No, this isn’t a physics lesson. Okay, maybe it is, in a way. I talk a lot with my clients about processes — the ones they’re using and, just as importantly, the ones they aren’t. With the processes that they’re using, the questions center on what’s working, what isn’t and what changes can be made […]
The last couple of years have been eventful, to put it mildly. Even now, things are getting back to normal while still not really being back to normal, if that makes any sense. In my store visits to my retail partners, I’ve noticed that it’s about 50/50 between places that have taken their plexiglass sneeze […]
I’m sure you’re all familiar with the aphorism that “to the person with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” I knew someone who had to read “Boom, Bust & Echo,” the book by demographer David Foot and journalist Daniel Stoffman, in college. After doing so, they related a factoid — no matter how […]
Long story short, we were cleaning out the basement, and purging clutter when I found a subwoofer that I forgot I had in storage. I packed it up when we moved house nearly three years ago. It was great when I had a dedicated media room in the basement with good acoustics. However, the new […]
One of the things I’m fond of reminding people of is the quote from Pablo Picasso that everything “is either easy or impossible.” I can usually be counted on to suffix that by adding that the difference between the two often comes down to having the right tool for the job. Just the other day […]
Since you all know I like kicking things off with an aphorism, here’s a two-for-one deal: business author Alan Weiss wrote, “Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.” Before that, Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels (you may have heard of him) wrote, “Once is happenstance, twice […]
Since I start off columns with a quote more often than not, I begin to feel like it’s expected of me. So let’s lead off with this one, it’s one of my favorites: Salvador Dali said “[Everything] is either easy or impossible.” Normally when I bust that aphorism out, it’s in reference to having the […]
Just like how the smell of a freshly baked cookie inspired author Marcel Proust to write an entire book — “Remembrances of Things Past” – I just had an experience that inspired waves of nostalgia. I was in the middle of my early morning get-started-for-work routine, which includes things like firing up the remote desktop […]
In my columns, I often write about how one should focus on what they can control (as opposed to trying to exert influence over what they can’t). There’s only so much someone can do, after all. So, I think we should worry about what we can actually do to achieve the outcome we’re looking for. […]
Sitting here in my home office on the warmest day yet of summer makes me reflect on two things. First, I regret that we have not yet prioritized installing air conditioning in the house. I mean, where I live, you only need it two months of the year, but when you need it, you need […]
Hands up, everyone who keeps a box or boxes of leftover cables, adaptors and parts stashed away because you never know when you might need one of them. What’s that, everyone? Yeah, that’s what I thought. We all joke about how ridiculous that whole mindset is, but deep down, we all know it is serious […]
Ask a qualified fitness professional what the best workout and nutrition regimens are, and they’ll tell you that the best one is the one you can consistently stick with because that’s how results are achieved: consistent effort over time. Just like working out and eating healthy, the best business systems are the ones that get […]
Okay, what now? I’ve said before that the motto for this decade should be, “Oh no, what now?” Maybe it’s confirmation bias, or maybe it really does seem that industry is plagued by one challenge after another. From COVID shutdowns, to supply chain issues caused by COVID, to natural disasters, and supply chain issues caused […]
I’ve been told that there are two kinds of people: The people who say “there are two kinds of people” and the ones who don’t. That reminds me of the favorite joke of one of my old sociology professors, who told us “there are two kinds of people: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.” […]
The key to a healthy relationship is open, clear communication. That applies to not only personal relationships, but also business ones. And central to having a positive relationship with your clients is how well you and they communicate with each other. That clarity has to begin right away. In the initial discussion and subsequent needs […]
The Germans always have the best words for everything. In particular, “schadenfreude” is a real banger. If you don’t know, it means “enjoying the misfortunes of others.” I bring this up because we all love talking about work problems — ours and other people’s. Often, we’re all gossiping about the not-perfect clients who range on […]
One of my friends who owns a small, specialized, successful distribution company once characterized the people on his team to me as either “nice guys who don’t know anything” or “guys who know everything about every product but have zero people skills.” It sounds like a stark generalization, but since I know the people he […]
Last week I got an email from one of my biggest dealers that was so out of the ordinary that I had to read it three times. Even then, I had to call my contact there to verbally confirm what I was reading. It was just … wild. No matter how old I feel some […]
Talking with my various contacts (dealers, vendors and whoever), discussions lately always seem to turn to whatever new and unforeseen complications have made life difficult. It’s been a real smorgasbord, from supply chain delays and material shortages to climate disasters and more. And that’s just the last six months. It really does feel like the […]
Somehow the future we’re living in seems to be dumber and more complicated than the one that was predicted. It wasn’t that long ago — ten years ago (if that) — that there was much talk about “cord-cutters,” consumers who were canceling their broadcast TV subscriptions and getting all their entertainment over the internet. Many […]
Back in the 1990s, when the comic strip “Dilbert” was still funny, there was one where the manager said, “I’ve been saying for years that ’employees are our most valuable asset.’ It turns out I was wrong. Money is our most valuable asset. Employees are ninth.” (Eighth was “carbon paper,” which gives you a clue […]
There’s one phrase that I don’t often throw out into discussions, but when I do, I have good reason to. I drag it out when I see people putting an inordinate amount of time into things that have either a very remote chance of a payoff and/or a payoff that’s incredibly small. I call it […]
It’s been said about time management skills that the workday is the daily tension between the important and the urgent. There are the tasks in your calendar you know you have to get done, and there are the ones that you didn’t know you had to get done until they drop in your lap. Oh, […]
The new year doesn’t just mean a chance for friends and family to celebrate. A lot of organizations and institutions mark the new year with a celebration I call “burning through the budget.” That liminal period between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve can be a busy time as organizations put out a flurry of […]
Everyone likes surprises. I know I do. At least, I like fun surprises. You know, like parties, or free marzipan. To be fair, not all surprises are fun, and most of us don’t like those ones. The series of natural disasters that have assailed British Columbia for a month (although it feels a lot longer) […]
This has been a holiday season like none other I’ve experienced. It was so different from past Christmases that it’s difficult to quantify it. Considering that we’re two years into COVID-19 and its effects on, well, everything, that would make sense. It’s just that this Christmas season is even different from 2020’s season, the first […]
In the initial installment, I talked about how the smart home designation “works with” often has a greater nuance that involves “sort of works with.” Also, for a large part of it, many manufacturers have left it to the installers and end users to figure things out for themselves. That’s where the ball lies, but […]
There are cycles in life, just as there are in nature. Just like how winter turns to spring, people grow, change and sometimes move on. We take comfort in the reliability of cycles; we can count on them because we know what to expect. You can see that in the way we talk to each […]
Going back through old columns and notes from years past in the folders on my laptop is an enlightening experience. Looking back ten or more years is especially thought-provoking, mostly because I’m reminded of opinions and pronouncements I had made in which I was dead wrong. For example, there was a time when I thought […]
One topic that comes up often in discussions with the dealers I work with is aligning incentives towards the activities you want your team members to carry out and the behaviors you want them to exhibit. Sometimes aligning incentives is easy: pay them more if they do x, y or z. Other times it’s less […]
The beginning of the holiday season always makes me think about my time working in the retail side of the business. That’s understandable since I spent so much time there and, like it or not, retail and the holiday season are inextricably linked. I spent a couple of years working for a major department store. […]
I know I’ve recently written about managing lead times and expressing appreciation for your project managers. This column touches upon elements of both, which makes sense when you consider how everything in this business depends on everything else, one way or another. There’s that old expression that says the only constants in life are death […]
