CEO Blog - Time Leadership

The Birth of Plenty - A Must Read

2008-05-13T21:09:00.004-04:00

I spoke at a University of Waterloo Engineering Alumni event with CBET tonight. Good crowd. Great questions. I often find I am inspired to be even better organized and better in business when I talk. There is truth to the old adage "the best way to learn is to teach".

I read an awesome book on economics called THE BIRTH OF PLENTY - HOW THE PROSPERITY OF THE MODERN WORLD WAS CREATED by William J. Bernstein.

The gist of his message was very positive and gave me great hope. Strong economies and economic trade bring peace. As a business person it is always gratifying to know that you might be doing the world some good. More than just providing jobs but actually helping world peace. Commerce is the start of all peace in the world.

Throughout the book, he talks about four prerequisites for economic growth:

- Secure property rights, not only for physical property, but also for intellectual property and one's own person - civil liberties, safety. This speaks poorly for trade barriers and isolationism. This speaks poorly for countries with high corruption. Milton Freidman said, "You cannot have a free society without private property".

- A systematic procedure for examining and interpreting the world - the scientific method. The book gives many cases where parts of the worlds lose ground due to the banning of technology.

- A widely available and open source of funding for the development and production of new inventions - the modern capital marketplace.

- The ability to rapidly communicate vital information and transport people and goods. SYNNEX is a distribution company so we certainly contribute to this one.

One scary statistic was the earth's population. At the birth of Christ, there were was slightly more than 250 million people by 1600 there were half a billion. In about 1800 there was a billion and by 1960 it was 3 billion and there is currently about 6 billion people. Population is a world problem.

There was an interesting section on natural resources and the wealth from those and how they actually hurt economies (as a Canadian with natural resources, this is somewhat worrisome). The example they used were countries such as Nigeria who have abundant natural resources but lack wealth and have weak economies and countries like Singapore, Holland, Switzerland, and Japan have been economic powerhouses with few natural resources.

The author also pointed out that the lower the wealth of the country, the greater the economic growth. This means over time everything equalizes.

Near the end of the book, it pointed out the problem of wealth concentration. As a CEO, I have been a beneficiary of wealth concentration but have seen how it can be very damaging. Certainly it has been very damaging for the reputation of business people. I worry this will be a challenge we need to address (and I speak against my own self interest here).

This book is a must read. Read it!

Dr. Chris Bart on Managing People

2008-05-12T23:05:00.004-04:00

We are embarking on an anonymous survey of our staff. We do this to get feedback and see if we are improving and what areas need more focus etc. I always get valuable information - especially from the comments. Will be interesting this year in light of all the changes that have happened and the tighter economy.

I read a book yesterday by Dr. Chris Bart called The Tale of two Employees & the person who wanted to lead them. It is written in story format which in this case makes it slightly more interesting. The book is a very short read (took less than an hour).

Since I am taking a course (on how to be a good corporate director) from Dr. Bart, I found it even more interesting since I could "hear" his voice in it. His favourite expression is "this is not rocket science". And if you read the book, you will think it is totally simple.

The story definitely tells how to drive a mission statement through a company (Chris Bart is a Mission Statement Guru). It also provides common sense coaching hints for any manager.

Summarizing the book on why people fail to follow through on acting on their company's Mission Statement:

Don't know WHAT to do.
Don't know WHY they should do it.
Don't know HOW to do it.
Don't know that they should CARE.
Don't GET IT. (these people need to move on)

And of course the book uses simple examples on how to get past these stumbling blocks. This is not rocket science but it works.

Happy Mothers Day

2008-05-11T10:18:00.002-04:00

My mother emailed me this one:

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL .
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
" Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your supper."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER .
"This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home."

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
"You are going to get it when you get home!"

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

19. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

20. My mother taught me HUMOUR.
"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
"If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
"You're just like your father."

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
"Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"

24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

Driving vs Walking

2008-05-07T22:08:00.003-04:00

Just back from a day in Fort Lauderdale meeting with customers. Great people. Not exactly a holiday but it was warm and nice there.

Neil Reynolds wrote an interesting Globe and Mail article on driving vs walking. The gist of the study he wrote about was that it is greener to drive your car than walk because the food you need to consume to support yourself on a walk.

