Multi-Tasking is Overrated

Multi-tasking has been all the rage for the past ten years.

Apparently a person should talk on the telephone, respond to e-mail, text to a friend, and hold a face-to-face conversation with an employee all at the same time.

Not only that the person should never say no to any project or request of his or her time.

If you want the fast path to being mediocre, keep doing ten things at once.

Superior performance comes from superior focus. If you're helping your child with homework, then focus on your child and the homework. If you're preparing a big speech for work, focus on the speech. If you're responding to e-mail, then just focus on e-mail.

Do one thing at a time extraordinarily well regardless of what that one thing is.

Do You Need an Innie or an Outie?

Everybody has one.

No, I'm not talking about a belly button. I'm talking about the need to change something in order to improve. We all need to continually review our performance and results and ask ourselves two very important questions that require absolute honesty on our part:

1. Do I need to change something about myself or how I go about doing things (Inner Change)?
2. Do I need to change something about my situation or who I interact with (Outer Change)?

Since we can never change another person we have to decide whether we have to change something about ourselves or something about the situation we find ourselves in. If you've had a long-term relationship with an employee or a supplier or a customer, it may be very difficult for you to let go of that relationship, but that may be what is necessary for you to move forward. You may have to leave your current job situation and do something altogether different in order to fulfill your potential. If you have to change some habit that you've had all your life, it may be difficult but it may also be necessary if you want to become more effective.

Choose your change carefully. Is it going to be an innie or an outie?

Build a Foundation of Excellence

Excellence means consistently delivering a superior performance. To be a truly great manager you need to consistently deliver a superior performance in all aspects of your work. In other words, you need to build a foundation of excellence that you know you can always rely on.

Divide Your Job Into Ten Parts

Think about your role and all the things you do and write down each one of them. Here is a list of tasks for you to consider:

1. Manage a P&L Statement.
2. Give public presentations.
3. Hire new employees.
4. Let go of existing employees.
5. Develop employees.
6. Promote employees.
7. Build relationships with key suppliers.
8. Build relationships with key customers.
9. Oversee multiple functions in your organization.
10. Create a customer-focused culture.

You can come up with a different ten items, but you get the idea.

Identify What You Do With Excellence Right Now

Look at your list and on another sheet of paper write down what you do at an excellent level right now. Those items are the beginning of your foundation of excellence.

Select What Task You Will Focus on Next

Now you are ready to add to your foundation of excellence. Of the remaining items on your list, which ONE item will you focus on improving until you can consistently deliver a superior performance? You still have to do the other parts of your job, but you're going to pour in extra energy and attention on one area until it becomes excellent. It may take a few years in order to become excellent at that task. Be patient and stay focused. Once you can do that with excellence, then you know you can count on it. Then you can move on to another task to focus on.

You will probably be amazed at how little progress you make in a year and how much progress you make in a decade.

Expand Your Perspective

In the midst of tough economic times, it is relatively easy for a manager to lose sight of what is possible. Before we look ahead let's look into the recent past.

Look at what has happened in the past 3 years:

iPhone spread like wildfire. It did not exist three years ago today. Can we exist without it now?

Three years ago today almost no one outside of Alaska knew the name Sarah Palin. Now she has a best-selling book.

Look at what has happened in the past six months:

Tiger Woods, once the absolute platinum level of corporate sponsorships, has dropped dramatically in the public's view. In the meantime Kobe Bryant has risen dramatically as the epitome of a team player. How quickly things change.

As a manager, you don't know what is possible over the next three years, but do know that extraordinarily good or bad results can occur. Prepare yourself everyday to deliver a great performance. You just never know which performance will break through into the spotlight. Don't ever take success for granted, but also don't ever assume that frustrating results will be around forever. Be on top of your game every day! And one day you will generate amazing results.

Turn Hump Day into Leap Day

The concept of “hump day” has had a long history, too long in fact.

For many years employees and managers alike have talked about the importance of getting through hump day, which is Wednesday, and then getting to the weekend. Unfortunately, hump day is a career killer.

Hump Day Employees look at every week as the process of starting at the bottom of the hill on Monday morning at 8 AM, climbing to the top by Wednesday at noon, and then coasting down to the bottom of the hill by 5 o’clock on Friday. These people haven’t gotten anywhere during the course of the week. They are back where she started on Monday morning week after week after week.

Imagine a college athlete who performs exactly the same way at the beginning of every season. Those kinds of players never get off the bench, assuming they can even keep their spot on the bench. Intuitively, we know that we have to always improve if we want to take our careers to the next level, but then the reality of the workweek sets in and we sabotage ourselves with this nonsense about getting through hump day. We psychologically set ourselves up for a mediocre week and a mediocre career.

From now on make Wednesday at noon your weekly inflection point to capture key lessons and catapult to a higher level of performance over the remainder of the week. Look at the greatest performers in history. They did not rise briefly and then fall backward over and over. They leapt forward to higher and higher levels of achievement and repeated that process over and over. Study Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and a host of other great achievers. They didn’t push forward for 52 hours and then slump backward for 52 hours. They raised their bar of achievement, and then set the bar higher again and again.

