Beware The Busy Manager

Only about 10 percent of managers work purposefully to complete important tasks, according to a 10-year study of managerial behavior across a variety of industries. The other 90 percent self-sabotage by busily engaging in non-purposeful activities, procrastinating, detaching from their work and needlessly spinning their wheels.

 

In a revealing study over a 10-year period, 1993-2003, authors Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal tracked behaviors of managers in a wide variety of industries (A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time, Harvard Business School Press, 2004).

 

They found that over 90 percent of managers fail to act purposefully in their everyday work. Bruch's and Ghoshal's study identifies four profiles of managerial behavior, as charted in a grid measuring focus and energy. Managers were charted as being high or low in focus, and they were charted as being high or low in energy.

 

High focus, high energy managers were described as Purposeful.

High focus, low energy managers were seen as Detached.

Low focus, high energy managers were described as Frenzied.

Low focus, low energy managers were seen as Procrastinators.

 

The Frenzied: Forty percent of managers are distracted by the overwhelming tasks that face them each day. They are highly energetic, but unfocused. But "the need for speed" prompts them to be unreflective. They could achieve more if they consciously concentrate their efforts on what really matters.

 

The Procrastinators: Thirty percent of managers procrastinate on doing their organizations' most important work. They lack both energy and focus, spending their time handling minor details in lieu of what could make a real difference to their organizations.

 

The Detached: Twenty percent of managers are disengaged or detached from their work. They can be focused, but have no energy. They seem aloof, tense and apathetic.

 

The Purposeful: Only ten percent get the job done. They are highly focused, energetic, and come across as reflective and calm amid chaos.

 

The costs of unproductive busyness take a toll on both managers and their companies. Continual unreflective activity has a direct effect on an organization's profits and managerial morale, as it's ineffective and ultimately unsatisfying.

 

For example, frenzied managers often act in extremely shortsighted ways. Under extreme time constraints and the need to do more with fewer resources, they become adept at finding short-term solutions. As a consequence, they seldom take time to reflect, and neglect long-term issues. Frenzied managers demonstrate a well-intentioned, but desperate, need to do something-anything-which makes them potentially destructive.

 

Chronic procrastinators are generally recovering frenzied managers. Once they have learned that frantic, desperate actions are unsatisfying, many lapse into procrastination, losing energy and focus. It becomes all too easy for them to put off action altogether.

 

What distinguishes managers who take purposeful action from those who do not?

 

Willpower, discipline and clarity of purpose fuel the force behind energy and focus, enabling managers to execute action and to ignore distractions. Even when uninspired by the work and tempted by other opportunities, purposeful managers maintain energy and focus through will power, determination and clarity of purpose.

 

Next time you evaluate your managers' performance, place them on the low/high Focus/Energy grid. Find out who fits the descriptions of Detached, Frenzied, Procrastinator, or Purposeful manager. Then see whether it is focus or energy that can be improved. Busyness for the sake of being busy without regard for results can lead to false assumptions.

 

 

Boost Employee Morale With An Exciting Adventure Team Building Event!

Corporations faced with a bout of low employee morale should organise exciting team building events to turn things around. Depending on the company budget available, there are lots of team building activities that can be implemented. Corporate event planners can organize a trip to a resort and run a myriad of group activities that encourage collaboration between co-workers.

 

What are some of the team building ideas that would make the event a success? Infusing a sense of adventure and fun would be the ultimate aim of these corporate events. Organising a paintball event encourages teamwork, collaboration and competition amongst teammates and opponents. Other team building activities that would be suitable would be treasure hunts or even canoeing or kayaking. Apart from that, specialized adventure team building retreats with obstacle courses could prove to be ideal for a corporate event.

 

Some of the physical challenges here include monkey bars, ravine crossing, climbing walls, tire runs and stainless steel cables. Participants can be grouped into teams and encouraged to compete against one another. With this, elements such as collaboration and teamwork can be incorporated into the group during the team building event.

 

Another form of team building such as the geo-caching activity utilizes the combination of natural and technology elements in a mixed urban and rural environment. With a basic concept that is somewhat similar to the Amazing Race, participants are given clues to locate the next clue hidden in caches in a city or park area. Thus, logic, knowledge, collaboration and teamwork would all need to be put into place in order to decipher the clues and move on to the next location. Maps and GPS units are provided to teams for directional assistance.

