A few months ago, I decided to update my office space in response to the growing needs of my business. One of these changes involved rearranging one of the office walls to accommodate a new whiteboard and bulletin board for brainstorming and keeping track of client projects. Although they’ve proven to be welcome additions to my productivity arsenal, they left me with a problem – the best layout for these two items left a very noticeable gap on that wall. A white space that looked more intentional than merely a consequence for how I chose to place these wall hangings on that wall.

At first, I decided that I would leave that space as is, waiting until some future need required the addition of some new wall hanging that would help me manage and grow my business. After a few weeks, though, the presence of this white space began to bother me. It was making me feel as though I wasn’t maximizing my new office layout to ensure that there were little or no dead spaces found within the room.

So, my first thought was simply to fill this gap with some type of artwork or maybe even a frame with one of those motivational quotes you find in so many offices these days. As such, I started to wander around various art shops, looking for some print or art piece that would help to fill in this gap on the wall.

Although there were many choices, nothing really seemed to fit and yet I still felt compelled to find something to help fill in this space. At one point while searching for ideas of what I could hang on that part of the wall, my wife looked at me and asked ‘would it really be such a problem to just leave the space blank?’. It was in that moment that I realized that there wasn’t really a problem here. Rather, all I had done was create one of out this misguided notion that leaving blank spaces on the wall left my office in an incomplete state.

Of course, how we perceive these white spaces not only impacts our sense of decorating aesthetics. In our day to day activities, it’s also easy to feel like Click here to continue reading »”Learning To Appreciate The White Spaces”

A few days ago, I decided to change a photograph that’s been on display for the last several years in one of the picture frames which currently grace my desk. The photograph was a picture I had taken of my girls several years ago on one of those days from summer which we tend to look back on fondly through a soft-focus lens. Of course, in the time since that photograph was taken, my girls have grown up and it seemed overdue for this photograph be replaced by a more recent memory of our time together.

Although the act of replacing this photograph was fairly mundane, I still found myself being much more aware of this picture frame’s presence on my desk. Naturally, my first assumption was that this was simply a result of the new image staring out at me from that frame. However, what I realized was that this greater sense of awareness regarding this picture frame on my desk had less to do with the image itself and more to do with the fact that it had changed from something familiar and consistent, to something new and different.

What’s also interesting is how Click here to continue reading »”Taking Another Look at Leadership and Change”

The following is a guest post by John Warrillow. John writes a regular business column for several publications, including Inc Magazine, The Globe and Mail, and BNET. John is also the author of the book “Built to Sell: Creating A Business That Can Thrive Without You”, which is set to go through it’s second printing this week. Included in this 2nd edition of his book is a new section that provides examples and his own personal experiences with the various steps described in his book on how you can build a business you can sell (you can read my review of the first edition of John’s book here).

Following the release of my book “Built to Sell” last year, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with several business owners about their companies and the challenges they face as their business grows and evolves.

As Tanveer writes about leadership and managing employees, I thought I’d share some of the questions I often get asked by business leaders about managing customer expectations, developing their employees and how to involve your team in the process of selling your business when the time comes to put it on the selling block.

Q: These days, there’s a lot of talk about the importance of customer service and doing whatever it takes to make them happy. How do I balance this against not spreading my company resources too thin?

A: I’m a big believer in leading your customers, not following them. If Steve Jobs had listened to his customers, he would have never developed the iPod. Nobody would have told Jobs in a focus group that they want a thousand songs in their pocket because it’s impossible for most people to imagine something that doesn’t exist, if not knowing what your company is capable of creating.

That’s why I think companies need to focus on Click here to continue reading »”Are You Building A Business Or A Job?”

The following is a guest post by Kevin Eikenberry. Kevin is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant, and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group.  His latest book, ” From Bud to Boss – Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership“, was co-authored with Guy Harris and will be available online and in bookstores starting tomorrow.  Recently, his team created the Bud to Boss Community, a free online resource to help people who are new to the role of leadership.

President Mubarak has been the President of Egypt for 30 years. He’s an experienced leader, so you would think he would have known better. It seems he wasn’t listening to what was really happening in his country. He should have known about the issues. By all reports the concerns of the people aren’t new. The experiences of his neighbors in Tunisia should have been a sign. But, apparently not.

Because his inactivity, his lack of awareness and perhaps hubris, he was driven out last Friday from his role as the leader of his country.

You don’t lead a country and the consequences of your actions (or inactions) as a leader likely won’t be as dire or as widespread. But the lesson is right there in front of you. Are you paying attention?

In part, President Mubarak wasn’t paying attention. It is easy to do. It is easy to sit in our offices, thinking about the seemingly urgent matters, pondering our next big project, and thinking big things. When we do these things we may not be focusing on what is happening with our team, department, or organization.

Or maybe we focus on our organization too much – and we don’t see the trends, shifts, new technologies or other outside factors that will be impacting our businesses. What is your Tunisia?

The solution is simple. Click here to continue reading »”Are You Paying Attention?”