Work the System: the Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less by Sam Carpenter landed in my lap at a very fortuitous time. I was already knee-deep in one of those “what am I doing with my life” phases, trying to discern the difference between accomplishing something and accomplishing nothing (but staying very busy). I am always amazed at how fine the line is.

If you’ve never heard the phrase “fire killing” (I hadn’t), be advised before reading that it refers to attacking urgent problems (like an angry client on the phone) instead of focusing on what may actually be more important (like creating a corporate culture that creates fewer angry clients). It is one Carpenter’s favorites, and it illustrates perfectly the difference between “accomplishment” and “staying busy.” The phrase immediately reminded me of Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – another book that stresses the “important” over the “urgent” as a key to leading a better life.

My mention of Covey’s 7 Habits is by no means unintentional, because I rank Work the System right up there with the two books that I think anyone who wants to actually do anything should read. One of them is 7 Habits, obviously. The other is Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, which is an invaluable guide for navigating the intricate pathways of human emotion and interaction.

That I am mentioning Work the System in the same company as 7 Habits and Emotional Intelligence is an enormous compliment, because those two books have long been the rocks upon which I based much of my world-view. I think, armed with the knowledge contained in these three books, one could make a very good run at leading a happy life and a successful business. In other words: Work the System is staying on my shelf, right where 7 Habits and E.I. would be (if I hadn’t given away my copies to people that I felt needed them more than I did).

Carpenter spends the first third of his book guiding the reader towards the same realization that he experienced 12-odd years ago. He calls this process “getting it,” and he will be writing a guest post or two about it in his guest series, which starts on Monday. Look forward to this, because life is not the same once you “get it.” Even if you already sort of “got it” before picking up the book (Carpenter does mention that there are, of course, people out there who “got it” long before he did – and many of them built very successful careers for themselves because of this), it will reenergize you.

An example: Mid-way through reading this book, I wrote up a budget for my household and began tracking our spending so that we wouldn’t end up going into debt this year for the day-to-day stuff like gas, groceries, and entertainment. And I reorganized my weekly schedule to free up some extra time in the evenings for my side-projects by wasting less time watching TV.

The greater changes are still to come, however. Carpenter’s book lays the foundation for a simple yet powerful shift in your life. Before reading it (if you’re not one of the rare few who already “get it”), it’s very likely that you’re spending a lot of time running on a treadmill without even realizing it. After reading it, you’re ready to take your run outside.

About the author: John J. Walters is a social media marketer with Wasabi Ventures, director of marketing with TestSoup, and a research associate with The Maryland Public Policy Institute.

The Lean Startup authored by Eric Ries does just that.

Now before you disengage, keep an open mind about the definition of “startup.”

This as a good read for most every business professional.  The principles and approach will benefit those we commonly refer to as the entrepreneur as well as what Mr. Ries defines as the  ” intrapreneur.”  If that term is unfamiliar,  think of it as the folks who  operate inside an established organization; those who are innovating, creating a new product, service or solution on behalf of their respective teams, organizations or companies.

Mr. Ries defines a startup as “an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”  Whoa — is that applicable for business large and small, new and old in today’s economic landscape?  Absolutely.

The thrust of the book is the power and process of using continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. In that the author outlines a way to test, adapt, and adjust the vision for a new product, service, or value. He speaks candidly and clearly of lessons learned by personal experience with 3 startups and provides tools and approaches that are fresh and on-point.

About the author: Tracy Parks is CEO of Simplicated, LLC, Productivity Consultant, trainer and speaker.

But inertia has its uses, especially here in Silicon Valley. While it trivializes that condition, the statement that everyone (especially young entrepreneurs and VCs) has ADD is distressingly accurate. People swing wildly from “That will never work,” to “I told you it would work!” (And that’s just between board meetings!)

Eric Ries made a valiant attempt to address this with his Lean Startup methodology, which calls for startups to pivot (changing the business, but keeping crucial elements the same). Unfortunately, startups now seem to use “pivot” synonymously with “change everything about the business except the founders involved.”

Whenever someone proposes a change, I always ask, “Is this clearly better than what we’re already doing? Because as I recall, you thought you had some pretty good reasons when you made that initial decision.”

