This time next week I will be at the Cadillac Ranch – learning, connecting, making friends, volunteering, drinking beer and having fun. I’ll be doing all that at BarCamp Nashville 2011 and it’s going to be an “Awesometastic” one, as Joey Strawn would put it.

If you have been following the BCN11 Blog Tour so far, you already know what BarCamp is all about and why you need to attend it. And if you have not, it’s not too late yet and this post is your starting point.

BarCamp is a one day FREE event at a bar, from around 8am till 4pm (Pssssst: There is an after party too.). Why is it at a bar? Coz that’s where the beer is. You see, BarCamp is not like any other event you go to where you need to get all dressed up and be at your best behavior and pretend to be interested in what is being presented. Oh no! BarCamp is designed just for you and the best part is that you can even customize the event based on your level of interest and needs and your mood. You can choose to attend sessions that is worth your while, or if you feel that your while is better worth at the bar area where you can meet, interact and connect with people – why not. That’s why BarCamp is called an un-conference. You get to learn what you want to learn at your own pace, in a non-judgmental, relaxed and friendly environment.

My first BarCamp was last year. A friend invited me to a pre-BarCamp meetup called “Speaker up” and I was instantly intrigued by it all. I attended the following Barcamp and I was blown away by the wealth of knowledge that I gained on a variety of topics, all for free. I was a new face to the Nashville community, and BarCamp played a big role in helping me make new friends – lots of new friends. The connections opened doors to new opportunities. For me, the experience has been truly life-changing.

So there. Now you know why I think you should be there next Saturday. Something tells me that we will meet and when we do, after we exchange business cards, and after you tell me that you read this post, your first beer is on me.

Meet you soon.

Change. Ignore it to live a life of monotony. Embrace it and risk it all.

When we see wrong in this world, there is this inherent urge in us to do something about it, to make it right. Some would choose to walk away. Others choose a more heroic approach, to get involved and make a difference. These are the people who desire to change the world, to fight for what is right. They see change in a positive light.

The reality is that change is not always positive, and the problem with changing the world is that rarely do we realize that change not only impacts our own life but also the lives of those who we share with.

In a thought-provoking story about one man’s journey to change his world, the block in Harlem that he calls home, Christopher Herz writes about a man who risks everything – his job, his relationships and his sanity – for an honest attempt to clean-up the streets on his block.

There is selfishness to change. We all see change from different vantage points and form perspectives that depend on how the situation relates and impacts our lives, and how it may fulfill our needs. The level of our involvement towards any cause is an outcome of that thought process. Some decide to get involved because they believe in it while some use the cause as a cover to drive their own personal or political agenda.

Through the experiences of an unnamed narrator, Herz takes us through a string of events that unfold word by word, very delicately woven into the complex stories of its residents, who have been numbed by their own selfish desire to survive during troubling times on the risky streets of The Last Block In Harlem.

We are all creative people. How much of our creativity do we tap into every day? Unless we are graphics designers, artists, musicians, writers or in a line of work that is generally tagged creative, creativity is not usually part of our key responsibilities to which our performance is measured against. I think it should be and it is up to the management to set the foundation for it.

Why not ask a software developer to add a flavor of creativity to deliverables? Would that give him a sense of flexibility to build reusable code and think out-of-the-box? Why not mandate a little bit of creativity to what a Analyst outlines in a process? Would that give her the freedom to think beyond rules, guidelines and standards to continuously improve processes? Would they begin to challenge status quo?

Google, as you may already know, has a 4-day work week for its technical staff. 1-day is set aside for their personal projects. It’s called Google Labs and many innovative products such as Google Maps were developed through such creative experiments. Many more companies are following suite today.

Can we let creativity open the doors to innovation?

I wonder what would happen if a Magician created tricks based on what his audience approved of with their applause? Or a stand-up Comedian who creates only those jokes that she knows would work a room full of laughter? Where is the magic in predictability? Where’s the fun in sticking to norms?

I read that there are 3 things CEOs wont give up control of. Quality to customers is #1. “your clients are your brand.” This is why customer satisfaction trumps revenue in corporate ideologies. It gets translated into the objectives and goals that trickle down to every employee in the organization. Customer satisfaction becomes “the why” for everything we do. That’s important. Customer is King. But if “the what” we do, “the how” and “the when” we do anything turns out to be for the same reason, then there is a problem. The King dethrones your creativity.

Can we set creativity free from stagnation?

Challenge lies in solving problems, to find solutions that satisfy. Real satisfaction comes from solving our own problems. How can then we channel our creativity to satisfy ourselves first before we satisfy the world?

When I got my first iPod touch, I was thrilled. It was my first Apple product and the first touch screen experience. It grew on me quickly and I would have it with me everywhere I go. I used it heavily for anything and everything it could do. But then as many more gadgets entered my life including a MacBook, an Andriod Phone, and the iPod Nano, my use of the iTouch became minimal and a rarity in my daily routine. As a customer, I evolved.

It’s a common phenomenon. As processes mature and new technology is invented, made available and affordable, preferences and lifestyles get impacted. Everything changes over time… and so does the customer. If you are a service provider, how well do you know if your customers’ usage of the service you provide has not changed over time? Do you have an early warning system to red flag you when your customer grows out of your service? Are your still working with a happy customer?

These are all important questions to consider before and after delivering your service to your customer. In software development projects, we ponder upon this during the requirements elicitation activities through brainstorming sessions using mockups, wireframes and a lot of documentation that finally becomes the specifications to develop on. Traditional development methodologies were lacking in its process to revisit these questions at various stages during development, and thus resorting to some false hope and inconsistent efforts to conduct periodic customer review meetings, in order to find out if the answers have changed any.

The reality is that we don’t need to do a lot to find out if our customer is still using our services the way they intended to use it the first time. No matter what industry you offer your services to, it can start with this simple question: “What does a day in the life of the customer look like today?” Ask yourself and then ask your customer. Learn and learn again. You will be surprised by what you find, and I guarantee that you will see changes in the way your service fits into their daily workflow. Do this often enough and you are sure to keep a happy customer.

I tried this last week and it worked like magic. How do you keep your services always in sync with the changing needs of your customer?

Inspired by: A Day In The Life Of Your Customer by The Instigator Blog

Your name is Ethan Hunt. You are a x-PMO agent who is working for a top secret agency.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to deliver a project on-time on-budget and on-scope, codenamed Project: Impossible.

I’ve already dispatched a team from your usual force – your undercover business liaison, your technical guru, your hacker developers, and a surveillance expert/coordinator to monitor and cover your tracks. Your preferred virtual assistants will be available to you 24/7 to handle all administration needs including transportation and paper work. As always, you know how to reach me if you need to cut through any red tape that is critical for mission success.

In case you are wondering, that was a rip-off from the Mission Impossible TV series that I grew up watching, which was made into a very successful movie series. I think there is a fourth and final installment coming out this year and it’s going to be awesome. Obviously, I am a fan.

But this post is not about the movie. It is about project management.

What if your next assignment to a project was a project initiation email from your boss that read like the message above? Your PM life would get a lot more exciting, especially if it is perceived as impossible to begin with and a question of survival is the undertone. Would you take up the challenge?

What if you had the option to work with your usual team? I am talking about the people with whom you have worked in past projects. They trust you and they work well under your leadership; and you trust them because they’ve always got your back. What if projects in real life would allow Managers to form a team of their liking? Do you think it will lower your chances of failure?

Think about it and now let’s get back to your mission.

Should you or any member of your force be caught or killed during the mission, we will disavow all knowledge of your actions.

This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

Good luck, Ethan.

Last week’s blog theme was about our “Trust In The Clouds”. In The World We “Trust”, I touched upon the importance of relationships in our lives and those that are built on trust are the strongest. I pondered upon the effects of social media on our relationships and how the increasing dependence on the cloud will put our trust to test.

A Cloud of Doubt was a result of more thought-time I put into how safe the cloud is in light of the recent news about Dropbox and Whrrl, and the doubt that their statements injected into my simple mind. It was a call to action for you and me to think about who we are entrusting with our data, and question how they are keeping it safe.

I am grateful for the tweets, the re-tweets, the comments and the conversations that I was able to generate, in my own small way, amongst my followers, my subscribers and and my friends. Thank you!

This is my wrap-up post of this theme until a time when it will resurrect again, I’m sure, in a nearby future.

The fundamental question that drives my theme is this: Can we trust the cloud? The answer is three-fold.

1. Make the unknowns known.

When I say trust and you think security, then the answer is: I don’t know.
Security is and always will be a big unknown. This may be the reason why some of the providers of cloud-based services seem as though they are either not openly talking about it or they don’t talk about it in-depth and often enough. Rackspace, Windstream and Amazon’s EC2 are some of the prominent players in the market today and I must point our that Windsteam’s openness to talk about this topic on their blog is admirable. I think providers of cloud computing services need to talk about security more, as it stands today, as it changes tomorrow and then some more. Make the unknowns known and help remove our assumptions and the speculations from the equation.

2. Failure paves the way to success.

When I say trust and you think reliability, then the answer is: Absolutely, Why not?
Reliability, Availability and Flexibility are some of the benefits that I think the cloud is really about. The success of services like Evernote, Dropbox and Foursquare are examples of how we can rely on the cloud to make sure that our data is portable and available to us at all times. We should definitely be able to rely on service providers like Amazon to build the infrastructure that the cloud needs to make us more resourceful and productive. So what if Amazon screwed up last week and somewhat clouded our innocent minds. On our way to a reliable future, I think we can expect there to be some fumbles along they way. The way I see it, the incident at the very least would give Amazon a chance to strengthen their processes and improve their infrastructure. That’s a win in my books for the cloud.

3. It’s about collaboration.

When I say trust and you think privacy, then the answer is: Good point but you are just about 10 years too late on that argument.
Actually, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin met in the summer of 1995 and they released the first version of Google in August 1996, I’d say your privacy was compromised. If the cloud is anything at all, it is not about being private. It is about collaboration and reaching out beyond borders and boundaries, in a way that enables us to engage with anyone anywhere, quickly and cost-effectively.

In closing, it doesn’t really matter whether we trust the cloud or not. The cloud is the future and there is no going back. What matters is whether we care enough to be aware of what the future holds, would we be able to leverage what the cloud has to offer, and who in the cloud will be able earn our trust.

I’ll leave it at that, for now.

I use Dropbox (the free version) quite a bit with my people. I love the service and I think it is one of best examples of how the cloud can work for us. It demonstrates how easily we can use the power of the internet to store and share information.

Then I read a bNET article this week and learned that Dropbox dropped the ball on security with their contradicting statements in their terms of service. Can their employees view my data or not? Are they “prohibited” or “prevented” from accessing my private and must-be-protected information?

Another story this week that came into my inbox is that Whrrl (a service I have used but not extensively) is closing curtains due to an acquisition. They sent this message to their users:

Whrrl has been a “cloud service” for you and your data, and under no circumstances would we ever let your data disappear irretrievably into the cloud. As such, our last engineering effort on Whrrl has been to develop an experience that lets you get your data (checkins, photos, recommendations, your Want To list, etc.) back in a way that we think is pretty convenient and useful. You will be able to continue using Whrrl normally through April 30. Starting today, however, you’ll find on the website that you now have an option to retrieve your data – pretty much everything you ever put into Whrrl.

Pretty much everything? Why not everything?

So that’s two cloud-based services leaving shadows of doubt to its users and the world. I personally don’t care much about Whrrl but I am worried about my files on Dropbox. My love for the service is shadowed by a creeping lack of trust.

What about Evernote, a service I trust unconditionally? Oh, except those conditions I checked and accepted with a click and the flicker of a screen. Should I go back and scrutinize it (read it painfully) to find the safeties they may have skillfully worked in? I don’t want to do that. I am lazy and it’s boring. I don’t have the time. Tell me Evernote, tell me I can trust you. Just tell me and I will believe you.

I talked to a friend about using cloud-based services. He was quick to answer: “I don’t trust the cloud.” Given a choice, he would go with services who have their own servers to store our data and protect it. Somewhat like what the banks do, and the multi-billion dollar companies, who can afford it. But then again he uses Facebook, minimally. Good luck on that.

Folks, I am confused. What are we to do as simple uncaring selfish individuals? Who can we trust enough so we can keep playing Farmville?

I am an extrovert. I like being around people. I rarely turn down invitations to parties, events, outings, anything and everything that I can find time for. I tend to forget the physical exhaustion when I am engaged in conversations with my friends. I am who I am because of these relationships. My relationships are built on trust. I believe that trust enables us to share.

Many of the relationships we build today are on Facebook and Twitter and the likes. This is the age of collaboration and social media. Social media platforms have made it easier for us to connect. I wonder if they have made us trust any more easier? I don’t think so but because trust levels vary from person to person you may feel differently. And what about the relationships we get into with the social media providers in our rush to make connections and build more relationships? Isn’t it odd that we trust Facebook with a lot of information today? It’s scary when you think about all the uncontrolled unfiltered data that flows freely into Facebook every day in the form of our conversations, our photos and everything else we put out there. We trade our private and protected information with strangers to feed our craving to share information with people who we trust or want to trust. Ironic in a way, don’t you think?

The impact of social media on our lives and specifically with our relationships must not be ignored and something we need to think about.

Pundits say “The future is in the cloud.” It has the potential to be a new revolution, like the Internet was. The idea behind the cloud is to make information available to consumers at all times, and by allowing providers a cost-effective and quicker means to put information out there. Many business have embraced the cloud already and others are on their way. The cloud makes it easier to provide as well as consume information, the good and the bad, in abundance. In a world which is already flat, the cloud will make information exchange virtual and scattered. Do we feel excited for the possibilities this new revolution brings or should we be worried of the risks involved? Can we trust the cloud to keep our precious information safe from prying eyes? Only time will tell.

In our collaborative information age, where sharing information to build trusted relationships is essential and sometimes game-changing, I wonder if we are clouded with doubt for what the future holds OR are we making great strides towards an age of trust? What do you think?

I am born in the month of May and I consider myself a classic Taurean personality – mentally strong, very stubborn, mostly supportive, sometimes stupid… Generally, I have a high tolerance level but there is a tipping point beyond which all hell can break lose. It’s rare, but it happens. I am the bull. When I see red, I charge.

I used to lose my cool a lot in my school and college days, and even during the early years of my job. I remember the time when my Manager’s reference to me as a resource blew off my lid and I charged at him with my words. The R word still does wipe off my smile as I feel it is wrong to de-humanize your team (Related post: Humanize your team) but lessons in life have taught me not to react instantly in such situations. I learned to let such moments pass by.

There are times when unauthorized thoughts slips through and enter a world of nasty words or rude actions or both on a self-destructive path. It’s happened before and it will happen again. The reality is that no matter how much we try, there are going to be bad days. When blood rushes into the brain we can’t always take a deep breath and make sensible choices. We are only human. We make mistakes. But what matters the most really is what we do next. Can we muster enough of those reactionary impulses to take necessary steps to make amends? How quickly can we free our sensible mind from the grip of guilt and remorse?

