Uncommon. Uncluttered. Unstrained.
Among the many things that keep businesses and ideas from succeeded, one of the most obnoxious and frustrating ones are bottlenecks. The bottleneck in your organization might be a person. It might be a process. It might be your equipment. It might even be a condition in which you work. I’ll be focusing on the aspect of people acting as bottlenecks. Bottlenecks are good for regulating information—slowing it down. If it weren’t for bottlenecks on our drinks, we’d be forced to Keep Reading »
The other day I met with a financial representative from Northwestern Mutual. I'd like to share this "case study" with you as part of my ongoing series on how to network. I'm happy with my financial situation right now. My wife and I have taken great measures with our finances to accomplish what we consider priorities in our lives--part of which includes living on a cash budget since September with a mere $20 personal spending money each month. Needless to say for someone who likes to Keep Reading »
If you regularly work with clients you understand how easy it is to let a project spin out of control and wind up fatty and huge… we call it scope creep, and before you know it the project's over budget and shipping late. Avoiding scope creep is a topic in itself, so instead what I offer here are a few ways to counterbalance scope creep and bloated projects. Most projects start innocently enough. Parameters are set, goals are defined, and work begins. The fat begins when someone says, Keep Reading »
About a month ago the company I'm working for gathered all 60 of us into a tight meeting room and announced that there would be layoffs in July. It's not because we're shrinking or doing poorly, in fact--it's quite the opposite. It's because we're growing. Perhaps on another day I'll tell you how that works. Those of us who are in management positions already knew what was coming, and it made the meeting all the more interesting because I could sit back and observe the reactions of everyone Keep Reading »
In high school and part of college I competed on the forensics team in debate, oratory, humor, drama, and poetry and (pardon me for tooting my own horn) did really well at it. Actually, I lied. I did well in all areas except debate. Debate was a giant thorn in my side and I’d leave the debate floor feeling like I wrestled a hippopotamus in the wallow. So after a couple years, I decided to leave debate behind. But that’s not what this is about; this post is about working towards a goal, Keep Reading »
Another aspect of networking that I didn't cover in "How to Network: Getting Started with the Basics" is the importance of being a strong node in someone else's network. That's right, more than just networking with others, you should try to be someone that others want to network with. Sometimes fish do jump in the boat. Three tips to start you off are being generous, hooking people up, and helping others find opportunities. You don't have to spend every last dollar to lure people to Keep Reading »
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