We are in the green age, the age of sustainability.  A core principle of sustainability is the avoidance of waste.  This covers many facets of the organization, but one, of course, is in spending.  Conservative spending, in addition being a key practice of sustainability is a key practice of survival.  Cash is an organization's oxygen, its lifeblood.  When it runs out, your organization is dead. 

 

I recommend a policy, indeed a culture, that asks every team member to run through this analysis with every potential expenditure:

 

In considering this expenditure…

 

·         Is it necessary?

·         Can I delay it?

·         Have I shopped around?

·         Is there a way I can repurpose an asset we already own?

·         Have I avoided waste?

·         Is there a way to leverage it?

·         Have I solicited input from team members?

 

…understanding that we will not materially compromise our commitment to our customers or to speed, efficiency and

   excellence.

 

From Lee Schweichler, a premier executive search professional (he placed John Chambers at Cisco) serving the high-tech industry and a good friend of mine:

All CEOs have five tasks: (1) define the business; (2) recruit the team, (3) arrange financing, (4) set the culture, and (5) shape the product strategy.

And the 11 traits of a successful CEO in an early stage company are:

1.       Judgment needed to make tough calls in novel, complex situations with no roadmap;

2.       Ability to define the business strategy beyond the original product concept and capture the support of internal and external audiences for that strategy;

3.       Ability to recruit a high quality team;

4.       Understanding of how markets work: what products to make, how to get customers, and how to get customers to buy them;

5.       Ability to establish a value set and culture that promotes desired results;

6.       Capacity to manage talented people effectively and generate high levels of performance from them;

7.       Consistent focus on the few critical variables that make the business work;

8.       Constant attention to the critical importance of cash;

9.       Strong intellect, coupled with pragmatism and pure common sense;

10.   Built-in, unrelenting drive to succeed; and

11.   Magnetic personal style that motivates people throughout the company.

Check out “The Alchemy of Leadership,” a wonderful essay by James Huling, and a great challenge to those who believe leaders are born into it.

The high-impact leader is inspiring. He or she listens deeply to others to discover a common purpose, then gives life to his or her vision by communicating it so that team members see themselves in it. 

If you are a leader and have never listened to the collections of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches, do yourself a favor and either download them from iTunes onto your iPod or buy the collection at Amazon.

We all know his “I Have a Dream,” but some of these others, like his sermon at the Mason Temple in Memphis the night before his assassination, is the epitome of inspiring. You can’t help yourself from getting goose bumps and, likely, shedding some tears.

I'm a fan of meetings that are done right.  If they are done right, they are critical to maintaining the flow of communication in a fast-moving organization.  If they aren't done right, I hate them, hate them, hate them.  They are a waste of time.

10 Commandments of Meetings

1.      Make sure it’s absolutely necessary.

2.      Include only the essential people.

3.      Circulate an agenda prior to the meeting, stating the objectives and the topics, with a leader assigned and time allocated for each topic.

4.      Strictly adhere to start and end times.

5.      Stay on topic.

6.      No side-conversations.

7.      No interrupting.

8.      Be efficient with words.

9.      No laptops, phones, PDAs.

10.    Conclude with a clear statement of decisions made, next steps, and individual accountabilities.