“Go stand in line!”  That’s what the diminutive overwrought 20-something hostess at Coop’s Place said to the semi-inebriated patron pestering her to seat his party in the amazingly authentic low-country tavern we were dining at in the French Quarter of New Orleans last week.  (Pic at right).

Now, before you go all customer-service on me, understand that this guest had walked past the growing line on the sidewalk outside the door with two (count them: two) very clear signs on those doors with large black arrows pointing down the sidewalk and with the following printed on them – Stand at the end of the line.  If there’s no line, stand here until you’re seated.  The message was very clear.  If you want to eat here, stand in line.

Waiting…Waiting

Most of us have stood in line somewhere, but it’s usually because the place we want to enter is “cool” or “up and coming.”  Recently, however, I’ve been experiencing a different kind of popularity (aka productivity, aka success) – popularity built on authenticity.

The authenticity to which I refer is not nostalgic.  It’s not a reproduction of something past or a reference experience of any kind.  It’s current, unadorned (which is not to imply inelegance or lacking in class), and easy to identify as “here, now, real.”

Bruce Turkel, a great blogger and marketing consultant to the travel industry, recently wrote about knowing what business you are in.  In the post he referenced a statement made by Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza.  In a conversation about his company, Monaghan claimed that he wasn’t in the pizza business.  Rather, he said that he was in the food-you-can-get-hot-in-under-30-minutes business.

The point he was making is that Domino’s isn’t the best pizza and it never aspires to be.  It aspires to deliver hot food within 30 minutes.  And by focusing simply on doing that one thing well, it’s both authentic to its mission and hugely productive (aka successful).

And while we’re on food examples, we recently had the pleasure of dining at Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room in Savannah, GA. The business model is simple.  It’s open from 11 AM to 2 PM, Monday through Friday.  That’s right: lunch.

We were told to be there no later than 10:15, at which we scoffed.  It was a Tuesday!  As we approached the address at 10:45, we could see the line stretching down the block.  Since it was our last day in Savannah, we waited.  There was no choice, because the front do was locked!  No one gets in until they’re invited in.

I don’t need to tell you that the food was unbelievable – in quantity and quality.  The food was served family style to our table of 10 (one of about eight in the restaurant, pic at left).  After forty minutes, we were served peach cobbler and told that it was $16 a head, to be paid as we left.  It was the politest dismissal we’d ever received.  And, of course, the line still stretched down the block as we exited the establishment.

Getting to the Point

These culinary experiences point to the same thing – being authentic by doing what you do best results in a productive result (i.e., that’s right – success).  In each case, the business disregarded most of the conventions of their industry and focused on the key elements that made up their unique value proposition.  By doing so, their authenticity rose above the chatter of competition resulting in high demand – the most visceral measure of productivity in the business world.

We often discuss productivity in terms of micro-actions – small things we can change to make things run more smoothly day-to-day.  The productivity focused on here is the big picture kind.  It’s the kind the looks both at what needs to be done today, as well as what the path to success looks like and what needs to be done to stay on that path.

Domino’s serves up hot food quickly.

Coop’s Place serves up unadorned low country food in a tavern atmosphere.

Ms. Wilkes serves up lunch just like Mom did.

What do you serve up?

© 2011, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

I kept getting distracted by new and exciting topics – simplicity, lifestyle choices, Tenkara fly fishing.  Instead of focusing on my core business of developing solid content to help my clients solve their time management struggles, I was drafting tables of contents for new books and making lists of authors to read and people to follow.

Thank gawd for my National Speakers Association Master Mind group – Viki Hess, Jeff Civillico and Liz Weber.  During one of our monthly calls the resounding consensus regarding my efforts to cobble together these disparate objectives was that I was creating very muddy professional waters indeed.  And, as I once heard the famous speaker Mark Sanborn say, “A confused buyer buys nothing.”

My peers advised me to pursue new ways to communicate my topical expertise – time management and productivity – and to seek ways to incorporate my other aspirations into my own life.  In a way, they advised me to separate my professional focus from my personal focus.   Stated differently: Not everything needs to be revenue source, Paul!

Out of the mouths of babes…er…professionals.

Live Simply

Most people will tell you that I’m a bit of a slow starter.  Ideas take time to germinate in my brain before flowering into action.  The same was true for the advice I’d received.

In fact, it wasn’t until several weeks later, while driving from our winter digs to our summer digs, that clarity was achieved.  What I needed to do was to Live Simply.  As a “process guy,” I naturally pursue the most efficient way to accomplish the stated goal.  Many times finding that path results in a truly elegant or simple solution.  Thus, marrying my predisposition for process with living simply is wholly congruent. The congruence lies in my belief that that simplicity is arrived at ONLY after gaining an understanding of the complexity of the very thing we are attempting to simplify – in this case, my lifestyle!

Elimination is part of achieving simplicity – the removal of things that are unnecessary to the journey.  However, reduction is just the beginning of the journey to finding the elegant solution – that perfect intersection between the form of the “answer” and the function of the “answer” – again, true simplicity.

With the excess baggage eliminated, the challenging part begins.  Prejudice and judgment must be identified and removed.  Habit and custom must be acknowledged.  Information – useful and not – must be accounted for and incorporated or discarded.  True motivation must be ferreted out.  Self-honesty is mandatory and the discoveries made are as often displeasing as pleasant.

Over the last few years, I’d been reducing and eliminating things in my life.  I have stopped taking up new sports and now focus my time on the ones I really enjoy – golfing and fly fishing.  Not only did I stop spending money on new gear, I stopped breaking myself physically so much, which requires recovery time and its associated time away from those activities.  Moreover, I was no longer running up the often-stressful learning curve.  Rather, I was enjoying more time on the golf course and small water creeks engaging in activities that I was already competent at doing.  I had decided on the What.

We had also identified our long-term summer and winter spots.  This reduced the ongoing discussion and preoccupation with the Where question.  It also reduced the associated expenses with changing locations every year or two.

Interestingly, determining the Where and What drove the ability to reduce the stuff needed in my life.  Unused gear, clothing, furniture, etc. were all donated to charity.  In its place came physical and mental quiet. There were simply fewer things physically and intellectually with which to concern myself.

I was also free to pursue more deeply new ways to doing old things – rejoin the legions of golfers hitting the latest driver (having abandoned that effort years ago in favor of my 5 iron) and investigate Tenkara (radically simple fly fishing from ancient Japan.)  And it wasn’t just sports oriented.  We found more time to be tourists in our own towns – doing all the things the tourists do but we had never found time to do.  All these things where the How.

With the big questions resolved, I am focusing my ongoing Live Simply efforts on the way I work and the tools I use.  There is so much evidence that supports the idea that people work best (produce the most) in short, intense cycles with periods of recovery in between. This was, in fact, the underlying conclusion to the study Malcolm Gladwell cited in his book Outliers.  (Note, for those interested in a comprehensive discussion of this theory, as well as many related ideas, see The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz.)

