Richard Yong

A quick one - Australia is proposing a once off flood levy tax of 0.5% for those earning over $50,000 and 1.0% for those earning over $100,000.

While deeply unpopular, it's an extremely elegant tax because it does two things.

1. Funds the flood relief without impacting other government spending. It's also tapping the public for funds like an 'insurance' policy, which is questionable...

The elegant bit:

2. Artificially depresses private consumption for a year. The elegance is that the pressure from the incredible increase in demand for resources to rebuild will put inflationary pressure on prices, but depressing private consumption will also have a miniature deflationary effect. Elegant.

The rub here is that the Reserve Bank of Australia will be less likely to be forced into a corner on having to increase interest rates to a level that puts pressures on people with home loans and debts.

The nice part is that by reducing pressure on debts and home loans is that the rest of the economy not tied up in the recovery isn't punished and you have a lesser likelihood of a two speed economy.

What this shows though is how awkward monetary policy is in modern times, it creates a 'rob Peter to pay Paul' lever that doesn't always work.

While I like the idea of the tax and I think they are a great idea, the selfish side of Richard says 'bah humbug' to all taxes. That said, we've done a great (or poor, depending) job of increasing disposable income. in 1990 you were effectively taxed 47% on every dollar over $50,000. Today it's 45% on every dollar over $180,000...!

If I use my back of the napkin inflation of 3.5% a year, $50,000 in 1990 is 'only' about $103,000 in 2011.

A Return (The Internet Never Switches Off)

The internet just doesn't turn off... everything you write, do, take pictures of, or tag becomes a permanent imprint, even if you don't want it to.

I haven't written here in over two years, but that doesn't stop both my LinkedIn page and my personal blog rising to the top of the google searches for 'Richard Yong.'

It's a double edged sword being the most popular Richard Yong in the world (feel free to email me if you think this should be your title).

The upside is that this is my personal brand. I should make the most of it.

The downside is not making the most of it! I've given up a great opportunity for capturing my learnings form the last two years. What a waste!

I've done a lot of thinking and doing in the last two years, including failures like failing to make never working again a reality, successes like finding a passion and being valued for my work, failures like being unable to keep my discipline for fitness, but also successes like building a great panel of advisers who help me with things I'm not so good at.

Highlights in the last two years include:

• Purchasing my first home with a back yard for my dogs
• Presenting to CEOs and their teams in Tokyo and Beijing
• Working as Acting Group Internal Auditor at Allianz Australia and having the opportunity to lead, shape and change a team of eight, and learning from some of the toughest and most impressive leaders I've ever seen
• Being hired as the Senior Risk and Compliance Manager, Technology for BT Financial Group at the end of 2010

Over time I'm going to share the learnings I've had and how both trying different things and a spot of luck have helped me have the best last couple of years yet. I still have steep hills to climb, and miles to go before I sleep.

I'll finish with one book I've loved the title of, 'What got you here, won't get you there,' I think it's a great thought. Just because you succeed today doesn't mean you'll succeed tomorrow with the same set of skills, so if you continue learning and changing you will always adapt to new challenges.

It's written by Marshall Goldsmith

 

Monotasking, the new black?

Managers in shoulder padded jackets from the 90's were wrong when they said that multitasking would save us from the overload of work and stress.

In our distraction addled worlds, our brains have learned to cope with the myriad of distractions by compensating and multitasking. We compensate by juggling our phones while ordering a coffee, emailing while on the phone, texting while watching television, there are even people playing the flute while driving!

But did we lose the most important part of living by giving in to our need to squeeze every moment out? Did we forget the importance of focus and actually live in our lives?

I want to propose for a moment, the idea of monotasking.

Every single thing you do, you do without thought, or distraction from. Boring, interesting, it doesn't matter.

In popular psychology, monotasking is called being present. That's a great word, a lot of the time i find myself considering the past, thinking about the future, and the last thing i'm considering is where I am and what I'm doing, it's like im living inside my head.

One of the best exercises for coming back to the present, and focusing on what you're doing is to do just just that, come back to the present and realise what your five senses are telling you, pay attention to what you are smelling, hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling. The world becomes a deeper and richer place the moment you do, even if you're just walking down the street.

Start mono tasking today. You'll be glad you did.

The Bell Curve. Normalised Life.

