Archive for November, 2012

How I Bring Value by NOT Teaching Time Management

Posted on November 27th, 2012 · Posted in Organizational Solutions

I was explaining to a friend what I do in Information Overload space and at some point he said he’d thought I was doing Time Management consulting, and now he realized I don’t. Which set me thinking, and I realized there are two approaches to the problem, and indeed mine is not that of promoting Time Management practices directly. Why time management training does you good When I say Time Management consulting,  I refer loosely to the practice of educating people on how to handle their information overload in the context of improving their overall work, task and time management.. Read more

Why – and How – You Must Teach Employees Professional Email Composition

Posted on November 22nd, 2012 · Posted in Organizational Solutions

Whatever happened to the art of message composition? In times past, people communicated by letters written on paper, and there were excellent incentives for applying optimal composition. People of good upbringing learned how to write a proper letter as part of their general “liberal arts” education, and children got the basics in school when writing essays and assignments. All aspects of a good letter, from polite salutation to clarity of content, were taught – and scrutinized by both senders and recipients. Writing a poorly crafted letter was shameful and derided; and so when people reached the workplace they knew how.. Read more

Okay, You Got Workforce Diversity… Now What?

Posted on November 19th, 2012 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Every serious company these days is committed to promote workforce diversity. Too bad not all of them know what to do with it once they have it… Missing the whole point of workforce diversity One day I bumped into an American manager  who was his corporation’s Chief Diversity Officer or some such title. My interest was immediately engaged… I’d never had occasion to chat with a CDO, and it sounded like a fascinating job that would allow one to initiate many worthwhile programs. We started talking, and he asked me what the Diversity situation in Israel was. I happily shared.. Read more

How the Shape of the Earth Dictates Email’s Longevity

Posted on November 15th, 2012 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Check out my guest post on the Mesmo Consultancy Blog: If we all hate coping with email, how come it’s still here? In this post I consider the paradox of email’s extreme longevity  (over four decades), considering how much we love to hate it. Like the Fax machine, its antiquity doesn’t stop it from remaining alive and well. In my view this has to do with the earth being (with all due respect to Thomas Friedman) a round planet. Those of us who help reduce email overload had better understand the mechanism underlying the allure of email, so this is.. Read more

A Timeless Management Lesson for Innovative Technology Startups

Posted on November 12th, 2012 · Posted in Startups

I want to share with you part of a letter written to a technological innovator who wanted to bring his invention to market: Firstly: I want to know whether if I continue to work on and about your own great subject, you will undertake to abide wholly by the judgment of myself … on all practical matters relating to whatever can involve relations with any … fellow-creatures? Secondly: can you undertake to give your mind wholly and undividedly … to the consideration of all those matters in which I shall at times require your intellectual assistance and supervision; and can.. Read more

How to Write Terrible PowerPoint Presentations

Posted on November 8th, 2012 · Posted in Individual Solutions

Microsoft’s PowerPoint can be a blessing or a curse.  Either way, it is an inseparable part of our business environment (though you do occasionally run into a presenter with the skill and self-assurance to avoid PowerPoint presentations altogether). The trick is to make your PowerPoint presentations into effective tools that you wield to achieve your goals, rather than the converse. I’ve been using PowerPoint for almost two decades, and have seen it used endlessly by others. I still use it today in my public speaking role, where it’s imperative that it do good. And it never ceases to amaze me.. Read more

New Insight Article: Cognitive Disability Caused by Information Overload

Posted on November 5th, 2012 · Posted in Impact and Symptoms

I’m continuing to write the series of articles that analyze the negative effects of Information Overload in an enterprise setting (though many of the points noted apply to individual knowledge workers, such as small business owners, as well). The second of these articles discusses an effect that is much less appreciated than the time loss I’d looked at in the preceding article: Cognitive disability resulting from endless distractions, interruptions and general information overload in the workplace. This impacts people’s mental acuity, creativity, quality of decision making, and error rates. You need to see the research findings to understand how harmful.. Read more

If Knowledge is Power, Does it Corrupt?

Posted on November 1st, 2012 · Posted in Analysis and Opinion

Does knowledge corrupt? The phrase “Knowledge is Power” has been around since biblical times, and is no doubt well founded. The phrase “Power Corrupts” is newer, and just as true. But what if we put these two together? Does it follow that “Knowledge Corrupts”? More specifically: does knowledge, in excess, corrupt personal or organizational effectiveness? I can see a number of mechanisms that may make it so. Hoarding of knowledge to secure power One way that knowledge corrupts is when its owners fight to retain the power it represents. This is well known as a concern when you try to.. Read more