Posts Tagged ‘Matthew Carmen’

Any company – whether it’s two people or 200,000 – must have a coherent internal communications system in place, enabling it to thrive on every level within the organization.  As with many things, it all begins with a plan. A good communications plan will include processes that allow all employees to both hear the message and be heard as well.  Succeeding with that communications plan also means the senior management team must fully comprehend and embrace the ‘message’ related to corporate policy and new strategic initiatives to all employees in a way that they will understand.

Corporate communications can take many forms: email, memos, website announcements, manager conversations and town hall meetings, and the like.

Let’s look at an example: A company needing to implement a revised strategy for growth.  The first method of communications will likely be in the form of senior management explaining the new plan to their direct reports – the VP and director-level management staff – in a management town hall-type format. Other useful first methods might be an offsite management retreat, or a memo explaining the new strategy and what the responsibilities of certain corporate functions will be. This first communication must be followed by other reinforcing communications, such as the ones that were mentioned above , if the new strategy is to become successful.

The key to a successful corporate communications plan is that all employees must: a) receive the message, b) understand the message, c) understand how the message will affect their way of doing their job, and d) know that they can communicate back up the chain of command when needed.  This last point is very important in order for a new strategy or other initiative to be successful.  Employees who are actually doing required work are closest to the actual processes involved with that work, and thus tend to know – better than those in leadership – what does and what doesn’t work well.  Therefore, a successful corporate communications program allows employees to communicate their issues and ideas up the chain of command and allow for more successful implementations or provide more timely knowledge that can change a failing program.

So whether we’re talking implementation of a broad-reaching corporate strategy, or a successful personal relationship, communications is the name of any successful game.  Either way, in order for everyone involved to be on the same page and work towards the same goals, communications needs smart planning and must go in all. Ready…aim…

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Tagged as: active garage, backup, business, corporate communications, datacentertrust, emails, Leadership, management, Matthew Carmen, phone, servers, townhall meetings

Over the last several months, I have mostly written about the financial, strategic and operational needs of mid-sized and large companies.  What about small business?  Companies with, say, 10-150 employees…what in these areas can best serve them?  Of course there are the obvious: the ability to track expenditures, report on company spend, rudimentary budgeting, payroll, etc. Certainly these are very important, but really, the owners and stakeholders of the small business should be able to handle this on their own – or with minimal help.   The most important need for small business owners is to work with someone well-versed in things financial, who can offer a growing business the ability to formulate strategy and then develop sound finance processes, procedures and who can offer the right tools to turn strategy into practice.  In this way, the finance person participates in the growth of the business and helps take the company to the next level.

This resource discussed above is the hardest to articulate to small business clients.  They usually want someone to tell them how much they are spending, on what, and how they can spend less on the same services.  These are important questions, but somewhat short-sighted.  What the client should be asking, (and I like to ask questions to get them thinking this way) is:  How can I get my company to the next level?  The proverbial next level of course means something different for each company: it may be $10 million in sales for one, higher margins for another, or opening up new markets for another still. Regardless, I’ve found that there are 5 key steps that must take place in order to reach ‘next level’ status:

1. Decide what the next level is, specifically.  What is the direction in which your company wants to go?  There will be some type of desired growth, what is it?  Does this growth match the company’s mission and values?  Formulating your goal is most important; if the goal is unclear, there is no way that a strategy can help achieve that goal.  Sure, some goals are reached anyhow simply by dumb luck, but as you probably guessed, it is not a scalable process.
2. Develop a strategy to reach a clear goal.  This takes true leadership from within.  Once a goal is formulated, a well-thought-out strategy or detailed plan is needed to get there.  What will it cost to reach our goal? What skills are required (marketing, product development, operations, etc)?  How much time with this endeavor take?  Once these large questions are answered, a program or project management team should be able to take over and develop a detailed plan of action.
3. Plan of action. The program team in a small company (usually 1 or 2 people) will need to develop the timeline for the actions that need to take place, and who will actually perform the work.  This program team may be made up of internal employees or outside contractors/consultants.  There are many tools which help in this area as well, including Microsoft Project and others, that can help organize tasks and timing.  Once a plan is developed and approved, the real work starts.
4. Communication:  The plan and assignment of roles must be clearly communicated to the entire organization.  This serves multiple purposes: it lets those that will be involved understand their roles and what their expectations are, and it also lets those not involved know what the future state of the organization will look like. Finally, it lets management know how they should start planning for future roles in a fashion that will evolve along with company goals.  Expectations of everyone will change during this process, typically for the better.
5. Reporting and Tracking:  This step entails reporting on the progress of the strategic implementation.  The best tools for this are a balanced scorecard and separate financial reports.  A balanced scorecard will track the inner workings of the strategic implementation – what is going on at the operational, leadership and learning levels, how the organization is changing and ensuring it is on track to meet goals on time.  The financial reporting piece will let leadership know if they are spending what was approved and in the right areas.  Analysis of both these reporting mechanisms will allow for operational changes as the external environment changes (competition, products, legal, etc.)

The process is finished once the project goals are met.  (Have the new systems been put into production, etc.?) Now the claims made by the new strategy need to be monitored closely, and the results examined likewise.  Is there progress being made towards our goal?  If yes, is this progress happening as planned? Faster? Slower? Perhaps the new systems now in place allow for amending goals upward, or results in better returns on investment. If so, what a great problem to have, right?  Continued reporting and vision are also required – and once new goals are established, the process should ideally begin anew.

So you see, the finance person at a small company must wear many more hats than his/her counterpart in larger organizations.  In the scenarios above, there is a good chance that the finance person will also serve as the program manager for the strategic implementation, or at least play a key roll in that implementation.  The risks are often greater for a small company, but the rewards for the company can be greater as well – and isn’t that what owning a business is all about?

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Tagged as: active garage, budgeting, busines strategy, data center trust, marketing, Matthew Carmen, planning, program management, Project Management, project planning, reporting, sales, small business, Strategy

Well here we are in May. 2011 seems to be flying by – the year is almost half over, and in the corporate world you know what that means:

Time to start planning for 2012.

This is that time of the year everyone dislikes. For operations and the overall business, it is essentially time away from what they want to focus on, and for the finance teams, it is that time when they find themselves refereeing battles between operations and business for the finite amount of dollars.  All in all, this time of the year is where the challenges of the year ahead are discussed, strategized around, and hopefully addressed.

The three distinct groups – business, operations, and finance teams, each play a role in ensuring a successful budgeting and planning season.  In the case of the business, each area – whether a business unit, product line or service; needs to have its strategy fully developed by the executive team and communicated to all levels of the business.  By doing this, each person – from the lowest level all the way up – will know:

• What the corporate strategy is, going forward,
• How their work will help move the company towards the goal, and
• It will provide management teams the direction in which to plan programs and projects.

By establishing a clear direction across the board, the business will be able to have conversations with the operational areas (such as IT) to make sure that the needs of the business are top priority for everyone.

No Personal Agendas

In my experiences, which have taken place in each of the three distinct areas, one thing has always been paramount to success, “Don’t come to the negotiations with a personal agenda”.  The more emotion that is brought to the table, the longer and more drawn out the negotiations become, and feelings are hurt at the end of the process.  Many times these feelings carry forward and the working relationships between people, groups and departments can be irreparably harmed.  This definitely does not help the long-term growth of a company.