Normal distribution. 68.27%. It's a fascinating number. Number of hours slept. Number of times someone knocks on a door. Number of times you roll over in bed. Your salary. Your number of bedrooms in your home. Most people will have or do all these things within a very narrow band. 68.27% of any population actually.

From day 1, when you are born, statisticians put you into the curve. Whether it's your weight, your height, your smarts, your money or your death. It all fits on the curve somewhere.

Normal is good. You're just like everyone else, no one is going to question you, because you're part of the 68.27% of the population.

Normal is safe.

Most advice is normal.

What's funny is that normal is so different for different people. Normally it's whoever you're brought up with. Researchers call this the 'normalisation period' when you are 'teaming.' In reality, it's about fitting in. People like people like themselves, and most of all people like to be liked.

I think it's more important to build your own normal. For me, that means I want to see as many groups, teams, people and have as many experiences as possible.

For some people they might be happy with their normal, and they'll either never want, or never will go out and explore the possibilities. Me? I kind of envy these guys, but also... I kind of don't.

Flickr Cred: viasta2

Bamgoogled.

Once upon a time, 'Richard Yong' was a google search term for a crazy Singaporean politician criminal, some New Zealand model and a Richard Yong from Hong Kong's Face book.

No longer.

I've finally made it to the front page of google searches for Richard Yong.

Only 7 more ranks to hit the top!

Flickr cred: Ohmang75 and the criminal Richard Yong.

Stupid people make money. The sky is falling.

So I've heard a few things about how the market is going to go.

South.

20% drop? Maybe.

Financial's in Australia have dropped at least 10-20% in the last few weeks alone. The sky is falling. If I were still in stocks in Australia I'd get the hell out and make the most of 8% interest rates on cash accounts.

I'm not bailing yet on the markets. Video games are a recession's best friend. Unemployment rates soaring? Petrol prices hitting all time highs? I just hope the Jone's are staying home to play their Wii.

So. How exactly do stupid people make money?

Ok. I'm being facetious, I don't mean stupid people. I mean your average mom and dad investor who 'dabbles' in the stock market, or a Japanese house wife dabbling in some forex gambling. Basically your average white collar John Doe who reads the Weekend Business Roundup and has CNBC.

Stupid people make money by luck. If you had put in $20,000 into the stock market 8 years ago, and had thrown darts at a board of investment picks you would have doubled your money. Blindfolded. Even after all the recent falls.

Stupid people have been lucky. And good for them, you don't need to be a genius to get on the gravy train, and nor should you need to be. You can bet that if there is a a gravy train, I'll be the first one on.

An article recently criticised the generation of stupid investors educated on a staple diet of CNBC, Bloomberg and Jim Cramer. It mentioned how they are the ones stuck like deer in the headlights right now. They were brought up on looking at P/E ratios (price to earnings) but either forgot, or don't care about where the E came from. Trust me earnings matter.

Funnily enough, the same investors, also worked in the white collar firms, and funnily enough, these execs also forgot that where the E comes from is more important than just making loads of it.

So it's come full circle, we educate a generation of stupid people, we put stupid people in charge of our firms and we ask them to invest in our firms. In the gaming world, they call this GG.

Now don't take this the wrong way. I'm not labelling an entire generation of people as not smart, or incapable of functioning as sentient intelligent human beings. Stupid is a term I'm using for people who are obviously smart enough to make themselves money to invest. These guys might be lawyers, accountants or doctors, for all I know, or care. But I see it time and time again, people with a fortune to invest and their only explanation for their investing is 'it's a bank. Banks are good, right?'

Stupid people make money (except when the sky is falling).

The sky is falling.

Flickrcred: Motherpie

Don't get caught with your pants down, how a painting taught a 7 year old about subprime. (Hint: NEVER SELL ON CREDIT)

My Uncle owns a furniture store in Alor Setar, Malaysia. This isn't particularly remarkable, except it was also where I spent  most of my swelteringly hot summer holidays, cooped up inside the only air conditioned place in town, the office. This was where I learned the basics of credit.

I can vividly remember the stale smell of the off white wall paper, the cool bare polished concrete floor and the rhythmic rattle and hum of the twenty year old air conditioner, beating time to my 'busy office work.'

In the corner, on the ground, sat an odd looking print.

The vignette was made up of two contrasting scenes, one was a large, rosy cheeked, coated business man smoking a pipe, and the other, a poor skinny man with an empty safe. The motto on the fat rich man:

I never sell on credit.

