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
The workplace is often an interesting dynamic between a democracy,
autocracy, socialist paradise and individualist's playground.
Workers lament oppression by "bourgeoisie" bosses, executives hand
down unassailable edicts, and key decisions are subject to endless
rounds of voting that go through great pains to ensure all are
heard. In the last case, all too often the only decision that is
reached is one of indecision.
The last point is perhaps most critical as organizations pay more
lip-service to inclusion and "consensus management," when direct
action is a better course. Indecision is often rooted in a
corporate culture where decisions represent risk. Find a company
where someone who makes the wrong decision is crucified, and you
will find a company ripe with "consensus management," where
consensus is more of an effort to dodge decision making than
actually reach a conclusion. Accountability is often preached by
consultants and HR departments, but it must be tempered with a
tolerance for failure and measured risk taking at all levels of a
company.
While autocratic decision making leads to a feeling of helplessness
among those without decision making power, some element of
selectivity is required in granting decision making power. While
many may provide input, not everyone should have a say in many
corporate decisions. Key to this process is having a well-defined
and well known group of people with a vote on a decision. Appeals
may be made and cases presented to this group, but at the end of
the day, the decision rests with that group, not every person with
an option or theory.
If you bring intellectual firepower and a diverse corporate
background to this group, chances of a high-quality decision
increase dramatically. Many scoff at having IT involved in deciding
on strategic direction, or someone from marketing helping decide
the fate of a multi-year technology project, but cross-functional
involvement brings new perspectives as well as increasing buy-in
across the corporation.
Life
Several entities demand utmost loyalty: your spouse, organized
crime, and frequent traveler programs. The latter can make travel
much easier and more pleasant, or if managed poorly, can result in
long flights next to the restroom in the back of airplanes, or
nights in the hotel room nestled between the elevator and ice
machine.
Even when travelling a few times a month, it pays to maintain
loyalty to one or two vendors for each service you anticipate
using, both as you travel for business and during leisure travel if
possible. Picking an airline that services your local airport well
is the first step of managing your frequent traveler programs. Do
not forget to check the airline's partner airlines, as you may be
able to consolidate all your business with one airline alliance
group. Most airlines provide full schedules online, allowing you to
investigate routes that you are most likely to take advantage of,
allowing you to make an educated decision on an airline before
moving to a new city or taking up a position that requires
increased travel. The airlines will also explain their frequent
traveler benefits, which at the most basic level will provide
priority access to seats when booking on their website (think exit
row), priority boarding so you can actually find an open overhead
bin, and occasionally more liberal options for using your frequent
flyer miles. Most also offer bonus miles once you achieve status
with the airline, allowing you to rack up miles up to twice as
quickly.
Hotel programs generally offer similar benefits, including bonus
points, access to special promotions, and nicer rooms. My wife and
I have had our fair share of top-notch rooms due to our hotel
program status, including one two-story room with 40 foot glass
windows overlooking Niagara Falls. Be cognizant of the fact that
many hotel brands are affiliated under one chain. Sheraton for
example is part of the Starwood brand, which includes Westin, W
Hotels, Four Points and several others. While your nights of
business travel may be spent in the lower-end chain of a particular
brand, having access to high-end hotels for spending your points is
a nice perk.
While I am loathe to advocate more credit cards to anyone, cancel
any existing accounts that do not provide benefits with your chosen
travel vendors, and get one or two cards that provide miles or
points. Also ask other vendors like car rental companies if they
will provide miles or hotel points. Most will gladly do so.
For more advanced mileage earning opportunities, seek to maximize
points by charging hotel dinners or bar tabs that you might have
otherwise paid for in cash to your room. By charging to your room,
not only do you accumulate hotel points on whatever you spend, but
when it all gets charged back to your credit card, you get
additional points. By reading some of the fine print, you may even
be able to achieve "triple plays," where for example you might earn
days towards a free car rental, airline miles, and credit card
points all on a single travel transaction.
Heard in the Hallways
dood did u here email msging sux?
While I would be giving myself far too much credit in claiming I
never mangle or misuse the King's English, the new lows in business
email communication are becoming downright frightening. While cute
abbreviations like "c u l8r" might have a place in text messaging
and endless IM conversations among fourteen year-olds, they do
nothing to project a positive image in business communications. A
lack of appropriate punctuation, or any punctuation at all for that
matter, or an aversion towards the shift key appear slovenly rather
than trendy. All the while suggesting that the sender has such low
regard for the message and the recipient that convention and
readability may simply be ignored. While the medium may allow
half-formed thoughts and illegible missives to be sent in moments,
it should not trivialize the fact that your communications are a
representation of yourself.
After witnessing several emails like the opening line of this
section, it is no wonder that taking the time to create concise,
poignant emails is a great way to command respect. Putting a few
minutes thought into how to most effectively communicate your
message shows respect for the recipient, and adds weight to the
message; those that think the conventions of business English are
too stuffy are likely those you have to worry least about
impressing. Until next month, cu l8r sk8r!
Travels with Patrick
As I drove down the east coast from our old home in New York to our
new home in South Carolina, I contemplated the differences in
navigating through the highways of North America versus the
countries I have visited in Europe.
In the States we prefer a direction-based system of highway
signage. I spent most of my trip on Interstate 81 South, versus
Europe's proclivity for roads denoted based on their destination.
While the Continent's system seems more intellectually stimulating
as it forces one to gain a basic familiarity with the surrounding
geography, I believe the US system comes from an inherent lack of
faith in man's ability to reliably stake out a route to a
particular destination. As I passed the American "Indian" land near
our new home, it struck me that it was after all a European,
Christopher Columbus, who confidently set sail for India only to
land in the Americas, missing the mark by thousands of miles.
Perhaps we in the States are still wary of a promised destination,
preferring instead only a cardinal direction and leaving the rest
up to the abilities (or lack thereof) of the driver.