It’s tough. Recovering from a bad row with someone and setting things right means that we have to let go of our ego, admit our mistakes, focus on the larger picture and initiate a discussion of what went down and negotiate an agreement to what needs to be done. But it can be done and its effective. Even a simple apology (Related post: The Power of Apologies) goes a long way sometimes. No matter what approach we take or how long it takes, the point is that Managers need to take the first step even in the worst of situations. We are not bulls, not always.

What is your tolerance level to issues, inconsistencies, incompetence, incapabilities, and irritable actions? How much of your personality plays into the level of patience you show towards your team?

Have you seen your Manager lose it? Tell me, what happened next?

Some Managers do the strangest things sometimes. First they go out of their way to make the team happy, to gain trust. Then they do things that are not in the best interest of the team, mostly for trivial things, usually to feed their bloating ego. Have you seen that happen? Have you worked for such a Manager? Would you admit if you are one?

Then there are some Managers who would not de-value relationships, who would make sacrifices to keep the sanctity of teams, and who would never do anything that would kill the trust that they struggled to earn, even if their jobs hinged on it. They are a different breed. Have you witnessed such leadership? Have you had the privilege to serve such a Manager? Are you the one, who would rather be back stage, behind the scenes, out of the spotlight?

Whoever you are, when you sit behind your busy desk in your lonely office room staring through a large window at the outside world, constantly distracted by the ringing of your phone, and removed from the hall-way conversations and the laughter, have you sensed a strange feeling of disconnect? If you have, then get up and find the conversations that you can be a part of and reconnect with the team that worked for your success. Do it once. Then do it again. Do it often. Let the phone ring.

In one of my early blog posts titled The Effective Manager published 3 years ago, I took a stab at listing down what I thought were some key traits a Manager must possess in order to be effective. Funny thing about thoughts from the past is that it makes us realize how much we’ve changed over the years, in our thinking and in turn our actions. Though I continue to believe that Accountability, Communication, Relationships, Delegation, Confidence, Processes and Fire-fighting are all important qualities required of a Manager to lead his/her followers, today I have a slightly different viewpoint on what makes a Manager effective.

Managing effectively is a leadership skill, and it is more about the solutions and less about the means or the results.

In a review of Tina Fey’s “Bossypants” Lessons for the Workplace book, a BNET article quotes Fey’s writings on a key rule of improvisation as being the importance of always contributing to a discussion. She writes: “In other words, whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.”

This is true to every role we play in life. When we are faced with problems how do we contribute and more importantly, do we contribute to the problem or a solution? What is our instant reaction? Do we cry for help? Do we look for a hole to hide in? Or do we think solutions?

I believe that an Effective Manager is one who’s first action is to present solutions to a problem, then he helps choose the best way forward and provides direction to his team with confidence, optimism and determination to push aside any obstacles in the way to achieve a desired result.

The mindset matters, not the skills.

Two months after I had launched this blog (previously known as lap31), I celebrated “March Mania @ lap31” to close out the month in light of my first few successes as a blogger. Today on the last day of March 2011, I want to take a moment to write another note to mark the end of a chapter that began three years ago.

Looking back I am reminded of my travel through countries and cultures, across borders and barriers, that brought me to a Music City. It was a dream that started with a simple desire, which has now been realized in the form of a plastic green card.

Words that formed the thoughts in my head, that transformed into the innocent poetry of a kid, that became the ramblings of a blogger, has now becomes the voice of a speaker. This month marks the debut of my first podcast and the making of a public speaker. A voice within gets vocal.

With reset expectations and a renewed identity, I look ahead to what I hope will be the most important year in my life. This is a new beginning. Wish me luck!

[On March 26th 2011, I spoke at PodCamp Nashville 2011 about my transformation from a Blogger to a Podcaster and the launch of The Agile Hotspot podcasts. The following is the transcript of my talk at the event. Event photos and more conversation about can be found on facebook.]

Intro

My name is Raj Menon. Today is the day I launch my first Podcast. During this session I would like to share my experiences with you, experiences that transformed me from a blogger to a Podcaster.

my journey

I was born in India in a state called Kerala. When I was a few years old my dad’s job took us to the middle east where I did most of my schooling. I returned to India in 1993 and got my Engineering degree in computer science. After college, I moved to Blore and worked as a Software Developer. In 2002, my job took me back to the middle east to Doha, Qatar as a Project Lead. Today, I am Program Manager for an IT firm in based in Nashville.

It’s been a amazing journey, one in which I’ve had the incredible opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life, learn from cultural diversity, professional diversity and geographical diversity.

blogging

To share my experiences, I wanted a medium to reach out to a lot of people but more than that I wanted a way to reflect back on my thoughts, and to learn from them. So I created 13apples.com, a Leadership blog focused on my experiences.

Quick show of hands: how many of you blog?

I have been actively blogging since 2007 and I believe that it requires a lot of focused effort. Not only do we have to spend a lot of time to get the content ready, we need to promote it. You’ve to tweet, post it on facebook and publish on linked in, as well as finding time to comment on fellow blog sites so as to drive traffic back to your own, it can be a time consuming and frustrating affair. So you might wonder why is it worth all that effort? It is worth the effort because good blog posts can lead to great conversations.

But what if you dont have to put all that effort to get to the conversations. What if you go straight into the conversations?

And that’s where podcasting comes in.

So for those of you who are bloggers, I think Podcasting is the logical next step. And those of you who are not, Podcasting is a great first step to reap the same benefits but maybe with a lot less effort.

podcasting

What is a podcast?

The online definition: A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.

My definition: its nothing but an mp3 or wav file of pre-recorded conversations that is made available on a website to stream, download or subscribe to.

My podcasting plans started with such a connection that I established on Twitter. I met Dominique sometime early 2010. From tweets to emails to Skype we developed the idea of starting a podcast. You may ask, what makes our story unique. It’s this: Dominique is German national who lives in India, while I am an Indian residing in USA. We live in different timezones and we podcast over Skype. And… we have never met in person.

It spite of the seeming hurdles we still made it work. And… for the rest of this presentation, I would like to walk you through what went into the making of our podcast.

Once we had decided to podcast, there are some more important decisions to make.

1. Decide on a Theme

Pick a theme that is of interest to you. Choose something that you can can easily have a conversation with. It can be about technology, social media, graphic design, blogging, your travel experiences… anything you are comfortable talking about.

Dominque and I chose to talk about “Agile Software Development and Working with Distributed Teams” in our podcasts. We call it “The Agile Hotspot”.

Quick show of hands: How many know or have heard about Agile Software Development?

2. Decide on a Broadcasting Plan

This is an important step for a successful podcasting future. 3 key points to consider:

a. Schedule: How often do you want to podcast? Will it be weekly or monthly?

Be Consistent! Any podcaster will tell you that successful podcasts are those that are also available on time for listeners. This is key in building a trusted listener base. It is also important to communicate the podcast schedule to your listeners.

b. Episode Line-Up: What are the topics you want to talk about? Which topic will you talk about first? Will you have guests on the show?

Very early on, before you record your first episode, brainstorm and jot down a list of topics that you would like to talk about in future episodes. Make sure that these topics tie into your original theme. Then prioritize them. This is your Episode Line-up and each topic is an episode. While you will have the flexibility to re-prioiritize them, make sure you are sure about the 1st two episodes. I will tell you why when I talk about the content structure.

c. Episode Guides: What are the key talking points for a topic? Who will talk first? How will you know when to talk?

An episode guide is the meat of your matter. It gives each host and the guest the talking points to stay on track with the conversation. It will have indications of who will talk when as well as the hand-offs. Before you start recording, take the time to detail it out and also to have a few sessions to review and revise the content. Plan to have an episode guide for every episode.

3. Decide on the Content Structure

Another key decision to make is the Content Structure. Every podcast out there has its own structure and style. When you build you Episode guide, it is important to create it in a structure that can be easy to read (for you while podcasting) and easy to follow (for your listeners).

The Agile Hotspot is structured into Segments & Transitions. There is an Opening Segment, 4 or 5 Content Segments and a Closing Segment. Transition connects each segment with logical questions or as a summary to a segment.

The Opening Segment consists of the intro music and a welcome message. Here is a sample of how it sounds: [play mp3 file] Get creative here. Tap into the music lover in you and have fun.
Get someone else to record the intro. I know a Podcaster friend who has each episode intro recorded by a different voice. It brings variety to your podcasts. Brings an element of surprise.

The Content Segments go into each Episode guide and consists of your key talking points and transitions. We have divided our segments into conversational segments and independent segments, the former is where both of us have key talking points while the latter can be recorded separately.

The Tools

Now that the key decisions are made, lets talk about the tools that are needed to make podcasts. I have divided the tools into the following sets:

1. Tools to Talk

How will you talk? Face to Face? On the phone? Online?
- Skype
- Professional podcasting microphones. $100 for the Blue Yeti USB condenser microphone.

2. Tools to Share

How will you share files with your podcasting partners and guests?
- Dropbox is a great tool and its FREE.
How will you share your final podcasts with your listeners?
- Amazon S3, Libsyn.com ($5 per month)
- Web hosting (ex: GoDaddy)

3. Tools to Record

How will you record your conversations?
- Skype Call Recorder ($20)

4. Tools to Mix
How will your produce your podcasts?
- Garageband (FREE)
- Audacity (FREE)

5. Tools to Broadcast

How will people find your podcasts? How will you build you listener base?
- WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, MailChimp, iTunes
Note: Podcasting Etiquette

1. Remove distractions
2. Make sure your room is a noise-free zone.
3. Don’t move around in your chair and stop fidgeting.
4. Speak slowly, helps remove the filler words.
5. While talking through your segments, leave logical pauses to leave for questions and comments.
6. You never get it right the first time.

Closure

Podcasting is a great way to share ideas and thoughts real time. If you get really get good at it, it can open up some revenue opportunities too. But above all, it is a lot of fun and it is very easy to get started.

Our podcast is called The Agile Hotspot. This is just my first podcast. As I continue to learn more about it, I would love to hear from you about your ideas or questions you have.

Reach out to me on 13apples.com or via Twitter @_13apples_

Thank you for being awesome listeners.

Questions?

People leave Managers, not companies.

The effectiveness and success to managing people lies in the leadership skills, sense and style of the Managers. When done right, people stay motivated and bend over backwards without complain or regret. The Manager and the Team Member builds a relationship fueled by trust.

According to an article by Business News Daily, a 2010 survey conducted by a career-management agency called Right Management revealed that “84% of workers want to quit jobs, find new gigs in 2011“. The article also quoted the company’s President who said that “Employees’ trust has been seriously shaken and there is a general lack of confidence in leaders.” Almost all the top reasons for why employees leave seem to point towards ineffective Managers and broken trust. If we look beyond the obvious reasons for why that is so, we start to see the trail that leads to a much bigger issue.

A Manager who is mis-managed is almost always likely to mis-manage his team.

Leadership is infectious. Good leadership has a positive impact on the team whereas bad leadership impacts negatively. Whatever the effects of leadership, it surely trickles down from the top honcho to many levels down.

A friend recently told me about his Manager who had begun to show signs of maturity causing a positive change in his leadership ways. Such incidents give me hope that a transition from bad to good leadership is not an impossibility. When experience teaches us how to adopt as well as adapt to changing times and situations, it is not uncommon to see such drastic changes in leadership styles. Most leaders I know strive for that continuous improvement. However, in my friend’s situation, there was one compelling factor that could not be dismissed. The change that he noticed occurred only after a leadership change at a level above his i.e. his Manager’s Manager had changed. So if we were to believe that this is not a lone one-off incident, that mis-management is also infectious, then what next?

We have the power to choose.

Change happes when we are dissatisfied with the status quo. But choosing to change is not the only choice we have. We have the power to choose who we work for. So let’s circle back to the beginning. People leave Managers, not companies. In other words, we change Managers, not companies. And there lies the choice, a rather difficult one because unlike companies the value and worth of a Manager cannot be googled.

But there is an easier choice available to us now, every minute of every day, a choice to strengthen our relationship as a Manager with our Team, and vice versa.  Let’s choose to prepare ourselves for the time when we become ready to leave a company to work for a Manager.

Your organization has a mission statement. You may have seen it on your company memo or on a gold plated plaque on the wall in your boss’ office. What does it say to you? Does it make any sense?

Sometimes its not even a mission statement but just a new mantra, like this one that I hear a lot these days at various organizations: “Cheaper. Faster. Better.” Short and crisp. It’s catchy too. This one expects the project team to deliver products and/or services to the end users within minimal time, at minimal cost and maximum quality ‘coz that’s the way forward, that’s our new mission.

What do company mission statements really mean to the employee? How does it make a difference to you and me? Is the explanation hiding behind the simplicity of its words? Or is it a mantra that is preached down from way up in the chain of command, that its meaning and understanding got somewhat lost like a Chinese whisper?

I decided to take a stab at “Cheaper. Faster. Better.” and on a whiteboard I listed down what these words mean to me and I came up with this:

• Cheaper: Reduce cost from improving time-to-market of the product. Establish an early, well-planned and effective outsourcing model to stay on or below budget and improve scalability.
• Faster: Adopt agile development methodologies, Decrease turn-around-time with re-usability and automation. Increase focus and efficiency of processes with templates and checklists. Develop an experienced workforce with responsible team members and accountable Managers.
• Better: Rigorous quality assurance plans. Accurate estimations. Compliance to standards. Open communication. Trusted & trusting teams. Better collaboration.

It was like giving CPR to 3 lifeless words. The words came alive and it started to speak to me. Disclaimer: obviously this is just my perspective and certainly not comprehensive or may not be aligned to your interpretation.

But the exercise helps bring clarity and I think it is always beneficial for the management to decipher the mission statement code in order get the team on board with it. Why is “Cheaper. Faster. Better.” important for the organization in our fast-paced, cut-throat world, and why is it important to the team?

I volunteered as a Speech Coach for a non-profit recently. Their mission statement:

The mission of Best Buddies is to establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Now, that’s a clearly stated mission worth fighting for. Don’t you think? (I am proud to have had the opportunity to work for Best Buddies Tennessee.)

What is the mission or mantra based on which you do what you do? Is it your mission?

In the Fall of 2010, I attended my first “Nashville” Camp. I spent a full Saturday learning, collaborating and having fun. And then I wrote about the crew and the community who made it all happen. I called them the Go-Givers because they gave us knowledge generously without expecting anything in return except for our time and open-mindedness.

Well, guess what, the Go-Givers are back.

This March, get ready for Nashville’s creative community to give some more, to teach you a thing or two about Podcasting, Social Media, Blogging, Connecting, Entrepreneurship and how to keep having fun. Prepare yourself for PodCamp.

If you live in or around Nashville, mark the event date on your calendars and get ready to spend a day at the Cadillac Ranch on Broadway, at Downtown Nashville. It will be the 26th of March before your know it. So prepare to attend. Attend to learn and to connect. Start now by spreading the word on Twitter.

But if you want to do more than just attend, if you want to share what your know, your experiences, what you do and how you do it, then prepare to participate. Participate to give and to collaborate. Start now by sharing your ideas with us on Facebook.

34 days to go. Nashville, are you ready to “Express Yourself” at PodCamp 2011?

A work buddy recently talked to me about a leadership opportunity that has opened up in his team and felt like he should give it a shot. He has been a Software Programmer for around 3 years but has never played a leadership role. He wanted my opinion on what he should do. Should he grab this opportunity or should he wait till he has gained more experience?