Poor old skinny with his empty pockets proclaimed:

I sold on credit.

At 7, I had no idea what credit was. Over the years I spent there though, my parents taught me that selling on credit was a way of letting people have things now, while they could pay for it later.

Fast forward nearly 20 years, and the world is drunk on credit. Buy now pay later. Use your home equity, buy a new car. Borrow to get that whizzbang doohickey you always wanted. No money? sure we'll loan you 100% of the value!

It's all 'cheers, how you doing' when wages grow and assets appreciate and the gen X'ers cash their retirements out on their homes. But what happens when the party is over?

Well. For one, when no one wants to lend you anymore money, things start going awry.

Then you wake up. You've got a hangover, but you're not sure how you got to that point.

Sounds like drinking too much right? Well it's exactly what's happening now with Subprime (it's not over yet!). People went too far with selling on credit.

Everyone who sold on credit is now the skinny dude saying I sold on credit. The scary thing is, that they aren't so skinny, and aren't so easy to spot, they are your average white collar, suited, mom and dad. In fact, if they were there during the party, they've probably cashed out their bonuses and left shareholders (hrmm moms and dads too) out in the cold.

Here is a hilarious primer on the subprime crisis (retold by two stick figures, no less) that I totally recommend, it'll take 2 minutes:

 http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn

Personally I've got a different view of credit. It's not about selling on credit. It's about the uses.

Credit is for:

• Buying an asset.
• Buying something that helps you make money.
• Buying something that keeps you living.
• Emergencies

Credit is not for:

• Getting that xyz that I always wanted, and is on sale.
• Buying stuff for fun.
• Betting on the market.
• 'Getting the lifestyle I always wanted. Man'

These are my own little rules, I'd love to hear yours.

My hope is that these rules make sure, unlike most of the Financials right now, that I'll never be caught with my pants down.

Flickr cred: Regenade98

Lenovo Part III: The customer is wrong... the customer is always wrong.

So I've had issues with Lenovo.

They replaced the screen yesterday. But it was cracked, no problem, as long as they come back and fix it (but if you note below, they don't think it's worth the cost benefit, they'd rather just throw me a bone)

Back in February I sprung for the extra gigabyte of RAM. I thought it would be fantastic for the slow as snails Microsoft Vista.

Well last night I thought I'd check if anything else was wrong with my lemon of a laptop (it's actually a great laptop, but my specific one - lemon).

Lo and behold. It's missing an entire gigabyte of RAM that I paid for. After all I've seen at Lenovo... I just wasn't that surprised. Great laptop, horrible service. They must have run out of money after they hired all those engineers (I don't believe there are better laptop engineers out there!)

Here is an email I sent to the relevant parties at Lenovo and IBM (and Apple). I also sent further private emails to the CEO of Lenovo (Bill Amelio) and IBM (Sam Palmisano).

------------------------------------------------

To all involved,

I understand the effort and expense you have all gone to in replacing my screen. I appreciate the expense, time and effort. There is no doubt in my mind that people have worked very hard behind the scenes to help make things right. You have all been one of them and I do appreciate that. However, there are still some ongoing concerns and there are outlined below.

Attached are pictures of  what has been mentioned as 'something we probably don't cover under warranty, as I have heard from third party sources, but could be wrong, that the damage is purely superficial and does not impact the use of the screen.' yeah right, look at the pictures.

Picture no. one is timestamped 15 minutes after the technician left, I realised I better have evidence, as all along the way I have been treated like I have been wrong, and have only received a replacement screen as some sort of 'above the realms of normal service' exception. Note you cannot see the crack from front on, and neither the technician nor myself noticed it, until I looked at an angle after I had turned the machine off. The next picture is after one day of normal use. It has cracked all the way through. I am still using it, but I will not be moving it.

As for your offer of a full refund.

I reject your refund offer. The cost of downtime as I try to get another laptop running is not negotiable. This machine has already cost me money in down time. A refund offer does not even begin to cover the cost of my time.

As I have mentioned from day dot, all I have ever wanted is a laptop that works.

I do not enjoy being treated like I am wrong, and that somehow I am responsible for your loss of money on this transaction. I very well know you are losing money on this. I do not care.

You bought into a contract to supply me with a laptop that worked and as specified. You did not.

