I spent much of today with my new business coach – Daniel Mueller. We cycled about 40 miles from Niagara on the Lake to Niagara Falls plus some and back. Nice day for it. He is in better shape than I am and a hard core cyclist so has an awesome bicycle. Still, I think he did not have to wait for me too much.
We talked about SYNNEX corporate culture – he told me I have a keen interest in culture which, once pointed out, I agree with. We talked a lot about goals. I have no problem in that area (unless it is that I like doing it so spend too much time on it). We talked about my top 10 list which are tactical things that support the goals I am working on. My top 10 list is not my TODO list. Many items on the top 10 list explode into many more items on the TODO list.
Daniel stressed the importance of having goals not just for business but for life – EG no health goal and die before getting to the business goals.
We talked about leadership. Clearly I have a keen interest in that.
Before and after meeting Daniel, I worked on my deal. Still lots of calls, reports, analysis, brainstorming etc to get that done. Tomorrow will be a more than full day on it.
Saturday, July 9, 2005
Friday, July 8, 2005
Managing a Full Life
Friday night of a hectic week. I have been spending too much time working and missed my workout too often this week. Also missed some reading time. Will also be a fairly full weekend with a deal I am working on although I do plan to take a good chunk of time off tomorrow to cycle near Niagara on the Lake. This is partly business – I am getting to know my new business coach.
SYNNEX California uses this coach to help keep executives on track. Very interesting. I am really looking forward to the coaching process. I know I can use help navigating in a larger corporate entity. I have always held myself accountable so am not sure if having a coach will keep me more on track.
What I do think it can do is to give me perspective. Another view. He has already made a few suggestions that I plan to use.
I asked how long per month the process takes. The reason is one of my time rules. I know my life is full now. If I take on another commitment, I need to figure out what I am going to drop. This is one way I manage my commitments
SYNNEX California uses this coach to help keep executives on track. Very interesting. I am really looking forward to the coaching process. I know I can use help navigating in a larger corporate entity. I have always held myself accountable so am not sure if having a coach will keep me more on track.
What I do think it can do is to give me perspective. Another view. He has already made a few suggestions that I plan to use.
I asked how long per month the process takes. The reason is one of my time rules. I know my life is full now. If I take on another commitment, I need to figure out what I am going to drop. This is one way I manage my commitments
Thursday, July 7, 2005
Freakonomics
I just finished listening to an awesome book called Freakonomics by Stephen Levitt. It is now one of my favourites. Highly recommended. The bad thing is it means I spent 7 hours in my car this week – way too much driving. I only got the CD’s on Monday and I am already finished them.
Stephen is a unique economist that has an interesting way of looking at the world. A lot of it speaks about motivating people and why motivation systems often fail. I can learn some for our compensation systems (although compensation is more of an art than a science). He has a morbid interest in cheating and crime so lots on that. There is even a section on parenting.
He sifts through data and correlates it to try to figure out the cause and effect of what is happening in the world. I used to sit on the board of Angoss Software for about 10 years. They sell advanced data mining tools that do these sorts of correlations. I have always had an interest in it. It is even more interesting at SYNNEX since I deal with such a mass of data. The book is interesting and stimulates thought.
My time tip for tonight is to use the time in your car to learn. I can go through a ton of audio material even in short trips. It passes the time faster and I learn. I often rent audios from audiobook connection in Burlington. I have only ever been there once but have rented probably 50 audio books over the past few years – all by email and phone. I am fortunate enough to have an assistant that arranges most of it (another time tip)
Stephen is a unique economist that has an interesting way of looking at the world. A lot of it speaks about motivating people and why motivation systems often fail. I can learn some for our compensation systems (although compensation is more of an art than a science). He has a morbid interest in cheating and crime so lots on that. There is even a section on parenting.
He sifts through data and correlates it to try to figure out the cause and effect of what is happening in the world. I used to sit on the board of Angoss Software for about 10 years. They sell advanced data mining tools that do these sorts of correlations. I have always had an interest in it. It is even more interesting at SYNNEX since I deal with such a mass of data. The book is interesting and stimulates thought.