The IT Operations View

In the case of the IT operations groups, this time of year is typically focused on two major things;

1. The planning of programs and projects that benefit the business, and
2. The planning of the IT organization.

In the case of the second point, IT has to weigh the benefits to the business versus the needs of the IT organization.  This means that with a finite amount of budget dollars available, the IT department needs to find the right mix of dollars for the benefit of the business while having enough budget to make sure the IT department is able to do the things it needs to do to ensure the business survives long term.  This internal IT spend will likely include: disaster recovery, continued infrastructure modernization, replacement systems for facilities, server and storage growth and refresh, etc.  These areas of spend need to be voiced to the business and discussions need to take place at this time of year, at times, the business seems to forget that ongoing operations need to be sustained and this costs money. May and June are critical communication months in the budgeting and planning season.  Communicating now means that once the finance team is ready to open the budgeting tool, usually right after the July 4^th holiday, the whole budgeting project goes more smoothly.

The Finance Team View

The finance team always hopes for a smooth budget season.  Depending on the work they do in these early stages of the process, this smooth season is possible.  At this time of the year, the finance team needs to make sure that its message is communicated as well.  The finance team needs to make sure that all of the business and operational groups know and understand the process by which the budget will happen, what the key dates are, what the budgeting system will include and what business and operations will need to add to it.  These are all very important, the more the business and operational groups understand about what they are responsible to do at this point and throughout the whole budgeting process, the easier it becomes for everyone.

Another area that the finance team needs to be working on at this point is the final testing for its budgeting system.  Changes to the system from previous years may have been done due to upgraded equipment and upgrades in software functionality.  If a completely new system has been implemented (Hyperion and Cognos-TM1 are the two largest systems currently in use by midsized and large companies), the work becomes even more challenging.  Lastly, on the finance side of the budgeting triangle, training the usage of the system must be planned for.  All planning sessions need to be calendared, and anyone who will use the system including: cost center managers, department managers, executives and financial representation should be included in the training. (Either a complete training on a new system, or in the case of the use of the same system, a refresher course will be needed as well as complete training for new users.)

Plan Ahead for Success

Just like most endeavors, the more work that is put into the early phases of the annual planning exercise, the easier it become to achieve success.  The easier the complete budgeting process is, the less evasive to all areas involved it is.  Remember, for most people involved, the budget process is an addition to their “regular” job.  Remember, throughout the whole process, nothing is personal, it is all about moving the business forward…the right way.  Lastly, there are professionals, like myself, that can help with anything from questions to process and system integration.  We are here to help and make your business grow.

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Tagged as: active garage, budget, Business Strategy, computers, data center trust, data centers, datacentertrust, finance budget, finance team, IT operations, Matthew Carmen, operations team, profits, success, technology, yearly budget

5 Reasons why IT Outsourcing may not be living up to the hype!

by Matthew Carmen, Feb 28, 2011

Large and small companies alike find out very often that their own cost savings due to outsourcing do not match the case studies they were sold on. Several reasons can result in your company essentially leaving dollars and services on the table with respect to outsourcing.  There’s no such thing as too much thought when evaluating an outsourcing initiative.  If you need help, there are many experts available to you who can provide guidance. more…

Project Reality Check #11: Frame of Mind

by Gary Monti, Mar 1, 2011

“Everything is simple” if you have the right frame of mind. “What happens when you follow the rules?” is the question that will determine the frame-of-mind appropriate for a project. Gary describes 6 of them in this post. The reality and challenge are the fact that all 6 frames-of-mind or some subset can be present on a given project. The goal, then, is to make sure the project terrain is gauged accordingly and the style(s) adapted are appropriate. more…

Ready to be Enchanted?

by Himanshu Jhamb, Mar 2, 2011

Enchantment is Guy Kawasaki‘s 10^th book and according to him, “Enchantment is about transforming situations and relationships to invent new possibilities; ones that you probably did not think were possible.” There is something in this book for everyone and is full of practical advice. An actual review of the book will be coming out on Active Garage, on March 08, 2011 – the official release date of Enchantment. Go ahead and pre-order your copy right away! more…

