Golden Practices Blog

My Family Just Grew by One

Personal posts are a rarity for me, but this is news worthy of sharing. I've been a bit busy lately and a memorable summer is capped off with a new addition.

Much easier than the normal way of getting a new kid, my son got married. Now we have five!

Congratulations Jared and Melissa!

Nominated for Blogger's Choice Awards

Just discovered that this blog was nominated (and not by me) for Blogger's Choice Awards in three categories: Best Business Blog, Best Marketing Blog and Best Blog Design (huh?? there are amazing looking blogs out there...this isn't one of them).

Okay, so I'm the only one who voted for me as of now, but what the heck.

If you like what you read here and you want to vote, I'd sure be honored by your support.

So, whadda they say, "vote early and vote often."

You can also nominate other blogs, so make someone's day!

Traveling Light

I'm not one of those extreme overpackers or anything, but I'm heading off to a meeting in Kuala Lumpur in about a week and I thought I'd try out the experience of packing REALLY light.

I want to know if it's overrated or if I'm happier taking, say, 7 pair of shoes for a 4-day trip...

It's slightly off-topic for my blog and all, but what the heck, it IS vacation season...and useful info for any business traveler.

Hope you enjoy my Top 5 Travel Tip Resources:

One Bag: http://www.onebag.com/
Doug Dyment has packing lists and info like crazy about how to travel light, things to be aware of, and where to find some of the supplies he recommends. This site intrigued me for a couple hours! It is rated by PC magazine as a Top 100 Can't Live Without site.

Seat Guru: http://www.seatguru.com/
Found through Doug's site above, this site shows you what seats to pick and which to avoid--and why--plane by plane, for most airlines. It tells you where you'll have more/less legroom, where you might be disturbed by galley or lavatory noise, and where you can find seats with power outlets (and which type). A really great feature is the mobile device friendly page that loads fast so you can check when standing at the ticket counter as you're switching to a new flight.

Country Codes for international calling: http://www.countrycodes.com/

OneSuite: http://www.onesuite.com
This is a telephone access (global) plan that I have used for at least 5 years. Very reliable and very inexpensive. US to Malaysia, for instance, is 3.5 cents/minute. I just ran a 6-month project with a client in the UK with frequent, long calls and I spent less than $25 on calls over the entire 6 months.

IAN's Shoelace site: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/knots.htm
Okay, you're thinking that this has little to do with travel. But if you're planning to do lots of walking, I suggest it is worthwhile. Did you know there is probably a better way to tie your shoes? If your laces untie often, check this out.

Technorati Jump

Hey just a little excitement today...this blog's Technorati ranking shot up about 14,000 *today* bringing it from flirting with the edge of the top 50,000 (for many months) to clearing it boldly at 37K. Cool. Thanks, readers.

This is NOT an Abandoned Blog

Geez, I've been away for awhile and I'm having severe blog withdrawals!

Was attending the International Association of Facilitators conference held last week in Portland. It was wonderful to visit with my friend, fellow consultant Steve Erickson, there and I ran into a few other accounting industry people, too.

Great conference. Highly enjoyed my very last session on Serious Play With Lego by Jody Lentz. I could really see how the lego/metaphor techniques could help lawyers and accountants see (and feel or experience) the mindshift from thinking in terms of their service offerings to thinking in terms of buyers' self-identities (usually industry sector or problem type). A cool Lego workshop of Jody's is shown above.

As I'm sure happens to you, being away from the office for awhile makes for an e-mail nightmare, if not a terrible case of withdrawals!

How convenient to come across this great article on Twelve Steps to Cure Email Addiction with great tips for taming the inbox. I'll let you decide if it works for you.

Well, back to clearing the ol' inbox... 

Letters From Russia

My friend Julie Lindy is doing an amazing and wonderful thing. She's given up three months of her life and is paying her own expenses as a volunteer working in Russia with orphanages, underprivileged children, and the elderly.

Many readers from the accounting industry will know Julie. She was senior editor for INSIDE Public Accounting for several years (formerly Bowman's Accounting Report) and before that was managing editor for Public Accounting Report (PAR). When she returns from her trip, she'll resume her career as a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and editor.

Julie is telling her story and her heart in a delightfully written blog called Letters From Russia. If you know Julie or if you have any interest in gaining insight into what Russian culture is like for a visiting American, you might enjoy reading her blog.

Hate Your Partner?

A little partnership humor for a Friday. Thank goodness I don't know any firms that are this troubled...

Below are three short videos that just appeared on YouTube a couple days ago. They are created by ihatemypartner.com, a company that helps dysfunctional partnerships. Gotta credit them for some great marketing.

All Three

Lick

Choke

Poke

EU Offers Impressive List of RSS Feeds

Thanks to Scott Vine's Information Overlord blog for pointing to this highly customizable (or customisable as the case might be :-) list of EU offered feeds for "rapid syndication":

• European Commission: press releases of the day
• European Union: press releases by political domain
• European Commission: speeches by comissioner
• European Instututions: press releases from each of thirteen institutions

It Wasn't Me

I'm sure you were wondering so I just want you to know that I am not the lucky winner of last night's Powerball for $254 MILLION even though the winning ticket was sold across the street(!!) from my office.

Can you believe? Do you think lightning might strike twice?

I'm just trying to imagine what *I* could come up with to spend over $8mil a year on for 30 years in payouts...Guess I'll be sticking with the consulting gig...

Both Tagged AND Z-Listed...

Gee, walk away from the blogosphere for a couple days and you never know what will happen...

In my blog stats, I find all these neat, weird links to my blog and trail back to find that Mike Sansone over at the Converstations blog added me, very early on, to the Z-list meme started by Mack Collier at the Viral Garden. Thank you Mike! And Mack! I am cyber-meeting lots of smart, creative people through this process and am discovering some fantastic new blogs!