My best friend once told me about a situation at work. His peer, also a Manager, got promoted to a Senior Manager role. My friend, who has worked with this person, does not appreciate his leadership style, neither was he looking forward to the reporting relationship with him. He knew that this change is not the best proposition for the project and will not be well-received by his client. He was debating on whether to initiate a heart-to-heart talk with his Senior Management to discuss the risks and present ways to derive an amicable solution. My friend in a confused sate reached out to ask me what he should do and how the situation can be best handled so that everyone wins?

I transitioned from a Software Programmer to a Project Leader within 2 years on the job. It took another 3 years to a Project Manager role and 4 more years to be promoted to a Program Manager. I grabbed every opportunity that presented itself. I don’t recall reaching out to my well-wishers, my boss, my peers, my mentors, my team, and not even spending enough thinking-time to tap into my own thoughts, to understand my strengths and weaknesses and prepare myself to be successful at the next level. Instead I took a deep breath, held it and dived right into the sea of leadership. And then I struggled to learn to swim with the sharks. From survival to failure to success, it was not an easy transition. Could I have done it any differently?

The 3 situations above represent 3 stages that every leader faces at some point in their lives. These are the pages from our life story of transitioning into leadership. But we experience different obstacles, choose different options and makes different decisions. Yet we all meet at the finish line as leaders. Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris, in their new book, calls it being Remarkable. Because we are all Remarkable.

The situations above can be merged into a single story, our common story of how we recognize opportunities, take risks, remove obstacles and become leaders in our own right. Unfortunately, there is no single working formula in our story that can become the answer to all such transitions. Fortunately, there is a book available that has similar stories, experiences, best practices and a process you can follow in your transition to a leadership role.

If I could travel back in time and if I could change one thing in all 3 situations, so as to help make our leadership journey smoother, to lessen the unknowns, I would give each one of us a copy of this remarkable book “From Bud To Boss” because it contains the “secrets to a successful transition to remarkable leadership”. But until time-travel becomes a reality, I recommend you get your hands on a copy of the book.

Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris’ book From Bud to Boss launches on Tuesday, February 15th 2011. To celebrate the launch, they have gathered some terrific gifts from partners. To find out about the gifts, please visit http://www.frombudtoboss.com.

As part of my job profile I sometimes take interviews of candidates applying for Leadership positions. Taking interviews is an energy-draining process for me. My analysis, my judgment, and my assessment can change the course of someone else’s future. So I don’t rush through it and I start a conversation with the candidate. I also do not rely entirely on the resume, instead use it as a conversation starter with some insight into the person’s work experience. The resume does not tell me anything about their leadership psyche, communication styles, or any of those personality traits that prepares us to perform well in a new environment. I have found that there is no easy way to find out about except to have a long and sometimes exhaustive chat with the candidate. I have always wondered how this process can be made simpler.

My colleague and I were interviewing a candidate for a open position this week. The call went well. It was one of those “good” interviews wherein both parties – the interviewers and interviewee – connected well. We were done with our enquiry (some would call it questioning, but we are not the cops) and just as I thought we were done, my colleague surprised me with a few final questions:

“Are you more geared towards people or tasks?”

“Are you more driven to action or reliability?”

And I witnessed one of the simplest and quickest forms of a DISC personality assessment test.

According to Wikipedia, DISC stands for:

• Dominance – relating to control, power and assertiveness
• Influence – relating to social situations and communication
• Steadiness – relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Conscientiousness – relating to structure and organization

Since I am a geared to people and driven by action, that makes me a I-type personality. I guess I am what the model calls, the Influencial one.

But can you really describe everyone with just four styles?

Guy Harris is an expert in this field says “Yes, you can describe all the behaviors and perspectives of all people using information revealed by understanding the four DISC style descriptors. When I say “all people,” I am referring to all people who fall into what you could call “normal human psychology.” Which means, people with no clinical psychological disorder. This would be something like 90-95% of the people on the planet. Not truly everyone, but most people I encounter on a daily basis.”

He says that using the four basic style descriptors helps to “create a frame of reference that allows me to understand them better when we interact. The four DISC behavioral styles reveal tendencies and patterns in behaviors and perceptions. They do not neatly define people. They only give some guidance and insights to better understand other people’s perspectives.”

It is important that we have the right intentions. The personality tests should not be a means to assess people  in order to pigeon-hole them.

Guy emphasizes that the use of the DISC model must be for the right reasons. “When people use the model to define another person or to limit their potential, the model becomes a weapon. It becomes a way to stereotype and label people. Both of which, I think, are wrong. When people use the model to create an understanding of another person’s perspective, the model is just a tool for connecting and communicating more effectively. Both of which, I think, are good. The beauty of the model lies in its simplicity. It is easy to remember when the pressure hits. The depth of the model shows that, with study and practice, you can learn to use it to strengthen and deepen all of your relationships.”

What is your personality type? Do you think that there is value in knowing the personality types of people you work with professionally or connect with socially?

Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris’ new book, From Bud to Boss, launches on February 15^th. To celebrate the launch, they’re offering special bonuses to people who purchase the book on the day of the launch. These bonuses include free content from a variety of partners who are promoting the launch. To take advantage of these bonuses when you buy the book, visit “these links.” Be sure to join the new Bud to Boss Community to be connected with a wealth of resources about how to be a better leader every day.

Sometimes all that it takes to get back on your feet is an extra push. It comes in the form of a listen, an understanding, a few words of encouragement, and some advice.

I get that push every week from a few individuals who set aside 90 minutes of their busy week, for me. I’d like to think of us as a unique group of trusted friends and we have a simple motto – to listen, to question, to encourage, and to hold one another accountable. Accountability, that was the driving force.

My first real taste of it was Weight Watchers. I joined a group of work buddies to shed off pounds using the WW points-based disciplined eating (not diet) method. Every week, we would get together to weigh-in, discuss the issues we faced and share stories to encourage one another. It worked. The power of Accountability became evident in our reducing waist-lines and disappearing double chins.

Keith Ferrazzi, in his inspiring book called “Who’s Got Your Back?”, talks about the origin of Weight Watchers and its accountability-based model. He says that it is the backbone for creating “Lifeline Relationships – deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support that every one of us needs to reach our full potential.”

I call it the Circle of Influence, a way for us to get influenced and uncover solutions.

Churches have accountability groups where you get support and guidance by giving faith. Successful people in business keep the company of trusted advisers, peers and experts from their industry. They share experiences and ideas to gain insight, strategies, to make better business decisions.

You have to give in order to gain.

Dr. Steve R Covey defined that “A Circle of Influence encompasses those concerns that we can do something about. They are concerns that we have some control over.”

What are the concerns you’ve control over? What if, you were to convert them to your goals? What if, you didn’t have to work on those goals on your own? What if, you had a group of trusted advisers to give you that extra push? What if, you could have them check on your progress every week, discuss and remove your roadblocks?

What if, you had a Circle of Influence to give you that extra push?

I met Rory Vaden when I attended his Take The Stairs presentation along with the GTD guy, David Allen. Two motivational speakers, one who shared his life insights to urge us to take the stairs of success, and the other the famous productivity guru who has touched and changed many lives around the world, they had one message in common that day – Success comes to those with discipline, without which our efforts to change will always be inconsistent and short-lived.

Today, there is an abundance of tools to help us take control of our lives. Many motivational speakers are sharing their success stories through seminars, blogs and books. They are all teaching us their ways for us to stay disciplined, but how do we bring about discipline into our lives in the first place? Why is our struggle to stay on top of things, to balance work and life, to be punctual, to be there for our loved ones, to stay healthy, to have fun, to change… always always a struggle?

I remember my school days when I would fall asleep face down on my book trying to study for my exams. The hot tea that my mom would make to keep me alert had no effect on me even to it’s last drop. Though I wished I would be equally good at studies as were my classmates, I continued to be an average student all through high school. College days were no different. In fact, the freedom from home regime made it worse. Burning the midnight oil on the day before the exam, trying to cram all that knowledge and hold it in till exam time became a habit. Maybe I tried to substitute discipline with hard work, when both had to go hand-in-hand.

As kids we learn about discipline at home and at school, under the pretense that we are children who do not know better and so we need to be taught about it. As adults we know better, to translate our childhood teachings into a self-disciplined life. How effective have we been in carrying over those lessons over the years to our every day adult life?

I asked some of friends on my Twitter and my facebook page to hear what they had to say about the role of discipline in their success and how they introduced it in their lives.

“When I joined the Navy I was 18, I had zero discipline. I barely passed High School. My parents told my recruiter I would never make it in the Navy. The discipline I learned in the Navy turned my life around. It made me what I am today. 20+ years later, I am a Chief Petty Officer and have accomplished a lot in my Naval career. Without Discipline, I would probably be homeless and on the street.” recalls Gregory T. Farley who writes about his life experiences and leadership lessons on his blog Voices of Leadership.

My good friend and fellow blogger Robert Kelly had this to say about discipline in the corporate world:

“In a deadline driven, mobile workforce it is imperative to develop discipline in your work routine. Being able to deliver and meet expectations has repeatedly been on my performance reviews, so discipline has played a major role in my success to date. The ability to work from home and micromanagement being a taboo word in corporate America, most supervisors have shifted to ‘empowering’ their workforce. Without your manager looking over your shoulder, you better figure out this discipline thing. For me, it was a matter of systems. I have deadlines and reminders put into my calendar with notifications 1-2 days out and I leverage things like remember the milk and reminder fox to make sure I am hitting the dates I need to.”

Laura Brandenburg, who helps Business Analysts advance their careers, uses weekly reviews as an entry point to bring discipline into her life. She understands that “discipline creates the possibility of repeating past successes and learning from past mistakes.”

It seems to me that discipline is a state of mind, one that can be attained with a strong purpose and understanding of what is important to succeed. It seems Discipline is only a mind-shift away.

I’d like to thank all those who took time to share their stories and insights with me. As more thoughts pour in about this topic on our facebook page, I welcome you to join the discussion and share your two cents. Join us in our effort to be disciples of discipline.

Times have changed. We live in a day and age in which the people we know – our friends, acquaintances, even our family members may be of a different upbringing, another country, a different culture, an opposite religion and in some cases with long, difficult, unpronounceable strange names. Do we take the time, pain and patience to get it right or do we create a version of the name that we find easier to say. I have seen both happen and in case of my own name more the latter, unfortunately.

When someone gets my name wrong, I get frustrated. Wouldn’t you? It displays lack of respect towards that person, and carelessness or snobbishness on our part. But I have met some who aren’t.

My full name is not easy to pronounce to many and it takes some practice to get it right. I think its because there may not be an English word or name that has an R following the S, make it a bit of a tongue twist. So introducing myself is not always as quick as saying “My name is John Doe”. But one day at work, I bumped into the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) on his first day as he was on his office tour. I introduced myself. He listened intently and asked me to spell out my name. No one had ever asked me to do so before, and usually it is me who would volunteer to spell it out. I was amazed. He then continued on with his tour of the facility.

A week later he called for a company wide gathering to introduce himself to the organization. As the room filled up with employees walking in, I saw that he was already mingling with people. Soon enough he noticed me with my group of work friends, walked up to me and addressed me by my name. And then he said: “I practiced pronouncing your name many times. Did I get it right?”. He got it perfectly right. I was impressed.

With a simple act, the COO connected with me instantly and created a lasting impact. Since then I have taken great care to get names right. I remember a time when I had asked my friends to teach me how to pronounce the name of the person I was to introduce at my public speaking club, that I would’ve normally goofed up on. It was worth the effort.

So, what’s in a name? Why is it so important? It is best described in Robert K. Cooper’s book called “The Other 90%”. He says this about the greatness behind names:

Our names are not labels. They are the cover of a human story. Beneath and beyond the name, yet tied to it, is a unique person’s life, with love, loss, laughter, dreams, hardship, and some vast measure of still hidden possibilities. From the moment you meet another human being and first hear their name, no matter how brief the interaction, your story is touching theirs.

Now here is a video I found to provoke your thoughts:

Its 9am. You walk into the meeting that you had called for with your team. There is a major issue and it is your responsibility to put the fire out quickly. You have a small window of opportunity to control this situation before it blows.

An hour goes by discussing and debating on the best approach. Time is running out and finally a decision has been made. You have your game plan and your team has specific instructions. It is time to execute and put the fix in place.

A minor detail was missed and your plan backfires. All hell breaks lose. Phones start ringing. Many panicked faces turn to you and with unspoken words they ask you for direction.

Let’s freeze that moment. What’s going on in your head? What are you thinking? What will you do next?

Is your face clouded with anger and disgust? Do you shout at your team for being unreliable? Do you assign blame to whoever you think caused this issue in the first place? Do you form excuses in your mind to tell you management? Are you scared, feeling stressed, depressed and afraid you might lose your job? Do you want to run away to your lonely place and burst out into tears?

Or…

Do you force a smile on your face? Do you applaud the great effort your team put in and commend their quick response time? Would you try and motivate your team to be persistent and determined to find a solution? Would you then notify your stakeholders of the status of the situation, assure them that you have not given up and try to buy more time for your team? Are you confident, calm and still in control? Can you be trusted to finish the job?

At the very core there are only two types of leaders in this world – the ones who cry and the ones who are accountable. Which one is You?

We all have our own way of dealing with situations. A combination of character, teachings and experience define our leadership personality and though it is evident in all our actions, it is most obvious in crisis situations. It is in those worst few moments that our mind, “the seat of the faculty of reason” gives us choices for what we must do next.

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A silent influencer. A burst of positive energy. The awakening of a smile. The end of hostility. The beginning of a friendship.

That is the power of two simple words – Thank You. Yet, in this fast-paced world, we forget this common courtesy. With our blackberry’s and smart phones and texts and quick emails and tweets and status message conversations, we have become social beings of the thankless kind.

There is no better time than this Thanksgiving to relearn our kindergarden lessons.
“Kids, say Thank You.”

Say it not just when you get something. When someone opens the door for you at the restaurant, your natural instinct to be courteous takes over, as it does when you get your coffee at the cafe counter. But say it when you GIVE. That’s when it really matters and creates an impact, a positive effect. Here are some of those moments you can create in your life today:

Respond with gratitude.

“Thank you for your prompt response.”
“Thank you for your suggestions.”
“Thank you for clarifying.”
“Thank you for your thoughts.”

Sounds easy? Well, most times it is easy but we don’t have the presence of mind to stop and take a moment to use them to trigger the conversation. But there are also times when our emotions take the best of us due to the sensitivity of the topic. This is where we need to exercise control, a sense of discipline to overcome our emotions and put a positive spin to what could be a relationship killer, or maybe even your last day at work.

Send Thank You notes.

Gratitudes neatly packaged and distributed, that’s what this is and a habit we need to cultivate. We are dependent on so many people in our daily activities that without the giving from others, it would be impossible for us to meet our goals. So take a few moments to write/type and send out a few words to thank those who made a difference or an impact. This is best done with your team or with those in your circle of influence, and send it out every week. Recall those unique moments from your weekly interactions with them and send out personalized messages of gratitude.

