marginally subversive

"Problem at the Office?"

Every now and then, I'd get this question:  "Problem at the office?"  Largely, it is 'evoked' by the dark circles under my eyes.  (For the record: It is genetic.  Nothing I do can remove the bags nor the dark circle.  Believe me, I have tried.)

Image from BusinessWeek; illustration by Ray Vella.

BusinessWeek came up with this interesting article in their latest issue about problems at the office - and in addition, they looked at 'generational tensions'.  However, what really interested me was the similarities of themes underneath the different problems that we all encounter.

We strive for work-life balance.  And we try our best to maintain it by getting in touch with the Tech God or Tech Goddess in us (otherwise known as the nerd).  In doing so, we get dependent on technologies - and then suddenly, the very gadget that was supposed to empower us to achieve work-life balance is now a source of stress.  So we go to "new age seminars" and "zen seminars" - and tune out.  At first, there is the usual "I cannot live without emails and laptops and the internet and my BlackBerry..."  We get through that rather easily (at least in my case and a few friends') - what really is 'stressful' is the night before the return to work - and the first few weeks after work.  It's as if the world stopped - or accelerated? - when we were away.  One thousand emails unread - most of the were needed yesterday - or worse, the week before.

You get the picture.

Anyway, I think this piece was a good read.  It made me smile - and think.

As far as I am concerned, all these shall pass.  These are all ephemeral - and transient.  What is essential, as the Little Prince said, is invisible to the eye.

Or not.

On Networking, Schmoozing, and Building "Street Creds"

I am perhaps the worst "networker" around.  An introvert - bordering on being a hermit, I have been one who has had to make an effort to socialize.  I am - what you may call - a "learned, really-trying-hard extrovert".

Through the course of my career, I have learned the value of networking - not just schmoozing part, but perhaps more importantly, building a network of people who trust, believe, and are confident in me and my capabilities.

My ex-boss, KT, calls this - in one of our recent conversations - "spreading seeds of goodwill and excellence".  I couldn't have defined it better.  Across time, you'd see these seeds blooming into plants.

I am heeding the advice of Jeremiah Owyang and cutting/pasting *shamelessly* what he has to say about the art and the science (I think it is a science - there is a structure, there needs to be a structure...) to networking.

Thanks, Mr. Owyang.

=================

Here’s a few things I’ve learned, and hope you intake, invest, and pass on:

1) You’re always looking for the next opportunity, simply shutting down what else is in the market is fool hearted. It doesn’t mean you need to jump ship before 1 month, or 1 year, but it means you should be talking to recruiters, companies, and hiring managers to see what next skills are needed now, and in the future. This will actually help your current employer, as you continue to skill up, take on new projects, as they invest in you. Remember, even if you work for someone else, you are a company of one.

2) Those who ignore the party/conversation/network when they are content and decide to drop in when they need the network may not succeed. It’s pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take –not to give. Therefore, be part of the party/conversation/network before you need anything from anyone. Start now, and continue to build relationships by giving now: share knowledge, help others, and become a trusted node and connector, not just an outlying ‘dot’ of a comet that swings in every 4 years or so.

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Tags: Career, Jeremiah Owyang, Networking, Networking Strategies, Career-building, Growing, Personal Growth

Why Gen-X'ers are not feeling the love...

I am a 30something gen-x'er.  I entered the workplace when the world was so excited about the internet - and computers and Windows.  Then the tech-boom  - and the subsequent bubble - came.  Suddenly, things were not so good as they were supposed to be.

Gen-X'ers I believe are far more controlling - far more independent and far more of a gamesman and a gameswoman than the "corporate, yes men and women" that the boomers were.  We challenged the status quo - asked questions - and never really got answers.

Some of us had given up - and were assimilated by the big companies and borgs.  Some of us are still struggling with the challenges of being independent.  Some of us are still straddling between being our own person - and a corporate executive Monday to Friday - that sometimes we are scared of change - and yet clamor for change.

And the balance - that darn balance between work and personal life - is still out there somewhere.

Argh.

In this article from Tammy Erickson, there are ten reasons why Gen-X'ers are not entirely feeling the love - in spite of companies needing our expertise.

One thing that Erickson does not mention - that I think should be there in the list of reasons why Gen-X'ers are not feeling the love - is because we're too fed up with hypocrisy.  It's no fault of the companies - it is perhaps the result of the system that we are in.

We hear of companies that are saying "our number one resource is our people - and our employees are our talent" - to the point that they set up talent management divisions, team-building and skill-enhancing projects, and on-job/classroom style training.

Only to be discarded and disregarded at the lower levels of the management rung.

