CEO Blog

APRIL 27, 2014

'At one of the boards I am on, discussion turned to efficiency. I suggested the 5 Why''s process. Other board members wanted more information on it and as I was writing the reply email, I thought I would turn it into a blog entry (partly because I am suffering bloggers guilt - the guilt a blogger feels for not posting enough) The 5 Why''s process is time tested and has been in use by hundreds of companies for years.

Parcell 169

Parcell Efficiency Process Banking 169

CEO Blog

JUNE 5, 2014

'I suffer from accomplishment guilt - or perhaps better said - lack of accomplishment guilt. I feel bad if I do not get enough done. Some of this is good - it can drive great things. It helps my self discipline. It helps my productivity and efficiency since I know I need to be efficient to accomplish things. Part of it is bad - it can lead to feeling unsettled and stressed.

Download 164

Download Efficiency Stress Article 164

CEO Blog

JUNE 11, 2014

'“Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability.” Edsger W. Dijkstra He wrote an all time classic book on programming called " A Discipline of Programming ". I have not done much programming for a long time but most of the same principles apply today as applied when Dijkstra wrote his book. In his book he emphasizes common sense. Programming is one area that complexity kills.

Tips 159

Tips Planning Books Technology 159

CEO Blog

MAY 19, 2014

'I recently visited my brother. As we were reminiscing, we started talking about all the phone numbers we used to know. We recited numbers of customers and suppliers we had dealt with in the 1980''s. I likely knew 50 or even 100 phone numbers. And the same number of part numbers, prices etc. Now with electronic address books, I barely know my own number.

Godin 157

Godin Banking Airlines Efficiency 157

CEO Blog

MARCH 21, 2014

'I seem to be reading a lot lately so am behind in posting my comments on the books I have read. One of those is Living with Your Legacy in Mind: Building Lasting Value in Business and Life by Andrew Thorn. One way to set goals is to write a document dated in the future. For example "It is December 2020. I just finished my 5 mile run which seemed easy now that I weigh.".

Long-term 157

Long-term Document Books Goal 157

CEO Blog

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

'The advent of the internet and internet advertising seemed to push a move towards measuring direct results. Spend $1000 on ads and see if it yields $1000 in results. Statistically experiment with small tests to see if it pays more to advertise with this catch phrase or that, with green or blue, in the morning or night etc. I am a big believer in split run testing.

Long-term 154

Long-term Succession Advertising Sample 154

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 2, 2014

'I have to admit to being a bit of a Fitbit addict. Fitbit tracks steps and it has a social media component that allows people I am "connected" to see how many steps I do and I can see what they do. And my kids and brothers all have them. Not that I am competitive at all but Lyle particularly pushes me a bit since I do not want him to have more steps than I do.

Efficiency 154

Efficiency Content Blog Media 154

CEO Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

'My mother is an article clipper. When I stop by, she often has articles she clipped from a newspaper or magazine for me. And she does this for everyone else in her life. I realize I have become the same way. The difference is most of what I read is online so I clip URLs and email them to people that I think might be interested in an article. And many of the articles I email were emailed to me - so I am just passing them on.

Article 145

Article CEO Magazine Training 145

CEO Blog

DECEMBER 28, 2014

'I like the lull of Christmas week. Less email. Good family time. And time for me to start reading again. So I am way behind in posting book reviews. So here goes the first one: I read Moving the Needle by Joe Sweeney. It is a particularly appropriate book to read at this time of year because much of it is about goal setting. Sweeney makes the point that moving the needle happens when you "get clear, get free and get going".

Goal 140

Goal Follow-up Books Review 140

CEO Blog

JANUARY 20, 2014

'I had the privilege Sunday of attending the funeral of the mother of a friend - Hella Doman. I had met her but only briefly and did not know her story. At the funeral, her story was told by her 2 sons who both were excellent speakers (especially in the circumstances). She was born in 1925 in Holland. Her parents separated when she was young (I think 6) so she returned with her mother to her mother''s home in Germany.

Education 140

Education Training Marketing Management 140

CEO Blog

JUNE 2, 2014

'I read an awesome and inspirational book by Susan Axelrod - With Love and Quiches - A Long Island Housewife''s Surprising Journey from Kitchen to Boardroom. Susan calls herself and "accidental success". She simply had some time on her hands and started reading recipe books and gourmet magazine. And she cooked and baked. And she shared some of what she made with friends who complimented her.

