Hectic week in Bulgaria...a different experience

Well after a full week of travelling over pot holed roads and business meetings I am in my Hotel in Sofia and I am due to fly back home tomorrow morning. I have enjoyed my first business trip - actually first trip to Bulgaria at all - to this country and I look forward to following up on the business meetings and contacts made.

Why Bulgaria and why now? Well to grow the business we need partners to manufacture the products we want to sell. we want to expand the ranges with complimentary products - at competitive commercial costs - and manufacture some products we make in the UK - at competitive commercial costs!

We came to Sofia on Monday with only a few pre-prepared contacts made. This was due to the time available and to allow some flexibility to 'follow our noses'. An follow we did. We started off in Plovdiv, made our way up to Sofia, then onto Montana and today we were in Orjahovo. We met various Chamber of Commerce people and a number of manufacturers of varying interest. I think we learned a lot and have numerous opportunities to follow.

The infrastructure is a lot more delapidated than I expected and the country side looks particularly neglected. It is as iff most of the buildings and roads were finished in 1960 and no maintainence or care undertaken since. The people are very warm and friendly, the city of Sofia bustling and an interesting mix of east and west.

next week I will follow up the contacts and start planning for a trip to Romania.

Ending office Politics...

I was recently given an article by my MD entitled "The Secret to Ending Office Politics, Part1" by Margaret Heffernan.

In it she stated that she had heard of a company which changed peoples roles in budget making. This was to drive the 'petty politics' out of management, allowing people to see from other perspectives; why marketing needs the budget at that time, etc.

I think she and - possibly - my MD is getting good management communication and practice mixed up with necessary 'political' activity. I also wonder why he gave me such an article...anyway!

Role changing and better communication is not new and is considered good practice. It's main target is not removing 'politics' but getting better people and results.

Politics is much maligned by some people. In an organisation which is flat - and more organisations are getting flatter - projects, tasks and responsibilities are undertaken by loose or martix organised people and teams. The more connected and, I am sorry, political you are, the more likely your success.

Politics in business (with a small 'p') is the excercise of influence. Show me a business that does not need this internally, certainly at a board or executive level - and more often lower nowadays - and I'll give you my next months wage.

I get a lot of value from US management practice and academia, but this was just a stupid article.

Planning my first 'One on Ones'

I have been a manager on a mission for the last 12 months. I was made a company director about 18 months ago, for good reason one hopes. But at the end of last year I started to obsess about delivery, or as our American cousins call it execution (I like that better!).

I know my strengths, more importantly my weaknesses and started to worry about being one of those director/executives who have the title but do not make a a difference. They could be replaced with any faceless white male and nobody would tell the difference. It's as if the primary objective is just to make 'director'.

I am 39 - was 38 - and I want 20 years plus of clear achievement. I want to grow and get better week by week and year by year. So I have been on a journey of discovering becoming an effective manager.

I think I have cracked it. For the last 6 months I have been learning more and implementing something here and piloting something there and I'm really excited about what this will do to my team and my effectiveness.

Next week I start doing o3's. These are one on one sessions with my team members...every week. I'm probably more nervous than they are about this. We talk, yes, but do we communicate effectively? Over the next few months I'll be hyping a website called Manager-Tools. If you want to improve your efficiency and effectiveness as a manager I suggest you visit this website. It's probably the best online rersource for manager tools and learnings - against business, etc.

So next week the first two of my team are starting on this journey with me. I will report back after.

Do these people not understand irony...?

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence" - Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

China....Friend not Foe

Being involved in the running of a Scottish based engineering company, it was inevitable that we would be impacted upon by the re-awakening of the eastern power house that is/will be China.

However, the odd thing is, is that this contact has been an enabler. This contact has added to our competitive advantage, it has added to our 'tools' in the market place. I wrote a short piece for a public body after they supported us in one of our forays into China and I would like to quote it here:

"As a company we have to be pragmatic and realistic, we trade in the market conditions that exist, not the conditions we would prefer. We are all aware of the media headlines about the effects of globalisation and how China, in particular, is a threat to manufacturing in this country. It can be either depending on your approach.

