This is Very Cool

Warning: Evidence of seething tech envy coming in 5...4...3...2...)





Gimme-gimme-gimme-gimme!

I have to admit that I've got it bad. See, way back in the mid-80's, while an intern at IBM, I saved up and got a Sharp PC-1211, one of the very first handheld computers. I got the printer, which it snapped into. I had to program it in BASIC, it had a whopping 2K of memory (!) and it was amazing. An early model, it was more of a handheld computer than a personal organizer, but the capabilities of this machine, at the time, were amazing (See The Evolution of the PDA by Eric Koblentz).


I could see a glimpse of the future...and I had it in my grubby paws. I used it as a calculator and to calculate my checkbook balance, among other things. Small potatoes, by today's standards. But, God was it fun! The OQO Model 02 and other microcomputers of today go far to help people be incredibly productive, while giving people access to the Internet.

Very cool.


Please be expecting more tech envy. I can't help myself.

LNB #035: The Care and Feeding of Partnerships

We spend more time picking an Ob/Gyn that will birth our babies than we do building the business partnerships that provide the income we need to take care of said babes. We know that one out of nine new businesses experience a five year failure rate and that the survivors may not be fairing all that well.

For partnerships, more attention is spent on the legal and financial positioning of the
partnership - whether it was a limited partnership. S or C Corporation, whether it was taxed like a partnership or a corporation and how the partners would get money from the partnership. Little information exists out there on how to have an effective partnership -- one where you don't continually fantasize about pitching one or all partners under the bus.

Once the structure is in place, where do we go to work?

Smaller firms tend to stay more tactical and, unfortunately, have a harder time getting and staying strategic. Business planning is a single event, usually tied to getting start-up funding needed to open the doors, but not an informative, educational process designed to help you understand the needs of the business and the needs and best thinking of the partners.

Business partnerships tend to work best when the partners have done the work of understanding each other. Knowing these things about each partner is crucial to determining how to best allocate them as resources:

• What are you good at?
• What can you do competently, but need support for (like, I can do the financials well, but it really takes it out of me)?
• What do you do badly?

Now, everything in a partnership isn't always a box of kittens (warm and fluffy). Conflict happens. The question is: what do we do when we're not on the same page? Conflict, by its nature, is positional. People square off on things that really don't matter most but, instead, on old wounds or superficialities. By asking partners what they're committed to for the business, the partnership or themselves, you can begin to move towards what matters most.

Consider this book: The Partnership Charter: How to Start Out Right with Your New Business Partnership (Or Fix the One You're in), by David Gage is a good resource for putting together (or repairing) business partnerships. For legal and tax advice, of course, see a legal or tax expert.

Listen now: 24 minutes, 28 seconds

Change or Die! the Presentation

If you're going to be out and about in Indianapolis on 13 February, be sure to visit me at my presentation at the Indianapolis ASQ Chapter. Stop by. I'd love to see you there.

February 2006 Dinner Meeting: Change or Die! (Change and Organizational
Behavior)

Program:
You know the work to be done; you’ve done the research and created the design for the new system; you’ve trained your people and….well, nothing seems to have changed. Threats of process failure and professional consequence seem to make no difference. Are they just sabotaging you? Are they untrainable?

This training is invaluable for quality professionals and managers who are attempting to understand the nature of resistance to organizational or process change. Developed from an extensive study of the mind and human interaction, this seminar emphasizes the role of project coaching and the role of habituation in change. Participants explore a variety of change theories with an eye to supporting people while new systems take hold and new habits form.

Speaker:
Lalita Amos is the principal of Total Team Solutions, a consulting and training firm she founded in 1996. Areas of expertise include business and strategic planning; executive and business coaching; team and leadership development training; and project management. She as served as adjunct faculty at New York University and as senior trainer for Results Coaching Systems. Prior to starting her business, Lalita was a TQM Process Consultant for the world’s largest commercial printer and before that, a senior HR staffer. She’s a licensed One Page Business Plan Consultant, Certified Business and Executive Coach and a Certified Business Referral Trainer and Coach. Lalita a member of Purdue’s Order of Iron Key (leadership honorary) and a member of the College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Advisory Council.