 

Geo-caching team building programs can incorporate physical challenges such as cross-country skiing, short walks through the city or parks, or even cycling or rowing. Depending on the objective of the corporate event, physical elements will help to increase difficulty level of the geo-caching activity.

 

 

Boost Employee Morale With An Employee Incentive Program

Is there a lull in your office? Are your employees not satisfied anymore with the way that you are manning the place? Good managers know from their own observations that employee attitude affects their work and eventually the company’s output.

 

When your employees have a happy and healthy attitude the company will be able to reap the many benefits of this through the constant flow of good business as well as higher profits. But what if the employees are actually not happy with the way management is handling the company? Is your company already headed towards a downward spiral? Maybe. But it is certainly never too late for the company to turn things around by implementing new rules and regulations that are employee friendly.

 

1. Not Overly Competative

 

It is essential that your incentive program will actually inspire and motivate them to work efficiently and not just be competitive with each other. Healthy competition among the company’s employees is good but too much of it may also cause the company to disintegrate. A certain level of camaraderie is needed in order to have a harmonious working environment that is conducive to working efficiently and productively.

 

2. Clearly Define Your Goals

 

When it comes to creating the right kind of employee incentive program for the company, the management should be able to set some goals concerning the program. This way, the management will have a clear view of what they really want this employee incentive program to do, and gauge whether or not it actually worked. The company should still be very much hands-on with the whole employee incentive program to ensure that the outcome of the employee incentive program will be good.

 

- Goals must be reasonable! Don't expect the program to result in a major increase in profits, and don't expect the results to appear right away

- Provide ways for employees to provide highly creative ideas

- Encourage a good working environment. A clean, fresh environment will motivate employees

- Set up a review committee that is qualified to judge the results of the program. This is perhaps more important than the program itself

- Ensure that appropriate recognition must be given to employees who share the most noteworthy suggestions

 

It is best that when you are starting an employee incentive program that you set a strict set of rules that will be clear to each and every one of the company’s employees starting with -

 

3. Let Employees Provide Suggestions Easily

 

- Who is eligible to join the employee incentive program?

- When it comes to an eligible suggestion, what should employees take at heart?

- Any suggestion no matter how farfetched should be allowed (as long as they are not vulgar or offensive)

 

 

Blind Spots -- (If you don't check your mirrors, you're going to crash?)

For a driver, a blind spot is an area not easily seen.  It may be the area the mirrors miss, either beside or behind the driver...or is simply forgotten by the driver.  Accidents occur when the driver changes lanes and there is another car in their blind spot.  In some cases, the other car is hit or forced to take evasive action and possibly causes a bigger accident. 

 

Anatomically, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, says: 

In anatomy, one's blind spot is the region of the retina where the optic nerve and blood vessels pass through to connect to the back of the eye. Since there are no light receptors there, a part of the field of vision is not perceived. The brain fills in the gaps with surrounding detail and with information from the other eye, so the blind spot is not normally perceived.

 

As humans (and executives!), we have blind spots in our lives and businesses as well, and these blind spots cause all sorts of trouble.  A senior manager brought us in to work with her team.  Her vision was a high-performing team that was efficient and happy.  What she had was a group of people fighting, missed deadlines, and employee turnover.  And each saw themselves as a "victim" of somebody else's misbehavior.  As a first step, we gave her team leadership assessments which showed their strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles, then helped her team see their blind spots. 

 

One person in particular, "Jim", caused a great deal of dissention because he had his own way of doing things and was unable to see (or accept) there were also other ways to accomplish the task.  By forcing his style on others, instead of working together, the team members became sullen and frustrated.  After we did some exercises to clarify the team blind spots and prove the power of hearing and validating everyone's ideas, her team started working together. 

 

Let's take this idea away from the workplace.  In an orchestra, one person playing slightly out of tempo can destroy the beauty of the music.  When everyone plays at the same tempo and plays the proper notes, beautiful music is created.  A blind spot in this case is when the off-tempo person believes they are right and refuses to follow the conductor.  Sometimes the answer is to work directly with the individual; sometimes they have to be removed. 

