Be the change you want to see occur in the world around you. We can’t make other people be more considerate, helpful, honest, etc., but if everyone were to work on themselves and develop these attributes, our world would be a better place.
Don’t be judgmental. Look for and recognize the good in yourself and in others. We are all capable of so-called “good” and “bad” behaviors and we all have our “good” and “off” days. We are all unique and it is wonderful that we are different and not all the same – in our appearance, our thoughts, our opinions, our likes and dislikes. Being different is not threatening, it is not “bad”, it is just “different”. Embrace the differences and be happy for the variety. Likewise, forget the concepts of “right” and “wrong”. People are not good or bad or right or wrong; they just are. If you were in “their shoes” maybe you would act differently, or maybe not. Being judgmental wastes time and cuts you off from opportunities and meaningful relationships – because you are not perfect either, and your judgment might be worse than the person’s you are judging!
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Ever heard of the “80/20 Rule”? That’s the well-known principle that says that in every sales organization 20% of the salespeople win 80% of the sales (and money!) while the remaining 80% are all splitting up 20% of the revenue. So, which category do you want to be a part of – the Top 20%, or what I refer to as the Sales HEROES, right?
Where did this rule come from? In fact, the 80/20 rule is not a rule, it’s a “law.” It comes from the work of Vilfredo Pareto, an eighteenth-century Italian economist. His studies on economics and productivity led to the conclusion that in just about any endeavor, 80 percent of the productivity will come from only 20 percent of the efforts. Eighty percent of the profits are produced by 20 percent of the employees. In a police force, 80 percent of the arrests are made by 20 percent of the officers. It can be applied another way: 20 percent of a business’s customers create 80 percent of the problems. And so on.
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Diligently managed assets of a business organization can make a lot of difference in its profit percentages. Judicious control over all tangible and intangible assets of a company makes sure that there are no leaking funds in the organization and all assets are utilized at maximum capacity. An inefficient management of resources and incorrect information about the objects in a commercial establishment may lead to drainage of finances and in turn adversely affect company’s performance.
Realizing the importance of asset management in any company’s performance has led to newer advanced strategies in this field of trade. Entire business management consists of host of issues comprising of cost management, capital budgeting, expense accounting, financial planning and reporting and many other similar topics. Asset management constitutes a large percentage of managing concerns in an organization. Apart from administering tangible goods, raw materials, finished products, vehicles, buildings and many other such items modern businesses also need to manage their intellectual assets.
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Many movies have been made about the tragic story of the Titanic. Arrogance and ignorance was definitely present during its maiden voyage, which was Titanic’s last voyage.
Many warnings were given, but unfortunately, the warnings were not taken seriously. On April 14th, 1912 Titanic received six warnings that icebergs were present in their perimeter. On the night of April 14th, Titanic struck an iceberg and ultimately sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
For other entities, what happened to the Titanic does NOT have to happen to them. Many have learned from the mistakes that Titanic had made.
There are several examples that follow and form a parallel to what happened to Titanic and how an entity can learn from Titanic’s mistakes.
1. The Titanic only had 16 lifeboats, which was not nearly enough to save everyone on the ship.
Only about 60% of the entire lifeboats’ capacity was utilized! Does your company have a disaster plan in place? Are your computers, especially your servers, being backed up on a regular basis? Many servers are now being backed up on a daily basis and sometimes on an hourly basis.
When I was working at a Helpdesk, one of our afternoon gals was named the “Backup Queen” because she took EVERY major server backup VERY seriously. The company was very lucky to have the “Backup Queen” because there were several instances where our most critical server had crashed and lost information. Fortunately, information restoration was quick and painless due to the machine being backed up on a regular basis.
We were very lucky to have someone who took the initiative to handle the server backups. Is your company that lucky? Yes, doing backups can be VERY unexciting. However, losing valuable data can be very exciting, but in a negative way.
2. The crewmen in the lookout tower, or the “crow’s nest,” were not issued binoculars to better search for icebergs.
Employees were not given the proper tools to use to do their job. Is your company using the right software for the job? Are you saving money on upgrading your operating system and software, but are losing customers? If you are losing customers, you’re NOT really saving any money at all.
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