From this book, you will learn that:• Wholly rational decisions are extremely difficult, because they generally require more data than we can obtain.
• Innovation does not have to be totally out of this world—it can come from existing practices and needs. • If you have been frittering away your hours for a while and want to know whether the entrepreneur has been keeping tabs on your activities, a Quick Preoccupied Walk (QPW) can help. • Assertiveness training is the solution, if you think you are suffering from CYS (Chronic Yes-man Syndrome), as you say “yes” to almost everything. • Distressed jeans can cause you distress. Never dress too casually, even on casual Fridays. • The SITA formula (Chapter 40) is a good way to help the entrepreneur improve the firm’s decisions. • TACTIC Scrub Savers (Chapter 5) can always be trusted - Never over-Talk, Never get Angry, Never Cry, Never give Too much Information, Never be too Informal, Never get too Close. • You should avoid being typecast, at all costs. • GUESS WORK (Chapter 12) is key to building a strong team. • Indispensable employees tend to survive a layoff. • CAREtips (Chapter 22) can help an entrepreneur, who shows signs of Attention-Deficit Disorder. • You are certainly not an asset, if you are an expense-account abuser. • With social networks booming, hanging your dirty laundry out to dry, on the internet , isn’t necessarily the safest way to reflect your skills. • Risk-taking entrepreneurs have done a few things right, which is why you work for them. Congratulate them and learn from them. • Too much attention to your personal life at work is just as likely to destroy the balance as too much work at home. • Taking full responsibility for your mistakes will convince the undistinguished entrepreneur that you are advancing in the firm and can lead others. • Feedback without steps for improvement is no feedback. • Political conflict often takes root in groups that were formed initially to produce beneficial outcomes. • Fear of failures can force you to be less effective. • Focusing on services and products that generate sustainable and recurring revenues yields better forecasts (besides revenues). • The Procedure-Behavior-Strategy framework is applicable almost everywhere. |
Table of Contents - A Quick Look
I.Procedural Ways 1. Early to work has its perk (s).| 2. Set job descriptions and employer expectations.| 4. Provide information before you are asked for it.| 5. Practice the Golden Scrub Savers.|6. Avoid becoming the target of pet peeves.| 7. Prevent fires: Keep your schedule visible.| 8. Discourage too much bonding through sports or social networks.| 9. Don’t buy expensive gifts—they will really cost you!| 10. Let what happens at home stay at home.| 11. No Bypassing| 12. Use positive feedback to build a team.| 13. Be assertive in your communication.| 14. Understand that personal favors can hurt you.| 15. Use office resources only for office purposes.| 16. Treat all tasks as projects to manage.| 17. Share knowledge and train co-workers.| 18. Think as if you were in the undistinguished entrepreneur’s shoes. Procedural Lessons| Procedural Clinic II. Behavioral Ways 19. You are what you wear.| 20. Start saying no.| 21. Take criticism constructively.| 22. Learn to deal with possible attention-deficit disorder.| 23. Manage the undistinguished entrepreneur’s “I want this now” attitude.| 24. Organize the undistinguished entrepreneur’s work.| 25. Congratulate the entrepreneur!| 26. Socialize, but don’t be overly sociable.| 27. Use your imagination, but control flights of fancy.| 28. When dealing with an emotional undistinguished entrepreneur, be pragmatic.| 29. Learn from your mistakes.| 30. Admit mistakes and move on.| 31. Provide constructive feedback when you disagree.| 32. Don’t rely on luck and false confidence.| 33. Turn the focus on the firm’s culture.| 34. Push for ethics in the organization.| 35. Don’t partake in politics. Behavioral Lessons| Behavioral Clinic III. Strategic Ways 36. Focus on profitability, not sales.| 37. Instill clarity in the organization’s workflows.| 38. Understand the undistinguished entrepreneur’s long-term goals.|39. Search out innovations and conduct research.| 40. Improve the way decisions are made and managed.| 41. Support the hiring of professional senior management.| 42. Mentor your subordinates, particularly the difficult ones.| 43. Apprise the undistinguished entrepreneur of your career goals, without asking for a raise or reward.| 44. Update the firm’s practices.| 45. Be an asset, not a liability.| 46. Make yourself indispensable.| 47. Remind the entrepreneur to think twice before purchasing or hiring services.| 48. Keep the entrepreneur’s blue-eyed boy on your team.| 49. Bring realism into forecasting.| 50. Help the undistinguished entrepreneur to connect with the firm’s clients.| 51. Consider quitting only as a last resort. Strategic Lessons| Strategic Clinic Notes and References |