It has been way too long but I am back with new content!

I saw a need for people trying to buy MSP services (That being Managed Services) This is all from my years of experience and is put out there to help educate and to bring knowledge to the buyers trying to sort through all the mess that is out there! Here is the first installment of the content with more released every week! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1HuQwjGa1k&list=PL7tEjDH0-hJ94AVgAVYwkIjKsSsmBR7LU&index=5

Germany! A great trip...

So many years ago I hired a inexperienced but super smart and high EQ member of the team. Little did I know how it would change the trajectory of both our lives (Admittedly probably mine more than hers) She was and is smart enough to be successful in any endevor she took on. I can oly hope that what we have build together allows us both to maximize our families and productivity. More on another post. Recently I was blessed to take my son to Germany and England infront of a business trip. (Probably another post also) but this was the culimination of connections, business consulting and work that has allowed this before mentioned team member the chance to vist home several times a year. Home in this case being Germany. It was such a special trip to see both some tourist attractions in Cologne and to see a less tourist location of Recklinghausen. I have to be honest this was pushing my comfort zone but with having a OG with me (OG being the team member mentioned above) it was quite the experience. From navigating around, taking the trains and so on. Bottom line she made me comfortable even navigating after a day on my own. It was so much more though being able to go to her family's home and get a true local experience. From the walk out to the edge of the housing area to playing a little football (Soccer) in their yard with OG's kids and her sisters. Then enjoying a great dinner with a Russian flair. What a life changing experience and OG will never know how much it meant to me.

Presenting V

Couple of small points for this lesson. NEVER run long. Short by up to 10 minutes (Probably depends on total lenght - if you have 15 min and run short by 10 not great) But what I see time and time again is people get to 3/4 point where they are about bring the impact, then they skip how they got there and oops, out of time! Only thing worse than that is if they run long and say there is 10 min between sessions or if things are back to back and make the entire event run long! You must be prepared to hit your time marks. Assume that people that intro you will sometimes run too long (They are giving event update that takes way too long or such) Be on your mark. Know inside the presentation where you can skip a part to go longer or where you can add an additional story to expand time. This is just good presenting!

Presenting IV

Styles. In the past I have been a fan of lots of slides, don't cover all the items on the slides, have them as reminders of your information and then keep the pace fast. Recently I have been exploring the no slide option. Definitely is more on memory and story but you sure can connect with the audience. Walk through the crowd, get more eye contact and so on. I will let you know how it goes. First trial of this will be in March. I am calling it the "Choose your own journey" I had that thought up several years ago but within the last several months discovered one presenter (Gordon McKenzie) So far it is the only example of this style I have seen.

Quick break from presenting - when you are at the top?

Yep, probably going to be not as authentic as I would like to be on what is going through my head but anyway. Recently as I have continued down my own leadership journey this idea of Boss versus Leader has come back up but in a bit of a different way. When you are trying to lead but a person you are trying to lead moves from team member to bully. (OK maybe bully isn't quite the right word) but they either are trying to take advantage of you or their self awareness is not great. So they don't understand that their actions are the cause of their problems. (Being on time, communicating clearly, setting expectations and so on) So you have to move from leader to boss. Way more direct. This is the expectation and I will hold you to that. No more BS. Here are clear and not to be messed with expectations. Maybe you lead and provide coaching right up until your trust is broken then boss must come out? Then on another front I recently was dealing with a situation where either empathy and trust could be deployed or distrust and strict enforcement (Plus a little Boss/title) ultimately ruled with an iron fist. Hope I don't lose my empathy through the boss situations over time.

Part III of Presenting

The intro. The data is not completely concise. From 15 seconds to two minutes but the message is the same. How you start a presentation makes all the difference. My opinion is you have 30 seconds to hook the audience with Energy A story Having Fun Direction I know that is a lot. So lets talk about what doesn't work for sure. The "Glad to be here hope you are enjoying the..." This adds no value for the audience. Then "I am XXX and my experience is XXX" Sure if you are giving a deep technical discussion - credentials matter but otherwise - Boring! Or a story of how important the presentor is (Unless you are a president - you probably arn't that important I like to start with a story that grounds me with the audience. A goofy story about how I screwed somethign up that everyone can relate to? Bottom line, Hook the audience early. If you are going to invest in one good story, make it the first story you tell!

Part II of Presenting (Topic Ideas)

Where do you come up with topic ideas? For me I am always looking, reading articles or just seeing something that triggers an idea. I then take that basic idea and put it into a OneNote that I have where those ideas sit to see if they still ring true in the future. If I am still intrigued I then write up a teaser for that presentation that on the page has my picture and my bio. That goes out to the world to see if people are interested in hearing that presentation (Usually through industry events looking for speakers) Yep, I book presentations that are not written. Last part is putting together that presentation - that will be the next part of the series!

