Author: spierzchala

Hans Henrik points us to an article discussing how the philosophy of a business leader should be a criteria during the selection process.

This is relevant to me, as the company I work for is currently conducting a CEO search. Now, based on my experience with the leadership of my company, I know some of the criteria that they are looking for. I just hope that the search committee also considers how the candidates envision possible upheavals in our industry over the bext 5, 10, 20 years.

One thing that never happens when a CEO is chosen is the interview by the staff below the board and the C-level. My company is very small; I would love the opportunity to listen to the CEO candidates speak to me as a member of the team he will lead. But that will never happen, as boards and C-level leaders are focused across and up; they very rarely look down, how a leader actually is seen by the people who make the company go.

I have mentioned that I am reading Execution, where Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan speak about how great leaders execute on strategies and ask the questions that need to be asked about how things get done. However, as all business books are, it is aimed at the MBA, director, VP and C-level players. What about the majority of us, the individual contributors? How do we make an impact on a company? What say do we have on the vision?

Being in a leadership position does not mean you are a great leader. Company leaders, how do you inspire your individual contributors on a daily basis?

Addendum: Tom Peters says it best. CEOs are idiots because….

20. Their egos distract them from the Real Work of Business.

Darren Barefoot and Travis Smith both comment on a channel that shows weird Dr. Who-like graphs.

Believe it or not, the graph channel is a diagnostic tool used by Cable Companies to be able to determine how their headends are performing.
At least that is how it was explained to me by someone who has worked for 3 different cable companies in two countries.

Allan Jenkins has posted a link to a paper posted by Hans Henrik (don’t you love blogs) on how companies with good design have outperformed the FTSE 100 over the last decade.

Very cool. It would be interesting to see if the paper also correlates whether good design can make or break a company.

The non-billable hour is back again with a great comment via PschoTactics on the true value of FREE. [here and here]

As a consultant in a product organization, I often see my services thrown in for free to close a deal. The clients who we then work with value our efforts less, and as a result, they do not invest adequate time, money or energy into the ideas and projects we are working on.

Free means that the service is Worth Less.

The non-billable hour continues its run of quotables on this blog, by finding an article detailing that businesses will grow and be more successful if they undertake the very difficult task of implementing process management. [here]

This idea links the entire business end-to-end in process maps instead of departmental silos.

This is the entire philosophy that we have been attempting to pursue with companies in the area of Web performance. The objective of a successful company is that departmental silos exist, but are meaningless. "Cross-functional teams" becomes a meaningless term, because you don’t have to make it seem like you are doing something new, as everyone just does it, and understands how they fit into the process map.

My former company announced earnings yesterday. The Internet Stock Blog has some interesting comments on the call and the guidance. [here and here]

Wonder what’s happening back at the ranch….

1. It snows in Massachusetts — why can’t people drive in it?
2. I am going home in a few minutes.
3. Buy the Sonics. [here and here]

You have heard the Sonics — Think Land Rover. [here: The Edge and The Split].

Seattle Garage Band…yeah you have heard that before. But from 1962-1967?

Their music sounds like someone took the masters and dragged them behind a Land Rover…on Titan, then committed them to wax. I am amazed that the recording needle didn’t go through the wax when they made these albums.

And the ads cleaned up the sound!

Coming of age in my musical appreciatin in Victoria, BC, the Sonics were a normal part of the background noise that I heard. And everyone covered them, especially The Witch and Strychnine. And you haven’t heard Louie, Louie until you hear the Sonics version…with the amps at 11.

Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds. Buy these cds.

Then put your ScobelizerHeadphones on and melt your mind. No one will notice; it’s a snow day.

I have a new book: High Performance MySQL

Looks like I may have to make some configuration changes.

Thanks to Jeremy Zawodny for writing this.

The strange thing, I know people like this.

A lot of them…

Ok, I am one…

Gotta run; have to re-build the kernel on my Orbiting Brain Lasers…