s, Target, Sears, and BJ’s.

Luxottica Group out of Milan Italy.

“It is a global leader in eyewear, with nearly 5,800 optical and sun retail stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, China and Europe and a strong brand portfolio that includes Ray-Ban, the world’s best selling sun and prescription eyewear brand in the world, as well as, among others, license brands Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Prada, Versace and Polo Ralph Lauren, beginning January 2007, and key house brands: Vogue, Persol, Arnette and REVO.

In addition to an extensive global network, the Group manages leading retail brands such as LensCrafters and Pearle Vision in North America, OPSM and Laubman & Pank in Asia-Pacific and Sunglass Hut globally.
The Group’s products are designed and manufactured in six Italy-based high-quality manufacturing plants and in the only two China-based plants wholly-owned by a premium eyewear manufacturer”

Luxottica Site

Having purchased the glasses from another part of the company there was no charge!

I left the shop talking to myself.

1.  If this shop could have filled my need why couldn’t the optician shop down the street?  Bad move on their behalf given that I most likley won’t return.
2.  Delcia did a wonderful job at servicing my glasses.  So well that I felt as if my eyecare and my purchase were a top priority.
3.  Sometime what we see is not what’s happening in the background.  Retailers turned to an expert to take care of their eyewear service needs and leveraged a $7.3B in revenue, completely verticle company to make doing business easier.
4. Smart companies know when to outsource and outsourcing does not always mean overseas or doing only unseen activities.  Sometimes they are a company’s first point of contact such as livechat or call center activies.
5.  My glasses look and feel great!

Businessweek’s June 2nd edition, Special Report on blogging had the following comment.

BLOGS. UP and UP (And Lots of Zombies) -

In the spring of 2005, search engine Technorati reported indexing 9 million blogs. Today’s figure? 74 million. It sounds impressive, but only a fraction of all bloggers have posted within the last two months. Eliminate the sleepers, and the blog universe shrivels to 5.2 million. Kevin Burton, CEO of FeedBlog, argues that there are even fewer active blogs, about 2 to 4 million. In either case, more than enough to read. In fact only one in four Americans online, according to Forester Research, reads a blog every month.”

When I finished reading this these few thoughts ran through my head.

1. People might like to hear what you or your business is thinking but not as much as one might believe.
2. Blogging like any other medium is a type of fad taken on by everyone and then once the real users figure out how to use the tool, they become the true users. Akin to the ONLINE business in early 2000s and then when the brick and mortar businesses figured out how the entire model worked, they transformed and now use the internet as one of the tools in their arsenal.
3. One must write well enough to capture readers. Too many people can’t write. It’s why I have most of my work edited by Lorrie. I write well but there are times when I’m lost as to what I’ve just written.
4. It’s easy to get caught in hype and people love to jump on the next trend train. The problem is, just like many other fad booms, the train is going no where.
5. Consistency is key to much of life’s successes. Blogging is no different.
6. Blogging alone won’t bring readers. It should supplement other marketing tools: TV, magazines, radio market. Use blogging as an additional value. Then readers get this extra as part of their experience.
7. The blogger must have something to say that your niche finds worth reading. Just because someone can type does not mean others will read it.
8. By setting up a blog it does not mean you’re all done. Blogging is a technology that requires technological knowledge OR money to pay others to do it. Setting up an RSS…tied to Feedburner or AddThis, putting code for optimization, offering email this, Digg This, Save to Del.icio.us, configuring podcasting, fixing htaccess files to allow photos, or achieving an artistic look to a site requires time and energy. Without anything but a personal reward, this activity soon falls to the bottom of the to do list.
9. Blogging will transform into just another vehicle to get a message out for those that can write, will write, and can do it well.
10. It’s not nice to write when no one reads what is said. You’ve got to have tough skin.
11. The net has allowed innovation to spread quickly. but has not insured any success. It still requires intelligent thought to make something successful.

12. For many people and organizations, the “blog,” is launched to bring fame and fortune. Those that understand blogging often consider the blog as an online database of thoughts that can be used in the future. This is a very different perspective and one that allows for the less than sonic boom celebrity status.
13. I hope someone reads this!