In our company, we first started purchasing from China 10 years ago, these were simple steel cast parts which couldn't be sourced in the UK; but this started a very productive relationship with a range of businesses in China. This modest start allowed us to develop our relationship as we built our capability to manage a much extended supply chain.

This has not cost us jobs, in fact it helps win orders, grow the business and secure jobs. For example, over 5 years ago we lost major product lines to Eastern European manufacturers as some of our large multi-national customers globalised their supply chains. We lost those orders and our reduced product portfolios weakened our strategic position and ROI in relation to these accounts.

Over the last year we have developed our supply chain capability and by extension, our relationships with Chinese suppliers to such an extent that we have now recovered these lost product lines. We import the product from China, finish 'near to port' in the SE of England and supply direct to the customer. This development is helping us secure our position as a strategic supplier with large multinational customers and in doing so secures jobs at our company, here in Scotland, as we design and manufacture higher value equipment that would have been put at risk otherwise.

By being involved with the Council's trade mission to China, our supply chain manager moved a number of projects forward. In fact, part of the work undertaken on this visit, recently resulted in a single £76,000 order for a product we have not made in our factory for over 6 years.

So Globalisation can be a threat, but it is also an opportunity. It provides markets to sell goods and services in, it also provides other opportunities to be competitive elsewhere. If you look upon it as a threat, a threat is all you will see."

Successful people...Habits...But which ones do we copy?

The book 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Steve Covey started a trend of analysing successful CEOs and entrepreneurs with the aim of creating a list of behaviors that if repeated will bring success in business and career. It is obvious that you can't just repeat a list of behaviors, or habits, by rote and expect to become the next Jobs or Grove. But hell, I love this type of stuff.

The latest edition of Fortune has an interesting article titled: Secrets of Greatness - How I work, and is a series of featurettes by successful CEOs and VP's.

Now, I have a number of mentors and read about a number of people I admire and try to learn from who I have never met; Welch, Grove and Dell (well I've sort of met Jack, or had lunch with him and 600 others!), its just that when I read stuff like the Fortune magazine, there are so many habits to choose from...which ones do I use?

Do I start at 5.00am and have a coffee (expresso macchiato or Indonesian?) like Howard Schultz of Starbucks? I would love to, but tea is easier that early in the morning? Do I do marathon email catch up sessions for 10 to 14 hours straight on a Saturday like Marissa Mayer of Google (I'm not going to link that one!)? NO! How long does it take to send a hundred emails into the deleted file anyway? Anyway, Saturday is for football...unless it's on Setanta, in which case throw a dart at a clock for the kick off time. Do I get up at 4.30 am to check the markets or stand on my head to think like Bill Gross of Pimco? No. One, I'm asleep or driving sleepily down to Edinburgh to get an early flight wishing I was asleep, and two I just can't stand on my head (I would rather do my thinking at my desk with my feet up and nice coffee actually.

So, I've decided to distill all my research into successful behaviors and habits and share them with anyone reading:

1. Get up very early and go to work.
2. Focus on your role and deliver on the objectives set by your superior or shareholders.
3. Get home very late from work.
4. Sleep.
5. Repeat.

So go for it.

New Approach...Removing the Shackles!

From now on I am posting anonymously. I have not got into trouble, or let any sensitive commercial secrets out, it's just that when thinking about posting, the fact my name is on it sort of restricts it.

I would like to discuss management issues without compromising people or organisations...it's not that I will be scurrilous...honest!

So if you were one of the (very) few to have read this blog before I took my name of it, well just keep schtum, OK?

What can SME's do about planning for Bird Flu?

So bird flu hits Europe with the news that we have at least 2 dead and 11 infected in Turkey. We seem to get this story in waves of media interest. Around October last year we had story after story as bird migration started and experts were warning of a pandemic by Christmas and Tamiflu became an eBay staple.

Well we are still here (but even I probably wouldn't visit Eastern Turkey at the moment) but the experts are still saying it's "when not if" for 2006. Even though Bird Flu has been a bit lower of late in the media's radar, it seems that one profession outside Government agencies and the WHO has been beavering away on this...Business Continuity Planners.