 

So how do you know where your blind spots are?  Blind spots aren't bad--they simply exist.  Once you find your blind spot, you can put a "mirror" (process) in place to make sure it doesn't cause you further trouble.  The following is a list of typical blind spots (you'll probably want to add others from your own experience.)  As you think about each item, ask yourself, "How does this cause me grief?"  "How does this get in my way or slow me down?"

 

•             Not listening to another person's complete statement and jumping to conclusions about what they were going to say. 

 

•             Looking at a situation and immediately judging it as "right" or "wrong" before getting all the facts (Judgments create a blind spot - automatically!)

 

•             Impatience with people who like to talk or talk too much

 

•             Frustration with people who are less conscientious, systematic, conservative and task-oriented than you

 

•             Tolerations...which are the little things that cause momentary irritation you are meaning to "fix".  For example, a broken chair, messy desk, chronically losing keys, etc.)

 

•             Rushing those who have a more patient approach

 

•             Looking at your own needs and not asking others about theirs

 

•             Quickly labeling situations or people

 

•             Putting up walls against feedback (especially "negative" feedback)

 

Understanding yourself, the way you think and react under pressure, is crucial to getting an accurate idea of your blind spots.  Start by asking these questions:

What is my behavior style and how do I handle problems, people, pace, and procedures?

How does my behavior style work or not work with my teams styles?

What are my values and how am I motivated?

What comments and feedback do I hear from others?  What do I do with it? 

What feedback am I ignoring?

 

 

Beyond Marketing -- Brand Management

In the past, the management of an organization's brand has usually been the sole domain of the organization's marketing team. However, with the evolution of the Internet and people's need for instant information, there is a greater call for public relations professionals to become more directly involved with an organization's brand management.

 

The Dictionary of Business and Management defines brand as: a name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors.

 

But according to Colin Bates, a brand management specialist from www.buildingbrands.com, brand means much more than that. "More accurately," he says, "brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer."

 

Essentially, brand is more than simply a corporate logo; it is anything people can associate an organization with, whether it is a paid advertisement or an article found in a newspaper. This is where brand management becomes important and PR professionals must be vigilant.

 

It is not enough for public relations professionals to simply communicate news to the media; they must somehow communicate the persona of their organization.

 

For example, Google, the company that runs the best-known and most-used search engine on the Web, has a very distinctive brand. Most Internet users could visually identify its logo. However, Google's branding efforts do not stop there.

 

The company has worked hard to combat Internet users' doubts about the quality of Web search results. Most of the main stream search engines sell advertising in order to make money and many people have accused these companies of skewing search results for money - giving certain web sites a higher ranking in exchange for purchasing paid advertising.

 

However, Google is well-known for the clear division it places between its search results and its advertising business. The visual separation on Google's Web site is an example: search results are prevalent on the left and occupy at the very least 90 per cent of the page, while advertising occupies very little space and is not intrusive to the user. Most importantly, the search results are generated from the intelligence of Google's product and are not influenced by purchasing advertising.

 

Google makes this very clear each and every time it speaks to the media. When a spokesperson does an interview or the company issues a press release regarding its search engine, it is quick to point out the division. In fact, it says it is part of its corporate philosophy - hence, it has become part of its brand. Google is known for its technical innovation and the quality of its search results, and not as a company that is just interested in money.

 

Furthermore, to ensure the organization's branding is being effectively communicated to the media, it also must be properly managed.

 

If the brand or persona of the organization is not being properly communicated, problems can be identified through analysis of the media coverage and the necessary adjustments can be made by the PR team to get the proper message out.

 

By tracking key messages, taglines, or buzzwords in the media coverage, the public relations team can measure how well its organization is communicating. It could be there are stop words the PR team wants to avoid using to prevent confusion and miscommunication. These too can be measured.

 

Media coverage can also be measured against other performance indicators such as sales and stock prices. This could be a good indicator to measure how well a brand is being perceived in the media and with an organization's key publics.

 

To most companies, brand is just as important as the products they create and services they provide, and it must be properly managed. Public relations professionals have a key role to play in shaping and maintaining an organization's brand - this responsibility cannot be left solely to the organization's marketing team. Not only is the PR team responsible for communicating the brand, but it also must be vigilant through media analysis.

 

 

Better Than E-mail, Guaranteed

There's a rampaging fascination with E-mail. People send out billions and billions of messages every day.

