Welcome
Welcome to the Foresight Newsletter, a free monthly publication of Prevoyance Group Inc. This newsletter shares tips for high performance IT organizations and observations that we hope will prove informative and enjoyable.
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Contents
CONTENTS
Foresight is published by the Prevoyance Group, and this month contains four sections:
Work
Life
Heard in the Hallways
Travels with Patrick
Work
Many of us love a good conspiracy theory. From allegations of cheating or “performance enhancers” when a favorite sporting team loses, to some of the grand conspiracies involving murdered US Presidents, or secret government stores of captured aliens and flying saucers, a convoluted tall tale provides brief amusement for many, and a lifetime of looking over ones’ shoulders for a few.
While not as grand as suggestions of government mind control rays, there is no shortage of conspiracy theories in the workplace as well. That new executive was clearly sleeping with someone in HR, or a project that could have saved the company was obviously passed over to make payments on the CEO’s new Gulfstream. Office cloak and dagger tales make for good water cooler conversation, but do something more insidious: they absolve us from accountability. While most of us would laugh at someone who blames their lot in life on reclusive industrialists who actually control and manipulate world affairs, we are quick to point a finger at a corporate policy or company “politics” rather than looking inward when something does not go our way.
Often, the simplest explanation for an event is the most likely to be true. A government that can barely administer simple social programs likely does not have a warehouse full of UFOs, and an attached cafeteria where politicians talk shop with creatures from another universe. Perhaps your project was scuttled because it simply was not the right time to embark on a major effort, or its returns were too vague, rather than love triangles and C-suite conspiracies being at fault. Rather than blaming aliens in HR, look objectively for the simplest explanation, and find whatever correctable fault lies firmly in your court.
Life
As we turn the calendar to a new month in 2008, it is worthwhile to remember the beginning of last month. Many of us start a new year with new hopes, plans and dreams, and it can be a time of great excitement and possibility. However, why must this only occur once each year?
Rather than waiting another 300+ days to evaluate your accomplishments and see how they measure against your goals, why not take a few minutes each month to consider where you have been, and where you are going. It is all too easy to get caught up in the daily grind, and put your head down in January and then emerge for a breath of air, only to realize the formerly new year is nearly past.
Heard in the Hallways
Like a broken clock that is right twice each day, those who have spent the last several years making panicked predictions of a global economic recession will eventually get their day in the sun, and chance to gloat: “I told you so!”
Regardless of the extent to which the economic doomsday predictions come to fruition, every economic cycle presents an opportunity, be it boom or bust. As competitors hunker down and leave opportunities on the table, you might consider expansion. While others cut swaths of employees, it may be the time to go looking for talent “bargains.” As markets react violently to each cry from another self-appointed prognosticator, maintaining a diligent and measured strategy will keep your investments on track, rather than fleeing to the latest investment trend.
Few of the mavericks who have made history in any sphere have followed the prognosticators, or taken the same course their peers were taking. Rather than being the first to follow a new trend, they were those that set the trend.
Travels with Patrick
As our first foray into “family expansion,” we recently brought home a puppy. He is a mix of Terrier and Labrador Retriever, and universally lauded for his “cuteness,” causing profuse amounts of gushing praise from all those he encounters during our daily walk, and it appears to be going to his head as of late. He leaps at every visitor, anxious for petting and admonitions of his dashing good looks.
It is interesting to see how his memory works. He takes his scolding with a bowed head and sorry eyes, yet seconds later is happily gnawing on a bone, having shown appropriate contriteness and considering the incident closed. Praise and correction are short memories, and he does not dwell in either emotion. He also seems to experience renewed joy with the simplest things, attacking them each day with the same zeal. The forgotten toy that slipped under the sofa is treated as if it were new, or the “delights” of a stale banana peel he somehow manages to find every time we walk by it, no matter how far I throw it after wrestling it from his mouth.
I have also been amazed at the dogma that exists (pun intended) around raising a puppy. Gurus abound, each suggesting various noises that should be made, ways to hold the leash, how to be your dog’s best friend, or how to be the “leader of the pack.” It all sounds quasi-scientific, but gets unbearable and causes much cringing on my part when the books or trainers refer to me as the puppy’s “dad” as if he were the result of some bizarre genetics experiment. Worse yet, is the aisle of “dog clothes” that we must pass at the pet store, and threats from other dog-owning relatives of sweaters and other clothing for our dog. Should you see a disgusted looking man walking a dog in a sweater, you will know I have lost the fight!