If you have the right frame of mind and just a few moments, the solution is an obvious and a simple one. And it starts with two remarkable words. Thank you.

I leave you with one of my favorite Jimmy Fallon thank you notes:

In a recent interview I gave I was asked a question: What are the real qualities of a leader? As I thought through how I should answer it, I caught myself searching into my mind’s large filing cabinet to find the ‘leadership file’ in order to peek into its properties. The file was missing for I had not created one yet due to my fundamental belief that such preset classification needs to be discouraged. Such as asking “What makes a person good?” needs to be discouraged due to fact that each person is different in his/her own way of thinking, due to differences in character, upbringing, environment or situation; so should the “bucketizing” of people be discouraged as it leads to early misjudgments that works against and makes difficult, the forming of strong trusting relationships.

Classification is not new to us. From things to thoughts, we classify as if in an unforced and natural action that we have been exposed to do, an action that has never been discouraged on regardless of its many inherent drawbacks and problems it instigates. Evidence of the problems of classification is seen in the religious divide that still haunts the world, in the individualistic attitudes that blurs a realistic practical approach, and even in a MAC vs PC user divide. It’s everywhere, in every aspect of our lives. Where togetherness was needed, man chose to classify and divide each other based on religion, color, caste, preference, type, emotion… the list goes on and on.

The effects of “bucketizing” have been enormous and widespread over centuries. In his letter to the editor of Free Hindustan during 1908, Leo Tolstoy noted how a company of thirty thousand people took control over two hundred million people. Though he does not explicitly talk about this dormant virus within India, it was clearly evident in the undertone of the message. The virus merely required a catalyst which came in the form of a strategy we know as divide and conquer, and it infected our minds, and it spread.

Much has changed since 1908. Independence has prevailed, democracies have formed, cultures are being protected, and the world became flat. But the underlying problem remains. Classification continues to estrange families, friends, cultures and nations. Our color, origin, background and preference continue to pigeonhole us everyday; in communities, at schools, at work, at airports, in one form or another.

So what is it that we can do?

The answer may also be in Tolstoy’s letter, in his closing statements, in his final plea to us:

“–but one thing is needful: the knowledge of the simple and clear truth which finds place in every soul that is not stupefied by religious and scientific superstitions–the truth that for our life one law is valid–the law of love, which brings the highest happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind. Free your minds from those overgrown, mountainous imbecilities which hinder your recognition of it, and at once the truth will emerge from amid the pseudo-religious nonsense that has been smothering it: the indubitable, eternal truth inherent in man, which is one and the same in all the great religions of the world. It will in due time emerge and make its way to general recognition, and the nonsense that has obscured it will disappear of itself, and with it will go the evil from which humanity now suffers.”

That time is yet to come. So we wait.

I read “The Go-Giver” a while back and learned about the 5 laws of stratospheric success. As I read about the story of Joe, who is taught by Pindar about the laws of Giving, I started applying it my life almost instantly. I noticed that there are go-givers all around us, their giving evident in what they do, what they say and how they act.

A week ago, I had the opportunity to witness many such go-givers in action, at BarCamp Nashville 2010, a free event held once a year to host interactive sessions covering a wide range of topics such as social media, technical, entrepreneurial, marketing, in an “unconference” conference. This was my first BarCamp and it was in all aspects, a stratospheric success.

The Law of Value
“Your net worth is measured by how much you give in value than how much you take in payment.”

If you were at the entrance of Cadillac Ranch in downtown Nashville on Saturday October 16th 2010, you could walk in and attend any of the 50+ sessions that were lined up. On your way in, you would receive a goody bag contributed by the many sponsors,  and a t-shirt of your size. You could walk in to any session, listen in, participate in panel discussions, and walk away with a wealth of information. The cost for all this: Zilch! Nada! Nothing! BarCamp Nashville gave only in value and took nothing in payment.

The Law of Compensation
“Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”

When i walked into the event at 8am, I was greeted by the volunteers, given a map of the floor with a list of the sessions and directions to the respective session rooms. There were signs at every corner to ensure that I made it to my sessions on time. Above all, I was served with a wealth of information by the many expert speakers, and I walked away enlightened with new ideas to implement. BarCamp Nashville was well planned, well organized and well executed and it touched the lives of 600+ people that day.

The Law of Influence
“Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”

How can you give hundreds of people from different walks of life the information that they needed to know? That is what BarCamp Nashville set out to achieve. Experts from various fields were approached and encouraged to share information about what they did best, what they were good at – their business, their passion, their interests, their expert opinion et al. BarCamp Nashville influenced the thoughts of hundreds by providing valuable insights in abundance through many subject matter experts.

The Law of Authenticity
“The most valuable gift you have to give is yourself.”

BarCamp Nashville radiated excellence and compassion of its organizers, its volunteers, its speakers, its sponsors and its fans, It gave in value what the organizers gave in thought, effort and energy. The heart and soul of many go-givers gave it life.

The Law of Receptivity
“The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.”

For 3 consecutive years, BarCamp Nashville evolved into the most anticipated event in it’s class. Every year it improved in quality – of sponsors, speakers and content – making it a recurring success. But this happens only when there is an active feedback system in place. It existed in the form of an active online community of individuals who took the time to meet, tweet and talk and discuss ways to improve, to continuously add value, to touch lives, to influence and to improve. They are the ones, The Go-Givers, who makes BarCamp Nashville a true stratospheric success every time.

This post is my way of thanking everyone behind BarCamp Nashville for making me a follower, a fan, and a friend.

Here are just a few links on the event recap. Search for #bcn10 on twitter to find many more.

A BarCamp Recap For People Who Are Not Me by Joey Strawn BarCamp Nashville Recap by Laura Click The 2010 Barcamp Nashville QR Code Experiment by Dave The Story of the 2010 Centresource BarCamp Sponsorship Campaignby CS-Maxximus BarCamp Nashville 2010 Recap by Justin Davis and Centersource Top 10 Things I Learned from Bar Camp Nashville 2010 by Steve Chandler

Find a BarCamp in your city and be a part of an “unconference” learning event.

Public speakers need to be well prepared with their content, confident about delivering it and should engage the audience from start to finish. I have been to many events (now more than ever) and I have seen the good speakers do their thing, work their magic. Good speakers are all around us. But what makes a good speaker great? What sets some apart from the rest?

I was at a Google Training last month. The speaker was well prepared and she knew her content well. She seemed very confident. It was very obvious she has done this training many times before and had lots of practice. It was structured as an interactive session. So she encouraged us to interrupt her anytime during her presentation if we have a question. No doubt, she was a good speaker and very experienced. But here is what set her apart from the numerous other speakers out there. It was with the way she engaged her audience. Every time someone would raise their hand to ask a question, she would first ask the person for his name.
“What’s your name, Sir?”
“Bob”
“Nice to meet you, Bob. What is your question?”, and then Bob asked and she replied.
Bob was not the only one who got this privileged treatment. She did this with every single person who had a question to ask.

I was awed by her method but what really set her a class apart was her ability to remember our names every time we would ask a question. In a 2 hour long session, with a room packed with 70+ people, that’s not an easy feat. But this speaker was a pro at memorizing our names. She took her audience interaction to a personal level, and made a quick friendly connection with anyone who interacted with her. She was not merely speaking to an audience, she was “talking” to her audience, and we were one hundred percent tuned in.

Are you a public speaker? How do you engage your audience into your speech? Do you speak to them or talk to them?

A long time ago, I took a good friend out to dinner. I had a secret agenda. Our friendship had been strained for some reason. I didn’t know why and was troubled by it. I deserved an explanation. So before we ordered dinner, I suggested that we order drinks and appetizers first. At first, he turned down my offer but I kept insisting and he finally agreed to one beer.

One beer led to another and an hour passed by with empty conversations, when I asked him about his beef with me. “Leave it.”, he said, “There is nothing to talk about. It’s all good.” I raised my voice deliberately and with an irritated tone I responded, “Come on! Be a man and admit it. I know there is something wrong. Let’s talk about it and put it past us. How can I fix something I don’t know?” He seemed reluctant but I was adamant. Finally he slammed the bottle on the table and said, “Alright. You want to know what’s bothering me? You want to know what my issue is with you?” I felt victorious. Of course, I wanted to know. That was the plan all along. “Yes. Talk to me. What’s been bothering you, dude? Let’s fix it and move on.”

To this day, the moments that followed and his words are still very clear to me, as it somehow got engraved into my mind, when he told me the reason for why we would no longer be friends. He got up, looked straight into my eyes, and said: “You are manipulative. I can’t trust you.”

That incident changed my life and taught me an important lesson about influence. Our influence on the people who are in our circle of trust, when used in a negative way to feed our craving for control and justification, through our acts of manipulation, can cost us a heavy price. It costs us relationships. It cost me a friend.

Situations that life presents us with become the experiences that teaches us how to manipulate. It is born out of our basic instinct to survive. We instinctively use this method to take control of tough situations and uncontrollable circumstances. Some situations call for it, others don’t. And when we continue to use it for negative and selfish reasons, it becomes a habit and habits are tough to control.

Have you ever manipulated a situation for your own benefit? Did you ever try to influence someone for your own gain? What did it cost you?

Read Part 1 of this post: Introduction

Most of my grown-up life I’ve tried to be a superman, never asking for help, always doing the heavy lifting till my back breaks, trying to be so-called self made man. A self-made man does not exist. Everyone needs someone. We are all dependent beings. To move forward, toward our life goals, we have to depend on someone somewhere. There is no way around it.

Who are we most likely to depend on?
Those who we trust.

And who earns our trust?
Those who we can connect with on a supportive interaction channel, without being judged, with the single objective to help one another succeed.

People who build such support systems have what I call the Intent to Influence. The intent is displayed in our inborn traits of openness, honesty, understanding and generosity. These are people who exercise their active listening skills. They listen, learn and lead us to our goals.

The Circle of Influence is your support system. It is an environment of candid conversations between people who accept each other as who they really are,  who share and discuss goals, and are bound by a commitment of accountability. It is what gives the superman in you your super human strength.

Do you want to get influenced? Do you have the Intent to Influence?

Who influences you?

This question has surely triggered your thoughts and some names have already popped up in your thoughts. It may be your boss, a mentor, a parent, a father figure, a friend, a brother, your spouse or someone else who has played an important role in shaping up the person you are today, or someone you have made a difference to.

But these are not the influencers I am referring to here. Your “circle of influence” consists of people who you interact with very frequently. To be exact, I am talking about those FIVE individuals in your present day life with whom you interact with most frequently, those you commonly categorize as your friends.

Why five? Because it is said that “you are the sum average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”.  A powerful saying which questions the very core of who you are, what makes you tick, how you operate and where you are headed.

As you travel through the different stages of your life into new situations and newer experiences, locate new places, meet new people and make new friends, at any given point in time your circle of friends, those you most hang-out with or you most talk to, are the people who inadvertently influence and shape the journey-man in you.

Who is in your circle of influence? I am guessing you have a narrower list now. Is it a handful or fewer?

It is your restricted group and it is by invitation only. Who have you chosen to invite? Are they helping you grow as a person?

These are tough questions but one that we must ask ourselves, find answers to and be content with; and then we must explore its reverse impact: Whose circle of influence do you belong to? Who gets influenced by You?

Read Part 2 of this post – Intent

… even the tough needs help.

The economy is down, expenses are up. Service costs are frequently on the rise, our income remains more or less the same. It is times like these that we have to reduce our expenses, find ways to cut costs and survive these tough times.

In my books, monthly expenses are generally divided into fixed and variable costs. Variable costs are the money spent largely on household needs, groceries, automotive and dining. Fixed costs are the recurring costs  - the utility bills and membership enrollments that I have opted for and the loan payments (home, car, personal, etc) that I can’t escape from.

In my numerous attempts to save money, I have learned very painfully that the variable costs, our easiest and seemingly most sensible target, cannot be trusted. I’ve realized that ‘variable’ is simply a polite way of saying ‘untrustworthy’. Try to control them and they will stab you in the back when you least expect it.

On the other hand, the fixed costs seem unapproachable at first. It seems to be a common tendency to steer clear of such costs and so they are reviewed usually as a last resort. The reason for this may be our inherent belief that these recurring costs are not within our control. Not entirely true. While basic utility services will remain the same for the most part, interests on loans can be renegotiated and memberships can be discontinued or suspended.

I am no Dave Ramsey. I can’t nor am I qualified to preach about finances. But it does not take a expert to figure out that these are definitely tough times and every dollar counts. With every recession, we have become tougher. We have managed to get through the price hikes and salary cuts before, and we will get through it again. But a little help won’t hurt and if it comes from the service providers, it needs to be recognized.

Not all service providers are worthy of that recognition and my experience has only been with a handful. So when I decided to take a closer look at those fixed costs, I found the ones who clearly stood out from the rest.

Amazon’s Audible is one of them. I was only a few clicks away from canceling my account when I was presented with a few options: a $20 gift card to keep me from leaving “listening book land”, or freezing my monthly payments for a period of time. By giving me the option to suspend my Audible account until I am ready to resume service, is the “going the extra mile” kind of support I am talking about. Not only does it help cut my monthly fixed costs, it also ensures that I remain their customer. Audible.com is not the only one. Costco’s member benefits is another example of members not only getting better products but have flexible return/refund options. I am sold.

To sum it up: Customer loyalty comes from trust. Trust comes from exceptional service. It’s that simple.

What tips do you have for service providers to enhance/improve customer service?

What does a Mountain Climber, a Commercial Pilot and Beauty Pageants have in common?

Art Huseonica is a Mountain Climber. He likes mental and physical challenges – Skydiving, Hot-air ballooning, and Mountain Climbing. He started climbing 5 years ago – climbed Mount McKinley (aka “The Great One” or Denali) to 17,200 ft, climbed the Andes TWICE and scaled Mount Rainier 4 times.

Timothy J. Matson is a Pilot. He enjoys mingling with and getting to know people. He is outgoing, enthusiastic and “goes the extra mile” for customers. He has led a life of piloting. He was a US Air Force Pilot and now working as a Commercial Pilot for the Denver-based Frontier Airlines.

and the Beauty Pageants…

Nadia Moffett – 2010 Miss North Carolina USA

Nicole Flint – 2009 Miss South Africa

Rachael Rees – 2009 Miss World

Ceylone Boothe-Grooms – 2009 Mrs. New Jersey

What do they have in common?

They are TOASTMASTERS!!!

Art Huseonica the Mountain Climber is a on officer (VP-Public Relations) at the Kritikos club in Odenton, Maryland.

Timothy J. Matson the Commercial Pilot is an active member of the SAMFOX Toastmasters Club at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland.

Nicole Flint the Beauty Pageant is the daughter of a DTM (Distinguished Toast Master) and former District Governor, due to which she has been exposed to Toastmasters from a very young age. She is a very frequent presenter at various youth club events and clubs, before and after she became Miss South Africa.

Nadia Moffett owes all her success to the Express Yourself Toastmasters in Tobaccoville, North Carolina, where she is an active member.

Art learned that communicating precisely and concisely, to be articulate and not to waste your breath, to have Confidence and Self-assurance, are all key traits to have while climbing mountains. Toastmasters helped him reach new heights.