Not only am I looking at working shorter bursts followed by recovery periods, I’ve also reduced the number of technologies required to engage in my work.  Gone is the Windows machine that required so many peripherals – all plugged into sockets creating a fire hazard in my home office.  In its place is a MacBook Pro with a blue tooth keyboard and track pad.  Gone is the software programs installed on my computer.  In their place is cloud-computing – from Office 365 to MyERP with a shot of Dropbox thrown in for good measure.  Everything resides in a browser.  Big Iron, Thin Client.  What goes around comes around.

Living simply is hard but not in a deprivation sense. It’s hard in a conceptualization sense.  To achieve and maintain a simple life, one must dig down into the complex aspects of life and, with a surgical focus, ask whether each aspect is necessary and if so, whether it’s been accomplished in the most effective and efficient manner.  Only after a studied and educated analysis can simplicity in life be achieved.

The best question to start with is, “What is it that I really want?”

Work Passionately

Having separated my personal aspirations to Live Simple from my professional objectives to help people make the most of the time they have, I began to see numerous ways to re-engage with my subject matter expertise.  I attribute this refresh flood of ideas to freeing up my clogged brain from the angst of trying to tie it all together.  Ironically, once I quieted my own mind, engagement naturally took over.

I was able to apply a lot of simple living concepts to my work efforts. Not only did I de-clutter my work space (fewer peripherals, cables, etc.) and less software, I also abandoned a number of efforts that I thought were helping me from a marketing stand point.  Out went Twitter and auto-submission services.  The people who make decisions about hiring me don’t spend much time hanging out in social media sites.  (Note, I’ve reduced my Facebook activity to just my friends – people I really to want to stay connected to.)  In effect, I re-focused my efforts to what made my QuietSpacing® practice successful in the first place:

• Creating Content
• Building Relationships
• Solving Client Issues with Time Management

It’s easy to get lost in the technology and the next great thing.  Most of us have to develop a basic understanding of how all these things work.  (I must go a step further and glean an understanding of how they positively and adversely affect my client’s day.)  Beyond that, it’s up to each of us to determine whether the bright shiny object actually adds value to our days and to our lives. If it doesn’t, it should be discarded and replaced with other things that do add value.

The net result of this cleansing and re-focusing of my professional efforts is a terrific sense of engagement.  Personally, I hate the word “passionate” as it relates to our work.  I used it here to get your attention since it’s the vogue concept to promote…this week.

My opinion is that it’s less about passion and much, much more about engagement.  Maybe I’m just mincing words, but I believe causes require passion. Work isn’t (and shouldn’t be) a cause.  Work, to be enjoyable, requires engagement. And, further on that topic, there’s no reason we can’t or shouldn’t like work.  Most of us will do it for a long time, so why not enjoy it!

You’ve undoubtedly noticed that there was a stripping down process in getting back to being engaged.  Again, what goes around comes around. There’s even more similarity between these personal and professional efforts.  To become engaged in my work, I’ve had to root around in its particulars to determine what about helping people with their time management struggles is so interesting to me.  It could be the process – finding an efficient and effective route to get through it all each day.  It could be watching them regain a sense of command in their day.  It could be the downstream feedback I get that they feel more successful or that they have received recognition of their efforts.

No.  All of these things are great, but they aren’t what engage me.  What engages me is the idea that we only have so much time and we need to make the best use of the time we have.  Taking this one extra step, we can say that memories – snapshots of time – are how we will measure the use of our time.

Thus, a successful life is one measured at its end by the one living that life.  Memories will be how we will measure our success when we ask the question, “Did I make good use of the time I had?”

In my case, being engaged means that I am making good memories of the time I spend working.

Stated most simply:  Memories are the currency of life.  The question to ask is, “Am I making good memories?”

Post-Script – Personal Experience is My Kernel

Over the couple of days it’s taken me to craft this missive, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with three very important people in my life with whom I rarely get to hang out.  During the course of my discussions with them, the topic of engagement in work and personal life came up several times.

The great thing about meaningful conversation is that one is forced to put ideas into a linear framework (sentences) that make sense.  As Aristotle maintained, discourse is the true nature of being human. And it was during those conversations that I discovered an even deeper truth about myself.  That truth was that I am drawn both professionally and personally to Personal Experience.  Whether it’s the music I listen to, the movies I watch, the books I read, or the people with whom I wish to maintain relations, it always boils down to my interest in the Personal Experience being described.

Though opinionated (what lawyer isn’t!), I rarely care much about politics or social causes or sports or a host of other areas of the human experience.  What I most gravitate to is the personal experience of the individual.  This revelation is significant only to me in its subject matter, but it’s hugely relevant to the topic of this article because it’s what I’ve long referred to as the Kernel.

The Kernel is my way of describing – in one or two words – the thing that drives you forward.  Unlike “passion” which has a lot of puppies and daisies associated with it, a Kernel is at the core of your personality and motivation.  Discovering a Kernel takes a tremendous amount of patient introspection, fearlessness, exposure, and interaction with others on the subject.  It’s less about honesty, though that plays a role, and more about clearing out the layers that are built onto of the Kernel.

In my case, I always thought my Kernel was “time.”  Helping people make the most of their time and making the most of my time.  Then, over the course of these recent discussions, it dawned on me that time was a layer on top of “personal experience.”  What I really enjoyed hearing and what I really sought for myself were interesting personal experiences. Helping people make the most of their time was a means to achieving that end!

Take-Aways From This Tome

Having pontificated for over two thousand words, I owe the patient few who reached this point a concise and cogent conclusion. Here’s my best shot:

• Living simply is about stripping away the unnecessary and focusing on the intriguing.
• Working passionately is about finding ways to be engaged in your work so that you’re creating good memories from it.
• Relentless pursuit and discovery of your personal Kernel will drive more engagement and contentment in your life than every other endeavor.

An even shorter summation may be: Life Life On Purpose.

© 2011, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post written by Trever Cartwright.  Trever is co-founder of Coraggio Group, a Portland-based strategy and organizational change firm. You can reach Trever by calling 503-493-1452 or by email at trever@coraggiogroup.com. Visit his website at www.coraggiogroup.com

The year is half over. Many leaders and executive teams are taking their annual step back to do a deep-dive assessment of their organization’s progress against the goals and objectives of their strategic plans.

As part of your strategic progress review, consider including another area of assessment—one that will require a different kind of examination and be much more introspective in nature. Why not take some time to also consider how you’re progressing as a leader? It makes sense when you consider that an organization’s strategic performance is, in large part, a direct reflection of the effectiveness of the leader—and the leadership team—at the top.

If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re in a leadership position. Maybe you’re a CEO. Maybe you’re a vice president or perhaps a director of a department. Regardless, if you’re like most professionals in leadership roles, you likely believe you’re a good leader—or at least, good enough. But the truth is, if you’re brutally honest with yourself—you don’t know for sure. You hope you are. End of story, right?

Sure—for many leaders, that is the end of the story. And yet the optimist in me says that for many more leaders, their sense of humility tells them that being an even better leader tomorrow than they are today is possible. And this possibility is actually inspiring. As long as they believe this possibility exists, they keep striving.

