“Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.” Peter Drucker

Why do we feel as if everything needs to be managed?

Perhaps it’s a form of preservation or a hedge against loss in that if we create strong enough boundaries nothing will get out. The flip side to this is that little, if anything new will come in.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of process and procedure as that’s our way of remembering how we did it right. I’m just not a fan of any process or procedure created with ‘wrong’ (i.e. prevention) in mind.

Our processes should be designed so that those who come after us can build upon them, not maintain status quo or worse…hold them back.

D – The Navigator

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs

There were 22 recognized inventors of the light bulb before Thomas Edison made it work for the masses.

Konrad Zuse of Germany is credited with making the first functional computer in the 1940’s but where is he today? Where too is Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot who built the first self-propelled road vehicle in 1769 that cruised at a road blistering 2.5 miles per hour?

I highlight these three examples to drive home the point that ideas, where valuable, do not insure long term success. It’s the person who takes the time to look at it in a different way and gutsy enough to take it in that different direction who wins the race.

That’s why it’s so important to stop every once in a while, look at what we’re doing and simply go “Hmmmm, I wonder…”

D – The Navigator

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.” Peter Drucker

There’s no way to practice being an entrepreneur. The game is always on and as such, our hits and misses are out there for the world to see.

We all love to tout our wins, hell that’s where press releases come from, but never our mistakes. However we all make them.

Think about it – who has the better shot of overcoming a big mistake…the person who rarely risks making one or the person accustomed to paying the tuition of ‘failure’?

Besides, I’ve rarely met a mistake that didn’t make me a better person for having made it.

D – The Navigator

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” Winston Churchill

Hindsight is incredibly valuable but not when it controls our future direction.

Far too often our stored experiences cause us to react negatively to an opportunity because it reminded us of something gone wrong. And that’s OK as it is a means of self-protection, however we cannot let it be the rule.

Instead we need to recognize the danger and proceed. If we can’t get past that we are (in the words of Peter Drucker) simply feeding yesterday while starving tomorrow.

D – The Navigator

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.” Jean de la Bruyere

The great sales guru Zig Zigler used to tell the age old story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree that starts out as seeds that you plant, water and fertilize. Nothing happens the first year so the second year you continue to diligently water and fertilize some more…and again nothing happens. Nor does it the third and fourth years but in its fifth year it grows 80-90 feet…in one growing season.

It’s a business analogy and concept lost during boom times but one that’s extremely valuable today. More and more success is dependent upon our ability to focus on doing the right things every day no matter the ‘bang’.

The rewards are still there…just might take a bit longer to grab them.

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“Routine is the momentum that keeps a man going. If you wait for inspiration you’ll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street.” Ben Nicholas

I lost an old friend this week…my health club.

Seems we have a new director at my local Y and as with any new director comes a new direction. He has a vision and by gosh, he’s made it happen. And that’s OK, but I don’t have to like it.

When on this earth as long as I, we tend to create our routines and working out every morning is one of my favorites. Each morning, well before dawn, a dozen or so others and I literally open the gym up and have done so for going on a decade. (At least that’s how long I’ve been part of the group and I’m still considered the new guy.)

Which is why we had a shock to the system when walking this week to find all new equipment in the free weight area. Most of the old equipment we’d worked out on for years was replaced by shiny new stuff and some simply gone for good. And to top it off, all were laid out in a whole new footprint making it a morning of discovery.

Now, I’m all for change when needed and write about it often but there’s also something comforting about a routine. About knowing what you’re walking into and functioning without much forethought. And now that’s gone.

To be sure, this attitude makes me ‘Old School’ but that’s the way I like my gym to be. I want free weights and a few machines to supplement…that’s it. No need for computerization or USB ports to track my progress. It doesn’t have to be pretty, just functional. I’ll leave the hi-tech gyms to the spandex/mirror loving crowd.

So does this mean I’m changing gyms? Don’t know as today was my first day in this brave new world and I‘ll give it a couple of weeks to see how it fits. But they certainly opened the door by turning my routine upside down.

I pass two gyms on my way to this one and have never given them a second thought until now. In the next few days I’ll probably check them out and see how they feel because, like it or not, I’m now a man in search of a new routine.

OK, you’re probably wondering what this all mean in terms of business beyond the fact that Dwain’s pissed about someone ‘moving his flipping cheese’. So within this context think about your customers and how long you’ve had them.

To be sure they come to you because your product or service fits their needs but over time it’s also because they’re comfortable. You give them one less thing they have to think about and more importantly, one more thing they can count on which in this time of nanosecond obsolescence is HUGE.

Therefore, when you decide to change, do so carefully and slowly. Make sure you leave some semblance of the old to offset the shock until a transition to a new routine can be made.

Remember, ‘routine’ is derived from the word ‘route’. Which now looks like I’m open to changing…dammit.

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at dmd@DwainDeVille.com or check out my other websites www.RetreatOnWheels.com or www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“Be quick, but don’t hurry.” John Wooden

Why do we equate working hard with success? That if we don’t put in 60-70 hours of running as hard and as fast as we can we won’t make it?

If our goal is a stationary object somewhere in the distance, the faster and straighter we run will certainly ensure greater success. But what in business today is stationary? If what we’re chasing is running as fast as we are, what are the chances we’ll catch it?

In today’s world it’s all about attraction. Finding or building that community in which you belong and then having them meet you halfway. It takes far less energy spent running.

Just remember that opportunity now reaches us at the same rate of speed we’re running so the key is to be ready for it when we collide.

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“A mistake is always forgivable, rarely excusable and always unacceptable.” Robert Fripp

It’s 3:00 a.m. and I sit here in excruciating pain simply because my pharmacy failed to deliver my meds as promised yesterday afternoon. And that failure is costing me dearly.

It’s cost me a night’s sleep, much pain and now the weekend as delaying treatment by 16 or so hours (provided they deliver this morning) means I’m behind the curve and won’t be functional until Monday.

Certainly the amount of pain I feel right now makes me want to rant about poor customer service and the like, but instead it’s got me thinking about triggers and consequences. This person’s inability to fulfill a simple task has now altered the way I live the next three days.

Turning that from business to personal, what are the consequences triggered when we fail to deliver? Fail to make that phone call, answer that email or attend that meeting?

The business world is run on agendas that when properly meshed is a wonderful thing. Business is done and all parties walk away having won. But miss it by just a little and chaos can ensue and that time thing often referred to as ‘the cycle’ restarted.

Just as a butterfly actively flapping its wings half a world away can affect our weather, so can missing the mark or doing nothing.

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” Aldo Leopold

We are what our environment allows us to be. Therefore, during this season of introspection, it’s time to look at some of the elements making up our environment and if necessary, ‘clean house’.

In Good to Great, Jim Collins tells us to compile a list of activities we need to stop doing in our business. But what about the people who make up our world?

Are they adding to our success? Do their actions match our philosophy on life and business? Are we associating out of habit or substance? Do we feel energized or is our energy sapped when in their presence? Can we rightfully defend their actions in public?

The amount of dollars earned or generated by someone should not be the gold standard upon which we base our associations. It’s not the true measure of success, just one factor in how we keep score during this life.

So stop, look around and take stock.

D – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

“Listening is a reciprocal process – we become more attentive to others if they have attended to us.” Margaret J. Wheatley

Besides the requisite cards and gifts, what are you doing for your network?

What are their goals for 2012? How can you help them in the coming year?

Yes, this is the time of year when we look inward, backward and forward.

Let’s not forget to also look outward.

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – These are my thoughts and I look forward to yours. And if you like what you read here, email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com or check out my other website www.ThreeDNavigator.com. I look forward to hearing from you.