Let's be honest: Gen-X'ers wanted to change the world.  We wanted the world to be a different place from our parents.  When Gen-X'ers came to be, we were on the verge of a technological and sociological mindshift - that suddenly stopped and we all stumbled.

We still want to change the world - but we've been stymied and and we've seen through the facade and the hyprocrisy of companies that say "we value you" - words that do not get translated to real actions and policies that affect us personally.

We've dreamt so much of a better world - and we've been disillusioned once.  We've tried to straddle several aspects of our lives - hoping that one of these - or ALL of these - will coalesce into one big whole that will be different from the lives that our parents and older siblings have led.

But still, we're not being heard.

Come on.  Give us some credit.

And to my fellow Gen-X'ers... it still is not over.  There is still an opportunity to change the world - and make it all different for us and our families.  We may not be the most tech-savvy and most digitally-savvy generation there is (hey, boomers don't even know how to program their VCRs and have given up; at least we tried - and we kept on trying until we got it right).  But we surely have the guts to get through this again.

We've gone through a lot.  And we can go through more.  A lot more.

"You're downgraded!"

A few months ago, I was in a quandary - with all the questions converging on only one theme:  Do I want to be a big fish in a small pond or be a small fish in a big, big ocean?

Egged on by something - perhaps, pride and the want to experiment - I tried to be a small fish in a big, vast ocean.  Faced with prospects of growth - financially, personally, and intellectually - I dove in.

Then I realized - 6 months on - that I wasn't ready.

The big ocean is filled with currents - waves that cause boats to move and sway, and sometimes capsize - and strong undercurrents that are far stronger than the waves on the surface of the stormy sea.

I decided that I was a small fish - I had no control over my destiny and that I was transformed from a manager of managers to a mere support player whose main remit was well, change colors in a PowerPoint presentation and extract numbers and calculate percentage growth rates from a simple spreadsheet.

The day ended with me feeling not having accomplished anything - and not having grown an inch.  And that is in spite of having crossed out all the things that are listed on my so-called "treadmill". 

True, I had the chance - for the first time in my life - to come home at 6pm and see the sunset from my apartment (perched on top of a hill, overlooking the skyline of Singapore).  I had - for the first time in my life - the luxury of walking leisurely towards my gym appointments - instead of getting warmed up whilst running to catch the train and avoid being penalized by my gym trainer.

I know a lot of people would want to trade places with me - and yes, that there are a million people - girls and boys - who would kill for this kind of job.

But I needed a reason.

I needed to be imbued with passion - with the feeling that when I lay myself at the end of the day on my bed, I had something done.  Something that is far bigger than me.  Something that could potentially change the world.  Something that could have expanded my mind - a little bit.

I am passionate - but what I have learned is that it takes a little bit to 'light my fire'.  Once lit and kindled, it gives off such warmth, such glow...  Hoping that others, too, could be inspired and be lit and their fires kindled.

And that was it: that was why I threw in the towel and surrendered.

Because I wanted to be a part of something bigger - something that could potentially change the world - something that could change how people see things and relate to others and other things - something that could potentially be bigger and great and well, hope-filled.

BusinessWeek's latest issue had described this as a variation of the "phantom limb syndrome".  Dr. Jerry Sulkowicz says this in his latest column:

Your experience sounds like a variation on "phantom limb syndrome," in which a person receives signals from a limb that's no longer there. Clinging to the phantom executive inside you, I suspect, is your way of dealing with the loss of ... your authority. The best cure, of course, is a new and better position, but that may take a while.

He offers this advice:

How to cope in the interim? The strong emotions you're feeling now will fade in time, but only if you don't make matters worse by punishing yourself. You've suffered a blow, but that doesn't mean you have to lose your self-respect or your sense of who you are. In my experience advising CEOs who have lost their jobs, such feelings (including a sense of humiliation) are frequently self-imposed.

And he further adds that:

Satisfying work, like a satisfying life, is rarely achieved through a straight, upward climb.

True.

But to satisfy one's life, one must satisfy the inner voice - that voice that is calling from within when silence surrounds and the world is quiet.

One of my former bosses - KT - taught me a very valuable lesson that until now I carry with me: "Leaders are not defined by their position or their titles; they are defined by the way they serve other people.  Christ-like leadership - service-based leadership.  Making other people shine by shining your own light."

Photo Credits:  From JML at this site.  Photo is governed by a Creative Commons License.

And yes.  That's what I want to do.

