Stop the insanity…

Why do you have thousands of emails in your inbox?  You know as well as I do that keeping them all in your inbox is clutter – it’s like keeping all your physical mail in the mailbox, and having to dig through it constantly to see what is new.

Here is how I tell the CEOs & their employees that I mentor to handle their email…  Try it…

When I go to my InBox, I handle the emails by using one of these 4 Ds:  Delete, Delegate, Do & Drag…

• Delete – prior to doing anything else ask yourself really quickly if you even need to do anything with it – then delete it.  I also use a system called Spring Clean to remove me from lists I don’t need to be on.
• Delegate – if it needs to be dealt with, it doesn’t need to be me doing it. delegate it to someone else, internal, or even someone from eLance, Guru, ODesk etc.  Just get out of the habit of dealing with all the emails yourself.
• Do – deal with it right away – crank out the answer, and hit send – then delete the email from your InBox – you’ll always have copies of it in your All Mail or Sent or Deletes – you just don’t need to keep it in your InBox distracting you forever.
• Drag – if you don’t have time to deal with it right away – drag it to one of these folders:  End of Day, End of Week, Follow Up, Casual Reading
• End of Day – is a folder where the emails in it will get dealt with starting at 3pm or later, and you’ll have them handled by the end of the day – just don’t worry about them, or have them nagging you before then.
• End of Week – is a folder where you’ll handle the emails starting on Thursday or Friday – and you’ll have them dealt with by the end of the week.
• Follow Up is where you can flag it – and follow up with the person later on – no real action other than following up on the action items is needed
• Casual Reading – this is FYI stuff – you might or might not read it – and every few months I delete any that are older than 3 months – knowing if I haven’t had time to look at them by then, I likely never will.

Try it – it works a LOT better than keeping everything in your InBox.  And you’ll feel a LOT more organized too.

I just realized that CEOs are nuts.  OK, I’ve known that for a long time, but I mean we’re nuts in the way we quickly send out emails to our whole company saying “Hey, everyone, read this book…  When what we really mean is, I was browsing through this book on the plane, and my ADD kicked in, and I realized that there might be some good stuff in here for some of you to read.  However, instead of me taking the time to think about which chapters or pages to read, I simply told you all to read the whole darn thing.

What a freaking waste of time, it’s like spamming all your employees.

I do NOT want your employees to read my book.  In fact, I don’t want you to read it either.

Instead, I think EVERY CEO who cares about growing his company should read only Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 12 & 17 of Double Double.  And you should also get ALL your employees that you don’t plan on firing anytime soon to read and focus on Chapters 2, 6, 9, 10, 13 & 15.

ONLY read the other chapters of Double Double if they are related to core projects that you or your team are working on this quarter.  Otherwise – stay focused.

You can get a free copy of chapter 1 of Double Double here.  The book is also available on Amazon, iTunes, Audible, Get Abstract etc., and is available in hard copy, audio and Kindle formats.

I just finished presenting the core content from my new book Double Double, to 250 CEOs in the Detroit Michigan region.

While there I was telling the group how crazy it was to have employees, and even themselves, reading entire books.   Often a few chapters will do to focus them on key areas.

So, to help you out, with my book Double Double, your employees should all read chapters 2, 6, 9, 10, 13 & 15.  CEOs should read chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 12 & 17.

The other chapters are optional, and should only be read if you’re actually looking to improve on the specific area that chapter focuses on.

Hope that helps you grow.  Let me know…

Even a project that seems relatively simple on the surface such as ‘Hire a VP of sales’ can have several smaller tasks that need to be completed in order to ensure the project’s success. 

When leadership is certain that all steps have been examined, and each task is assigned to someone specifically, then they can use “situational leadership,” which I’ll discuss later, to help their team become successful.

Each project’s action plan can be budgeted, measured for progress and supported with skill development along the way. This level of detail will also allow teams and companies to execute much faster and leaner since everyone is clear about what needs to be done, by when and by whom.

Each step of the project can have a date assigned to it, as to when the work will get done.  Then having a system in place to follow up on those milestones will ensure that work gets done quickly, on time, and on budget, instead of sliding down the slippery slope of being overdue.

I’ve just wrapped up a 7 city speaking tour with EO & YPO in India.  Crazy schedule to hit this 7 cities between Jan 8-19th – but we pulled it off.

Too many business lessons to cover in just one post, however, one that jumped out at me in every city was that Indian entrepreneurs focus differently.  They almost never own or run just one company, they all seemed to run between 4-7 companies each.

They see running multiple companies as diversifying, and hedging their risk.  They don’t build companies for the purpose of selling them, they build them to give themselves cash flow for better lives, and to re-invest in other business ventures.

Prior to coming to India, I’d have pushed entrepreneurs hard to only run one company at a time.  Now, I truly see the value in running multiple companies at once.  However, to do it right, Indian entrepreneurs put solid CEOs or Presidents in place to run each of their companies.  They don’t micro manage them.  And they don’t stay overly involved in each of them.  They build them up, one at a time, then like children they set them free a little bit at a time, allowing each company to grow up and spin off it’s own rewards.