Change is shiny and new and exciting, but change also has a price (and we as eternal optimists always seem to underestimate that price, and overestimate the benefits). Try to be agile AND grounded.

About the author: Chris Yeh is a managing partner with Wasabi Ventures.  Follow him on Twitter or read his blog.

How common it is for most of us, (myself included), to fail to recognize and leverage this simple truth.  Instead, we protest admission against even the most trivial of “failures.”

Case in point.  My father, who is in his early 80′s, recently left a very nice jacket at a restaurant my family had frequented for the past 20+ years, one which is located several hours from his home.  When he called,  the restaurant indicated there was no coat to be found. My dad then back tracked to where he had been earlier in the day, at my daughter’s home, and checked with her.  No coat.  My daughter lives close to this restaurant, and because she knew my dad was wearing the coat when he left her house, decided to double check with the restaurant.  No coat.  A few days later, I was driving near this town and decided to check with the restaurant as well — learning they did have the coat!

The sad part to this story is when I arrived at the restaurant, an extremely grumpy gal who indicated she was the owner’s sister informed me there was no coat, as did two additional employees.  I explained gently that I had spoken with someone hours earlier but was met with a curt response: “Well, who was it?” Fortunately, yet a different staff member appeared on the scene and chimed in “Oh yes, the coat is here, it’s hanging in the office.” Fabulous!

Perhaps I should have left well enough alone, but the process improvement consultant in me ventured to suggest, again very gently, and emphasizing how appreciative I was that the coat was found, that the restaurant as a team might benefit from creating some standards around lost and found items.

Whoa!  The fury unleashed by the owner’s sister was astounding, insisting they did have a process, i.e., a lost and found drawer by the cash register and that, “a coat obviously would not fit in a drawer.” What surprised me was her inability to listen to the voice of the customer — in this case, me.

My parting suggestion was “Hey, that’s great, sounds like you have a system; maybe when an item is too large for the drawer, someone could just leave a note like ‘found a black suede coat, owner called and will pick up – it’s hanging in the office.’”  Based on the smiles and respective nods from surrounding staff, there seemed to be agreement towards a new idea. Based on the scowl from the owners sister, it’s unlikely it will ever happen.

Here’s this month’s challenge to business owners and business professionals alike.  When you fail to meet a customer expectation, for goodness sake heed the words of Henry Ford and leverage it towards an opportunity. In fact, how about a monthly challenge question for you or each member of your staff like, “What did I learn from my customers this month?” or perhaps the question might be “Did I fail a customer this month, and, if so, what did I learn from that experience?”

It’s quite likely you can take what you learned and leverage it into a better process, service, or value.

About the author: Tracy Campbell is CEO of Simplicated, LLC, Productivity Consultant, trainer and speaker.

I was just as guilty of this when I started my first company which has now grown to over 100 employees.  I set the budget and determined the key strategies without any input from my employees.  So…. it should be no surprise we didn’t meet our goals.  It has taken me several years and endless hours of communicating with my staff to realize they truly didn’t make the connection between the strategy and how they personally had an impact on a day-to-day basis.

For example, turnover is costly for any company.  Therefore one of our strategy initiatives was to reduce turnover.  Everyone accepted this initiative and went about their business.  When we didn’t meet the target for the quarter, I started asking questions.  I quickly realized while they had accepted the target, they truly didn’t know HOW to make an impact.  By investing my time engaging and coaching my employees from a day-to-day perspective I have not only created loyal employees but have taught them how their actions (or non-actions) impacted turnover.  We also came to understand that accountability and reporting mechanisms were crucial to staying on track.   Needless to say, we have made great strides in reaching and exceeding our targets.

So what’s the takeaway?  Don’t ignore all the hype you’re hearing about engaging your employees to collaborate and communicate at all levels of your business.  Your employees want to make a difference in your business but may not know how.  It’s worth the investment by your management (and you) to engage their team through education and collaboration.   Besides, isn’t the main responsibility of a manager to grow future managers for your business?

About the author:  Denise Magill, founded Virtual RoundTable to help businesses incorporate wikis to capture their innovation as well as improve communication and collaboration amongst employees.  She also owns three franchises of Comfort Keepers.

When evaluating the value stream, a business should start with what their customer considers value (cost, quality, time), adjusting internal processes to meet (or exceed) those customer expectations.