When you repaired it, you went into contract with me to repair it correctly. You did not.

Here is a summary of events, and let me know if this isn't how you see it.

What I did wrong:

• I broke my power jack, and then paid you guys to fix it.

What it has cost me:

• Time. Downtime for my business
• Money. My Vodafone wireless internet still gets paid even if I don't have a laptop to use it on.

What you guys did wrong from the moment I bought it:

• 6 weeks to ship
• Brown stained screen
• Broken microphone
• No Multitouch as specifically ordered on the phone (check your recording)
• Did not supply and install 1 extra gigabyte of ram, as specifically ordered and paid for (I'll agree that I did not notice this till two days ago, but it was an unexpected surprise)

What you guys did wrong since repair:

• Took 6 weeks to repair, of which for 4 weeks you lost my signed agreement for repair and did not begin repairs on my machine until my laptop had been sitting in your repair shop for 4 weeks.
• Still did not supply a Multitouch screen.
• Treated me like some kind of cost blackhole and therefore something to be avoided at all cost.

What you guys did right:

• Given me onsite service, the technician was fantastic. Apart from the broken screen, I was very much impressed by his work.

And now:

• You want me to take a refund of invoice amount?

It's going to cost me to take that refund, and you're refunding me... wait for it.., for RAM you never even installed!?

Here is my non-negotiable offer of three options:

Send a technician to my house next week.

Replace broken screen (Multitouch or SXGA your choice, whatever is faster)
Install the RAM that was paid for but never received or installed
Extend my warranty to 3 years from the minute the technician leaves my house.
Provide me with a heavy discount on the next X series tablet.

Or.

Replace the screen with the one the technician took away (a non multitouch), install and supply the RAM. Swap my X61T for the next X series tablet at launch.

Or

Replace it with another X61T Multitouch,  replace the hard disk with the one I'm using now so that no data is lost.
Provide me with a heavy discount on the next X series tablet.

I honestly love your laptops. When they work. I want to tell the world how great they are. I could have taken a refund a long time ago, and just shut the hell up. but I stayed and fought because I actually do like the laptop. I wouldn't have made the purchase otherwise. I know you guys can do better too. I'm not a customer that wants to go away. I want to tell everyone how awesome Lenovo is.

Problems are somethings that we deal with everyday, and they aren't anything to worry about. It's only when they blow out of proportion and aren't handled right, then they become something that is an issue.

Regards,

Richard Yong
Mobile: +61 412588389
Skype: richardwryong
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.richardyong.com

flickr cred: Irina Soulki

Not being what you aren't - A Warren Buffet Story.

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/

That's a $200 billion dollar company's website.

They are a reinsurance and investment company. They know that, and they make sure you know that, they do it by making it clear what they do not do.

Here are some things they do not do:

• Web design
• PR
• Logistics (AGM, first Saturday of May)
• Executive lounging
• Excitement
• Buy expensive things (They bought a company once, the CEO was late... looking for unexpired parking meters)
• Hire writers

I think there's a story here around being who you are being made up of what you do, but more importantly what you do not do.

It's a dificult thing, and it took me six years of dawdling before I realised who I wasn't going to be. I wasn't clear about what I wasn't willing to do, and in return I ended up being everything to everyone, the Jack of All Trades. If you let others control your destiny, you end up being and doing what others want and not what you want.   

Can you imagine how uncomfortable some companies would be if they dropped their PR division, or fired their homepage designers?

It's the difference between the Doing Men, and the Maybe and Sorry Men.

Are you clear about who you aren't?

Are you clear about about what you won't do?

Some thoughts for Monday.

Flickr Cred: Thomas Hawk

The title is once again tongue in cheek. I was reading some scrawled pen marks in 'The One Minute Manager' by Blanchard and Johnson, it said 'No one does nothing to you, you do it to yourself.' Nice meaning, odd writing.

Oh and Activision blew analysts expectations away, putting on over 15% on Friday.

With Heart - Sleepless nights looking for the next Berkshire Hathaway

I sat with my eyebrows furrowed, deep in concentration.

Too many stocks, too little money. Age old problem, and here I was trying to scry an answer.

8 weeks ago, the market was dipping low, and an opportune moment to reinvest large chunks of cash. Here were the decisions keeping me up at night:

1. Activision. You know them as the makers of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty 4. They are merging with Blizzard. You know them as the makers of World of Warcraft and Starcraft.

2. Take Two Interactive. You know them as Grand Theft Auto IV. Electronic Arts (famous for SimCity, The Sims and all those sport games) were offering to buy them.

3. AMP Chinese stock fund. This makes sense, the Chinese Yuan will appreciate for the next few decades, but so will the mining Aussie dollar. The Chinese stock market is set to grow.

4. Challenger. I've spoken about these guys before. They run a tight ship, and buying in would mean a 'P/B' ratio of 1. That means for every dollar you invest, you're actually getting ONE dollar of the underlying 'net assets.'  A simplistic view is if they go bankrupt today, they will sell all their assets, pay off all their debts, and hopefully you'll get about what you paid back.

This is rare in finance companies. My expectation is that although their mortgage division will stifle, in a recession people will consume less, but save more. This means low interest rates, high inflation and increased use of financial planners and managed funds. Which is right up Challenger's alley.

They aren't wall street heroes either, they are extremely cost conscious and you won't be seeing their staff flying around in hired Bentleys or private jets. I like that. You know those corporate executives with private jets?  They aren't looking after their shareholders.

The decision I made in the end wasn't that hard.

I liked Activision, they had heart. EA didn't have heart, and Grand Theft Auto, while I would play it, doesn't seem to be the most tasteful game in the world. EA's slogan is 'it's in the game.' I think Activision and Blizzard have the same motto:

With heart.

Oh by the way, Activision announced they doubled last years revenue to $2.9 billion dollars. This is a company valued at $8 billion. Just WOW. 

epilogue - I just checked the opening price of ATVI (Activision) it's now pushing over $30. At this rate I can kick up my feet for another month. I haven't closed out my position yet, as I believe this stock has further to go (no I'm not giving advice, and nor should you construe it as such, this is ALL opinion!)

Flickr cred: TeeRish

Doing the right thing - Lenovo revisited, a cautionary tale on the Sorry Men.

Doing the right thing is almost never about just doing your job.

It's easy to do your job, it lets you say I'm just.

I'm just a customer service assistant, packer, accountant, finance clerk, cleaner, checkout clerk or security guard. But that's how you lose the plot.

I've had an ongoing debacle with Lenovo.

On the face of it, it's a simple business.

Build and sell laptops. If you had to write a plot summary for the Lenovo movie, those would be the 4 words.

Some people they hire are fantastic. But everybody in Lenovo has a 'title.' That's great if it gives you something valuable to do, but not if it robs you of power. Worst of all, it should never distract anybody from your business (which is to build and sell laptops, just in case Lenovo staff read this and forgot).

Here are some real life quotes (not strictly verbatim) from Lenovo staff:

'I'm just in sales, I don't know technical, you'll have to ask the engineers'

'Sorry I know the website might say it's available, but it's actually not, there's no option in my process'

'I don't know about that sir, you'll have to ask someone else'

'Sorry sir, that's not possible it's not part of the process'

'Sorry sir, that's not in our policy to receive pdfs in emails, only faxes.' (Anyone spot the irony here?)

'I'm just in customer service, you'll have to ask repairs for an ETA.'

What if they started focusing on doing the right thing? They might take a leaf out of Vodafone and Optus who had the following to say to me:

'Look you are a great customer, I know we're not wrong here, and you're not wrong, we're sorry you had a problem, and look it's a waste of time for us to escalate this to management... I'm not suppose to do this, but look lets just waive the fee this once okay!'

'Oh it's disappointing that you're cancelling your account Mr. Yong, but let me check with my manager right now if we can waive your exit fee anyway, you've been with us a long time! Please wait one moment <brief pause> It's been approved, thanks for your patience sir.'

The conversation changes. Completely.

It's Friday, so relax. But on Monday, think about doing the right thing, not just your job description.

Next time you get asked what you do, whether you're the cleaner or the CEO, you might say 'I'm helping mums and dads save money,' or 'I'm helping make and sell the best laptops', 'Helping kids grow into good people' or 'I'm making sure our customers want to use us again.'

A hint for Lenovo: Fire everyone with the job description 'Sorry - that's not my responsibility', then spend that money on hiring half the number of people and give them the job description 'Goal #1 Help Lenovo make and sell laptops. Goal #2 Create and retain customers. Goal #3 Spend saved 'Sorry Men' money on creating and keeping good customers.'

