Insights on Leadership from Inc

by Posted under Leadership, Personal Growth | No Comments
A recent article in Inc magazine, Bob Sutton was asked some interesting questions about leadership…here some of what he had to say. “In tough times, what leadership traits are the first to go out the window? The ability to look at things in a cognitively complex way. The more stress you are under, the more you oversimplify things. You tend to grab the first decision. It’s really easy to become selfish and stupid. Look at Tony Hayward’s performance after the BP oil spill.” This quote really spoke to me. Mr. Sutton’s comment is really a combination of two things – (1) decision making and (2) character development. I’ve recently been involved in some executive coaching. Read more [...]

Using MECE to Solve Problems

by Posted under Problem Solving | No Comments
I just completed by 5th book of the year, The McKinsey Mind by Ethan Rasiel & Paul N. Friga. I committed to read 24 books this year, so I’m behind by one book. The McKinsey Mind seeks to describe the process that a McKinsey strategy consultant follows when on assignment. I’ve been interested in the process of problem solving and the methodical way in which McKinsey consultants frame a problem, determine a hypothesis then confirm or deny the hypothesis. There were a host of take-ways from the book so I’ll just focus on one key concept, MECE – Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive. MECE is a way of problem solving by organizing or grouping information into subsets where the Read more [...]

My Daily Feedback Loop

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There is only one way to improve – you have to measure your performance to some standard. You need a feedback loop. I use a daily feedback loop that helps me continue to move in the right direction. I ask myself the following 4 questions at the end of each day. #1. Did I give 100% today My son plays lacrosse and at the start of every practice the team needs to do a couple laps around the field. My son hates running and typically ends up last. I ask him to look me in the eye and tell me if he gave 100%. The answer is usually no. He can run. He has no injuries. He just doesn’t want to do it. If you’re honest with yourself, there are days when you “mail it” in. For whatever reason, Read more [...]

Introverted or Extroverted – Which Are You and Why?

by Posted under Leadership, Personality Types | No Comments
I wrapped up reading my forth book of the year recently: Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. The author investigated the contrast between extroverts and introverts and sighted several studies which showed the biological cause for these two general personality types. One of the most interesting chapters focused on the Wall Street mortgage meltdown and how introverts and extroverts approached the situation. According to the author, each personality type processes dopamine differently. Specifically how introverts and extroverts respond to the prosect of a reward. The author interviewed Dr. Janice Dorn, MD, pHD. Dorn explains that how our brain structure Read more [...]

Decision Making – Small Batches and Intuition

by Posted under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
I’m always looking to grow and an essential part of growth is learning new things. To aid in that process, I've have committed to read 20 business books this year. I just completed my third book, “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries. I’ve noticed that different learning themes emerge from time to time. Lately, that theme has revolved around the process of decision making. IMO, “The Lean Startup” is all about the process of making a good decision. As I see it, there are two components to making a good decision: (1) collecting the best data possible (2) grouping the data in a logical way to discover patterns (3) Making your decision Small Batch Insights One great insight I received Read more [...]

What Are Your Top Concerns For the Week?

by Posted under decision trees, Problem Solving | No Comments
If you’ve owned a business for any length of time, you’ve noticed that things can get a bit hectic from time to time. You can get pulled in many different directions and it can be difficult to know what to tackle first. Pretty soon months have gone by with no real progress. I like to use the following methodology to determine what to focus on and to make progress on those initiatives. I bucket items into two main categories: priorities and concerns (what keeps me up at night). I then order these into the top 3 for each category. Note: It’s a good idea to check with your colleagues to make sure you don’t have a blind spot which is causing you to focus on something you shouldn’t. I Read more [...]

Data-Driven Marketing – Book Number Two

by Posted under Data-Driven, Marketing | No Comments
I've just completed my second book of the month (20 more to go for the year) – Data Driven Marketing by Mark Jeffery. It was a very detailed book describing “15 metrics everyone in marketing should know”. There were many take-aways from the book so I’ll just share a few here that really resonated with me. In the software world (or anytime you engineer or build anything) the best practice is to create a detailed specification which describes what you’re building. Call it a blueprint or design specification; you’re most successful when all the details are defined up front BEFORE you start building.  Jeffery drives this same point home with regard to marketing campaigns... Define Read more [...]

New Year’s Resolution – Couple Month’s Late

by Posted under Problem Solving, Processes | No Comments
I know it’s mid-February, but I don’t think it’s ever too later to have a New Year’s resolution. My resolution has to do with reading. My goal is to read 24 books in 2012 or 2 books per month. I’m already behind by 2 books, but I just finished my first one today – The McKinsey Engagement by Paul Friga. Mr Friga provides a framework for team problem solving and gives real life examples from various McKinsey consulting engagements. He uses the acronym TEAM FOCUS to describe the approach. T – Talk E – Evaluate A – Assist M – Motivate F – Frame O – Organize C – Collect U – Understand S – Synthesize There are so many valuable take-aways Read more [...]

Loving and Serving Each Other – Digging a Bit Deeper

by Posted under Company Culture | 4 Comments
One of the values that we hold dear at Astonish is “loving and serving our client and each other”. I wanted to dig a bit deeper into that value. People use the word “love” all the time. I LOVE this pizza. I LOVE my Ipad. I LOVE going to the movies. The true meaning of the word “love” can get diluted and lose its meaning if we’re not careful. So what does it mean to “love and serve each other” when it comes to business? I think that this is an extremely important and powerful value if it is lived out in our lives. I “love” the Wikipedia definition of the word: "The unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another" It’s interesting that Wikipedia uses Read more [...]

Using Checklists to Improve Results

by Posted under Processes, results | 7 Comments
I read another interesting book recently, “The Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande. The author shows how a simple tool, a checklist, can help organizations avoid errors and improve results. Gawande is a surgeon and he was asked by the WHO (World Health Organization) to come up with a low-cost way to improve surgeries across the globe. After a great deal of research Gawande came up with a simple checklist. The results were pretty staggering. This simple step caused an incredible decrease in infections and many other post-operative problems that plague surgeons. I immediately thought of several areas where a simple DO-CONFIRM checklist could help improve customer service and results for Read more [...]