When:
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
5:30pm to 7:30 pm
Registration and Networking: 5:30-6:00
Workshop & Program: 6:00-7:30

Where:
University of Indianapolis
Hanna & Shelby StreetsIndianapolis, IN.
Schwitzer Hall (building 7 on the campus map)
Room: to be determined
Campus map and directions are available at www.uindy.edu/maps

How Much:
$10 per person.
See http://www.indyasq.org/meetings/ for information and RSVP
Click here to register

LNB #034: Stop Selling Like a Man (Be Yourself)

This episode is NOT about women. What it's about is selling in such a way that bringing you're A-Game means you bring yourselves. Toni Nell of Springboard Consulting is a player. She's worked with A-List clients (like Morgan Stanley) and been the go-to-gal for such business luminaries as Jim Horan (One Page Business Plan) and Michael Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited). In her own right, she's seen and done about everything in a sales context. What she's learned is that selling is truly about understanding and moving into the world of your prospect or client - lock, stock and teardrop. Your PowerPoint presentations and glossy brochures be damned.

Key steps to being your ever-so-wonderful, authentic selling self include:
1. Relaxing
At a sales call, there may be nothing for you to DO, except be fully
competent and ask, "So why am I here?" Your curiosity makes you powerful.
2. Show up
3. Listen without agenda
4. Tell the truth
5. Let go of the outcome

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
New Date: Stop Selling Like a Man Teleclass: Tuesday, 27 February, 9 Pacific/12 Central. Conference Call Information: (218) 862-6100, pin 4040#

Call Toni to RSVP (or just show up): 831 464 7776

Check back here or at Toni's website for more details.
Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends

HOW TO REACH TONI NELL
http://www.springboardconsulting.biz/

Listen Now: 32 minutes 0 seconds

Not Just Another Manic Monday

I was brushing my teeth this morning (yes, too much information) and listening to NPR. Now, it wasn't that bad of a start -- a little gloomy and cold, to be sure, but OK. Then, Luke Burbank reported on an interview with Cardiff University professor of psychology and expert in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Cliff Arnall, and I wanted to go back to bed with extra covers.

Seems that today is the most depressing day of the year -- and for many reasons. Dr. Arnall cited these on his "please hit me until the pain goes away" parade:

• Weather - it's cold, rainy or snowy and dark. Looking outside, I thought "Check! Check! Check!"
• Debt - the ChristmaHannuKwanzaaka bills have started coming in and we've begun eyeing that iPod that little Cindy has been enjoying with mounting hatred.
• Backsliding - while I'm certain that the road to hell is paved with dead batteries and cast-off Swiffer pads, I've been told that the pavers are actually good intentions. About now, those New Years Resolutions stop seeming possible and we begin to slump into the inevitable: this year will only be a little better than the last. If that.
• Work routine - we're now fully back into the grind from a month spent eating and spending.
• Need to take action - we have that feeling...the one that says we should get moving, but gravity has us locked earthward on our quest for the stars.
• Long haul to the next holiday - OK, when the hairy heck is the next holiday?

Now, at this point in the interview (when I was considering garroting myself with my dental floss), Luke asked good ole Doc Arnall when the happiest day was. His answer, Friday, June 22. Why? He didn't say and I don't care. I'm gearing up until then, but I'm keeping that floss handy.

Um, Cheers?
Lalita

Daddy's Little Barbarian

OK. I was watching TV with Garland when they showed Donald Trump getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No problem with that. The relative merits of the Star have been under dispute and have been discussed in a 2001 ABC News story in which honorary Hollywood Mayor Johnny Grant was interviewed (recipients have, among other things, to pay a hefty security fee and are not selected by The Academy or other agency).

Still. Good for Donald.

What worried me was his acceptance speech. In it, he said:

"He's strong, he's smart, he's tough, he's vicious, he's violent -- all of the ingredients you need to be an entrepreneur, and most importantly, hopefully he's smart because smart is really the ingredient," the 60-year-old billionaire said of Baron during the ceremony.

Smart, tough, vicious and violent -- that's Donald's recipe for success. Although the two most loathed professions in the US are doctors and lawyers, one well-placed salesperson behaving badly can clear a room. Seemed to me that Donald had made a world view out of Conan the Barbarian's mantra. When asked in this groundbreaking film (um, yeah) what was best in life, he answered: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!

In Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends, Tim Saunders touts the value of being a corporate love bunny. Pretty simple concept, but I think he's on the mark. While many would love to have Donald's money, we just can't square his behavior or thinking with the basic skills our mommas taught us.