“His membership has reinforced his confidence and self-assurance, making him even more careful and prepared when he climbs“
- Karen Huseonica (Art’s wife)

When Timothy retired from the Air Force, he was skeptical about getting a civilian job. During his interview with Frontier Airlines, he made good eye contact throughout the room, injected dramatic pauses while speaking, used hand motions to emphasize his points and was very conscious not to use filler words. These are all skills he learned at Toastmasters, skills that helped him land his dream job.

“Before I joined Toastmasters, I would have dreaded this – public speaking with very little preparation in an already tense situation. “
- Timothy Matson

When we see fashion shows and beauty pageants on television, we see pretty girls walking a ramp. We see beauty. But we don’t notice poise or speaking skills. Nicole Flint, Nadia Moffett and others who have allowed Toastmasters to be a part of their lives, learned to be rid of shyness, to stop rambling and let the words flow, to have the right tone of voice, to improve poise even under pressure, to speak with confidence, to arrive on time, to be Prepared and to develop grace and eloquence. They knew that it takes Beauty, Poise and Speaking Skills to win a pageant.

“Just like in Table Topics, the questions are simple and off the cuff, which you are required to answer quickly and clearly.”
- Ceylone Boothe-Groom

There are many more people with similar success stories.

• Jim Luce, who heads up the nonprofit Orphans International Worldwide, which has opened orphanages around the world in countries such as Haiti, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
• Harold “Terry” McGraw III, the Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
• Vicky Iozzia, who works at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and runs the reptile & hippopotamus show.
• LaShunda Rundles who grew up in a small Texas town where she gave speeches and presentations at church programs, high school banquets and convention to winning the prestigious World Championship of Public Speaking in 2008.
• Lisa Bishop who works in the autism field as an information specialist for the Autism Society of Maine.
• Kandarp Shah, a PhD student at UCI who joined the Toastmasters club on campus to help improve his presentation and leadership skills.

People all over the world, from different walks of life, from different regions, from different generations, from different cultures join Toastmasters with one common objective – to be better at public speaking. Because they know that public speaking instills confidence, inspires others, and improves quality of life.

Slideshare:

Reference: Success Stories

We struggle to get recognized. We make sacrifices. We spend sleepless nights trying to meet unrealistic stressful deadlines. This is our way of showing loyalty. We are looking to settle down. We want a sense of security. We are thinking long term. In a continuous circular motion with no end in sight, as we try to attain job satisfaction, we convince ourselves that we are indispensable. Then when we get showered with words of praise, when we get acknowledged and rewarded, a sense of achievement fulfills us.

Here is what we’ve achieved. A sleep disorder. An addiction to caffeine. A marginal pay hike wrapped in convincing justifications filled with meaningful yet unfulfilling words such as opportunity, future, performance, improvement and growth. A continuous push to rapidly adapt to the changing environment. A sense of distrust along with a realization that we are truly dispensable.

That’s right, dear hard-working sleep-deprived workaholic friends, we are dispensable. We have a saturation point. We have an expiry date.

For the most part of our work life, we are made to feel otherwise. We are trapped into believing that we are an integral part of the environment, one that seems cohesive on the outside, the entities within that give it life are dependent on one another merely trying to sustain. It is a deliberate attempt to manipulate our minds into thinking that our sacrifices equals opportunities to grow. It is a strategic attempt to lure fresh minds into the corporate work culture trap.

The only way out is self-realization, that we are indeed dispensable. Don’t let our egos be fed into thinking that we are not. The sooner we can come to terms with that, the sooner we will get on a path of learning towards adding value to our own brand – the self. We begin to channel our energy in to rebuilding our self-confidence and regaining self-trust.

Do you believe in yourself? If you were to step out into the crazy world, do you have what it takes to survive? Or do you want to be that piece of furniture in an antique shop with a price tag that is set without realizing its true value? Your call.

This post is copy-paste from an email I received, originally written by an anonymous writer – most likely someone who works or was working with Volvo. I thank my friend and the long list of chain emailers leading back to the anonymous writer, for sharing these profound thoughts with me – what I call “Words of Wisdom”.

It’s been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It’s a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo , a state in Brazil .
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm , has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies to the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden , one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn’t say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, “Do you have a fixed parking space? I’ve noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot.” To which he replied, “Since we’re here early we’ll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don’t you think so?” Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there’s a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week. Basically, the movement questions the sense of “hurry” and “craziness” generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of “having in quantity” (life status) versus “having with quality”, “life quality” or the quality of being”.

French people, even though they work only 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 29 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US ‘s attention, pupils of the fast and the “do it now!”. This no-rush attitude doesn’t represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, perfection, with more attention to detail and less stress. It means reducing rejects and wastage. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the “now”, present and concrete, versus the “global”, undefined and anonymous future. It means taking humans’ essential values, the simplicity of living. It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

It’s time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there’s a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, “I can’t, my boyfriend will be here any minute now”. To which Al responds, “A life is lived in an instant”. Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment.

As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.

My video coverage of the unprecedented flash floods in middle Tennessee, which began on Friday night and lasted until Sunday night. We saw 15” of rainfall, a lot of devastation in the Franklin and Nashville area, interstates blocked, houses destroyed, cars flooded, people stranded… these are two 13apples short films from the Historic Franklin downtown area taken around 1500 CST.

This is a follow-up to my post called “The Communication Disconnect” in which I wrote about how communication is going wrong in project teams today due to the absence of defined protocols. I also identified 4 areas we need to focus on to remove this disconnect. In this post, I will talk about an important trick to make communication effective, a brand new concept called Listening. Ya!

Ok. So I lied. It’s not a brand new concept. It’s been around for ages but looks like some leaders seem to have forgotten of the existence of this age old skill, a skill we can develop once again. To master it, there are no short cuts. It takes a lot of practice and with enough practice, as Ed Brodow points out in his book about negotiations, we become “Active Listeners”.

Active listening requires patience. Brodow reminds us in his book that Communication is, contrary to what we all are taught from a young age, is not about getting your point across. Instead, it is the art of shutting up. I think that’s a neat trick to become effective communicators – just remember to shut up. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Unfortunately for us, that seems to be the toughest part. I am not an active listener. In conversations, I am always so eager to put my point across that I almost always catch myself saying “Sorry for interrupting but…” and in retrospective I wish I hadn’t. Well, wishing isn’t going to be enough but the following tricks will start us on the right track in conversations:

1. (repeat) Remember to Shut Up

2. Ask Questions (keeps us engaged)

3. Make Eye Contact (make the connection)

4. (and my favorite) The Imaginary Conversation Ball

Let me tell you about the imaginary conversation ball. A friend taught me this one and not only does this help us from hijacking a conversation, its also so much fun. This is a good one to help practice and develop our listening skills.

Imagine there is a ball. When you start speaking, you are holding the ball. Then pass the ball to the other person when you are done saying what you wanted to say. Let the other person speak without interrupting and wait until the ball is passed back to you. It a fun way to communicate but it is also tough because you will have this urge to talk. But don’t, till its you turn. Try it. It works.

So there. Let’s bring listening back into our conversations and work our way to removing the communication disconnect.

Thank you for listening.

Last Wednesday, I gave my 8th speech at my toastmasters club… and won Best Speaker. I created the following presentation for it, in which I also explored my long lost sketching skills. Hope this helps one and all. Please feel free to use this presentation for your own use.

Your Body Speaks

It is said that 90% of a Manager’s time is spent on communication? This is true for anyone in a leadership role. So if you are a project manager or a project coordinator or a team lead, your role expects you to “talk” and “hear” more. The obvious next question is, are you?

Communication is key for any relationship to work, be it a professional relationship or personal. But most, if not all, issues in our lives can be attributed to a disconnect in communication.

Regardless of the situation or the environment, it is this leader’s responsibility to enable effective communication. In a family, for instance, it is the responsibility of the head of the household to ensure that problems are discussed and resolved immediately. Similarly in a work environment or a project, the Manager must ensure that the team follows the communication protocol set forth in the communication plan. Yes, there has to be a formal communication plan — one that talks about the point of contacts and their responsibilities, the communication workflow, the escalation process, tools we would use, dependencies, stakeholder expectations, etc. Unfortunately we don’t always have one and this leads us to assume and get confused, be misinformed, ego clashes… gradually leading to a communication disconnect.

So, what can we do?

1. Assume Less, Know More! Can We?
2. Who’s Listening, Really! Are You?
3. SPOCs – The Change Agents
4. Socialize Your Way Forward

In my upcoming posts, I will focus on the above 4 topics and share my thoughts on what we may be able to do to remove this disconnect in our work lives (not qualified to preach on my personal life yet) and I will touch upon some of the drawbacks. While I am at it, share you comments and thoughts on any or all of them and I will include you name in the credits for the next post. Deal?

Is there a communication disconnect in your project or at work? Why do you think it happens?

You think you know everything about something until you actually sit down to learn… you will be surprised at what you thought you knew but didn’t. That’s what happened with me.

I was taking a mandatory training on Body Language. Before I took it, I was thinking to myself “What more can an online training on body language teach me? What I need is some advanced coaching, which is why I have joined Toastmasters. Do I really need to waste my time with basics?”. I soon realized that I did.

Did you know that 55% of our communication is non-verbal? It’s all in the language we speak with our body movements. Only 7% is verbal.

Here are 10 basic things to keep in mind on non-verbal communication:

2. Dead Arms is a sign of boredom or lack of energy. Use your arms and use them. Be animated.
3. Stooping Shoulders shows lack of confidence. Stand/Sit straight.
4. Eye Contact helps engage your audience.
5. Swaying distracts the audience. Stand still in a locked position and lean forward to have a commanding posture.
6. Fidgeting indicates nervousness and insecurity. Use your arms to deliver your message.
7. Fig Leaf stance indicates a body language of covering up of an act or an object that is embarrassing or disagreeable. Use only when you are not speaking, in wait mode.
8. At ease is a military standing posture that should be avoided. It shows a disconnect between you and your audience.
9. Props must be used only when needed, as an extension to you body.
10. Gestures with strong animated body movements is important.
11. Furnitures limit the impact of your speech. Don’t hide behind it.

Communication is crucial in project management. It is 90% of what we do in our leadership roles. Until we work on our body language basics, we are only half as good as we think we are.

If you have seen the latest OSCAR nominated movie “Up In The Air” or have the read the book, the following except from it will seem familiar. It is a motivational speech that Ryan (George Clooney) gives in the movie called “What’s in your backpack?”.

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life… you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV… the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home… I want you to stuff it all into that backpack.

Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office… and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag.

Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks.

It gets you thinking, doesn’t it? About our lives and what’s really important to us.

We are the modern day nomads. We relocate easily, away from our families and friends. We go where our jobs take us. We move in pursuit of a better way of life. We live many lives in just one lifetime.

In all that rush, let’s talk a moment to stop to look inside our backpacks. Have we packed everything we hold dear to us? Or have we packed in too much?

I just blanked out my “About” page, formerly called “Insight” and many more versions before that. It’s time I changed the content and not just the name. When I started lap31 (the original name before i renamed it to 13apples), I knew exactly what I wanted this site to be about. It was about my experiences and my thoughts about winning in a race called life. The metaphor (or is it a simile? (or is it an analogy?)) at the time was Formula 1 racing and the all time race leader, Michael Schumacher, and the difference between racing with a podium finish in mind or being lapped.

Times have changed. While the essence of this site is still about leadership and excelling in it, I think its time to revisit my message to you.

This page is going to be LEGEN…wait for it…DARY — a Barney Stinson quote.

Of the 10 years of my experience in the software services industry, I have spent more than half of that time onsite interacting with customers. I am the onsite Lead – the face of the vendor, the contractor, the consulant. It’s a key role – a complex mix of delivery and client services.

You are a leader in your domain and you are embarking on your first or repeat onsite trip. Your proven communication skills, your success in your domain, your high “like-factor” with the customer during the many phone/email communication, and your team coordination abilities… these are the skills that undoubtedly makes you the ideal candidate to perform the very crucial role of the onsite Lead. You tell yourself, “I am ready!”.

I have been in an Onsite Lead/Manager role for nearly 8 years now, intially on rotational stints before becoming a permanent face for the customer. I have worked in the Middle East and the USA; with the Qataris, Palestenians, Jordanians, Germans, Brits, Koreans, Americans and ofcourse the NRIs. Cultural etiquettes to cuisines to movies – my understanding and most importantly my adaptability to these cultural differences became a key factor to help me build key relationships.

Do you understand your customers culture? Are your confident of changing your customer mindsets to accepting your own culture? Can you bridge that cultural gap? Now ask yourself “Am I ready?”.

To be successful at your onsite mission, you need to develop this underlying, yet not often talked about, skill that will prove to be critical. You need to be able to bridge the cultural gap between the onsite and the offshore teams because in our line of work, it is important to understand and respect cultures.

To build that bridge, a simple thought process might help:

At the beginning, you have “Your Way” of doing things and your customer has “Their Way” of doing things. As an oniste Lead, your job is to work your way towards forming a mutual understanding and acceptance of the two different ways of doing things. This takes time and this is where you will struggle but if you have the right attitude, focus and some patience, you will get through this stage. In the end, when “Your Way” and “Their Way” becomes “Our Way”, you know you have succeeded. Until then, keep trying.

Rob Enderle points out in his post “Why Layoffs Should be Avoided” on IT Business Edge:

Rankings are largely subjective and don’t take into account the health of the team. They also don’t take into account informal relationships between groups, executives, customers or the inherent value of the knowledge the employee has. And people certainly aren’t ranked according to their real value to the company. How would you even calculate that?

He’s right. How do we  as leaders rank performance? How can we find the right balance between the measurable and the unmeasurable achievements, between the subjective and the objective?

We are all playing the game one way or another and I think that’s fine but how do we make it a fair game for all? Can we? Or is there too much at stake?

To a great extent, I think it starts with trust and as Rob points out:

Trust is so hard to build and shouldn’t be sacrificed so easily.

But can it all be left to trust? Doesn’t trust make it subjective?

My take: We must trust the system but the system itself cannot be built on trust. Goals needs to be specific and measurable. Ranking needs to be justifiable without prejudice, without emotions, purely on results.

The question I will leave you with is: How do we build such a system?

I spent almost an hour at the Writer’s Reference section at Barnes & Noble today. Flipped through many books to find the right one. I couldn’t. Is the book that would help me get past my writer’s block the right one for me? Is it the one that shares experiences from established writers along with their tricks and techniques? Fiction or non-fiction? Should I follow Stephen King’s footsteps? What should I do? Where do I start? What is it that I want?

I want to write a book and get it published someday (soon?). I want to be known as an author, maybe even retire as one. Not sure what i would write about though. Leadership? Management? Fiction? It’s too early to decide.

What about skills? How do I learn the skills? Are skills important? Do first time authors work on developing their skills first?

Reading is a skill writers must have and I am weak at that. Maybe that’s where I will begin. Depth of knowledge, as it was pointed out to me recently, is important or maybe even missing.

I guess I will start there then.

I don’t attend a lot of webinars. Let’s just say that I have been unlucky with my selection. What lures me to webinars is usually the attractive topic that almost always sounds/seems interesting and intriguing but the content is what ultimately lets me down. There is either too much info or too little, sometimes even a little too “advanced” for my taste.

