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Pulling Action Out of Information

Posted on 12/17/2012 by ·

"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and philosopher. "An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage." -- Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. Do we already have a cure for cancer lurking somewhere in the huge mass of uncorrelated medical data accumulated in books, journals, and computers worldwide? How about a solution for global hunger? Or a way to knit broken bones in days? These may all sound like fantasies to you, but some scientists suspect such solutions might already exist...if we could just fit the data together correctly. But our ability to accumulate data has long since outstripped our ability to digest and correlate it. Worse, no single person … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management · Tagged: , , ,

How Can Partnerships Create Leverage?

Posted on 12/12/2012 by ·

"In this new wave of technology, you can't do it all yourself. You have to form alliances." -- Carlos Slim Helú, Mexican business magnate (and wealthiest person on Earth as of 2012) While individual effort serves as the foundation of all human activities, true accomplishment requires partnership. The trick here lies in figuring out how to cooperate in such a way that 1 + 1 = 3 or more. We call such leverage points synergy, wherein the whole exceeds the sum of its parts. So before you take on a prospective business partner, ask yourself these questions first: 1. How well do our strategic priorities align? Aligning strategy within one organization is hard enough, much less between two. The better your missions match up, the more likely you'll be able to leverage off each other. But don't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Good Enough Is Never Enough! Encouraging Improvement Through Change

Posted on 12/10/2012 by ·

"The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind." -- Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher. Just about everyone has experienced the "new broom sweeps clean" effect. We've watched, and often suffered, as a fresh leader came onto the scene and changed everything just because they could—regardless of how well the existing system functioned. Whenever this happens, chaos reigns and productivity plummets for a while. Sometimes it never recovers, whereupon another broom soon appears to start its own ambitious cleaning project. However, many changes are inevitable and desirable. Otherwise, old inefficiencies may pile up until workflow grinds to a halt...or worse, something explodes and flies apart in a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: ,

Zig Ziglar

Posted on 12/07/2012 by ·

So my friend Michael Sliwinski, editor of the Productive Magazine and founder of www.nozbe.com, tagged my handle (@laurastack) in a tweet about Zig Ziglar’s passing, which I basically deflected. But then Michael sent me an email (ack!), and directly asked me what was up: “Please accept my condolences for Zig. I know you knew him personally, and I know (you told me!) what kind of influence he was on you. I meant it on Twitter that when you're ready, I'd love to read a blog post from you about Zig and how he influenced your life. It'd be a great story to read and share and inspire others.” Kind of hard to ignore that. I know that thousands of people have attested that Zig changed their lives, and I’m no exception. But I admit it—I’ve been feeling a bit melancholy about Zig’s passing. I’ve … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged:

Weeding Out the Inefficiencies in Your Workplace Garden

Posted on 12/05/2012 by ·

"There can be economy only where there is efficiency." -- Benjamin Disraeli, former British Prime Minister. All leaders wear multiple hats, with their roles as Coach, Overseer, Mentor, and Good Example fairly obvious to anyone willing to look. But another function often goes unnoticed: that of Caretaker. Leaders don't just juggle projects and push people to work harder; they also protect their team from any factor that might jam the gears of productivity. While no analogy can survive over-analysis, you can consider any organizational unit (whether team, department, or division) a kind of garden, where a good leader works to weed out the inefficiencies in the system. This holds true whether those inefficiencies take the form of unproductive employees, bureaucratic red tape, or poorly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management · Tagged: , ,

2013 Productivity Workflow Makeover

Posted on 12/03/2012 by ·

Due to a special plea from a reader, I am hosting a New Year’s productivity workflow makeover on Friday, February 1, 2013. Eight people will come to my home office in Denver, CO, to revamp their organization, email, and time management systems. To ensure everyone will get one-to-one hands-on instruction, this opportunity is limited to the first eight people who register. No exceptions. In this hands-on workshop, you'll spend a full day in my home office with your smartphone, laptop, tablet and time management system. Find out more about my special 2013 Productivity Workflow Makeover and register today before all the slots fill up.   "This is not a sit-and-watch seminar. This is a hands-on, overhaul-your-system, implement-new-techniques work session, where I will grill the new habits … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Decluttering

Posted on 11/30/2012 by ·

Get rid of 25% of your books, tools, sporting equipment and so on.  You'll have fewer things, but you'll use a higher percentage of what's left. For more productivity tips, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for the weekly Productivity Pro newsletter.   … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: ,

Finding More Time to “Do” Leadership

Posted on 11/21/2012 by ·

"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes." —Peter Drucker As a leader, you know how valuable it can be when you consistently, thoughtfully apply good, old-fashioned “leadership.” And yet at one time or another, nearly all of us have looked up to discover that we've let true leadership go by the wayside in the workaday hustle of just getting by. It’s far too easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of the operational piece of your job; in fact, your greatest occupational hazard as a leader is forgetting you manage people, not paperwork. If you find yourself too busy to do your “real” job—or at least inexorably drawn in that direction—then something's askew with your personal productivity. Perhaps it’s time for a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Leadership & Teamwork · Tagged: , , ,

Every Day, in Every Way: Fostering an Attitude of Continuous Improvement

Posted on 11/19/2012 by ·

"He who stops being better stops being good." -- Oliver Cromwell, British soldier and politician. When he was 10, my son Johnny took guitar lessons. Before long, he'd taught himself to play Sweet Home Alabama. I was impressed—and surprised to discover he wasn't interested when his guitar teacher offered to show him how to play it even better. When I asked Johnny why, he just shrugged and told me, "None of my friends play the guitar, so they think it's cool no matter how I play. I figure I'm good enough, so I don't need to work to play it better." This answer rocked me back on my heels a little. I've based my career on helping people continuously improve their productivity, so my dad’s “good enough for government” expression (my dad the retired A.F. Colonel) expression doesn't fly with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged:

Organizing Your Space

Posted on 11/16/2012 by ·

Tackle a single one-hour organizing project each weekend, such as a drawer, shelf, cabinet, closet, or box. Don’t attempt a huge task, such as an entire bedroom. Break it down into manageable bite-sized chunks. When it’s time to begin, don’t just dump everything out on the floor. You’ll run out of time and steam and shove everything back in, only to be more disorganized than before. Instead, get five sturdy boxes. The Put Away box contains items that are out of place and go somewhere else. The Give Away box is for items that are in good repair that you no longer want or use to give to charity or sell. Use the Store Away box for items that are going to be used again in a reasonable amount of time but not regularly. The Toss box contains items that are broken, old, worn, or in bad … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tools & Systems · Tagged: , ,