You'll have spent $0 dollars more, and gotten rid of the Sorry Men.

Risk, Return on Investment and demanding profit.

People generally expect too little return from their business. Why? Because they never measured the risk.

Owning your own business should never be about buying yourself a job, it should always be about maximising your ROI (return on investment).

ROI is really just a fancy jargon term for making sure you earn more money than the risk you take on.

64.2% of small businesses fail within 10 years.  How's that for risk?

It's the reason why restaurants and retail stores are a horrible proposition for most people. The maximum expected income or return will never even closely reflect the amount of risk (overheads, employing people, initial startup costs, sanity)

It's a relative measure and opens up vast avenues when it comes to working out which option to pick when launching a new business. Look at these two examples:

1. Uni student launches an advertising based, content driven web site for under $2000 and starts earning ~$5000 a year. So 250% ROI.

2. Restaurant opens costing just under $250,000 to purchase and launch. What ROI does the owner need to make it a worthwhile proposition? Would it be better to be the uni student? Legitimate questions, and a reason I would never run a restaurant unless it was a hobby, or it was my ultimate passion.

If you're thinking about launching a business, and before you go neck deep in debt, make sure you ask yourself two simple questions (then go and work out the complex calculations!):

1. What's the risk of my failure?
2. So if I succeed, how much do I need to make it worth my risk of failure?

Oh and a third one serious one:

3. Is this a romantic dream, or is this about doing what I love and being able to support my family and my life?

The risk is more than most people probably imagine. It's also a very good reason to hang on to a job, the risk is low, and for many, the ROI is o.k. For businesses, it impacts the way their price and the way they go to market.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with personal ROI!

flickr credit:  opacity

I've added a fancy button up on the right, that's an RSS feed button. It'll let you keep track of all the headlines on your favourite sites. If you've never used it, click it and see where it brings you, it's like an online book mark and it'll book mark this site. Experiment and have fun (I'm new to RSS too!)

Work Voyeurism - Perspective

Okay, so I live in an apartment right next to some office blocks.

I have a bad habit when it's late at night, of peering over at my office colleagues to see who is still at work.

Without fail, the lady in the picture (taken at midnight) is always there, even Fridays.

I decided it could only be down to a few reasons.

• She really really loves her work, it's everything she dreamed she would do when she grew up
• Her family will die if she doesn't work
• She is finding the cure for cancer
• She is stopping world poverty

I really really hope so...

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one - John Lennon

A quick one.

Know, learn and be a little more by Friday.

Do something. Not because you're told to, or because it's in your job description, but because it's the right thing to do. By your boss, by you and by your customers.

Some people might not be happy (the budget, the weather, 'management approval,' the policies and procedures, you know what I mean!).   But some people are almost never happy.

Let's share notes on Friday.

Flickr cred: Johnny Vulkan

You've got to find what you love.

Here are a few if's worth thinking about.

• If you were going to die in 15 years. Would you do anything different? What about 50?

• If you had a dream, are you still dreaming?

• If you  were going to be remarkable, what would you do?

• If you had the resources and the time to do anything... what would it be?

• If you could be a good person, who would you be?

• If you didn't have to please your parents/wife/children/friends/golf buddies, what would you do?

The power isn't in the if. It's in the question of the when.

I've got one more piece of advice from Steve.

Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Flickr credit: Voetmann

The problem with losing the big picture. Clickthroughs

A curious advertisement. A spinning lady. Is she spinning left, or right?

I clicked on an ad with that picture and was brought to the SAAB site. I'm sure the click through statistics are impressive. But that's what happens when you forget about trying to generate sales and start obsessing about generating clickthroughs.

Distracting someone on the net doesn't win you any friends.

Why not capitalise on the hard won clickthrough? How about a webpage about how the right and left brains work. Appeal to the two halves. Then invite them to see for themselves why a SAAB is so remarkable?

The ad didn't have my permission to take me to the SAAB site. I didn't even read the copy on the site. I'll probably never buy a SAAB.

But they got the clickthrough, so I guess an ad executive, somewhere, is punching the air in victory.

Are you ready?

20% of world growth came from the EU, US and Japan last year.

40% came from China and India .

48.7 million. The total number of Indian graduates in 2005.  To put that in perspective, the entire population of Australia is not even half that.