Serving leaders.  Leaders who lead in spite of who they are in the organizational chart ("Employee Number XXX156 from Cost Center XXX123").  Leaders who let their light shine and inspire others to also shine that others around them may also shine.  Leaders who deserve respect - from others who she/he also respects.  Leaders who inspire others - who in turn inspire her/him.

But never a slave.  Never.

I guess - in spite of my being a part of the capitalistic, dog-eat-dog world that characterizes the world that I live in - I still am an idealist.  And that I have never let go of the ideals that my family, my schools, my university and philosophy professors have taught me:  Be men and women for others - by living simply that others may simply live.

"The Dip" by Seth Godin - One Year...

One year ago, I stumbled upon The Dip by Seth Godin.

I wrote earlier about it (but well, deleted it together with the rest of my old blog, Organized Chaos) - and how I got something new out of it each time I read it.

Without knowing that it's been a year, I recently started rereading The Dip again.  Somehow, I felt compelled to re-read it as part of my attempt to understand and discern (a 'deep' word these days in this phase of my life) whether I should make a move or not.

And again, I got something new out of it:  If you can't be the best in what you do in a certain situation, either re-create and redefine the situation such that you can be in your top form or get out.

That's exactly what I did - I tried to redefine the rules with the hopes of redefining the situation I was in so as to get a sense of accomplishment, or being remarkable at the end of each day.

I failed.

So I got out.

A lot of my friends and even colleagues and former bosses told me I was making a stupid move.  It was - in one of my ex-bosses' words - what every one was looking for.  It was, as Nigel and Emily from The Devil Wears Prada (yes, that movie again) defined as "the job that a million other girls (and boys) would kill for".

And I could see where they were coming from:  I come in at 9am, I plonk myself in front of the PC and do my work, I log off at 6pm, head to one of my evening activities - Spanish classes, readings in Stats and Econometrics, readings in Philosophy, visits to the library, dinner with friends, partying and a little bit of drinking, and gym (not on the same night...).

But that, I told my ex-bosses and colleagues who still work 12-15-hour days, how I want my life to be.  I want to be able to use whatever talents I have been blessed with - and make full use of all the learnings I have gathered from 12 years of working with other people (making mistakes, perfecting processes, perfecting the art of asking questions and quantifying them, making sure that things are "perfect enough").

Anything short of that is, well, not for me.

Sure, it's also about the money.  But it's not just about the money - or even tenure or security or whatever else you can think of.

It's personal fulfillment - and the chance to be good and remarkable.

Seth Godin made a request - "take it off the shelf and lend it to someone".

I am sorry, Mr. Godin, I can't.  It just is too useful for me.  Don't get me wrong - it's not the best book I have read.  It's amongst the better books, for sure.  If I were to be stuck in an island for a year and can only bring 10 books, it sure will be one of those 10 books (alongside those books by NNTaleb and Mark Buchanan, and ET Jaynes).  I tend to be very protective of my books (you should see my apartment shelves - they're full of books).  I am happy, however, to tell others about it.  In fact, I have bought a couple of friends copies of your book.  And I would even gladly buy some of my friends one for their birthdays and anniversaries and farewells and all.  But sorry, I just can't part with my copy just yet.  Perhaps next year.

Of PowerPoint(R) Presentations...

I have always been a tech-geek.  Not the "programmer" kind - but the one who maximizes all possible shortcuts there are in the software that I use.  My philosophy is completely opposed to RTFM - for me, the best way to learn something is to do it.  Experiment.

I never had PowerPoint training in the past.  When I first started working in 1995, PowerPoint was just starting in the Philippines.  I remember that I was still using Quattro Plus back then to do my spreadsheets and my charts, and print them on a "dot-matrix" printer.

(Okay, I am that old.)

But I immediately caught on.  I spent a whole week learning the in's and out's of PowerPoint - and how I can make it a support tool for me to communicate my ideas.  I learned through feedback from clients and colleagues that "anything smaller than 16points is really bad" - and "too much color on a screen is confusing".  I also learned that "people don't go beyond the title" - and "tell a story, stupid - not what's on the charts... people can read".

I also began to develop my own story-telling style - and in spite of my chart- and numbers-heavy charts (in succession, sometimes), I believe that I do manage to deliver a compelling story.

And the key to it all is having a story.

My former bosses would ask me to send over the presentation file to them - and then they would critique it.  And I wouldn't hear of it.  I would rather that I get them seated in front of my PC, and tell the story - why this chart precedes this chart and why this slide precedes this conclusion.

It's a story - and you can't get a story out of reading slides and numbers.

Of all my former bosses, it was only my latest boss - Jon T. - that actually 'got used' to my style.  He would see the file and immediately find loopholes in the story, suggesting how to further strengthen a case or whether a certain slide is not necessary to the story or is a different story altogether.