Flexible Focus #43: 8 Levels of Consciousness

by William Reed, Mar 3, 2011

There are 8 levels of consciousness. The first five are the five senses: Visual, Auditory, Olfactory, Taste, and Touch. The sixth is Ideation, our conscious thought. These six levels of consciousness then make up the conscious mind, the part that we are mostly aware of. The next two layers are part of the sub-conscious mind, which are the Ego, and the Seed (Storehouse) consciousness at the core. Our subconscious mind is a garden, which bears fruit according to the seeds which are planted and cultivated. The practical application with the Mandala Chart, is to cultivate a flexible focus and select positive and harmonious seeds to plant in our unconscious. more…

Leader driven Harmony #14: If you are Civil, you will get (more) beer – Part I

by Mack McKinney, Mar 4, 2011

People listen more attentively to civil persons than to rude or boisterous people. Humans seem to be drawn to calm, collected people.  They have a calming effect on persons around them. Cultivate the ability to always be civil even (maybe especially) to people with whom you totally disagree.  This is a powerful skill. In our next post Mack will talk about the remarkable benefits of following the Desiderata. It is a powerful document that will show you how adding just four simple rules at the dinner table will get you labeled diplomatic and get you invited to dinner parties a lot more often! more…

Tagged as: Action, active garage, Business Management, Business Strategy, center for change management, Change Management, Communication, Entrepreneurship, execution, Flexible Focus, gary monti, himanshu jhamb, http://activegarage.com, Leadership, mack mckinney, management, mandala charts, Matthew Carmen, Project Management, william reed, www.activegarage.com

When beginning or continuing an investment in a Business Intelligence (BI) system, a company must look at how it will be able to garner the largest Return on Investment (ROI) for such an initiative.  There are many factors to take into consideration in reaching the largest possible ROI.  These factors can be grouped into direct and indirect benefits:

Direct Benefits

1. Quantifiable cost savings related the more efficient access to data.  This allows analysts to spend time analyzing and not gathering information.
2. Automation of process, leading to real time savings and greater productivity.
3. Shorter budgeting and financial planning cycles with reduced effort, allowing staff to continue doing their jobs.
4. Improved efficiencies in operational groups such as inventory management, IT, facilities management, etc.
5. Reducing support costs associated with reporting while terminating legacy reports and systems that go unused.

Indirect Benefits

1. A single version of the “truth”, official company records and reports, leading to less rework and manipulation of data by individuals to justify differing views of what that data means to their groups.
2. Facilitates containment of costs based on targeted areas as opposed to just saying every group’ cuts costs by 20%, as an example.
3. Allows for the ability to run “what-if” analyses, the results of which often lead to better decision making.
4. Improved customer service, resulting in increased sales.
5. Allows for the long-term alignment of operations and strategy.

There are many other direct and indirect efficiencies and benefits that can be realized through the proper planning and implementation of BI tools and systems.  The more end-user groups that participate in the planning of a company’s BI system, the easier it becomes to change the ultimate corporate culture. Once the buy-in from the users is attained, the real savings begin, and a platform to accelerate corporate growth now exists.

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Tagged as: active garage, business intelligence, data center trust, IT Finance, matt carmen, Matthew Carmen, Return on Investment, ROI

3 Ways to Save money and Increase Productivity

by Matthew Carmen, Oct 25, 2010

Save money and increase productivity need not be an oxymoron, especially in the IT department. But if that strategy starts with cutting the labor force, it will be detrimental to the company. Matthew suggests several ways to achieve these seemingly conflicting goals and some of them may be applicable to your situation. more…

Chaos and Complexity #7: Black swans, Randomness and your Career

by Gary Monti, Oct 26, 2010

If you believe in sustained stable outcome in complex situations, you will be doomed. Chaotic systems (like our life and career) have deterministic, interrelated rules producing nonlinear, unpredictable results. In order to be successful in your career, you need to practice a form of cognitive dissonance and learn to carry two streams of thought simultaneously : What is the best outcome and what is the worst outcome. more…

