Back to work

Back to work with hop, skip and a crunch, the good news is that my plaster cast is off after only 10 days, but I do have to wear a large plastic boot for the next 4 weeks. Meant to keep it raised, just try to sit and type with one leg in the air! I will need a hip replacement instead. 

Sorry that sounds like a moan when in fact I am in a good place. With all the time on my back (steady), I managed to read the latest book by Donna Tartt, the Goldfinch. This has already won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Don’t know if fiction is your bag but every now and then a really extraordinary book comes along. This is only her third book since 1992 but worth the wait.

I loved the life a PI, it was such an improbable adventure but the Goldfinch is right up there with East of Eden. I can’t recommend it strongly enough. 

Back to business, you have heard of the Pareto principle (80/20). It was Vilfredo Pareto that discovered the correlation between the richest 20% of the world that owned 80% of the wealth. Vilfredo was a French economist 1848-1923. Reported to be a, socialist, bit before his time really. Never the less research carried out since then makes interesting reading:

• 80% of people live in 20% of the towns (we are herding beast I suppose). 
• 80% of crime is committed by 20% of the criminals (It’s the Mad House Elf again). 
• 80% of profits come from 20% sales (interesting, worth exploring more, later). 
• 80% of ALL your results come from just 20% of your work (Now that IS interesting). 

There are many more natural phenomena that come close to these figures too, but let us return to the work related ones, as we are meant to be working. This information is quite eye opening. We are working at a much greater pace than our parents ever did, not physically, but coping with many more processes. We do our own typing; send our own mail; work our own telephone switchboard; arrange our own business travel, mostly. We now have so many “helpful” gadgets to get keep us in touch. We are encouraged to use social media, Facebook, Twitter, twatter and so on. We are busy, but then are we too busy? Sit back and think, 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. Each working day of a week is a 5th or 20%, mmm, so we could just spend Monday doing all our normal work. Then work at something different for each of the next 4 days, and then you may end up 5 times more productive/ richer! Or slow down, relax, who would know? 

Well I hope this has given you food for thought, it has made me think.

Glad that week has gone

Glad that week has gone.  I went into hospital last Wednesday (16^th), to have an operation on my Achilles heel.  Booked in at 7am but didn’t go down till 3pm. Long, nervous wait. By then all my veins had gone into hiding, the anaesthetist had to poke around in the back of both hands to establish a reasonable pipe line. What was worse, they have stopped giving out pre-meds, I was looking forward to that wonderful drift you got from the equivalent of 5 double gin’n’ its, in one slug. Really thirsty when I came round so drank about 6 jugs of water over the next few hours, then tried to piss, nothing doing...AHHH. Panic started to build as my bladder pressure increased until I called the night nurse (a bloke!). How things have changed for the worse. I remember when the night nurse had a dark blue uniform, starched hat and cuffs, and was always alluring. This guy was from Turkistan or somewhere ex USSR, was very pleasant but not sure he understood my sense of urgency. Anyway, half an hour later (which seemed like 5 hours) he arrived with a junior doctor and a medicine trolley. This 15 year old (boy) doctor suggested putting a tube down my willie, which did sound a bit frightening but a burst bladder was feeling more imminent!

That was not very comfortable, I can tell you, but what a relief, I filled two bags within an hour! Sorry I know that was a bit grim, but it’s over and done with, over and done with...

I am sitting up at home on the sofa sharing my experiences with you, there will be some better stuff coming.

Did I tell you I had completed a year of a Foundation Degree in Business and Enterprise (part time) at the local poly (University of South Wales, but just the old poly renamed)? Started year two but ran out of patience with the trite garbage they tried to call marketing. Well the next module, which we started, was on innovation management. This had all the markings of another dollop of offal, but their opening premise is worth repeating; you may be the best at making the highest quality product/service, your competitor could catch up; you may be the most competitive but there are always some companies that will buy business; you may be the most reliable, but your competitors could improve too. So what can we do? The answer; with innovation can you stay ahead. Quite simple to say but is it possible?

Have a look at the link below; Steve Blank has summed it up well, talking to his graduating MBA students from Barcelona’s Business School. It is worth reading right through and keeping, MDs take note. That reads quite bossy but I am sure you know I am just being enthusiastic.

http://www.inc.com/steve-blank/commencement-speech-esade-business-school.html

I hope you have all had a good Easter break, let’s hit the ground running; some of us may be hopping...

Bad Moon Rising

Bad Moon Rising, start gathering wood, the gas supply may run out! The Mad House Elf is having fun, “Planet Earth is blue and there is nothing I can do”.

What a funny week that was, and this one looks just as tense.  Meanwhile the show must go on, the sun is out, the traffic is light and Nick lost his second debate. Should we stay or should we go-ho?

I now know how the Scots must have felt when they were threatened by “our” politicians. They couldn’t have the pound and they wouldn’t be allowed to have the Euro either. Not the best approach when you are trying to be warm and friendly. To say we will lose all our trade with Europe is surely not reason enough to support fat cats in Brussels and the bent agricultural scheme. We have enough fat cats of our own in the City. But we would be stupid to ignore that possibility, and that is a valid thought. Be ready for change, so when it happens you won’t be wrong footed.