Airlines 138

Airlines Audience Magazine Books 138

CEO Blog

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

'Xavier and I did Google hangouts yesterday. He is a person of few words. It means anything he does say has a lot of weight. ++ I like the long time (like 20+year) bike law in Idaho that allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. Lets get that through in Guelph/Ontario. Good video on it here. ++ On Procrastination: “I like work: it fascinates me.

Video 133

Video 133

CEO Blog

MARCH 31, 2014

'Read a book by Rich Horwath called Elevate - the Three Disciplines of Advanced Strategic Thinking. According the WSJ, strategic thinking is the most valued CEO skill. Horwath starts with a discussion on why strategic thinking is critical. And to usual list of reasons why it does not get the attention it needs. He then quickly moves into his 3 disciplines.

Competitive Advantage 133

Competitive Advantage Business Model Strategy Article 133

CEO Blog

MARCH 3, 2014

'I had feedback on my last post - See Do Time Management System. I was reminded that this can simply allow someone to spend their time doing busy work and never get to the important tasks. Earlier I wrote a post on Good Procrastination. See Do meshes with that. Mostly what I was trying to inspire is good habits when there were NOT other more important things to do.

Storytelling 124

Storytelling Long-term Project System 124

CEO Blog

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

'I recently lead a Time Management seminar loosely based on my Time Management book. One of the best ways to learn is to teach and preparing for the seminar reminded me of many of the systems I need to re-incorporate into my life. When I asked what people got from it. One point people liked was See it - Do it. Hardly needs explaining. Often we see something simple like a bit of dirt that needs wiping or a dish that needs cleaning.

System 124

System Seminar Management Entrepreneur 124

CEO Blog

JANUARY 25, 2014

'One of my interests is longevity and closely tied to that is health. I read an awesome book - What Makes Olga Run - The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star, and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives. It is the story of Olga Kotelko who is breaking all kinds of seniors records in track and field. The story is made human by author Bruce Grierson who compares his decline (and he is perhaps 50) to Olga''s seemingly non-decline.

Stress 124

Stress Books Management 124

CEO Blog

MARCH 10, 2014

'I listened to and read Chris Hadfield''s autobiography - An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth: What going to Space Taught me about Ingenuity, Determination and Being Prepared for Anything. I took both the CDs and book from the library. The CDs would be perhaps 10+ hours of listening and I had a lot of travel time but not quite that much so I also read part of it.

Library 113

Library Travel Stress Tools 113

CEO Blog

JANUARY 13, 2014

'One thing the Fitbit does is track sleep. I have less problems getting my steps in than I do my sleep. There is an interesting article in the NY Times on sleep. It seems the purpose is to "clean" the brain perhaps (although there is still much to learn about sleep). ++ And the cold snap has broken so I am worried people will not have enough to complain about.

Content 113

Content Magazine Trends Article 113

CEO Blog

JANUARY 5, 2014

'I love the beauty of snow. We had a light dusting (about 8 inches with drifts up to 2-3 ft). So I got a "useful workout". There is something gratifying about embarking in a physical activity that has an outcome like a cleared driveway. I get less gratification by spending an hour on an exercycle or treadmill. I spent 2 1/2 hours shoveling. It was a workout but interestingly, my fitbit did not count it as "very active minutes".

Reference 100

Reference Article Globalization Media 100

CEO Blog

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

'I am loving the snow. I went to a YPO event where Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. As the title suggests - he is a marketer with a specialty in social media. He is also author of Crush It and the Thank-you Economy. I just read the book so some of my comments are from the book and some from his talk (and he is an engaging speaker).

Parcell 140

Parcell Efficiency Media Cost 140

CEO Blog

JUNE 24, 2014

'John Wannamaker is credited with saying "50% of the advertising spending is wasted - the problem is I do not know which half". But he was wrong. 99% or even more of the advertising $ that are spent are wasted but the 1% more than pays for the advertising. The Atlantic printed an article that basically says internet advertising does not work. See the article here.

Marketing 200

Marketing Advertising ROI Sports 200