My time tip for tonight is to use the time in your car to learn. I can go through a ton of audio material even in short trips. It passes the time faster and I learn. I often rent audios from audiobook connection in Burlington. I have only ever been there once but have rented probably 50 audio books over the past few years – all by email and phone. I am fortunate enough to have an assistant that arranges most of it (another time tip)
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Marathon pacing
I am immersed in a big deal right now. This gives me high energy while at the same time, leaving little time to do my regular job. I feel I am falling behind and need my team to pick up the things I need to drop.
While doing a deal, I can tend to overdo it. Work too long. Ignore balance.
Life is a marathon – I believe in setting a pace I can maintain forever. Yes there will be a few hills (like now when it is deal time) and sometimes the odd sprint to pass someone but largely set a pace you can maintain forever.
One thing I like about maintaining a great TODO list is it helps me to know how busy I am and whether I can take anything else on.
To maintain the equilibrium in my life, I follow the axiom of taking something off my commitment list if I add something. When someone asks me to take on a new position or new task, I look at what I have on my plate and figure out which one(s) I am going to delegate or drop.
I am highly goal oriented. Having too audacious of goals or too many of them can create goal burn out. I realize this particularly at a time like this. I need a bit of space in my life so I can handle the important things that come into my life.
Part of it is giving myself permission to pace myself. I still have a problem with setting too high of a standard on myself. I can accomplish more than most people but because it is not everything I set for myself, I can not feel accomplished. I am trying to learn to congratulate myself on my successes.
Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a day and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year or a decade. It is truly amazing what can be accomplished by continual long term push in a direction.
While doing a deal, I can tend to overdo it. Work too long. Ignore balance.
Life is a marathon – I believe in setting a pace I can maintain forever. Yes there will be a few hills (like now when it is deal time) and sometimes the odd sprint to pass someone but largely set a pace you can maintain forever.
One thing I like about maintaining a great TODO list is it helps me to know how busy I am and whether I can take anything else on.
To maintain the equilibrium in my life, I follow the axiom of taking something off my commitment list if I add something. When someone asks me to take on a new position or new task, I look at what I have on my plate and figure out which one(s) I am going to delegate or drop.
I am highly goal oriented. Having too audacious of goals or too many of them can create goal burn out. I realize this particularly at a time like this. I need a bit of space in my life so I can handle the important things that come into my life.
Part of it is giving myself permission to pace myself. I still have a problem with setting too high of a standard on myself. I can accomplish more than most people but because it is not everything I set for myself, I can not feel accomplished. I am trying to learn to congratulate myself on my successes.
Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a day and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year or a decade. It is truly amazing what can be accomplished by continual long term push in a direction.
Monday, July 4, 2005
Profit Beyond Measure
Slow day today. I think it is a combination of the US holiday (4th of July), start of the month and extended holiday weekends for many people.
I finished reading “Profit Beyond Measure” subtitled “Extraordinary Results through Attention to Work and People” by Johnson and Broms. Good book. I have learned many things at SYNNEX. One of the great learnings is attention to detailed numbers and cost accounting. This has tremendous value and the SYNNEX system is truly awesome on granular numbers. This book reinforces the need for good cost accounting systems as long as they are logical. A lot of the book is about having the right systems. As a Systems Design Engineer, I really appreciate the books attention to systems and interdependence. Part of the problem with measuring is that interrelations are often overlooked.
A part of me at times feels that sometimes we are not totally on the right track though. Profit Beyond Measure reinforces what I already know about intuition. It will help me hold firm in areas where I know in my heart we are right to change (or not). Some of it comes back to my continual short term vs. long term dilemma.
I read in the Globe today about a book I would love to read that has actually never been published. I would love to get my hands on it. Sounds like a lot of business leadership wisdom. The book is “Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management”. One quote is “When faced with decisions, try to look at them as if you were one level up in the organization”. I already do this in a big way. I think we could do better if more of our people thought this way. This ties into the granular numbers that we manage by. Without care, we can end up with no team but very good individual numbers which will ultimately hurt the company and the individual numbers.
I finished reading “Profit Beyond Measure” subtitled “Extraordinary Results through Attention to Work and People” by Johnson and Broms. Good book. I have learned many things at SYNNEX. One of the great learnings is attention to detailed numbers and cost accounting. This has tremendous value and the SYNNEX system is truly awesome on granular numbers. This book reinforces the need for good cost accounting systems as long as they are logical. A lot of the book is about having the right systems. As a Systems Design Engineer, I really appreciate the books attention to systems and interdependence. Part of the problem with measuring is that interrelations are often overlooked.