So... Are you ready?

• Are you ready to compete with the world, and not just your peers?
• Are you ready to compete with people who are just as smart, just as hard working, hungry for a challenge and willing to work for half the price?
• Are you ready for a changing world? It's going to change, even if you don't.

We idolise the old guard that lord over old businesses, because they've made it. And good for them. Those rules don't work anymore. Unless you're working towards something new, something better, you might just be in a holding pattern to replace the old guard. And if you're doing that, you might find there isn't much left to inherit.

Do you want to live in fear of losing your power base and have to fight to maintain the status quo? Or do you want to be out at the fringe, building a new power base and challenging the status quo with something new, something better, something good... Maybe even something remarkable?

So... Are you ready?

Flickr credit: squacco

The Value of Time.

Do you value your time? How do you value it?

It isn't in dollars per hour. It isn't in your wage or salary. It's in how much you value yourself.

Here's an experiment, pretend that your time is the most valuable.

Funny things start happening. You start and finish things that matter, you start making other people's time matter, you become angry about wasted time. Here are some changes that come from valuing your time:

• You refuse pointless meeting appointments.
• You stop surfing the net, you either work or you go home.
• You start treating every person you meet with the same intensity and focus, because it's your time at stake. Your measurement of the other person's importance no longer matters, only your time does.
• You stop killing time. Scary thought.
• You stop hanging out with people who don't care.
• You know the difference between up and down time.
• Life isn't about getting to Friday. Or 4 weeks of mediocre holidays.
• You start planning on how to do better work, but in less time.
• The only difference between work time and home time is that you play differently.

You start calling the CEO first. Chris Gardner started at Dean Witter Reynolds (American stock broker) and was given a client staff list, his manager said 'call every single one and offer our products'. Most brokers start at the bottom of the list, and don't call the CEO. Chris wasn't 'most brokers' and knew that by calling the CEO and scoring a meeting, he saved himself time. Chris Gardner knew the first rule of valuing his time, even at the bottom of the laddder. He's now worth squillions, and you might have seen his movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

Imagine all the remarkable people and businesses there would be if just a few started valuing time differently and started focusing on being awesome. I'll wager that people already doing this aren't worried about money. That's because remarkable businesses want someone remarkable.

Flickr thanks to PrAsAnGam

The Spectacular Collapse of the Ivory Tower. Why Microsoft gets hugs and Lenovo doesn't.

What does social networking have to do with serious suit and tie business? Well, for one, everything. The ivory tower of senior management has collapsed. Those that come and play the social game, win. Those that don't... well you know what happened to the dinosaurs.

First let's examine some people who excel at the social networking game:

Seth Godin - Serial marketer, book writer, presenter and genuinely remarkable guy, takes the time to respond to his emails. Even ones from me.

Phil Harrison - Executive Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (responsible for showcasing the PS3 launch) has an ongoing dialogue with the blog, Kotaku. Even his chewing gum is big news.

Tim Ferriss - New Rich, writer of the Four Hour Work Week and constant adventurer responds personally to comments on his blog and his forums.

So if these remarkable people are so easily contactable, why can't I even get the contact details of someone at Lenovo above a customer service centre employee unless I make a plea on their forums?

We might find an answer if we start by taking a look at two different management team biography pages:

Lenovo - 'Lenovo Management'

Microsoft - 'Press Pass'

Similar. Same information. But different.

1. Lenovo doesn't want you talking to their execs. Suits and ties, their photos look like seniors taking yearbook photos.

2.  Lenovo doesn't want you talking to their execs. There aren't any email addresses, or any phone numbers to contact these guys. They're untouchables.

Microsoft on the other hand has personality, their CEO looks like he could be someones grand dad, the head of entertainment, J Allard looks like he actually likes entertainment. It's not called 'Lenovo Management' either, it's called 'Press Pass,' they're inviting you to talk to them. There is a form you can fill in if you want to speak with them too. Aces.

The bio's might not strike you as particularly different, but these small tid bits of information show a lot about how a corporation plays ball. Here are some real life examples:

1. If you call microsoft to get your xbox fixed, a human answers. If they wipe off all your signatures on your limited edition signed xbox while in repairs, they apologise and Bill Gate's signs your new one. They show they care. $250 billion dollars and they can still show they care.