Statistics indicate that 85% of the steps in most business processes are considered waste in the eyes of a customer, i.e., a waste of their time and/or their money.

A recent personal example: When contacting credit card companies regarding a change of address I experienced quite a contrast:  A straightforward, simple and quick (less than 3 minute) investment of time for my Banana Republic Account. A complicated, tangential, frustrating and lengthy (greater than 12 minute)investment of time for my Citi-Card account.

What happens when a customer feels they have wasted their time and/or money, or they find that the quality of their investment is less than desirable?  They go elsewhere. The outcome of my experience, don’t bother with the Citi-Card; use my Banana Republic Card exclusively.

My point?  As a business owner I encourage you to take time to evaluate your processes from the standpoint of value in the eyes of your customers.  Rid your processes of  ”boulders, twists and debris” in your value stream which negatively impact your staff, your bottom line, the quality of the product, service, or value you provide, and (most importantly) your customer experience.

Looking for a place to get started in understanding Lean Office and Value Stream Mapping?  Connect with on demand course work here.

About the author: Tracy Campbell is CEO of Simplicated, LLC, Productivity Consultant, trainer and speaker.

One of the major excuses people use for not getting rid of clutter is “I don’t have time,” but my experience doesn’t bear that out.  I’ve come across several companies who decided it was time to ask employees to get rid of the clutter because they were getting ready to move and wanted to cut down on moving costs — but their success was minimal.  Research shows that 80% of what we keep we never use, but figuring out what 20% to keep is daunting for many people — even given the time.

You can keep everything you want — IF you’re willing to pay the price of space, time, energy and money!  The reality is that most people and companies don’t realize how much clutter costs them.  My passion is helping companies create what I call a “productive environment™” — an intentional setting in which everything around you supports who you are and who you want to be, so everyone can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives. How much is your company spending on keeping things that don’t help employees accomplish their work and enjoy their lives?

Why is it so difficult to eliminate what we don’t need?  The biggest reason is “fear.” Fear that we’ll make a mistake, that someone will ask for something we’ve thrown out, that we’re being irresponsible, or that we might need something again.  What do people need to overcome fear?  Two things come to mind based on my experience: education and support.

Our company promotes the idea of what we call a “Productive Environment Day™” — a structured day endorsed by management to educate and support employees in getting rid of the clutter in their individual offices as well as in shared spaces.

There are several components to the day that are critical to success:

• Assign one person to coordinate the day that has a good rapport with the staff and is proficient at organizing events.
• Select the day carefully well in advance and let employees know they are required to participate.
• Make food and prizes a key part of the day, and include the fact in “advertising” the event.
• Invite a productivity expert to give an Art of Wastebasketry® seminar to educate employees on how to decide what they need to keep.
• Incorporate existing company retention guidelines into the process.
• Create a “white elephant table” for employees to put unneeded items that others might want. (Items have to leave the office at the end of the day!)
• Don’t underestimate how many bins will be required for recycling and shredding — and weigh the results.
• Gather employees at the end of the day to give out prizes and fill out evaluations.

There are several ways your company can benefit from implementing such an event:

• Your office will be a better reflection of the quality of products and services you offer.
• Employees will waste less time looking for things.
• Snap some photos or videos during the day, and turn the event into a PR opportunity in social media.
• Use the opportunity to refine company policy regarding records management and progress toward a paperless environment.
• Since most employees struggle with the issue of clutter at home, hiring an expert to educate employees about eliminating clutter is seen as a benefit.

During the past 20 years, I’ve held dozens of Productive Environment Days.  Eighty percent of the evaluations rate the day as an eight or above on a scale of one to ten.  Growing up on a farm in NE we used the term “spring cleaning” — is it time for “spring cleaning” in your office?

About the author: Barbara Hemphill, aka “Paper Tiger Lady” is an author, trainer and speaker.  For more information:  www.BarbaraHemphill.com

Others view your communication as your brand and marketing campaign.  Over time your reputation grows and people will come to either avoid or rely on you. A high level of integrity will develop a larger clientele including a longer list of referrals and testimonials.  Your conversations on interviews that embody forthrightness will help place you as the lead candidate for a job which, in turn, enables your negotiating power.