The absurd part of the logic is it assumes the person who drives will eat less food. Simply not true. They will likely eat the same so weigh more so it will cost more gas to drive them. Or alternatively they will get on a treadmill and burn more greenhouse gasses.

It did make a good point that the food we eat does cost energy (which is one reason I am mostly vegetarian).

Of course I am not the person who should be blogging about this, it should be my environment brothers Glen and Lyle who do blogs largely about environmental issues.

The Power to Simplify

2008-05-05T15:29:00.002-04:00

I was in a meeting today where highly complex technical software was discussed. The discussion got mired down as a result of complexity. My sense is it will not sell or be able to be used unless it can be simplified.

A large part of good communication is simplification. Keeping things short, clear and to the point makes communication work well. People understand it better and remember it better.

Like a good book, well organized books that simplify win. There are few new ideas, there are only clarifications and simplifications of old ones.

Part of the goal then is to learn how to simplify Making things easier and simpler is smarter. This is a true art that we all should work towards.

Energy and Time Management

2008-04-27T21:17:00.003-04:00

My quote of the day:

"There is a difference between doing the things you have a right to do and doing the right things"

Who said it?

Speaking of getting the right things done (I know different kind of right)...

I read an interesting article on time management in Harvard Business Review. (Aren't all time management articles interesting).

I will let your read the original article to get the points:

1 - break your responsibilities into categories.

2 - Ask what percentage of time to spend in each category.

3 - Check alignment of this with colleagues and superiors.

Then it give some tips on execution.

I liked the article and it follows the tried and true - know your priorities and spend your time where the priorities are. What I would add though is a section on energy. In many cases, it is not just the time, it is the creativity and energy that makes the true difference in getting the right things done.

Thought Viruses and NLP

2008-04-24T20:06:00.002-04:00

As the economy tightens, I have given much thought on how to thrive in a downturn.

It occurs to me that companies tend to over react in the short term at the expense of long term health and prosperity. Of course this is easy to say if a company is prosperous, they have the luxury of thinking longer term. But in the end, it is those companies (and people) who think long term that win.

Changing topics completely:

I recently read "Thought Viruses - Powerful Ways to Change Your Thought Patterns and Get What You Want in Life" by Donald Lofland. It is an excellent book but takes a long time to read if you actually do the exercises which are probably worth doing; although I didn't spend the time to do them all.

Donald Lofland is a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner. He also has a PH.D. He talks about how we can change our thought patterns and re-program ourselves to reach the success that we want.

With Spring coming on, I am starting to get hay fever and allergies and there was an interesting chapter on how using NLP, someone can cure allergies. This is definitely something that I am looking to try. If anyone knows a good NLP practitioner, I would be interested in speaking to her or him.

There are a total of 40 exercises in the book on everything from discovering your mission, setting life goals, setting priorities in life, looking at your personal uniqueness and your values, etc., through to looking at specific thought patterns.

This book is worth reading. And read it with an open mind because some of the concepts are a bit "out there" or unbelievable.

The Wealth of Nations

2008-04-23T18:22:00.004-04:00

I am really enjoying the beautiful weather. The snow is almost all gone except for small patches on the ski hills.

I reread (more like re-scanned) Adam Smith's famous book, The Wealth of Nations. It is a fairly aggressive book based on its size with almost 1,000 pages of fairly fine print of which half of it is dedicated to the supply and demand of corn. But it is surprisingly readable and even interesting. And it is the basic textbook of all economics.

Wealth is defined as production capability or what we might call GDP.

I figure with a changing economy, it never hurts to brush up on the basics. We are in a period of sharp changes in supply and demand. It is important for business leaders to try to understand what impact this will have on them and their companies.

One principle that Adam espouses is the division of labour.

He also talks about principals, those are the people that supply the capital that is put to use by the agents (people who apply the capital). His view is that people should not do both, they should do one or the other. It is an interesting thought.

He is very harsh on protectionism (as am I).

I am not going to recommend reading it because the size is too daunting for many people. I am suggesting thinking of the changes in our economy and how to thrive with them.