2. If you call Lenovo, their sales team will pick up in less than 2 minutes, and take your credit card details in less than 20 minutes. If you call their service centre to get your laptop fixed? 25 minutes average  on the waitlist. 25 minutes before you speak to a human soul. They are over 40 times smaller than Microsoft.

What does this mean for businesses?

• Authentic communication. If you stick someone on a phone wait list for 20 minutes, don't tell them their call is important, it obviously isn't. Worst of all don't lie, I received an automated feedback email from Lenovo that was signed by Chris Askew the Senior VP of Lenovo Services. That's just insulting.
• Focus on your customer. No one cares about your processes, they just want results. Call centres have slowly become the blight of companies. In a youcan'ttalktoexecutives company, a call centre should be your biggest investment, it'll be the one time your customers speaks to a human voice in your company. What message are you trying to send your customer? Go away?
• Be available. Even if you just pretend. Invite communication. It sends a strong message when you leave a brick wall to communication. It's sending the message that you either don't know or you don't care. I'm not quite sure which is worse.
• If your customer likes you... they might not tell anyone.
• If your customer doesn't like you... they will tell everyone. With blogs, facebook, twitter, digg, consumerist... the avenues and audience become endless, and that is scary if your customer doesn't like you.

This post started out when I tried to track down Chris Askew, the Senior VP of Lenovo Services. I have been having stupid amounts of trouble repairing my three thousand dollar notebook. You can read about it here. At this moment, I still can't find Chris Askew's number or email. It got me started thinking about how different firms approach communication. I wanted to explore why some are petrified of customers talking to anyone in the company earning over $4 an hour, while others jump at the opportunity.

edit: to those that came from Seth's site, this blog is tangential, Seth's was to the point... Just show you care and the above goes away, real quick.  

Flickr cred: Esthr

TCO - Total Cost of Ownership, the other TLA about spending.

I only buy something if it adds some value to my life. One concept, stalwart to my buying decisions, is considering the TCO. The Total Cost of Ownership. The cost beyond the dollar price of buying.

So what are the costs beyond the dollar price?

• Maintenance
• Health
• Time
• Mental anguish
• Mental and physical clutter
• Opportunity

Before I sound melodramatic, I'll use the example of a car. If you buy a car, you need to spend time cleaning it, you might drive instead of walking or cycling, you need to maintain and fuel it. Some people have their cars as objects of desire, and the mental anguish from being in an accident or the car being stolen can be really high (remember your first car?)

I've always loved video gaming, but I secretly suspected that as a past time, it didn't really contribute to anyone or anything. I had been looking at the Sony Playstation 3 for quite some time, and was impressed, enthralled even. I could easily afford it, but I spent a long time debating the TCO.

The TCO analysis of the Playstation 3 (you could apply this to a TV too!):

• Health. The late night, sedentary lifestyle of gaming can make you seriously unhealthy. This is against my values of living a healthy life.
• Time. If I game for a long time, it means I've chosen, consciously or otherwise, not to spend the time with my wife, my family or working on projects and my health.
• Encouraging more 'screen time,' I spend over 12 hours a day working on a PC, it's seems silly to swap to the next 'screen' after work.

Sure I could use it in moderation and still have a balanced life, but then I wouldn't be able to justify the cost per use, and therein lies the magic relationship, and the hook of deciding to own stuff. Just because you can afford it or like it, doesn't mean you should get it.

I caved. I'm only human! I ended up buying a PS3 for 50% off. I rationalised it by saying I could easily get my money back. Sure enough I started spending late nights, and long periods of time playing the PS3. The short story - I got fat. I wasted time reading game reviews and gaming websites. The cost of ownership was more than I could stomach, literally.

I sold it, made my money back (Cost Per Use = $0!) and breathed a big sigh of relief.

So what does TCO mean to you?

• Stop. Think. Before you buy something, consider the hidden, non monetary costs. Use the ten second rule.
• Use don't own. Most of us just want to get the pleasure of using something.
• Borrow or rent as an alternative to owning, especially things with lots of added ongoing costs like maintenance, repair or health costs.
• Enjoy what you do own, lots of people get worked up over repair costs or broken things. That's the price of ownership, and if you know that when you hand over your money, you're a step ahead.

* This is a follow up to the Cost Per Use post

** TLA - Three Letter Acronym. I hate acronyms, so the title is a little tongue in cheek.

Flickr cred: Kate_A