As I am mired in PowerPoint presentation preparations right now, I cannot help but admire people who present other people's presentations.  They get others to craft the story, get the file, and re-tell the stories themselves.  I am not sure how effective they are or how close the stories they tell are to the stories that I wanted to convey - I have not sat in any one of their presentations.

But it is quite interesting.

Some people, I believe, are able to craft stories out of nothing (well, not nothing... but out of the morass of numbers and charts).  And some people - upon seeing mere outlines and slides - get it and could retell it.

Frankly, I am not one of those who could retell another person's story - whenever I get a deck for presentation, a deck that was prepared by someone else, I always allot time for me to go through the entire thing - and rejig it.  The objective:  tell the story my way whilst keeping true to the spirit of the story.

Sometimes, I remove slides.  Sometimes, I do different things with the order.  And still sometimes, I add in my own interpretations.

But I can never present another person's deck.

I guess it's a talent that I don't have.

Time to get out...

"How do you determine if you have been in a company for far too long?"

Jack and Suzy Welch talks about decision-factors that one needs to consider when answering the question.  And surprisingly - at least for me, because I always thought that Jack Welch is very traditional - the same old answers come out:  Do a gut-check.

Is it fun to work at?  Does it feel like you're making a difference?  Do you dread going to work?  Does it drive you crazy?  Do you keenly watch the clock to reach 6pm? Is it a drag?  Do you like your co-workers?  Do you like hanging around with this people?  Do you like working with them since you spend 1/3 of your day - or perhaps even more - with them?  Would you want to spend a weekend with them?  Is it meaningful?  Is it something worth working for?  Is it wringing the best out of you without you feeling shortchanged?  Are you selling you out?  What are you going to look like in this company a year from now?  Will I be where I want to be - in this company, in this life, in this cubicle?  And do I like that?

Interesting thoughts - but more importantly, interesting questions.

Things that I miss, things that I would like to do

I miss going to company leadership meetings and presenting my viewpoints - presenting results to things that I had worked on for five nights in a row and making business cases and debating the pros and cons of decisions that are being made.  I miss the philosophical and "principles" debates - and the perennial question "But will it make money for us in the long-term?".  Either with clients or with other leaders in the company.

I miss presenting my viewpoints about how training and tools and employee-development should be managed.  I miss arguing with my peers who amongst the team has the highest potentials - and what we can do to maximize those potentials and keep them loyal to the company - or at least happy.

I miss the voice of my former peers - those passionate voices that sometimes fill the boardrooms at 7pm when we all just finished back-to-back meetings and teleconferences.  I miss the arguments - inane or otherwise - but nonetheless, fruitful.

I miss the announcements of new businesses - no, not half million wins, not 1million wins, but 2.5 or 3 or 4 or 5 million wins.  High-profile or low-profile wins.  Wins that make a difference to the company's bottomline - and wins that you know - I know - made a dent and made it possible to deliver bonuses to deserving people in the company.

I miss working late 2-4 days before a major pitch - against 2 other competitors, against 2 more powerful competitors.  We may not win it - but we knew we wouldn't go down without a fight.  We will give our best - even if it all boils down to price and relationships.  We believe in strategies - my peers and I.  We believed in processes - beyond the tactics and shortcuts into real business solutions that went beyond the media plan and discounts and negotiations.

I miss the things finishing worthwhile at 11pm at night or 1am in the morning - knowing that at 9am in the morning, I will be taking this presentation - "hot off the oven" - and present it and make a stellar presentation, answering questions that are sometimes inane ("How much discounts will you offer?") to the visionary ("So ten years from now, how do you think this brand will look like against your vision of the media and communications landscape?").

I miss going to meetings - representing Asia Pacific and the different countries that this region encompasses.  From the "emerging" to the "developed" to the "high-pop" to the "high pop-density".  From the "then-tiger" to the "new tigers" to the "elephants and dragons" to the "kamikazes".  I miss working inside a metal tube for 18 hours, not sleeping and knowing that when I get to the hotel on the other side of the world, I was expected to act as if I were in my natural world - my 'own' timezone, my 'own' rhythm, my 'own' life.

I miss going to Starbucks - or at least, getting the Concierge to get me Starbucks ("Quadruple Shot of Espresso Hazelnut Latte - the biggest cup that they can offer, whatever it is... please!") - as I go through last minute over my notes and my documents and my index cards which contain my agenda, my itinerary, my goals:  "What can I do for my region, for my markets, for my clients that I could take home from this series of meetings?"

