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If you want to
make it in the business world - or in any other field - develop a sense
of time. Come to the realisation that it is precious. Every minute and
every second has but one purpose - accomplishment. That’s what time was
made for. That’s what life was given to us for.
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If you want
children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on
their shoulders.
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Tony Dixon was a
printing supplies salesman and for a long time he had tried in vain to
sell his merchandise to the owner of a busy printing shop.
Unfortunately, the owner felt obligated to an acquaintance who had
furnished the shop’s supplies since it opened. In an effort to work his
way in, Tony would occasionally leave samples of his goods at the shop
and offer to show the shop crew how to use them. After several such
calls, Tony made friends with the pressmen and discovered that they
preferred his products over the ones the owner insisted that they use.
Hoping he could
sell their supervisor, one of the pressmen said: “Tony, if you really
want to get on Mr. Cowan’s good side, you ought to invite him to golf
with you at your country club. He’s a golf nut!” As predicted, Mr. Cowan
was delighted to learn that Tony was also a golfer, and a plying date
was set up immediately. Once the ice was broken, the two men became
friends and enjoyed long business relationship.
This experience
convinced Tony of the value of knowing something about the person you
are trying to sell. You can learn a lot about people from third parties,
as Tony did. You can also pick up clues to their outside interests
during casual conversations and from the books, pictures, and other
personal effects in their offices. If you show a genuine interest in
your prospects, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in you.
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The next time
you begin to think you are all powerful, try ordering someone’s dog
around.
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No matter how
much you know about management techniques, it’s an obvious fact that
people will respond better to your leadership if they like you than if
they don’t like you. The ability to make people like you is one of the
most valuable talents you can possibly develop. It makes all your other
talents more productive. So what makes people like you?
Good humour.
Kindness.
Appreciation of their interests and feelings. Understanding
that they are just as important to themselves as you are to yourself.
Fairness in considering their interests as well as your own. Complete
lack of snobbishness toward those of lesser authority. The failure of
managers to achieve these simple goals causes more hard feelings and
discontent than any other factor we can think of.
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Leadership is
the ability to get people to do what they don’t want to do and like it.
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If you are
standing upright, don’t worry if your shadow is crooked.
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The Wall
Street Journal reports that CEO’s throughout the world feel that
meetings account for the largest share of unproductive time on the job.
That’s not surprising; a recent study established that senior managers
spend an average of 23 hours a week in meetings, while middle managers
spend 11 hours. The study also concluded that 20 to 30 percent of the
matters discussed in meetings could be handled better through
face-to-face talks, by telephone, or by memo. Here are some ways to make
more effective use of meetings :
Before deciding
to hold the meeting, ask yourself this question: “Is this meeting
really necessary - or is there a more efficient way to handle these
needs?” If you hold regularly scheduled meetings, ask yourself how much
these meetings really accomplish and if they are necessary to meet your
company’s objectives.
Before holding a
meeting, determine what your specific goals are and what you want to
accomplish as a result of the meeting. Put these things in writing;
seeing them on paper will help sharpen your focus.
Make sure that
the people who are needed to make the required decisions attend the
meeting. And exclude those who aren’t needed; you’ll only waste their
time. Develop an agenda and distribute it a day or so before the
meeting. Insist that everyone come prepared to discuss the items on the
agenda. If you pass out support material at the beginning of a meeting,
people will read it instead of listening to you. Hand out the material
at the end of the meeting. If you must hand out material early, perhaps
it would be best to use an outline and let people fill in notes from
your presentation. Try to control power struggles between rivals. These
are time wasters - and they irk others. One way : Deal with those
who constantly create problems by speaking to them privately. Start and
end all meetings on time.
Be sure that
everyone knows who’s responsible for doing what as a result of actions
taken at the meeting. Put this in writing immediately, and distribute
the information. This will prevent misunderstandings.
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Character is
power.
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Temper gets you
in trouble. Pride keeps you there.
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There are
managers who feel the business world is just like a battlefield. All’s
fair in love and war, they figure, and whatever it takes to come out on
top is OK If the competition - whether from another company or from
another manager in their own company - wants to fight dirty, then they
will too.
No one is pretending that you have to be a Boy or Girl Scout
in everything you do in the office. But when the battle is over, when
it’s time to look in the mirror, you have to live with yourself
and face
the person you’ve allowed yourself to become. Every now and then it’s a
good idea to pause long enough to ask yourself if you’re still doing
things the
way you would want your children, say, to do them. If winning
has become too important, it might be time
to question whether the ends
justify the means. They usually don’t.
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There is a
four-word formula for success that applies equally well to organisations
or individuals: Make yourself more useful.
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Manufacture
enthusiasm as you go and grow.
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We blame fate
for other accidents, but we feel personally responsible when we make a
hole in one.
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Be like a duck -
keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil
underneath.
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We are not
primarily put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one
another through.