LNB #033: Open Book Management

Watching the Barbara/Rosie/Donald dustup got me thinking: These are three very powerful and very rich businesspeople. Are they good examples of power in the business world.

I hope not.

There's an "old economy" way of viewing power which includes control of information (spin) and resources; domination of co-workers, peers or subordinates; and crushing the competition. But, I just don't think it's what people signed up for when they started their enterprises.

The success of Firefox browser has people quietly wondering how they can be so powerful -- and simply give away their key information (since the release of Firefox 2 and IE 7, PC Week still gives the nod to the Firefox product).

Can you be powerful and still give away information?

Like open source software, Open Book Management seeks to gain market share through the sharing of key data. Wikipedia, Audacity and other products are winning through a business model based on openness and generosity.

Keys to success in Open Book Management are these core principles:

• Provide employees and key contributors with all the information they need to help the business be successful
  * Financial data
  * Profit data
  * Performance data
  * Cost of goods/services sold, etc.
• Train these good people how to use and understand this information.
• Give these people responsibility for the numbers under their control.
• Provide these people with a financial stake in how the company performs.

Whole Foods CEO, John Mackay has been such an evangelist of Open Book Management that all 6,500 of his employees are considered "insiders" by the SEC (for stock trading purposes). In a Fast Company article (Final Word: "I No Longer Want to Work for Money"), Mackay sent a letter to his employees giving them the straight skinny on changes in executive compensation -- that the peeps in the C-Suites were getting a raise (to keep the headhunters from peeling off key talent) and that his direct comp was going to a buck per annum.

A quick reality check will clue you in on a key fact: the people who need to know what's happening in your business (partners, key resource partners, employees) don't and the people you don't want to know (competitors) do. My friend, Dierdra O'Rourke from Intelligent Office told me that she can sit in any Starbucks and listen to confidential information being shared openly.

Listen Now: 17 minutes, 26 seconds

What's in My Reading Room?

Covey said "sharpen the saw." Sounds simple. but for the solopreneur and the entrepreneurial executive the choice may seem "development myself"...."get this project off the ground." Pitting growth against survival is a less-than-zero sum game. The real game is "grow or die:" Standing still is really moving backwards. I remember hearing a talk from Susan Taylor, then editor in chief of Essence magazine, who extolled the virtues on reading -- she plowed through 5 or 6 newspapers before heading off the her office every morning. That message stuck. Her breadth of knowledge about the world and the things and people in it was stunning. Essence, by the way, is a women's fashion mag.

My business associates and friends, particularly those who have ventured into my home office (where I keep the good stuff stashed) have remarked about the variety of stuff I'm reading at any particular time. One of the best gifts I was given (in addition to my life -- thanks, Mom) is a deep and abiding love of reading. Its opened up a world to me as a child that I got to explore as an adult. I remember the Grollier Encyclopedia we had as children. Momma would hand us a letter and tell us to read when we proclaimed boredom. And read, we did. I'd gotten to letter "T" by the time I'd moved away for school -- skimming the stuff that didn't light me up and reading deeply the stuff that did. I learned that there were people who could "talk" with their hands or in different languages from mine. I learned about a country called North West Africa (now called Namibia). Years later, standing on the tarmac in that country, I said a silent "Thank you" to Momma for those encyclopedia from years ago.

Reading has opening my mind and my heart and showed me that I live on an incredible planet populated with people who leave me gobsmacked every day. Its given me new ways to look at business issues -- my clients' and my own -- that have allowed me to grow my company and my insides.

Here it is:
The Management and Control of Quality (trying to understand the role of quality in service and information-based businesses)
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't (always a good one to read and re-read)
Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends (seems that "The Donald" is good TV, but not-so-good business)
Wired (love the innovations they discover)
Asimovs Science Fiction (helps me keep in mind that there's something new coming around the corner...if it's not already here)
O, The Oprah Magazine (love the cool stuff her staff finds)
Indianapolis Business Journal (for a local perspective on business)
New York Times - National Edition (for a non-Midwest perspective on the nation and the world)

Cheers!
Lalita

What's In My Ear (Alternative, Clever Title: MP-Me)

OK, critics. So, this wasn't the most clever sub-title. Anywhere, I've escaped to Panera (great grub, a good cuppa tea and free wi-fi) and here's what I'm listening to:

• Nora Jones: Cold, Cold Heart
• Amici Forever (The Opera Band): Terra e Liberta (Land and Freedom)
• Nora Jones: Don't Know Why (heck, everything else on her first album)
• Soul II Soul: Back to Life
• De La Soul: Me, Myself and I
• Putyourbodyinthemotion: Wiseguys
• Santana: Smooth
• Jose Feliciano/Rick Martin: Light My Fire/Guajire/Oye Como Va
• WNUA Radio

Remember to stop and feed your soul while you're working. Enjoy!