People think I am soft - patient - kind.

I may be.

But I am a lot tougher than they think.

It's just that I don't believe in freebies.  I don't believe in politics.  I declare my thoughts even if it puts me at risk.  I come up with rational explanations - even if it runs counter with the accepted norms.  (And yes, I may not go far with these beliefs.)

I have proven myself - to others and to myself.  I have delivered businesses - and more importantly I have paved the way for others to build their own businesses and reputations.

That - I am proud of.

That - I would like to do.  Again.

In a big company - or in a small company.  In a for-profit company - or one involved with non-profit.

Of Ferraris and Speed Limits

 

Photo is from jakedevine's flickr
jakedevine's photostream can be found here

I learned a new "maxim" today.

(Note the quotes:  I am not entirely sure if this "maxim" is indeed one.  But it somehow struck me.)

It was in a corporate training session:

It's like bringing in a Ferrari into a country where the speed limit if 80kph in the freeway.  The Ferrari remains to be a Ferrari - it's just that the Ferrari can't be faster than the allowable speed limit.

Two questions -

1. Why bring in a Ferrari then?  What's the purpose of the Ferrari?  Why spend on a Ferrari if one has no desire for speed?  For showing-off?  But is that what the Ferrari really is for?
   
   Sure, it is expensive - but c'mon: a Ferrari is a Ferrari is a Ferrari - and its telos - its purpose, its raison d'etre - is to be a Ferrari - which means be the kind of the road!  Being owned by someone whose life evolves around speed is its telos - its destiny.  It cannot simply traipse and simply chug along at 40 or 60 or 80kph - it's not its destiny.
2. Won't the Ferrari be nothing but a car - similar to any other car?  The Ferrari is special because it is a Ferrari.  If it cannot run as fast as it could, then won't it lose its meaning, its raison d'etre?
    
   I am no autophile nor am I knowledgeable about cars - but when my dad would go on business trips, he would ask me to turn on the engine of his old Volkswagen every morning and rev up the engine without leaving actually driving it out into the streets (which really frustrated me... but that's another story).  His reasoning:  If you don't use it, it's going to be spoiled.

Now what exactly is my point?

If you can't handle a Ferrari, don't get one.  It's just going to be a waste.  Specially if you knew right from the start that you cannot drive it to its fullest potential - you're just wasting money and you're just wasting the Ferrari's potential - and soul.

(And no:  I must clarify this is not all about Ferraris at all.  I have nothing against Ferraris.  I love speed.  I would love to have one.  I actually am dreaming of getting myself a Ducati or a BMW bike - because I like going against the wind.)

Will sleep be soon a thing of the past?

From WIRED.COM, they report about the possibility of replacing sleep by snorting a chemical.

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."

Orexin A is a promising candidate to become a "sleep replacement" drug. For decades, stimulants have been used to combat sleepiness, but they can be addictive and often have side effects, including raising blood pressure or causing mood swings. The military, for example, administers amphetamines to pilots flying long distances, and has funded research into new drugs like the stimulant modafinil and orexin A in an effort to help troops stay awake with the fewest side effects.

What do have to say about this?  Give me one of those, please!  Soon!

Well as long as there are no side-effects, I'm in.

Withdrawal symptoms...

A challenge, I would say, is emerging. 

I am used to seeing lots of zeros in planning, learning, and project engagement briefs (unfortunately, those zeros don't get filtered down into my pocket.)

I am also used to being able to work independently and sign or initial invoices for endorsements.  Or give advice on pressing business issues about the strategic direction of the office.  Or be heard about what my thoughts are with regard to where the company should be headed in the next 3-5 years - and what the risks are.  Or be consulted by the staff. Or approve forms. ("Approve now, inform later..." was my mantra; "it's easier to rationalize and apologize than seek permission" was my other mantra.  Of course, within reasonable bounds.)

Or stay up late to finish one report or presentation needed by the client for a very crucial meeting that could make or break the business.  Or stare at the screen in search for stories amidst a plethora of numbers - and scratching my head every time a hypothesis bombs.

Suddenly, I have to scale down.

Significantly.

And my body - and my mind - is suddenly undergoing "withdrawing symptoms" with all the changes that are happening in my new environment.

I know - I should be thankful.  And be careful of what I ask for - as I just might get it.

Well, that gives me more time to do more of my academic and charity work, and more time to spend with my significant other [albeit electronically].

But I wonder how other agency-execs feel and cope when they move to the client side?  Did they feel the same as I do now?  Or is mine a spurious case - an outlier?

Dumbing it down is making it boring...