Focus on growing your leadership teams, and you could own multiple companies at once too…

Every company, and every person in a company should have their one thing to focus on.  Why everyone shows up and dives into email each day blows me away.

What’s your ONE thing that you need to get done today.  What’s your ONE thing that you need to get done next week, next quarter ?

Are you focused on it ?

For 3 years I’ve worked hard to build my name globally.  I’ve done paid speaking events at YPO & EO chapters in 18 countries, on 5 continents.  I coach CEOs in Geneva, Berlin, Mexico City, Australia, the UK, USA & Canada.  However, I realized when I was writing my 2013 Painted Picture that I’d forgotten my home market of Vancouver.

So I recalibrated.

During the next three year sprint, I’ll still work to deliver awesome speaking events globally, especially with EO & YPO.  I’ll still mentor and coach CEOs globally as well.  However, I’m now going to work hard to build my personal brand in the Vancouver market as a coach, mentor and board member for entrepreneurial companies. I’m going to hyper focus that effort even further, on companies that are Angel, VC and Private Equity funded to grow.  I’m the guy to help them grow from $1 Million to $100 Million.  And with less travel time, I can really dig into their companies even more to help them be successful faster.

Last week, I attended Mentor Tuesday and also attended the largest CVCA conference in 23 years (Canadian Venture Capital Association), with 650 attendees including about 100 from the United States, Europe, China and Brazil drawn to Canada’s economic stability and a private equity scene that is having successes not seen since before the global economic crisis.

This is the first time Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins came to Vancouver.  He was fantastic. And I sent out about 20 Tweets during his panel appearance as well.  Some other people too like Jeff Clavier of SoftTech VC attended and the whole room stopped buzzing to hinge on his every word.

American VCs coming up here like what they see in Vancouver.  There is a crisis of venture capital supply available in Canada and a surplus of innovative Canadian technology companies that could use the funds.

Steve Hnatiuk, the CVCA Conference Chair said:

“(Here in Canada) we’re funding fewer and fewer SME’s with less and less money and we’re working very hard to attract more domestic and foreign capital into our industry so we can recycle that money into more high growth companies.”

“Venture capital tends to move in long-term cycles. This particular one has been a bit more long-lasting and a bit deeper than usual. But, there are increasing signs of green shoots starting to spring up – there have been some quality exits lately and new funds being launched.”

“The giant tech firms (the Microsofts, Intels and Ciscos of the world) are sitting on $500 billion – and are going to have to invest some of that money in the companies in our portfolios if they want to keep one step ahead of the competition. Just look at Microsoft and Skype as one indicator of what lies ahead.”

On the PE side, it’s much brighter for Canada:

“Canadian buyout (private equity) returns are 16.8% over 5 years, compared to 5.3% in the US and 8.3% in Europe.  So Canadian private equity returns outperform the US by a factor of more than 3x and Europe by a factor of more than 2x.   Canada outperforms both the US and Europe by a wide margin over a 10 year horizon as well.”

These are all pretty exciting numbers – and it certainly feels like a wave of activity in the PE & VC space is starting to happen in Vancouver.  We’re fast becoming the Silicon Valley of the north.

It’s a surprisingly small, focused & vibrant community here in BC too.  I’m on a plane to Kelowna right now to attend MetaBridge as a VIP.  It’s a joint Silicon Valley & BC Tech mini-brain trust of about 50 big thinkers in the space.

Sure feels good to be focused for the next three years again…  Fun to be learning again too.

Over the years, I’ve kept an updated list of tips I’ve read about to stay focused.

Every six months, I’ll come across it and re-read it, and it always gives me a little boost of focus to get more done.

Hopefully some of these ideas will help you and your team focus more, too.

· Breathe – I saw a great speaker, Victoria Labalme, and during her talk she was quoting the famous mime Marcel Marceaux, under whom she had studied.  Marcel used to say, “breathe, breathe.”  And it’s amazing how just slowing down to breathe like they do in yoga really helps the brain focus.

· Compress Time - Pretend you only have two hours a day to work.  What three to five things would you do during those two hours a day? Once you know what those are, delegate or stop doing everything else that you currently do. And start doing only those three to five things all day, every day.

· Eat – Something! It’s hard to concentrate when your tummy is rumbling, so have a light snack before you settle in to work on your top priorities. Not only will you avoid the “When is lunch?” thoughts, a healthy snack will give you more energy and help you to think better, too. Cathy Stucker gave me this advice, and it’s one I always remember.

· Get out of email – Email has got to be one of the worst time-wasters ever.  Start your day working on one of your TOP 5 projects for the day.  Check email at 4pm and no earlier. It really can wait.  As soon as you start checking email, the temptation will be to get sucked into it, draining your productivity.

Years ago, at 9am, I sent all eight of my direct reports the same email: “Don’t tell anyone, but come find me in the boardroom right away.”  I then walked calmly to the boardroom.  Within three minutes, six of my eight reports were in the boardroom.  The other two were there by the five minute mark.  It quickly showed me and them how little they were focused on the critical projects and how distracted they could be with emails. I’ve even tried this with CEOs whom I mentor and coach.  Most of them fail terribly, calling me instantly.  A few are awesome, and don’t call until the following day, saying, “Sorry I didn’t get to you sooner, I’m doing what you told me and not checking email’.  AWESOME.