 

And they're missing out on a more effective tool.

 

So what could be better than E-mail?

 

What guarantees effective communication?

 

What always lets you accomplish more?

 

The answer is (drum roll, please) . . . .

 

Talking to people.

 

Here’s why.

 

1) You gain a high return on your investment.

 

That is, you gain better information by talking with people. Sometimes you even gain the correct information.

 

Often the way something is said is more important than what is said. The tone of voice, facial expressions, vocal energy, gestures, rate of speaking, and body language tell more than any text message.

 

In some conversations, the words (or text) simply serve as a carrier for the real message. Effective leaders know how to listen beyond the words to this message and then respond to it. They also know how to seek out hidden messages that lurk in the shadows of the conversation.

 

2) You become a human being.

 

Human beings are eligible for respect, courtesy, and dignity. Things, on the other hand, are not.

 

A relationship built upon an impersonal communication process, such as E-mail, risks being treated like a thing. That is, it can be ignored, discarded, or misused.

 

When you participate in a conversation your presence makes a powerful statement about being human. It also lets you validate the other person as being human. This handshake of mutual respect builds the lasting, valuable relationships that make leaders effective.

 

3) You give a priceless gift.

 

Each of us has a basic need to feel connected with society. This need is so powerful, that it sustains life. (In fact, studies have shown that being disconnected from society destroys life.)

 

All effective leadership strategies encourage talking to the people in your organization. It puts a face on your words. And by talking to people, you connect them together within the society of your organization.

 

4) You receive something in return.

 

If you listen carefully, people will tell you more than you expected to hear. They will answer your questions and then answer questions that had not thought to ask. They will share wisdom, ideas, and news. They will make you think. All of this helps you a become a more effective leader.

 

 

Better Approach for Bigger Results

Two scenes of beauty and happiness, side by side on the television. Flip: a preview of the latest hot model of cards for 2006. Flip: the most recent addition to the fully high-tech camera phones. Flip: an ad of the latest hot perfume for men. Flip: a new commercial of one of the flourishing fast food chain in the country. Flip: a preview of what will happen next week on the longest running soap opera.   

 

A few hours of television each day and a few flips of the remote can get you to see hundreds of commercial and advertisements. The television has been an effective tool for modern day advertising. But not all business owners can afford the cost of television advertising so they stick to the conventional method of paper and ink marketing.

 

Catalogs are one way of getting your products recognized in the market. Most customers would ask for a catalog before purchasing so if you have one in hand you can easily address your customers needs. When mailing your catalogs it is important that you comprehend everything you can about your customers and prospects. You must obtain their demographic, psychographic and statistical data and use that information to better address your marketing efforts to develop the business. Likewise, as many people are mobile these days it is important to keep an updated list of contact information to make sure that they receive your catalog. You need also to make certain that every prospect effort and every customer contact is better than the last.

 

Front covers also play an important role in the success of a catalog. They serve as the gateway into your catalog, hence, it is essential that the cover must encourage prospects to open the door and step through the amazing world inside. If you want to use paintings in your front cover ask yourself first, do the paintings showcase your products? Does it tell the reader what you sell without having to open the catalog? Is your brand name easily recognized? If your answer is yes, then a painting on the front cover can be a good idea. Keep in mind though that even if some people loved your painting cover, others would not be motivated by the artwork to turn the cover and buy. Also, remember that the unconscious mind is not necessarily rational but it is pretty influential. So avoid catalog designs that would make your audience unconsciously think that the product is not right for them. 

 

So even if high-tech advertising is flourishing, the conventional marketing method is still one of the most reliable and profitable manner of promoting a business. Thus, the marketing ability of catalogs should never be underestimated.

 

 

Benchmarking: Avoid comparing yourself to the industry average.

Most organizations conduct employee surveys of various types either annually, every two years or sporadically. Some organizations use the data from the employee survey to affect real change that contributes to their ongoing success. There are organizations who like to focus on comparing their survey scores to the scores of other organizations and there are the organizations that do little with their survey results. The focus of this article is to discuss the middle group: those organizations that like to focus on and compare their employee survey scores against the average scores of all the organizations that are in a third party database.