Leap Day Worksheet – To be Filled Out at Noon on Wednesday
(Maximum Time Investment – 35 Minutes)

1. Make a List of the Meetings/Activities/Events That Have Occurred So Far This Week

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.

2. For each entry in step one, answer these five questions in less than five minutes:

Entry One:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Entry Two:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Entry Three:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Entry Four:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Entry Five:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Entry Six:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Entry Seven:

a. What did I do that was effective?

b. What did I do that was not effective?

c. What could I have done to be more effective?

d. What did I learn from this experience?

e. How can I use what I learned to perform at a higher level for the remainder of this week?


Do you see any common patterns on what makes you effective or ineffective?

Define Success on Your Terms

If you allow your success on an annual basis to be defined by other people, you will drive yourself batty in good times and bad times.

As a business manager, I imagine you get asked regularly, "How are you doing?" Invariably, the other person means, "How are your numbers? How is your salary?" If you define yourself only by your economic performance and salary, you are destined to fail often. This happens for two reasons:

First, economic growth is not always linear. Second, your financial numbers are only a fraction of your whole life.

However, if you fall into the trap of letting other people define your success then you will ignore the other 85% of your life beyond your financials and you will never be fully satsified with any financial performance.

Define Your Success For the Next Year

Here are 12 questions to consider as you determine your success over the next 12 months:

1. What do you want your financial numbers to look like at the end of the next 12 months in terms of business revenues, profits, personal income, and personal savings?
2. What do you want your physical fitness to be 12 months from now in terms of weight and conditioning?
3. What personal behaviors do you want to improve over the next 12 months?
4. What do you want your relationships with your family members and friends to be like over the next 12 months?
5. What type of contribution do you want to make in your community over the next 12 months?
6. In what ways do you want to develop your mind over the next 12 months?
7. What skills do you want to enhance over the next 12 months?
8. What new professional relationships do you want to build over the next 12 months?
9. What vacations do you want to experience over the next 12 months?
10. What hobbies do you want to develop over the next 12 months?
11. How do you want your customers to be better off over the next 12 months?
12. How do you want your families to be better off over the next 12 months?

You can add or subtract questions as you choose. My point is I'm encouraging you to put down in writing what success looks like on your terms, not someone else's. Other people's perspective of you is usually far narrower than it should be. It's your responsibility to define and pursue success in a way that represents your whole life.

Types of Leaders

There are 11 different types of leaders I’ve met or studied in my career. Each type can be effective in leading other people, and you can be more than one type of leader as you go about trying to influence your target audience to improve the desired outcome.

11 Types of Leaders

1. The Researcher – this person’s advice is based on data and carefully selected examples from the past.
2. The Exemplar – this person’s behaviors and personal choices model the desired performance so well that he or she influences other people simply by being watched.
3. The Motivator – this person provides inspiring words with an inspiring tone.
4. The Teacher – this person breaks down the idea and explains it so well that other people truly get it and can run with it even when he or she is not present.
5. The Visionary – this person describes a compelling dream of what the future can look like and that vision is what people hold on to as they go about their daily activities.
6. The Storyteller – this person tells stories that convey a powerful point.
7. The Coach – this person engages the other person in a conversation and offers advice based on observed behavior.
8. The Facilitator – this person asks open-ended questions and gets multiple people involved in developing the answers.
9. The Collaborator – this person exchanges ideas with the other person and works together with the other person to develop even better ideas.
10. The Dictator – this person tells people exactly what to do and how to do it, but this approach is generally only useful in dramatic life-or-death situations.
11. The Organizer – this person influences other people based on the roles he or she places them in and the way resources are distributed.

Assemble Your Leadership Plan
Write down how you will influence the individuals that you want to guide toward achieving better results in your organization's most important desired outcomes. Which type or types of leadership are you going to provide to influence them to think about what you want them to think about?

Practice Paying Attention

We live in the age of distractions.

Texting, surfing, and multitasking have become a way of life. Unfortunately, listening, focusing, and staying engaged are on a downward turn.

It's cool to text in the middle of a busy meeting. Suddenly you're connecting with someone outside the drab meeting and really enjoying yourself. You can read your e-mail while you're on the phone, or text while you're driving. You can do so much more now than any person could have done just 10 years ago.

...and that's part of the problem.

Folks don't really listen, they don't really hear, and they certainly don't comprehend what is being said. All of this actually hurts productivity a great deal.

The tools aren't the problem. It's our inability to stay focused in the moment that hurts performance. All of the modern electronic technology devices and social networking tools are similar to the old-fashioned Cracker Jack Box. There's bound to be a good surprise in there somewhere and so we keep dismissing the topic of the moment to search inside our iPhones, Blackberrys, computers, and so on.