Social Media and Tribes #18: Better than Google

by Deepika Bajaj, Oct 27, 2010

Every tool has its purpose and each tool has its strengths and weaknesses. Once you get accustomed to using a tool, the tendency could be to to use it for purposes it is not effective for. Google is great when you need information, but it may not relate to your situation. That’s where your friends can come to your aid on Facebook! more…

Flexible Focus #25: Assessing your situation with a Mandala SWOT analysis

by William Reed, Oct 28, 2010

The SWOT Analysis model is originally attributed to Albert Humphrey from his work at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s. This gives you more clarity, but risks leading to 2-dimensional or checklist thinking. A better way to go beyond is to use a Mandala Chart. You can start by using the downloadable A-frame Mandala SWOT Chart. more…

Cloud: A truly nebulous term

by Marc Watley, Oct 29, 2010

The term “cloud” is one of the most over-used technology terms in recent times. We have been using the so called “cloud” for a long time. Think about Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. So what exactly is the meaning we are trying to convey when we use “cloud”? The answer is simply “on-demand”. more…

Tagged as: active garage, Business Management, business planning, Business Strategy, Communication, deepika bajaj, execution, facebook, Flexible Focus, gary monti, http://activegarage.com, Leadership, management, marc watley, Matthew Carmen, possibilities, Social Media, Strategy, william reed, www.activegarage.com, www.deepikabajaj.com

For most companies, Information Technology is not their core business.  IT is, however, one of the biggest factors by which a company can differentiate itself from its competitors.  By using technology wisely, companies can automate many of their processes, allowing its labor force to focus attention on new products and services for both external and internal clients.  Capital funding is required to accomplish this, and in this economy this means reallocation of current funds, not an addition of new funds for a companies IT department.  It is a proven fact that good investments in IT facilitate rapid company growth.

As with most other departments within a corporation, IT runs on human resources – labor.  Therefore, the last thing a company should look to do when wanting to save or reallocate capital is to cut its labor force.  Once the labor force is cut, it is very hard to get back the productivity in the future.  When this happens, most IT departments become very reactive – they end up fighting the many fires that crop up and have little time to implement new technologies that could benefit the entire company.

Decimating a labor force – though providing significant short term financial savings – inhibits corporate growth.  With this in mind, what areas within IT should companies consider to free up funds for growth initiatives?

1. Managed sourcing options for routine activities.  By routine activities I mean regular processes such as batch computing, monitoring of the IT environment, network connectivity and maintaining the physical environment.  Most of these are important areas that tend to be labor-intensive activities.  Within IT, the monitoring, network and physical management of the datacenter tend to have the largest staff of any group.  By considering managed services, a company can get high quality service and typically good pricing areas as well.  With the savings, labor can be added to groups that are doing application development and other innovative services which stimulate business growth.
2. Implement tight asset management procedures.  By tracking a company’s software and hardware assets, existing assets can then be utilized more efficiently.   On the software side, a company needs to know what it owns, what piece of equipment it is running on, and how much of the total purchase it owns is actually being used.  Having an inventory system will allow the user community access to all of this information, and encourages the use of existing inventory instead of always buying more simply because a new project has budget money.  By implementing a rigorous asset management system, companies waste a lot less – often as much as 20% – on new purchases and maintenance of those new purchases.  These savings can likewise be used for continued corporate growth.
3. Going green can provide great cost savings. One way companies can become “greener” is through server virtualization.  By vitalizing servers, companies can save much needed capital on two fronts.  First, by having fewer physical devices in your datacenter, less electricity will be used, thereby lowering the company’s electricity costs.  Secondly, many states and utility companies offer rebates and/or lower rates for electricity for companies who virtualize their server farms.  For example, one utility in Wisconsin offers a rebate of $250 per virtualized server.   Through the use of VMware or similar product can, if engineered correctly, reduce the physical presence of a server farm down by as much as 20 percent – serious savings can continue on well into the future.

