If you are not seated by 8AM - don't bother showing up!

I was in DC this week and had lunch with a good friend. He works for one of the larger regional firms. Business is down. Fuel costs eat at their profits to the tune of a couple of million dollars more than last year, and rising. Smaller competitors are cutting their prices just to keep revenues flowing.

I like the tact his VP of Sales took. He called a meeting. He sent out word, be here at 8 AM on Friday - no excuses. If you have an appointment reschedule it. If you are not seated by 8 AM then don't bother showing up at all. When my friend told me the story I could feel my own blood pumping harder.

True to form the doors were closed and locked at 8 AM. The VP of Sales got up and said - business is tough and then provided a clear set of priorities for everyone to focus on. He said if you are producing - no problem. If you are not - then you need to figure out how and let us know how we can help. That took less than 10 minutes. The remaining 50 minutes was spent letting people share ideas, ask for help and reflect on what each person can do better. True to his promise the VP dismissed them at one minute to 9AM.

The bottomline is that it got back to fundamentals.

1. Set time and relationship priorities.
2. Develop and work your network.
3. Have a plan, set goals, measure results, make corrections...
   
4. Ask for help.
5. Don't waste time or money - be smart.
   
6. Find ways to save.
7. Thank your customers in a personal way.
8. Operate or of the company's strength and your personal strength.

My friend said it was the best sales meeting he has been to in his long career. He was motivated and doubling back on the fundamentals. The VP of Sales knew what he needed to do. Not its up to the rest of us to do what we need to do.

Enjoy this video by Brian Tracy. It will reinforce the lesson.

I will be hiking for the next two weeks with my oldest son - so no blogs for a while.

As a bonus blog here is a link with 8 steps for achieving exponential growth.

Send a note home to mom praising your Millennial!

You may think, I'm kidding. Try it.

I've been knee deep studying millennials, or as I prefer - digital natives, for 15 years. What you are about to view in this Part 2 video are some of the strategies companies pursue to connect.

Why is it such a big deal? Why should any company feel it should "lower" itself to coddle these kids?

Here is a demographic that scares the bejebbers out of executives. As boomers begin to move to retirement (many well healed enough to leave early) there are 20 million fewer bodies to take their place. That's right - 20 million or 25% fewer. The oldest boomers turn 62 this year - eligible for early retirement.

What you will see in this video displays a lot of the idiocy companies are buying into because they haven't done their homework and what to do something. They are reaching out to motivational "experts" to the tune of $50 billion a year, my price just went up.

The secret is still wrapped in the relational strategy I referred to in the last blog. Trust me, its a whole lot cheaper, lasting and more rewarding to follow the relational route. If you want to get a crash course on the difference between the Print generation (builders), the Broadcast generation (boomers) and this Digital generation (millennials) - here is an article I wrote for Futurist Magazine called The Digital Dynamic.

If you want to check the universe of motivation tools and gimmicks check out: The Motivation Show. It is in Chicago in September.

Here is video #2

Have you given your millennial a trophy for showing up today?

This incredible generation is the most intelligent, tech savvy, confident generation to walk the planet. They want to succeed, they think they already are successful (special) - however, most are clueless about the world of work, the old school mentality that they will confront or how to make a positive contribution.

On the flip side companies are clueless to the talent rich reservoir millennial's represent, how to build an on-ramp for them into corporate life or how to motivate and develop them.

One - key - this generation is hungry for mentoring and personal attention. 50% come from divorced families, 75% come from 2 income families, 30% of these kids were born out of wed-lock. This relational component will be the super-glue for corporate HR strategies going forward. With one caution - millennial's do not trust adults.

Without a long-term strategy, patience and the willingness to see the first batch or two roll their eyes at this "obvious attempt to buy their loyalty" they will bolt. Once they see the strategy is embedded or is adopted as a core value then they will turn around as well.

This six minute video provides a great overview of your next corporate challenge!

Visual Thinking is a Future Skill for Today

I use Mind Mapping extensively. When I first began to put ideas together about mindshift I developed an extensive Mind Map expanding over several pages. It helped me pull together ideas from a wide range of categories and phases onto one platform. The Mindmap software allowed me to use my thoughts in the moment and did not force me to drill down topic by topic. The graphical interface also provided a big picture snapshot at any time to maintain continuity with the overall goals.

Here is a video that better tells the story of how an architectural firm in England beat out over 300 other firms to win a $60million project.

Smart Buildings Can Payback Up Front

This article from Realcomm highlights the success of the Colonial Brookwood Center.

It’s one thing to hear that intelligent building (IB) technology will reduce operating expenses, save energy, and command a higher rent premium. It’s entirely different when you can look at a case study of a property that has done exactly that. Today’s Innovation Spotlight features Colonial Brookwood Center, which has earned a whopping 36% rent premium over market rates due to their intelligent building technologies!

Here is a link to the rest of the article.


This video highlights the largest green public building, the California Academy of Science, scheduled to go online this year, the Adobe HQ makes the case for affordable sustainability with 121% ROI and San Francisco's affordable housing project .

What should a school look like?

Here is a paragraph from an article by Frank Kelly asking some provocative questions.

What do our school buildings say about what we think is really important? What do schools being built in 2008 around Frederick W. Taylor’s and William Wirt’s ideas from 1908 say to kids about their futures? What do schools that mimic the architecture of other centuries say to the children within them working on digital devices? Are our school buildings saying what we want to convey to teachers and students?

Click here for the whole article: "Instruction Drives Construction ... Or Should"

Thank you Dan Beeren's for sending this article. He also has a great blog.

How much "richness" do our cirriculum's offer? For that matter - how much richness do our corporate training programs provide? If I have to sit through another 8 hour training session with a work book, fill in some blanks and a boring PowerPoint that provides the same text as my workbook I will get up and walk out. Make me work - don't just try to fill my brain and time - please!

Preparing to Lead Digital Immigrants

The video clip is a window into then next cohort joining the workforce. I've watched it several times. I've had to ask, "Are we prepared for the different minds and motivations emerging?"

I've also had to ask am I satisfied with my kids getting the best 15th century education available.

Maryanne Wolf is a Neuro Scientist and describes how interactive digital communication rewires the brains of this next generation.

They are not linear and sequential. They are bi-lateral multi-modal thinkers. I wrote about this in The Millennium Matrix - although research like this was not mainstream at the time.

What does this mean for education? What does it mean for corporations? What does it mean to this next generation?

You can click on the image of the book to find out more details. But make sure you watch the video clip.