Presentation Training

I have been doing some presentation training and sometimes you need to go back to the basics. I am going to do a several part series on this (My personal opinion on presenting) First you must be prepared with some basics. If you are presenting to a room. What are you connecting to. Do you have the adapaters> I have a presentation kit. All the HDMI to VGA, USBC, Display port and more. Amazon makes this easy to get the pile of adapters you might need. Next, have the laptop charged. But I always prefer to be plugged in. You never know if your intro presenter takes too long or if your battery isn't like it was from new. You also want to make sure you have power settings for never go to sleeep on PPT presentations (There is a profile for this) Do your Windows updates (I don't want to have the laptop off then when turning it on - it is applying updates) Then make sure you are on a clean boot! I want to reboot close to my presentation so there is no hanging gremlins. Shut off all your messaging apps (Many times I shut off wireless just to be sure) that way you are not getting notifications or people reading your messages when presenting! Then use your own clicker if you can. You can remember better what clicks forward and back, to black the screen and to have a laser pointer if you need one. Just trying to eliminate all the potential problems! Know your screen setup. If you have the "Preview" screen infront of you? Are you using your phone or tablet for notes? With the above, know if you are being recorded. The camera person usually tells you where you can go to (How far and such) Usually they have tape marking! Know if you are using a microphone, where you can go and how far. If you go infront of speakers it tends to feedback! Have your water so if you get a frog during presentation you can go to it! Control your intro (Make sure they know how to intro you (Or in my opinion, not) Take a lanyard off (If you have one) it can be a distraction, bang the mic or such. Again, eliminate the unknown. I prefer not to wear hard soled shoes. Depending on the stage, it can be like tap shoes! I am not a fan of external AV or if you are, make sure you can survive without it! I have seen speakers spend 10 minutes tring to get it going. Not worth the distraction and pain. Know what you are going to do if the answer is "Nothing is working" Be prepared to entertain either way. Assume when putting deck together that screen will be small so make fonts big! This is all BEFORE you present. Next I will dive into the actual building of a presentation.

More people must mean better productivity? More results?

Recently I have been in meetings, invited to meetings or more where we have to have multiple people to cover all bases because no one wants to either step on toes or make decisions for THEIR department without buy in. This causes a meeting to have to have another meeting since we need to invite the "Others" which essentially we start over and then try and make some kind of decision. I don't know about you but given the choice between another meeting or accepting people I trust decision and being more efficient - I am going with TRUST. Will it be exactly the way you wanted? Nope, probably not but could you move forward and be productive. In my opinion absolutely. Maybe all meetings should be held sitting on the floor or standing. This way people are not comfortable and get to the point.

Getting Lost

I have to admit before GPS I was horrible at navigating. Heck I still am? Is the map saying that road or the next? But one thing I think I do well is keep the main thing the main thing. Beyond that I am really good at identifying the main thing. I would say on Google maps the main thing is showing your driving to the top of the map. (I recently found you can orient it to North always - so confusing) Anyway. What is your direction? Many times I see people and companies orient to; Process (Over people) Technical issues over customer experience Distraction away from what you are successful doing Just some small examples. It is the purpose of leadership to keep clarity and direction right up front.

What is next

I recently was having a conversation with an Euteneuer that sold his business and he was contemplating what is next for him. This is not unique to business owners, heck I spent my entire career working to get to my current position and now...what is next. Maybe it is ok to not have a next for a while? Let’s face it I am a next guy. Always looking forward to the next. I sturggle living in the moment so maybe I should just slow down and enjoy the current? I don't think I know how to do that! Just because I don't know what is next does not mean I am not preparing for next (Not knowing what it is) Building people, skills and more. Something interesting we did discuss was that both of us have worked from our first job early in life till now without a break. He was going to take a few months to just get some projects he wants done and relax. (Honestly, I am not sure he can do that!) I have always thought this would be interesting, take a few months and have no destination for a while. (I think I need the stress to keep things going) For now, I will keep looking forward with no intent to slow down.

Presenting Part Duo

Presenting is one of those things that if you are interesting you are better than 75%. I think people are stuck on this whole process (Probably because we are taught in school...don't get me started) Things I think are just wrong 1. Sticking strictly to facts (I have google so I can find my own facts" Give me opinions and vision. 2. Slow pace - yep, I can read your slides, I don't need it read to me. 3. Don't underestimate your audiences ability to go fast pace! 4. So much time. the average sitcom is 22 min and most people struggle to stick with that. You think you can keep people entertained for an hour? Stick and move. 5. Questions - most of the time I hate this part of the presentation. 6. People getting stuck in the tech (IE the clicker wont work and so on) be prepared to go without. 7. Tell stories - the more personal the better. 8. Have fun as a group! Just the short list but more to come...

Presenting - Yep still scary?

I have been presenting to new and different crowds lately and usually before now I knew the audience really well. This set of rounds I have been presenting on topics I am not as familiar with (Cybersecurity) and to crowds that I am not exactly sure of their level or wants. So far so good! If you know me at all you know I take a different angle then almost everyone else and that has served me well. One new thing I tried here recently to a more comfortable audience was the select your own journey. I put a dozen topics that vary on length and they select the title. Went pretty well but I under estimated how much time it would take and we only made it through 1/4 of the topics (But hey, maybe they will want me back?) One thing is for sure, put yourself out there and there will always be haters and that is ok. Just keep on getting better!