The World as 100 People

2008-04-22T20:49:00.003-04:00

One of my friends, Stuart Crawford thought I should put in a plug for the upcoming SMB Nation conference.

I know I lead a fortunate (although busy) life. Actually, I prefer to think of it as a full life. I read the following in a newsletter recently. Thought it was interesting

The World As 100 People...

If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would like this…

60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 7 Latin Americans, 5 from USA & Canada and 1 from South Pacific
49 would be female and 51 would be male
82 would be non-white, 18 white
67 would be non-Christian, 33 would be Christian
32% of the world’s wealth would be in the hands of only 5 people and all 5 would be US citizens
80 would live in substandard housing, 24 would not have electricity, 33 would not have access to safe water
67 would be unable to read, 50 would suffer from malnutrition
One would be near death, 2 would be near birth
Only one would have a college education but 7 would have internet access
When you consider our world from such a perspective, the need for both acceptance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent.

Now off to get caught up.

Setting Perfect Priorities and Impossibility

2008-04-19T06:41:00.002-04:00

I love the early morning hours. So many things I like to do. And now with the wonderful weather, it is even nicer. First thing in the morning, it is all about possibilities. Tonight when I go to bed, its about results.

I have been traveling this week so lots of catch up today. And I have neglected stuff around the house so have lost of mail to go through, bills to pay, den to organize etc. I know I will suffer today from "People always tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in a day". But I love the next part "People always tend to underestimate what they can accomplish in a year".

I have recently had to do some major juggling of my schedule. This causes guilt for the things I have to cancel (although I realize this sort of guilt serves no purpose). It is a problem of possibilities. I have just so many things I want to do and so many things I get invited to do.

Life really is about setting priorities. Not only at a big level but at the tiniest of level. I tend to be long term goal oriented so this helps me set some priorities. I am not sure there is a perfect way. Thinking if I figure that out, there would be a good book there. I did research it a bit and found lots of articles including those here, here, and here.

One reason I study time management is so I can do more things. It works well as long as I remember to schedule time for the things that build me up and make me stronger and therefore more productive.

I am grateful that I have so many things I want to do.

Perhaps cloning will advance.

Challenge

2008-04-14T15:07:00.002-04:00

"Above all, challenge yourself. You may well surprise yourself at what strengths you have, what you can accomplish."

Cecile M Springer.

I have long been motivated by challenge. Part of this is conscious. Part is not.

The part that is unconscious is the part I grapple with. It is that part that causes me to take on more than I can easily complete in reasonable time. Or worse, it is the part that causes me to make my own barriers to getting thing done quickly and efficiently.

Good challenge gives me energy. Often enough energy that tasks seem effortless. And productivity soars.

Bad challenge drains energy.

I am spending some time tracking what are good challenges and what are bad. I simply have a column on my time management tracking sheets that I note whether something gives or takes energy. Interesting exercise.

Much of time management is energy management. High energy is what brings above average productivity.

Crucibles of Leadership

2008-04-04T08:32:00.004-04:00

It is hard to believe that is is April and it is still snowing.

Recently I read a book called Crucibles of Leadership - how to learn from experience to become a great leader by Robert J. Thomas. I found the title to be interesting and when I did an informal poll, most people did not know what a crucible was. (It is a vessel that is used by chemists. Originally in medieval days it was used by alchemists (people trying to make gold out of base metals.)) People's definitions were from being a bowl to a religious symbol.

One troubling thing about the title is that alchemist were never successful so does this mean that these crucibles of leadership won't work?

The gist of the thesis is that often it takes a transformative occurrence to transform a leader who in turns transforms a company.

According to Warren Bennis in the Forward of the book:

This invaluable book reminds us that talent is only the beginning of greatness, that leading and learning are inextricably linked, and that the crucibles that break some people can give rise to serial leaders and learners as well.

Three qualities, in particular, stood out as common to outstanding leaders, young and old:

Adaptive capacity is the ability to learn - about yourself, about the world around you, about what it takes to adjust to, and to make, change.

Engaging others through shared meaning is teaching and, in turn, listening - being an interactive leader, one who can enlist as well as command, and one who is capable of mobilizing the best in people through shared vision.

