The meaning of Visa

The other day while in the car, ML asked the meaning of the word "visa". Specifically the document that we need to visit another country, not the credit card. Albeit a simple word, I have never thought the real meaning. I actually conjured up an ill-fitting "meaning": VISiting Approval :P

Anyway, I googled a bit and found this:

A visa (short for the Latin carta visa, lit. "the document having been seen") is a document issued by a country giving a certain individual permission to formally request entrance to the country during a given period of time and for certain purposes (see below for caveats and exceptions).

Top 7 things that great leaders do

This is a very good article on leadership, concise yet complete. I encourage you to read the article rather than the summary of points here:

• Continuously learn
• Serve others in business, community and others
• Positive attitude
• Believe in and help those around them to fulfill their potential
• Balanced in every area of life
• Good decision making, taking full responsibilities
• Creative people who see life as an adventure
• Work life balance
  

Blue Ocean Strategy: nothing significant, really

My colleague was asking about business and competition, and I mention that the concept of positioning and creation of new market (or at least creation of value) is very important. Otherwise, one would be stuck on a war of lowering cost, competing with the likes of China, India, Vietnam and CIS countries.

To better understand the concept of creating niches and market value, try reading the Blue Ocean Strategy. Here's a good introduction to the concepts introduced in the book:

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That said, I do not buy into all the hot air presented in Blue Ocean Strategy. Its just an easy-to-grasp presentation of what is essentially Porter's Five Forces model. So stick to a classic like



Competitive Advantage



Additional slides on Blue Ocean Strategy:

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Useful strategy map:

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Transport Security Administration Blog

Very informative blog by TSA on travel security.

http://www.tsa.gov/blog/

The right metric is important

In business, it is important to know the current position you are in, and where you are headed to. That can only be the case if you start measuring. Almost every business is aware of it, but sometimes we are too caught up with measuring, so much so that:

• it does not accurately reflect the real situation
• it hinders business growth

Take for example marketing expenditure. Marketing should be seen as an investment, because its goals (customer retention, customer satisfaction, advertising awareness) should lead towards increased profits. So the best way is to use Return on Investment (ROI).

Now let's dive into a specific example. In the 80's when AT&T's monopoly was just broken up, the marketing ROI was measured. But what is the exact measure? Cost of marketing campaign v.s. total revenue from customers. In most cases it should be fine, but one need to take into account that:

• AT&T is in a monopoly position
• The other notable competitors, Sprint & MCI, have relatively poor quality. So much so that without doing anything AT&T can easily retain 95% of its customer base

Thus, the simple ROI metric above may lead to the wrong conclusion that minimal marketing expenditure is optimal due to its high ROI.

It is always very important to take into account:

• why the metric is in place (i.e. what are we trying to achieve)
• the external environment, and how the metric will shape the business direction
• finally the bottom line of long-term increased revenue and reduced cost (profit)
  

Delegating tasks and assigning responsibility

One of the important values in leadership is to develop the capabilities of your staff, and delegating tasks. Delegation sounds simple enough: you have 10 things to do, and 3 of them can be done by your staff. Assign these 3 tasks to your staff.

But really, delegation is more than that; it is an opportunity to

• coach and develop others (which is deeply satisfying)
• help others reach their goals
  
• let others be more involved in their job
• train your replacement, for your career advancement
• business continuity (when you are not available)

If delegation is done too formally, it feels more like a burden to the person taking up the role. Speak to the employee informally, and discuss about possibilities where he/she can contribute. Remember, always work from strength. If the delegated task is the assignee's weakness, then it is an uphill battle which may result in frustration and giving up.

In addition, the correct expectations need to be set up front: a performance agreement will be useful.

It is most likely that the delegated task is new or unfamiliar to the employee. If that so, isn't it unreasonable to expect the employee to automatically excel at the task? Therefore, it is important to delegate tasks in a bite-sized chunk, and provide guidance along the way. SMART goals are very helpful in this scenario.


I have seen discussions where tasks are delegated, and there is even a formal role. What really did not work out was the formal role (announced to the team/department), and lack of follow up.

Developing your staff is a continuous effort, not only during the performance review discussion ;)

Culture of Excellence that created RAZR in Motorala

These are the lessons that Geoffrey Frost, widely acclaimed as the father of RAZR shares:

1. "It was a bet being made, not a base being covered. We didn't even include it in the sector's business plan."

2. "No compromise was the standard operating procedure. We didn't juggle tradeoffs, we just insisted on excellence."

3. "We didn't try to predict the market for the product based on history, we bet that if it was good enough, it would make its own market."

4. "We put the best, brightest, craziest, and most passionate people we had on it."

Read more from Remembering Geoffrey Frost.