HSBC today reported that up to 50% of it's staff could be effected by a Bird Flu pandemic, this number is significantly higher than the UK Governments figure of 8% and WHO 25%.

Now I am pleased that our global institutions make such contingency plans, this is right and proper. I am also delighted that HSBC and others have the resources to put people on this matter full-time. Also, being a large global concern means that you will be used to such strategies to meet such threats as terrorism and unstable governments, etc.

What about UK based SME's? What about small business? Do we not have a right/need/obligation to have a contingency plan? (Delete where applicable and your viewpoint dictates).

"In the immediate aftermath of any form of incident, continuity planning becomes
something of a buzz word but it is increasingly clear that many firms still don't have the necessary plans in place."

The CBI's Digby Jones believes that not enough UK business is suitably prepared for such events such as bird flu or the Buncefield oil fire late last year.

Now lets see, I remember filling out a business continuity form for a large Utility we supply. A bit about what happens if and a statement that we will continue to trade no matter what...what? The document pulled all the good practice things we did; IT system back ups, alternative suppliers...you know, the sort of thing we all do because it's good management and practice. But
a bit useless if we get hit with a Stephen King style flu pandemic.

So can SME's have a contingency plan for this size of business threat; or at least one that is meaningful rather than one that just ticks a Board Agenda item off? I think the answer is yes, even if all it does is say 'put your head between your knees and breath slowly'. It is the duty of a Board to assess and plan for business risk, the same way we would be negligent if we did not plan for other more normal business environment risks. We have a duty to the Company and the shareholders at a minimum.

SME's must carry out, at the minumum, a risk impact analysis on the business, even if all it does is tell you 'sorry your out of business'. There will always be tasks to be undertaken in such an event and it will not be a good time for Directors to be thinking on their feet.

Some planning at any level may be the difference to surviving as a going concern or not:

• 80% of businesses affected by a major incident close within 18 months.
• 90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to shut within 2 years.
• 58% of UK organisations were disrupted by September 11th. One in eight was seriously affected.

I believe the process of developing a contingency plan or strategy will not answer all our worries and will probably leave some uncomfortable questions un-answered, but it will increase the probability of continuity and is within reach of any SME. There are enough resources out there to aid any small or medium size company:

London Prepared

Department of Health Flu Pandemic Guide (pdf)

Expecting the Unexpected (pdf)

Other Links

Scotlands Bird Flu Contingency Plan

What are your political leanings?

I probably spend more time on on-line questionnaires and the like than I should...shhhh! Well earlier in the week I discovered I had an IQ of 134 which ONLY JUST gets me into some of the more liberal MENSA style organisations. Some of the organisations only permit members with over 174!

I did a political test about a year back on WAVE NETWORK, which is a UK young conservative site...or should that be compassionate conservative? Is that OK Dave?

Thanks to the Whisky and Freedom blog I undertook the test again with the results below, it's American so for Republican read Conservative, etc.

You are a Social Conservative (38% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (75% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

I've been thinking a bit recently about the modern relevance about 'Right' and 'Left' in regards to UK politics. Is it relevant to 2006? We have Blair and New Labour invading the centre ground since the middle 90's and now we have Dave's conservatives trying to re-take if not make a left-leaning flanking move; I mean chololate oranges...what's that all about?

Now we have the big question (drum beat for effect); will the Lib-Dems lurch left - cab driving Simon Hughes - or right - pompous back stabbing Menzies Campbell? Left Puleeease!! Not just because it would be very funny, but because 'Ming' is really just a desperate man who for the last few years has realised he just must shift Charlie before altzimers really sets in.

Hmmmm...does the chart above mean my natural home is Cameron's Conservatives? Well, I suppose the ties have to go now (as well as the principles).

First visit to the office in 2006

First visit to the office in 2006 today. Nice and quiet except for David the company secretary who was also in doing various company secretary and accounting things.

This also meant the first look of 2006 at the mess that is my desk...we had scheduled the last week of 2005 as a '5S' week for the office areas as part of the 5S implementation. Not a successful event I think.

As part of our company strategy, we are implementing Lean throughout the organization. Lean was the term given by the authors of "The machine That Changed The World: The Story of Lean Production" and was exemplified by the Toyota Production System (TPS).

