I was once discussing with two business partners how to upgrade their company’s technology. When I suggested we first examine their current order processing system, one partner launched excitedly into a detailed explanation of how it all works: Orders are taken by phone, then someone handwrites an order form, then it goes to billing, and so on and so forth. He explained the ins and outs of their complicated system for tracking orders, packing and shipping items at their warehouse. Read more
Tell me if this sounds familiar.
You planned a Monday meeting, but the time arrives and you’re busy or tired, and you decide to reschedule for Tuesday. On Tuesday, something important comes up, so you reschedule for the next day. Before you know it, Friday rolls around and you still have not had that meeting, so you postpone it until the following Monday.
The cycle continues, until you actively decide that enough is enough, and you’re going to make that meeting a priority.
Have you ever met someone who always seems busy—but if you asked what they’ve accomplished in the last day, or the last week, they couldn’t give you a straight answer?
Maybe, if you’re being totally honest, this happens to you, too?
Let’s face it. Being truly productive in today’s business world is more difficult than ever. Yes, technology has made us much more efficient in many ways, but it also comes with great challenges: The constant bombardment of dings and notifications and emails and phone calls and texts can throw even the most type-A, goal-oriented businessperson out of focus.
A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan.
The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish.
Her mother thought for a while and then said, “I’ve always done it that way. That’s how grandma always did it.”
Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it. Grandma thought for a while and replied, “I don’t know. My mother always did it that way.”
I posted this question a few days ago to on Linkedin, and received several insightful answers. There was a general consensus that hiring an employee who fits your company’s culture is extremely important—perhaps even more than their skill.
But let’s back up a second. What exactly do I mean by culture?
I think everyone can relate to this feeling.
I was speaking about this problem to a friend the other day, and our discussion led to multitasking in the modern world—it’s so satisfying, but is it actually productive?
The other day, I posted the following on LinkedIn, asking people to fill in the blank. “Nothing great has ever been achieved without ______.”
A couple days ago, billionaire Elon Musk’s company SpaceX launched a rocket into space, the first time a rocket this powerful has been sent into space by a private company.
In a fun, creative twist, rather than the usual nondescript chunk of metal, the rocket carried Musk’s red Tesla convertible
. . . with a dummy wearing a SpaceX spacesuit strapped inside. 😉
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