Integrity is about knowing what you stand for - possessing a strong moral compass - and having the courage of your convictions; it is a process of self-knowledge that provides a core identity and a spine that remains strong even when circumstances demand that you adapt. Integrity is what keeps the leader from becoming a hollow dissembler of a leaf in the wind.

Often a crucible was not just the experience but people gained insight into how they learned.

I liked the short clip about Sydney Harman (founder of Harman-Kardon) who spoke about how his daily journalling gave him insights into what was on his mind.

Surgeon Atul Gawand underscores the central role of practice: People often assume that you have to have great hands to become a surgeon, but it's not true. It is practice that builds skill. I know I need to practice more on those things I which to excel in.

I liked how positive the book was. Even bad experiences can lead to greatness and learning. I liked the books focus on learning and change. It meshes with my belief that as long as I can learn, adapt, change and grow, I can succeed. It is growth that is one of my primary drivers.

Interesting book.

Social Media

2008-04-02T00:17:00.003-04:00

I spoke at the Social Media Conference today (well technically it was yesterday but...). Lots of interesting people and questions. It sure drove home the impact of the new media (like blogging).

The power of the press is less concentrated. It no longer resides only with editors of large circulation publications and TV networks. It lies with individuals. This said, numbers and eyeballs still count. A blog with 100 readers is less powerful than a publication with 1000 readers. Numbers still count.

The Social Media Conference was particularly interesting because SYNNEX just launched a private blog for our Phillipines staff and had a huge positive reaction.

Web 2.0 is great but already seems old (I have been blogging for almost 3 years). And sure enough, people start talking about web 3.0. Maybe I should start blogging about web 4.0 just to stay ahead of the curve.

Kevin Murai's appointment has gotten a lot of press. Not surprising - this is a major coup for SYNNEX. Will really take us to the next level. Not that Bob Huang was not incredible to start a company and grow it to $7 Billion in sales. It will be a double edged sword for Kevin. The company is highly successful which is good. Bob's mark is deep on the culture. Kevin will have to use tact and skill to make his mark (and more important figure out where his mark should be)

This will be a fun new era at SYNNEX.

SYNNEX Announces New Co-CEO

2008-03-31T14:07:00.002-04:00

Big in my life is the appointment of Kevin Murai. This is a major coup for SYNNEX. Kevin has a great repuation. He has a huge depth of distribution experieince running a bigger company. He will also have a good North American rolodex which never hurts.

He is a smart guy who knows he is joining a highly successful company so I suspect any changes will happen gradually and with thought.

The press release:

FREMONT, CA-March 31, 2008-SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), a leading business process services company, today announced that Kevin M. Murai has been appointed Co-Chief Executive Officer and has been elected to the SYNNEX Board of Directors. In addition to joining the SYNNEX Board of Directors, Mr. Murai has been appointed to the Company’s Executive Committee.

Mr. Murai will share the Chief Executive Officer role with current President and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Huang, and will have co-responsibility for the leadership of the entire SYNNEX organization. As a senior executive with more than 19 years of distribution channel experience, Mr. Murai joins the SYNNEX team with very strong operational and industry experience, as well as established relationships in both the customer and vendor communities.

In November 2008, it is expected that Mr. Huang will retire and, upon approval of the SYNNEX Board of Directors, that he will be named Chairman of the SYNNEX Board with Mr. Murai becoming the sole Chief Executive Officer. As part of this planned transition, Matthew Miau, current SYNNEX Chairman, will remain on the Board of Directors.

"I am very pleased that Kevin will be joining SYNNEX and co-leading the organization with me," said Bob Huang, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer. "With his deep industry knowledge, exceptional operational skills and global management experience, I am quite certain Kevin will quickly integrate into the SYNNEX culture. He is poised to help lead the execution of strategic initiatives designed to improve the business model and diversify our business process service offerings."

“Kevin has a solid reputation and excellent history in the IT supply chain and we welcome him to the management team and Board of Directors of SYNNEX,” stated Matthew Miau, Chairman of SYNNEX Corporation. “We look forward to his leadership in driving additional shareholder value at SYNNEX.”