· Let Fear Guide You – Nothing helps you focus quite like it. Harness it.

· Minimize Distractions – I think there is actually a Latin phrase for this, but I have no idea what it is.  Essentially it means, “a messy desk is a messy mind.”  The more clutter you have on the desk, workstation and walls around you, the more distracted you are. Keeping a clean work area will help you focus.

· Put Your Headphones On – Put ‘em on, put on some great tunes, and crank out your work. I actually can be hyper-productive listening to a genre of music called “Psy-Trance.”  It’s gets every ounce of me pumped up and focused.

· Reward Yourself - Break your projects into small achievable parts and upon completion of each part give yourself a reward, like a night out.  I don’t allow myself a glass of wine with dinner unless I have the next day’s TOP 5 in writing.

· Set Timers – It may seem crazy, but you can use a simple timer. Set it for thirty minutes and then focus on ONE THING until the thirty minutes is up.

· Slay the Dragon – Figure out what the big ugly task is that you have to do today.  Then, start with it first. Once you have the thing you are dreading out of the way, the rest looks easy.

· Tell Two Others – Tell two to three people that you are going to do something and by when. Be very specific about the date and what the outcome will be.  Get them to tell you the key projects they will get done today, too.

· Turn Off The Damn “DING” – Turn off the notification on all software on your devices.  The last thing you want if you’re trying to focus is something telling you your attention is required elsewhere. Remember the old AOL,“You’ve got mail!” announcement? Evil. But it’s been replaced with a million other “dings,” “pings,” and “pop-ups.” You don’t need any of this when you’re trying to be productive.

· Write ‘Em Down – Know that saying, “out of sight, out of mind?” It applies to the items on your daily to-do list, so put your weekly and daily lists on a white board, flip chart, or even a Post-It note on your monitor.  I used an app called “Stickies” on my Mac.  Seeing your key projects in front of you all day will force you to focus.

Setting SMART goals is a powerful goal-setting strategy.
My version of the word SMART stands for:

•          S          Shared
•          M         Measurable
•          A          Attainable
•          R          Relevant
•          T          Time Based

Shared
Both the Manager and Employee have to feel it’s a good goal.  The goal has maximum buy-in when the subordinate sets it and both people commit to hitting it.

Measurable
The goal can be quantified or is at least tangible.  For example, ‘Move average contract size from $1,500 to $1,650.’  All goals should have a #, $ or % sign – otherwise they are too hazy.

Attainable
While it’s great to set lofty goals, you want goals to be achievable in order to build a culture of achievement.

Relevant
The goal has to be relevant and aligned with the objectives or goals the business area or company is working towards.  Otherwise, in a vacuum it may seem like a good goal, but no one really cares about it.

Time Based
Goals should be broken down into a sequence of goals based on time.  For example, ‘Ten calls per day this week.’  And those goals should be placed directly into your calendar for the exact time & day you’ll do the work.

Also, break the habit of allowing people to have all their goals due on the last day of the quarter.  It’s better to pepper the goals throughout the month/quarter/year.

How SMART are your goals for 2nd Quarter ?

The four areas that SMART Goals in your business are needed for are:

1. Revenue. Determine a solid revenue goal for the next twelve months.

2. Profit. Employees need a profit goal to guide them.

3. Customer Service. I highly recommend using the Net Promoter Score here. It’s the single easiest way to measure true satisfaction.

4. Employee Satisfaction. I also recommend using the Net Promoter Score for establishing the benchmark for employee satisfaction as well – one number from one easy question.

For each of these areas, leadership needs to determine a goal for each area. To ensure that the goals they come up with are SMART, I use these guidelines to help me (mine feature a slight variation on the popular business acronym):

S – Shared – Sharing goals with a coach, mentor or team member adds a little extra pressure to hit them.  I even share them with suppliers and clients.

M – Measurable – Put a number on each goal so you can easily say if the goals were hit or missed. Make the goals clear. Hazy goals produce hazy results.

A – Attainable – Your goal has to be remotely possible for it to be included.

R – Relevant – Ensure that all goals are worth working on.

T – Time-based – Put a date on goals if they’re due before December 31^st.

Once you have the goals set and the team is committed to hitting them, the next thing you need to do is discuss boundaries. That is to say, yes, you want to hit these goals, but to what extent? Would you work 90 hours a week to hit them, or at maximum, 45?  Would you give up equity in the company to raise money to help you hire people to hit the goals? What won’t you do?

Here are some example points that are worth discussing while you create your own list of boundaries:

· Amount of debt you’ll take on

· Number of hours you’ll work

· Number of days traveling you’re willing to put up with

· Percentage of profits you will share, 0-100%

· Percentage of equity you will give up in the company, 0-100%

· Will you complete any acquisitions? If so, how many?

· Would you fire ‘C’ or ‘B’ players? When?

It’s critical to have the discussions in advance.  Boundaries are like values–you can’t compromise them to win.