Implementing 5S is the first 'foundation' we will be building in the company; I plan to be holding weekly 5S Kaizen events until Easter.

Change and lean in particular is my one of my many board responsibilities; together with communication, strategy and my main executive ownership of sales and marketing. I have my hands a bit full at the moment, but it's absolutely great fun.

So I sorted out some stuff on my desk, had one or two surprises which I will have to sort out before I go back.

One feeling I savour at this time of year is the feeling of possibilities with 12 months of my most valuable resource, time, in front of me. Not compressed into a few months with still a list as long as your arm still to be done. To be enjoyed whilst it lasts.

Did Bill Gates bring down the Berlin Wall?

“There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,

the cards were stacked against them, they weren't born in Lotus-Land.

All preordained, a prisoner in chains a victim of venomous fate.

Kicked in the face, you can't pray for a place in heaven's unearthly estate.

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill.

I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose freewill.”

Choice, freewill, self-determination, freedom, information…Microsoft? Did Bill Gates bring down the Berlin Wall? Before you all choke over your latte’s – especially my brother – just think a little.

I’m reading a book at the moment titled “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Globalized World in the 21st Century” by Thomas Friedman. The book postulates how the world is becoming ‘flatter’ and therefore matches every supposed reported threat with an opportunity with implications cultural, social, economical and political. Thomas Friedman presents a number of innovations or events that has driven this change to make his case.

During the part regarding the Berlin Wall, Mr Friedman discussed the information technology innovations that he states assisted the collapse of the communist block as symbolised by the Berlin Wall coming down.

And I quote: “A critical mass of IBM PC’s, and the Windows operating system that brought them to life, came together in roughly this same time period that the wall fell, and their diffusion put the nail in the coffin of communism, because they vastly improved horizontal communication – to the detriment of the exclusively top-down form that communism was based upon.”

Ok, it may be quite a leap to then suggest that Bill Gates brought the Berlin Wall down, however, what cannot be argued with is the revolution that his Windows operating system and other innovations such as the launch of Netscape in August 1995 has brought us.

I find it difficult to believe that Windows was only launched in 1990, with the first really usable version 3.0 coming also in 1995. How the world has changed since then. Thanks to Bill Gates, Tim Berners-Lee and numerous others since; a laptop and Google gives a user in a Baghdad café more information and knowledge at his finger tips than a Harvard professor had in 1990. This is liberating.

I am excited to be alive in the 21st century. For every disaster and horror we have greater achievement and hope. If you look for fault, then don’t be surprised if you find it.

I wish you all a wonderful and successful New Year and if I can ask you to do one thing, it is to look at 2006 with hope, expectation and a sense of self-determination. The alternative is despair and ‘victimism’.

Quote: Rush "Freewill"

"The blacksmith and the artist

Reflect it in their art

They forge their creativity

Closer to the heart

Yes, closer to the heart

Philosophers and ploughmen

Each must know his part

To sow a new mentality

Closer to the heart

Yes, closer to the heart, yeah

You can be the Captain

And I will draw the chart

Sailing into destiny

Closer to the Heart

Closer to the Heart

Well, closer to the Heart, yeah"

What on earth do the words above have to do with my 'mission statement' of a blog title you ask? Well it's obviously where I get my blog title from and the song and it's lyrics have been a soundtrack of my adolesence. For those who are curious, the song is 'Closer To The Heart' from the rock band Rush.

I have thought about the reasons or objectives for me entering the world of blogging. I have been reading a number of blogs for a while now, mainly concerning business, marketing , business improvement and lean. And when I work out how to add links I will share them with you.

The objective is to try to consult a wider audience about topics and issues that interest me and to share these with like minded people. I am also interested if a 'local' blog; being that I am based in Scotland, can support my profile or 'brand' in a specific gegraphic location; or even if a 'local' blog concept exists at this stage.

Another objective is that I have recently started on a new career as a board director and I am trying to navigate the best I can, trying to bring as much value as possible to my company.

I will schedule a posting or two per week and see how it goes. Between career, family, football and MBA this may be a bit of a challenge, but you need a goal, yes?