Which camp do you fall in?

When it comes to leadership, are you a finished product? Are you as good as it gets? Or do you believe that leadership is more of a practice—something that resembles more of an art form that, over time, you hone and aspire to perfect?

Let me pose just one more question and ask you to sit with it for a few days before you leap to an answer. It’s a question that I believe is worthy of any leader’s full attention and the time it takes to actually appreciate its gravity:

Why would anyone want to be led by you?

Recently, Coraggio posed this question in a Harvard Business Review on-line survey that was taken by leaders around the world. The responses revealed an interesting mix of perspectives. Here are a few that we received:

• “Because I’m above average height.”
• “Because I’m willing to wash the feet of my followers.”
• “Because I can provide enough confidence for myself.”
• “Because they just do. I can’t explain it.”
• “Because my values are clear.”
• “Because I’ll bring out the best in them.”
• “Because I’m credible.”

We knew we hit a nerve with this question. What we found as we reviewed the responses was something very important to consider: Is it possible that many leaders honestly don’t know why anyone would want to be led by them?

If you were to Google “leadership” you’d likely find nearly 200,000,000 entries. Suffice to say, there are a lot of opinions on the topic. Mine is just one more to add to the heap. I think you’ll agree, though, that it’s a topic worthy of lengthy contemplation, especially given the role you fill within your company. And, what’s more, many would argue that when it comes to organizational performance, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is excellence in leadership. So the stakes are certainly high.

If getting clear on why anyone would want to be led by you resonates and you think that it’s important for you to be able answer the question, consider the following thought-provoking perspectives that will help you focus and, hopefully, take the edge off the tension that our question often causes.

Truth #1: Leadership cannot be mastered.

Cut yourself some slack. Leadership is not a pass/fail proposition. Leadership is and always will be an aspiration—a concept of positive influence that has at its deepest roots your genuine desire to strive to be a better leader today than you were yesterday. The moment you believe you’re a finished product and there is just no more room for improvement on your behalf, you have crossed the thin, but very bright line that separates confidence from arrogance.

Truth #2: Leadership stands for something.

What do you stand for? If people don’t know what you stand for, they will not follow you. Instead they will be going through the mental gymnastics of trying to figure out who you are. In the eyes of your employees, the truest measure of what you stand for will always be their observation—and subsequent assessment—of the link between your actions and your behaviors. When your actions and behaviors are in alignment, the result is always integrity.

Truth #3: Leadership has its roots in a genuine belief in others.

If you’re willing to believe in your people—to actually see in them more than they might even see in themselves—they will reward you with their loyalty, their dedication and their followership. This means you have to take an active and genuine interest in them. If people believe you have lost faith in them, that you don’t respect them or you don’t appreciate them, they will not follow you. They will only comply with you. And compliance never lasts long. Think about it. Have you ever been willing to follow a leader who didn’t believe in you?

Truth #4: Leadership isn’t about you.

I know—it sounds a little counter-intuitive. But, I’ve never met a leader—a great leader—who didn’t admire someone else’s leadership and strive  to model aspects of their own style, principles and approach in the image of that person. Regardless of your level of leadership, whether you’re a CEO or the director of a department, be willing to admire someone else. Make him or her your mentor or role model, even if he or she doesn’t know they play one of these roles for you. The point is, aspirational leadership is bigger than you. You will become the great leader you aspire to become only when you have a clear understanding of a lousy leader. Open your eyes and find a role model. You’re never too old and you’ll never occupy a position too high to admire someone else for their leadership ability.

Truth #5: Leadership is about doing less of what lessens you.

Less truly is more when it comes to great leadership. The most effective leaders with whom I’ve worked are the ones who know their limits and aren’t afraid to simply say, “I don’t know.” or, “That’s just not my strength.” Further, aspiring to be a great leader means you’re consciously investing more in what strengthens you and less in what lessens you. When you feel at the top of your game as a leader, what typically has led you to that sense of accomplishment? Have you just read a great book? Have you listened rather than spewed? Whatever your answer—get clear and then do more of what makes you feel effective.

Truth #6: Leadership is about bilateral influence.

Influence is a two-way street: You influence your people. And you’re comfortable with them influencing you. How else would you know if they’re learning and growing as young leaders if you’re doing all the influencing? Leaders influence those who are inspired to follow them by helping them to learn and grow as individuals, to help them expand their capacity for critical thinking and, ultimately, to realize their innate strengths and talents. Taking control from your people by not letting them make decisions will lead your organization to a collective stall. Instead, consider that you can increase your influence, and, thus, their competence and confidence, by letting others influence you. In the book The Leadership Challenge, authors Kouzes and Posner share their perspective that people who feel capable of influencing their leaders are more strongly attached to those leaders and more committed to effectively carrying out their responsibilities. I’ve found this to be true in my work with organizations. I’ve also found that a leader who is willing to be influenced is able to learn a great deal more about their direct reports’ capacity for leadership.

These six truths haven’t failed me in my coaching work with leaders inside their organizations. And they haven’t failed me in my personal aspiration to be a great leader—a never ending quest to be sure.

The prevailing challenge I find in our consulting work is helping clients to be consistently mindful of the tangible link between strategic success and leadership effectiveness. The two simply go hand and glove. Intellectually, we get that leadership is a critical factor in any organization’s performance. And yet we often dismiss it as the soft stuff or the ethereal with no practical or tactical application.

As part of your mid-year progress review, make it a point to integrate a focused evaluation of how you and your executive team are performing as the leaders of your organization. Here’s the agenda item for your next executive team meeting:

I. Why would anyone want to be led by you?

© 2011, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

Leo Babauta, creator of Zen Habits, who focuses on the very simple (and clear) ways to get things done.

Michael Perry, author of several books, Population 485 among them, who focuses on the very precise things that matter.

Ken Ammann, my best friend for 25 years, John Trujillo, my business partner and intrepid adventurer, and Tom Nitopi, my unwitting mentor and close friend, who all only know one direction – forward.

There are numerous other people, events and things that have influenced my success in achieving my objective, but the people listed above provided particular inspiration for this effort.

149 Pounds

That’s what the scale said this Monday morning, April 18, 2011, Tax Day, when I climbed on it to weigh myself.  I’d reached my goal – to drop below 150 pounds.  At 149 pounds, I have lost 31 pounds since I started trying to lose weight some months back.  Here’s the post I wrote that describes the details of what I’ve learned in the process, so I won’t re-hash old subject matter. However, the one thing I will relate is a deep sense of satisfaction with both my inner and outer self. 

Yes, all my clothes are too big.   And yes, I have to learn to keep the weight off, which is why I’m just going to keep the clothes I have for now and buy a belt. 

More importantly, though, is the tactile and emotional confirmation that I could reach the 150 mark again after years of allowing myself to believe that I was “stockier” than my younger brother and that “everyone adds pounds” as they get older.  The simple truth is this – It’s all bullshit.  The only real barriers to achieving goals like I have are a persistence of commitment and an honesty of self.  The rest is just execution, which ain’t as hard as most would like you to believe. 