Where does the responsibility lie when a customer wants to do business with a certain company? Is the person who’s been a customer responsible for keeping track of records to insure accuracy for future business or is it the responsibility of the firm that has conducted the business in the past, and profited from the exchange, to keep these records.

One might suggest it’s the responsibility of the buyer. They make the decision to use the vendor and therefore they must keep the records especially in a B2B relationship. In a B2C the clarity as not as clear. Or at least in my opinion.

In this day and age, organizations, once given personal data including name, address, and phone are more prepared to take care of purchasing records than the average consumer. Especially on larger size purchases. For that matter if a purchasing discount card is used as a tracking method. The technology exists.

In both cases there is a need for someone to take responsibility for their record keeping however when the two records don’t match then someone must step up to the plate.

Case in point. For the past 3 years we’ve been purchasing mulch from a company called local garden center. They’ve charged about $25.99US for yard and about $40US for delivery.

This year I called for another 5 yards as our records in our CRM said we purchased $180 US for 5 yards plus delivery. This year when speaking with one of the employees, she said that her records say that we purchased not 5 but 6 yards.

She should be right. She’s holding the invoice for last year!

As promised the firm delivered the mulch and we started to work to beat a rain storm headed our way. As we were finishing up we still had quite a large pile of mulch sitting in our driveway. At least a yard.

Not wanting to be wasteful, we bagged up the goods and decided call the company about the extra goods. We’d offer to bring it up to the store and they can then give us a store credit for $20-30. Think about it; $20-$30 is a small amount of money, especially when you consider that the client would stand to make several hundred dollars off the two trees we wanted to purchase for our yard.

Besides, the only thing we can do right now is send the goods to the dump!!! What a waste of money and energy used to produce the mulch.

The first person on the phone could not help me so I was transferred. The second person who answered was no use. The third person, the person who told us to buy the 6 yards versus 5 yards of mulch, finally answered the phone. During this telephone tag we also looked up last year’s credit card transaction and there was a $180 charge on our card. Exactly 5 yards worth. When I told the vendor’s employee this, she said that she would not take back the goods. In essence we should trash it.

The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth for what’s right.

Even though there is a balance that must be kept, here are some rules I would recommend.

* Small purchases B2C (soda, candy, shirt) both parties must keep records.

* Mid to large purchases B2C (Grocery bag, Videos, anyone with a purchase card, Furniture, etc) and the responsibility should fall on the organization/company to keep track of all commerce. Consider this; compared to an office how well do you keep records on household activities? When did you order the last pool supply or had your rugs shampooed?

The values can be enormous. Marketing efforts, clean and efficient reordering. Scheduling employee and managing cash flow. Even in the B2C market.

* Small, medium, large purchases B2B - Here I would put the onus on the company making the sale to keep accurate records if only for the purposes of aiding your customer in future purchases of your product or service. This does not mean the buyer is off the hook. Yes, you can trust the vendor to keep records but people go out of business and your time and purchasing power are worth its weight in gold. Time because the faster you can find who you purchase from the faster you can create reorders and go on to delivering your own product or service. Purchase Power because this becomes leverage for future business and shifting from supplier to supplier.

You do $375,000 US from one company and there are 5 others in the space, you can open your books to negotiation for better services, decreased pricing or even preferred status.

Customers in the B2C environment can do the same however it’s not as common. For example in our household we spend between $25-$60 a week in dry cleaning. If the records indicate the volume is about $1400 per year we might be able to leverage a constant discount rate instead of grabbing coupons out of our newspaper every week to get the same deal. A waste of time.

The garden center’s employee (could be one of the owners) never thought that her records were wrong and when I called to offer to return the goods for a small credit to be used in their store, she refused. Not only did she lose out on the next sale, but she lost out on two tree sales.

Always remember, it’s not whether you are right or wrong, it’s perception that matters and in the case of who’s responsible, make sure you’re covering what other consider to be your responsibility.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock for centuries you most likely heard the phrase, “Think outside the box.” Think about it for a minute. How do you know if you are outside of the box or for that matter inside the box? If I suggested to you that you should use round tires on your car, that would be outside of the box. You’d also think I were nuts. Square tires won’t roll. Sometimes we be better off inside the box! If there were any box we can define. Yes, I understand the phrase is used so that people are creative. Then let them be creative and not stupid. Don’t say it any more.