A part of me at times feels that sometimes we are not totally on the right track though. Profit Beyond Measure reinforces what I already know about intuition. It will help me hold firm in areas where I know in my heart we are right to change (or not). Some of it comes back to my continual short term vs. long term dilemma.
I read in the Globe today about a book I would love to read that has actually never been published. I would love to get my hands on it. Sounds like a lot of business leadership wisdom. The book is “Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management”. One quote is “When faced with decisions, try to look at them as if you were one level up in the organization”. I already do this in a big way. I think we could do better if more of our people thought this way. This ties into the granular numbers that we manage by. Without care, we can end up with no team but very good individual numbers which will ultimately hurt the company and the individual numbers.
Sunday, July 3, 2005
Energy and save the world
I had a great night last night with my brothers – Glen and Lyle after the kids were in bed. Most of the talk focused on energy and saving the world. Glen has a 1.8 megawatt wind turbine as his business. Lyle has a biodeisel refinery. Both of them give a number of speeches on conservation, energy, living conservatively etc. Lyle’s blog (energy blog) has a huge readership. He is also publishing a book on the trials of getting a biodeisel refinery going. Both Lyle and Glen are tied up with tons of government bureaucracy. Both of them are trying to save the world.
All of the Estill brothers have a bit of this save the world and energy conservation in us. My oldest brother Mark drives a Honda Civic hybrid, I drive a Toyota Prius hybrid. Glen drives a Honda Insight hybrid and Lyle drives a VW Jetta which runs on biodeisel (of course).
On Glen’s refridgerator he has a quote from Helen Keller “I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do” Of course Glen uses this to inspire him on the quest to save the world. I can use it to inspire me in the larger company. Sometimes I feel my contribution is small with little impact. It is these little impacts that ultimately move companies and society and the world.
All of the Estill brothers have a bit of this save the world and energy conservation in us. My oldest brother Mark drives a Honda Civic hybrid, I drive a Toyota Prius hybrid. Glen drives a Honda Insight hybrid and Lyle drives a VW Jetta which runs on biodeisel (of course).
On Glen’s refridgerator he has a quote from Helen Keller “I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do” Of course Glen uses this to inspire him on the quest to save the world. I can use it to inspire me in the larger company. Sometimes I feel my contribution is small with little impact. It is these little impacts that ultimately move companies and society and the world.
Saturday, July 2, 2005
Time to recharge
Lazy holiday weekend. Worked most of the day yesterday then drove up the Bruce Peninsula to where my brother, Glen lives. He owns a wind turbine. Lives in a beautiful cottage overlooking Georgian Bay.
My 3 kids came up. I had not seen my son, David, for a couple of months. It was good to see him. He is working nearby at Camp Celtic as a counselor. My youngest brother – Lyle, his wife, Tami and 3 of his 4 kids also are here. More activity than I am accustomed to.
This morning we did a 4 hour hike on the Bruce Trail. Beautiful.
It is days like today that help me appreciate what I have. I often say I lead a charmed life (actually it is one of my mantras) and days like today prove it.
I have often had feedback that I work too hard and that I should slow down and smell the roses. Something in my causes me to be driven. Why should I fight it? And occasionally I do take time off. I am a believer that we need recharge time in order to be at our peak. Perhaps I just take less of it than some.
This will be a good recharge weekend.
My 3 kids came up. I had not seen my son, David, for a couple of months. It was good to see him. He is working nearby at Camp Celtic as a counselor. My youngest brother – Lyle, his wife, Tami and 3 of his 4 kids also are here. More activity than I am accustomed to.
This morning we did a 4 hour hike on the Bruce Trail. Beautiful.
It is days like today that help me appreciate what I have. I often say I lead a charmed life (actually it is one of my mantras) and days like today prove it.
I have often had feedback that I work too hard and that I should slow down and smell the roses. Something in my causes me to be driven. Why should I fight it? And occasionally I do take time off. I am a believer that we need recharge time in order to be at our peak. Perhaps I just take less of it than some.
This will be a good recharge weekend.
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