30 Years Past

That’s how long it’s been since I weighed less than 150 pounds. When I graduated from high school over 30 years ago, I weighed approximately 145 pounds.  I’d just finished lettering on the varsity track team and headed off to the rest of my life.

Within months of reaching college, I had politely declined the track coach’s offer to run for the college team, joined a fraternity and proceeded to party until well after the cows came home. 

As I rounded the corner of my final year in law school seven years later, I had “grown” to about 190 pounds.  The odd thing was that I didn’t look heavy.  I had filled out, but I carried the weight reasonably well.

Once I entered the real world of work, I got back into exercising regularly, which dropped me down to 175 pounds or so.   That’s the weight I hovered around for the next twenty-some years, bobbing up to the low 180s occasionally and down to the low 170s when the stars aligned correctly.  That weight range is what I considered a normal adult weight for an average American white guy in his 30s, then his 40s. 

6 Months Ago

That’s when I started this little weight loss experiment using a new tool a client told me about – MyFitnessPal.  For years I would look at my brother, who’s four year’s my junior, and ask myself whether I could be as thin and fit as he was.  The answer that echoed in my brain was always, “No.  He’s more like Grandpa and you’re more like Dad.  Besides, he’s way more active than you are.” 

Then one day I had lunch with a client who had visibly dropped a huge amount of weight – 85 pounds!  He told me about the app, which I promptly forgot about.  A year later, this last fall (of 2010), I saw him at a conference and he still looked pretty good.  He confessed to having added back about 10 pounds, but the other 75 had remained off.

That little fact stewed in my brain along with the questions about what was possible if I really tried.  Just before Thanksgiving of last year (2010), I downloaded the app to my iPhone and began fiddling with it.  Without going into the details, let me just say that it’s brilliant in the way it looks things up (using the internet) and gives you credit for the cardiovascular exercises you do (like golf!).

Within the first 90 days, I had reached my initial goal of weighing 165 pounds – down 15 from my starting point.  By then, using the app and being conscious of what I was eating (nothing really “different” just more conscious of “how much”) was a habit.  So much of a habit that I set a Big Ass Goal of getting below 150 pounds for the first time since high school! 

That effort took another three months, but here I am today, baggy pants and all.

Big Focus Meets Little Focus

In the beginning, I had this vague Big Focus idea – the vision of myself at 150 pounds.  However, I didn’t have the Little Focus part – the constant effort required to achieve that Big Ass Goal. Once I got started down the path and maintained a persistence of vision, along with a strong dose of daily self honesty, the results started to show.  Over the course of 6 months I dropped 31 pounds and achieved a weight of 149 – a number I haven’t seen on a scale in over 30 years. 

Much of the credit for achieving this goal goes to me.  Hell, I’m the one that had to do the time, so to speak.  However, I will also say that the work of Leo Babauta, Michael Perry, and mi tres amigos – Ken Ammann, John Trujillo and Tom Nitopi, were instrumental in providing me guidance and examples of excellence to which I could aspire.

© 2011, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

It snowed today. Again. Schools are closed. Offices are closed. Many, many people are losing productivity and many businesses are losing money. I, however, am toasty warm working from my office. Sure, I had a meeting canceled today, but I am still am able to get all of my other work done. Why? Because I work 100% virtually.

I didn’t set out to be virtual. It started when I worked in NYC and would occasionally work from home. It then turned into Fridays. When our office was closing and we needed to move buildings, it didn’t make sense for me to get another office. When I think back to that commute and how unproductive it was, working virtually was one of the best decisions I could have made.

A lot of companies don’t want employees working from home for various reasons. I think trust has a lot to do with it. I also understand that this structure doesn’t work for all job types and not everyone has the discipline to “go to work” while they are in their home.

Here is a little glimpse of how I operate. I hope it helps you to understand how easy it can be.

1. I have a dedicated home office. I come to work when I enter this room. I don’t spend a lot of time in this room when I am not working.
2. I use a Vonage phone line. This internet-based phone line goes with me wherever I am. It will forward to my cell phone if I want it to. If there is an issue with the internet then my calls go to voicemail which I get via email. Not only do I get them via email, but they are transcribed so I can easily read the message.
3. All of my files are stored on my laptop and on Dropbox. I can access my files from my PC, my Mac, my iPad and my Android phone. And I can also visit the Dropbox website and access them anywhere. This is my favorite application…ever!
4. I use Skype for video calls. I have a handful of external webcams and one built into my Mac (I only use one at a time). Sometimes it’s just easier to see someone’s face and their body language during a conversation. Skype is free and easy to use. It also has a chat feature that allows for quick messaging during the day.
5. Since not everyone is on Skype, I also use Instant Messaging. On my PC I use Digsby, Adium on my Mac, Ebuddy on my Android and Imo.IM on my iPad. These are just IM aggregators. I have accounts on Yahoo, GTalk, MSN and AOL. This allows me to connect with people regardless of which IM system they use. I use IM everyday to connect to friends AND business associates.
6. I have a stupidly big copy machine. This is not a recommended feature, but contractual obligations left one in my possession. Sometimes it comes in handy. I affectionately call it my monster.
7. Since I travel quite a bit, I have a Verizon card in my PC laptop. There isn’t always a WiFi signal available and sometimes the connections are quite expensive. This allows me to work just about anyplace that I have a cell signal. I work on long car rides, in airports, on trains and in hotel rooms.
8. I bake cookies for my mailman and my UPS delivery guy. This goes a long way when I am traveling and need someone to take care of my important deliveries. Plus, they appreciate people being nice to them.
9. I have upgraded internet and just bought a new wireless router. Bandwidth is everything.
10. I am transparent about where I work and try to manage expectation about people that I work with. It’s always funny to me when people assume I’m in a big, fancy office.
11. I try and have lunch or dinner plans several times a week. It’s very important to to maintain human contact in person.
12. I use social networking to connect to others so that I don’t feel isolated.

I admit that there are times when I throw a load of laundry in or perform other domestic tasks. Several times a day I play with my cat, Pumpkin. Hanging out with her during the day is definitely one of the better benefits of being virtual. And that’s OK. My work gets done in a very productive manner. Today while much of the Northeast is digging out, I’m GETTING IT DONE.

I hope this is helpful for people that are looking for some ideas on how they can work from ANYWHERE. Happy Snow Day to everyone!

© 2011, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

One of the best things about the week between Christmas and New Years is the retrospective programs that are aired on TV and published by print and web content publishers.  There’s something visceral and substantive about reviewing what has happened in the last twelve months.  Our day-to-day lives tend to be all-consuming, causing us to focus on the right-now and the immediate future.  Retrospectives give us an opportunity to pause and consider what has been and how and why it mattered. 

A personal favorite of mine is the review of those who have passed away since the ball last dropped.  Remembering those people and all that they accomplished during their lives forces me to look at time in the broadest and most relevant of senses – the lifetime.  Somehow that perspective is settling and reassuring to me.