I’d like to introduce you to Paul Asiedo. An immigrant from New Guinea who’s raised three children in the United States as a cabbie.

And what a cabbie.

Comment: All three children came to the US not having spoken a word of English. On the day I jumped in his cab he told me his 11th grader was just pronounced top in her class. His other two had both risen to similar status in thier prospective grades.

Thought: Makes you wonder what happens to children who’ve been pampered.

Comment: He says, “Never vote for a democrat, they always complain about something and never say anything positive.”

Thought: Coming from an outsider it’s an interesting statement given that he’s trying to make a living as a cab driver. This is no wealthy man.

Comment: He loves that there are role models for “black” people including Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell. He added, “I tell my children, in America if you work hard you can be one of the most powerful people on this planet. Nothing is stopping you.”

Thought: He’s got his head on straight and he’s obvioulsy teaching his children that life’s no picnic, however, if you work hard, you can have it all.

(Paul, I very much enjoyed the ride and wish you the best of luck… and obviously you don’t need it.)

Can you remember a few of the failures you’ve had in your life? Of course you can. The reason is that failures tend to be reviewed over and over again in your head for years. When you’re 86, you’ll still be able to play those life experiences in your head, and if you’re lucky you will pass those great stories and their lessons down to your children.

Starting in college, I took a different spin. I started collecting successes. Yes, a list of successes. Surprisingly, success I consider grand today I might not consider to be a success; however, these events help me to keep life in perspective. When I feel a little down or that I’ve not achieved what I’ve wanted fast, I can easily reach for my notes (or go online to my server) to see that life is full of roses, lots of them.

I’ve just found that my memory is not as good as a list. Start doing it yourself. You’ll be amazed at that small success that you lose track of as you move through life. What’s even more powerful is you’ll appreciate life even more.

PS. I don’t think I’ve ever shared the list. It’s just for me. A little score card.

Her first two pregnancies happened without any complications beyond the fact that Romani did not like pain. This one was a different story. After hours of labor it appeared that the mother’s contracts were not strong enough to push the newborn out the canal. Those in charge knew things weren’t looking good.

The 29-year-old patient — an Asian elephant named Romani, was in trouble of loosing her child after it’s legs had started to enter the birth canal and with all the medications given to increase labor nothing was happening. The longer the calf stayed in the canal the higher the risk of both animals dying

At this point the 330lb. the calf needed help and quickly. She needed a rare surgical procedure. Emergency actions were taken as experts from around the country were called in. “Dr. Dennis Schmitt, a professor of veterinary medicine from Missouri State University. Other members of the surgical team came from Cornell University in Ithaca, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Fla. From both Missouri and from Florida’s Disney, experts were flown in.” (NYTimes Published: June 9, 2006)

It was not meant to be for the calf. The mother on the other hand was lucky. She awoke from the surgery, had some recuperation time and then head back out into the yard.

Upon her entry, her daughter walked up to her and in a gesture that touched everyone’s hearts they locked trunks for several minutes. To on lookers it touched their hearts. To the vets the show of affection helped to reassure them that both mentally and physically she had support.

As I heard the story all sorts of wonderful things flew through my head including the belief that in business we should also show some type of compassion to aid others when things go wrong. Obviously it depends on the individuals involved and what happened.

I’m talking about when someone gives it their all and it just doesn’t work out. Take a moment, lock trunks, nothing needs to be said, and help them to move on.

Ever been in a position where you’ve gotten a rude awaking when you’ve realized that a thought you believed to be truth really wasn’t? For example, an international executive was given the responsibility of developing future leaders for his organization that reached all around the globe. His primary focus was to develop project managers to fill the soon-to-be-left talent gap in executive management.

His approach was to create a school tied to a major university and then start the education process. The pool of students necessary to fill the gap according to his calculations was 19, and the time frame 2-3 years. The students were drawn from one Florida campus.

