tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35782883420627243972024-03-21T13:16:35.138-04:00Communication According to LaurentInterpersonal communication in all its facets: face to face, personal, business, customer service, Web 2.0, and so on.Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-68623058246314588702013-01-24T10:34:00.001-05:002013-01-24T19:38:49.300-05:00How much is enough? <p dir="ltr">Yesterday Apple posted some of the best numbers in their history: $54.5 billion in revenue and $13.1 billion in profit. That's more than 25% profit. They had a higher revenue in one quarter than the entire value of Chevron, the second largest oil company. Nevertheless, Apple's stock has been hammered on the stock exchange and has lost more than 12% of its value.</p><p dir="ltr">Why? Because analysts say they should have made more money, and sold more iPhones. </p><p dir="ltr">Apple's numbers are healthy, by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, there is increased competition, so fewer people are buying iPhones. Furthermore, the lifecycle of Apple products is getting smaller and smaller every year. It used to be that an Apple product lasted 18 months before an upgrade. Now, we are down to nine months and it might become shorter still. Apple may, in fact, be cannibalizing itself so there is reason to question their strategy. But to shave more than $50 billion from one of the premier technology companies in the world? That may be premature.</p><p dir="ltr">Are analysts' expectations realistic? What are their metrics? How are they determining that Apple should have sold more phones? Would any other compnay have done as well or better than Apple in the current marketplace?</p><p dir="ltr">As an IT professional, I see that same behaviour often: Mangers feel that the programmers, for example, should be able to deliver a certain project, with a given scope, in a pre-determined time interval. Yet, as many researchers have found, in IT this rarely happens. Projects underdeliver, don't meet quality standards, or exceed budgets more often than not. In the meantime, programmers have burnt out, project managers have resigned, and the results are still not there.</p><p dir="ltr">This scenario is repeated over and over in large and small companies. We ask too much of people, because we want to "stretch" them. That's fine, and I believe stretch goals are important to avoid complacency. But in order for stretching to be successful, it must be progressive, and the person must be given time to adjust to his or her new condition. Otherwise, eventually they will rip at the seams.</p><p dir="ltr">Crowds may have loved this in Rome, when it happened to slaves being stretched by horses. But today, such a spectacle would be, rightfully, considered as barbaric.</p><p dir="ltr">Is it much different when we do it virtually?</p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-66602675200959555122011-11-29T20:47:00.001-05:002011-11-29T20:47:02.315-05:00Employee Loyalty, a Thing of the Past?<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Jessie has had a bad year. Between health issues, family issues and work-related issues, she's feeling out of her element. The work she used to be able to do regularly now seems like a giant mountain. She gets no joy and no fulfilment from it anymore. She also feels as though she is no longer performing as well as she used to. She decides to discuss it with her boss.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;">"<span>I saw on the job board that another department needs to fill a position that I have the skills to do, and I think that it's a job I could do well and that I would enjoy."</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;">"<span>But," says her boss, "I can't let you go to that department. You are needed here and we're already understaffed. I really need all the people I have."</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;">"<span>All right," replies Jessie. "May I have some unpaid leave, then? I need a break to get my energy back, get my head straight in order to contribute."</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;">"<span>As I said Jessie, we really need everyone on board. I can't give you any more time off, I'm sorry."</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="color: #000000; font-size: 11pt;">"<span>So am I," concluded Jessie. "I quit."</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">This vignette is based on a true story-well, more than one true story actually. It's not an uncommon situation by any stretch of the imagination. I regularly hear from people who are ready to leave their company as soon as they find something better. In many cases, the bosses' saving grace is that the law of inertia works in their favour: employees are so entrenched in their ways that it takes more effort for them to walk away than to just stay where they are and complain.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">However, some employees-usually the best ones-will make that effort and walk away without looking back. Once they've made up their mind, there usually isn't anything their bosses can do to make them change their minds. These bosses then face a more difficult situation than they did before. What are the chances that you, as the superior of an employee, are inadvertently pushing them to the door? Answering a few questions may give you an idea.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you know your employees' medium- and long-term goals?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do your employees have a future in your company?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do they know what that future can look like?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you discuss your employees' future within the company? </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you discuss it with your superiors? </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you discuss it with the employee?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you establish career plans with your employees? </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you feel it is primarily your responsibility, rather than HR's?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you have a formal training plan to get the employee from where they are to </span><span style="font-size: 15px;">where they want to be?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Do you have measures and incentives in place to keep the best employees happy and willing to stay with the company to build their future?</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">I think many employers have given up on building long term career plans with employees, because they feel that loyalty is on the decline. That may be the case, but I think it's mainly a by-product of savage downsizing in the past. Many employees may now feel that jumping from one company to another is better for their career than staying in a single company. I think the opposite is true: when employees are happy and fulfilled in the workplace, they perform better and are unwilling to go through the travails of searching for a new position elsewhere. However, this happens only if the employer clearly demonstrates to the employees, through word and deed, that they value each employee's unique individual contribution to the company's success.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">All good employees have a desire to feel needed and appreciated for the work they do. It's just human nature.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">I think Jessie was a good employee, but her boss didn't seem to think so. Now he's lost her and he may be worse off than before. As for Jessie, she's getting a head start on a passion that she had planned to pursue only ten to fifteen years from now. </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" lang="en-CA"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">If you had been Jessie's boss, would she still be working for you?</span></p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-57345923715982875462011-11-24T22:15:00.001-05:002011-11-24T22:15:09.037-05:00Employees Are Our Most Important Asset?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>Everyone
is replaceable, but nobody is disposable. It's the difference between
having employees and having resources. To be replaceable means that
should an employee leave or be fired, it is possible to find a
replacement. Typically, finding such a replacement requires an
investment. As a leader, you've invested time, money, and emotion into
building a team. When team members leave, in order to replace them you
need to find the right balance of skills and attitude, so that the new
hire fits.</span></p><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>When
an employee is disposable, it means that they are of limited use and
that once their expiry date has passed, you just discard them with no
further thought. That's fine for a tin can but doesn't work for people.
