From the “WOW – That didn’t take long” department:
“Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain is taking over as chairman and CEO of CIT Group as the commercial lender continues to restructure its business following a brief stay in bankruptcy protection last year.
As chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, Thain came under fire for having paid out $3.6 billion in bonuses to Merrill employees just before a BOA deal closed, and for spending more than $1 million to redecorate his office at Merrill, despite its massive losses.
CIT Group Inc., one of the nation’s largest lenders to small and mid-sized businesses, said Thain will take the helm immediately. The 54-year-old replaces acting interim CEO Peter J. Tobin, who will remain on CIT’s board. Tobin had stepped in while CIT searched for a permanent replacement for Jeffrey Peek, who retired as chairman and CEO on Jan. 15. President and Chief Operating Officer Alexander T. Mason, 58, is leaving the company Feb. 26. Chief Financial Officer Joseph Leone has said he plans to retire in April.”
Looks like the rats are jumping ship and one huge rat is coming aboard.
Every so often, a person comes along, writes a book, and changes the way people act.
Napoleon Hill did it with”Think and Grow Rich”. Dale Carnegie — “How To Win Friends and Influence People”. Peters and Waterman — “In Search of Excellence”. Stephen Covey — “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. And Keith Ferrazzi — “Never Eat Alone”.
Seth Godin has been writing books, speaking, and blogging for over 10 years. I first was introduced to him with his first book, “Permission Marketing”. I then drifted off from Seth after reading a few of his other books but have been following him lately with his blog.
Michael Hyatt turned me onto his latest read, “Linchpin — Are You Indispensable?“. I bought it yesterday on my Amazon Kindle and proceeded to stay up most of the night finishing it. This book is going to change the way people think, act, and work.
Everyone knows there is something wrong with business today. Seth crystalizes what the REAL problem is and delivers to the reader clear instructions on how to find their way on how to succeed in the new business world.
Bottom line: Seth espouses what I do every day with my clients.
A short summary from Amazon: “Linchpin is a most unusual, well-organized, concise book about what it takes to become indispensable in the workplace – whether you work for someone else (at any level) or are self-employed. It’s about how business has rapidly changed and how treating employees like factory workers (or doing your job like one) doesn’t work any longer. We must make choices and take action to “chart our own paths” and add value that others do not. We cannot wait for a boss or a job description to tell us what to do, rather we must just take the initiative ourselves. Only then can we become indispensable “linchpins,” rather than replaceable “cogs.” ”You don’t become indispensable merely because you are different. But the only way to become indispensable is to be different. That’s because if you’re the same, so are plenty of other people.”
Stop what you’re doing right now and go out and buy this book. It will change your life.
Time to hit work after a wonderful weekend . . . check your email . . . get ready for all those wonderful meetings . . . and make sure you schedule for all the work coming down the pike this week.
Whoops! Forgot to tell you something . . . Most executives tend to forget that their job isn’t supposed to crank out work (okay – that’s part of your job – but just follow my thinking for a bit).
You are also expected to IMPROVE. CONSTANTLY.
Of course you work. But to be successful in your position, you need to be a machine. A machine that constantly strives to:
Do better.
Take on additional responsibilities.
Never wear out (keep on running and have a bright smile every day).
But how do you do that? Your schedule is ALWAYS full. You come in early, you stay late, and you bring work home. How are you going to IMPROVE CONSTANTLY?
There are three little letters that will help you do that EVERY DAY: S D R
S = STREAMLINE
Regularly look at your workload and apply the 80/20 rule to it. Why? Candidly, if you work day-to-day, you tend to get into little ruts in your work habits, your responsibilities, and your inter-personal connections. Not major ruts – small ones. What eventually happens is that they take over your schedule, eking out more and more time, until you find yourself working 60-70 hours a week and 10-20 hours at home.
These ruts steal precious time from those high-value, high-impact tasks that move you forward quickly. So on a monthly basis, stand back and look at your litany of responsibilities, and make highly critical assessments of each one. See how you can eliminate steps in accomplishing each task. Instead of a report, will an email suffice? Instead of an email, would a quick 2 minute phone call be in line? Instead of a phone call, how about a personal drive-by their office? Cut your email in half by using some quick tips (call me – 203.500.2421).
When you regularly cut small steps out of your responsibilities and accelerate your interpersonal communications, they go faster and get done quicker.
D = DELEGATE
Take a close look at your responsibilities and see what ones can be delegated to your staff. Or delegated to technology.
That is your job as a manager – to constantly motivate your team and get them to take on more complex and harder tasks. So give them a taste of what you do. Here’s the hint – don’t give them the fun stuff – give them the tasks that you HATE to do. They will feel empowered that they are working on management-level responsibilities and you will have more time for more important things.
Or figure out how technology can come to the rescue. Review reports online rather than printing them out.
You’ll find that your day gets more fun and you get to work on the stuff that really matters to your business and your success.
R = RETIRE
Which tasks take up a lot of time but don’t really deliver the impact that merits their priority?
Begin to prioritize all of your responsibilities and pick off one or two – stop doing them – see what happens. It might be a regular meeting that you have, a report that you do, a task that no one really appreciates. Try it – you might realize that no one notices that it’s gone.
Candidly – this one is the hardest one to do – but when you get good at it – you’ll find that this step delivers the biggest bang for your buck. Try it!
I love this skit. It’s one of my favorites. Business-wise, watch it and pay attention to Woody’s timing. His rhythm and cadence is so spot on – the story is funny – but his delivery makes the skit.
Next time you do a presentation, pay attention to your rhythm and cadence – it is really important when making a point. As I always say – it’s ALL Broadway! Enjoy.
From the “WOW – That didn’t take long” department:
