Business Growth Ideas #302 This week: Management, Pitching Everyone, Programming
GREG’S BUSINESS GROWTH NEWSLETTER #302
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Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week.
In this issue:
– Techniques for FIT
– Being Human
– Random Stuff
Techniques for FIT
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- Is it true “every exception becomes the rule?” When it comes to culture building the answer is yes. (This applies to double-secret-one-time-only-don’t-tell-anyone exceptions too.)
- Do your managers see problem behaviors and wish they hadn’t? A good manager needs just two tools. A good night’s sleep and the ability to confront aberrant behaviors as they happen. Amazing what a good night’s sleep can do.
- Doling out big helpings of praise is proven to improve employee morale. Being specific with praise is proven to improve morale and lift performance over time. Be specific.
- Management is about thinking more than doing. Player-coaches aren’t a thing in professional sports for this reason. Few coaches were former top-tier players. Case in point: a blind baseball hitting coach Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn went to for help. Swear.
Being Human – You don’t have to pitch everyone
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“Check that your values align. There’s nothing worse than trying to work with a client you have a fundamental disagreement with.”
A video snippet from a workshop I am revisiting, “Demystifying the Initial Conversation.” Forgive the low production value!
7 minutes of wonder:
Good stuff.
Random stuff
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“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.”
– Martin Fowler
I have a furry little robot that records everything. His name is Wilson and he’s a short haired border collie. 60 pounds of memory stick waiting to be programmed. Once something is in that little brain of his it’s not coming out.
Case in point, I adhere to a pretty consistent morning routine. It starts with cleaning/puttering around the kitchen, making coffee, and feeding the pets. Wilson takes this opportunity to lie down and watch the proceedings. When I head downstairs to feed the cats and take a bathroom break, Wilson will move from the kitchen to the couch in my office. I can do any number of things at this point, and he will sleep soundly. However, without fail, the minute I sit down he will put his front paws down, stretch his way off the couch, and sit, staring at me.
I’ve tried a hundred different things to get him to move before I sit down because, honestly, it’s annoying to have to get back up and grab a biscuit or whatever he is after. I bring biscuits to the couch, I vary the routine, I change up where I sit, but no matter. As soon as my butt touches a seat, he comes over and stares. Like this:
Not as I approach the desk, not as I commit to sitting, but exactly when I sit. My lovely bride thinks it’s adorable (and he is) but the behavior isn’t. My knees aren’t getting any younger. I have started looking at one of these bad boys for help:
I don’t know when this behavior got in that little brain of his, but it’s there now, and I can’t get it out. I had to tell someone. Thanks for listening. Now I feel better about it.
Enjoy your weekend.
(btw, Wilson doesn’t take weekends off. He’ll do it to me tomorrow. And Sunday. And Monday. And so on.)
(One more thing. He puts himself to bed when my bride snaps her iPad cover shut after 10pm. If she snaps it 8pm, nothing. 9pm, nothing. 10pm? Bam. Into the kennel. I find that less annoying. Easier on the knees too.)
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