I just wrote about boredom in a previous entry.  And right after I hit "publish" on my Windows Live Writer, my RSS reader told me that Seth Godin just wrote something about "dumbing it down".

He writes about pandering to the masses and dumbing things down - and argues that hey, give me smart customers anytime because they are far more profitable, far more energetic, far more engaged.

Why?

The thing is, when you dumb stuff down, you know what you get?

Dumb customers.

And (I'm generalizing here) dumb customers don't spend as much, don't talk as much, don't blog as much, don't vote as much and don't evangelize as much. In other words, they're the worst ones to end up with.

I honestly don't think there dumb customers (and I believe that Seth Godin is being sarcastic...)  Ogilvy said that "the consumer is not a moron; she is your wife".

I have sat down in so many client-agency meetings where clients go "That's too sophisticated for our customers; they wouldn't understand that" or "It's nice and witty - but won't it be too witty to our consumers" or "Just tell them the specifications of our products - that we have GB of storage that could store X thousands of songs and videos" or "just plaster the brand logo there - and we'd be fine".

In other words, "dumb it down because consumers don't understand it".

This runs counter to my belief that we are overly underestimating our customers and our target consumers.  If they were "dumb", then we wouldn't have all these things called FaceBook, Wikipedia, and other tech wonders that were dependent on these "dumb" customers.

Simplify it, yes.  But don't dumb it down.  That's what I would say.  Simplifying it is not necessarily dumbing it down.  Simplifying it is all about making things intuitive, for example, in a computer software. 

(And this is why I like XLSTAT and XLMINER - they're advanced stats software but they're not assuming I am dumb; they just made how I use their software easier and faster.)

Anyway, the same is true with people:  Don't dumb people down.  When you explain things to your subordinates or your peers, don't dumb it down.  Simplify it.  But don't dumb it down.

Here's Seth's Blog on Dumbing down.

Boredom

I have been trying to deal with boredom in the past couple of weeks.  I guess it's a remnant of the holidays, when things slowed down significantly.  If there is something more behind it, I am not sure.  Things are not what they seem to be these days.  (And I am always on my guard; it's tiring, believe me, but it comes with the territory.)

I guess I am blessed (or cursed?) with an active mind.  I can't count how many ideas and thoughts for work questions and problems whilst showering in the morning, whilst doing my laps on the pool or simply watching cartoons on TV.

Yesterday, I told my smoking cessation therapist (yeah, there is such a thing - and I am pretty successful so far) that I always hated it when I was bored that's why I can't seem to relax.

And his response struck me:  "It's understandable.  An idle mind is the devil's playground.  Boredom is the devil's best friend, you see."

I agreed.

The worst decisions I have made were made out of boredom - and the resulting impatience.

Well.

There is something about boredom marketeers should consider.  Ogilvy summed it all up elegantly (as always):  "You can't bore your consumers to buying your product". (Or something like that).

One can only excite them.

And if your message is boring, nothing new, not visionary enough, not relevant enough, then they won't move - they won't shift.

It is the same with employees and employers:  Look at the most productive people, the most innovative people, the most involved people in your company.  They are the ones who are not bored - they are excited about things that they are doing.  They are not just doing it for the sake of doing it.

The challenge is to get them excited and engaged and involved.

With regard to my boredom, I will not succumb to it.  I will always find a question to fill in my boredom - whether it is a C++ program to analyze or an algorithm to scrutinize or a calculus theorem to solve or a sudoku table to fill in.

Or a PowerPoint(R) document to create.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Communications Planning,Office Life,Employee,Marketing Planning,Strategic Planning,Managing Life,Lifehacks

Playing Small versus Playing Big

I received an email from a friend.  He's one of those who writes "personal updates" about his previous year, publishes them on a word document, and distributes it to his friends and family members. 

(I know of families that do this - and mostly, they talk about how the kids have grown and how the Christmas play was - complete with kids in costume.  But a single guy doing these updates?  You gotta give it to my friend - he's got lots of drama to write about in his life.)

Anyway, one of the things that struck me was one of his resolutions for 2008:  This year - 2008 - will be the year when I start playing big.  I will aim for the stars and the sun.  I may end up not hitting the sun, but who knows - I might end up on the moon.

Which got me thinking about playing small and playing big.

I never believed that playing small will get my anywhere.  It will probably get me through the day unscathed - and perhaps, give me a night or two of complete peace.  But playing small would make me more bored with my life.  And boredom is bad - always bad.

But lately, I have been asking myself:  Must one always play big?  Must one always want, strive, dream, work hard to become the CEO of the company?  Must one's voice always be heard?