ROA = Return on Affection?

I'm reading Tim Sanders' new book, Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends. For those of you who don't know him, Tim's worked as an executive at Broadcast.com and Yahoo.com. In his book, he talks about the value of, well, being valuable. As an aside, I'm always struck by books that espouse what I'd thought was obvious -- like the Warren Buffet booklet of CEO secrets that explained that you could determine the worthiness of a potential customer, vendor or employee by how well they treated the wait staff at lunch or dinner (lesson: mean people really do suck). But, I guess it becomes a business fact when someone can prove that they can make a lot of money and still not be a son of a gun.

In his opening chapter, Tim recounts a story of a poor sod who, "wired for war" as he was, sought to destroy the competition as well as the "friendlies" in the business only to be sliced when that sword cut the other way -- left out of business dealings requiring creative problem solving and trust.

It gets hard to believe that there can be a Return on Affection in the business world. The Donald-Rosie-Barbara dust-up shows three very powerful (and very rich people) making ratings hay about a lot of nothing. We sit transfixed waiting for the next installment. Donald's stance: if some one's mean to me, I'll return it 10 times over. Rosie's being Rosie ("comic" with a mean edge and a bright smile) and Barbara seems to be playing both ends against the middle. The Apprentice is being taught in business school to a new generation of potential power players who think this is the way money-makers act and years from now will be wondering how they ended up divorced with children they don't understand and who don't respect them?

Sitting across the table at b-Java, my local coffee haunt (where the staff is under strict instructions from Garland not to give me caffeinated java, dammit), a friend shared with me a conversation he'd had with his boss: in a performance review, his boss had asked another staffer where he wanted to be in 5 years. The staffer didn't know. My friend thought this was a telling point about the staffer, but I found myself wondering about the boss. Coaching and support of employees comes from affection and regard as much as anything else. Helping chart the course with someone who's clearly struggling to figure out where they want to be would have been an incredible kindness, helping to secure that employee for the longer term. People, in many cases, don't have career aspirations because they think they're in the eddy currents with no place to go.

Keeping valuable relationships, now, is as much about being willing to put ones self out for another. It's too easy to let someone flounder rather than making an offer to help. However, in the example with the staffer (yes, there's stuff in this story I don't know, but it serves as illustration), the cost of losing him to another company with a boss who gave a damn could cost upwards of 30% of that staffer's annual salary to replace and train another person.

It costs not to care. However, the example of The View/Donnybrook, makes it hard to believe it.

Scorpions on a Plane?

They won't let me bring shampoo...?

I was in my office looking over my immediate business travel needs for the year when I saw this article recounting an incident where a man, traveling from Chicago to Vermont on United, was stung repeatedly by a scorpion (emphasis and horror added). For a healthy adult, they explain, the a bite "can mean numbness or shooting pain extending out from the bite, or flu-like symptoms" (not to mention the insanity, mouth-foaming or death that I was imagining for myself).

Now, I watched Snakes on a Plane with great delight this past summer. I even put in my husband's information on the website so he'd get the call from Sammy Jackson (even more delight), but I never thought that there might be actual critters on the plane with me.

OK, enough on that. I think I'll go ahead and book that travel.

Tomorrow.

Ramen Noodle Inventor Dies...and the Hoards Mourned

You might not know his name, but generations of college students, late-night munchers, programmers and night-shifters have benefitted from his work.

Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen noodles, died at age 96 Friday in Osaka, Japan.

Mr. Ando invented the quick, cheap meal to help remedy the post-war food scarcity found in his native Japan. His company, Nissin Food Products, now produces over 15 flavors of Top Ramen and Cup Noodles, selling 46.3 billion packs and cups worldwide in 2006. Mr. Ando's ramen restaurant can still be found on Times Square, so if you're ever in New York....