Employees feel it when a person in a position of authority thinks little
of them. When they do, of course, they rebel. They won't go down in the
streets and protest as they are currently doing in Greece or on Wall
Street, but their actions will show it. They will work more slowly; they
will be sick more often; they will find more problems with the work
they need to do; it might even go as far as sabotaging projects, just to
make the leader look bad.</span></p><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>Ask
any leader in any company, and chances are, at some point you will hear
that famous phrase: "Our people are our most important asset." Yet when
you dig a little deeper, you find that it is just lip service. It can
take on many forms:</span></p><ul style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;'><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>managers who don't speak to their subordinates face to face, but prefer to do it by email;</p>
</li><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>there are those who don't reply to messages or to requests unless they are repeated more than once;</p>
</li><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>some accept meetings, show up late, yet ask to be brought up to speed while everyone else waits;</p>
</li><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>some schedule meetings and show up late to their own meetings, or are unprepared for their meetings;</p>
</li><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>employees are forced to work with suboptimal tools, even though those tools are essential to their productivity;</p>
</li><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>employees are not made aware of important information which may affect their work;</p>
</li><li style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>changes
are planned with no input, and often no backing, by the employees,
which just makes it more difficult for the changes to be implemented.</p>
</li></ul><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>These are just some situations which can adversely affect employee morale, and can undermine a manager's leadership.</span></p><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>If
people were to step walk into your office, how could they tell that
employees are not disposable? How would they really see that people are
your most important asset?</span></p></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-60567280822972612432011-11-15T23:44:00.001-05:002011-11-15T23:44:22.814-05:00Give Your 110%<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">"I want you to give your 110% to this effort!" How many times have you heard this? How many times have you <em>said</em> this? </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Let's put aside the fact that you can't give 110%, and that you can't give 100% all the time or else you'll burn out. After all, if humans could give 100% all the time, Usain Bolt would run the marathon in about 67 minutes, which is about half as much as the current world record. As a leader, you really just want your employees to give the maximum effort as often as possible. No matter what you try, it will never be 100%. </span></p><div><span style="font-style: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"> </span></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Employees aren't robots, they're people and people get tired, they get distracted, they get sick, and so on. Each of these factors takes away from the 100% and there's nothing you can do about it. However, there are many other factors that take away from that effort which can be controlled.</span></p><ul><li style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>Social interaction</strong></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">: Social interaction is an important part of the work. People who work together often eventually start sharing information about each other, they laugh together, they develop friendships, and so on. It's an important part of creating a team mentality. However, it can get out of hand when all people do is joke around and do very little work (think of the comedy ":The Office").</span> </span></li><li style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>Not having the right tools</strong></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">: Technology in all fields is progressing at breakneck speed. It's nearly impossible to keep up. If we take computer programs, for example. Many companies wait before upgrading the software they use. However, when tools are five or six years behind current versions, employees may be wasting time doing things that more recent versions can do more effectively.</span> </span></li><li style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>Skills deficiency</strong></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">: Does John have the proper skills to do his work, or is he putting twice the effort to do the same work that others in his team are doing? Is his supervisor aware of John's predicament? What help is available for John to get up to speed?</span> </span></li><li style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>Micro-management</strong></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">: Is Sally putting more work into reaching her goals or into reporting what she is doing? When are the scheduled milestones where Sally must report progress or warn about possible issues? Is there enough trust between her and her supervisor to let her be as effective as possible, while the supervisor is not concerned that she is not doing her work properly?</span> </span></li><li style="font-size: 11pt; color: #333333;"><span style="color: #000000;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>Negative atmosphere</strong></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">: This can take on many forms, from gossiping, to outright conflicts, to overt politicking, the the threat of pending layoffs. When the atmosphere is overly negative, employees put more effort into protecting themselves and trying to work around the landmines than they do on getting the work done.</span> </span></li></ul><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">Of course, there can be many other types of distractions or issues that affect the effective output of an employee. Some are under the leader's control (ineffective business processes, too many mandatory meetings) while some aren't (personal issues, sickness). This is illustrated in the following diagram:</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"> </p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;"><img src="http://www.duperval.com/images/EffectiveOutput.png" border="0" alt="Initials" vspace="5" width="504" /> </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: #000000;">No matter what you do, employees cannot give 100% everyday, all day. However, if as a leader you can find the reasons that affect this output, and you can effectively address them, then you might just get 80% all day. That's much better than average.</span></p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-65854868881590035182011-11-11T23:02:00.001-05:002011-11-11T23:02:34.521-05:00Facebook baiting<p>There's a trend in Facebook that I find somewhat disturbing. People post movies on their walls or send movies to you and encourage you to click the movie. When you do, the first thing you see is a message that sayss "You must share/like this before seeing it." This begs the question: What, exactly, am I sharing? What, exactly, am I liking?</p><p>Maybe somebody can light my candle, here, but I don't understand why you would need to force people to share things or commit to saying they like it, if they haven't seen it yet. My first reaction—well, my only reaction, really—is to ignore such movies, even if the title is enticing. So if the idea is to get more people talking about it, or sharing it, isn't that a counter productive approach? Let people view the movie and let them decide after the fact whether it's worth sharing or not. Otherwise, the message you are really sending is "Send this along before you realize that it's really not that good."</p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-49724005921630346222011-11-08T20:16:00.001-05:002011-11-08T20:16:43.401-05:00Employees Are People Too<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>As
a leader, how do you see your employees? What do they represent? Are
they your most important asset? Are they a never ending source of
problems? Do they represent a bigger budget and more responsibilities?
Or are they something else completely? It's a simple question, really,
when you think about it. Fortunately, it also has a simple answer:
Employees are people. That's it. They're people.</span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>Now,
they may be people that have been hired to do a certain task; they may
be people who help achieve goals; they may be people who represent
assets-and expenditures-on the balance sheet, but first and foremost,
they are people. Why is this important? Because <span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>sometimes</span>
leaders get so caught up in the tasks, the goals, the budgets and the
other "stuff" that is important to get their job done, that they forget
that the only way do succeed at these things is to deal with people
first. Not numbers, not the top line and the bottom line, but
individuals. These individuals are not just a means to an end: They are
the only means to your end. Without them, there are no results, there is
no top line, and the bottom falls out. </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>If
leaders forget that they are dealing with individuals first, it can
cause all sorts of problems, sometimes in the short term, sometimes over
the long term. But the results are the same: more effort is needed to
get the work done, there are more problems to manage, and the atmosphere
in the workplace becomes more noxious. Eventually, it catches up to the
leader: missed deadlines, cost overruns, and of course, more stress
which can lead to health issues. </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>Over
the next few weeks, I will be covering various aspects of this human
side of leadership. As always, I welcome comments, questions, and
suggestions. </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'> </span></p><p style='margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;'><span style='color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt;'>No
matter what the title on the business card, leaders cannot exist unless
people accept to follow their lead. Nobody is anointed a leader, people
decide to grant them that distinction. They can be bosses or
supervisors by decree, but they are leaders by consensus. By
underestimating this human aspect of leadership, leaders seriously
undermine their effectiveness.</span></p></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-59630839510875114642011-11-01T22:39:00.001-04:002011-11-01T22:39:03.785-04:00Stepping up to the challenge<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>Steve Jobs redefined the
digital landscape. Linus Torvalds galvanized a movement which enables
much of the Internet to exist. </span><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>Terry
Fox attempted to cross Canada on one leg. </span><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>How can you rise to such a challenge?</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'><b>Have a powerful "Why."</b>
If you read about people who have accomplished great feats, when they
were not forced to do it, it always boils down to the reason. Whether it
be Terry Fox, Steve Jobs, Linus Torvalds, or someone trying to stop
smoking or to lose weight. All have a powerful reason to accomplish what
they set out to do. Without a powerful reason, the challenge will best
you.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'><b>Plan and prepare.</b>
If you are going to run a marathon, you can't simply show up on the
finish line and hope to finish. You must prepare in advance, whether it
be running longer distances than usual, changing your diet or getting
the proper running gear.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'><b>Start</b></span><span style='font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>.