Before joining SYNNEX, Mr. Murai, was employed for 19 years at Ingram Micro, Inc., most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer, as well as serving on the Ingram Micro Board of Directors. Mr. Murai has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

"I am excited to join SYNNEX at this very key time in the history of the organization," stated Mr. Murai. "I look forward to working with Bob to further execute on the strategic vision he has set for the organization as well as working with all the SYNNEX team members, who are well known for their operational excellence and customer and vendor service."

Meatball Sundae

2008-03-31T08:26:00.002-04:00

I recently listened to one of Seth Godin’s books called Meatball Sundae - Is Your Marketing Out of Sync. Seth has a great marketing oriented blog that is worth following. His post today is on my favourite topic - constant learning.

I have been a fan of Seth for a long time and heard him speak live a few times. Seth is the founder of Squidoo.com, but mostly he is known as a marketer and an Internet guru.

The gist of the message in the book is that the new social medias are dramatically different than the old ones. In the old days, the editor of a publication of magazines or television stations had huge control over what audiences read. So in order to be successful, companies had to influence these few sources of media. Now the power of the press resides with the people so there are many more people that need to be influenced.

New media allows a wider variety of products and mass production is less of a factor. it allows for more discrimination by the customers. They either want the best (and are willing to pay top dollar for it) or they want the cheapest. It all depends on the product.

He did acknowledge that there is power to having more readership and clearly traditional media has the lion's share of the readership and not all blogs are created equal – some have lots of readership and some do not.

It was particularly compelling for anyone who has not recognized that changes that are taking place in the media world. I found it interesting since, as an active blogger, I am one of those new media sources he is speaking of.

It is worth reading or listening to.

Discipline Secrets - 11 tricks for Self Discipline

2008-03-27T17:41:00.003-04:00

One of my friends - Nate Collier did a great post on Discipline. His message was we all have discipline what we need is motivation. We know this because we all can get things done if we are inspired. So build the motivation to build discipline.

I agree completely.

For me, I like to add tricks to help with discipline:

1 - To add to the motivation, tie in an added reward. Take something you want and "reward yourself" if you do the task you want to discipline yourself to do.

2 - Same thing but punish if you do not do it. Often punishment is more of an incentive than reward.

3 - Lead me not into temptation. For example, if I want to eat cookies at night I can but I have to go out and get them or bake them - both of which have a barrier to entry.

4 - Create an environment that supports what you want to do. If you always work in a specific place, you become acclimatized to it so it is easier.

5 - The primary difference between successful and unsuccessful people is long term vs short term. The challenge is often the gain is long term (and huge) but the pain is short term (and small). EG - Lifting weights. Deliberately listing the long term impacts can help. Also realizing that successful people think and act long term inspires me.

6 - Develop the habit. I have often blogged on Success Habits. Once something is a habit, it happens more easily.

7 - Eliminate or reduce the part of the task that you are objecting to. Often I find it is something small that is holding me back. EG - get the right tool to do the job.

8 - Delegate it. Sometimes you don't need to do it yourself to get the advantage (does not work with eating right, working out, stopping smoking etc. but works for some things)

9 - Start it. Often it is just the getting started that holds us back. Not to advertise for Nike but steal their phrase - "Just Do It". And sometimes I make the job simpler to start. For example, it is not much work to get in the car in my workout clothes and drive to the gym.

10 - Work with a buddy. Often just having someone to hold us accountable makes us work harder.

11 - Track it. Ideally track it positively. Rather than lose weight, weigh X. What gets measured gets worked on. I write my work outs in a book.

Other tricks you have?

Managers and Leaders - Are They Different?

2008-03-24T10:24:00.003-04:00

There is a classic article from Harvard Business Review by Abraham Zaleznik in 1977 that addresses Leaders vs. Managers.

From the Best of HBR:

"The difference between managers and leaders, he wrote, lies in the conceptions they hold, deep in the psyches, of chaos and order. Managers embrace process, seek stability and control, and instinctively try to resolve problems quickly - sometimes before they fully understand a problem's significance. Leaders, in contrast, tolerate chaos and lack of structure and are willing to delay closure in order to understand the issues more fully in this way, Zalenznik argued, business leaders have much more in common with artists, scientists and other creative thinkers than they do with managers. Organizations need both managers and leaders to succeed, but developing both requires a reduced focus on logic and strategic exercises in favour of an environment where creativity and imagination are permitted to flourish."

I love the notion that leaders are highly creative. I have always tolerated a high degree of uncertainty and chaos. I make decisions routinely with imperfect data. Although I do not consider myself to be artistically creative, I pride myself on my creativity which is the heart of entrepreneurship.

No article on leadership would be complete without the concept of mystical brilliance that allows only great people to be leaders etc. It quickly brings the reader down to earth by saying this view "contrasts sharply with the mundane, practical and important conception that that leadership is really managing work that other people do."

"Managerial goals arise out of neccessities rather than desires".

I found the article to be particularly "freeing" for me since I have to work hard at some of the "management" type things. I know in order to be good, I need to develop both. I do believe we all have some Manager and some Leader in us (and niether is better than the other - we need both). I suspect I created my Time Leadership Book as part of a quest to conquer some small part of management (and I know that teaching is the best way to learn)

I blogged about Leadership vs. Management early in my blogging career in May 2005 because my blog is called CEO Blog - Time Leadership (not Time Management). I am more of a leader type than a management type. From that post:

"Leadership is about doing the right things, Management is about doing things right.Leadership is about having the map and going the right direction (goals). Management is about going there efficiently.Leadership is about effectiveness. Management is about efficiency.

Leadership comes before Management."

The Importance of Sleep

2008-03-18T10:39:00.003-04:00

I think many CEO's have a dysfunctional relationship with sleep - mostly caused by travel and some by work load. In my first Time Management book, (written when I was younger of course), I had a short section that essentially said "sleep is for wimps". I am going to rewrite that section. I no longer believe that.

Recently I have been reading about the effects of sleep deprivation. There is a great but scary article at CBS news that explains the science of sleep. It talks about lower brain function when even mild sleep deprivation happens. And high brain function is another thing I value highly.

One thing I pride myself in is my ability to learn and grow. I am modifying my view on sleep. I still believe many people sleep too much but I am modifying my personal acceptable sleep to 6 to 7 1/2 hours per night. I am going to see if I can set aside a month on this much sleep. I know this is not the first time I have blogged about sleep. Check out this.

Of course its easy to say but I need to plan better. Tonight I fly the red-eye on which is difficult to get more than about 3 hours of sleep and I have a fairly full day tomorrow - not ending until late tomorrow night (I am at a Raptor's game courtesy of a vendor).

The Perfect Day

2008-03-16T11:15:00.002-04:00

There was a good article on CEO Blogs in the Globe and Mail. They mention my blog prominently.

I am back on the road. A good friend challenged me "what is your perfect day?". Great question. I sketched out a day with lots of time to read, relax, work out, hike, eat well etc. After I sketched this, I thought I likely missed accomplishment because that is a big one for me.

In one of my notebooks I keep a list of "Perfect Day" things I would want to do. I have not looked at it in a long while. Time for me to get back to that.

And because I was asked the question, I took the time for a great 7 mile run. Simply asking the question meant I had a more perfect day. Keeping and reviewing the list will help me to have more perfect days. And why shouldn't I.

What would your perfect day look like?

Inventoritis - Don't love your Baby Too Much.

2008-03-13T06:16:00.004-04:00

I read a great book by Tatsuya Nakagawa and Peter Paul Roosen called "Overcoming Inventoritis: The Silent Killer of Innovation". When Tatsuya first sent me the book, I instantly thought - SYNNEX - distribution - this must be a book on how to turn your inventory faster. Having the right inventory and turning it fast is key to any well run distributor.

But the book is about Inventors or Creativity. The gist of the thesis is all organizations need innovation to grow and thrive but all companies have built in characteristics that stifle creativity. The book covers a series of interesting case studies to point out the challenges and how some successful companies overcame the obstacles.

One clear message is "falling in love with your invention is a sure way to fail".

The book build us up to my favourite chapter (7) which has the answer. 12 ways to overcome Inventoritis.

1 - Assume the product or idea is terrible. Challenge and re-challenge.

