Day 5!

What a great day of information. I had the opportunity to introduce the sales leadership speaker and give everyone the information on the coming year! Nate Austin and I had a blast doing it!

After that HTG had a bunch of food trucks come for lunch. (I definitely tried them all!)

Then we had the HTG Olympics (And a few margaritas). Lots of fun and networking.

The day ended with a visit from one of our Larks Players in the past Blake and his girl friend Lea! Great catching up with them and hearing about their year.

Days 3&4

The "Snowball" distraction was in full effect. You can see John holding on to one giving his companies QBR.

With a room full of entrepreneurs it helped keep their hands busy and if people got off track everyone bombarded them with snowballs.

I learned a lot of things these two days. As usual facilitating is one of the most difficult things I do. From organization to keeping on schedule and making sure that we continue to get value out of the group. In addition it (As always) Service Leadership is very educational. Learned this quarter about the OML (Operational Maturity Level) of customers. It was around that you want customers to have a high OML so that they truly understand the value that high OML companies provide. Something that I will be paying way more attention to moving forward!

Another HTG Event in the books

Wow so much happened this week.

First was the almost private jet flight to Denver!

Second I had a chance to climb Piestewa Peak in Phoenix Arizona. It was 2 miles to the base from the motel, 6 miles climbing and another 2 miles back. Definitely times making that climb that I wondered if we were going to make it! After some persistence and many breaks the victory photo was taken!

Then a great dining experience with Ashley Heaton and his wife which moved to AZ around a year ago. Great to see how well they are doing and really how much he loves what he is doing.

All this in just the first two days!

Culture?

A while ago there was a culture survey that went out taking the pulse of the company and the culture within. To be honest I don't remember the questions or really any details other than how the leadership is doing and how you feel about your supervisor/manager.

Never really thought much about it until this week where I was told that the team I work for communicated that they have respect for the leadership and the culture within stood out.

Definitely good news and what you always hope to hear. However it really made me ask more questions than it answered.

Why is the culture better? My thoughts? Several things however it really revolves around trust. The people who do the job every day know more about that job than the leadership. Trust them to do it.

Expectations. Give as much clarity around what you expect. Define success and timeframe. A key area around this is to then ask for people to repeat what is expected so you know you are on the same page.

Next is accountability. If people are not performing at expectations hold them accountable. Not once a year, every once in a while. All the time. Don't mix words. Take out the maybe, kinda and sort of. Give the exact words. Performance is to be at 10. You are at 9. This must be fixed immediately. Now lets work together to define a plan and execute it.

Honesty. Have authentic conversations where you discuss exactly where you stand. Sure sometimes you have to be "Political" however many times recently people have responded much better when you tell them exactly what is going on and why. From customers to team members. How can people get better if you simply push issues down the road versus helping give clarity.

Listen. I am not an expert (Well probably at anything) however listen to those around you. Many times I believe people simply act like they care and are listening, then tell you what to do. This is how you get mediocre.

Last, leaders must distribute the praise and accept the negative (Pain). Leaders may not do the job, however they take responsibility when it does not go well.

What is next? It is great to have a great culture. Now we MUST do something legendary.

A little press with CRN

http://www.crn.com/news/storage/300079366/storagecraft-gets-187m-investment-new-ceo-plans-to-make-it-a-500m-data-protection-powerhouse.htm

Dear Car Companies "WHY"

I have this 1997 Ford Explorer in the garage that has a feature that many new cars do not have and I want to know why?

So we also have a 2015 Chevy Tahoe and it has that new key fob that is wireless so you don't put a key in the ignition (Or the door). However (I know I am from KS) but the ability to get into the car without the fob is great!. Or to lock the key in the car and use your code to get in. Hey, I have a computer that I use a key to get into and it protects information worth 100 times more than that car?

When I was a lake person, I used to love this feature because I could lock the keys in the car and not worry about dropping them in the lake.

So what are the draw backs to this system. Well, I guess someone could break the window and get the keys and drive off. However I would like to think that I am good at hiding the key not just in the visor? OK fine that is the drawback. How about a locking console where you put the key and it is opened with the code at the same time as the door?

It looks like Ford has the lock on this type of lock? (Pun intended)

So lets take this a step further. How about if you are so paranoid than you have finger print id with a code? Heck that would have better security than my iPhone (Or any thing else for that matter)

Since I have that out of my system how about a feature on my 1984 Corvette that cars need. To open the rear hatch you can use;
*Button on edge of drivers door
*Button on edge of passenger door
*Button in console
Simplicity and you can get to open that hatch from anywhere. Hey it is just a button. (Sure the new cars have a FOB to do that too) But I like the ease of this.

Anki & Over Drive has CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Santa delivered Anki Overdrive and many accessories. First of all you have to remember I am a tech guy and it takes quite a bit to impress me when it comes to technology. Anki has done this absolutely right. SUPER easy to set up (Like 5 to 10 minutes from opening box to racing)

The game play (Yes I call it game play) is interactive and fun. It is like a video game with real cars! I would personally state it is like augmented reality. You have the real cars and virtual interaction with them. How the cars know where they are, how quickly they interact, how great the app is and how flawless the interaction is really is unbelievable.

Carsen (Now 9) Loves Anki Overdrive! Competitive and requires thinking to win!

Now after we opened the package we identified that only 3 of the four cars would charge. I sent an email to support and received a response quickly from Nuno at Anki. He is an Anki Brand Ambassador. Love that title by the way. Now to be honest I have dealt with lots of people (Especially in technology) and very, very few live up to expectation none the less exceed my expectation. Well after giving the needed information to Nuno he said he would ship out a replacement part (Yes I have to ship the defective unit back) What I didn't expect was it would be at the house in less than 24 hours!

I have a prepaid UPS shipping label to send the defective part back and now all is well.

Like Anki's motto

Let's DRIVE