As a poor student and then an even poorer I-got-a-liberal-arts-degree-please-help-me graduate (when I figured out the real value of that degree, I started raking in the dough), I lived on ramen noodles. Here are a few of my favorite recipes (don't laugh):

• Ramen noodles straight-up,
• Noodles with ketchup and spices (the poor girl's spaghetti sauce),
• Noodles with ketchup and bacon bits (imitation for me and the real stuff for my brother Rodney who shared an apartment with me right after I graduated),
• Tuna and peas with noodles,
• Steamed veggies with noodles,
• Scrambled egg with noodles, and when I had gotten a pretty good check that week,
• Noodles with real spaghetti sauce,
• Of course. we can't leave this topic without some recipes straight from Nissan Foods (I really need people to see the Salmon Ramen with Fresh Vegetables recipe -- juillienned veggies and all)

Now, you would think that the very idea of putting any of those combinations in my mouth would have me shiver in revulsion, but there's something comforting about the thought of ramen noodles -- a 3 minute meal that costs a few pennies a spoonful. In fact, I'm going to keep a package or two in my briefcase for emergencies.

OK, now it's your turn. What are your favorite ramen noodle recipes. Give 'em over! Cause I know you've got them.

LNB #032: Staying off the "Road to Hell" (Achieving Goals)

You've heard that old saw: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Well, I believe there's a lot of other litter on the hellbound highway. Part of that litter being business goals and plans. In this episode, we take a look at some of the keys to success.

Considerations for success in achieving 2007 goals

• Courage -- see Wesley Autrey
  Here, I mean the kind of courage it takes to do the really hard stuff. Like that shown by Wesley Autrey, the New Yorker who, seeing a man having a seizure and falling off the subway platform, entrusted his children to the other bystander that was running alongside him to get to the man before he fell -- and jumped on the tracks....and saved both the man and himself.
  
• Structures for existence
  Saying you'll get something done in your business is one thing, but if what you're trying to accomplish is bigger than your previous results, you'll need to have displays and reminders to keep you focused on your new level of performance and results.
  
• Structures for fulfillment
  Get help. Period. You need nothing else to keep doing what you're already good at. However, producing at a higher level takes leaps in thinking and action. It also takes support to turn those leaps into easily repeatable habit.
  
• What matters most
  Achieving goals is heady work. The game is to balance your past excellence in performance with new opportunities to succeed. Knowing what matters most, using a One Page Business Plan, will allow you to work with increasing levels of focus and ease.

Resources:

Landmarkeducation.com's Landmark Forum is a tremendous course for re-booting your thinking.
Try it.

Listen Now: 26:44

LNB #031: What Matters Most

"That which matters most must never be at the mercy of that which matters least."
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In business as in life, this quote signifies the importance of keeping your eye on the ball -- the real one, not the decoy. Having interviewed people over the past 30 days, here's the golden nuggest of those conversations.

Never confuse what you want in your business with what you'd be willing to settle for. If you want people to respect you and your business, don't settle for respect. Busy isn't a good substitute for effectiveness, either.

Further, be clear that your business exists to fully fund your life and interests -- not just to make money. Be clear what you want the money for, so you make certain that you pay due diligence to those things as well.

Special thanks for 2006:

• John Weymouth (Medisurg.com) and YorkAli Walters (imajination.com) for insisting I podcast (blame them).
• YorkAli for opening up the blogosphere for me.
• Rodney Amos for helping me sort out the the audio issues.
• Jim Horan, Lynne and Toni (onepagebusinessplan.com) for a new world of planning execution.
• Toni Nell (springboardconsulting.biz) for her support and friendship.
• You listeners. Thanks for hanging in with me while I sorted our my podcast "voice."
• My clients for their courage and commitment.

Listen Now: 19 minutes, 48 seconds

The Year that Was...

• The planet-formerly-known-as Pluto (now affectionately designated 134340) got demoted from planet to, well, not-planet. So, the mnemonic for our solar system is now M-VEM-J-SUN (sans P). Don't I have enough to remember?


• I, er we, got named Time Person the Year. Looking at the cheap mirrory-thingy they put on the cover and noting that, by squeezing the mag, I could turn my image into a kind of fun-house, horrible long, skinny me, I thought: "That's about right."
• Big Brother arrived in all of his terrible glory. He can be seen sporting a cameraphone and its aimed at you, so behave (or at least dress nicely).


• Ken Lay escaped prison...by falling over dead.


• "Dead Eye" Dick Cheney shot his best friend in the face, casting a permanent pall on networking events forever. The golf outing: now a venue for certain death.
• Dick Cheney's best friend apologized...for getting shot in the face.