2 - Know your customer, industry and business well. I notice that everyone else's business is easy and the grass is always greener there but when I invest, I lose money.

3 - Build a solid leadership bridge between marketing, engineering and sales.

4 - Make a commitment to self-improvement

5 - Be prepared to give up control. Control needs to be where the best good for the innovation is.

6 - Steal ideas from others and let them steal your ideas. I have always said "Ideas are a dime a dozen - implementation is what counts"

7 - Budget the time to help others and ask for help. Interesting, I am better at giving help than asking for it. Something I should work on.

8 - Lead with process.

9 - Create a slogan for the strategy.

10 - Leverage your resources (This is a huge part of the key to success in general)

11 - create a network or outside advisors. I would modify this to say just a network of people who can influence the market, spread the word, sometimes advise, challenge etc.

12 - Now you don't think I am going to just give you the full list. Read the book (the list is on page 92)

The book can be downloaded for free at Tatsuya's company web site - Atomicacreative.com.

Specialties

2008-03-10T00:04:00.002-04:00

I have been in Monterey California for the past few days at executive meetings. Imagine the contrast when I arrived home to find snow after running for an hour yesterday outside in shorts. Snow. Lots of it. Drifts over a meter high. It is beautiful.

I often speak of niche markets and specializing - not only for companies but for people. I believe it can give competitive advantage. I was asked the question of how do you know what to specialize in?

I suggest specializing in something that interests you. Specialize in something that you are good at (although if you work on anything, it will improve).

Once I decide what I want to specialize in, I study. The library is a great place to start. And of course be disciplined in the study. Read. Listen to books. Take courses. Meet with people who can coach and mentor.

Fortunately (but sadly), there is not much competition out there. Most people are not willing to spend the time and energy on things like study. Often just 15 or 20 hours of study will move you into the top 3 percentile on a topic (depending on how narrow the topic is).

You become what you say you are (this is true for companies as well as people). The more you say it, the more you notice things in your specialty and the more people send you relevant stuff. For example, rarely does a week go by that someone does not email me something on Time Management.

What about the concern that you will get bored? I like variety too. There is usually room for lots of variety even if you have a specialty. And there is no problem changing specialties if that is your decision.

Because of the Blog title "CEO Blog - Time Leadership" and the ebook, CD and book I have written on the topic, people think Time Management is my specialty. Partly true. Mostly it is being the best CEO I can be. Time Management is part of that.

If you google “CEO blog” or “CEO Time Management”, I get high rankings there.

More on Success Habits

2008-03-03T10:17:00.002-05:00

Habits are like a double edged sword. Some habits are good and some are bad.

The key is to dull the bad side of the sword and sharpen the good side.

One challenge that I have seen is the more focused anything gets in life, the more it tends to become bigger in life.

This has served me very well when my goals are to grow a business, to sell more, to market better, to be more successful, etc. Because of my focus on this, I sell more; I am more successful, and grow the business more, etc.

The flip side of this is if there is a habit that I want to stop, and I start thinking about that, I tend to do more of the bad habit.

It has been said that you cannot change a habit; you can only replace it. I guess the key is to look at any potentially bad habit and simply look at replacing it with something that is more positive.

Part of this can be as simple as focusing on the good outcome - not the bad habit. I have never smoked but using smoking as an example, focus on breathing clean air and feeling good, not on stopping smoking.

Have Success Habits

2008-02-25T17:02:00.005-05:00

The EMJ/TSD division had their sales retreat in Niagara Falls on the weekend. It was very inspirational. Good spirit. Good ideas. We have great vendors and great people.

The following is an article I wrote for Synnergy Magazine (SYNNEX's internal newsletter). (In keeping with good time management - fair re-use of material is OK)

Success Habits - by Jim Estill

We are a product of what we repeatedly do. We are all going to have habits so I figure we might as well make them good ones.

If you sit on the couch and watch TV drinking beer and eating chips, it is obvious what the results are.

It is easier to substitute a habit than to stop one. The best way to stop a habit is to replace it with a better or healthier habit.

It is critical to recognize that we choose our habits, either consciously or unconsciously.

