This site temporarily on hold.

I apologize for the lack of posts to this site lately. As you may know, I was recently on vacation in France then returned and went to a wedding in San Diego. Next weekend I'll be in Monterey and the following weekend in Las Vegas. Oh and my wife and I are also closing on a condo (which we plan to remodel before moving into) and I'm finishing my MBA applications (for Santa Clara).

Needless to say, things are a little hectic and updating the blog hasn't been my top priority right now. I plan to re-launch it fully by the end of this summer so look for it on a Google search near you.

If you're interested in what's happening in my personal life, check out sp33dfreak.blogspot.com.

The One-Guy Theory

BusinessWeek has an article worth reading about The One-Guy Theory. In short, the theory says that successful businesses have one person who is ultimately responsible and making the decisions. This one person is often the brains or the vision behind everything the company is doing. The article goes on to cite some good examples and there are tons more in the tech industry where I work.

Steve Jobs is probably the most obvious example. Apple doesn't do focus groups or marketing studies not only because they're highly secretive about their products but also because they have so much trust in the product vision of their leader. But putting this much trust in one person can be dangerous and Apple's had their share of fumbles in the past. Remember the Motorola/iTunes partnership phone, the Rockr? Yeah, neither do I (well barely.) What about the Apple Newton? It was an ok PDA but maybe too far ahead of it's time. Even the recent Apple TV is having trouble gaining traction.

But ultimately, one-guy setting the rules is a smart way to go because otherwise you create a bureaucratic nightmare where nobody is responsible or accountable. It's hard to set a clear direction when there are multiple committees trying to decide everything. Think about the successful companies you know. Do they have one person at the top that you can point to as an obvious leader?

This touches on the fundamental media conglomerate problem: There are too many layers. There are too many fiefdoms. There are too many...guys. Guys strolling the corridors, guys clustering around the boardroom, guys slowing things down. (The litany of executives that follows shows they're, still, almost exclusively guys.) This, in a time of great uncertainty and fast-shifting consumer appetites, when sheer speed may determine which companies successfully molt and which simply melt.

BusinessWeek.com "The One-Guy Theory"

Leading people for results

Lifehack.org posted an excellent article that anyone interested in becoming a leader should read, especially prospective MBA types. In addition to being genuine (rule #1) another bit of good advice from the article is:

Never get on the power trip. Never think that your position makes you more important. Your position and role is to serve everyone else. You provide direction and you provide assistance in getting the job done.

You can’t do your employee’s jobs for them, but as the go-to person you can make sure that the daily operations are actually contributing to big picture goals. If you’re a Pointy-Haired Boss, you’re not the go-to person. You’re kept out of the loop, employees deceive you rather than discuss with you, and a lack of company cohesion means more problems and more time involved in attaining those big picture goals.

This is contrary to what we typically think of as leadership, but it's true that the higher you get the more you serve the needs of the people working for you. They are the ones grinding through the work and it's your job to help them do that. Sometimes approaching things backwards makes the most sense.

For example, during my annual review I used to always start by listing my strengths and then brainstorming examples from the year to back them up. It made the whole process difficult and painful. Then I figured out that doing it backwards was easier. Simply make a list (or keep an ongoing one) of everything you've done during the year. Then, for each item, write down what skills that item required. Suddenly you've got a good list of your strengths and supporting examples of them.

Sometimes things feel "backwards" like the quote above about being a good leader, but approaching them in this way can be helpful.

How to lead people for results - Lifehack.org

Some general resume tips

My brother-in-law is about to graduate from UCLA and is embarking on his first serious job search so Danielle and I have been trying to give him some helpful resume advice. Personally, I love job hunting and interviewing. While I normally wouldn't consider this Poor Man's MBA type of material, I think it's a useful reminder. I'll try to bullet point these and keep them short. This is a compilation of advice from myself and others and is in no particular order. I've got other general job hunting tips so email me if you're interested but here I'll stick to the resume stuff.

Use a "Master" resume - Create one resume that has way more information that you need on it. Include all your accomplishments no matter how small. It's ok if it's longer than one-page because you're never actually going to submit it. Use this resume to pull information from when crafting custom, one-off resumes for each job you're applying for.

Cater your resume to the job - You should be using some of the same words and terminology on your resume that are listed in the job description. Sometimes this is as simple as rephrasing things you've already got. Don't assume that a recruiter will connect the dots and see that meeting your sales results led to hitting revenue targets. If the job description mentioned revenue targets, explicitly spell out how you reached yours in a previous job.

Write a good cover letter - The "Best of Craigslist" has some good advice on not screwing this part up. And remember to write a cover letter for every job.