Recently, I had reason to question “Victoria” about a mishap.  Rather than apologizing and promising to fix what went wrong so that we could move forward calmly, she spun a web of excuses.   Eventually the truth was blurted.  Unfortunately at that point, too much damage was done.  We would have had a far better outcome had she simply acknowledge the situation and offered to do better in the future, enabling us to both agree to the appropriate fix.

This dilemma was with a very good friend.  We both agreed that as long as you remain true to who you are and play by a fair set of rules, you must remain true to yourself and let the truth be your guide.  Prior to any dealing with family, buying or selling, or interviewing – you must know in advance your own rules for proceeding and strictly adhere to them.

If you compromise to be “the good guy” – you compromise yourself but not the negotiation.  Should you choose to compromise, the negotiation becomes a strict win for the other party.

Prior to any negotiation of any kind, take a deep look inside to know what’s right, wrong and fair for you.  Keep that list firmly in mind at all times.  When you let truth be your guide, you will remain centered and in the preferred position.

Seek the company of others who hold the same rules for business and meaningful relationships.  This common sense guide is meant to help you find and enjoy the Smooth Sale!

About the Author: Elinor Stutz is CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, International Author, Sales Trainer & Coach, and Motivational Speaker.

About the Author:

Is it the buyer or seller who should “beware?”

If you own, operate, or work for a business, you will want to keep in mind the following:  Caveat emptor; Latin for “Let the buyer beware,” and caveat vendito translated as“Let the seller beware.” Both these truths apply to the development and success of a viable business.

As the owner, operator,  manager, or employee of a business, integrity is essential if you hope to run a long term, profitable business (or in the case of an employee, have your employer remain in business and retain you as an employee)!

Anyone can start a business that lacks integrity and operate for a period of time “successfully,” but most often this will catch up with him and the demise of the  business (and their personal reputation) will follow.

Case in point: I recently entangled myself in an online scam with an entity working under the business name of DCA (Direct Commerce Academy).    My initial inquiry was on behalf of a friend who is struggling economically and had sought my insight as to the benefits of joining said company.  I decided to check them out prior to offering any advice to my friend and invest the $2.99 required to understand their “spiel”.    Investigating what sounded  “too good to be true,”  I learned that indeed it was.

For a mere $2.99  Direct Commerce Academy promised to get me started with my new “at home business.”  This quickly elicited a follow-up email asking for all of the additional money you would need to invest to actually get started.  At that point, I told my friend, in essence, “don’t go there…”

It was not until my bill arrived with the $2.99 charge that I noticed an additional $149.99 in charges.  These fees were buried in the fine print of their $2.99 offer.  Efforts to work with Direct Commerce Academy proved fruitless and very frustrating.  Want a clear picture – click http://screenr.com/xG4

Now, if  I (as the consumer) had taken a moment to research DCA I would have found an ever-growing list of hits that speak to their lack of integrity, dishonest tactics, scam offerings, etc.  So in my case: caveat emptor, shame on me — should have done my research!

I suppose the only consolation I have is that  for Direct Commerce Academy,  eventually their business will find their demise (with any luck, very soon). In the meantime, their management, owners and employees will continue to give their integrity away in little pieces, if they ever had any to begin with.

As the owner, operator, manager or employee of a business purposed to profit by taking advantage of others, caveat vendito; you will come to experience firsthand the fruit of your efforts.

Let me finish on an up-note and some good advice: the beauty of the internet is the simplicity of the search.  As a consumer, do your homework; as a business owner, protect your brand and reputation!

I am having a great bit of trouble with my boss.

I manage a team of 8 sales people in a high-tech industry.  My team consistently is one of the leading sales groups in our global company and it is a tight group that works well together.

What is the best approach for handling the situation and doing what is best for my own career and the company as a whole.

The answer from the crowd-sourced crew was from Natilady:

Looks like you can play this a few different ways.

Refuse to do as she says:
You could fight your boss on the issue tooth and nail…. and make an enemy in the process. You could refuse to do what she says and set yourself up for a charge of insubordination and a jobless future. If neither of these sounds reasonable, think about it in another way.

As long as the written trail of responsibility leads to her, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The next time you find yourself in a moral tussle with your boss, these approaches may help.