NGlobalTime

What Great People In Business Have In Common

Everyone knows what quality great people in business have in common. It is not an art or a science. There is no mystery. The essence is pure and simple:

Great people in business get things done

One of my business partners from a private software company wrote the following:

The foundation for change to happen is the ability to execute on all levels at the time you need to execute. The next time you have an idea, ask yourself, are you ready to execute on it?  The journey may be long and the desire to bring your idea to fruition will require persistence, but even more so, it will require execution.  And that ability to execute is what will make leaders great. – John Carrino, Esq.

This lesson is old school for many, especially where people come from a commission only sales background. It is very simple. You produce or you are gone. Performance is everything. You are only paid if you are successful.

Shouldn’t this be one of the universal foundations of business? Unfortunately it is not. Many people in business insist that it is their right to get paid for effort irrespective of results delivered. What ever happened to client satisfaction? There is no room on a team for players with an entitlement philosophy.

As one of my old bosses from real estate brokerage once said: “Your work is your signature.” This in fact sums it up. You need persistence and passion. If however your work is not good, you will not get the results and this has a direct impact on your reputation.

Great people in business focus on the target. They use their passion, creativity and people smarts to deliver exceptional results. At any age or segment of their career, these people are the true high flyers with exceptional talent. You hear very few excuses and the conversation focuses on results.

Great people are a joy to work with in business. They get it done!

- NGlobalTime

How my Digital Life Became Less Annoying with Apple Products

For the record, I’m not one of the Apple faithful or a ‘fan boy’ who hangs out on a cold city street corner in the middle of the night waiting for the latest and greatest product.

I do however owe my admiration for productive Apple products and give credit to my brother, who one day said, “I am so done with Microsoft.” Not knowing what he meant, I decided to pick up his iPad a few summers ago and read The New York Times. It looked ok and about a month later, I purchased an iPad.

Fast forward to today, the results are productivity and enjoyment. Thank you Apple. As the late Steve Jobs exclaimed many times: ‘It just works’ and how right this is.

Now when devices or software act up or become too annoying, I just replace them. In my electronics graveyard is my old blackberry and gathering dust is my Sony laptop and add to that my Canon digital camera. All are either gone or soon to be gone.

During 2010, my NYC IT consultant, Rafael Quirindongo from Century Micro did one of the most selfless things ever and recommended that I move everything to the Mac Mini. He told me that the software headaches and integration issues would go away. One of the big benefits now avoided was the terminal software updates that slow down your PC almost every time you log in and need to get something done. Gone. I mean, is it really necessary for Adobe to update Acrobat several time per week? This infernal update from the PC environment is gone with the Mac Mini. After purchasing the Mac Mini, I went online to buy OEM memory from Crucial.com. The memory slots are now maxed out and the machine runs well. The other day, Microsoft Word was acting up with a thunderstorm of validation issues and updates. Yes, gone. I went to the App Store and purchased Apple Pages. Word is now on life support. Any more annoying messages and that program will be gone.

When I purchased the Mac, I spent plenty of time, hours in fact of being on the phone with Research in Motion in paid technical support. The technicians there are friendly but after 3+ hours during the work day, the patience wears thin. What we determined is that Blackberry synching did not work effectively with Outlook 2011 for the Mac. Yes, you guessed it, the Outlook application is gone and I moved to the Apple address book. This is after spending hundreds of dollars in support fees with Research in Motion. Hindsight is 50/50 but I should have moved to the iPhone years ago. When you have a problem you can call Apple or just go to the store. Done.

In December 2011, when the Blackberry started to act up and become needy with demanding regular extra power offs and removing the battery, it was retired. Ah yes, you say you like typing with the keyboard? First of all, who types? The most enjoyable part of the process was bringing my Mac Mini into the store then purchasing an iPhone 4s and having the Apple staff do everything. Just let them figure it out and they did. Nice folks. Yes, no more standing on line at the cell phone store and begging for help with integration issues. Now there is no more wondering about phone upgrade dates and eligibility. Purchasing Apple Care, the iPhone 4s and calling it a day was a good move, with time and many hassles saved.