A part of me - the competitive side - would assert that things are not good if things are smooth.  It would assert that if it isn't broken (yet), then break it and rewrite it.  Reinvention, it would argue, is the mother of innovation.

But a part of me also argues against playing big:  Playing small makes one nimbler, faster, more flexible, and more at peace.  Playing big also means being a big target of others who are as competitive as one's self.

So the question - which may sound existential to some (if not everyone) - is For this year, will it be a year of playing small or playing big?

And the answer is...

It depends.

I am sure that I am going to be playing it big in my personal life.  The relationships that I value - the ones that cannot be "monetized" but are very important to my life - will definitely figure strongly this year.  At the same time, there will be relationships that I will dump - relationships that suck the life out of life, relationships that do nothing but destroy other aspects of my life.

In my career, I am also sure that I will play it big.  The competitive spirit in me still remains - but it will be tempered.  This year will the year that I will be playing responsibly.  The game will be played seriously - but there will be aspects of the game that I will give up on because it is not worth winning.

I guess it comes with age - this ability to discern what is and what is not worth playing for.   Not that I have mastered it - but the years have led me to this realization:  That not all games need to be played, not all games need to be won, and not all games need to be special.

Some games are worth playing big for - and some games are not.

My executive coaches will probably kill me for saying this - but nobody's last words were ever "I wish I delivered that presentation or report better". 

There are some things that not even stocks and stock options can buy.

 

Technorati Tags: Personal Journeys,2008,New Year,Views,Personal Views,Playing Big,Playing Small

My Ten Most Favorite Digital Things...: Part 2

This is part two of my ten most favorite digital things.  In the first part, I listed down in no particular order five digital things that I really loved.  I had the Yahoo finance pages with the advanced charting techniques, the Windows Live Services, my MacBookPro and OSX Leopard, my Nokia E90 phone, and the New Outlook and OneNote 2007 - all of which I really loved and enjoyed using.

Now, I am off to name the second set of the digital things that I really love - and I start off with...

Number 6:   C++. I know, I know.  It's not really something that I am good at - and it's not even something that I can see me using in the next couple of years.  But I am hinging on the possibility that with the more information coming my way - in the form of usage patterns, raw data on how people are using information on the net and how they are interacting with different sites - I think C++ will come in handy.  I have finished the first five chapters of my book - and am now into learning more about classes and objects.

Now some will probably say that C++ is too old - and that there are far too many other, more important and more up-to-date programming languages.  But for some reason, I have some affinity with C++.  It's probably because it's easy to understand - and from what I gathered, Office was built on C++.  (I could be wrong - don't shoot me!)

So I think that C++ will remain to be one of my favorite things - even if its applicability remains to be seen.  At least, I will have learned something.

7.  XLSTAT and XLMINER

I have personal subscriptions to XLSTAT and XLMINER - and when embedded into the new Excel 2007, XLSTAT becomes a real power-house.  I have not tried XLMINER on Excel 2007 - but the ability of Excel 2007 to manage so many rows and columns makes it easier for me to analyze different sets of data.  Back then, with Excel 2003 which I think accommodates only about 255 columns, I had to break down all my files into different sheets.

These days, I work and run my XLSTAT with ease on big files.

XLMINER, which still runs on my Office 2003 at my old personal PC, is still a gem.  Its neural networking capabilities, logistic regression, and classification routines are simply good and easy to navigate.  It's one helluva of tool that every data miner should have in their PC.  And I would gladly recommend it to someone interested in the field of datamining. 

My only gripe with XLMINER?  It can't manage much of the qualitative variables - or at least, I have not unlocked how to use qualitative variables just yet.  But all in all:  thumbs-up to both software programs.

8.  Apple Airport

I bought it, unboxed it, fired up the Mac, and set it up - all within 15 minutes.  Me the klutz when it comes to wires and setting up things managed to get it running.  And yes, it's now linking two personal laptops and two mobile phones in my apartment.

9.  Live.Com

Friends have been encouraging me to use Google Reader - but for some reason, I find it too ... blah.  Perhaps, it's just my personality.  I need some colors, some photos, some life in my news reader.  And Live.Com gives me that.

It allows me to customize my site (yes, I know - iGoogle does the same thing - but still... it's... bland!)  I like Live.Com:  it's now the default home-page on my laptop both at home and at work.  It summarizes the days news for me in various tabs - and the good thing about it:  I can preview the contents of the different subscriptions I have (and I have lots!).  If indeed the abstracts of the things I read intrigue me, then I would go off and read them.