With that introduction, then, let me say that for me and mine, 2010 was a year of some pretty dramatic changes and a number of pretty amazing events.  Here are some that come to mind.

To the Cloud and Beyond!

For those who aren’t sure what “the cloud” means, I’ll try to shed some light on this phrase and how it – the cloud – is actually used..  The cloud refers to computers (usually lots of them, called “servers”) that reside in distant places and that exist for the purpose of storing your stuff – anything and everything electronic – on them.  Essentially, they replace the hard drive on your computer.  All you need to access your stuff that is stored on these far-away computers (“in/on the cloud”) is an Internet connection and a web browser, e.g., Internet Explorer or Firefox or their siblings. 

The benefits of cloud computing are many, but the greatest benefit is ready access to your information virtually anywhere in the world from any device that is or can be connected to the internet, including a computer, a tablet (think iPad), or a smartphone.

In the last year, both our kayaking business (Outdoorplay) and my consulting business (QuietSpacing®) moved to the cloud, to wit:

Outdoorplay Operates Virtually via NetSuite SaaS and Google Apps. 

Starting in mid-2009, we (the Outdoorplay team) began migrating the systems we use to run our business from a variety of software programs – the custom-built web site, Mail Order Manager (order and customer management), Cooler E-mail (newsletters), and QuickBooks (financial package) – to a single Software as a Service (SaaS) platform called NetSuite.  Though the migration was painful, very painful, we now run Outdoorplay from a single cloud-based provider.  That means that whether we’re offering product for sale on the web site, sending a newsletter containing coupons for buying products on our web site, processing an order in our warehouse that was received through the web site, ordering product from our vendors to store in our warehouse and sell via our web site, paying for the product we ordered from our vendors, paying our fine team of people for making all the above happen, or reviewing our company’s performance by looking at a P&L or Balance Sheet, it’s all done in one place – NetSuite.  And NetSuite is accessed through a browser.  And browsers are used to view the Internet.  So, to run Outdoorplay, all we do is sit down at any device connected to Internet, navigate to the NetSuite web site, login, and everything we need is there!  (And the cost is about 1/2 an FTE per year.)

After the NetSuite platform launched in February of 2010 and we cleared the bugs out of the system, we began asking what else we could migrate to this same sort of cloud-based model.  The answer was our “productivity suite” - e-mail, calendering, task management and document production/management.  Like most companies we had historically used Microsoft Office to perform all these functions, but we were advised by several good friends to take a look at Google Apps.  We did take a look and we liked it so much we switched over in August of 2010.  Now, all that functionality is also delivered to us via the browser with everything stored on Google’s cloud!  (And the cost is less than upgrading one license for Microsoft Office per year.)

Sounds cool, you’re saying, but why go through it all? What’s the real value?  I’ll give you two quick examples of how beneficial these changes were:

• Computer Crash:  My netbook crashed in May of 2010.  I went to the closest Best Buy and purchased a new laptop off the shelf.  When I got home, I turned it on, allowed the initial installation to run (about five minutes), connected the box to the Internet, opened a browser and was back at work…period, done.  Total down time between seeing the blue-screen-of-death on the netbook and actually paying bills in NetSuite on the new laptop = 1 hour.  No software to load, not integrations to manage, no documents to recover, nothing.  Up and running and on with the day.  Amazing.
• Holiday Travel with No Laptop – First Time Ever:  We traveled to see family over the holiday weekend.  We headed out Thursday morning and returned Saturday evening.  Given the short time frame and the rather full schedule planned for our visit, I decided to leave my laptop home as an experiment in simplified travel.  I did have my iPhone and I was comforted by the knowledge that everywhere we were going had a computer connected to the Internet available to me if necessary.  The result was, “Wow!”  How amazing it was to have one less piece of luggage (the computer case) to lug around all weekend.  Moreover, because Outdoorplay now truly exists on the cloud, I was able to keep completely current on all my work.  I came home with three or four e-mails that needed further attention and a to-do list that looked as though I’d been home the whole time.

Outdoorplay is the more mature of my two businesses, plus it has a full-time staff.  Getting everything running on NetSuite and Google Apps made us far more efficient.  This caused me to start looking at the QuietSpacing® side of the house to see what could be accomplished there as well.

QuietSpacing® Dabbles in The Cloud

There are several instances where I dabbled in cloud computing for QuietSpacing® in 2010.  The most significant migration was to an online CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system.  I eventually chose to go with Zoho CRM after trying on a number of other vendors.  The primary reasons for choosing Zoho CRM were (a) it’s free for up to three users and (b) it’s fully customizable to include fields that are specific to my needs.

Over the next twelve months, I anticipate moving more and more of my consulting practice to the cloud. The single biggest obstacle right now is the availability of a laptop and a reliable Internet connection when I’m speaking to large audiences on the road.  You’d think meeting facilities would have that dialed, but that’s not always the case.  The real solution is to remove the slideware from my general session presentations, but that isn’t an option during my training programs.  Stay tuned on this one!

From Living in Multiple Locations to Living on the Move

One of the big shifts that occurred over the last several years became permanent this year – our desire, and that of many of our friends, to be more mobile in how and where we live. And some of our friends went to the extreme.

Viva Las Vegas!

About five years ago, we began our search for new ”winter hunting grounds.”  Between the gray, dark cold of Northwest Montana and the gray, rainy cold of Northwest Oregon, we were done with “real” winter.  We trekked our way through Tucson, AZ, Reno, NV, and Bend, OR, before alighting in Las Vegas.  Who’da thunk?  But here we are, happily ensconced on the western edge of one of the greatest party towns in the entire world. 

If we want to head out hiking, it’s 10 minutes away.  If we want to take in some world class entertainment, it’s 20 minutes away.  If we want to fly off on a direct, nonstop flight to hundreds of locations around the world, it’s 15 minutes away.  And if that isn’t enough, we also get 360 days of sun a year and daytime temperatures in the mid-50s during the coldest winter months.  Viva Las Vegas is our motto!

The Über-Mobile Lifestyle

Not to be outdone, three of our friends have gone beyond having more than one place to live.  They’ve taken to the road and the water in a big way.  My business partner (in Outdoorplay) and his finance are traveling the Americas in their customized Sprinter van.  Checkout www.sprinterlife.com to learn more about that adventure. 

And my two best friends have both taken to ultra-mobility.  One has been living in his Ford F350 Crew Crewcab pickup with its double-slide out camper, along with his cat and dog, for the last 18 months or so.  We geo-locked friends stay abreast of his doings via Facebook updates and intermittent texts and e-mail missives.

And in the vein of Yvon Chouinard’s great 180 Degrees South adventure, the other has taken to the high seas in his 35′ blue-water sailboat.  Tracking him down is a matter of determining if he’s in the Sea of Cortez, along the coast of California, or relaxing in some seaport in between. 

I am left feeling a bit behind the curve when compared to those folks!

