Planning is really important. We all know the saying fail to plan and you plan to fail but too much planning is ineffective. It’s actions that cause things to happen, not plans. Very often planning can be used as an excellent excuse for inaction and procrastination. “We can’t start yet,…
What’s the next big idea? We are constantly looking for big ideas to solve problems (especially things like climate change, lifestyle etc) and increase productivity, but little things mean a lot. The power of compounding is too often ignored in favour of quick high-profile fixes. In his book Essentialism Greg…
The problem with the constant drive for productivity and efficiency is that it leaves little or no time for future improvements. Effective people do today what makes them better tomorrow. Effective organisations do the same. The strive for short term results particularly if you are reporting to a short-sighted organisation…
If you want to do something for free in a specific market, say for a charity, that is fine but everyone else should pay the correct price. Certainly, don’t do work for free or give away goods on the “sprat to catch a mackerel” principle. We’ve all done it. Tried…
When I trained as an accountant in the early 1980’s Just In Time (JIT) was put forward as the efficient way of doing things. Get what you needed delivered as you needed it and not a moment earlier. This cut down on inventory and all the associated costs and freed…
Normally the OSKAR method is used for coaching, and I believe it to be a very effective way of helping your clients. However, it can also be used to set objectives and help you achieve them. Here’s how using the OSKAR method to set effective objectives could be of use…
There’s an old saying “time is money” but it’s not true. You see time is so much more valuable than money. If you lose money or waste it then there are loads of things you can do to earn it back. However, time is different, once it’s gone, it’s gone…
Too many people don’t know the difference and if you try to pretend you are one when you are really the other then that is a recipe for disaster. Even worse if you think you are both. Trust me, I’ve tried and it doesn’t work. So, are you an entrepreneur…
Coming from a qualified accountant you may find the above statement somewhat surprising. We looked at this topic before in Why Effective Leaders Don’t Use Accounts To Make Decisions and it’s time to look again. Let’s see why accounts are not effective. All the old-fashioned banks would disagree with me. If…
The trouble with so many “leaders” is that they are so busy trying to lead others that they forget to lead themselves. The founder of VISA Dee Hock has stated that if you want to be a leader then you should invest at least 40% of your time in leading…