::Leading With A Limp::

Things I Have Learned About Business & Life

The number of books written just about business philosophy and best practices could fill a large library, so to think that my humble list is the end-all of business advice would be a little silly.  However, there are a few things that I have learned and tried to keep in mind as I advance through the business world.  Not too surprisingly, they do a pretty nice job of getting me through life as well.  Feel free to add to the list in the comments.

1. It's not what you know, it's who you know- This has proved true time and time again.  A lot of people don't like to acknowledge the truth in this statement, or they want to put it into the category of "that's not fair!".  Fair or not, it's true.  All other things equal, if you are better connected than the person you are competing against for a job or consulting position, you will usually get it.  Of course there are some obvious exception, like when your job is very skill specific (brain surgeons, microbiologists), but it probably stands true in those fields as well, if you are better at networking than the other person, you'll probably get the job.  If you can learn a lesson out of this first category it is this: don't burn bridges.  Pretty soon you will have nothing else to burn, and you will always be losing out to the person that is connected.l
2. It's all about timing- I have learned this by doing it very well and very poorly.  Let's say you are going to pitch an idea to somebody and you need them to approve it.  The idea could be a proposal for a job or you could be pitching yourself...a job interview.  It's all about timing.  Try to avoid talking to people when they are tired, hungry or busy.  My favorite time to approach people?  Tuesday or Wednesday between 10am and 2pm.  Yes, I'm serious.  That's when I have my highest success rate, probably because their mind isn't on either weekend (the one they just came from or the one they are about to go to), and generally they have accomplished what they need to do for the week in terms of catch up.  Salespeople, let me give you some free advice: don't pitch your products or services to me anytime after noon on Friday.  You have a 0% chance of success.
3. Live within the integrity of your conscience - I referred to this line when I resigned from my last job.  Simply put, you must be you, and you need to be guided by the moral boundaries that are within you.  Don't compromise.  Don't allow your character to be bent, even a little.  If you start to toe the line of compromise, eventually you will step over it, and then you will no longer be the person that you should be.  You won't be able to sleep, you will look in the mirror with disgust.  Make your decisions with the highest integrity possible.
4. It takes 10 cans of peas to sell a can of green beans-It took me about two years to figure this out after a crusty old grocery store owner shared this gem with me.  He was talking in a very literal sense, and that is he discovered over time that when his shelves are full and stocked, people will buy more.  If your store looks understocked and disheveled people won't buy as much.  At the time I owned a cigar company and we were to keep his humidor stocked with fresh cigars all the time.  When the supply got low he got upset; he wanted a fully stocked, fully faced humidor at all times.  He was right about this sales concept, and I have carried this through every business that I have been a part of, even if we didn't have physical objects to sell. Make sure your service portfolio is stocked.  Make sure your website is stocked.  Make sure your house is in order.
5. Never wrestle with a pig, you'll both get dirty but the pig will like it- I heard this many years ago, but it's come up again recently.  The idea is pretty clear: don't engage with slime balls.  I have worked with plenty of people that are all about themselves...they are more than happy to smear other people with words, with sabotage, with underhanded means.  These are the worst kind of people to be around.  When you come across these people, stay away.  It's not always easy, sometimes you have to work closely with them, but be cautious. It's okay to defend yourself, but don't get caught up in office politics or name calling.  These sorts of people live for this sort of thing, and they are good at getting you to take your eye off the ball.  Don't engage...they will be doing what they love the most, and you're going to come out looking bad.

There you go...15 years of business experience wrapped into one little blog post.  Have you employed any of these philosophies in some form?  Are there things that are glaringly absent from the list?  Let us know!

Addicted to Technology

A recent report shows that people are very easily becoming addicted to technology, especially mobile technology.  Blackberry phones and other devices (I carry an HTC 8525 with Windows Mobile 6), keep people so connected, that very often that connectivity interferes with more than regular life...connectivity to their job can actually cause problems with the job itself! One researches says,

"Those who are addicted will get up in the middle of the night and pick up messages on their PDAs two or three times a night."

Wow, that's pretty bad.  I can't throw stones however, I have to fess up to constantly checking my email when it comes in.  Against the compulsory want to do so, I have forced myself to quit checking in the evenings and early morning.

You can read the entire article here.

How hooked are you?

Things We Used To Do For Ourselves

This last weekend, after going through the Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed in my wife's car, I watched a guy load groceries into the back of his SUV then push a little button inside the back hatch lid so that the lid would mechanically close by itself.  Very cool.  But then I started thinking about the things we used to make an effort for but don't anymore, either choosing to pay somebody else to do it or by having something electronic/motorized do it.  Are we harnessing technology and money to make life better, or are we just really, really lazy?  Here is my short list, am I missing anything obvious?

• Change car oil (Hello, Jiffy Lube)
• Make our own coffee (Hello, Starbucks)
• Open doors (how many stores don't have automatically opening doors these days?)
• Close doors (that cool little button I mentioned on SUV and minivan doors)
• Cook BBQ for real (goodbye briquettes, hello propane)
• Read (book on tape/cd.  I know, I know...you like to use them for long car rides.  Do you still read real books though?)

Those are the first things that come to mind.  I feel lazier already.  What did I miss?

2008 Presidentail Candidate Chart

I found this chart this morning, and it is very helpful.  It lists every candidate that has thrown their name into the hat for the upcoming Presidential election, along with most major issues and their opinion on the matter.  I love this because it's a quick summary about standings of each person...instead of listening to a 35 minute speech about where they stand and *still* not knowing where they really stand, this quick-view list summarizes well.  Click here to go to the chart.

Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays

I've done my fair share of shopping over the past couple of weeks.  Something that I've noticed: just about every person (I would say at least 3/4 of them) that helped me at the checkout wished me a "Merry Christmas" instead of a "Happy Holiday".  Could this be backlash from last year when Christmas was quite the topic of the news?  Remember that it fell on a Sunday so there was a lot of news chatter about mega-churches canceling services.  I also remember noting that it seemed to be the end of an era, that "Merry Christmas" had gone the way of the Dodo bird.

Not so!  It seems that "Merry Christmas" is back with a vengeance!  Way to go clerks/managers/CEO's who have finally decided it's okay to go out on a limb and say "Christmas".

Please Pass the Dog Meat

Suddenly a "boring" dinner of Turkey during Christmas sounds pretty good.  Actually, the Singley family will probably be eating shrimp and crab.  We like the bottom feeders.

Check out this article, describing some of the various food treats from around the world that will be served up on Christmas day.  My favorite? This one:

In the eastern island of Sulawesi, some Manado Christians swear by kawok, or garden rats, cooked with chilies and garlic, and paniki, or bats, cooked in coconut milk.

Yummy!  Oh, the picture above?  Vietnamese women selling roast dog on a streetcorner in Hanoi...

Adios to the Nuclear Family

A report came out recently that stated that 37% of all newborns in the United States are now born to parents that are not married.  That is a staggering number. How long until we hit the 50% mark?  I have no basis for this guess, but since things like this and total number of married couples are changing exponentially, I'm saying that we'll have 50% of out-of-wedlock births by 2015.  That's not too far away folks..