Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

There is a word that becomes dangerous when declared enough times in a business or organization.  That word is "should." "Well... the process should be to notify our customer, but I've got too many things on my plate."  "We should be monitoring our inventory levels, but our systems don't allow us to get at that information quickly."  "Turnover really should not be this high. We're hiring the wrong people."  The reason that the word "should" is dangerous is because, like in the 3 statements above, an excuse typically follows.  Enough shoulds will equal a lot of excuses.  A lot of excuses equals organizational inaction.  Organizational inaction leads to a culture of purgatory.  Eliminate the word should from your vocabulary.  Replace it with "must" or "can" or "will".   Your organization will begin to move from inaction to action which will lead to the right kind of growt...

One of my favorite comic book characters is Bizarro .  Bizarro is the complete opposite of Superman and everything that he stands for.  Although, in one of my son's comic books, he does everything wrong, yet still manages to save the planet!  Businesses can be the same way. It is possible to do everything the complete opposite of standard and professional practices-- and still make money!  Profitability hides organizational dysfunction, substandard business practices, and a lack of leadership every day of the week. That's a shame. If you have a profitable business, then you are obviously doing something right (or something Bernie Madoff would do.) However, businesses are fragile entities. More than likely if you have found a way to be profitable, there is an 18 year old kid that can code his ass off that is ready to disrupt you in a heartbeat. So even though Bizarro, in this one instance, saved the world, the odds of him consistently doing it are not...

When is the right decision to tap out? If I meant this literally, you would do it before you either passed out, or were seriously / critically injured in a MMA fight.  Since I'm writing metaphorically, this refers to coming to the conclusion that enough is enough and it's time to take massive action and exit your current situation.  I'm not talking about disengaging from your job or work (i.e., just show up, take orders and collect a paycheck.) I'm talking about actively searching to get the f*ck out of your current role or responsibility.  If you are like me, the struggle in situations like these is wondering if your next situation is going to be any better. Also, if you genuinely want to make a positive impact, you really want to believe that you can solve every problem and fix anything.  Before you get too far into a situation, stay present enough when you first start to notice signs of danger.  There isn't a need to list what th...

My commute to work takes 40 minutes to a little over an hour each day.  In hindsight, picking a work location that is equidistant between two major arteries in Atlanta was probably not the right choice.  The fastest way for me to get to work is straight North from my house through a number of lights littered with cars that simulate the Office Space scene of Peter Gibbons switching lanes trying to get to work.  In an attempt to learn something along the drive, I've loaded my phone with audio books and podcasts.  One podcast that I've become addicted to is Tim Ferris's which can be found here .  Fast forward to the point of this post which is that I listened to Tim's interview with B.J. Novak , one of the producers of The Office and more importantly, the author of one of my favorite books, The Book With No Pictures.    In addition to being a successful writer, Novak also helped create an app called The List App. As a recovering management c...

Since my late 20's I've always had a writing utensil and a notebook to write in.  When I entered the management consulting profession, a Partner that I worked with had one of those record books that was hard cover and looked very professional.  I also wanted to look professional, so I too bought a $30 record book to capture notes in as I worked across my engagements.  It was then that I realized that taking notes wasn't enough. I had to have a system to follow in order to take notes. I would bullet things.  I would use color pens.  I would use a highlighter to keep track of important thoughts.  I even used the Cornell method of taking notes once in a while.  Fast forward to today and I still collect hard cover books to capture thoughts. (I also still do all of the things above this paragraph.) But now I have different sizes of notebooks depending on what I want to capture.  It is getting a bit ridiculous. Especially when I also u...

There is no shortage of people willing to offer you an opinion.  If I had a dollar for the number of times people tell me, "It shouldn't be this way...," or "I don't understand why you do it this way...," or "this place is just f*cked up..." I wouldn't even have to think about buying a Powerball ticket.  I'd be on a boat and own an island.  Don't get me wrong. I'm as guilty as the next person in offering up opinions.  Looking back on my career, I've made plenty of assertions thinking that I know what's best without taking the time to understand the "why."  In other words, I've called a baby ugly without understanding exactly what that baby has been through. If you are a consultant or in any type of advisory capacity, don't jump into a mindset that you have to try and offer instant value by proclaiming the advice that my mom can Google. And if you do that, you will end up doing more good than h...

When you are on the other side of the table, there is no shortage of people willing to offer you their advice or opinions. By other side of the table, I am talking about being an "executive" sitting across from the "consultant." After being in consulting for over a decade, I'd always wondered how clients reacted when they were being pitched rates that never seemed to remotely cover the potential value delivered.  Now I know. Being on the other side of the table means that you consistently struggle with organizational constraints and the capability deficiencies that exists within your department. The question becomes how much you are willing to pay to push your way through those constraints and immediately fill those capability gaps.  Consultants offer just that.  They offer smart people (generally) with critical thinking skills (most of the time) that have a single focus (to get entrenched in your organization and continue to sell add-on work)-- [k...