factor 1 ideas » leadership

Trials and Errors

ryan russell — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:11:13 +0000

There are a lot of things that we never try for lack of courage, extra finances or motivation. However, we all know that some of the best discoveries are made through relentless trials and successive errors. Our businesses and organizations are very much our labs for experimentation. Don’t let our slick websites fool you… we are still learning a lot and trying a lot. We have so much more to learn even though there are a few things we do very well.

But how about you? What are you experimenting with? What new idea do you need to just try? What service have you been afraid to implement or eliminate?

Keep experimenting. Keep trying. Keep enjoying what you have begun.

MLK 2010

matt adams — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:55:09 +0000

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929—1968

out of my way

ryan russell — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:15 +0000

My youngest boy evidently has a favorite ‘adult’ restaurant that he asked to go to several times while we were on vacation. So we headed out to it one afternoon for their specialty shakes and reasonably good americana fair. The service in this establishment was mediocre at best during a ‘less than busy’ period of the day. As usually happens, my kids focused on the the good things, while I remained puzzled by the items in this operation that could be easily improved upon with a little attention and no more money spent. We were no less than two-thirds of the way through with out meal when our waitress magically appeared with the check in hand. Without concern for our next needs or whether we would like to order more or whether we were satisfied she laid the check down on the table with this stellar quote:

I am going to go ahead and drop your bill of now and get it out my way.

End of quote… end of service. I could hardly believe it. For the 3 of us I was going to be on the hook for about $35 and this is how is was being ‘served’. It was a jolting reminder to me…

Whatever price your customer is paying for your product, they anticipate that level of service or more.

Up economy or down, it is not that complicated to give your customers top level quality service. It takes no more money to serve them with a great attitude. The only thing that can come from your determination to be personable in your delivery is a more loyal and appreciative customer. Obviously, you can figure out what might happened if the converse is true of you or your employees.

how are we/you doing?

ryan russell — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:33:14 +0000

People reference your work whether you think so or not.

Sometimes it is positive.

Other times it is negative.

And, even if it is mediocre or indifferent, that is still a type of reference.

Do you care what people are saying OR not saying?

You should!

Given the 3 options, only 1 of them will generate future work, more & better projects and drive interest towards your company, mission or self.

So how do you know what people are going to say?

I dare you to ASK THEM!

Don’t flinch.

Don’t be afraid of what they might tell you — Good or bad, you need to hear it.

If it is good, it will fuel you, motivate you and with permission, you can use it to tell others.

If it is horrible, now you know what you ought to be working on.

OR you are affirmed in your decisions to not to address those items/issues.

If it is indifferent, there is an opportunity there to find out how to create positive, excited individuals, clients or followers. So ASK THEM more.

Here is your opportunity to tell us how we are doing.

armchair quarterback

matt adams — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:20:01 +0000

I wonder if anything is worse than stating the obvious. Like when watching a sporting event live, and the guy next to you has to constantly scream “Shoot the puck (or ball, or whatever sport)!!”

So somehow this guy clearly knows more about when and how to make the shot, than the guy on the ice (or court, or field)? I doubt it.

Its easy to sit back from a distance out of the game, in the stands, and think that if you want more sales, go out and get them. Want to make more money, get more projects. Duh.

Get in the game, Yes the generic goal may be to make sales happen, but take the calculated shot with good timing. That guy in the stands will yell at you one way or the other. Just dont be that guy.

Good Business, Bad Business

ryan russell — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:31:36 +0000

This is NOT one more post about the tough times… you can get that negative talk anywhere. We all need some inspiration, motivation and ideas to move forward and upward in our pursuits. —- One of the most foundational contributions to my personal leadership & business development was being pressed by a friend to read “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber. A key principle from the reading,

“work on your business, not in your business”.

Translation: On good days most of us small business owners slave away trying to keep up with all the items that are going on. We run form one urgent item to another following the squeaky wheel axiom. On bad days, we moan, groan, have lunch with buddies and hope that our yellow page investment will finally pay off with the phone ringing in new work any minute.

Every day that you are in business that you don’t invest in working on the development of your business or organization is a wasted day. QUIT wasting your days! Take at last 30-60 minutes every day to look ahead into areas where you need to do something better, different, more efficient, etc. Build your business, don’t just work in it.

Start by picking up a copy of this particular book and reading — it will inspire you to grow!

the BEST during the WORST

ryan russell — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:04:08 +0000

Do the hard times really bring out the best in businesses and non-profits?

I believe so.