How much transparancy?

I usually have little to nothing to hide and especially in business. But the reality is that there are times that you cannot give the complete picture. Maybe it is relevant to an acquisition or pay or even things having to do with HIPPA. However more than not I see others hide things or treat them like they are top secret? Why? I am guessing that many times I give up too much. What I think about a process, how others have treated people or even mistakes I have made. But sharing any of these can help us grow together? I should probably focus more on sharing my mistakes since they are mine to share. The other part of this is when you cannot share it can make others super uneasy and possibly damage trust. The easiest way of overcoming this is saying that it doesn’t have to do with the person you are speaking with (Assuming it doesn’t…Don’t lie) That is what most people want to know. For now I will try and stay on the side of clarity without giving away anything that shouldn’t be shared.

I was reminded - let others lead

I was working with another leader yesterday and they were making a point how their supervisor was so involved with their team that they were unable to really lead. There was no excuse from the leader just that many of times the supervisor stepped in during important times and usurped the situation. The why behind it was from a situation that had happend to that supervisor in the past where they had lost control or someone they were managing failed. Hey, I get that, we have all worked with others that we wished had done better. That is when a leader must coach not do. Easier said than done and a good reminder for me to make sure I allow others to lead.

My Weak Spot

Do you have that person that for whatever reason just gets your goat up? Yes GOAT Steve Gilliland – My Secretary Margaret: Hide Your Goat! - YouTube Honestly I don’t have very many of those people but when I run into them my EQ goes out the window. I simply snap (No excuses). I recently started looking at my own behavior to try and identify the traits that cause my strong reaction. Here is what does it for me; • They are not self-aware (But claim to be). That last part is important. I have found the more people state they are self-aware the less likely they actually are. • Bullies – this is a strange one for me. When I witness that I then do it to that person. UGH • People that talk about others Ok, admittedly not a long list and honestly I only have a few people that do this to me. I am trying to be more aware and keep my EQ where it should be.

Building future leaders

If you are a leader in your organization or even a percieved leader you have a responsibility to build the future leaders. Probably not new news however what are you DOING to build the future? For me it means spending time dedicated to the leadership development. There are two parts. First is to go over some tactical parts of Supervision. Not necessarily to be confused with leadership (Not all supervisors are leaders) but how to handle difficult conversations, tactical parts of leading a team and lessons you have learned over the years. Second taking leadership topics and walking through them. For me this is talking about events that have happened to me, or I have witnessed and walking through them (These can be good things and bad situations) The key is to protect this leadership time from the day to day business. I do struggle keeping these things out of this time but I try my best. (Hey, I don't have a problem discussing this with you but can we set a separate time to cover? I want to keep this time focused on you and development.) This is done for my team by spending 1 hour per month per person and 2 hours per month as a group. Key is, make it a priority. It is your future.

Number One Priority of a leader - Bring Clarity - But it isn't that simple?

You say sure it is, just tell people what they need to know. OK, fair enough but the trap is when people want rules. The problem with rules is that they live in a black and white world. This would look like always and never. (PS Not a fan) I believe the best clarity you can give is guidelines and have your teams back. Coach through the tough decisions and that will bring clarity. Versus telling them what to do and having them having to check with you to make sure they get the direction.

Focus - Stay on Target - Make sure the target is clear

Sometimes I have that scene in Star Wars where they are attacking the Death Star and the guy keeps saying "Stay on Target" playing over and over. It is so easy to get distracted. I was speaking to my dad this last weekend and he was telling me how he was working on some touch up paint but then went to the basement and was distracted by another project and completed that task from earlier and went back upstairs only to realize that he forgot to ge the paint. Heck, I do that all the time - distracted all the time! But in business I see it different. You lay out the vision, put together a plan then get distracted by so many other things. Recently it has been constant distractions (Not to say they arn't real) - COVID - Product Constraints Just to name a couple small things, but it is the tactical day to day items that tend to get the team distracted and impact business. Shiney deals that do not align to where we want to go and we sink tons of time only to get to the end and understand it was a waste. Or others trying to distract us in swim lanes that are not ours. Maybe my most annoying is discussing process and process change, minor change only to not do anything. Sometimes acting like you are a startup for short stretches can gain the momentum we need to jump gaps. Our pants are on fire, we are running out of time an money and if this thing doesn't happen the we will fail. Get the momentum up and see how far you can fly. "The key to flying is to throw yourself at the ground and miss"

Number one thing for hiring?

Last week I was infront of a group of college students (In which Caden my son happened to be part of) and was ask what the number one thing I look for in a potential candidate was and it was quick to come to my mind. EQ - or Emotional Intelligence. There is about as much online about this than you can possibly read. Yet what does it mean to me. - The ability to control your emotions - To be self aware - a link to empathy for others I am keeping this list simple on purpose. Why is EQ most important to me? I can teach other skills, still I believe that you can enhanse somesomes EQ but if they do not have a good foundation you cannont start on sand.