A Renewed Perspective and Respect for Austerity

It appears from the data points I’ve collected that the Great Recession is on the wane.  The US and global economies are not healthy by any means, nor will we return to the roaring ’00s any time soon.  However, both Outdoorplay and QuietSpacing® are experiencing positive signs of growth.  It is so much more pleasant to start the year out with the sun coming up rather than in the dark of night, which is what I remember about December 2009.  Will it continue to improve?  I think so.  Have we learned our lesson about rampant consumption and living only for today?  I hope so.

Peaking Around the Corner

As we bid farewell to this last year of experiences, I am mindful of the lessons learned, the travails suffered, and the successes enjoyed.  Looking into 2011, it is with optimism and a re-commitment to the team at Outdoorplay and to my QuietSpacing® clients that I march forward.

Happy New Year!

© 2010, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

Finding myself in this quandary about what I wanted to say about 2010 or 2011 or something, I went for a run. 

During my trudging (a more apt description of what I’m actually doing out there), I reflected on what occurred over the last year.  It was not an easy year for me.  Our online kayaking business – Outdoorplay - was taking shots to the head because the retail customer was cutting back on non-essential purchases.  My consulting business – QuietSpacing® – was dramatically affected by the elimination of training and retreat funding from most 2010 budgets. 

Both ships started the year near the shoals with unfavorable wind conditions!  But with an extra large helping of spit and vigor, we clawed and dug our way through the dark months (January through July) until a shimmer of light began to appear on the horizon at mid-year.  Since then, things have steadily improved for both companies and we appear to have survived the worst of the economic storm known as the Great Recession.

As I rounded the corner at the far end of my running route, I realized that, in fact, I had a lot to be thankful for in this second decade as an entrepreneur.  The epiphany that occurred right there on Fiore Bella was that I would craft a thank you of sorts to all the people and things that inspired gratitude in me over the last year.  And, so, this is The Year in Gratitude.

Family & Friends

Everyone says it but it will never be said enough – family and friends deserve the biggest helping of thanks.  They put up with you (me!) every day. They listen and lend support.  They call you out when you deserve it and steer you back to the better path.  Without family and friends, our lives would truly be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” (Thomas Hobbes).

I am grateful for all the friends and family that allowed me to be grumpy, stressed out, and generally a pain in the *** to live with and be around when things were at their lowest.  Without their ongoing support, the dark months would have been truly unbearable.  And their presence in my life continues to bring rewards as we move into 2011.

Colleagues & Clients

Everyone I work with suffered through similar difficulties over the last year.  Budgets were cut, jobs were at risk, incomes fluctuated, and business survival was not assured.  Yet, whenever I had the pleasure of talking or working with a colleague or client, optimism was the order of the day.  Maybe I’m just lucky?  Maybe I just get to be around people who see all glasses as half full?  Maybe everyone does if they choose to? 

Regardless of the reason, I am deeply thankful for the people at Outdoorplay and all my QuietSpacing® clients.  As an entrepreneur, these two groups of people provide me a way to live the life I strive to live.  That fact is never forgotten.

Father Time & Mother Nature

This may seem like an odd inclusion in a list of things for which I’m thankful.  However, for those of you who know me, you know that I believe Time is the most important non-renewal resource we have and that, at the end of life, the one thing we will always wish is that we had more Time.  Thus, we need to make the most of the Time we have and one way to remember that is to be grateful for the Time we’ve already had.  Memories are the currency of life and it is Time that provides us opportunities to make those memories.

Years ago, I read Deepak Chopra’s “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.”  The one recommendation I remember from the book was to spend a half an hour in nature every day.  This may seem silly in today’s frenetic world, but the reality is that I truly enjoy just being outside – in nature – whenever possible. Whether I am traversing a ridge in North Central Oregon with nothing but high desert in my view or I am walking the streets of Richmond, VA, on the way to a client engagement, I love being outside.  Many of my greatest ideas come when I’m just outside enjoying what Mother Nature has to offer.

To Father Time and Mother Nature I tip my hat in gratitude for what you offer us every day.

Onward into the Sun

Though I may still succumb to the urge to do a “set your goals” missive in the near future, I can rest easy knowing that I took a new approach on looking back over the last year.  There are still many things in the world that need fixing, but I, for one, will not dwell on the negative in the face of all the things for which I am grateful.

© 2010, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

Because it was LAS, most of these people were tourists, but there were a fair number of business travelers, identifiable both by their behaviors and dress.  Many of the business travelers sported logo-wear having just left one convention or another.  Moreover, though the casual traveler now employs many of the same electronic devices (laptops, tablets and smartphones), the business traveler’s demeanor is generally more focused and intense – trying to get that last e-mail sent before the boarding call starts.

Life Imitates Art

Watching these business travelers put me in mind of Up in the Air, the movie starring George Clooney as a hardened road warrior who travels the country as a corporate hatchet man.  One of the great scenes in the movie occurs when Clooney’s character assists his new side-kick navigate air travel for the first time.  Iconic one-liners drip from the script in this short scene, but, more to the point, it caused me to think of all the productivity tools and behaviors I employ while traveling in my speaking and training business.

Sitting in LAS, I started to jot down a list these Tools of the Road and Rules of the Road.  Then it struck me!  My colleagues in the speaking industry – members of the National Speakers Association – could probably school me (and you) in their tips and tricks of the travel trade.  So, I posted a request on the NSA group page on LinkedIn asking them to share their various nuggets of wisdom in exchange for attribution for their contribution. 

What follows below is a list of all the suggestions I received from my post (with some editing for space reasons).  Please feel free to add your own via the comments box at the bottom!

Rules of the Road

To open the LinkedIn post, I listed a Rule of the Road and a Tool of the Road that I found valuable.  That suggestion is listed first, followed by all the other Rules of Road that were posted, along with the name and contact information for the person who provided the suggestion:

1. Wear slip-on shoes to expedite getting through security both on the front and back end of the process. Paul Burton, Productivity Guru. (Hey, I get attribution too!)
2. Maintain a regular exercise program and eat right.  It will keep your stamina/energy level up.  Also, NO alcohol. What happens on the road, ends up on Facebook.  Dayna Steele, Motivational Speaker – Success.
3. Dress well. You will be treated with more respect and with more favor by everyone along the way. This can make a significant difference when complications arise while traveling. Randall Munson, Keynote Speaker – Creativity.
4. Pack Light – NEVER check your luggage. Whether I’m gone for 2 days or 2 months, I always take the same two pieces: my briefcase (which can get very heavy) & my roll-aboard.   Also, I try NOT to work on the plane – give yourself a break.  As for exercise – running between gates at airports does it for me.  Susan Luke-Evans, Corporate Mytholgist.
5. Always arrive on site the day before to reduce your stress and your client’s stress, as well as to check setup while it’s still easy to make changes.  Paul Burton, Productivity Guru. (I posted a second round of tips to keep the conversation going!)
6. Make your laptop CONSPICUOUS,  Randall Munson, Keynote Speaker – Creativity.  (Randall went on to relate a harrowing story about having his laptop stolen while going through TSA.  A business traveler’s nightmare!)
7. Wear a professional outfit to look the part as you travel and save space in your roll-aboard – which you don’t check. Never arrive for a speech the same day, as that is when your plane will have mechanical problems and you won’t get there on time. Learn to pack but also know how to iron! Wear only slip on shoes for flying days or change on your way to the airport. Gail Busman Goodmand, Direct Sales Trainer.
8. I always keep a copy of cards – insurance, credit cards, driver’s license, passport info, etc. and so does anyone I travel with. I have theirs also. I always travel with my passport as an added backup of info at airports in case my driver’s license gets lost in a messy purse (well, that happened only once). Anita Johnston, Court Reporter Trainer.
9. I ALWAYS make time to take a walk in the cities I am in so I leave with a feeling that I had a little vacation, even though it may have been a busy event! I always fly out early the day before my event so I have time to see the city, unwind and can work if needed… that helps me get settled and feel more as if I am on a mini-vacation than business! I can go over my talk and get settled and know it helps me deliver a better program than rushing in the night before or early the day of the event. Adele Good, Health Speaker and Author.
10. If you’re making a close connection in one of the busy airports, check the arrival screen for your gate after you check the departure screen. The departure screen will say “On Time” but if the arrival is listed as “Delayed,” you know if you need to sprint or just take a leisurely jog. Steve Schumann, Productivity Coach.

Tools of the Road

The notion here was to gather together the things frequent flyers use to make travel just a little be easier.  Again, I started the list and added one later to keep the conversation going.  Here’s what was posted:

1. Get a smartphone – any smartphone.  The amount of information you can receive in the palm of your hand virtually anywhere in the world today is simply unbelievable. Paul Burton, Productivity Guru.
2. My iPad has been a huge help on the road, not having to lug all the PC/laptop stuff around. Dayna Steele, Motivational Speaker – Success.
3. Noise cancelling headphones to cut engine noise and enjoy some relaxing music while traveling. Paul Burton, Productivity Guru.
4. Always carry in your briefcase/computer bag a 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 AC plug. Whenever you arrive at a gate you instantly go sniffing around for electrical outlets. It’s almost guaranteed that the ones you want will have an open seat, but all the plugs are sucked up by iPads, iPods, or other travelers’ laptop power cords. You just walk up, hold your 2-to-1 AC plug and say “Mind if we share the plug?” No one ever says no (how could they?). And you’re good to go. You also generally have another plug open so you can be a generous soul when another person walks by desperately looking for power!  Brian Walter, Communications Consultant and Corporate Humorist.
5. Get a skin for your laptop to make it conspicuous.  Tip: If you have a skin made and use your own logo or image, make the image large enough to cover the entire surface of the skin so there is no potential for there to be a detectable edge between your logo’s background and the skin’s background [to prevent people from removing it]. Even if the background of your logo and the base color of the skin are the same (in my case, black) there could be a slight variation in color so I created a version of my logo with a large black background that covered the entire skin. Also, I included my contact information in small print so that also serves as an ID tag for my laptop.  Randall Munson, Keynote Speaker – Creativity.
6. Comfy sleepwear and a non-work related book. Give your brain down time so you can see the “forest for the trees” by not thinking about work when you are alone and have the quiet of the hotel room. My best ideas come to me when I’m not trying to be creative. Gail Busman Goodmand, Direct Sales Trainer.
7. Carry an empty water bottle. After the security checkpoint, I stop, place a packet of flavoring, fill and voila! I also visit at one of my member airline clubs for “cleaner” water. Last year I saved $194 in airport bottled water costs.  Frank Polkowski, Speaker – Management Development.
8. I found a pair of light weight shoes that are much smaller than running shoes …are black and have zippers.. easy to pack and double as walking shoes or a brief run. Also, having the Platinum AX has allowed me access to American & Delta’s clubs at the airports without paying for each individually – and free Hertz #1 Club – for $400 a year it is invaluable on those long layovers! The attendants in these clubs have helped me get on other flights and keep me updated as to changes… great perk to make travel more fun these days.. when some of the gate agents won’t even talk to you!  Adele Good, Health Speaker and Author.
9. Bought a “Mother eTech mini 21″ wheeled duffle” from ebags.com after reading a recommendation on Speakernet News. I LOVE IT! It fits every airline configuration I have been on recently and I have been able to store it and I can’t believe how many things I can pack in this duffle. I am a girly girl and travel with suits and extra shoes and have had NO problem having what I need. It even has a great little zippered compartment on the top for that evil little plastic Ziploc bag. I will never check luggage again if I can avoid it. There are over 2,000 reviews on this bag…..so what does that say!  I also bought one of their laptop bags and it is so great it has an extra zippered area that I could use for extra clothing if needed and for men, a couple of shirts and ties would fit. Between those two pieces of luggage I feel free of ridiculous baggage fees. Anne Obarski, Speaker – Retail Customer Service.
10. I use the FlightStats Lite app on my Android phone to track flight status information.  (There must be an iPhone version, too.) You can enter your flight number and it will give you up-to-the-minute departure and arrival times and gates at both ends of the flights. It can be a time shaver when you fear you have a tight connection. I always double check the airport screens, too, but with this free app you can check while on the airplane. Randall Munson, Keynote Speaker – Creativity.
11. A great back up tool is the 2GB watch from Thinkgeek. It is always on my wrist and it holds all my programs.  Eric Trogdon, Mediator – Conflict Resolution.
12.  I have been using TripIt and Flight Tracker Pro on my iPhone and it has helped tremendously. Often times the flight status hits my iPhone before it hits the board. On more than one occasion I was the first person at the gate to know that the flight was canceled. I was able to get a head start and rebook my flight while others were still standing in line fretting. If I had to pick between the two, I would suggest the TripIt app. It is easy to use and includes ground transportation and hotel reservations. All I have to do is forward my itinerary to the TripIt email address and it adds it to my app. In addition, I have it synchronized with the calendar on my computer.  I also use DropBox to upload the files for events to “the cloud”. If my laptop or iPad are stolen, I can still download the files from anyone’s computer and press on. Dan Diamond, MD, Speaker – Employee Engagement.

And the List Goes On

Of course, these are just a few of the things you can do to remain healthy, productive, and sane while on the road.  Tell us your best Rule of the Road or Tool of the Road below and check back regularly for updates to this list!

© 2010 – 2012, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

I recently had occasion to enjoy a cup of coffee with a client towards the end of the day. It was a perfect time for us to sit back and just catch up. The conversation worked its way into some “big picture” topics and the question was posed, “Why do we do what we do?”  My answer is very simple and it was refreshing to be reminded of it.

The Most Important Non-Renewable Resource

Much is made today of sustainability and moving beyond the use of Mother Earth’s non-renewable resources – oil, gas, coal, etc. These efforts are important, as are the related efforts of reduce, reuse and recycle.  But, in the end, there is one non-renewable resource that is most important – time. The reason is simple, we measure our lives by the use of time and when your allotment is gone, no more can be had.