10.  Lifehack.Org

OK.  I am one who does not really want to be told.  But seriously, LifeHack.Org gives me so many ideas on so many things.  Some of the articles I really like - like the latest entry on what to do if you're not really celebrating Christmas.  Others are way-off my field, I guess.  But that's the beauty of LifeHack.Org - it touches on things that are important to you directly, on things that may not necessarily be important to you now but could possibly be in the future.  My Del.Icio.Us account is full of LifeHack.Org tags.

I don't think any other website has been as cool LifeHack.Org.

Additional Stuff that I really liked...

I know the title says 10, but I need to mention two other services that I really liked:  LinkedIn.Com and PickTheBrain.Com.  You are probably very familiar with LinkedIn.Com - and if you are not, better go to LinkedIn.Com now and create your own profile.  I think of the different networking sites that I have joined, LinkedIn.Com perhaps was the most profitable in terms of generating "returns" on my efforts.  I have had several  requests for interviews and consulting projects through LinkedIn - all of which I had to turn down due to some reason or another. 

PickTheBrain.Com is rather a different breed.  It's more of the personal-development site, minus the preaching.  I am too hard-headed to be preached to - and I guess too cynical to even consider the "field" or the "spirituality that surrounds us all".  But PickTheBrain.Com is quite interesting as it focuses on achieving balance.  Their latest entry as of this writing talks about Self-Actualization and exercising, which I thought made sense.

I am sure there will be more useful stuff coming around and bubbling up in the near future.

My needs?  They're very simple, really.  Anything that would get me going and make me more efficient in managing my life and achieving that balance between work and personal life - that's good with me.  (Oh, Facebook is cool - but for now, I guess I don't really see the value in it for me save for wasting some time in the office when there's a lull in between projects - or mass-broadcasting everybody to leave me alone as I am trying to beat a deadline.)

That's it for now!

Turning Great Data into Great, Compelling Stories...

It is commonly assumed that if you have great data, it follows that you have great stories. Sometimes even with the greatest of data, one cannot easily create stories that are interesting, compelling, and remarkable. And the other 'round is true: one can tell great stories even without data. (Think Nixon, Clinton, and all th consulants and lawyers you know.)

It also doesn't help if the data is static: just pure tables full of percentages. I - for one - have not mastered the art of coaxing stories out of percentages. I know of people who can create great stories out of nowhere. But, man... I think I am not one of those yet.

I am reminded of one of my colleagues, Prashant, and his words of wisdom: Tell stories, not regurgitated data.

To compel. To be remarkable. To enroll. These go beyond data.

It takes guts. And an integrative mind.

The Search for the Great GTD App...

This article form Lifehack.Org talks about the search for that great GTD app - which I would say is becoming more and more important in these harried days (and particularly in my new job).

I’ve yet to find the system that works best for me, although there are plenty of slick apps that look promising until I actually get down to working with them. After a few days of excitement, I find myself coming up against barriers to productivity — some of them because of poor design, some because of differences in philosophy between myself and the programmers, most because I’m simply not the target client — and find myself spending time looking for workarounds to make the system work rather than actually getting stuff done.

I can commiserate with the author's experience.  I once downloaded PlanPlus for Outlook (it was supposedly created by experts from Franklin Covey of the Stephen Covey fame; see www.franklincovey.com for more information).  And for awhile I found it to be a great tool.  However, it's got problems syncing with my Windows Mobile powered phone.

I gave up on it after one year of lugging my heavy laptop around.

I would say, however, that the new Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 comes close.  I am rather new to Office 2007 and coming from Office 2003, the leap to Office 2007 for Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint was rather disconcerting at first.  But on day-1 of my personal migration to Outlook 2007, it was rather easy.  And each day, I find more and more tools to make my life a little easier.

I specially like the "drag-and-drop" feature of Outlook 2007.  Say, someone sent me an email that I would like to follow-up on three days after.  I'd just highlight it and drag it to my to-do list or to my calendar - and voila!  Three days after, I would remember and in fact follow it up.

I also like the idea of creating calendars in Outlook 2007.  (OK, I am not entirely sure if this is a new feature and if this feature was available in Outlook 2003.)  But that was exactly what I did today - I now have two calendars on my Outlook:  One for my day to day stuff, and the other one for my professional milestones.  I am sure that this will come in hand as I venture into more and more projects.

It's not perfect - but I really think that it is getting there.

(And Google Calendars?  It's screwing up my schedules - for some reason, it keeps on moving my recurring appointments one hour later!  I think I'll stick to my Outlook for now.)

One wish though:  I would love to be able to sync my Outlook Calendar (at least one of them) with my Live.Com calendar.  That way I don't have to log in to check my Monday appointments every Sunday evening.