When I saw Robert’s tweets popping on my TweetDeck inviting one and all for a virtual front row seat to his webinar on SCRUM for Managers, I was quick to accept. So did many others and it was worth every minute spent.

Robert Dempsey is a Certified Scrum Practitioner, Agile Trainer, MBA, and the CEO & Founder of the Atlantic Dominion Solutions. He introduces SCRUM to the new age Managers who are faced with a unique challenge these days - agile management. In order to manage a team in an agile environment, it is important to understand the basics of SCRUM. Robert does that wonderfully in his online presentation.

He was more than willing to share his deck with me for the 13apples readers, one which I think is one of the best SCRUM primers I have seen in recent times. So, sit back and enjoy the slideshow. Then post your questions as comments and Robert will be here to answer our questions.

My Twitter page is a wealth of information. If I were to hit refresh in intervals of 1 minute, I know I would get at least 10 more tweets with references to posts, articles, thoughts, questions, event notifications… everything I am interested in, from the people whose thoughts I value. It’s a chain of information passed on from the every corner of the world. My twitter page is my global knowledge repository. I can choose to find information on anything I am interested in, simply by searching for people who tweet about it, find them and follow their conversation. I never knew the real power of micro blogging until I became an active Twitter user.

The power of micro blogging applications such as Twitter lies in the fact that it is less intrusive yet very collaborative. I am able to shrink my messages to 140 characters or less, thus making it a concise and to-the-point communication tool. I am able to share reviews about a book I am reading or an article that I stumbled upon.  The objective is to share with the belief that someone somewhere read it and it helped.

I have seen that it has always been a struggle for the leaders in any organization to create a culture of collaborative teams; for employees to openly share best practices, lessons learnt, queries, ideas, and thoughts; amongst fellow team members, across project teams and departments; in a common, efficient and non-intrusive way. But If micro blogging works globally to bring people together from the corners of the world to collaborate on a common topic, in an efficient non-intrusive communication channel, while building a knowledge-base on the fly, and easy to maintain… then

WHY NOT use micro blogging as a tool within the firewalls of an organization to achieve the exact same results?

Stay tuned for “The Microblogging Workplace – Pros and Cons” - Coming Soon!

Here I am making mental notes on what I should get/take/expect/want/need in 2010 and along comes an eBook from Seth Godin & friends to tell me that…

This year, you’ll certainly find that the more you give the more you get. 

If you, like me, are wondering about resolutions for the new year… wait! Take a time out and click on the link below to read Seth’s new eBook “What Matters Now” where he and his blogger/author friends share what they think matters most in 2010. And if you think you know what to expect, you will be pleasantly surprised. I was.

What Matters Now

Creating ways for people to solve their own problems isn’t just an opportunity in 2010. It is an obligation. 

Until Fear is gone, (and realize he may never completely leave) make the decision to be courageous.

If it weren’t for Twitter, I would not have read Josh Peter‘s post on his blog Shuasism about Seth Godin’s freely downloadable eBooks. In Josh’s own words:

You read that right, I’ve compiled all of Seth Godin’s free ebooks in one big awesome list. Seth Godin is a fantastic source of  constant information and wisdom.

Josh took the pain to search his collection and make this list for us. For us bloggers, this is a X’mas treat. So, click on the link below to view a post that should be a valuable bookmark for 2010. Merry X’mas!

All of Seth Godin’s Free ebooks in one place

STEPPINGINTOPM.COM interviewed me earlier this month. We talked about some of the most common questions on Agile, SCRUM and CSM training. The interview post went online today.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

How difficult was it to take the exam after just taking classes for 2days? Is that all the preparation you need to take?

This is a question everyone who is interested in SCRUM certification seems to be commonly wondering/asking. Yes, 2 days of training is all you need to learn and fall in love with SCRUM. In these 2 days you implement SCRUM from ground up and you practice it. You end up learning a lot and most importantly you will question your fundamental beliefs and learning’s from the past.

Click here to read the complete interview. Do comment and share you take on it. Thanks.

We are all part of a team and some of us are Managers of teams. All of us are familiar with the word ”resources”. Tools we use to run a project are resources. The computers, the printers and the fax machines are all resources. People are resources. Right? So team members are resources.

Lets see what the most common definition of “resources” is, shall we?

Wikipedia: “A resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability, or anything used to help one earn a living”

Merriam-Webster: ”something that one uses to accomplish an end especially when the usual means is not available”

Are people resources? Are team members something we use?

I hate the word “resources” when used in context to a team. I think it is de-moralizing and de-motivation to the team. When I was a developer a long time ago, I remember an argument I had with my Project Lead when he referred to me as a ‘resource’. It infuriated me. I was not a resource, a thing you use.

If you are working in IT or the software industry, I am sure you have had a similar situation when you’ve reacted to such a reference or at least felt bad about it. The sad part is that it has become some sort of an industry norm now. It is common to address employees as resources. We have the “Human Resources” department. We do “Resource Management” and “Resource Planning” and measure “Resource Utilization”.

I am guilty too. The incident with my Lead did not stop me from making the same mistake when I became a Manager of teams. The usage was so common that I got infected by it and my true feelings got buried. It became a habit that seemed absolutely normal.

A few months ago, in August, I took the CSM (Certified SCRUM Master) training in Bangalore. During those 2 days of training, this issue was discussed. The trainer made us realize how disrespectful it is to consider and term people as resources. I was given a rude awakening. My feelings that were buried deep inside resurfaced. From that point onwards, I decided that I will break away from the habit and get a treatment for my disease.

Today, I am proud to tell you that I am 60% cured. It took almost 2 months of conscious effort to correct my spoken and written usage of the word “resources” to “people” or “folks” or “team”, just as my CSM trainer taught me. I am in process of correcting all my reports and documents that address my team as resources.  I have requested my peers and team members to make an effort to do the same.

In a way I am trying to change my world,  one person at a time. It’s doable. A day will come when there are no more “Human Resources” departments, only “People Management Teams”. Join this cause. Please help me humanize our teams. Spread the word.

This morning, I put on my blue jean once again. It’s just another day for two partners in crime.

My jean looks worn out, its fading away. Wrinkles on its face is the experience that shows.

The mud and the coffee stains barely visible, these are the scars from those tough times past.

There are bruises neatly tucked away in secret places, from fights fought hard – some victorious, some in defeat.

Nevertheless, my jean protects me bravely till its last thread, from a world so brutal and unapologetic.

I trust my jean, a leader in every right.

This is a theory of leadership, the Jean Theory.

Look around us, there is evidence of the qualities and the attitude of leadership everywhere. All we have to do is to pay attention.

Manual: Competent Communicator
Project/Assignment: Speech #4 “How To Say It”
Comments: This speech won my 1st Best Speaker award at my toastmasters club.

Today I want to share with you an experience I had when I was in the 7th grade. As a disclaimer, let me point out that I do not intend to offend any religion or culture with this speech. This speech is based on a true story. This is my story – the dreadful 20 mins of my life.

I have lived in the Middle East for many years. My dad was working for Singapore Airlines who was posted was in the gulf region. My brothers and I went to school there. It was a luxurious life but a restricted one due to the rules and regulations any expatriate family had to abide by.

The incident happened one Thursday night sometime during the 20 mins after 8pm. In the muslim world, shops and all public establishments must close for prayers 5 times a day. The longest prayer time is the last one from 8pm to 8.20pm. There is not a soul on the street. There are no cars zooming by. All one would hear are the prayers from the nearby mosque.

It was the weekend. Two of my friends had come to visit me. We went out that night to a nearby residential community. We were having a party. Around 7:45pm, I asked my uncle for his permission to go back home with my friends. We were getting bored. He agreed and asked us to be careful while crossing the main road. He knew it was safe especially since it was the prayer time. What he did not anticipate was what was about to happen.

Riyaz and I were on bicycles while Rajaneesh was on my roller skates. He was not good at skating but he managed pretty well for a first timer as he stumbled along. My apartment was hardly 2 miles from where we were. Cross the main road, go past the open land to the first of the cluster of buildings. We raced our way to the main road. Rajaneesh was slow on skates so we waited for him. When he caught up, we looked both sides and crossed to the median in the center. I don’t recall where the white Corolla came from. With a screeching halt, the 4 Arabs parked next to us. The smell of burning rubber filled the air.

“How much?” one of them asked pointing to my bicycle. I think I said 300 Riyals as I signaled to my friends to move along quickly. We crossed the main road. My heart was beating fast. My instincts told me that there was something wrong. Something was about to happen. I sent silent prayers to God and cycled on. My friends followed. None of us talked. Maybe there was a telepathic communication going on between us, each of us saying the same thing.”We need to get home. We need to get home fast.”

Riyaz and I were quick enough to cycle past the Corolla as it crossed us and parked diagonally in our path. Rajaneesh fell behind. Rajaneesh fell down. 2 Arabs got out. They were both dressed in traditional white robes. One of them grabbed Rajaneesh by his legs and tried to pull him towards the open backdoor of the Corolla. The other one made sure we could not come close enough to rescue Rajaneesh. I could see from the distance that Rajaneesh was not making it any easy for them. He kicked them hard and fast. The 2 Arabs in the car were getting restless and were shouting some words in Arabic. A few mins later, I saw Rajaneesh skating towards us. I don’t know how he got away but the 3 of us were together again at the end of the long stretch and now closer to home. We were too scared to look back at what the Corolla was doing. A few mins later, we were home behind closed doors; safe.

The next thing I remember was switching off all the lights and air conditioning. All we could hear were the prayers from the nearby mosque, now coming to a close. Then I looked outside the window and saw a white Corolla parked outside. There were 4 Arabs in the car. Tears ran down by face and I started to tremble with fear. We ran into the bedroom and locked the door behind us. Rajaneesh urged me to call my parents. I managed to utter out some words of help to my dad’s voice on phone. He asked me not to worry. I don’t remember how long it was before my parents and uncle got home but it seemed like a lifetime and when they walked in to the bedroom, I knew the ordeal was finally over.

The memories of those 2o mins after 8pm remind me how 3 childhood lives would have changed forever that night.

It also reminds me how Rajaneesh learnt to skate.

I am the one behind the wheel. My role is to get us to the destination. All they have to do is to decide on a place to dine. I can understand if the confusion is due to the countless cuisines to choose from or maybe due to our various taste palates. No, that’s not why a simple decision to choose a restaurant turns into a long and overdrawn process for my friends, while I aimlessly drive around. We are too considerate. We want to be non-imposing. So instead of being forthright about our preference we respond with,

“I don’t know.”

“What do you like?”

“You decide.”

“I am ok with anything.”

Well… guess what? Anything’s not on the menu.

Project teams are no different. When there is a problem at hand and we need to make a quick collective decision, we go into long discussions, debates and arguments… till it comes to a point when the leader has to step in and make a decision.

Hey team, why can’t you make decisions collectively?

Are you too creative with your thought process that you find it tough to get the point across and convince anyone?

Are you afraid that your decision will get shot down and you don’t want to look like a fool?

Is it because you don’t want to be held accountable that you leave that decision for others to make, even though you know you know what will work?

Or do you not care?

Whatever your reason, you seem to forget that you are part of a team. You are not alone. There are no bad decisions, no wrong moves. There are only lessons to learn from. So be open minded and give creativity a chance. Encourage and support new ideas. Create an environment driven by accountability and trust.

Make decisions.

We all make mistakes all the time. But not all of us realize that we have. Even when we do, how many of us are comfortable with apologizing and making amends before it is too late? Anytime I see someone who puts his/her guilt, pride, ego and other emotions aside to take the time and pain to say “Sorry” or send apologies and are willing to take baby steps towards redemption, I am impressed.

This post is the 2nd of my Communicate Your Way To Success series.

I believe success comes to those who realize their mistakes early on, are self-critical, does not hesitate to apologize and have the will to set things right. This mindset leads to good communication as communication is not just about writing and speaking well, it is about your actions evident in your body language. Your body will act positively when your mind thinks/speaks positively.

What prompted me to write this post was a letter that I received yesterday from a top official of a utilities company that I have service with. To me, this letter speaks volumes of their customer service and I have not seen many public service companies who would take the time to apologize for the mistakes they’ve made, knowingly or unknowingly. To quote:

Please accept my apology. Rest assured we have learnt from this mistake and we will take appropriate steps to make sure this does not happen again. We are committed to providing our customers with excellent service, and we intend to meet or exceed your expectations in future transactions.

Do you hesitate to apologize?

“Keep me posted.” How often do you hear that in a day? Whoever you are, whatever your role, there is always someone asking you to keep him or her posted. Frankly, I am sick of it. My job is turning out to be just that. I can’t “do” anything because I am always on the phone or meetings or writing minutes of the meet to keep everyone abreast of what’s happenning. Don’t get me wrong. I know it’s part of good communication to keep my stakeholders in the loop. But at a point when it seems like a full time job (and I end up writing about it on a blog), that’s when I know there’s ‘sumthin wong’.

Isn’t this why the role of a Personal Assistant came about in the first place? I think so and that’s what we need. Every PM who manages multiple projects or accounts needs a PA. It’s a win-win situation for all of us. Everyone gets to do their job, what they signed up for.

Good communication turned bad, that’s what is happening here. The world is moving at such a fast pace that there is just too much happenning around us. We are all so well connected across borders and continents that communication is becoming cheaper, faster and efficient. But it has also become an untamed beast, taking over our lives. The sad part is that we have no time to stop and embrace all the simple things in life like the clear blue sky, a cool breeze and silence.

Let’s try to remove the complexity out of communication. Too much communication is like a drug that’ll make you want more and more, manifesting into behavioral changes such as anxiety, paranoia and eventually brain damage.

What do you think? Do you think I’m exaggerating or is there something to this? Keep me posted.

Dear Kind(le) people,

I am happy to announce lap31.com’s entry into your world. You can now subscibe to “are you ready to lead?” on the Amazon Kindle Store.

Like those KIA sales ads on TV, “please don’t you leave (the Kindle Store) till you see me (my blog)”.

To subscribe, click here.

Thanks.

Did you know that the majority of a manager’s time should be spent on communication? This is true for anyone in a leadership role, those who are expected to “talk” and “hear” more. But are we? I don’t think so. All around me, I see a disconnect in communication. “Communicate Your Way To Success” will be a bi-monthly series targetting different facets of communciation. It is your one-way pass to success.

My phone “rings off the hook”, literally. I have a team located in a different continent and I am on teleconferences (telecons) almost all the time.

Today we work in a distributed workspace with teams spread out in remote locations, around the world. Teleconferences (telecons) still continues to be an integral mode of communication.

While technology has certainly played its part over the years making it easier, faster and clearer for us to effectively communicate across distances, often we forget to play our part.

There are ways to make telecons effective and less chaotic. The first step is the awareness of some common mistakes we make during telecons. Assuming you are confident enough to speak and have gotten rid of (or have learnt the art to skillfully hide) your nervousness, here are 3 things to remember:

Speak slowly

Make a conscious effort to speak slowly. If you are like me, a natural fast paced speaker – it is even more important to do so. Try to say each sentence 3 to 5 seconds slower than you would usually.