It's fine to get ready and to plan, but if you don't actually start,
nothing will happen. The first step is often the most difficult. You can
either start slow and pick up speed as you go along or start with a
bang and ride the momentum. The latter is best because once you get a
good start, it becomes harder to simply give up since you've done so
much in so little time.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'><b>Measure.</b></span><span style='font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>
How will you know close you are to your goal? If you can't measure your
progress, it is difficult to know if your are moving in the right
direction. Eventually this can become disheartening and can cause you to
simply give up.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'><b>Have a support system.</b></span><span style='font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>
The harder the task, the more you need one or more people to support
you along the way. Let them know how you are progressing. That person
(or those people) must be people who believe in you and will encourage
you when you face the inevitable roadblocks. Stay away for people who
live to criticize and put people down.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'><b>Celebrate.</b></span><span style='font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>
The end goal shouldn't be the only thing to celebrate along the way.
There should be various milestones to celebrate. Celebrations make the
entire process more enjoyable and increase the chances of success.
Beating yourself over the head won't have nearly the same effect.
Celebrate, have fun, and enjoy the ride.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>Back
in May, I decided that I wanted to participate in this year's
National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to complete a 50,000 word
novel in one month. That's an average of almost 1,700 words per day. To
put it in perspective, if you type 30 words per minute, which is not
that fast, you have to type without interruption for one hour every day
for the entire month. My average, so far, is about 500 words per day.
Completing the novel will be quite a challenge!</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);'>I'll let you know how it went in December.</span></p></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-46244079039402368052011-10-26T16:22:00.001-04:002011-10-26T16:22:39.501-04:00Creating Loyal Employees<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt;'>Every
day, I receive offers in my mailbox from companies with which I have
done business in the past. Sometimes I'm interested, but most of the
time I'm not and I delete them, often without reading them first.
However, I don't unsubscribe because once in a while, I need their
services and I know I can get offers which will be useful to me. That
makes me loyal to certain companies or brands.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt;'>Businesses
face the same challenges every day. However, you can't make employees
become loyal partners simply by offering them specials or dangling
carrots for them. Eventually, employees will find this behaviour
condescending and it may have the opposite effect. However, loyal, and
even passionate employees are important to businesses for they are the
ones that propel things forward in good times and in bad.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt;'>Creating
loyal employees is not difficult, but it requires time and
perseverance. It doesn't happen overnight and it especially doesn't
happen because the leaders want it: it happens because employees want
it. Otherwise, they simply go on with their work, waiting for a better
offer to come along.</span></p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'> </p><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt;'>How do you create loyal employees?</span></p><ul><li style='font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 11pt;'>Treat them fairly.</p>
</li><li style='font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 11pt;'>Give them meaningful work.</p>
</li><li style='font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 11pt;'>Give them adequate resources to complete their work effectively.</p>
</li><li style='font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 11pt;'>Give them latitude to make choices in the work they do.</p>
</li><li style='font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 11pt;'>Take the time to explain how their work fits and benefits the overall picture.</p>
</li><li style='font-size: 11pt;'>
<p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 11pt;'>Take the time to thank them and acknowledge their contribution.</p>
</li></ul><p style='margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0px;'><span style='font-size: 11pt;'>These
are simple steps, but many companies fail to implement them all.
Employees know this, so when they find a company where all of these
elements are present in their everyday life, they tend to want to stick
around. Not only do they become loyal employees, but eventually, they
even become fans and advocates. There's no better situation for a
business.</span></p></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-51534277585971769212011-09-06T21:13:00.000-04:002011-09-06T21:13:22.065-04:00Network marketing's devious tricks<br />
Last night, a woman called from a network marketing company, and she claims that a distant cousin (Jane) is part of her "organization." The woman claims that she is furthering Jane's education and as part of the process, wants me to give names of people who would want to build a business, yada, yada, yada. I start by humouring her, to see how she does her pitch. She's enthusiastic, she seems to believe in what she says, she's just vague enough to make a desperate person want to meet her and listen to what she has to sell. So far, so good. However, things start breaking apart when she realizes that I'm not too keen on being part of her network, and that I don't want to send her the names of people I know because they would not be interested. Her response is: "Don't filter! Just go through your cell phone, and write down all the numbers in there, then go through your Facebook page and write all the names and contact information you have there. Then you can send me the information by email." She's got some nerve! That's pretty much when I lost my patience and hung up.<br />
<br />
It's interesting how, in network marketing, people seem to think that you just want to give them all the names of people you know because it's the "right thing to do" in their world. This isn't the first time I've had this sort of call and usually, I hang up after thirty seconds. This time I was in a good mood, so I was more patient. One thing I never got to ask her was: "Why doesn't Jane call me herself instead of sending you. If you're helping her in her training, shouldn't she be doing all of this on her own? Isn't that part of the learning process?" What a deceptive approach.<br />
Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-67285355915148728182011-04-28T19:36:00.001-04:002011-04-28T19:36:26.673-04:00Why can't all voice mail systems use the same shortcuts?<p>I mean, it seems rather simple, no? Press the # key to skip the message and leave your voice mail. This works in many cases, but other times, when you press #, you are greeted with a message that says "Please enter your password" and then you're stuck. The only option is to call again, then listen to the entire greeting (which is sometimes obnoxiously long), followed by the moron-specific instructions (e.g. "please wait for the beep to leave a message. When you are finished, you can hang up or press the pound key for more options." Argh! It makes me want to throw the phone across the room!</p><p>Try calling yourself and see how long it takes for you to leave a message. If a caller can't leave a message in less than 15 seconds (even 10 seconds) then your system needs fixing. This can be as simple as saying "Press 1 to leave a message immediately. Hello you've reached Laurent Duperval, and let me tell you about my life..."</p><p>Of course, you can always try to get your phone carrier to fix their system to allow # instead of some other key.</p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-62156389175273222582011-01-14T22:14:00.001-05:002011-01-14T22:14:44.641-05:00Kinect rock-tude<p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">I don't say this often but... Microsoft rocks!</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">The kids received a Kinect for Christmas and it's amazing. I have no idea how it compares to the other consoles and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. This thing is cool!</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">Friday nights are much more interesting when you're competing for points against your kids than when you're listening to yet another movie. Tonight, Kinect saved us from that cinematic masterpiece, <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1666186/" target="_blank">Vampires Suck!</a> </em>Dubbed in French, no less.</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">We bought <em>Dance Central</em> which is an awesome game. I had tried the other dance title on the Wii and, to tell you the truth, when I played, you could mistake me for one of those vampires. On <em>Dance Central</em>, though, I rock! Well, except on those girlie dances. I can't quite get my feminine side to come out like it should. But those dude-songs are awesome!</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">The soundtrack is great and reminds me of my club days. You know, before I suddenly turned old and started to dance in front of my TV instead... Too bad House of Pain isn't part of the mix. It'll probably be downloadable soon, though. Hint! Hint!</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">I also tried the game that comes with the Kinect. First time I actually took time to play it and, honestly, it is purty darn decent. The one where you have to jump to make the thing go faster had blood and sweat pumping out my ears. I guess that's how it's supposed to be. And that's what makes it such a superior system compared to the Wii.</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">I remember playing the boxing game on the Wii about a year ago and feeling highly frustrated from the experience. I was playing against an "expert" and here I was, punching and jabbing and flailing my fists in wild uppercuts while she was merely flicking her wrists... and she won! After one game, i was on the floor, heaving and panting, wondering if should call 911 and she was filing her nails. I'd like to see her cheat now!</p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;">Too bad Electronic Arts <a href="http://360.kombo.com/article.php?artid=19216" target="_blank">won't come out with a FIFA title</a> for the Kinect. Oh well, maybe in a couple more generations of the device.</p><p> </p><p style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px;"><!--EndFragment--></p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-90666487945809778052010-10-19T00:16:00.001-04:002010-10-19T00:16:05.949-04:00Are dynasties bad for sports?<p>During a discussion with my colleague <a href="http://www.alcera.ca" target="_blank">Richard Martin</a>, we discussed the issue of salary caps and their effect on sports. Salary caps, to me, have a negative effect on sports. With a salary cap, all teams are equal and any given year, any team can win. That's fine for sportsmanship, but is it good for sports?</p><p>I used to watch basketball and I stopped when Michael Jordan left. Why? Because I couldn't rally for any given team. The Jordan-era Bulls had Pippen, Jordan, Rodman, and Phiil Jackson. I just loved watching the team play, I wasn't watching to see a particular player. Today, I don't watch basketball because... well, after the Bulls dynasty ended, there was little interest on my part. The league started to focus more on individuals than teams. </p><p>Same goes for hockey and football. It isn't so much about the teams as it is about the individual players. Dynasties have disappeared. Teams can't win back-to-back championships, and I contend that it's not that good for sports. Dynasties creates legions of fans, equality doesn't.</p><p>If we look at soccer, you have dynasties which stand the test of time: Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Brazil, Germany, etc. Those are the teams that create the quasi-religious fever surrounding the sport. Those are the teams that make the World Cup the second biggest sports even in the world.</p><p>Dynasties are like black holes: they attract people to them. Many people will be attracted by a dynasty because of the caliber of the players, the fluid play, the nonstop wins. Many others will be attracted because they want to see the dynasty brought to its knees, they want to see the minnow knock down the giant, they want to hate the team that wins all the time. That's good, it makes the weaker teams work that much harder.</p><p>However, when all teams are equal, when it's a coin toss from one year to the next, the sport loses some of its luster and some of its magic. It becomes ho-hum.</p><p>And so it is in business: businesses work because there are superstar companies and there are jobber companies. There are superstar salespeople and there are run-of-the-mill salespeople. If you try to rein in stellar companies, to try to bring them down to the level of lesser-performing ones, you destroy initiative, innovation, and ultimately, leadership. Just look at what happened to Microsoft. They were ahead of the game on many fronts, not always because of their clean business tactics. They were brought down by the DOJ and today... well, they still make decent products but where is the buzz? Where is the innovation? Where are the rabid fans?</p><p>In a company where you reduce compensation for the best performers in order to level the playing field and salaries, the best performers will either stop putting in the efforts or they will leave to go to another company which better appreciates their value. They'll take their dynasty to a better playground.</p><p>Dynasties set the standard, they pave the way. As the ad used to say: "We're #2 so we work harder." That's what dynasties do.</p><p>Until they are toppled and replaced by another.</p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-71208747369845655492010-08-06T23:07:00.001-04:002010-08-06T23:07:02.276-04:00How big a change does Haiti truly need?<p>Unless you've been living under a rock, or have no interest in international politics, you are probably aware that Haiti is preparing to have an election this year. There hasn't been such an international buzz around Haitian elections since the first democratic election that brought Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in 1990. This year, the buzz is all around Wyclef Jean, the hip hop star-cum-president hopeful.</p><p>Judging by the media hype, you would think that Wyclef is the only artist looking to be elected in November. Actually, another charismatic singer has thron his hat in the race: Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, also know as Prezidan (president, in Haitian creole).</p><p>Clef is getting all the press, but honestly, if both of them were to be on the ballot, I wouldn't be so quick to say that he is a shoe-in. In fact, if there were only two candidates, Clef and Sweet Micky, it would probably be a very close race. And you know that whoever wins, it's going to be some party. With the headache to go along with it...</p><p>I can't comment on either man's political acumen, nor can I say that either of them is better equipped to become president. The problem in Haiti is that anyone who touches the presidency becomes corrupt. Everyone. It happened to Aristide, many people say it happened to Préval, the current president. Let's not mention the litany of army generals in the '90s. The Duvaliers before that, Magloire, and so on. The position is poisoned. In order to fix this, I think something very different has to happen, and that may be where Clef has an advantage.</p><p>He's been around the world, has been educated in the US, and is an accomplished businessman. That should help him bring new eyes and a new vision of what Haiti can and should be as a country, the first Black-led independent country. La perle des Antilles, the Carribean Pearl.</p><p>Clef has charisma, he can make things move. He loves his country and can probably propose a vision that is much more optimistic than a politician could. Because, let's face it: in order for Haiti to get out of this mess, the people need a dream. They need hope, they need something to look up to, something drive for. Maybe it's education for all. Maybe it's rebuilding a new city, where everyone will have safe housing. Maybe it's a job for everyone who is willing and able to work. Maybe it's food on the table three times a day, every day. Maybe it's knowing that all your babies will reach adulthood, that they won't die of malnutrition or water poisoning or some other ailment brought on by poverty and famine. There has to be something more than waking up and barely being able to survive.</p><p>What Clef doesn't have, yet, is a team. If he were to be elected, I could see him as the leader. I could see him as the one pointing the way. I don't see him as the president, though. I don't see him as the one to make the difficult decisions about monetary policy, foreign affairs, and so on. He will need a solid team to whom he can say "This is what I want our country to look like. Tell me how we're going to do it." He has to be surrounded by people who will say "Let me find a way" not "We can't do that." Can he create that team? If so, does he have enough humility to stand back and say "OK, you know this better than I do. Explain to me how it works, do your thing, and I'll talk to the people."</p><p>Which could be another issue: Clef's French and Creole are not quite there yet. I won't say his Creole is "mawon" but will the people look past the accent if, indeed, he is able to lead the country efficiently? I don't know.</p><p>Can Clef draw enough money and machinery to clean up the rubble that is Port-au-Prince in order to let it rise from its ashes?</p><p>Can he do it in <em>five</em> years, which is all he is allowed to have under the current constitution?</p><p>Can he clean up his image quickly enough and make people forget about all the allegations surrounding his Yele Haiti foundation?</p><p>Is he ready? Is he able? We all know he's willing and that may be half the battle. He'll have to go through a lot of muckraking and mudslinging just to reach the vote. And it won't stop there, he'll probably still be attacked after the vote, if he wins. Will he be able to withstand it?</p><p>For most of these questions, I don't know.</p><p>How about the other singer, Sweet Micky? Can he make a decent president? I don't know. I know he's charismatic, I know he can work a crowd, I've seen him do it. Unfortunately, the only images I have of Martelly is of a man so drunk on stage that he can barely stand straight, uttering a constant stream of profanity-laced ramblings. From what I hear, he has always been rather cozy with the richer and shadier individuals in power. To me, that doesn't bode well for his presidency.</p><p>As I mentioned <a href="http://www.troymedia.com/?p=7616" target="_blank">in an interview</a> after the earthquake, Haiti isn't lacking a president. What it's lacking is a leader. Préval was an awful leader during the earthquake. He was largely unseen, and unheard. He should have been on the radio, on TV, every day, to let the people know what was happening, what he was doing to clear this mess, and how he was planning on pulling the country out of yet another catastrophe.</p><p>There needs to be a severe change of direction in the country. But not so abrupt that it causes it to go past the tipping point and fall.</p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-31284138692843943502010-07-13T22:26:00.001-04:002010-07-13T22:26:50.202-04:00Learning From Amazon's Success<p><p>After seeing him open the Montreal Jazz Festival, I wanted to get a book of guitar tabs from Brian Setzer (of the Stray Cats) for a little fun... and masochism. I checked out my usual music store to see if they had the book or not. They were out of stock and it would take two weeks to get it. I could have waited but...</p><p>I've been meaning to get "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Stephen-King/dp/0743455967" target="_blank">On Writing</a>" by Stephen King, for a couple of reasons. First, I have been told that it's a great book on writing, if a bit unconventional (it is written by King, after all). Second, I need a bit of inspiration because my writing has severely declined in the past few months, as much in quantity as in quality. So I needed a little boost.</p><p>Need more than a book? That's a job for Amazon. I hit the site, selected "On Writing" and read the foreword. I liked what I read, so I added the book to my cart. Then I searched for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brian-Setzer-Guitar-Legendary-Licks/dp/157560468X" target="_blank">Brian Setzer book</a>. There were a couple but I knew which one I wanted so I added it to my cart. </p><p>Then, Amazon told me that I would probably like a book call "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-per-day-Developing-Maintaining/dp/1423414357" target="_blank">Guitar Aerobics</a>." Really? I'm not sure. "Well then," replied the site, "Look Inside." So I did. And I read the critics, and I bought the book. Which raised my total over $39, so I got free shipping and handling.</p><p>When I wanted to check out, they told me that the Stephen King book would take 9-12 days before it was ready. Did I want two shipments or just one? I chose one shipment and was told that I would get the books around July 26. I'm writing this on July 13 and I've been enjoying my three books for the past four days.</p><p>Why does Amazon succeed, and what does it take to succeed in any business? Here are three reasons:</p><ul><li><strong>Options</strong>: I can choose whatever I want from Amazon, and I am given options at all times. Different shipping methods, multiple accounts in various countries, I can ship to any address, I can use multiple credit cards, and so on. Choice is good, although you need to limit the number of options you offer, as not to overwhelm the client. The fewer options you offer, the less flexibility you have, the tougher it is to succeed.</li><li><strong>Underpromise/Overdeliver</strong>: they said it would take almost three weeks to get my goods, yet they delivered in fewer than five days. Could this be a ploy? Possibly, if you like conspiracy theories. I don't. And I've had other experiences with Amazon where they had told me it would take 10 days to receive my order, and a few days later I received another message saying "We can't hold our promise, do you wish to cancel your order?" So I think they are honest and just managed to get the order to me sooner.</li><li><strong>Master the upsell</strong>: this is where many fail, yes, including me. Upselling is the art of offering clients what they need instead of only what they want. I wanted the Stephen King book and the Brian Setzer book. Turns out I needed the Aerobics book also. Who knew? Yet many people are afraid to offer more to the client, because they feel it is greedy. It isn't and one of the things I have learned about selling is that if you have something that is beneficial to a client an you don't offer it to them, it is a disservice on your part. It is your <em>duty</em> to offer it to the client, and it is their choice to accept it or not.
In this particular case, Amazon's upsell ended up costing little more than my original purchase, with shipping and handling. Except that now I don't feel like I've spent money, but rather that I've invested in my guitar playing. Not bad for $5.</li></ul><p>Now that I've been able to enjoy my books for a few days, what do I think? It's going to take a long time to go through the aerobics book (if I ever complete it), I'll never be as good a guitarist as Setzer, nor as good a writer as King.</p><p>But Amazon will get my business again.</p></p>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-75994376120120116482010-07-11T19:01:00.000-04:002010-07-11T19:01:14.446-04:00The problem with social mediaI have three identities on Twitter: @lduperval, @duperval and @laurentduperval. Only the first one is valid. The other two are there just to protect my name, sort of like buying a lot of domain names, without doing anything with them but preventing people from squatting.<br />
<br />
On the two identities I don't use, there is a message that says: "I don't use this address, use @lduperval instead." Well, despite this warning, I still have 14 followers on @duperval. Nobody is following on @laurentduperval. Yet, the message is much more explicit on @duperval than on @laurentduperval.<br />
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This tells me that the people who follow you, aren't necessarily discriminating, They just pick names out of a hat and add that to their list. Nevertheless, all those social media experts are telling you: "You have to invest more in social media. Follow everyone who follows you." I dunno. It seems to me that it's better to have fewer followers who actually read and are interested in what you say, rather than thousands of followers who don't really give a hoot.Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-49824620728550842922010-04-14T22:54:00.001-04:002010-04-14T22:54:05.351-04:00Employee Disengagement: Why It Matters<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://laboratorian.advanceweb.com/magazine/advance-extra-items/a-case-study-in-driving-employee-engagement.aspx'>A Case Study in Driving Employee Engagement</a> looks at the impact of employee disengagement in the workplace. It looks at the costs, what to do with a disengaged employee, and how to keep engaged employees from losing their enthusiasm.<br/><blockquote/></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-71994455032066694962010-04-05T21:05:00.000-04:002010-04-05T21:05:35.815-04:00A Day in The City<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
Just came back from an Easter weekend stay at my friends' in Connecticut. While we were there, we decided to take in a Broadway show. I let my wife decide on the show, since I had no real preference. She picked "In The Heights" because, she said, it had great reviews. Yeah, right! I think it was because of Corbin Bleu... At first she called him Cordon Bleu; I wonder if it wasn't a comment on his "tastiness." But I digress.<br />
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We rode the train from CT to Grand Central Station. No much to say except that I've been in planes that had more leg room that the place where we were sitting. Since we arrived at two hours before the show, we had plenty of time to walk around and take in some of the sights and the sunshine. Indeed, it was a lovely day in The City. So we grabbed a couple of slices of pie and headed to Times Square.<br />
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It had been a long time since I'd been in Manhattan and it was quite different from what I remember. Maybe it was because we went in early spring, but the streets weren't as crowded as I remember them. People were polite, they didn't seem rushed, and I found it was a generally relaxed atmosphere. Heck, if it wasn't for all the tall buildings, you coulda been in Montreal!<br />
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By the time we passed through Times Square, it was time for the show to begin so we settled down. It was a great choice. In a word, it's the intertwined stories of people living in the <i>barrio</i>, in Washington Heights. It chronicles the struggles and the dreams of people who have been working hard to make something of their lives, after having started from practically nothing. THe music was a great mix of salsa, reggaeton, bachata, hip hop, and so on. Not your typical Broadway musical, to say the least. There was a lot of energy emanating from the stage. The orchestra was top notch and the lighting and effects were fantastic. Highly recommended if you get a chance.<br />
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After the show, we headed to Central Park where we took the time to visit some of the locations we had seen so often in movies: the skating rink, the little bridges, and so on. We found this guy trying to make a living:<br />
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and this guy trying to look cool:<br />
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and this lovely woman making the apple tree look good:<br />
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We went to eat at a Brazilian restaurant on 46th street. Great food and their Capinhero (I think that's what it's called) was excellent. Unfortunately, the restaurant made an errot while serving our food. Though I notified the waiter about it, he did nothing to make amends... so I had to take it out on his tip. Too bad because otherwise, it was a fine dinner.<br />
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We stepped out again and headed to Times Square to see the nigh lights and to get some souvenirs for the kids. I was surprised to find that there was more action and more people in the streets than there had been in the afternoon. This, despite the fact the the temperature had dropped considerably.<br />
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We got the souvenirs and headed back to Grand Central. That's when we realized that I left the souvenir bag on the counter at the shop. We didn't feel like doing the 40-minute walk to and from the shop so we hailed a cab, instead. Then we experienced Manhattan traffic jams at 9:30PM. I think it would have been faster if we had gone on foot. <br />
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To return to Grand Central, we hailed another cab but on 44th street, instead of 42nd like we did the first time. We we got on the cab (at the corner of 44th and 8th avenue) we told the driver we wanted to go to Grand Central station. His reply? "Can you tell me how to get there?" Here we are, tourists from Montreal and we have to tell the driver how to get to Grand Central Station, one of the great landmarks of the city.<br />
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Only in New Yohk!</div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-37622328508701517002010-04-01T06:49:00.001-04:002010-04-01T06:49:31.744-04:00Hollywood, here I come!<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Ever since I won the lottery two weeks ago, things have really taken a drastic turn. The ad is true: it doesn't really change things, except that...<br/><br/>It was a harder secret to keep than what I expected. I had to keep things the same at work, at home, with friends, and family. I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag until I knew exactly what I was going to do. Now that it's settled, I can finally let it out!<br/><br/>A couple of friends of mine, Nick and Eddy, moved to California a few years ago to make it big in show business. They haven't hit the big time yet, but they're making a decent living and they really like it there. What's more important, though, is that in the seven years they've been there, they managed to create a pretty nice network, and they have the ear of a couple of people close to some producers.<br/><br/>One of those producers is Jon Favreau. Nick says that Favreau may have an interest in my retelling of Peter Pan as a darker character, tortured by the fact that he was abandoned by his parents in the grime of New York. He liked the (partial) synopsis and would like to hear more, but he's too busy right now with the Iron Man II tsunami coming up. So I'm going to work on it some more and head down to LaLa land to pitch my idea and my vision. <br/><br/>I'm not quite sure how it's going to turn out, but I have a few interesting ideas for casting: Charlize Theron as Tinkerbell, the exotic dancer; I'm torn between Scarlet Johansen and Lauren Ambrose as Wendy the waitress. I originally thought of Gary Oldman as Kap'n Hook, the Kingpin but after seeing Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds, I'm thinking he might make a better villain. I'm thinking of giving myself a part as one of Hook's cronies, but I dunno if that'll work. Anyway, we're still a long way from that.<br/><br/>So my plan is to wait until after the launch of Iron Man and then make my pitch. Exciting times!<br/><br/>My wife and the children don't know about this yet, I'm planning on springing it on them as an Easter surprise. I'm planning on taking them on a trip this summer, all I have to do now is figure out the destination. I'll see where they want to go. I'd like to check out Australia, but by then it'll be winter time. Maybe I'll wait until next winter and go to Hawaii instead.<br/><br/>For now, though, I put a sizable deposit on a brand new 2010 Mercedes S600 for the family and I'm thinking of getting a little something for me too. I had to borrow some money for the deposit, though, since I still have to cash in the money. But it's all planned: I'll surprise my wife and the kids by taking them out to Loto-Quebec and having the car waiting outside when we come out.<br/><br/>Well, it was supposed to be a surprise but my nosey daughter read over my shoulder and saw the title of this post. So now she's asking all sorts of questions, that I don't want to answer just yet. She'll probably be telling everybody at school now... *Sigh* Oh well, such is life with kids, I guess.<br/><br/>In the meantime, every night before I go to sleep I just admire that ticket. Dang! Look at it, it's so beautiful. It's almost like it has a glow around it!<br/><br/>Hmmmm.... that's weird....<br/><br/>Lemme check something....<br/><br/><br/><br/>HOLY !!*"?/(!(?!*"(?Y/"!&?"/(?*?(?)!"@!##!&+!@))(#!!)!!!)(><!!!<br/><br/>WHAT THE !()!#@$)#$)*!_&*@!!^$!(!@(^#@!*$@^!!!!!<br/><br/>I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!! I LOOKED AT THE RESULTS FOR THE WRONG DATE!! I DIDN'T WIN!<br/><br/>OH NOO! HOW AM I GONNA PAY FOR THAT CAR!!<br/><br/>I am in DEEEEEP trouble.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>P.S. April Fool's!<br/></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-61874343065683017102010-01-28T22:33:00.001-05:002010-01-28T22:33:23.076-05:00Starting the day with a smile<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Some people have no sense of humour. This morning I was heading to town in the train, and a man entered with his toddler. After a few minutes, the child became a bit agitated. He began chirping and making noise, like a toddler would. I noticed that people around him were smiling or laughing at his antics. All except one woman, who got up and stomped out in a huff. As I looked at her face, I could almost hear her thoughts: "How dare he bring that */*"%?& kid in <i>my</i> wagon?" <br/><br/>I wonder if she had a nice day?<br/></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-57305549732135273152010-01-13T17:58:00.001-05:002010-01-13T17:58:19.095-05:00When Social Media Shines<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>I heard the news as I was driving home last night: a major earthquake in Haiti had brought the country to its knees. I still have family there, and from the news reports I knew that the earthquake had hit close to where they lived.</p><p>So I went for the immediate, old-timer's reflex: I called my aunt on the phone. She confirmed what the news stations said: it is almost impossible t get a line and she hasn't heard from anybody. <br/></p><p>When I finally reached home, I went straight for my Twitter and Facebook accounts and there, I managed to get information that would have been impossible to get any other way.</p><p>I began with Twitter in order to figure out what was happening, and to see if anyone in my network had any information on the situation. It was all very chaotic; a good place to get a global overview of things but nothing like what I really wanted to know: is my family all right?</p><p>Facebook is a whole different story, though. On Twitter, I'm willing to connect with pretty much anybody. But on Facebook, I triage. If I don't know you personally or if I don't recognize your picture, you don't get on my list. So the people in my Facebook are a much more tightly knit group of individuals than in any other network (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.). <br/></p><p>Through my Facebook friends, real information started trickling in: one aunt and uncle were OK but had lost their home; two other aunts and my grandmother were fine, just rattled a bit; another uncle and aunt, who live in an area that was severely affected by the quake were also OK but their hous had suffered. By 1 AM, I had heard all of the important news I needed to know: my family was all right, and I could go to sleep (somewhat) peacefully. Everything else could wait until the next day.</p><p>I'll admit that I'm not normally a big user of any of the social media platforms. The only one I strive to use regularly is Twitter (more on that later). However, after going through yesterday's ordeal, I have new respect for these tools: there was no other way I could have gotten as much information from as many different sources. Trying to do this by the phone, or even by email, would have been impossible. With the social media tools, one status update from a friend gave more information than I could get by making 20 different phone calls.</p><p>Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social media sites can become a huge time-sucking black hole if ou aren't careful. As a solo entrepreneur, I have to watch out for that, which is the reason I tend to limit my time on these platforms. I use them a few minutes per day, late in the evening, which ensures I don't spend five hours. <br/></p><p>In a time of crisis, though, there isn't any better tool.</p><p>What about Twitter? Well, I use an automated system (SocialOomph.com) to schedule tweets on various topics during the week. I do so in a semi-disciplined manner. Every Sunday night, I sit down and write enough "Laurent's Gems" to fill the week, and then I schedule them. I have found that by doing so, once again, I save a lot of time and it forces me to write something coherent at least once a week. <br/></p><p>In all of the earthquake turmoil, I forgot to turn it off temporarily, so after a string of "Where's My Family" updates, here comes another one that tells you to consider working in a smaller company if you are dissatisfied with your job.</p><p>Yeah, I know, awkward.<br/></p><p/></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-44552961079115664442009-11-28T20:11:00.001-05:002009-11-28T20:11:43.306-05:00I wish I had thought of this...<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>... but Alan Weiss did it before me. Score:<br/><br/>Alan: lots<br/>Me: Not so much<br/><h3><a title='Permanent Link to My Report to the President' rel='bookmark' href='http://www.contrarianconsulting.com/my-report-to-the-president/'>My Report to the President</a></h3><br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=a222d282-0641-829f-bd33-5f90aa1c332c' alt='' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-25761162004315798752009-11-10T08:38:00.001-05:002009-11-10T08:38:41.193-05:00The little train conductor who couldn't (part 2)<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Yesterday, the same thing happened again: I got to the train station (at yet a different time) and the commuter train's passing coincided with the passing of a freight train. We were about twelve, waiting anxiously for the caboose to pass us by. When it finally did, we heard the bell which signaled the departure of the commuter train. Internally, I went "F****** S***!!! Not again!" But this time, the conductor waited until we boarded before the train left.<br/><br/>I'll have to start getting earlier to the train station if I want to live a long life.<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=9b58917a-fe8b-8469-8aee-90b0b1dba770' alt='' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-23596138311419272512009-11-06T20:24:00.001-05:002009-11-06T20:24:49.086-05:00The little train conductor who couldn't<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>If I have to go downtown during rush hour and I plan to spend the day, I take the train. It's relatively comfortable, it's stress-free, and doesn't take much more time than driving. <br/><br/>The agency in charge of the train service around Montreal, the AMT, has been working hard to get people from the suburbs to leave their car at home (or in the free parking spaces) and to take the train instead. It has worked relatively well, until this year.<br/><br/>Last winter, a couple of the busiest lines had major mechanical problems during winter months, which caused passengers to be stranded on platforms, with plummeting temperatures and blistering winds. Not surprisingly, this has lead to a decline in ridership on the lines that were most affected.<br/><br/>I applaud the AMT's efforts to address the mechanical issues and I hope they are successful. I also hope they will be training their employees.<br/><br/>Today, about 25 other passengers and I were left stranded on the train station's platform, because of a stupid employee. Here is what happened: where I take the train, there are four tracks so at any given time, there could conceivably be four trains present. This morning, at around 7:50, a freight train showed up. At about 7:56, the commuter train pulled in also, but the freight train was still running. <br/><br/>At about 7:57, the last car of the freight train finally pulled away and all 25 would-be passengers ran to the commuter train. The first of the lot was about 20 feet from the train door when the conductor decided to pull away. He just stood on the steps of the car, looked at the helpless people looking at him, and shook his head as if he were powerless to do anything about it.<br/><br/>Bull!<br/><br/>The previous day, the exact same thing happened, although earlier in the day. However, when we reached the car, the conductor smiled and said: "You were scared, weren't you? When I saw the train I figured I would just wait a bit to give you guys a chance."<br/><br/>So it wasn't that this morning's conductor couldn't wait a few more seconds, it's just that he chose not to. He didn't want to fall behind his schedule so he saved those precious few seconds by pulling away while leaving 25 customers fuming and, who knows, maybe some will lose their jobs because of this. <br/><br/>Some might think: "It's important to keep the train on schedule for the benefit of the other customers." To which I say: "I agree." However, 1) I don't think that a few seconds would have been that big of a deal and 2) the trains periodically run late for other reasons (like people working on the tracks).<br/><br/>As far as I'm concerned, this morning's display was shameful customer service.<br/><br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=724432e5-e19a-806d-ad48-cd4a2dbb5444' alt='' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-81988514108695754392009-10-17T14:51:00.001-04:002009-10-17T14:51:47.201-04:00Get Them at Hello: How To Improve Your Hiring Process<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>On my <a href='http://orateurenvous.blogspot.com/2009/09/le-chant-du-leader.html' target='_blank'>French blog</a>, I recently wrote about an experience I had when I joined a singing ensemble. (Please, no jokes about my voice!) In a nutshell, I joined the ensemble at the beginning of September and participated in the yearly 3-day camp, which is when we get a good overview of the songs we will be performing at the end of March. <br/><br/>The selection process was typical: I went through an audition where they asked a few questions about me and why I had chosen to join the group. Then they tested my singing abilities, and that was it. A few days later I received the news: out of 30 applicants, I was one of the 12 chosen. <br/><br/>The first time I showed up, many people made it their duty to come and say "Hi" and to welcome me aboard. But it was nothing compared to what happened at the camp. All new "hires" were front and centre of various activities over the course of the weekend. The pinnacle, for me, was when they sat us in the middle of a room, surrounded us and all 70+ veterans sang us a song. That event really made me feel special within the group. And it got me thinking: when was the last time I was welcomed in such a manner? In particular, when has it happened at work? <br/><br/>As a consultant, I don't expect people to make a big deal about my presence. In fact, in many cases, they may resent it. That's fine. But as an employee, expectations are different. You expect to become part of something special, part of a team; you search for a way to belong. Too often, that part of the work experience is completely forgotten, or neglected. <br/><br/>What is the typical hiring process?<br/><ul><li>Apply for a position that looks and sounds like hundreds of other positions</li><li>Go through an interview process, which is more or less involved.</li><li>When you first join the company, you go through the HR process to understand your working conditions.</li><li>Do your job.</li><li>Retire.<br/></li></ul>Can this be improved? Yes it can. And in fact, it should. Studies have shown that when people feel unwelcome or ill-treated in a new job, they are more likely to keep searching for jobs elsewhere. Although I haven't found a study that says so, I believe that there must be some truth to the complementary view: an employee who feels welcome is less likely to bolt after a few short months. <br/><br/>So what can be done to improve the initial impression? Here are a few ideas:<br/><ul><li><b>Change your job announcements</b>: in fact, write the job postings to match the type or personality you are searching for. You want someone outgoing and dynamic? Make your posting sizzle. You want someone who is detail-oriented and likes solving arduous puzzles? You can say so within your posting also. Having a clear idea of the person you are trying to attract, and writing the job description accordingly will cull many unqualified applicants.</li><li><b>Make a big deal out of it</b>: make the new hire feel welcome by making a big deal out of his/her presence. There are many ways to do this, so I won't get into details. Of course, you want to do something that will not make the person feel uncomfortable, otherwise you will get the opposite effect of what you are trying to accomplish. Here is an example of what not to do: A friend of mine was a new hire in a team, and the company was planning a special event one afternoon. However, they needed someone to stay at the office to answer email, take calls, etc. Guess who was asked to stay behind while the others went out and had fun? That was a great opportunity to help a new employee bond and become part of the team, but it was wasted. Shortly thereafter, the new employee left.<br/></li><li><b>Make it smooth</b>: it is highly annoying for a new hire to not be able to be effective immediately. Little things like computer accounts that don't work, not having the proper equipment to work with, not having a key to enter and leave work premises, and so on, leave a grating feeling. These things happen, of course, and you may just be unlucky. But if it happens regularly, it's no longer an annoyance: it's a symptom.</li><li><b>Mentoring or shadowing</b>: this is a great way to make existing employees feel special also. When someone is hired, assign a mentor to them, or let them choose one. In order for this to be effective, let existing employees know that you want to start a mentoring program. Let people sign up if they want to, don't force it upon them. Then, either assign mentors to new hires on a rotating basis, or, let the new employees become familiar with the people they will be working with and let them choose their mentors after a few weeks.</li><li><b>Give them the opportunity to have immediate impact</b>: nothing is more boring than being given a stack of documents to read on your first day on the job, especially if going through that stack can take a week or two. Instead, give new employees the opportunity of feeling useful as soon as possible. <br/></li></ul>Dr. Guido Quelle, President of Mandat Managementberatung GmbH in Germany, implements many of these elements with new employees. He explains it as follows:<br/><blockquote>Rookies whom we recruit when they finished their exam at the university get a six-month internal training program. They learn the Mandat-approach, get to know how we use our intellectual property, learn how we approach and develop clients, learn the culture, how to bring value to clients, and they also lead an important internal project.<br/><br/>As soon as possible, we take them with us to clients. There, they learn how we work directly with clients. When they start, they don't have a task, just to observe. We tell our clients, that the colleague is new with us and since we don't have daily rates, they don't pay for him or her sitting there. We always ask the colleague after a meeting what he observed. After a few meetings, the new colleague starts to facilitate meetings, steers sub projects, calls members of the project team in order to make sure that they do what they promised, etc. <br/><br/>The new colleague has a mentor, it's [my managing director] or me. The whole first year is more or less an "assistance" year. During the second year, the colleague gets more and more important tasks. Together with his internal mentor, he prepares himself for leading whole projects. There's always a feedback conversation between the mentor and the consultant after a meeting.<br/></blockquote>As you can see, the hiring process is not complete until new employees feel that they are part of team. The operative word, here, is feel. Emotions are what make people enjoy their work and makes them stay. As has often been said, you come into a company for the job, but you leave because of the people. You can increase loyalty and retention of employees, simply by analyzing and adjusting your "welcome" approach.<br/><br/>© 2009 Laurent Duperval, All rights reserved<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=41efdd74-4f65-8f7b-b376-834e3724875b' alt='' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3578288342062724397.post-82739065093258339492009-10-09T23:47:00.001-04:002009-10-09T23:47:24.924-04:00Improving GNOME Evolution<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>I haven't written a tech-only blog entry in a long, long, long time. Well, here goes!<br/><br/>I've been a fairly happy Mozilla Thunderbird user for years. But lately, I've been getting more and more frustrated with it, and I began looking for a new mail client. So far, of all the others I tested, GNOME Evolution is the one that comes closest to what I want. Closest, but not there yet. It's not missing much, and that's what I plan on covering here. <br/><br/>So why would I want to change in the first place? Because I've been having nagging performance issues with Thunderbird. I have a local IMAP setup for my email and periodically, Thunderbird will spike the CPU for no apparent reason. When it does, my system slows down to a crawl. Sometimes the only way I can fix it is by killing the Thunderbird process. I tried the latest Thunderbird 3 beta 4, and although I like a lot of the improvements, performance is worse than the previous version. Hence, Evolution.<br/><br/>I generally like it, and I find performance is better, without the spikes I see in Thunderbird. Here are some of the things I'd like to see improved, many of which are <a href='http://davidsiegel.org/paper-cut/' target='_blank'>paper cuts</a>:<br/><ul><li><b>Keyboard shortcuts</b>: I don't like the shortcuts that have been assigned by the Evolution team. Maybe it's because I have been using Thunderbird for so long, but I get frustrated when I try a keyboard shortcut I am used to, but don't get the result I expect. I'd like to be able to configure my own shortcuts, like I can in OpenOffice.org.<br/></li><li><b>Automatic filtering</b>: One of the things I like about Thunderbird is the way it starts filtering your email as you type in the search box. You don't have to press Enter to launch the search. Same goes for the address book.<br/></li><li><b>Mailbox ordering</b>: Mail accounts are ordered alphabetically. I would rather be able to specify the ordering. Of course, I can specify "dumb" names like 00-FIrst, 01-Second, etc. But that isn't quite what I'm looking for. However, since this is predicatable, it makes it easier to order accounts than it is in Thunderbird. In the latter, you have no control: they appear in the order they were created.<br/></li><li><b>Slow reply</b>: Whenever I reply, there is an annoying delay before the reply window appears.<br/></li><li><b>Webkit</b>: I know work is being done on this. Webkit is the toolkit used by Google Chrome to display Web pages. HTML display is awful in Evolution, nothing like Thunderbird's ability to do the same.<br/></li><li><b>Importing</b>: This one is almost a deal breaker for me. Evolution doesn't import Thunderbird data correctly. I tried importing LDIF, CSV, and ICS but in each case, some of the cards were not imported correctly. I wish Evolution would allow me to specify where to put the content of each imported column, like OpenOffice.org does when importing into Calc.<br/></li><li><b>New vs. Recent</b>: I like the fact that Thunderbird makes a difference between "New" and "Brand New" email. For the latter, it displays a star, while the former has no star. In Evolution, it's difficult to see a difference between new email, and mail that has just come in.<br/></li><li><b>Favourite folders</b>: Another TB feature I like. I can specify some folders as favourite folders and only see them in my control panel. There isn't something like this in Evolution.</li></ul>Well, that's it. I am still hoping that the final (64-bit Linux) build of Thunderbird will fix the performance issues I am experiencing. If not, maybe I'll have to do something I haven't done in years: break out my C coding skills... Yeah, right!<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=7e432a70-94c9-8e26-893e-9969e962f663' alt='' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>Laurent Dupervalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16670890576278576610noreply@blogger.com0