First Tenet

From the "sounding" one's own horn section... If you were to look on the back seat of my wife's car, you would find a copy of my book, Purple Curve Effect. In the trunk, a partial case of the book. In the garage, laying in plain sight, a copy of the book. On kitchen table. The PDF is on my PCs desktop. People either love or hate the book. That is a good thing, if two hold the same exact opinion, then one of them is unnecessary! Among my favorite reviews: "Purple Curve Effect is an inspirational book that fills an interesting hole in the current TOC library. It is written in a light hearted, easy to read, and conversational tone. SKI's TOC is both practical and applicable to business and personal life." -- C. Grant Lindsay, Jonah So What Among the constructs to convey some pearls of wisdom, I offered a number of tenets to clarify the message. For those that thought perhaps these breaks in the action were mere window dressing: wrong! Tenet One Get the facts before committing Sounds innocent enough, right? Wrong. How many times have you been roped into a task (or worse, a project) only to learn the ramifications after the fact? Then your "word is your bond" forces you to make the best of a bad situation. Also, in the book, in the third and final part, I pull the message together, and share a number of "Purple Curve Insights". Perhaps they are related to the tenets. Stranger things have happened. Purple Curve Insight One You alone decide your Success Or Happiness Or Throughput Make a decision How much success will you experience if your talents are spent on the wrong task, or worse, the wrong project? What if you selected your task without all the facts? What, if as Earl Nightingale pointed out, you are simply following another follower? Life is too short... -ski P.S. Did I mention you can buy the PDF for just two bucks?

Smart friends and iTunes

It pays to have smart friends... I just received an update from one of my favorite business mentors: Tim Sanders. Often he includes a reference to some new music that he has discovered. This is the first time that I noticed it was done via iTunes and the iMix feature. Most of you know that I am one of the biggest fans of the results that Steve Jobs accomplishes... like the worldest greatest computer: the NeXT... and his other creations, the iMac, iBook, iPod and iTunes. Pixar too. So here is a snap shot of my unusual taste in music: iMix 101 by SKI The great thing about this link, if you do not have iTunes on your computer, it will take you to the download page. iTunes is free for both the Mac and the PC. You can run iTunes without owning an iPod... but why would you? FYI: Look for a biz podcast coming soon. I have been learning the ropes with my Turismo Cycles adventure. Here is the link to the iTunes podcast: Turismo Cycles Podcast So, please feel free to share your musical interests as well as your biz secrets with the world. -ski P.S. If you catch Tim's Like Ability Factor PBS broadcast, you will see "the SKI" in the front row... and will quickly notice which segments were shot after lunch! {grin}

Performance Review

Another great post from guest blogger, David Oakes Often, managers feel challenged when completing performance reviews They are a crucial step in the survival and growth of a team, organization or corporation. The following steps will guarantee success. Do each step with each direct report employee. I give them an assignment before the review:

1. Review their goals for the past year and bring to the review
2. Make a list of everything they did last year that they liked best (LB)
3. Make a list of everything they did last year that they would do differently next time (NT)
4. Bring a list of 10 goals they would like to do next year (probably based on the NT's)

You do these same four steps on each direct report you have.

At the review:

1. I have them go over their LB's
2. I give them my LB's for them
3. I ask them to give me their NT's (they will probably have many of the same items I have)
4. I add my NT's that are different
5. We agree on 10 goals they should accomplish for the coming year

Then I ask for their feedback:

1. Do you have any NT's that you want me to work on, as your boss, in the coming year?
2. Where do you see yourself in this organization on the next 1-3 years?

The Key to Success

You are looking for somebody who wants to grow with your organization.

The annual review should last an hour, but no more than two.

Dave Oakes www.achieverstraining.com