For those who love to type on the Blackberry keyboard, there is a better way. The voice transcription on the iPhone 4s is solid and fast enough to do this for you. It does save time to use the transcription for longer memos and even chatting on Skype. This is a huge productivity boost. For the record, I am still terrible with typing on the 4s screen, but the spell checker either auto corrects or highlights most of the typos anyway. I don’t have any separation anxiety from missing a Blackberry keyboard.

As a communication device, I do appreciate the fact that the iPhone 4s helps solve the problem of convergence. I could never get a reliable calendar to work with my old Blackberry and my PC desktop. Now my calendar is synched across all three Apple devices, desktop, iPad and iPhone. This is a joy to feel more productive. I also love to listen to music in the car and at the gym. Now it is easy with carrying one device. My niece loves using her second hand Apple iPod Nano.

As mentioned, it is great having a reliable and quality camera built into the iPhone. Capturing moments is what life is all about. I also love the Shazam app where you can capture the name of a song and then email it to yourself. I still buy all of my books and music from Amazon. As mentioned, I am not a complete Apple loyalist. The Kindle app works great on the iPad and MP3 music purchased from Amazon is flawlessly delivered to iTunes with no headaches. For this I am thankful.

Everyone knows about the iPad and how it helps make you more mobile and productive. You can also read for hours anywhere and surf the net for hours, all the while not having to tilt a laptop screen or worry about the device over heating on your knees. The iPad perfectly follows the mantra of Apple to make your life easier. Viva la difference.

So that is it, as a businessman and entrepreneur who travels and needs to stay connected to family, friends, customers, and business associates, the Apple products provide a HUGE trifecta of value, joy and productivity. The digital life has never been more fun and for this I am thankful for the Apple products and software.

In my opinion, rewards that the Apple team is earning are richly deserved because they are marketing convenient and fun and valuable products that people want since they help make their life more convenient, productive and enjoyable.

-NGlobalTime

The Limits of Scoring Identity and Influence

So what’s your Klout? Are you Identified?

Oooh. You mean we can’t all be Über sophisticates?

Did you see the WSJ.com video about the NYU Stern Business School professor that bases a portion of the student’s grade in the branding class on their Klout score?

Giving a Smörgåsbord of identity companies the ability to read your email and log into your various accounts is not an option for many people.

True identity in life concerns sharing and caring. It is up to the person to determine how and when and where they engage and to what degree. It is their private business.

Influential and trusted people can and do live outside the zones of the gamification of ‘influence’. They always will. They meet and hold your confidence. Their word is their bond to the end.

Gerard R. Roche, the senior chairman of Heidrick and Struggles is the best known executive recruiter in America. He explained in a 6.5 minute Leadership Roundtable video that there is no substitute for meeting ‘eyeball to eyeball’ in a relaxed setting to better understand a candidate.

People have influence. This is difficult to grade. It does not matter if your online network is 5 or 500,000 or you don’t even use a computer. We are influenced by humanity. We are moved, scared and inspired by this every day. Try riding the New York City Subway. Life is not a function for marketers to figure out.

Twitter is a phenomenal platform for listening, learning and sharing. People can determine signal or noise with ease and without influence and identity scoring. Using Twitter lists is a great way to stay off the radar while at the same time being humble and learning.

No one can tell the future. If we have learned anything as marketers in the last six months it is that paying customers are the life blood of a business. They should be rewarded for their loyalty! The ‘freemium’ mentality does not guarantee or translate into sales. For every person that gives you a gift are you compelled to then purchase the item next or even talk about it? No. You have the right to do what you want. Isn’t a better option to go to a retailer to buy the item and if you are not 100% satisfied, in most cases the retailer stands behind the product. If you offer a quality product and service you will rise to the top based on the merits.

There are no shortcuts.

-NGlobalTime