Repeat less

While speaking, especially over the phone, we tend to assume that the listeners do not understand what we are saying. So, we repeat the sentences by rearranging the words. Speak each sentence just once, slowly and clearly, and leave it to the listeners to ask for you to repeat.

…and try not to be like Thomson & Thompson (of Tintin fame).

Force pauses and ask for questions

When you speak, pause after each sentence for 2-3 seconds thus introducing what I call “forced pauses”. Then, continue with the next sentence. This will help with speaking slowly and enable the listener to interject a question. At appropriate intervals (which you must decide), ask the listeners “Do you have any questions? May I continue?”. This is the easiest and the most powerful way to make your audience get comfortable with your communication i.e. by allowing them to talk and indicating that you will be the listener.

There you have it – 3 simple and easy changes to make to improve your tele-communication. But it does not happen overnight and takes practice. So, the next time you pick up that phone, start practicing.

CCPM. Have you heard about this project management framework? What about the concept of critical path? If you have ever been exposed to project schedules, the latter would probably ring a bell. Critical path is the shortest distance to project acceptance and completion. If the project has 10 tasks to deliver, and 8 of them are critical for acceptance, the critical path will comprise of those 8 tasks. Makes sense?

CCPM is a framework build around the critical path concept. To me it is an effective scheduling technique that enables project managers to truly plan a project instead of merely stringing tasks together to an end date. True planning calls fot a great deal of thought that should go into executing a project and steer it towards success. But to do that, we need to first understand project failure.

Why do projects fail? According to Allan Elder’s whitepaper (link below), most projects fail to meet deadlines on time, on budget, and on scope (OTOBOS) due to the following 5 reasons or diseases of project management:

(a) We are victims of “Bad Multi-Tasking“. In short, we have too many tasks on our plate mainly due to a lack of planning from the task assignor/delegator – your Manager or ‘You, Inc.’ – thus leading to bad task prioritization to procrastination to burnout.

(b) Parkinson’s Law i.e. Work expands so as to fill the time available for completion. The safety we’ve built into our estimates with an intent to avoid the worst case scenario somehow transforms into being our best case scenario. And we are not incentivized to do otherwise.

(c) The ‘Student Syndrome’ is in us and we cannot escape it. So, lets accept the fact that due to the above 2 reasons we are not going to work on that task until the 11th hour – the time we need just enough to complete the task and meet the deadline. We dont know how we do it but we do.

(d) Task Dependency for the wrong reasons. Project completion is dependent on all its tasks being completed on time (task completion date) and on budget (resource availability) but when tasks are integrated, projects get penalized due to time wastage and resources being under-committed.

(e) Task Completion != Task Delivery. We tend ignore those sneaky little unplanned and unforeseen events that cause delays in the delivery of completed tasks. Project progress is measured based on the tasks completed and not task hand-offs.

CCPM is based on the ‘Theory Of Constraints’ methodologies and is said to have proven a high rate of project success when implemented right. I have not tried it out yet but am in the process on learning how to. Walk with me on this critical path to success and we’ll find out how to keep our projects OTOBOS.

In my follow-up to this post, I will dive more into how CCPM works. Meanwhile, please do read “The Five Diseases of Project Mangement” (PDF) to understand the above reasons in detail. This whitepaper is a keeper.

Another year has gone by for the lap31.com and for me. It is time to gear down, head into the pitstop, change tires, refuel and get back out on track as quickly as possible.

1…. 2…. 3….

The 32nd lap saw more of my toastmaster speeches, a lot of guest posts and a little bit of experimenting to invoke my creative writing skills. It was fun writing my very fictious “On A Normal Day”.

I also got my chance to co-author my first book, Age Of Conversation 2, many thanks to Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton for the unique opportunity. So what if it was just a 1 page chapter! We all have to start small. AOC2 is my first step to publishing my own book someday.

I admit that I wanted to accomplish a lot more last year. I wanted to be more frequent at posting new articles, create a collaborative environment, offer more tips tricks techniques and tools…. none of which took off as I hoped it would. Just goes to say that hoping is not good enough. We need to work hard to raise the bar. Instead, I let myself be distracted.

In this new lap I hope to get back on track, step on the gas and fly.

5…. 6…. the sound of tires screeching, the smell of burning rubber… a white misty smoke filled the air. I drive onto the 33rd lap.

Continued from Part 1: Stress in Leadership Roles – Identify It

TURN-DOWN

When you were younger, Mom and Dad most likely taught you the phrase “JUST SAY NO” as a response to being peer-pressured into something you knew was bad. As you grow older and take more control of your own choices and consequences, you start to forget this rule. Suddenly your “NO” becomes “YES” or “OK” even when you know full well that you’ll probably regret making the decision later. One of the most common myths is that leaders who look and act busy must be important and competent. However, effective leaders usually master the art of working smarter, not harder. Conquering this step is a little tricky, because it requires subjective analysis on your part to decide what to delete from your schedule. Before enforcing the JUST SAY NO policy, make a list of the general categories requiring time during your day, which may include work, family, church, sports, vacation, etc. Rewrite these categories with the first one being the most important to you and use this list as a guide for every decision you make when scheduling new activities. Your list will probably be different from others who demand your time, but the point is to have one and stick to it. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish by saying NO to activities on the bottom of your priority list.

RELAX

Why list this step separately from SLEEP? Sleep and relaxation are really two different activities. Sometimes normal amounts of sleep do not leave us feeling relaxed the following morning, but it is possible to relax during the day without sleeping. This is a step that is best accomplished by scheduling “rest breaks” for your mind. For example, someone who finds reading as a relaxing pastime may schedule time to read for fun at certain points in the day (ex. During lunch break). Sleep quiets your body and relaxation calms your mind, but both feed off each other. Sometimes it is difficult to discern whether you need more sleep or more relaxation time. Before trying to analyze the situation, just begin scheduling consistent times for each step and watch how your body responds. As your body adjusts to YOUR new schedule, you will start to associate specific stress-induced symptoms with certain behaviors.

EXERCISE

This step is often the hardest, because you tend to group exercise in the same category as grocery shopping or cleaning house. You don’t necessarily enjoy doing it, but it just has to be done. However, there are many benefits to following and maintaining a consistent exercise program, one of which is stress reduction. By now you’ve probably noticed that the first three concepts involve controlling our daily schedules, and exercise is no exception. Motivate yourself to make it a regular part of your life by scheduling specific days and times for exercise. Long-term exercise not only improves physical health, but also mental and emotional health. In many cases, physical symptoms of stress are directly related to changes in mental/emotional health. 3 The key to sticking to your exercise program is to pick activities you enjoy. Think of exercise as “scheduled recreation time” rather than a chore.

In addition to reducing stress, these four words share something else in common: they are verbs requiring ACTION on our part, not merely emotions or state-of-mind. Action distinguishes leaders from the rest of the group. Remember that taking on leadership roles also means taking on responsibility as a role model. Stress-reduction will not only benefit you, but also your organization. As a Toastmaster, you seek to improve public speaking skills, but that is only the beginning. You also learn to apply the communication and leadership principles to every aspect of your life. The sad part about stress is that you cannot eliminate it, but you can control how you respond to it. Rather than spending wasteful hours trying to eliminate every problem in life, think about your priorities and place them ahead of your problems. Live each day one hour at a time according to your priority schedule, but still anticipate interruptions. You only have one life to live and as a leader, you have power to improve the quality of your own life and the lives of your team members.

Part 1 of 2

STRESS – You hear this word a lot lately; so much so that it seems to be an excuse for everything that goes wrong in life. Take this sample conversation:

“Hey there, how’s it going?”
“Oh, okay I guess. I had a pretty stressful week at work, and I’m just really tired.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I had several stressful things happen this week and it seems like my mind is always thinking about something. And even when I’m finally able to rest, I still worry that there is something I forgot to do!”
“Wow, I can relate to that completely! It’s so frustrating too, because I slept 10 hours last night and still feel tired this morning…”

Sound familiar? If you are a leader of an organization, whether at work, home, sports, volunteer activities, etc. you probably have learned to accept stress as a necessary evil in your daily routine. But does this have to be the case? A recent article published by the American Heart Association says that more research evidence suggests a relationship between the risk of cardiovascular disease and environmental/psychosocial factors. Factors contributing to stress may include job strain, social isolation and personality traits. While there is not conclusive evidence identifying stress as an “independent” risk factor for cardiovascular disease, it can contribute to high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, smoking, physical inactivity and overeating. Even with rapid advancements in medical care, cardiovascular disease still remains in the top three causes for death worldwide according to statistics from the World Health Organization.

Understanding the problems related to stress is pretty straightforward, but how do you find a simple solution for reducing stress in your life? Go to the self-help section of the bookstore and you will find a plethora of how-to-reduce-stress-in-your-life books. While most of these books present good tips based on quality research, you often end up adding more stress to your day just finding time to sit down and read the book! Unfortunately there are very few things in life under your complete control, mainly the actions of people and events that happen to you. You can however, control to an extent some of the people and events you allow to affect daily life.

Open up your PDA or personal calendar and take a look at all the people, places and times that you have willingly entered into your schedule for this week. Being a strong and effective leader requires careful time management. Since you have become so skilled at managing your schedule, why not take the same approach for managing stress?

To make it easy to remember, take the word S-T-R-E-S-S and develop an acronym:

S – Sleep, T – Turn-down, R – Relax, E – Exercise, S – Sleep, S – Sleep

SLEEP

Notice that the word “stress” has three S’s followed by the same word – sleep. Why? If you can learn to conquer this step, you are half-way toward winning the battle against stress. The hardest part about this step is that sleep and stress affect each other in a cyclic pattern. Worry from stress causes sleep loss, and lost sleep increases stress levels and the cycle continues. How do you break it? Try putting it into practical terms. You typically work five days a week for eight hours a day at the office, and you receive compensation for your time spent. If you must take off work for personal time, you compensate those hours in some other way, such as using sick/vacation hours or working overtime. Why not take the same approach with sleep? Most studies show that adults need about 8 hours of sleep per night, depending on age and gender. A daily work schedule might be 8am to 5pm with lunch break between 12 and 1pm. In the same way, develop a daily sleep schedule for eight hours (ex. 10pm to 6am on weekdays) and enforce it. Now let’s say you have a project deadline that requires more time outside of your normal 40-hour/week work schedule to complete. Your supervisor may ask you to stay overtime until the project is complete, and take off early that Friday. In the same way, tailor your sleep schedule accordingly to make room for unexpected activities (ex. 9pm to 5am or 11pm to 7am). Finally, one day you start feeling some stress-induced symptoms: headaches, fatigue, higher blood pressure, etc. Imagine that these symptoms are the body’s way of saying, “You have an important project that will require extra stress management. You need to sleep overtime this week.” Which part of your schedule will you cut to get those overtime hours in?

Part 2: Stress in Leadership Roles – Defeat It

Is your day normal? What is normal? I thought about it a lot and the result – this “song”.
Read this post like you would read the lyrics of a song you have not heard yet. Put your own tune to it and maybe we will hear it on the radio someday. Who knows!

On a rocking chair in the front porch of my house
With a cold beer in my hand and a 6-pack by my side
I watch the sunset over the distant desert
In the middle of nowhere

No cars honking
No phones ringing
Just a band playing my favorite tunes
On a normal day

I walk over to the pool and up to a diving board 6ft high
With a cold beer in my hand and a 6-pack on the porch
I dive into the reflections of milky white clouds
A style I call “Drink and Dive”

No crowd cheering
No judges scoring
Just a band playing my favorite tunes
On a normal day

When I am done swimming the clouds of change
I get out to get dry and get dressed
To saddle up my noble steed and go riding
Still feeling high from all the drinking

At the snow-tipped mountains where eagles fly high
I get down to gear up and go hiking
On a trail that leads to a place called paradise
To lean against the oak tree and drift into sleep

Those noisy bells are ringing
Again and again and again

And I slowly wake up
To the fading sounds of my favorite tunes

No more sleeping
No more dreaming
Just enough time to get going

No beer drinking
No pool diving
No horse riding
No mountain hiking
No nothing

Just the radio playing some random tune
As I drive to work on a normal day

Have you ever asked your boss for a raise, or a friend for a big favour, and been apologetic about your request? What happened? You got a refusal. What else could you get? If you were enthusiastic, sure of what you had asked for, taken his consent for granted, the result would have been favourable. People find it very hard to refuse someone who takes their consent for granted.

If you are planning to get something big, try this method; first make a strong mental picture of what you want. Figure out in detail. Write out what you want, and more or less how you are going to set about getting it. Follow the architect who draws the blueprint of a house in detail before it becomes a reality. Don’t bother about the likely setbacks and obstacles, tackle them when and if they come. Keep this slogan before you:

“They Can Conquer Who Believe They Can”

Once you set about getting what you want, don’t let anything stop you. Follow the example of a great person who said: “I’ve been up and down all my life. Lots of people said I was through; but I never thought much about it. I always was too busy to worry about my troubles”. Stop worrying about troubles, and learn to face them. “Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble”, says G.W.Lyon. Keep that in mind. You can will your way to success or failure, to victory or to defeat, to happiness or misery.

Life will pay any price you ask from it, only thing is don’t approach the ocean with a teaspoon!

A young boy sat on the bridge and watched the fish in the stream below. “I wish I could catch one of them”, he said to himself. A passerby, who heard him, stopped and said,

“My boy, if you really want to get your wish, stop wishing and start fishing”!

Imagine going to the symphony.  Imagine watching the orchestra and all those musicians with their drums and violins and flutes and all the instruments. Haven’t you been awed by talent and skills of all these musicians creating a perfect musical score in response to the “magical” gestures of the Conductor?

Now, imagine what it would be like if the conductor was 7000 miles away from his orchestra?

Today I will talk about a similar ensemble of developers, business analysts, testers and IT personnel working remotely who follow the directions of another kind of conductor – the Onsite Program Manager.

I was born in India, the land of cultures. At a very young age my family moved to the Middle East and most of my childhood memories are of growing up in the gulf. So, I could say that very early in my life I was exposed to different cultures and knew the importance of building relationships with friends and family far away.

In 1994, I returned to India for my Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science & Engineering. In September of 2000, I got a job as a Web Developer and I have been with them ever since.

Today I am a Program Manager working at a customer facility. I manage multiple IT maintenance and development projects. I work with a team of around 35 skilled people, who are located 7000 miles away. They work while I sleep.

I’ve been a “conductor” of such an ensemble of software development teams for the past 6 years.

In music, the primary responsibility of a conductor is to first set the tempo, then give a clear direction, and finally to listen critically to shape the sound of the ensemble.

That’s exactly what I do as an Onsite Program Manager and let me tell you how.

#1 Set the Tempo

How do I set the tempo if I am miles away from my team? It’s tough. My role expects me to work with people who I can identify only by voice or words in an email, people who I may never actually meet. It is tough but possible.

Setting the tempo to me starts with getting to know my team, establishing effective communication protocols, and enabling them with the power of processes.

What are their names? What are their hobbies? What role do they play and what are their responsibilities? Who do they report to? Who is my point of contact? What are their expectations from me? How do we communicate and resolve issues? What systems and processes will help me check the health of the team and the project?