 

Many surveying companies sell their services on the basis that they will be able to compare the scores of the one company against the average score of all of the organizations in their database. Comparing yourself to someone else is enticing. We have been exposed to comparative data from the first day we stepped inside a school. Throughout our primary and secondary education we were compared to the rest and typically this comparison was against the “class average”. We knew who the smartest and the dumbest kids were but it was the average that counted. Was I above or below the class average? That was important in terms of dealing with our own self esteem and dealing with our parents. This was not the case for all students. The parents of some students demanded top marks and that is exactly what those few students worked towards. They had to be the best. They had to have the top marks.

 

This was all very interesting but in the end it was irrelevant. When it came time to apply to university a new standard had to be reached. University entrance requirements varied but one thing was clear. Average marks were not good enough. In fact being above average in many instances was not good enough. University entrance requirements were demanding and one had to strive for a new and much higher standard than “average”. The profile or status of a university that you were interested in attending, determined the level of academic excellence you had to achieve.

 

It is puzzling to see how many organizations fall into the trap of placing a great deal of emphasis on comparing their surveys scores to a database that represents the average of a number of companies. These comparisons are sought not only for the overall scores of the employee survey, but for every question in the survey.

 

It would appear that a fundamental question needs to be asked by every organization-why are we conducting an employee survey in the first place and what are we going to do with the results. 

 

From a strategic perspective it would seem reasonable to think that an organization would wish at the very least, to demonstrate that the survey is helping the organization to achieve their strategic goals. In other words, they are conducting the employee survey as a way of obtaining employee information that can be used to improve for example, workplace practices in order to lift their employees’ working experience. In turn this will lift the customer experience and profits.

 

However, if this or some other strategic purpose is not being fulfilled by the employee survey than the value of conducting the survey is questionable. One could argue that comparing oneself to other organizations is in fact a legitimate strategic objective. It is worth knowing how you compare to the best. How does your stock performance compare to the best in your business sector-not the average of all the companies in your business sector but only the best? How do your employee survey scores compare to the best in your business sector-not the average of all the businesses in the database but only the best? 

 

Comparing oneself to the very best is legitimate especially if the best sets a benchmark that you adopt as your own. But to compare oneself to the average serves no useful purpose. If a senior management group knows that their scores are better than the average of all the companies in a database, strategically of what use is this information. Perhaps it may give them a sense of pride knowing that they are better than the average. But it may also lull them into a false sense of confidence. The question that should be top of mind is “are we really as good as we can be and are we really achieving a level of excellence that will sustain us over the long term.”

 

For example, employee turnover in the retail sector is fairly high. Most retailers take it for granted. Entec Corporation has been working with Gap Inc. Canada for several years. Gap offers excellent training programs especially for their associate managers and store managers. In 1999, Gap was routinely being raided by other retailers and their annual turnover rate for store managers was 39% and for associate managers it was 48%. This was costing Gap hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in recruiting and training. With over 200 stores and 10,000 employees across Canada, these costs were unacceptable. Entec Corporation was engaged by Gap to conduct an Organizational Health Survey. Gap acted upon the recommendations in the survey and was able to reduce manager turnover rates to 13% in one year.

 

But these lower turnover rates were accompanied by real business gains. For example, secret shopper scores increased by 5% after only eight months and sales in Canada over the last few years have improved to a level where the Canadian operation moved from being about in the middle to becoming one of the most profitable divisions in the world. The survey results were linked directly to the bottom line.

 

If Gap accepted “the trap of comparing themselves to the average” and accepted the conventional wisdom that “this is the average turnover rate in retail so we are OK”, they would not have saved thousands of dollars each year in training and recruiting. More importantly they would not have experienced the benefits that reduced turnover brought them; namely preserving human capital of highly trained managers that helped to grow Gap’s business. This last point is typically overlooked. The impact of a reduction in turnover of well trained employees to the bottom line of a company is considerably higher than the cost savings achieved from reducing recruiting and training.

