Sunday, March 30, 2008

Change The Way You See Everything Through Asset-Based Thinking

Change The Way You See Everything Through Asset-Based Thinking
by Kathryn D. Cramer, Ph.D & Hank Wasiak
book review by vmsteveo

Change the Way You See Everything is a collection of three thought provoking sections that encourage its readers to change their perspective from deficit-based to asset-based thinking. The book takes the reader past the proverbial glass half-full, positive thinking techniques and gives them a step by step, easy to follow guide with end of chapter go-do’s that can stimulate even the most determined pessimists. Before we get into discussing the book, let's define asset and deficit based thinking:

Deficit-Based Thinking (DBT) – “Concentrates on personal gaps and weaknesses, what is bothersome and irritating about others, and what is not working , problematic and holding us back.”

Asset-Based Thinking (ABT) – “Equips you with a special way of viewing everyday life that yield maximum returns on your investment of attention and effort.”

Section I, Change the Way You See Yourself, teaches to be less critical of the self through identifying and expanding your successes, positive experiences, and what makes you at peace; leaving perceived faults, non supportive people and negative experiences behind you.

Section II, Change the Way You See Other People encourages readers to set aside personal biases of other people by knocking it down a gear and taking a deep breath to search for the truth within that person. This can greatly change your understanding of what matters most to that co-worker, client or opponent.

Section III, Change the Way You See Situations coaches the reader to take a stressful situation and analyzing it in slow motion. I especially like the Laws of Attraction as it explains the importance of projecting outward your commitment, support and dedication to the person or task at hand. Doing the opposite can kill a sale or permanently damage a relationship.

Change the Way You See Everything includes exercises at the end of each section and has an area to jot down your thoughts. This book also comes equipped with detachable 3x5 cards with Asset-Based phrases used to remind you of what matters most and to get away from dwelling on those negative thoughts that seem to creep in every now and then. Lastly, the authors leave you with several sources to continue your deep dive into Asset Based Thinking. I leave you with one righteous, thought provoking quote from the book:

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the human spirit.”
- Albert Schweitzer

See you in the trenches - vmsteveo

Friday, March 28, 2008

Things you can do with your clients....

Relationships sell. I know, I know... great service is important, but we do business with people we like. So what's out there to do to help solidify those relationships...

One: Baseball game (but you better have good seats). 2+ hours with a client in a relaxed atmosphere.

Two: Golfing - hint... if you are both weak golfers then - skip it. If you are the weak golfer (very weak) - skip it. Other than that... play...

Three: Dinner with the Spouses - this can work really well or really bad. The spouse's will need to like each other, if not, then its crash and burn time.

Four: Conference - Sponsor your client to go to the conference on the technology that you provide.... this really could be a win-win. The clients learns and hopefully you get a big project out of it.

Pick one... try it... and report back.
If you have already tried one - let me know your thoughts....

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

FIGHT THE MARYLAND TECH TAX

Maryland IT Companies are in the fight of their life... This tax could force companies out of the state or seriously effect their survival...

Maryland’s Computer Services Tax www.fightthetechtax.com
Tech Council of Maryland leading the fight to repeal

During the November 2007 special session the Maryland General Assembly enacted legislation to expand the state’s sales tax to computer services. Effective July 1, 2008, Maryland’s 6 percent sales tax will apply to computer services, including:

Computer facilities management and operation; Custom programming; Computer system planning and design that integrate computer hardware, software, and communication technologies; Computer disaster recovery; Data processing, storage and recovery; and Hardware or software installation, maintenance, and repair.

To view enacted language, click here.

This new law hurts businesses of all sizes and industries throughout the state. It creates a business climate and tax structure for Maryland businesses that is less competitive with other states. Only a handful of other states tax computer services. The technology industry is part of the economy that Maryland should be trying to grow, not discourage. Click here to learn what you can do to help us repeal the computer services sales tax.

Talking Points
Maryland spends millions of dollars annually to attract and expand technology companies. Computer service companies employ 68,000 Marylanders, with an annual payroll of $5.2 billion, paying wages nearly twice the statewide average. Imposing a sales tax on these activities will jeopardize these jobs.

Taxing computer services makes Maryland's business climate and tax structure less competitive with other states, including Virginia. Only a handful of other states tax computer services.
Maryland businesses will pay the majority of this $200 million computer services sales tax. The recent special session resulted in more than $800 million in new business taxes.
Expanding the sales tax to computer services hurts small and growing companies. Large companies hire employees to perform many of the services outlined in the bill. Small businesses are more likely to hire outside companies to perform these services, and, therefore, would be more likely to pay the proposed sales tax.

Maryland-based companies with multi-year computer support contracts will have to bear an unanticipated 6 percent reduction in revenues.

This new tax on computer services could jeopardize BRAC jobs that would have relocated to Maryland. Maryland-based subcontractors will face a 6 percent price disadvantage when bidding to participate on federal contracts.

