This month’s feature article is about eliminating problems before they strike. “Outfoxing Murphy By Managing Strategic Assumptions” describes how to identify, analyze, and act on the untested assumptions that often lead to failure. Being able to manage hidden assumptions greatly increases your odds for success.
You’ll find other great articles on totally re-tooled website www.ManagementPro.com, and lively topics at my blog Terry's Toolbox™.
Whether you are an old friend, a new acquaintance, a client, or a workshop graduate, I warmly welcome you to what I hope is a long and beneficial relationship.
Contest: Name That Lion Photo
A
huge brass lion sits in front of the Swissotel Le Concorde in Bangkok,
Thailand. After conducting a seminar there, I couldn’t resist
climbing aboard and taking a ride. Someone snapped a photo, which
I liked so much I just had to add it to my website. That was the
easy part. Now, I need some creative ideas for a caption.
Can you help? I’m giving away copies of my book for the five best suggestions submitted by October 5th . Then, I’ll ask my readers to choose the final.
Our guest writer this month is Chad Barr, the practical genius behind my new website. Chad offers great tips on how to protect your identity by keeping your private information secure.
Secure Your Identity
Chad Barr, President, CB Software Systems, Inc.
With alarming frequency the breach of security pertaining to our personal information is reported in the daily news.
Although frequency of the thefts and security breaches are growing, there are several things you can do to better protect your information. The key is to protect your social security number. In the wrong hands, this number enables the thief to: get credit cards, open new bank accounts and line of credits, get access to critical financial information such as investments and bank accounts, and create a nightmare in your life.
So what are some of the basic steps to better protect yourself?
-
Shred financial documents such as bank statements, tax returns, and credit card statements or any document with your account information as well as solicitations for opening new mortgage, credit card and insurance accounts. Even consider cross-shredding your documents.
- Protect your computer by making sure that you have an antispyware software and firewall on your computer and/or network. This will greatly reduce the possibility of your computer being hacked or software being loaded on your computer to record your confidential keystrokes without your knowledge. Utilize password security and authentication on your confidential documents to make it almost impossible to get into those documents.
- Check your credit report at least once a year for accuracy. You are entitled to a free report from each of the three major credit report agencies; Equifax, TransUnion and Experian once per year. You may check the Federal Trade Commission for additional details as well as the www.AnnualCreditReport.com site. You may want to consider requesting one free report every four months from the different agencies. This way you can still get your free yearly report, yet check your credit every four months.
- Check your financial data such as your bank and investment accounts as well as your credit card accounts for accuracy at least once per month.
- Implement Positive Pay for your checking accounts. This option enables you to provide your bank with a report listing the checks you authorize them to pay. Any check presented to the bank that is not on your report will not be approved for payment (and if it does, it becomes the liability of your bank).
- Consider removing yourself from solicitations received via mail for opening new credit card and insurance accounts. To opt-out from this option call 888-567-8688 or visit www.OptOutPrescreen.com for the online option.
For additional resources visit the site of Attorney Steve Weisman or checkout the credit reports section of the site. Weisman’s book, 50 Ways to protect your Identity and Your Credit is highly recommended.
Chad Barr can be reached at Chad@CBsoftware.com.
This
month’s case study features a Facilities Maintenance Unit’s
commitment to transform themselves. Click the image to download this pdf (308K).
Helping our clients think bigger and plan smarter is what we do best. Each month, we feature a client’s strategy who created a project using the Logical Framework, our core systems thinking methodology.
To learn the benefits of this approach, get our free Special Report “Turn Strategy Into Action” (by clicking here).
Prospering in Any Economic Environment
Many times we think of “prospering” as limited to our economic status at a given time. During difficult economic times such as our world is experiencing right now, it is easy to be too narrowly focused on our current state of currency—especially if you are really feeling the pinch. That’s why it’s good to step back and reflect about what makes life meaningful and rich.
Maybe you already have your professional and personal schedule and economic plan that reflects what you truly value in life—if so, great! You may still benefit from some additional life-enriching activities.
But if you’re like many people, you may be facing day-by-day financial hurdles that seem as though they may never end. Be more diligent about planning out what you really need versus what you want within the current environment so you can adjust how you spend your time and money. Sometimes we’re forced to make adjustments that help us become more aware of where we spend our resources, which can turn out to be good in the long-run; but in the short-term it may be challenging at times to not lose heart to financial dole-drums. As Robert Schuller once said, “Touch times don’t last, but tough people do.” Being able to make the most of life today means being intentional about enjoying what you can enjoy today.
Some life-enriching possibilities for boosting your life on any budget can start with the first step of making a list of all the things you enjoy. Three of my top favorites are walking my dog Mushka along the golf course just as the sun is beginning to set; listening to my favorite up-beat music while writing my newsletter; and teaching others how to use the LogFrame tools to get results.
Next, determine which activities fit within your budget. I’ve found that my top three give me priceless returns. Hopefully, you’ll see that many of the ones you find most enjoyable and beneficial don’t cost much either, yet fill your life with prosperity.
Carefully thinking about what you want, planning your adjustments, and acting upon your plan can help you enjoy the simpler things in life that transcend economic limitations. Besides, what have you got to lose?
Here you'll learn about the books which have most influenced me professionally, personally, emotionally and spiritually. Some are barely known classics which belong in every library and deserve to be read. How to Read a Book was first written in 1940. My personal copy is dog-eared with thumb smudges and is thoroughly underlined. This book was updated in 1972, and is still the best guide to reading comprehension ever written. The authors are John Adler and Martin Van Doren (who was caught in the infamous quiz show scandals of the 1960’s).
How to Read a Book
Reviewed by Terry Schmidt
How to Read a Book is a classic guide to intelligent reading
that I first discovered in college. Despite the simple title, this
book is not simplistic.