He couldn’t be more wrong.

Let’s work out some statistics.

* The company manages multinational projects in every sector of the world while the smallest project is estimated at USD $75 Million.
It takes upwards of 5-10 years to train someone in the skill set.
* The individual will live in the given country for several years.
* More than half of their leadership team will retire in 10 years. The figure is estimated at 25-30 people.

Mind you these numbers were not hard to find. It took me less than a day.

Now let’s play out the thinking. Given that the training program is multi year and it takes 5-10 years to train an individual, then you’ve got to add attrition into the numbers: not only for those that can’t do it, but for those that get hired away, get sick, quit, don’t like the job, etc. The number of applicants increases by at least 4 fold or even 5 fold. The students are also only being pulled from one university for global placement. Too monochromatic! A global force would be better suited to hire people who’ve got global reach.

In Denmark, it’s unheard of that an individual won’t speak at least 3 languages and have spent time abroad-in another country, if they want to move up in management. The time span for education is too short. A two-year plan only puts them into a short tract and leaves the rest to OJT (on-the-job-training) without supervision.

The goal is wrong. The goal should be to deliver to the company 20+ fresh recruits while ALSO preparing for the next round of departures. So 30+ would be the number.

A company of this size, with this strategy, would never be able to meet the demands, and once they realize it, it’s going to be too late. Not that they won’t succeed. It’s that there will be a talent gap between what’s needed and what leadership and management can deliver.

To this end the organization might still make money, but less of it. They still might grow but management will be putting our fires all day. Recruiting will be harder and more time consuming. The list is endless, and it’s all based around the lack of a sound strategy.

Now you might think I’m being harsh however when I rolled out the numbers to the executive he said nothing. As if he’d been hit by a rock. All his assumptions were off and he’d never realized the consequences.

This lack of thinking about the importance of sound strategic and tactical thinking is not uncommon. When a writer prepares an outline they think it’s writing. It’s not. It’s strategy. What’s the book about and what options do we have to make this book happen is all strategy. When the writer starts writing the actual pages it’s now tactical. This little error in insight is huge.

When one thinks or retirement and a number jumps into their head that sounds great just because it’s large does not mean it’s really a sound target.

Try it. Take a number you’d like to have in the bank when you retire, any number that realistic. $1 Billion is not a typical number so be real. $500,000 will only give $15,000 a year return if placed in a bank. More if done wisely. How many people in the US can live on $15,000? A few minutes of thinking do so much.

Now are there other solutions to all these situations. Yes, there are tons’ of solutions such as the firm above could automate several functions that are now manual and require skills that take years to learn. Language translators will be more common in 2015 then they are today given there are already prototypes in production for the conversion of phone conversations to many of the worlds languages. 5 -10 years may be long because the past has been based on OJT and not on a more scientific model. The application process could be more rigorous or even a contract signed that for the education they will work for 5 years in the field.

Even with these numbers 19 won’t cut it.

A little time spent being aware of what’s going on and then strategizing goes a long way. Remember, you’re paid to think.

It’s a simple and yet loaded question given that many individuals who run or manage and organization have not thought through this question long enough to make a sound judgment.

Ever notice that a simple little piece of advice can radically change how someone performs? An employee might not get how to work on a program or complete a task until you compare it to another activity. In the movie the Karate Kid, the master teaches the student to block by giving him the responsibility of “wax on wax off” in the form of a household task. The same motion is a karate basic.

Russell, the Director of Field Sales at Bayer, mentioned that for a few weeks he had trouble learning to snowboard until one individual stopped him on the slopes and told him when making a right hand turn to PET THE DOG, then making a left hand turn to WAVE TO THE CROWD. The two thoughts moved Russell to a new place and he started to board with ease.

The next time someone you work with has trouble, think of a similar function that may either: 1. Take the person’s mind off their frustrations; or 2. Give them a jump to a more common activity that they can easily do. The difference can mean substantial and rapid gains.

While using ELANCE.com, an outsourcing web site where buyers can get in touch with vendors domestically and internationally, I ran across a vendor that uses their marketing efforts to appear to be just like their clients.