One recent commentary on our current economy strongly suggested that during lean economic times it is natural for people to trend towards ‘BEST’ even when on a whole we are spending less. Think about it, even the BEST companies are cutting their prices right now. It isn’t the BEST companies that are going under, but mostly the sub-par and also the marginal ones. The BEST out there are competing like never before and are positioning themselves to survive & SUCCEED during these times. Some of the BEST products are now in reach of purchase where they weren’t before. Heady organizations are putting their dollars into their BEST core products or contributions.

Below is a link with a short interview from Seth Godin as it relates to positioning your company or organization.

Here are some additional thoughts:

what can we do to REFINE our organization?
how do we UNIQUELY set ourselves apart from our competition?
in which areas are we STRONGER than everyone else?
do we care more about being known or more about being on target and succeeding?
which of our people make the most irreplaceable contributions?

Godin Interview : http://mashable.com/2009/02/04/seth-godin-advice-for-startups/

[ LEADERSHIP ] why should you hire a professional design & marketing company?

ryan russell — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:40:02 +0000

Designers & idea people are NOTORIOUS for dreaming and promising far more than they deliver on.

9 times out of 10 you can completely forget about these creatives delivering your product on time.

Communication, clear, detailed and consistent, will be missing almost every time.

So, why like an addiction, in this era of highly competitive and open business do they continue to survive? The reasons a too numerous to list. The main 2 would be relationships and lack of knowledge on another option. Like anything else you go to people you know and when you make a bad choice it is probably because you didn’t know that there were other options.

When you hire a creative firm, you should expect & demand leadership. You are paying for the service! Ownership, detailed communication, problem solving, delivery of all the pieces… these are the types of things that you should come to rely upon.

Also, never pay ANYONE in full before they deliver the project. You should expet to pay deposits BUT you should also expect to see a finished project BEFORE anyone gets paid.

LEADERSHIP – expect it from your service provider, even if they are an artist!

Is it stealing?

matt adams — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:34:27 +0000

So I browse the web. A lot. I tend to look at a lot of design firm websites. So today I pose this question: Is using apple application icons on your site stealing?

I see this the most when browsing design firm sites. I see they use the great little system preferences icon. Or the the ical icon.

So when you are placing these icons next to your tools, applications, or services, is this stealing? Didnt apple go to great lengths to create these beautiful icons? As a creative firm, does this show you are okay with stealing others work for your benifit? What message does this present.

Me personally, I say Yes. I think this is ripping off apple. These icons are not open source for your use. Sure if you are promoting your podcast, i say its okay to use the podcast or RSS icon. But to use the address book icon next to your contact info is too far.

It gets under my skin the more I think about it. Now I am to the point that I instantly discredit the firm for being creative. I feel they stole for their own site, what did they steal for their clients?

What are your thoughts? Am I off on my own in this?

Finding your strengths

matt adams — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:51:35 +0000

Tom Rath has written a short book about finding your strengths. His focus and point in the book, is to determin your strengths, then work on building them. Our world is always focusing on our weaknesses. While I do believe you can work on improving your weaknesses, Tom pointed out that no matter how hard Michael Jordan tried, baseball was not his strength, and it never would be.

A great strength is somewhat natural, and usually paired with a talent. In order to become amazing at something, you need to know that strength, and then invest in it. The theory is if you are amazing at football, and never work on it, you wont make it to the NFL. But if you are amazing at football, and work on growing that talent (strength), you will go much further.

In reading Tom Rath’s book Strengths finder 2.0, and taking his online profile test I have found the following to be my strength themes.

Woo (Winning Others Over)
Communication
Responsibility
Activator
Positivity

As I discussed these with stephanie, we found them all to ring dead true. Scary how someone can figure me out after just 174 simple questions.

So the goal here: is to identify my strengths so I can learn to use them to my advantage, position others with different strengths around me, Know my weaknesses, but not focus on them.

So now as I continue on in my personal growth and leadership explorations, I know what I am good at, and what I can to do to use these strengths to my advantage. I also now see that I should be working harder than ever to broaden my communication skills, becoming more positive and building up others, all while continuing on a personal commitment to be a better person, husband, someday father, and a better leader for our staff.

So I ask those that know me, how true are these? and I want to encourage others to read Strength Finder 2.0 and share your strengths.

Also if you know of any online profile test sources (Myers Briggs, Disc, etc) that dont require the purchase of the book each time, I would love to know. I plan to use these types of personality assessments in my hiring process so i make sure I surround my self, and build my team with the right people.