My point is that, if you are an Onsite Manager working with remote teams, you start by building a rapport with the team. Get them to know you and your role. Then work with them and implement customized processes, those that enable you and your team to function effectively. Put it all together and soon you are all set to create some good music.

#2 Give a Clear Direction

Whenever I interview a candidate for an Onsite Lead role, a common question I ask is “What challenges have you faced with your remote teams?” The almost immediate answer is Communication. The extended hours due to the time-zone differences, the frustration due to cultural differences leading to a difference in attitudes, and the difficulties in understanding the Indian-English accent are just some of their reasons why they feel this way.

These are issues and they are real. They are caused by what I call a “communication disconnect” between you and the far away team. That I think is the real challenge. I can attribute almost every issue or failure I’ve faced in such an engagement to a communication disconnect.

To give a clear direction to our team, we must remove this disconnect.

1. Communicate with your team often.
2. Think, talk and act as though we are a part of them. Do not consider the remote team as third party.
3. Be part of the resolution, not the problem.
4. Assume less, know more.
5. Acknowledge their achievements and pardon their mistakes.

The Onsite Manager must remove the barriers of time-zones and attitudes and cultures, to set the stage for success.

All this becomes easier if you have already set the tempo.

#3 Listen & Shape the Sound

An effective Onsite Manager needs to be good listener. We have to listen to what our team is saying, listen to their concerns and issues, understand them non-judgmentally and be able to remove the noise from the sound.

Listening also means, to be able to check the health of your project, remotely. This is where systems and processes play a major part to help you monitor your team’s productivity; review activity plans, set milestones and meet SLA’s.

Effective listening will help us shape the deliverables to the satisfaction of our customers.

We are not Maestros but don’t we all strive to be one someday? We have a team of talented musicians working for us. They wait for our direction to create a perfect symphony. Let’s try to be the conductors who are always trying to give the best performance ever. Let us keep our audience entertained and satisfied. And let’s get them to always ask for an encore.

Thank You all for listening.

I can’t always keep a straight face when I get feedback that is not the uplifting kind. Face it, we won’t always get make-me-feel-good feedback. Wait, I take that back. We will rarely get make-me-feel-good feedback. There are a couple of reasons why and it has everything to do with the feedback-giver (for lack of a better title).

I have identified 4 kinds of feedback-givers:

Type A: Those who don’t really want to tell you things that you did great. They want to talk about what they did great, how well they did it and how good it makes them feel. It’s all about them. Btw, note that I said ‘most people’ not ‘all people’.

Type B: Those who commend you for your efforts and also point out your mistakes. I’m talking about people like your boss, your teacher, your friend, your dad, your brother or even your spouse. They try to do it perfectly. Some of them may even want you to crave a little for that feedback. It’s their way of making sure their feedback won’t go wasted, that you learn from it and make use of it to become better.

Type C: YOU. Seriously. You give yourself feedback all the time. You pat yourself on your back for that promotion you got, for meeting a deadline, for that joke you cracked that had everyone laugh out loud, etc. But there is a side effect. When you do something wrong, you dont always forgive yourself. You get eaten alive by the negative feedback you get from yourself. Sometimes, that can kill you.

I don’t envy Type A people coz they dont help me in any way. I respect Type B people. Type C is a complicated friend who can get easily influenced by situations and emotions.

There is also a Type D – the mentor. He or She is your ideal feedback-giver. We all need a mentor, to be our sound board, who is mindful of our feelings and whose prerogative is to give us the feedback we need, the good and the bad, everytime we need it, in order for us to continuously improve. This person may also be someone from Type B who could turn out to be the best candidates for that role.

Who is your feedback-giver?

After reading Silent Alarm, I did a couple of things. I wrote a review on the book and its impact on me, the result of which was my post last week called “My Silent Alarm“. Many of you shared your views with your comments. I thank you for your insights and kind words.

The book made me do something else too, which I normally don’t do but sure am glad I did. I emailed the author, John Blumberg, and shared my views with him. As I had hoped, John responded. It is my honor to share with you the words of the author himself. 

From: John Blumberg [mailto:johnblumberg@keynoteconcepts.com]

Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 7:19 PM

To: raj@lap31.com

Subject: RE: My Wake Up Call

 

Raj …

 

Thank you, so much, for your most kind follow-up email.  I apologize it has taken me so long to get back with you.  I got significantly behind on emails in trying to take off some time for the Holidays and am just now making a dent in getting caught back-up!

 

I am so glad that you found Silent Alarm to be a meaningful read!  And I am excited that you have created a new section on your website titled “My Journal.”  I enjoyed reading your YES MAN and YOUR SILENT ALARM entries!

 

This life does pull us in many directions, yet I am convinced we can improve our experience when we live in a more intentional way.  To make it work, it is likely to be an ongoing initiative since we likely never arrive at finally being on top of all of it!

 

Thanks again for taking the time to reach out with your experience in reading Silent Alarm.  Your email truly made my day!

 

I wish you the very best in this New Year and experience many blessings … seen and unseen!

John

 

John’s NEW BLOG SITE: 

http://johnblumberg.typepad.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check-out John’s book … Silent Alarm.

Join the busy professionals around the world

who are waking-up to this parable of hope!

See the details at www.keynoteconcepts.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

John Blumberg, CSP

Keynote Concepts, Inc.

 

johnblumberg@keynoteconcepts.com (email)

www.keynoteconcepts.com (web)

http://twitter.com/johnblumberg (twitter)

 

I have this habit. In a debate, an argument or even a casual discussion, when I am in contradiction with someone, my immediate response starts with a ‘No’. I do that because I am being defensive. The topic being discussed contradicts my beliefs or the facts I hold as true. This habit has to change. So, I try to be more conscious about it and refrain from doing that. But it’s not working all the time because just being conscious about it isn’t enough.

I read recently that creative meetings are those in which everyone encourages every idea. Think about it. Why can’t we listen to an idea and instead of criticizing it, think about how it can work. Give suggestions on how to make it work. Discuss it’s merits first and then if the final verdict is that there needs to be a better idea, let it go without saying “I thought so” or ‘I told you so”.  You don’t have to try and win points for yourself. Contribute to making every idea or every plan a successful one. Be the Yes Man.

I am yet to try this out but I think with practice this will work in changing our attitude to one that is more positive. Those around us will notice how open we are to ideas and will start trusting us.

So tell me, why do you think this idea will work?

I picked up John G. Blumberg‘s “Silent Alarm” for my X’mas reading. A well written, simple and inspiring book. Even before turning the last page of the book, I had made many mental notes of the changes that I needed to make in my life.

It is a story of a busy professional, Jack, who has no time for his family, friends or himself because he is always chasing deadlines. An accident leaves him with no choice but to stop and reflect back on his life to see what he has become. With every page I turned I began to realize that this story is about me, written a few years from now.

It would be wrong to say that I am as busy as Jack was before the accident. But that’s just because my new life has been less demanding. It will change. This is not the norm. The norm is to rely on drive-thru’s and fast food, online shopping and net banking, and all the luxuries that enable me to spend more time at work. I don’t have time to love or be loved. I think twice before helping a friend in need. I care less for the simple things in life. I procrastinate. I don’t prioritize. My life is nothing but items on a to-do list. 

Silent Alarm gives me hope that even I can change; that it’s never too late to try; that there is an angel watching out for all of us and when the time is right I will hear the angel’s voice. The angel will help me see “what” I have become and “who” I need to be.

It took 12 days and 12 messages from Jack’s angel to get him on a path of true living. I don’t know how long it will take me but I have begun. I know you don’t see it and you may not for a long time. That’s because I am way off track and I am looking for directions. But I don’t feel lost anymore.

Silent Alarm is one wakeup call I can’t snooze on.

Life is not merely a race to the finish line but a journey in which we discover who we are, what we’ve become and who we need to be, as we travel through each of our laps.

This post will be my last post of 2008. I want to take this opportunity to be reflect back on a very productive and fun-filled 2008.

Even though lap31 took birth the day I turned 30. the official launch was on January 29th 2008 after I had moved to the United States from India. Today, I am proud of the 2500+ visitors we’ve recorded and it is your interest and encouragement that has kept this leadership blog alive. So, Thank You once again for making lap31 a success.

I met a lot of wonderful people through lap31, some of who have been gracious enough to guest blog. My thanks to Ron Holohan, Elizabeth Harrin, Bas de Baar, Drew McLellan, Gavin Heaton, Margaret Meloni, Steve Roesler, Mark McGuinness, Nicole Jones, all my fellow AOC2 authors, my colleagues at work, my friends from school, my brothers and my lovely wife. You have all been the inspiration that kept this site alive and motivated me to continue sharing my experiences.

So, here’s wishing you a prosperous and joyous 2009. I hope our bond grows stronger in this new year and so does your support for lap31.

Happy New Year!

Last week, when a team member asked me how she can be more confident, I thought to myself “How do I respond to a question like that? I can tell if someone sounds confident or not but can I really answer why someone lacks confidence. Isn’t confidence a personal trait that we have to analyze and nurture for ourselves?”. I was searching for answers. 

I pulled my thoughts together and responsed as constructively as I could. I wanted to encourage her to do some self analysis. So I replied,

“Just ask yourself why you were not confident. Is it uncertainty or fear of the customer finding issues? Is it lack of knowledge? Point being there is no general mantra. Everyone lacks confidence for a different reason.”

I don’t know if it helped but all this made me wonder, why do people lack confidence? I think I am a confident person, at least most of the time, the evidence of which reflects in everything I do and say. Are some people just wired that way?

I needed to consult on this. You know, pick another brain. So I asked a good friend this, ”Are you a confident person? How confident? How do you rate your confidence level? How do you help your team members build confidence?”

My friend who loves to talk; who loves to be “brain-picked” said, 
“Confidence is a little funny to me. In any personal situation I would consider my confidence level to be a 10 on a 1-10 scale. At work or in professional situations my confidence varies based on my knowledge or preparedness of the subject at hand. I am a strong believer that knowledge is power. When I say power I mean a couple things like…

The power to speak up
The power to provide valuable input
The power to be respected as a valued source
The power to drive change

Knowing that I have knowledge to be a valuable member to any situation or project makes me confident. I think that knowledge/preparedness provides confidence and confidence provides power.”

I agree 100%. Knowledge is power. I recall being less confident in meetings when I know less, when I am not prepared.

Now we know one reason why someone would lack confidence – their lack of knowledge or preparedness. Another reason could be our comfort with failure. If we can all think of failure as a good thing, an opportunity to learn and improve, we will take the fear out of the equation. We are more confident when we are not afraid of failure.

But how easy is it for someone to be comfortable with failure. Is it possible for everyone to switch into that mode? Is there a side-effect to being not afraid of failing? Will it make us over confident and uncaring? 

If you are a manager or a leader, ask yourself “How do I build a confident team or enable a confident environment?” Don’t wait till your team member asks you to search for answers. 

In the wake of the recent Mumbai attacks, an ordeal that terrorized Indians and shocked the world, the following anonymous letter addressed to Mr. Manmohan Singh, India’s Prime Minister, is just one of the many reactions from the tax-paying hard-working common man.

Dear Mr. Prime minister,

I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don’t even do that.

Today I heard your speech. In which you said ‘NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED’. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement ‘NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED’ is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India.

Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by about a dozen young boys, I realize that if same thing continues, days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactor and there will be one more Hiroshima.

We the people are left with only one mantra. Womb to Bomb to Tomb. You promised Mumbaikar Shanghai …what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.

Today only your home minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? Only reason was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of innocent people, isn’t it?

I am born and bought up in Mumbai for last fifty eight years. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackray , Gopinath Munde, Raj Thackray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money. Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for fisherman so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time terrorist can comfortably live in those house , enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack the Mumbai at their will.

Recently I had to purchase house in Mumbai. I met about two dozen builders. Everybody wanted about 30% in black. A common person like me knows this and with all your intelligent agency & CBI you and your finance minister are not aware of it. Where all the black money goes? To the underworld isn’t it? Our politicians take help of these goondas to vacate people by force. I myself was victim of it. If you have time please come to me, I will tell you everything.

If this has been land of fools, idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Schedule caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Schedule caste, Creamy Schedule caste only what I am not is INDIAN. You politician have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.

Take example of former president Abdul Kalam. Such a intelligent person, such a fine human being. You politician didn’t even spare him. Your party along with opposition joined the hands, because politician feels they are supreme and there is no place for good person.

Dear Mr Prime minister you are one of the most intelligent person, most learned person. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politician. Ask Swiss bank to give name of all Indian account holder. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find wolf among us. There will be political upheaval but that will better than dance of death which we are witnessing every day. Just give us ambient where we can work honestly and without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.

Choice is yours Mr. Prime Minister. Do you want to be lead by one person or you want to lead the nation of 100 Crore people?

As we move on with our busy lives, the memories of those 4 grueling days are already fading away from our minds, and so will this message. I wonder if it is this selfishness on our part, one of the reasons why we, the people, are always reactive to terrorism instead of proactively finding ways to stop it. If so, who is really responsible? The Government? You & Me? Or Both?

I have had a lucky life. My parents funded my education. They catered to all my needs. It wasnt until I graduated that I had to even think of getting a job. Luck played its part again when I got my first job. Almost 9 years after, I am still at the same job. From the role of an ASP developer to a Program Manager. I did good and I am successful. The job taught me the meaning of hard work, multitasking, team work, building relationships and serving customers.

I write this post at my local Starbucks tonight sipping on my specially brewed “Thanks Giving” coffee. I watch the young men and women behind the counter serving customers, working as a team, with a smile on their faces, building relationships, working hard to fund their education and lead their own lives. The satisfaction on their faces when they sit down at the end of a tough day with their loved ones for a meal that they’ve earned, says it all. It’s all worth it.

I am witnessing the making of tomorrow’s leaders.

A few weeks ago, you heard my cry for help with my post called “Help Me Help You Help Me“. I was calling out to you to help me change, be more productive, get things done with some discipline in my life. I thank you all for your wonderful encouraging life changing comments. Yes, I am being sarcastic. Yes, that’s exactly why.

So, here I am thinking all hope is lost when I stumbled upon a fellow AOC2 author’s e-book ‘Time Management for Creative People’ <– click that link to read/download the eBook.

The eBook by Mark McGuinness is very well written making it an easy and quick read. It is very motivating and some of the techniques can easily be put to practice. What intrigued me the most was the part where he talks about avoiding the “Sisyphus” effect and the “Do it tomorrow” idea. Interesting.

Sisyphus is a figure from the Greek mythology who was punished for his deceitful crimes. His punishment was to roll a huge rock up a steep hill, which he failed every time. Before he could reach the top of the hill, the rock would roll back down, and he has to begin again.

I think we are all descendants of Sisyphus. Don’t we all have upon us the curSe of Sisyphus to continuously battle with those never ending to-do lists, those huge rocks we want with to get rid of, only for it to find its way back to our inboxes, into our lives?

Did Sisyphus ever get out of that? I would have to dive deeper into the Greek mythology to find out. But we can. “Do it tomorrow” is how. I am trying it out and if it works, I write about it. Until then, I suggest you click on that link above and read Mark’s eBook. I highly recommend it. Let me know how it goes.

Manual: Competent Communicator
Project/Assignment: Speech #3 “Get To The Point”