There is a reason most states do not attempt to impose a sales tax on services. It is very difficult to administer. Applying the sales tax to computer services is confusing for Maryland businesses and has proven to be legally problematic in states with similar laws.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

How to Become CEO, The Rules of Rising to the Top of Any Organization

How to Become CEO – The Rules of Rising to the Top of Any Organization
By Jeffery J. Fox
book review by vmsteveo

This book might be common knowledge for some but I have to say I laughed at myself while reading some of the chapters as I firmly believed in implementing some of the “don’ts” as “do’s” into my own recipe for success as I climbed my own ladder and wondered why I wasn’t getting anywhere.

How to Become CEO – The Rules of Rising to The Top of Any Organization is segmented into seventy-five one to two page chapters that are easy to absorb and implement even for those people who don’t have the time to read a book from beginning to end. These short chapters, or “commandments” as the author describes them, can be applied on and off the corporate playing field. I took the liberty of organizing the chapters of this book into three sub-categories marked as “Corporate”, “Job”, and “Personal” perspectives. I selected twelve (of seventy-five) chapters for this review that provoke thought and ideas you can weave into your own plan as you ascend to the top of your profession.

Corporate Perspective

Chapter 28 - Be Visible, Practice WACADAD
This chapter discusses the old adage “Words are cheap and deeds are dear”. The author challenges you to ask your company “What are the big issues that need to be solved?” and go solve them. Striving to help out with the heavy lifting gives you a chance to promote your personal brand to different divisions of the organization.

Chapter 31 - Never Surprise Your Boss
Whether with good news or bad, never surprise your boss. They have enough to be surprised about within the responsibilities that they have to manage on a daily basis. The good boss is not that interested in your surprise party but more interested with your progress on the tasks you were asked to complete. Never surprising your boss perceives you as predictable, trustworthy and therefore a candidate for promotion.

Chapter 32 - Make Your Boss Look Good and Your Bosses Boss Look Even Better
The fastest way to promotion is the ripple effects of making everyone look good two to three layers up the food chain. Also identify any pitfalls to your boss that he might unknowingly fall into as this will hurt your ability to move up the ladder. Always over communicate and inform.

Chapter 56 - Stay Out of Office Politics
I always hated office politics, but I also confused OP with the work required to promote my own brand to upper management. The first one needs to be avoided at all costs and the second one implemented at all costs. When it comes to office politics, the author urges you to be the last to know and spend your time creating and accomplishing instead.

Job Perspective

Chapter 27 - Don’t Hide an Elephant
As soon as a problem arises, identify it and inform your superiors. “The “hiders” always get burned, regardless of complicity. The discoverers are always safe, regardless of complicity.” Obvious but often overlooked.

Chapter 4 - Get And Keep Customers
This is one of the toughest (and visible) jobs for any organization to accomplish. The author explains that it is imperative that you find and keep current and future customers as they provide the ideas for new products and applications as well as a line of site into your competitors.

Chapter 62 - Become a Member of the Shouldn’t Have Club
I read this title to several people that responded with the same word, “What?” In this chapter the author urges us to take chances, there are no super stars in the non-doers club (I should have done that or I could have done that). It’s a boring place to be. Instead, take some risks, be a doer and get a little scraped up. Be the one that says “Gee, I shouldn’t have done that”, as there will be ten other times when the results prove that your decisions were correct.

Chapter 74 - To Teach Is To Learn and Lead
Take every chance available to present to a new hire or group to educate them on what you do. “Good preparation and practice will produce a good presentation. A good presentation will earn you a company-wide reputation as an expert in your job.”

Self Perspective

Chapter 35 – Add One Big Thing to Your Life Each Year
To be at the top of any organization you need to broaden your life experiences. Train for a marathon, learn to rock climb, master French cuisine, anything. Make a list and keep to it!

Chapter 5 – Keep Physically Fit
This is another obvious one but hard to keep. Discipline plays a huge role with exercise and eating right (eat to live not live to eat). Remember that if you can stick with exercising and eating right for 21 days, it will become a habit. It gives you energy to plow thorough a tough work week, to coach your child’s soccer team, volunteer at the local soup kitchen, or to have the energy to play with your kids.

Chapter 6 – Do something hard and lonely
This is a shout out to the Spartan. Do things others are reluctant to do and do it alone. Ideas would be getting your graduate degree, writing book reviews, or studying real estate. Anything, but do it alone. “All great and successful athletes remember the endless hours of seemingly unrewarded toil. So do corporate presidents.”

Chapter 9 – Keep and Use a Special Idea Notebook
Use it to brainstorm. I keep mine by the bed so if I wake with an idea, I can get the essence of it down on paper so that I don’t forget the idea in the morning. I also use it for those once in a lifetime hysterical situations that you always seem to forget soon after they happen. The point is, when you write things down, you commit to them. They can become a part of your daily or monthly “to-do list” that gets you closer to your goals. “Good ideas always have their time. When they do, commit them to action via your “to-do” list.

This book helped me better separate the lines of personal brand building vs. getting stuck in the mud within corporate politics. I liked the easy read as it sparked new ideas and rejuvenated old ones that were left unimplemented. I also found that especially reviewing the “obvious” chapters made them that much more “obvious” and easier to make permanent within my own plans to ascend to the top.