• President Bush, well, never mind.


• Trans fats got the boot in NYC and elsewhere.


• Foreign babies of color were all the rage. Angelina and Madonna sported these kids like new Prada bags. Now, if we can learn that our domestic, melanin-enriched, materially impoverished babes are mighty fine, too...


• China, afraid, I'm sure that marauding packs of celebutants will soon descend on them looking to adopt, have instituted new policies to prevent adoption by fat, old, poor, stupid insane, single people (I'm not making this up).


• Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, is a funny guy. Sure made Jon Stewart giggle like a kindergartner. Who knew?


• Michael Richards, poor baby, learned an important lesson: "Nigger," no matter what Generation Hip Hop says about "keeping it real" (rope, a tree and people shouting "nigger" was about as real as real gets) is never, ever (listen to me everybody), ever OK to say. Don't even think it.


• The Midterm Elections shifted us due Left as people struggle to figure out if we're finally, really in a four-party system (the Dems, the GOP, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Cluster -- "party" is way to liberal a term for these good people).


• An front-runner (George Allen) ran off the rails because of an, um, racial (?) slur and YouTube.


• Jack Abramoff, though he claimed that God sent him 1,000's of hints that he was running afoul of the law, still landed lightly on his feet in the pen...and his friends are sure to follow.


• After centuries of speculation on his identity, Hugo Chavez has finally determined the name and location of Satan: Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I guess all of those burning viburnums should have been a hint.


• Black Republicans stepped it up, telling us that our Civil Rights heroes were Republicans....and Black people didn't care.


• We remain a nation at war: on terror, on drugs, on democracy, on principles, on religion, on the poor, on constitutional rights, on the Geneva convention, on habeus corpus, on environment, on good sense.
• Saddam Hussein's getting ready to try on a new tie.
• Pappa's Got a Brand New Bag -- in heaven (God save you if you don't know the reference).


• and, worst of all, we lost Lou Rawls.

Now, it's your turn. What were your fave (or not so favorite) moments of 2006?

LNB #030: Get the Most of What's Left of '06

On a recent call with consultants from all over North America, we generated a list of things we could do to get the most of this waning year. Here are the highlights of our conversation (with my own offerings added for spice) and my invitation to try some of the things we're doing now to ramp up for 2007.

1. Take someone new (or weird) out to breakfast or lunch.
2. Send out information to begin lining up speaking gigs.
3. Finalize my own One Page Business Plan. Done!
4. Write out 3 things I won't do again in 2007. Oh, Lord -- just 3 things.
5. Remember the power of "Thank You."
6. Pick people to help shamelessly. I like this one.
7. Finish that one project I've been procrastination on. Mine is a booklet on habits, thinking and business success.
8. Build on successes from the past.
9. Schedule two, 1-week vacations for 2007. For me, that means no tech.
10. Write down three things that would make 2007 better.
11. Do year-end check-in calls with clients (as Jim Horan of One Page Plan fame says, "leaving the sales hat off.").
12. Attend holiday parties with a smile and a question.
13. Call five non-clients I haven't spoken with in 6 months.
14. Take the last week of 2006 off.

Listen Now: 14 minutes, 23 seconds

Decidedly Creepy.

Democratic Senator from South Dakota, Tim Johnson, suffered a life threatening brain bleed earlier this week, the result of a congenital condition, AVM, arteriovenous malformation. For those of us in the know, this is the malady that killed off Nate Fisher from Six Feet Under as well. Dropped the poor fellow like a stone and sent women (and many men, I'm sure) into a swoon. Oh, sorry, back to Senator Johnson. He fell ill while being interviewed, not being able to speak, and had to be rushed away (AOL offers up the audio of the interview: Symptoms Apparent During Interview).

Like ants on a dead rodent (should have thought that one to myself), the members of the news media raced to tell a panting public what was likely to happen if the good Senator was unable to serve. And while the family "is encouraged and optimistic," the rest of the folks in the political world are trying to figure out how to jockey for position...without looking like they're jockeying for position. Here's the scoop: If Johnson is unable to return to office, there'd be no run-off. His replacement would be named by South Dakota's Republican governor, Mike Rounds. That would create a 50-50 tie and they'd have to dust off Vice President "Dead-Eye Dick" Cheney for tie-breaking, efffectively moving the Senate due Right. On the other side, there's a long-standing tradition in the Senate of not removing ailing members (See US News for more info).