Citadel Softlabs (P) Ltd., an Indian company based in Bangalore, was one of the vendors that submitted a bid for a project I had posted. Mind you there were posts from 7 countries around the world.

What hit me was in every picture on their site, they used American or European looking people as both client and vendor. http://www.citadel-soft.com/csl/index-2.html Knowing that the company is based in India, and the contact name is Vinod, an Indian name, I’m sure at least some of the employees are of Indian decent.

Yet not one was pictured.

It’s not a bad thing: just a positioning statement that may or may not work to their advantage. I’ve seen others take the exact opposite approach, showing that staffing are all Indian.

In your view, what do you think your clients wish to see, and how might a simple shift in thinking create greater subliminal connection to you and your firm?

Two points.

The first point is that being heard does not mean one’s ideas must be implemented. It means that if individuals are a part of a process and they know that their ideas and solutions are at least added to the list of ideas reviewed, participation from within the organization increases.

For example, if you’ve got an idea box around the office, the odds are the box is often not filled. The reason may be different than you think. Employees may feel as if their ideas are just discarded, if they’ve not been used.

To solve this, discuss some of the ideas that have not been used with the person who suggested them. Some ideas have potential, but they need some adjustments to make them workable. Talk to the people who offered the ideas to see what can be done.

Today I heard of a case in which and employee felt no one was listening to his idea until his manager sat him down and showed him that his ideas would not be allowed by the FDA. Once he learned that there were legal reasons, he immediately understood and better yet could supply a fresh new round of ideas that did not break the law.

(You can even post all the ideas submitted to show that you’re listening.)

The second point comes from a fable that I may be bastardizing.

It’s where a king traveled the land visiting all the cities he controlled. In each city, he allowed all the residents to come and tell him their issues. After several cities, one of the king’s aids asked him why he heard all the people’s challenges and often did nothing. He told the individual that sometimes people just want to be heard, and often that’s all that matters.

Now, I don’t suggest wasting your time and others’ time just kissing up. But I thought the idea that people want to have a say and feel appreciated when they’re given a chance to speak up is a great way of showing respect to your staff while simultaneously gathering fresh ideas that could change the course of your organization in a positive way.

Here are several key tools to keep your filing system in sync.

1. Keep all files on your server versus keeping them on local drives. This simple approach enables everyone to find all files and always enables everyone to do their jobs.

2. Use syncing software to take any files with you if you need them on a local drive and can’t use the net to reach the data.

3. Save all files with the following methodology. First place the date in the front of the document name and then the file name. This approach is because our society is saving hundreds if not thousands of documents in a given year, and the date allows the computer to put your files in a chronological order. The date or reference to a time frame is easier to recall than is the specific file name.

4. The date should have the following sequence. Year-Month-Day: so February 6, 2008 would read 08-02-06. This structure collects files by year first, i.e. all the 08’s are together, so that the files are in actual chronological order.

5. Save all documents in a folder that meets another set of criteria. The folder should be labeled EXACTLY as you saved the name of the contact-company in your CRM application. So if you’ve been working with Edison Properties, LLC, then you should label the folder as Edison Properties, LLC. How you do this is to copy and paste the file name instead of retyping, thus eliminating the potential for making spelling errors.

5A. The naming system needs to be created for everyone to follow. Here are a few strategies we use.

If a company starts with “THE” in its name, “THE” follows the rest of the name. ‘The Muse’ is filed as ‘Muse, The.’

Names of individuals that are not associated with a company are labeled by their given names, listing the last name first. ‘David Goldsmith’ is filed as ‘Goldsmith, David’ in the space provided for a company name.

When an organization has multiple divisions, you may name each division in this fashion: Dell - Technical Support

6. Not using CRM or customer relationship management software….or what I call Office Relationship Management? Then this is one software you need to install. Simple programs are ACT and Goldmine, Salesforce.com and many others exist, so the choices are plentiful enough that there are no excuses. These programs enable you to keep track of contacts with clients so that there is a record of all correspondences.

7. Use the ACT naming system for any physical file. However, I recommend a system called Paper Tiger that uses a numeric system to file all documents so that they can be searched.

These small activities translated to a larger organization make it easy for everyone to find any document or contact within minutes. Right now I can tap into my system and find any file, because I know the naming system and around what time it was created.

A typical customer/contact does not have thousands of connections, and yet if they do, this approach allows you to narrow down the search. Think of the opposite situation. Can you remember the file you created last summer in a field of 50 documents? Can you remember the exact name? I bet not, especially if you’re a busy person.

It may take a few changes in your organization to make this work, but the work will pay for itself in the elimination of frustrations, the presence of employee confidence in the system, retention of clients-employees, and the potential ability to keep staffing numbers lean.

The next time someone says they’re frustrated, don’t ask why, how they feel, or try to solve it. Ask a much simpler question such as…

What initiated this feeling?
What sparked this change?
What conditions set this in motion?

You’d be surprised at how their response to any of these questions enables the person to put his or her feelings in check. Then, let their answers aid you in offering sound advice.

If I were to ask you what hats you wear as a manager and leader, what would you say? Here are just a few offered from decision makers like you in just 4 minutes. Many are not good.

Teacher
Mentor
Salesperson
Friend
Joker
Lobbyist
Innovator
Mother
Driver
Postman
Writer
Accountant
Customer Support
Producer
Babysitter
Scheduler
Reviewer
Adviser
Translator
Marketing Manager
Planner
“Nurser”
Office Boy
Cleaner
Presenter
Project Manager
Trainer
Educator
Event Planner
Manager
Therapist
Problem Solver
Fire Fighter
Team Player
Diplomat
Researcher
Secretary
Engineer
Boss
Computer Expert
Logistics Person
Travel Agent
Assistant
Shop Fitter
Peace Maker
Lawyer
Doctor
Chancellor
Architect
Coach
Father
Security Guard
Devils Advocate
Chaperone
Cheerleader
Spy
Police
Detective
Decision Maker
Coordinator

What would you add?

If you’ve read any of my work, you know there’s an overriding theme that if leaders and managers are not thinking, things may not go as planned. At the same time, I push for decision makers to be conscious to Think Global Even If You Only Act Local.

Yes, even if you’re only selling shoes in Florida and bottled water in California and bearings in Massachusetts, there’s a need to be more aware of other cultures and more importantly the world we live in globally.

Let’s take the local first.

The power of being aware of others on a global scale locally is more important today than it’s ever been, if you consider that in any given city in the US, there’s a mixed society forming. Poles are living next to Indians who are living next to Chinese. If you sell in any major city in the world, the understanding of diversity within cultures is huge and can impact your bottom line.

The more you know about others, the better able you are to service them as clients, work with them as vendors, and hire them as employees. Yes, employees: even if you’re local. With the convergence of cultures and the connectivity of people thanks to the Internet, products and services that were once limited to a sale at the retail counter to a resident from down the street, may now cross more lines than you can imagine.

On the global side, it’s easy to see how the world is becoming smaller. In one day, you can talk, text, video, or email to someone in Canada, Argentina, and Germany and not bat an eyelash. Twenty years ago, this was not so common. And if you checked the manufacturing sites—ie, “Made in China”—of the products you use to communicate with, you’ll see that the collective “we” are more interwoven with each other than ever before.

This large step for commerce means that what you know and do will impact your future in ways never expected. Such as a buyer may or may not buy from you based upon your shoes, your greeting, your watch, your expression, or what they interpret as your aggressiveness. What you might think is a great reason for them to buy from you might be their reason for running in the opposite direction.

The Japanese covet watches, and in a meeting, your wearing of the “right” watch may be the deciding factor of whether you leave that meeting with success or spoils. Take a German and a Chilean and you’ve not two cultures with different approaches to business development. The Germans are direct, and the Chileans want a relationship before moving forward.

Do you know the difference between Bangladesh and India?

What’s amazing is that in the US, there is a lack of concern for knowledge that would aid in these misunderstandings. This apathy, and in turn ignorance, is not a recipe for us to meet our counterparts around the world half way.

If you think such ignorance is not as prevalent as you might think, read this article and listened to the video.

Do note that even though Kellie made an error, Jeff Foxworthy called the country Hungry and not Hungary.

NY Times article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html?ref=arts

YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juOQhTuzDQ0

Before I start, I’d like to recommend the movie Vantage Point, if you’re an action movie person. The film, from start to finish, is full of action.

That said, and without giving away the movie,

I love how films and television often are so adept at showing individuals who use technology to do incredible feats. How a cell phone can manage multiple tools. How a computer can automate an office. How a car can think on its own. Yet with all this “film technology,” people in leadership don’t take the clue that this type of technology is actually available to humans if only those who do the thinking would spend more time thinking and less time walking around.

If you’re a progressive decision maker, you are thinking about how this technology can be used everyday and how you can move your company from operating in a manually-automated to automated fashion. A simple way to jumpstart the process is to continually ask yourself where can you press one button and have everything happen.

Take a poll of employees who use some form of time management system, and you’ll probably find that 1 in 8 or 1 in 9 use a structured system. What an incredibly low number, considering 8 out of 9 people have taken, read, or tried some type of system in their life time.

So what’s the cause of these statistics? There are those that contend that others don’t use a structured system because it’s too hard or takes too long. Perhaps they believer that there’s no need to change since they’ve use something else that works.

From my perspective, the reason is far simpler. If you don’t use a structured system, it’s because you don’t see the value or did not achieve any value in previous trials.

My experience, however, has been one of high value.

Around the year 1986, (the year is not that important except to show you that I’ve been doing this for over 22 years,) I had taken my first time management program with Tony Ebersol, a local representative of a time management system. His job was to lead us through a half-day program outlining the reasons why, and the techniques on how to use the system to its fullest.

Some of the nuggets of wisdom came in simple and obvious tips, such as using a pencil as your writing tool instead of a pen, different ways to approach your day, and scheduling time as a factor in prioritizing your duties. After the classroom instruction, I realized that if I took this course to heart, I could get aspects of my business life under control.

Upon returning to my office and my desk, I knew I had some work ahead of me. My desk was literally stacked 2-feet high with file folders of all sorts. Mind you, 1986 was not the year of the desktop computer. Over the next few days, I cleared everything off my desk and started to use the system.

For one particular task at hand I had about 20 days to create a product for a good client that, looking back, I know I would never have gotten around to the project without the time management tool. I did end up finishing the development on time and then I sold it to the client for $42,000 with $22,000 profit in the order for our firm…where I was the owner. This same product was then reordered for close to 15 years with the same margins and then once the firm was sold, I received residual payment on the order for another two years.

This little time-management philosophy earned me over $300,000, and all because I took the time to schedule my day.

Since then, for over 22 years I’ve planned Sunday night through Friday night religiously, missing no more than 200 days throughout this entire time. I do it because I know that working from lists of tasks alone doesn’t work. The list never ends. At this point, if I don’t plan my day the night before, the day starts off too fast and often, even though I’m busy, I miss the key points of making the day mine versus fire fighting or being reactive. I do it because, I can sleep at night knowing the system is leveraging my talents and that I know that the important items in my day will be accomplished. Besides, I can’t imagine making lists every day and then never getting them all done. Isn’t the purpose of making a list of things to do, to be able to finish them? If every day you make a list, and you never get them done, at least for me, it would be depressing.

On a bigger picture, this little process has been expanded and adapted over time. I combine digital and paper scheduling as I can’t work my day off my TREO. I need some things right in front of me. The technology side has the CRM, the record keeping, and the notes about companies and people. The time management is much broader. It’s a direct result of the strategy of the firm, the tactics developed, the projects selected and then lastly, the actual planning. You gain the greatest benefit when you engage a much broader use of the tool. For those whose job it is to think, it becomes the ultimate weapon for controlling one’s day.

If you’re still not using some form of time management, it’s time to step it up. Quit missing out and take control of your day and your destiny.

How many products your firm launches in a given year determines how many new-product-development groups must be in development at any time. When was the last time you thought about the formula that your organization uses to develop products…or are you aware that one exists?