 

Several points need to be considered when embarking on an employee survey: 

1.            Develop clear strategic objectives

2.            Measure towards those objectives

3.            Inform your employees of the survey scores

4.            Follow up with positive implementation

5.            If you must compare yourself to others, compare yourself only to the best

 

If this process is not followed the organization can expect:

 

1.            Employee participation rates in the survey to be low (30% or lower)

2.            Rising employee cynicism with the organization (why bother if the activity of completing an employee survey does not make a difference) 

3.            Employees become disengaged from the organization

4.            The organization loses an opportunity to make significant strides in performance  

 

Conclusion

 

The trap an organization falls into when they become focused on benchmarking themselves against others is that they lose sight of what is really important-what is it that we are doing well and where do we need to improve in order to create an even better organization than the one we already have. If you must compare yourself to others, compare yourself only to the best and do not get side tracked. Focus

 

 

Bellsouth Secrets Revealed

Formed after the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) was forced to break up its regional companies, Bellsouth is based in Atlanta. Strangely enough, it is also the only one of those companies left that uses an actual bell symbol in its company logo. Bellsouth is a combination of Southern Bell and South Central Bell and provides services to 9 southern states in the eastern United States

 

In the 1990’s, when mergers were the name of the game, this company took a pass. Still serving the same states they did when they were first peeled out from under the AT& T umbrella, they have gone from the largest of the bells to one of the smallest. In 2004, in fact, their revenue was only about $28 billion.

 

In order to provide many of the services this company does to its customers, they operate a number of other smaller companies. For instance Bellsouth Telecommunications provides local phone, while Bellsouth is a provider of internet service. Long distance comes to the region via Bellsouth Long Distance and Bellsouth international provides international operations. Cell phone services are provided by Cingular Wireless, which also provides other wireless services to customers. Bellsouth also operates a number of other companies to bring all of their advertised services to the customers. It is important to note, though, that all of this is held under the corporate name of The BellSouth Corporation.

 

BellSouth does not own all of the companies alone. For instance, Cingular Wireless is jointly owned by this company and AT&T. In addition, the same two companies together co-own yellowpages, which used to be RealPages and SmartPages. These partnerships and individual company ownership allows this company to be the important company that it is today.

 

BellSouth was founded in 1984. They are a publicly traded company chaired by F. Duane Akcerman, who also operates as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (CEO). As of recent years, This company has begun to concentrate on the areas of wireless and broadband service. The joint, 40% venture with AT&T to put together Cingular provides a big part of the revenue of the company. The company’s strategy keys on the increase of broadband use among the general public. Their main competition comes from companies such as Spring, MCI, Qwest, and Vorizen wireless.

 

All of the move toward wireless is a move to save the future of the bell south company. This company, like many phone companies, continues to lose home phone customers on a regular basis. With internet voice protocol and cell phone use up, home phone use is down and many of the old bell companies are feeling the heat. Bellsouth remains committed to the wireless and broadband industries so that in the coming communications wars they don’t get left out in the cold.

 

 

Being An Executive Is Not Just A Look.

When I think of an executive I think of powerful looking man in a sharp suit making large business deals with international big-wigs. I think of bank accounts in the Carribean and 2nd homes in Italy. I think about the dark limousines and the power ties and golfing with the president or a powerful person in Congress. I think of Martini’s and big cigars and lawyers and secret memos.

 

Why do I think all these things about being an executive? Well the movies of course and why not believe the movies? They are real right? Well as usual that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. Being an executive involves way more than all of this and often doesn’t involve those things mentioned above. So what does being an executive really involve? Well I want to talk about that and do some realistic guessing (I have never been one myself) about what it takes to be an executive.

 

The life of an executive is actually a life that is filled with sacrifice. Often times people have sacrificed many, many hours working hard in a cubicle, burning the midnight oil just to get ahead in the rat race. Once they are ahead there work doesn’t slow down it is increased because you are constantly on the go in order to maintain you place of power.

 

Power is an interesting word too. You have power as an executive but it is the power to move a company in the right direction. You don’t really have the power to move the company in the wrong direction as an executive because as soon as the boat begins to lean the board of directors or whatever you want to call the governing body of a company will be on your heels hounding you until you either get the company going back in the right direction or resign.

 

The vacations in the Caribbean and the golf outings with important people are kind of misleading as well because you are not doing those things as often as a normal employee may have the opportunity because you don’t have time. You are such a slave to work as an executive that vacations and time spent with family are wishful thinking.

 

It is these two last things that are perhaps the biggest argument against becoming a big-shot executive in a large company. That is being a slave to your watch/day planner and being a stranger to your family. Life after all isn’t worth living if you can’t enjoy the fruit of your labor and form meaningful relationships with people that love you.