February 2012
2 posts
1 tag
“Are you leaving behind an easily found trail of accomplishment? Few people are...”
– Seth Godin
5 actions to diversify your professional... →
January 2012
5 posts
1 tag
“Keep presentations simple, it should make sense to a five year old, without...”
56 Leader Skills - Be An Extraordinary Leader →
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9 Signs of a Losing Organization
Fuzzy Vision: corporate vision and mission don’t inspire people; lack of strategic alignment ; people don’t know where the organization is going and what it is trying to achieve in the future.
Lack of Leadership Skills: fear of change; leaders lack entrepreneurial spirit; leadership style on the part of management is either too directive or too hands-off; managers do not lead,...
Forbes: How To Be More Interesting (In 10 Simple... →
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“Progress + momentum = confidence. The moment you see yourself tackle the...”
– Managing Humans
December 2011
2 posts
7 tags
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November 2011
16 posts
“Please stop waiting for a map. We reward those who draw maps, not those who...”
– Seth Godin (via wellsaidblog)
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How to Think Creatively →
Not a recipe but rather tips on using the right brain.
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“A manager’s job is to take what skills they have, the ones that got them...”
– Managing Humans
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“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions...”
– Paul Hawken, Natural Capitalism
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Why People Micromanage →
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“One of your many jobs as manager is information conduit, and the rules are...”
– Managing Humans
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Email template for respectfully declining...
In my career I have came across two types of vendors. Type A: Vendors who were recommendations from friends, family, co-workers and executives or they obtained your contacts from conference meet ups or well established public companies looking to add your company to their partner list. Type B: everyone else.
Its usually best just to ignore type B, as majority of these emails are from bulk account...
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The Top Ten Lies Leaders Believe →
7 Core Steps to Achieving Customer Centric... →
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Four Destructive Myths Most Companies Still Live... →
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“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people,...”
– Agha Hasan Abedi
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Delegation; A development tool.
Delegation is a challenge faced at all hierarchies of leadership. Root of the challenge lies in the intention or understanding of what it means to delegate. Often delegation is misinterpreted as a way to delete items from your own to-do list or feared as way of losing power. Delegation is a development tool for subordinates. Delegation is not participation, but it is an empowerment of a trusted...
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Management & Technical Career Growth Tracks →
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“Rule of thumb: When the debate is no longer productive, it’s time to make...”
– Managing Humans
October 2011
18 posts
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“There’s an industry standard regarding the amount of time it takes to make...”
– Managing Humans
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Eliminating backlog of tasks or emails.
Even the most religious inbox zero users experience a backlog. Here are a few tricks to help eliminate the backlog:
Offline or Off-hours: Concentration is the key to success. Go through the backlog when you are offline or off-hours when you are less distracted. Another trick is to complete all responses as drafts and send them together once you are done to reduce distractions from replies.
...
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“Process is the means by which your team communicates. Whether this is via a...”
– Managing Humans
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Todo items into events.
If you find your self overwhelmed with number of meeting verses the amount of work you need to do, then you need to take back the control. Instead of the calendar dictating the day, you need to start defining your calendar and availability. One of the easiest way to ensure you have enough time to do whatever you need to do, is by converting your todo into events on your calendar. Having your tasks...
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“Avoid giving orders, because people don’t hear the order, they hear...”
– Managing Humans
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Don't waste time waiting.
From waiting in line to riding the elevator, and from office meetings to doctors appointments, it’s impossible to avoid waiting for someone or something or other variations of delays. But you don’t need to twiddle your thumbs while waiting.
Equip your self with a smart phone or a tablet, and use this time to be productive. Its important to remember that anything in moderation is...
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“Context switching is the enemy of productivity.”
– Rajiv Pant (via rajivpant)
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Avoid multiple requests with one reply.
If you want things to get done, say so and say it very clearly. There’s nothing more frustrating as a reader than getting copied on an e-mail and finding out three weeks later that someone expected them to pick up the project and run with it.
When requesting from multiple recipients in one email, break them out as separate emails clearly targeted for one and ONLY ONE recipient. Leave the...
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One minute rule for email.
Immediate response or an acknowledgement accompanied with a followup is one of the most powerful and influential arrow in managers quiver when used persistently. Everyone appreciates instant response, even if it’s just to know the delay to their request.
When a new message arrives, pre-read it and in less then one minute, decide whether to: reply, delegate, archive, delete or (very rarely...
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Pre-read to increase your reading speed.
Here are a few techniques which can help you to pre-read / skimming, and increase your reading speed.
When reading on electronics, keep the text moving. When reading a paper material, move your hand down the page as you read in a slow, constant motion to set the pace for your eyes. This helps to eliminate grammatical pauses, other distractions and visually forces your brain to pick out the...
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Sneaky delivered and read confirmations
Delivery conformation for postal service makes sense, but in emails not so much. Although this feature is abused by many project mangers, in this features defense, it was designed to be used by senders to check if their messages were caught in a spam filters. Read responses on the other hand goes a little too far, specially as its a recording of a reader’s behavior without reader’s...
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The Five Key Things to Consider When Looking for...
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“Short meetings take longer preparation.”
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Filter what you write for public scrutiny
While this advice is beyond obvious, its most often over looked. When expressing or communicating through writing, we often forget, writing leaves a trail. While we would like to believe otherwise, written trails are publicly shared more often then their composers think.
Emails, instant messages, social statuses, comments and SMSs are not the place for confidential, serious or confrontational...
September 2011
1 post
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Improving your verbal communication, while...
Often as I am driving from or to work, I experience small burst of clarity for existing problems or perspectives. You probably get this too, when you are in the zone. Its your unconscious mind sputtering processed responses. These responses are often worth recording. In my case, its hard (and unlawful) to text and drive, thus I been using voice mails to leave my self messages with raw thoughts....