Habit #1
Have clear goals. The clearer you know where you want to go and what your goals are, the more likely you are to get there. Have a vision. Everything happens first in the mind.

Habit #2
Be a constant learner, change and evolve as required. This means attending seminars, reading, and listening to audiobooks. By making learning a habit, this could be one of your competitive advantages.

It is not only the strong that survive; it is the adapters that win.

Habit #3
Sense of urgency wins. Do it now; have a propensity for action; make decisions quickly. I have found in business that the successful people are those who have a huge sense of urgency. They always want to get it done sooner and now cultivates the habit of doing it now.

Habit #4
Set a pace that you can maintain forever. Although I am a big believer in the sense of urgency, you need to figure out what gives you strength and energy and focus some time doing Stephen Covey's Seventh Habit that is sharpening the saw.

Habit #5
I like to have a number of success mantras; for example, "What the heck go for it anyways". I use this mantra whenever I am getting cold feet about doing something or need to negotiate something.

Another mantra that I use is, "Successful people do tough things". I repeat this to myself when I am doing something that I consider to be difficult like getting up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight.

Habit #6
Be Fit. I am a firm believer that fitness gives energy and energy is what allows us to get things done.

Fitness in itself can involve a number of habits and is a key topic in itself. What are your fitness habits?

Habit #7
Study time management. OK - a plug for my eBook, book and CD.

We all have the same amount of time; it is a matter of how we use it and how much we get done.

Habit #8
Nurture a network. I am constantly adding to my address book, reviewing it, keeping in touch with people and trying to add value to them. The more I nurture this network, the more I get things done.

Habit #9
Fail often, fail fast, fail cheap. In order to move forward, sometimes we have to fail. Don't let failure stand in the way of trying to move forward. You are not a failure if you fail; you are a failure if you don’t try.

Think about and decide what your success habits will be. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Andrew Carnegie- Work Hard While You Work

2008-02-21T16:03:00.003-05:00

I am in the middle of listening to a fascinating audio book on Andrew Carnegie that was written by David Nasaw. Andrew Carnegie is best known for his massive donations to libraries in most communities in the United States. in his day he was on of the richest men in the world. his money was mostly made on railroads and steel.

He was one of the great philanthropists of all times. In later life he said he spent the first half of his life making money and the second half giving it away, when in reality he was actually quite generous even in his early years and even prior to his retirement he did give generously to many causes.

In his own attempts to do "favorable" autobiographies, he did leave out some of the questionable business practices that in today’s environment would be considered unethical and illegal (insider trading and non dealing at arms length). It is unfortunate this history taints the money that he so generously donated.

One of the eight secrets to success is hard work. Interestingly enough Andrew Carnegie did not ascribe to that. He commented in one of his letters to his friend that someone must not work very hard if they have to be in their office 10 or 15 hours a day. Of course being a real work ethic guy and putting in fairly long hours, this statement causes me to think.

One of the things that I have always preached in my time management talks has been, "Work while you work". The basic principle being that if you are going to be at your desk working, you might as well work while you are there instead not.

One of the other things that I liked about Carnegie is that he called himself, "a man of reading" which I would translate to be a man of learning. He did give million of dollars to libraries so clearly he liked to read or viewed that as one of his major ways of learning.

Great (but long)audio book. Well written with many flowery quotes.

Dealing with Failure

2008-02-18T16:50:00.003-05:00

Failure is a success if we learn from it.

Malcolm Forbes

In a recent interview, I was asked what my biggest failure was. Interesting, I could not come up with just one. I believe one of my biggest reasons for success is that I fail more often than most people. It goes with my "Fail often, fail fast, fail cheap". It goes with "you only fail from not trying - not from trying". And having a failure, does not make you a failure.

I am thinking now about do I learn from those failures. Or more importantly, do I learn enough from them? I am not sure. Perhaps I need to debrief more? It is an interesting thought for me because i consider myself to be a constant learner who is capable of changing and adapting.

Of course true wisdom is being able to learn from others' mistakes.

Part of what allows me to have many failures is I tend not to dwell on them. What happened, happened. It was a mistake or a failure - move on. Failures do not define me.

So what I need to learn is how to learn from my failures and at the same time keep my "move on" attitude.