Let me be blunt. At the end of your days, you will never wish you had more money, a bigger house, or better cars. You’ll wish you had more time. That’s because you won’t be done yet. There will be things left for you to do. And they will remain undone. Sad? Maybe, but it also presents an opportunity.

Measuring a Life’s Success

Memories are the currency of life. The number of good ones you create is the measure of your success. This applies to the professional and personal aspects of your life.

On the professional side, contrary to what Loverboy said, you should not be working for the weekend. You need to work at a job and with people you like. This is a huge part of the time you spend making memories, so make sure you’re not squandering it. There’s a whole book in describing how to do this, but here are some examples to get you started:

• Get an officemate their favorite coffee the next time you’re out.
• Try incorporating “please” and “thank you” into every conversation.
• Smile as much as you can stand it.

You contribute your half to the interactions you have each day and you can only control that half.

The same goes for your home life. It was recently reported that Americans spend 150 hours each month watching T.V.  That’s five hours a day! I know, I know. It’s not you, it’s Bob in Accounting. But even if you’re only watching two or three hours a day, consider the memories you’re making. More poignantly, what was the plot of C.S.I. last week? Turn it off; do something else. Anything else, such as:

• Go for a walk.
• Call your mom.
• Have a conversation with your significant other, even if it’s your dog.
• Play Solitaire.

Engage your mind. Take a stab at making a memory worth a damn.

Making Every Day Count

Regardless of your spiritual proclivities, the gift of time is a limited opportunity. Simplifying your perspective on how to utilize the time you have makes decision making easier. Stay focused on maximizing the number of good memories you create – a job well done, an enjoyable working environment, a nice walk around the block with your significant other or your dog or both, a long-overdue and heart-felt “I love you” to your parents – and you will quickly feel more successful.

© 2010, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.

Anyway, it was with trepidation that I posted the position on a local online classified ad website.  The results were unexpected, exhilarating and heart-breaking all at once.

Can WOW! be an understatement?

The job posting went live at 6:00 PM.  By 8:00 AM the next morning, we had 15 applications.  We immediately pulled the ad but still received over 30 applications.  Prior to the economic downturn, we could wait for weeks before getting even one application.

Sorting through the applications was an exercise in wonder.  People from all walks of life were applying.  The resumes contained heavy-equipment operators, construction laborers, office staff, first-time job seekers, the gambit.  Remember, this was a job that paid about $950 per month before taxes! 

We selected the six most qualified candidates to invite in for interviews.

A Straight Path Wanders

The morning of the interviews, we received another application. This was from a woman we knew.  She had worked for one of our vendors before being laid off in the downturn.  She had been out of work for six months and just wanted to get back to it, no matter the job.

Catherine (no, that’s not her real name) was not a fit for the position we were hiring, but we had a very high opinion of her from her last job.  So we fit her into our schedule to explore her background and skills.  We were considering … but back to the interviews for the warehouse position.

The first candidate set the bar very high.  He was just a year out of high school, was a local guy, had taken a year off to wander the earth, was considering starting school at the local community college in the fall, and was the son of an owner in another local business like ours.  And did I mention that he’d reviewed our web site and knew a great deal about our business?  And did I also mention that he walked into the interview with a copy of his resume in his hand … just in case?  We could not have scripted a better candidate and interview, but there were others to meet.

The next several candidates were qualified but unremarkable.  I think two of them had looked at our web site and knew the nature of our business.  Two years ago, we would have jumped to hire any one of them, but Candidate #1 had really impressed us with his preparation and alignment with our needs.

The last candidate to interview was the heart-breaker.  He was an out-of-work construction worker.  He was married with a young child, living in the basement of his in-laws house.  He hadn’t worked for 18 months and was just itching to do something to be of use and to support his family.  It pained me to see the commitment and earnestness in his face for a chance at our entry level part-time job.  He said we were the only company who’d even interviewed him in the last six months.  Ouch.

The Agony of Too Many Choices

As the last candidate left, we turned to the hard work of making a decision.  First, we discussed the warehouse position and agreed that Candidate #1 was the right person for the job.  We also all agreed that we’d hire the last candidate if we could even though we knew he’d leave for a higher paying job when the opportunity arose. Alas, there was only one warehouse position available – a part-time one at that.  Candidate #1 got the job.

Next, we took up conversation on Catherine.  Throughout the day, we had talked in snippets about her skill set and our longer term needs for the company. She clearly fit the bill for a core role in the administrative part of the business.  Another bonus was that she was known and liked by our current folks, which suggested an easy transition.

With her value established, we turned to affordability and the impact hiring Catherine would have the team’s salary increases over the short term.  When asked, our General Manager stated very clearly that the current team members were happy that their jobs had yet to be truly affected by the downturn and that they’d welcome the help Catherine would bring to the over-worked group.  (We’d frozen hiring 18 months earlier leaving the existing people to wrestle with the ongoing demands of the business.)  The decision was to offer Catherine a position as well, which she took.

Lessons Learned

Both of the new hires have settled nicely into their roles.  The team is thrilled to have the support, even with knowledge that salary increases are now clearly dependent on how quickly the economy recovers. 

My lasting impressions from the experience are:

• Americans Love to Work.  When the economy was soaring, there was a lot focus on work-life balance.  The underlying premise was that people wanted to work less.  Though downturns are never pleasant, nor do I wish financial hardship on anyone, my view is that people are hungry to get back to work.  In fact, the perspective on work-life balance may have balanced itself out a bit.  Work is a part of life, a good part.  The sense of entitlement that was developing over the last decade was destructive to the very people forming those opinions.
• Productivity is a Good Thing.  Turning away from the media-hyped stories of corporate greed and the too-big-to-fail bleating by politicians and CEOs alike, it’s good to have Americans at work.  The sense of accomplishment and belonging are hugely valuable, not to mention the ability to provide for your loved ones.  These basic tenets get lost today in all the hysterics and finger pointing.  I was reminded of it during those interviews.  People just want to matter again.
• Hire for the Long Term Even if it Hurts a Little Now.  Dennis Snow, 25-year veteran at Disney, talks about recruiting all the time so that when you have a need, you’ve already identified a good pool of candidates.  Most companies hire out of emergency – when someone leaves or something similar.  Admittedly, that’s what we were doing.  However, I would like to pat ourselves on the back for engaging in another good hiring practice:  Hire the right people, even if you have to create the position early.  Both Candidate # 1 and Catherine are great people.  We had a job for one of them and we accelerated an opening for the other.  They’ve been a terrific fit and we’re seeing the benefits of the decision already.

My expectations at the outset of this hiring adventure were that we were rolling the dice.  My experience was that there are a tremendous number of able and willing people looking to get the American productivity engine back to a steady purr. 

(Footnote:  I am a co-founder in Outdoorplay, an online retailer that sells kayaking gear.  It’s been 12 years in the making and we have a fantastic team of people who make it happen.  My greatest source of pride is to have been a part of its success.)

© 2010, Paul H. Burton. All rights reserved.