Estee Lauder, the $7 billion cosmetics company, launches hundreds of products annually; the firm requires teams of individuals to make the work happen. These teams are typically called New Product Development Groups, and their job is to create products that fit the corporate objectives.

In the case of Estee Lauder, there may be those working on cosmetics for Asians, African Americans, and Latina women. Each group individually requires sub teams that work on products within a group.

HBO, on the other hand, only looks for 7 new products a year to finance. These seven come ideas, generated from within their organization, are eventually chosen by the organization to pursue.

Verizon takes a different approach. Its products take years to develop and require a huge investment for each product. The FIOS product is one such product that was developed over years.

The question is what type of formula do you have set up for creating new products within your company?

Oticon, Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of hearing aids in the world, had a challenge ahead of them as to how they should market their state-of-the-art new hearing aids. Their products now used a Blue Tooth technology that allowed two hearing aids to communicate with one another, and created a surround-sound effect for the wearer.

The leadership throughout the world thought that, given the technology advancements, the marketing of Blue Tooth would be a great competitive advantage compared to the competition.

The manager of the US market thought otherwise.

His experience was based on a conversation with a test subject, the father of one of their management. When asked, after a trial period, what he thought about the product, the father replied, “I can SEE better.”

It’s not a typo.

The newer surround sound technology, Blue Tooth technology, that now bridged the two hearing aids together electronically, enabled listeners to get a sense of where the sound was emanating from, and in turn, enabled the user to pin point where to look.

This minute affect is huge when one’s life without the product requires the individual to scan their surroundings to find out where a sound is being generated from. It’s the difference between thinking you hear a horn blaring from above versus knowing the horn is sounding from a car approaching you at high speeds. I’d take option number two.

This was an advantage so unique that someone was willing to invest USD $3500 for a single hearing aid and $7000 for a pair, because they considered it worth the money. It’s like getting your hearing back.

The US Leadership saw this as an advantage and contrary to all others, focused on the surround sound with the belief that most people in the age group that would use the product don’t have a clue what Blue Tooth is anyway. It’s not their generation. Besides, today few young people even know what Blue Tooth is, even if they do use it themselves.

Do you know how your cell phone works and what type of technology is within the casing?

The marketing strategy paid off big time, with a surge in sales driven by a customer benefit while the Blue Tooth strategy did not. Obviously, the rest of the world converted to the surround-sound model.

For a $300 million dollar business, there are many lessons.

1. Scoping and testing the product is not the end all. One must also listen and know the client to see what they don’t see. No pun intended.
2. There’s a significant loss when a poor decision is made, even with a great product.
3. When management does not create the right strategy, not only are profits lost but opportunity losses are incurred.

I just loved the SEE better.

In February 2008, I saw a phenomenal play on Broadway that I would recommend you see if you have a chance to visit NYC. It’s called the Farnsworth Invention, and it’s the story of the race to invent-create television in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Without giving you the storyline and ruining the play, I’d like to mention a quote that hit me at the very end of the story. It was:

“I burned his house down so he wouldn’t burn mine down first,”

Made me think.

Think about how this statement depicts and mirrors many moments in our lives.

In the story, there are many parallels; one being that the CEO of RCA destroyed another individual in the process of building and protecting his empire. Both a link between industrial espionage, competitive intelligence, theft, and ethical issues facing those in management.

Similar to the Detroit 3 purchasing technologies or destroying technologies that would have harmed their business and in doing so hurt “real people” in the process. As we face the energy crunch/crisis today, they and we are paying price for those destroyed technologies.

Personally, I hope, I’ve never consciously or unknowingly harmed someone in such a manner.

NOTE 1: I’ve read some reviews that say that the author took too many liberties with the lives of the two characters, so I’m not saying everything in the play is true. But the message I got from it to apply to real life is a potent one…and still, it was a great play. http://www.thefarnsworthinvention.com/index.html

Link to the website http://www.farnsworthonbroadway.com/

NOTE: Other plays I’d recommend…the short list.

Avenue Q - One of my favorites. Sesame Street on steroids.
Chorus Line
Wicked
Hairspray
Spring Awakening - only because the writer wrote the play in the 1800’s and it’s still relevant today.
Curtains