The visit of the Irish President Michael D Higgins was really great, we do need to strengthen our relations with Ireland, they give the best parties ever!

Until next time!

There Is Something In The Air..

There is something in the air, no, not the pollution being blown over from the continent. It’s almost like the lull before the storm.

We are quietly getting on with things while the world continues to turn. Strange days are here again. What is the ”Mad House Elf“ brewing up now?  We can’t do anything about it anyway, not unless he invades a country that wasn’t in the Soviet Block, even then who has the nerve to stand up to him?

Changing tack completely, I went to a dinner last night at Swansea University, it was the first meeting of the LEAD Wales alumni, which both Dave Dean and I had completed a couple of years ago. The main speaker was Paul Thorburn. He didn’t look much older than when he kicked, the still world record distance, penalty to win the championship. 

He compared his business learning curve to that of the Welsh Rugby Union at the end of their golden years.  They took too long to replace their old favourites, the game turned professional, Australia poached one of Wales’ best coaches and gave him a completely free hand to make changes.

OK, to those non rugby fans this could get dull, but his message was clear to us in business, look ahead, don’t take your customers for granted and expect change. Pretty simple really but refreshing to be reminded of these positive thoughts and comparisons from another walk of life.

I thought it was similar to the way I drive, look a long way ahead, expect the prat in front to behave erratically, keep an eye on the mirror for the fuzz and enjoy the music (Led Zeppelin/Cream for me).

Keep your head down, something is going to break!  Bad Moon Rising...

Did You Miss Me?

Winter is trying to come back but business is definitely on the up. Even better news, the clocks go forward this week end so evenings will get longer.  I have made a couple of rules with my epistles, no politics and no soccer! However all us that are going grey must feel a lot better at not having to convert our pathetic pensions into pitifully mean annuities?

I am not coveting a Lamborghini, but a small sailing yacht moored in a warm harbour, certainly has is appeal! I hope Sigmund Fraud isn’t reading this. It’s just fun to dream.

If we don’t have dreams then we won’t find it easy to be motivated about working for the future.

No one likes being “scammed”, so we have designed a credit/cash card/oyster card holder that is strong enough to shield your cards from most scammer scanners, if not all of them. We have been selling these on eBay. So far individuals have ordered from our range of different designs until a large County Council just ordered 1000.

It is only when you see people face to face that ideas flow, I showed this RFID shielded card holder to one of my plastics suppliers, told him all about it and he asked me for a price list as these would make a perfect corporate gift. I hadn’t considered this at all, but they are quite small, easy to print digitally and don’t cost much in volume.

If you are interested then please email me a pdf of your design and we will make you a sample free of charge.

Positive thinking!

Just when we think we are coming out of recession the Mad House Elf wants to grab back the Crimea. Could this plunge the world back into doom and gloom?

Well maybe, but the days are getting longer and the daffs are out, I even spotted a tree in blossom driving through Kent last week. Business is definitely picking up.  We have noticed the change from speculative enquiries to positive orders. It’s not so much of “what will these cost” but more of “when can we have them!”

The rugby was good, and even as a loan Englishman living amongst, and with, Welsh rugby fanatics, it was good to see Brian O’Driscoll go out on a high. The Irish Team do need to bring in some younger players now; Wales and England have much younger players. But where does Scotland go now? They seem to do well in the autumn internationals but falter in the Six Nations.

On another note, please don’t leave us Scotland, we are stronger together!Countries and Companies are all about people. Surely it is always better to see the positive attributes in others. Events do their best to undermine this, but that is our challenge to overcome.

Welcome to Harry's Humbuggeries!

It's been a while since we last spoke and I just thought I would get in touch and let you know how I'm doing.

You probably remember that we successfully merged with Screentec some time ago and, touch wood, business is going from strength to strength at the moment.... to the point where I was able to get a well earned short break recently.

Now I know that someone else’s holiday stories can be dull, but not always. We had two weeks in Cuba, on an all inclusive package, next to the sea. Yes it was great, but for a completely unexpected reason.

The service was second to none; When we arrived, stressed and fractious after a 10 hour flight, we then needed to queue up to check in, two coaches had arrived together. We were all given a rum punch and introduced to the hotel manager, who chatted to all of us while the queue went down quickly, as they had put on extra staff to cope. 

There is the clue, Luis, the manager was on hand 12 hours a day. He introduced us to all his managers on the second morning, while plying us with rum punches. Sally blew up the hair dryer before going down to supper. I spoke to a nice young lady on reception and by the time we staggered back to our room a new one was there.

One of our Canadian friends had moaned about the towels not being changed often enough, this was corrected immediately, and a lobster supper awarded to them.

Luis even came onto our coach to say good bye, and hope we would come back. I have a lump in my throat thinking about it. 

Surely there is a lesson for all of us managers, going that extra mile really is worth it and I'd like to think that the whole team here at Screentec do just that!

All the very best

Harry