All in all, there are several ways in which a company can save much needed capital without reducing the workforce, then reallocate the capital in such a way as to stimulate new growth.   Yes, certain positions may be deemed as unnecessary and the workload shifted to managed service providers or the like, but overall, the company will be able to use more of its skilled teams for forward-thinking growth opportunities. Such initiatives, which can be funded by cutting wasteful spending, work seamlessly with careful planning and execution.

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Tagged as: active garage, corporate cost savings, cost savings in IT, datacentertrust, environment friendly, going green, Infrastructure planning, IT Finance, IT Planning, Matthew Carmen, server farms, virtual servers, virtualization

Integrity – Looking oneself in the mirror

by Matthew Carmen, Sep 13, 2010

Matthew’s recent vacation to Hawaii gave him some for reflection. And BTW, he highly recommends taking a break every so often to able to clear the mind of professional stresses. On this trip, mulling over Integrity, he finds that it is the foundation on which your career and business exist. If you don’t possess integrity, you will not be able to build trusted relationships and move up in your chosen field. more…

Chaos and Complexity #1: Coyotes, Chaos and Complexity

by Gary Monti, Sep 14, 2010

We have to be good at dealing with Chaos and Complexity in order to survive and thrive. Let’s not confuse Chaos with Random. Chaotic systems follow definite rules, but depict non-linear behavior. Coyotes have mastered the art of survival in the complex system created by human beings. They have been able to do so using Adaptability, Connection, Interdependence and Diversity. more…

Social Media and Tribes #12: Bollywood movies get a facebook uplift

by Deepika Bajaj, Sep 15, 2010

Deepika is in India and is experiencing the Social Media movement there first hand. Bollywood movie personalities play a very important role in marketing everything. And they are increasingly using facebook as a channel to promote movies. Deepika has valuable suggestions on how to make facebook pages more effective. more…

Flexible Focus #19: Path to the Eureka moment

by William Reed, Sep 16, 2010

Eureka moments happen when you have moments of clarity. This happens only if you have total and complete engagement in your endeavor. You can achieve this by meditation. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to practice it in modern life. William suggests an alternate method that combines walking and writing with a Mandala. more…

Alternate Sales Partnerships #1: I am thinking of joining the dark side…

by Tina Burke, Sep 17, 2010

Direct Sales and Operations organizations are so different that moving from one to the other is like Sarah Palin choosing to become a democrat. And that’s what Tina’s long time colleague wanted to do and she thinks it’s a great idea. Read the article to find out why. more…

Tagged as: active garage, Business Management, business planning, deepika bajaj, execution, Flexible Focus, gary monti, http://activegarage.com, invincibelle, leaders, Matthew Carmen, Social Media, tina burke, william reed

This past week I took a vacation, to Hawaii.  I tried to focus on the much-needed relaxation, keeping my mind free of business and the stresses of life; and for the most part, I did.  One work-related thought lingered on, however: integrity in one’s work.   I began to notice integrity – in its various forms –  all over the islands, and kept thinking about how core it is in business, specifically in the consulting and financial worlds where I practice.  Integrity is the one thing that every person should have.  It doesn’t matter what job, economic status, social standing, or any other measure people use to “judge” each other, integrity should be the main benchmark as to one’s character.

The only place I did not see complete integrity was at the USC-University of Hawaii football game.  One of our players (I am a proud USC alum) slammed the opposing quarterback with a truly illegal hit – not exactly playing with integrity, right?  The UH quarterback was knocked out of the game, and when I left the islands on Tuesday, he had still not returned to practice.  The USC player has to look into the mirror and examine his actions, his integrity in question.

The people in the service industry, hotels, restaurants, museums and other places, seemed to do their jobs with integrity.  They were all very helpful, pleasant and seemed truly to enjoy their jobs.  This could be that they were happy to have any job in today’s economy, but I don’t think it was that simple.  It could possibly be tied to the cultural differences in the islands versus the mainland, but again, I don’t think so.  I just think that the people I dealt with actually enjoyed their lives as they were.  What a great place to be in.