Practice staying focused on one thing at a time.

The individual who can stay focused over an extended period of time has a far greater chance of developing extraordinary skills, delivering extraordinary performances, and achieving extraordinary results. To develop the skill of focusing, practice paying attention regularly. When you're talking with your spouse or children or parents or friends, practice letting go of everything else and really listening to the other person. When you are reading a story, focus on just that story. Test yourself after the conversation or after reading the passage and see how much you can recall. Modern technology is cool, but practice using it in a focused manner, not an omnipresent way.

Surround Yourself with Positive Influences

Be ruthless about who you allow to influence you.

Make a list of everyone you let influence you in the past month. This includes authors of books and articles, individuals on radio and television shows, work colleagues, customers, prospects, friends, neighbors, family members, and anyone else who influenced you in the past month.

Next to each person's name write down whether the person was a positive or negative influence on you.

A positive influence helps you see what you are capable of achieving, provides insights on what you can do to achieve your desired results, and/or offers some form of encouragement for you to consider toward achieving the desired outcome. This isn't about "happy talk." Rather it's about receiving constructive input that increases your chances of success in the future.

A negative influence tries to convince you that you are not capable of achieving meaningful results, provides reasons why you will certainly fail over the long term, and/or offers some form of discouragement for you to consider toward giving up on your aspirations. This isn't about "tough love." Rather it's about receiving sarcastic, cynical, and demeaning input that decreases your chances of success in the future.

Once you see who the positive influences are in your life and who the negative influences are it is up to you to consciously step away from the negative influences and toward the positive influences.

Know What You Know

Go to the bookstore and buy a blank journal.

In that blank journal write down what you know about management, leadership, communicating with people, building a brand, etc. Put down on paper how you would approach different situations. This takes time. Add to it one to two hours a week.

For the past six months whenever I had time I've gone back to what I know and I've written it down. I reread the three books I've written, I watched six hours of videos of my speeches, and I went through every Learning Guide I've created over the past three years. I wrote down every idea that I've taught or written about since 2004. Now I can see what I know.

After you write down what you know, start to actively use what you know. Don't leave a good idea from your past laying on the desk. Use it.

Afer you know what you know and you have used what you know, then add to what you know.

Far too often, I have found people constantly wanting to add to what they know before they really have taken the time to know what they know and to use what they know. Strengthen your foundation of practical knowledge first, and then look for ways to build on it.

Stretch Before Exercising

For years I jogged and played racquetball without stretching at all. And for years I have terrible problems with my back. Never quite made the connection between those two until months of work with a chiropractor. After all the tests and all the work on my back he showed me a few basic stretches. Now I warm up, stretch, exercise, warm down, and stretch again. Voila. My back has been dramatically better.

If you feel you are wasting time as a manager in meetings, try stretching before you exercise. Prepare for the meeting by studying relevant information, crafting questions you want to ask during the meetings, clarifying how you will answer those questions, and identifying the purpose of the meeting for you. Just showing up at meeting after meeting without preparation can cause back pain, headaches, and an overall feeling of intense frustration.

Competing in a Global Economy

Sometimes we make business more complicated than it needs to be.

A few nights ago I gave a lecture on "Ideas for Competing in a Global Economy" for a Global Communications class at Fontbonne University. I told a story about needing a jacket and shirt at the last minute for a meeting. I called up the Nordstrom's store on Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago and they kept their store open later so I could get the clothes. Then I told them how the Nordstrom's in St. Louis had a shoe shine salesman who carried my shoes out to my car so I could hold on to my three-year-old son Ben's hand.

I asked them what ideas from that story they felt were important for competing successfully in a global economy.

One student said, "Be willing to go the extra mile."
Another said, "Empower your employees to take care of the customer."
A third one said, "The people you hire will make all the difference."
And the fourth one, and my favorite one, said, "A genuine act of kindness goes a long way."

Competing around the world is the same as competing in your own city. Go the extra mile, empower your employees to create and deliver value, hire people who will provide the type of value you want to be known for delivering, and remember that a genuine act of kindness goes a long way.

Let's Get It Right This Time

January 4, 2010.

New slate, new decade, new approach. Or rather I should say back to a very old, basic approach. Let's see if we can sustain our focus for an entire decade this time. No shortcuts, no "gold rushes" for homes or tech stocks or even gold for that matter.

1. Identify the purpose you want your organization to fulfill.
2. Make sure your decisions going forward support that purpose.
3. Identify the values you want guiding your behaviors and the behaviors of the people in your organization. Do it in collaboration with your employees, but maintain the final decision-making authority. Hold yourself and others accountable for adhering to these values.
4. Study your customers and desired customers closely. Identify what would be of value to them.
5. Create and deliver that value.
6. Charge appropriately so that your price fits within the value they are receiving and allows you to make a profit.
7. Let your customers and desired customers know of the value they can receive from your organization.

That's it. Stay focused for a decade and watch what can happen.