Things to remember.

- Be the dumbest guy in the room. Hire people that know their domain better than you do. Give them the space to grow but the boundaries to excel into a specific direction. Trust their opinions and make sure the work fits into the strategy.

- They will have side projects. It shows an ambitious individual and is a great indicator of initiative and drive. But make sure it doesn't go too far, keep them focused on the company goal. Make sure the company goal is big enough to be exciting, and there are achievements on the way that warrant celebration.

- Weed out any talk of "I". These days nothing worth remarking on is done by one person. Give individual praise vs team praise at a ratio of 1 / 3 respectively. Keep an eye on that person who says: "I contributed this much to the bottom line." They don't understand how business work, show them how their efforts fall together with the team efforts to create great outcomes.

- Recognize team spirit, highlight someone going out of their way to help a colleague. Show the rest of your team that this is important.

- Hire for attitude. Positive, energetic, and no one that holds a grudge.

- You'll never be perfect to everyone, and as the company grows you'll say no more often. Learn how to do this quickly and fairly. Then make sure you stick to your guns.

- Get as much face time in as possible, with a clear agenda for most and a casual chat for some.

- You're the ship steering the speedboat, if you shake the boat left to right your crew will get ill and perhaps fall off. Make course changes with ample lead time and a clear new direction of where the ship's headed. Then make sure everyone know their role during and after the tack. a good tack can energize the team and speed up the boat.

- Do cool stuff. Create quirky rituals. have lots of company outings, create a private Facebook page and upload pictures. Get funny pictures up in the office.

- Foremost, enjoy the work you do and the people you work with. You see them longer, and more often than your significant other.

Share your weaknesses and challenges

I've been thinking a lot about my own weaknesses and the challenges I face lately. Subconsciously I have known them for a while, I just haven't been able to tackle them so this is my game plan, I have listed my top weaknesses and challenges. With each of those I have tacked a strength/skill and a goal to help me get through those when I feel I'm in a jam.

1. I find it hard to delegate.

Goal: grow a successful company.
Skill: big picture thinking, framework creation.
Action: start my day with a "to delegate"list that fits into the big picture.

2. The constant change of business processes.

Goal: grow a successful company
Skill: goal oriented thinking and work
Action: ignore non vital processes and delegate to colleagues.

3. Currently feeling out of control.

Goal: get a feeling of control back.
Skill: self reflection.
Goal: make it alright for a few things to be out of my control. Realize that there are things that are just outside of my realm of influence.

4. No one to talk to

Goal: get a non invested third party perspective
Skill: structured thinking
Goal: be more proactive with my mentors.

I have a few peers that lead offices who find it hard to talk about their weaknesses or failures. One thing that bothers me most are those peers who think they know it all and start prescribing you what you should be doing. It's a personal pet peeve (and clear character flaw of mine that it bothers me so much) but it's also unhealthy for you in the long run.

Share your shortcomings....don't make me feel all alone in this now! :)

(Written on the iPad and the only image that fit this post was of one of my weaknesses, chocolate)

How to get your energy back

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Agency work is about people, ideas, thoughts, strategies. And you can't do this when you are a whiney little gangster; tired, and grumpy.

I'm sensitive to people's moods. If I'm in a crowd of umotivated beings I find it very difficult to break out. If I'm having a draining conversation with someone, it affects me. These are my energiser methods.

Note: This does not reflect my workplace, it reflects me. 

Morning Routine

I tell everyone to get a morning routine. Make sure it includes; two big glasses of water, 20 squats, forcing a smile while you shower, and the usual hygiene stuff. It works miracles. If you are strong enough to  follow your morning routing you set yourself up to tackle the day head on. 

A morning winner is always a winner! 

Body posture

Stand up straight. And before you go into a meeting, difficult conversation, negotiations, raise your arms into a big V sign above your head. Holding the victory position lowers your cortisol (stress hormones) levels and increase your testosterone levels (closely linked to assertiveness

You have to watch this video. What an inspiring and useful video.  Our pitch team now always raises their arms in victory right before the meeting starts.

Conversion Energy

You'll notice that most of your colleagues start the day on a low note. Low energy, perhaps even a bit grumpy. Start your day by passing bursts of your energy to them. See it as your mission to take those first 3 minutes of conversation with them and raise their energy level.  

Don't start talking softly and meekly on their grumpy level. NO! Supercharge them! I takes a bit of your energy, but you'll get it back from them throughout the rest of the day.

Now go energise!

Good clients get the best work

Image courtesy of Tim Williams

We just started working with another client. It is an exciting client with an exciting offering. We love going to their office and we love working with them. We are passionate about the account and the work, double checking and double thinking every little detail. The client is one of our star clients, we can bring them value, and they can bring us value. Those are our favorite type of clients.

This is why they are a good client:

1. The client lets us do our jobs, or even better. They trust us. They understand that in our field, we know more than they do, and we understand that they know their business better than we do (for now)
2. The client has a clear decision maker, and we know who they decision makers are. And when they make decisions they stick to them. They don't rely on consensus. There is one decision maker, and one "advisor" to the decision maker.  And whenever we present, they are always in the room.
3. The client is transparent and open about the budget, timeline, and any possible limitations. 
4. The client enjoys the process. They're interested about how we arrive to conclusions and ask intelligent questions about the process and potential result.

Image courtesy of La Piana

If you are a client, take a look at the points above and keep them in mind as you are working with your agency. You will see major improvements in the work delivered to you if you scale the relationship from vendor to partner.

If you work in an agency, which points would you add?

How Hype Cycles

If you haven't seen Gartner's Hype Cycles, (by Gartner)I suggest you do. It's especially handy if you find yourself being a typically excited about new technologies and start ups. (I'm one of them.) It will serve to temper your expectations and provide some perspective.

If you're in a startup, where does your business fit in? Knowing how other companies have gone through this cycle can give you some ideas in how to market your brand. Tell me what you think in the comments.