I love to solve problems. A chance to question, listen, analyze, and brainstorm about business processes and strategy will get me out of bed any morning. I have an unapologetic fondness for stupid questions, and I question everything.
Entropy energizes me. I love cleaning up messes, solving problems, and defining processes. That is why I thrive in change and revel in disruption – it keeps me busy, and challenges my thinking.
Administration isn’t evil if you do it right. Administrative activities are a time suck, but essential to success. To do the most good with the least harm, focus on just two things: (1) Attention to Detail, and (2) Cost Control.
Attention to detail is more than fact checking and trend analysis. ATD includes learning continuously, documenting processes, cross-training, and commoditizing tasks. ATD leads to cost control as commoditized tasks move down the chain of command toward the ultimate goal of automation.
Cost control is sometimes a matter of doing what you can with what you’ve got where you are, but it may be wiser to invest heavily for long-term payoffs. Innovation, replication, standardization, documentation, education, automation – all of it can drive down costs. Sometimes you spend a little to save a lot.
I never stop learning, and I do not always take the conventional path. I climbed the corporate ladder first; then got my Bachelors and Masters degrees (if one of those is on your ‘someday’ list, check out WGU). I always have at least one book I am working through or re-reading. On rotation: David Allen’s GTD fascinates me and will be a life-long pursuit, Tom Peters was way ahead of his time with personal branding, and I am a sucker for a well-researched topic from Harvard Business Review or Malcolm Gladwell.
I am always open to opportunity, discussion, and debate. Connect with me on LinkedIn, or send me an email. Iron sharpens iron. Let’s get better together.
About the picture: above is a panoramic view of my home office on my last day of work on my MBA. I never leave anything as-is for long.