Everything I witnessed got me to thinking about integrity in business.  Let me state clearly that I believe the great majority of people – probably more than 98% – hold integrity high on their list, and incorporate into their work accordingly.  What is unfortunate is that the small minority of people that lack integrity are the ones who make all the news.  I go into dealings with people – meetings, XXX, XXX, etc. – with the assumption that those people are honest, forthright and willing to stand to their word.  I hope that people inside and outside of the business world look at me this way in return.  When I make a claim to someone – say a client – I back it up, and if questioned, I’m ready to address it right away.

Integrity and Relationships

Doing business is establishing and growing relationships, and these relationships cannot be strong if not forged with integrity.   For example, my company seeks long-term relationships with all of our clients, essentially becoming a trusted advisor to their organization and solving datacenter, connectivity and IT financial challenges.  Clearly, if our firm is viewed as lacking in integrity, these relationships could not flourish, and the company could not and would not be in business.  At the end of the day, a person has only his or her word, and must operate with integrity to ensure trust.  If they choose to conduct themselves otherwise, there is no need to trust or deal with them.  There are too many people and companies that do things the right way to work with those who do not.

Conclusion

I learned two things on vacation.

1. It is really important to actually take vacations and clear your mind of professional stress, etc.  Upon your return, you may come up with some new ideas that will revolutionize your business and dealing with clients, co-workers, and management.
2. I do know that if you don’t have integrity and the internal fortitude to use it, you might as well give it up.  You will never move up in your chosen field or establish close and trusted relationships with people, professionally or personally.  Lastly, look at yourself in the mirror, if you aren’t happy with the person you are looking at, figure out why that is and work on transforming that view into one you like.

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Tagged as: active garage, business ethics, datacentertrust, hawaii, integrity, keeping your word, Matthew Carmen, relaxation, vacation

Integration: Keys to the successful merger of companies

by Matthew Carmen, Aug 2, 2010

Companies merge to increase profits through increase efficiency. But according to CNBC, nine out of ten mergers do not fully meet the goals of their acquisition. The main task that takes place in successful integrations is proper reparation within operational areas. This includes putting together processes and procedures that will need to take place to reach the corporate goals. In this article Matthew describes how he participated in a merger at a large entertainment company and what contributed to its success.  more…

Character and Personality #5: Don’t pull that trigger!

by Gary Monti, Aug 3, 2010

Sometimes you don’t want to confront your fears and uncomfortable situations. This causes blind spots into which organizations can fall an disappear. Instead of taking short cuts and jumping to action we should explore options, analyze our assumptions and manage risk. more…

Managing a project requires actions

by Guy Ralfe, Aug 4, 2010

Just because the project has a plan does not mean we simply have to conform to it. A plan is created when certain realities are true. But as the project is implemented, things change and new realities open up. We need to constantly update our plan and make adjustments based on changes that occur through out the implementation phase. Guy sites an example from his recent experience in this article. more…

Flexible Focus #13: Finding focus in the frames

by William Reed, Aug 5, 2010

Creativity happens much better when you are in your favorite cafe than when you are in your cubicle. Even better, the Mandala Chart offers a fresh approach that helps you find focus in the frames. Once you understand the value and attraction of working with the Mandala Chart on paper, you can increase your skills and improve your results with practice. Here are 8 steps that can help you get started.  more…

Author’s Journey #33: 7 Keys to Profitable Special Events

by Roger Parker, Aug 6, 2010

Last week, Roger discussed some of the ways authors can attract profitable speaking invitations. In this week’s article he takes the idea of “speaking for profit” to the next level, which involves creating, marketing, and producing special events like conferences, seminars, and workshops. more…

Tagged as: active garage, author's journey, Business Management, business planning, Business Strategy, Communication, gary monti, Guy Ralfe, Matthew Carmen, roger parker, william reed, Writing for Business, www.activegarage.com