The authors show how to read faster while comprehending more, how to pull answers to your questions from within the book, and how to make the meaningful notes in the margins. They demonstrate that reading must become an active process, since the author is not available for discussion.
Adler and Van Doren cover subjects like classifying books, x-raying them, determining the author's message, and criticizing a book fairly. Each type of literature has its own vocabulary, propositions, arguments, and questions that must be asked of it. The authors offer different approaches to various kinds of reading whether it’s history, science, mathematics, practical books, imaginative literature, plays, stories, poems, social sciences, philosophy, or whatever.. Just like you wear different sports gear for scuba diving, tennis, football, and skiing, you wear a different mindset or “reading cap” when reading each type.
The authors set forth four levels of reading: Elementary reading, Inspectional reading, Analytical reading and Synoptical reading.
Most people read at an Elementary level. Newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and popular magazines are geared to this eighth grade level, where reading is simple and unsophisticated. :
During the second level of Inspectional reading, you learn to skim (or pre-read) by studying the title page, preface, table of contents, index, dust jacket and a chapter or two. Then, thumb through the book, reading a bit here and there. After that, you read the entire book superficially without bothering whether you understand it all or not. ”
The third level of reading is Analytical. The authors show how to determine what type of structure the book has and how to grasp the author's vocabulary. The objective is to understand the author’s message well enough to state it concisely in our own terms.
The fourth and final level is Synoptical reading, which entails reading several books on a particular subject. Synoptical reading is a strategy to become an expert. You read different works on the same subject with a view to developing a general view on the subject. In my field of strategic management, for example, you might read Good to Great, Execution, and my own Turn Strategy Into Action. The idea is to read several books on a given subject, and understand the different perspectives. This is the best way to master any given subject matter, which is why How To Read a Book is vital to professionals as well as college students.
You’ll learn the art of reading for your purposes: from Elementary reading through systematic skimming; and Inspectional reading to speed reading. The book teaches you how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, and extract the author's central message.
Sir Francis Bacon noted that "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested". This is one to thoroughly chew and efficiently digest.
TRAVELLER IN THE FAR EAST TRIES ORDERING BREAKFAST
This originally appeared in the Far East Economic Review. Our hotel guest by phone and recorded his experience with “roomserbis” and this is the transcript of ordering breakfast. Read this transcript aloud to yourself, pronounce it just the way this text is written. Enjoy!
Room Service: "Morny, ruin sorbees."
Guest: "Sorry, I thought I dialled room service."
RS: "Rye..ruin sorbees..morny! Djewish to odor sunteen?
G: "Uh..yes, i'd like some bacon and eggs."
RS: "Ow July den."
G: "What?"
RS: "Ow July den?..pry, boy, pooch?"
G: "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled, please."
RS: "Ow July dee baychem...crease?"
G: "Crisp will be fine."
RS: "Hokay. An San tos?"
G: "What?"
RS: "San tos. July san tos?"
G: "I don't think so."
RS: "No? Judo one toes?"
G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo
one toes'
means."
RS: "Toes! Toes!...why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow singlish
mopping we bother?"
G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast'.
Fine, yes, an
English muffin will be fine."
RS: "We bother?"
G: "No, just put the bother on the side."
RS: "Wad?"
G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."
RS: "Copy?"
G: "Sorry?"
RS: "Copy...tea...mill?"
G: "Yes, coffee please, and thats's all."
RS: "One minnie. Ass ruin torino fee, strangle ache, crease
baychem, tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy...rye?"
G: "Whatever you say"
RS: "Tendjewberrymud"
G: "You're welcome."
And just in case you need some tips to interpret, here’s a
“translated” edition of the marvelous English language.
Room Service (RS): "Morny. Ruin sorbees."
Room service Translation (RST): "Morning, room service."
Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."
RS: "Rye..Ruin sorbees..morny! Djewish to odor sunteen??"
RST: "Right! Room service! Do you wish to order something?"
G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs."
RS: "Ow July den?"
RST: "How would you like them?"
G: "What??"
RS: "Ow July den?...pry, boy, pooch?"
RST: "How would you like them? Fried? Boiled? Poached?"
G: "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry. Scrambled please."
RS: "Ow July dee bayhcem...crease?"
RST: "How would you like the bacon? Crisp?" [=kross]
G: "Crisp will be fine."
RS: "Hokay. An San tos?"
RST: "OK. And some toast?"
G: "What?"
RS:"San tos. July San tos?"
RST: "Some toast. Would you like some toast?"
G: "I don't think so."
RS: "No? Judo one toes??"
RST: "No? You don’t want toast?"
G:"I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo
one toes' means."
RS: "Toes! Toes!...why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow inglish
mopping we bother?
RST: "Toast! Toast! Why do you don?t want toast [!!] ?
How about an English Muffin with butter?"
G: "English muffin! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.'
Okay, fine...Yes, an English muffin will be fine."
RS: "We bother?"
RST: "With Butter?"
G: "No, just put the bother on the side."
RS: "Wad?"
RST: "What?"
G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."
RS: "Copy?"
RST: "Coffee?"
G: "Sorry?"
RS: "Copy...tea...mill?"
RST: "Coffee? Tea? Milk?"
G: "Oh,yes.. Coffee please, and that's all."
RS: "One Minnie. Ass ruin torino fee, strangle ache, crease
baychem,
tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy ... rye?"
RST: "One minute. That's room twenty-three, scrambled eggs,
crisp bacon, toast and english muffin with butter on the side,
and coffee. Right?"
G: "Whatever you say."
RS: "Tendjewberrymud."
RST: "Thank you very much."
G : "You're welcome."