Regardless of partisan politics, I hope Senator Johnson makes a full recovery. I'm sure the GOP wouldn't want to gain back control, well, this way.

Oh, and think of this when you find yourself inwardly cheering the misfortune of a competitor.

(Cross-posted to the American Values Alliance)

Get the Most out of the Rest of 2006: I Ain't Doing THAT Again!

Some of the stuff we did in 2006 really worked. Some of it didn't. Tell the truth about your actions and results for 2006.

Generate a list of things that didn't work. Focus in root causes (the why behind the why). An example may be that you were chronically late to appointments. Why? Because you were afraid to let the phone ring over to voicemail even when you knew picking up the phone would make you late. Consider what it will take for you to either let it ring over or to make sure you can get your phone forwarded to your cellphone and your headset on so that you can answer without hurting your ability to arrive on time.

Here's how I've parsed out my list:

• Satisfaction: getting these things out of my business and life would increase my satisfaction. Here's one for me: Taking on last-minute speaking engagements. I don't get to to the PR and I'm just there to fill in. Why do I do it? I'm concerned that I might have too few speaking engagements. What will I do to make sure I don't fall into an old trap? I'm going to the Encyclopedia of Associations to find an exhaustive list of organizations, generate a letter to the speaking coordinator and fill up my docket with people who are excited to have me.
• Ease: Some of the items on my list may be relatively simple to get taken care of -- things that I don't want to suffer over anymore. I took care of this one yesterday: the caller-id tag and the white page listing for my home office looked too personal. I called the phone company yesterday and changed it.

LNB #029: One Page Proposals?

While on my "one page kick" I didn't want to leave out one of my favorites: The One-Page Proposal: How to Get Your Business Pitch onto One Persuasive Page. I found the book several years ago and have used the principles the author espouses religiously in my business with great success. I found that it allows me to give a prospect all of the key information they need to make a decision on my and my services without me having to give away the store in terms of specifics on my process or suggested approach. Several years ago I found myself competing with another consulting company on a project where the prospect asked for increasingly detailed information. Turns out they'd already decided to give the business to the other company...and they gifted that other consultancy with a copy of my proposal.

Stinkers.

Here's the lowdown. After reading the book, you'll understand how to write the following sections:

• Title and Subtitle, defining the entire proposal
• Target and Secondary Targets, clarifying the goals of the project
• Rationale, with information about the client's needs and why the project is needed
• Financials, with info on what money is needed and how it will be spent
• Status, showing where things stand now
• Action, listing the next steps and what you need the prospect to do.

While this process isn't workable for all types of proposal opportunities (like the government or grant proposals), it can help introduce you and your thinking to a prospect and have them chomping at the bit for your detailed plan (expanding on the information in your One Page Proposal).

Listen Now: 20 minutes, 57 seconds

Here's another impact of globalization: Height

We know that people want to do business with, hire, promote, marry or otherwise hang with the attractive. Studies have raged through universities asking the question "What is 'good looking' and how do we know?"

This story from the New Zealand Herald showed that doctors in China are beginning to balk in huge numbers from requests to perform height surgery -- breaking the legs of their clients, affixing steel cages around the break point and keeping the gap between the two broken ends opened up while it heals and the bone fills in. This process can add up to 3 inches per leg...it can also leave them with horrible deformities or amputated limbs if the surgery goes badly. Patients say that the pain is excruciating (remember that scene from Gattaca?)

Why do they do it? Oddly, job ads have been including height requirements, particularly for candidates seeking customer interaction positions, especially for those working with customers from parts of the world where people are taller.

Seems a little extreme to me. However, African Americans and others have been altering their appearance to gain acceptance for decades. However now we're learning that acceptance is hinged more on their competence rather than countenance. Still rumors of skin bleaching and hair extension procedures on black actresses fill some with sadness. And black businesses can be notorious for refusing to hire someone who may appear "too ethnic."

I remember working as a branch marketing assistant for a large multinational corporation who's initials stand for "I've Been Moved." One of the reps handed me a copy of John T. Molloy's New Dress for Success and told me not to deviate from it. Hated that book.

I wonder what the impact will be long-term on business and professional relationships. Will the short find themselves backwatered into low wage jobs? And what will the country do about an increasing number of disabled and disfigured workers who endured failed surgeries?

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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm