“Ha, Ha! what a fool Honesty is! and Trust his sworn brother, a very simple gentleman!"
(Shakespeare – A Winter’s Tale)

Tip of the Day

'Emotion' is not a four-letter word in our business relationships - so let's use it to enrich those that really matter!

Feature Article

KISS

You know this expression – keep it simple, sir! We all recognize the wisdom it contains, but most of us decline to apply it, especially in conducting our business. Perhaps it’s because we complicate matters in our attempts to simplify them.

Have you ever tried to explain something – self-evident to you – to another person – who seems unable to grasp the essential point? Did you then fall into the trap of trying to represent it using different words? How did you then respond to the increasing mystification and complexity as the words mounted up while the idea became even more obscure?

The proper technique of course, is to invite the other person to ask questions which, no matter how peculiar they might appear to us, will reveal the pathway to understanding for them.

Consider the equation E=mc2. When Einstein first presented this insight into the true nature of the physical universe his colleagues did not respond immediately. In fact it took several years before anyone made a serious attempt to refute the proposition. Even today, many decades later, the truth of the proposition still stands, but far more important, almost every school child is familiar with it, responds to it and perhaps speculates about it. It works!

What are the business equivalents?
Try these on for size:

• Focus on doing the right things rather than on doing things right (Ask yourself, “Is this the most effective thing I could be doing right now?”)
• What gets measured gets fixed! (If I’m not bothering to track performance to prove appropriateness, why am I even doing it?)
• Let’s agree on ‘what’ before we discuss ‘how’ (What is the objective or common ground that unites us before we focus on our differences?)
• The essence of successful business is relationships (Why should I care how much you know until I know how much you care?)
• Deal in the reality of your customer (How can I add value that you will appreciate if my focus is only on my needs?)

I believe that once the simple and elegant truths are recognized, accepted and shared, we may be able to afford the luxury of more complicated approaches. Until these elegant truths are common property, complexity will obscure them and we will fail to move forward.

Think about it, please. Isn’t it time we got back to basics?

Amanda's Analects
(an·a·lects...selected miscellaneous written passages)

The simple pleasures

For someone who prides herself on her ability to multi-task, the first two weeks in October have to have been something of an Embarrassment...and a revelation.

Perhaps it's a woman's lot. Or the prerogative of the self-employed. But the last two weeks in September I was profoundly grateful for my ability to get everything 'just so' in anticipation of a hard earned, much awaited vacation. Why, while others merely answered the phone, I'd be typing emails at the same time. I'd listen to educational tapes as I cooked dinner; catch up with friends while hurtling down the highway; even eat while in the bath!

I've always been proud of my talents - especially my ability to multi-task. Over the years I've even referred to it as my 'saving grace', allowing me to get done any a number of things on a given day. In fact, with getting so much stuff done 'in advance', I felt there'd be less of a list - and even more time for the important things coming down the pike.

With such talent, it's hard to believe that I managed to spend seventeen days 'away from it all', doing nothing but enjoying the simple pleasures. Yet that's exactly what I did - or was forced to do through sheer exhaustion!

But the vacation was more than lazy mornings, coffees in the piazzas, siestas, gourmet dinners and walks on moonlit beaches. There were planes to catch, places to go, people to see, things to buy, books to read, traffic to trundle and languages to learn ...even long-distance-learning teleconferences to be run ... Yet at the time it all seemed so easy. Even enjoyable.

And when I thought about it, I came to understand the difference ... and the simple pleasure of 'first things first', 'one thing at a time' and 'for everything there is a time'! Everything that was supposed to happen happened, everything that needed to get done got done.

There was even time for more...and I wasn't too tired for it!

Multi-tasking. Talent? Or, Torment?

It's been but two weeks since my return. I can't believe how quickly I lost sight of the insights I'd had, the decisions I'd made, the energy I'd regained. Guess I'm just something of a slow learner. And you?

On the Lighter Side

...but seriously!

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies.

The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem he did not get into the complications of X-rays, etc but instead came up with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral of the story: KISS (Keep It Sweet & Simple)

That is, always look for simple solutions. Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problem.

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found that their pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (Ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

It took them a decade -- and $12 million (US, that is!). They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees Celsius .

And what did Russians do.............. ?

The Russians used a Pencil!!!

So, learn to focus on solutions -- not on problems.

Bottom Line
"If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything. If you look at what you have in life, you have everything" !

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Speakers' Corner

Give your meetings / conferences a boost. Have our dynamic speakers inform and inspire on these subjects - and more!

Keynote Addresses:

Linking Personal with Organizational Success - Employee Commitment that works! more info...

Substantial Steps to Organizational Growth - a strategic view of business management. more info...

People plus Performance equal Profit - a radical view of the role of management. more info...

Turning My Emotional Crank - the impact of effective interpersonal dynamics. more info...

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