See you in the trenches - vmsteveo

After rough start, Bob McKillop is at home at little Davidson

This is a very inspirational article for any level of management and comes directly from my home town.

See you in the trenches - vmsteveo

After rough start, Bob McKillop is at home at little Davidson
By MIKE CRANSTON, AP Sports Writer Mar 19, 2:07 pm EDT

DAVIDSON, N.C. (AP)—Bob McKillop arrived 19 years ago from New York and planned a short stay. He thought it would take about four years to turn around the Davidson basketball program. Then he’d move on to that bigger coaching job he was convinced he deserved.
“Arrogant, abrasive, cocky high school coach,” McKillop said in describing himself then. “Thought he could come in and wave a magic wand, not realizing the challenges of Division I basketball.”
McKillop, who starred at Hofstra before becoming a decorated high school coach on Long Island, saw his plan shattered when Davidson went 4-24, 10-19 and 11-17 his first three seasons.
His job on the line, McKillop realized he had to change.

I had to get brought to my knees with a very humbling experience before I learned what the real importance in coaching is,” McKillop said. “That’s teaching young men to be responsible, to be accountable and to work as a team.”

While he stubbornly clings to his New York accent, every other part of that young and grating coach is gone, as the 57-year-old McKillop prepares to lead Davidson (26-6) against Gonzaga on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Now 337-224 in 19 seasons, McKillop has not only turned Davidson into a mid-major power, he’s become a fixture and father figure at this tiny liberal arts college. He lives in a house that sits across the street from campus in this quaint town 20 miles north of Charlotte. You can sometimes see him chatting with neighbors on the sidewalk. Both of his sons have played for him, including Brendan, a freshman on this year’s team.

“When I came, Bob was still learning about the culture at Davidson and it’s not an easy task,” said athletic director Jim Murphy, who arrived as McKillop started his seventh season in 1995. “But I think each year he assimilated a greater sense of the community and a greater feeling for the intricacies of the Davidson College community.” McKillop has led the Wildcats to four straight 20-win seasons and three straight NCAA tournaments, but this year’s team is his best.
Davidson has won 22 straight games, the longest streak in the nation. Seeded 10th in the Midwest Region, the Wildcats have their best chance to win their first NCAA tournament game since Lefty Driesell put this school on the basketball map with two Elite Eight appearances in the 1960s.

“He’s done a great job there,” said Driesell, still considered royalty around town. “I love his team. I think he could win a couple of games in the NCAA and I’m pulling for them.”
Like Driesell, McKillop has overcome rigid academic standards at this school of 1,700 students with a unique recruiting philosophy. Davidson’s roster has players from Canada, France, England, Turkey and Nigeria.

But McKillop didn’t have to venture far to get the best player to wear a Wildcats uniform in decades. McKillop eagerly went after Charlotte’s Stephen Curry when the big schools shied away because of his size. Curry, the son of former NBA player Dell Curry, has since grown four inches to 6-foot-3. With a lightning-quick release, the sophomore has scored 1,533 points in less than two seasons under McKillop’s guidance. “You see his decision-making has improved quite significantly,” said McKillop, who clearly relishes coaching such a talented player. “His defense, his rebounding have improved significantly.” But Curry isn’t immune from McKillop’s demanding style. Neither is senior point guard Jason Richards, who leads the country in assists per game.

The self-proclaimed “tough guy from Queens” gets on everybody. Thomas Sander caught McKillop’s wrath at practice on Monday, when the senior forward was sluggish after staying up most of the night before finishing a paper. “He came up to me afterward and said, ‘Thomas, I’m not that kind of coach. I’m going to be on you no matter what time of the year it is. If you want a different coach, go someplace else,”’ Sander said.

“I said, ‘Coach, I’m a senior. Where am I going to go?”’ It’s clear McKillop no longer plans to go elsewhere. “There is no doubt in my mind that Bob could be very successful at any number of Division I college basketball programs,” Murphy said. “It’s just a question of how much would he enjoy his success at those programs. I’ve heard him say, ‘How many Division I coaches can say they’ve raised three children in the same house?”’

A house that allows McKillop to walk to work, while running into excited residents who think Davidson can become this year’s big NCAA tournament surprise. “Sometimes when you put your eyes on your next job rather than put your eyes on what’s in front of you, which is your team, you fall into that trap very easily,” McKillop said. “I’ve been fortunate that my family has been afforded the opportunity to grow up here.”

Let's Virtualize Political Leaders

Virtualization is the new word in technology... everyone is using it.. .except politicians. I would like to virtualize them. Can you really believe them... One does something and the other one says they did it on purpose. Some one on their staff says something about the other candidate and they say we do not carry that opinion and then fire the person only to hire that person in a different capacity.

We need to be ruled by leaders - 1 term, 4 years and the process needs to change. no parties... just a list of people who are running... limited amount to spend on the election and make it government funded so it can be controlled... meaning that the government needs to write the checks this way no one cheats....

My two cents.... - this is not government funded....