Emphasize accomplishments, not duties - Instead of just listing what your responsibilities at previous jobs were, highlight your accomplishments in those roles. Monster.com posted a good article on Avoiding the Top 10 Resume Mistakes.

Use action verbs - It sounds pretty simple and using action phrases can be your ticket to a job interview.

Make sure it's only 1 page - Unless you are a published researcher or a member of congress, your resume should never exceed a page. Recruiters are busy people and won't read more than that. Remember, your resume is your ticket to an interview. It's like a little sales brochure about yourself. Use it to get them interested so that they follow up with you for more information.

Use numbers - Include numbers in your resume wherever possible. This gives it quantitative information and emphasizes accomplishments instead of duties. For example, saying "Improved productivity by 2 FTEs" (full time employees) is better than "Increased efficiency of my team."

I'm sure there are other tips I'm missing, but if you start with these your odds are already better than the competition. A lot of people spend a bunch of time on formating and layout but in today's database-driven world it's likely to be scanned into a text-only format anyway. So just make sure it looks ok, isn't too cluttered, and doesn't use more than two different fonts.

Becoming unplugged

Sorry for the lack of blog posting lately. While my goal is to post something once a week, I'd really like to do it a lot more.

I've been fairly unplugged from the world this week (except at work of course) since I'm spending most of my free time studying for the Haas Berkeley MBA statistics waiver exam. It's tough, because despite majoring in engineering, I somehow managed to make it through college without ever taking a statistics course. So I'm basically learning this stuff from scratch. I picked up four books at the Burlingame library and dug in. It's not easy, but if I pass the waiver exam it means that I don't need to take a statistics course at a junior college prior to starting the Haas MBA. That is, of course, assuming I'm accepted to the Berkeley MBA program in the first place. (Funny how I'm taking the test before I even know.)

Don't underestimate your ability to learn things on your own. In fact, that's sort of the premise of ThePoorMansMBA.com -- you can learn a lot about business without going to school.

Stressed at work? Try this...

ZenHabits posted on of the best lists of suggestions about reducing work-related stress in a long time. For example:

Do less. Those of you who know me by now saw this one coming. It’s very difficult to have a relaxed workday if you have too much going on. Instead, learn to reduce what you do, but choose the most impactful tasks and projects — the ones that will mean the most over the long term. I choose three important things to achieve each day, as I’ve said before. Those are the three things I can do today that will have the most impact in my life.

Check out ZenHabit's 17 Unbeatable ways to create a peaceful, relaxed workday.

I'd also add one more to the list -- Get one of your MITs (Most Important Tasks) done first thing in the morning before you even check your email. When you sit down at your desk just look at your MITs from the night before and start hammering away on one.

I find if I don’t do this, I get so caught up in the things that pop-up during the day that I end up tackling my MITs at 4pm and it's already too late to make progress. Then I start the next day already behind.

Set your priorities yourself, don’t let others set them for you.

Making people want to help you

A lot of times, getting things done involves coordination between multiple people. One of the key rules for successfully getting things done, and for leadership in general, is learning to make people want to help you. This can be vital to any task but especially ones where you're working with people who you don't directly supervise.

Although this concept has handy applications in the workplace, the event that prompted me to think about influencing people had nothing to do with work. My brother-in-law called Dell because the battery on his new laptop wasn't holding a charge. After a bunch of run-around on the phone, they told him that batteries weren't covered under the warranty and that he'd need to pay for a new one. But rather than admit defeat, he took charge of the situation and tried a new tactic -- trying to make the customer service rep want to help him. Here are some helpful steps for doing this in any situation:

1. Butter them up - Give the person a compliment, tell them what a good job they did on a similar task and how you really appreciate their expertise.


2. Explain what you're trying to do - Often, just by explaining what the end goal is, you can get someone on your side. If they see that they'll play a crucial role in this accomplishment they're likely to help.


3. Describe the alternatives - This is a little bit of a cheap-shot but effective. Explain another hypothetical outcome that the person may not like (but don't be negative about it.) In the case of the Dell battery, Adam explained that he could make a big fuss on the phone, get all upset with the support rep, yell at her, ask to speak to her manager, and continue to be uncooperative. Or...they could just skip all that and she could ask her manager to make an exception to the policy. She keeps her sanity and avoids a negative customer experience and he gets the result of requesting an exception without needing to be a jerk about it.


4. Thank them publicly - If someone helps you, don't take all the credit. Give proper thanks to those who helped and do it in a public setting where others will see their contribution. It's best if you can thank them in front of their manager or other senior members of the staff.
   

My brother-in-law did end up getting his laptop battery replaced thanks to his gift for making people want to help him. And don't forget, another unspoken rule for implementing this concept is to be nice. Nobody wants to help a jerk.