Tag Archives: business

March 29, 2016 · 11:06 am

Distracted

I read a lot of articles every day.  OK, the truth be told, I skim a lot of articles every day (usually over 1,000).  I read far fewer.  A few things struck  me as I rolled through my RSS reader this morning (I use Feedly).  The first is the repetitive nature of reporting.  Once something is said on one site it seems to show up within a few minutes on another.  The repetition isn’t limited to cross-site activity either.  Many sites will publish the same material again an hour after they first do so.  I’m not sure if they’re A/B testing headlines or what but to me, it’s just clutter and noise.

Another thing that struck me is the sensationalist nature of many of the headlines.  I totally understand the need to stand out in the cluttered media worlds through which my feed orbits, but there is a huge problem with it: distraction.  The headline might be screaming “fire” but as you dig into the article you inevitably find that it discusses the possibly of a fire if several unlikely scenarios occur.  The real issue for many of us is less about the time we waste reading the article than it is the repercussions that ensue from people who don’t.

Think about how often a higher up in your company or a client reads the headline (or worse yet, hears about it from someone else) and pings you for information.  Maybe it’s a chain of emails (each of which takes time to craft) or maybe it’s a phone call or two.  It’s a fire drill that takes time away from the things on which we should be focused.  They’re neither urgent nor important. They’re a distraction.

I don’t love the screaming headlines.  They lead to fire drills which lead to distracted, nervous businesspeople.  It’s a truism that we can’t chase everything nor solve every perceived or potential problem.  I try to scrape off the hype, find the facts, measure them against my current goals, strategies, and tactics.  At that point, I can either toss it (which is usually what happens) or update my thinking.  I don’t get distracted.  You?

Leave a comment

Filed under Consulting, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , ,

March 14, 2016 · 10:59 am

Daylight Saving

We turned our clocks ahead an hour yesterday and Daylight Saving (no “s”!) Time is upon us. Hopefully, you checked the batteries in your smoke and CO2 detectors too. There are some funny things about Daylight Saving and they’re instructive for business as well.

Victory-Cigar-Congress-Passes-DST papa edit

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First, as with many things in business, the origins of DST are widely misreported. There is a collective myth that Benjamin Franklin invented it when, in fact, he only commented back in 1784 that the French (he was in Paris) could save a lot of money if they’d awaken earlier. He proposed a change in sleep schedules, not in the time. The real father of modern DST is an Englishman, who had the idea and campaigned for it in the early 20th century (Germany implemented it in 1916, the first country to do so).

Second, the reasoning behind it is commonly misunderstood. Many people believe that it was to benefit farmers when, in fact, it was a wartime measure. Farmers don’t especially like it and they work by the sun anyway. In fact, farmers led the fight to repeal DST in 1919.  It doesn’t save energy and it does seem to lead to more strokes and heart attacks.

So the “who” and the “why” are not correctly understood and yet we continue to have DST in many places (interesting that it’s not universal, even within the USA). I bring this up because it seems as if there is beginning to be a discussion about why we have DST at all. Which leads to the business point.

So many things in business happen just because “that’s how things are done.” Why they’re done that way is often misunderstood and who is behind the process or practice is often misidentified.  There is rarely, if ever, a questioning and reevaluation, but like Daylight Saving, maybe it’s an anachronism that causes more problems than it solves.  Thoughts?

Leave a comment

Filed under Huh?, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , , ,

January 18, 2016 · 11:59 am

Making The Dream A Reality

This was the post I wrote in 2009 on Dr. King’s birthday, which we celebrate today.  It’s interesting how over the last 7 years much of what I was feeling at the time about the possibilities that were presenting themselves have yet to become a reality.  In some ways, we’ve gone backward despite some of the progress.  I’m not sure race relations in this country are at the place I recall back in the 60’s but it’s good to have a day dedicated to the man that moved us all forward so we can reflect on the topic.  The business point in the post hasn’t changed – some things, such as Dr. King’s message – are eternal.

Last week was actually Dr. King‘s birthday but since we’re celebrating it today I thought I’d add my two cents. I’m old enough to remember him and while he didn’t light the fire of the civil rights movement in the US (I’d say Rosa Parks is that hero), he certainly brought the fire to life and tended it well until his assassination (and I remember that as well – how horrible a day it was!).

Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deuts...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What inspired me, a young (then) white kid was his notion of bringing a dream to reality. OK, the words and delivery were pretty inspirational too, even when you read them off a page. Yesterday the Inauguration Committee had a concert on the very place where Dr. King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech to celebrate, nearly 46 years later, a big piece of that speech coming to reality. One can’t help but wonder what Dr.King would have felt and said – he certainly should still be alive – he’d just be turning 80.

Robert Kennedy said “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”  I think that’s great business advice as well, even if George Bernard Shaw had the notion before Bobby.  Mark Twain wrote that “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

So today, I celebrate Dr. King’s dreaming of a better world and making it happen.  Tomorrow, we can watch it become real.  What are you dreaming of?  Can it be real?  Why not?  Or better – why not!!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Leave a comment

Filed under Growing up, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,