On the down side, literally, my Technorati ratings steadily decline. I was once upon a time in the top 50,000 but, alas, have dropped from the 60s to the 70s since the Z-list started. That's okay, though becauseTechnorati misses a huge percentage of the links to my blog so I don't give it much credit for accuracy...and the stats aren't important to me, anyway.

So what's the Z list? Mike explained it like this:

In Revenge of the Z-Lister, Mack throws one high and tight at Technorati's 'authority' ranking system. I agree that authority isn't the right word for T'rati's ranking, though it can serve as a barometer for popularity.

Sounds like Mack and Mike have drawn similar conclusions to mine about Technorati...

At any rate, I will post a recent, quite long Z-list after I answer my Tag calling. Harry Joiner tagged the Z-listers (you clever dog, you) and Dianna Huff of the MarCom Writer blog tagged me, too. Being "tagged" means I have to share "5 things you probably didn't know about me." Then I'm supposed to doom 3 more people to answer the 5 things. Not sure I can bring myself to do that...we'll see.

1. I have 4 children--age 22 down to 4 which means that I have given birth in each of the last 3 calendar decades (a trend that will NOT continue). The year the first one left the house, the last one arrived. The main reason I had children is so that I will get grandchildren some day. At least that's what I keep telling myself as two more entered puberty in the last 3 years.

2. I didn't finish high school...instead, at age 15, I took the California High School Proficiency Exam (like the GED) and the minute I turned 16, I legally walked away from high school and never looked back. I immersed myself at Santa Ana College, and took all sorts of fun and interesting classes such as astronomy and physical and cultural anthropology. I loved being treated respectfully and as a grown-up by teachers and fellow students instead of being "baby-sat." Initially, my major was architecture!

3. I had my first son at a ridiculously early age (married and divorced by age 19), didn't receive child support, and didn't rely on my parents for financial or child care help. I overcame some incredible odds by sheer determination--working 2 jobs and trying to finish college. Those years are a blur of tiredness and macaroni & cheese, our luxury meal. And trying to make ends meet on $340 (gross) a week. When I hear general statements that young moms are destined for poverty, to be unfit moms, or likely to have ill-behaved children, it infuriates me. If that's all society expects, that's all we'll get. Expect more, show faith in these young women, and at least some of them will rise to meet the challenge!

4. Enough heavy ones, here's a lighthearted one: my favorite hobby, because it gets me far away from my computer is scrapbooking. I love the 'back to basics' feelings of cutting and pasting. And of focusing on my family and on memories. I'm addicted to this hobby, but haven't had much time in the last year to devote to it. Do you smell a NY resolution?

5. Five things, huh? This is tough. Okay, I've got it! I am related both to Theodore Roosevelt (7th cousins, 3 times removed) and Aaron Burr (3rd cousins, 7 times removed) no jokes please... according to the book Founding Fathers, it's not certain whether he or Alexander Hamilton actually fired first... You've possibly guessed my other hobby, genealogy.

If you're still reading (I know that was about as exciting as a root canal) here is the Z-list. I haven't looked yet at all of them, but there are a lot of very good ones in here:

Creative Think
Soloride
Movie Marketing Madness
Blog Till You Drop!
Get Shouty!
One Reader at a Time
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New Millenium PR
Pardon My French
Troy Worman's Blog
The Instigator Blog
AENDirect
Diva Marketing
Marketing Hipster
The Marketing Minute
Funny Business
The Frager Factor
Mindblob
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That's Great Marketing!
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes! Andy Nulman’s Blog About Surprise
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
darrenbarefoot.com
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew's Marketing Minute
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Jeremy Latham’s Blog
SMogger Social Media Blog
Masey.com

Facilitating Groups and Assisting With Change

If you facilitate meetings inside of your firm or if you lead client groups in sessions of any sort, you will probably find the International Association of Facilitators to be an excellent resource.

The org has a conference planned Mar 7-10 in Portland, Oregon. The keynote speaker will be Dan Cohen, a principal with Deloitte Consulting, and co-author with John Kotter of best seller "The Heart of Change."

Two "sound bites" from Cohen's MBA presentation at U of Texas, Austin:

On what to remember:
If you remember nothing else I’ve said today, remember this: fear, anger, and complacency. These emotions are what stops change in its tracks. It’s all about a lack of energy in the organization.

On lack of energy in organizations:
Many organizations today do not get people energized. And the leaders don’t get excited, either.

At IAF, Cohen will address the role of the facilitator in change management, transformation and engagement. The session will be followed by an interactive session to generate dialogue about insights gleaned from his session.

Before the keynote are one or two-day preconference sessions. I can personally recommend anything by Michael Wilkinson (former Ernst & Young consultant, now pres. of Leadership Strategies) or ICA -- Institute of Cultural Affairs teaching effective processes and methods of facilitation.

The main conference--themed “The Art and Mastery of Facilitation: Bridging Ideas to Action” includes 60 sessions along the following tracks:

• Facilitation Academy – Sessions are perfect for new facilitators learning the basics.
• Advanced Institute – Tailored workshops for seasoned facilitators wanting to dig deeper.
• Skills, Tools & Strategies -- A variety of methods that you can use immediately in your work.
• Experiencing and Exploring -- Looking at your work and yourself from a more creative vantage point.
• Facilitation in Action -- Real-time applications and insights to challenging situations.

Sessions tend to fill up quickly so, if you're interested, mosey over to IAF's conference website* and have a look.

*please note that the on-line registration is a little cumbersome and IAF is working on improving the process, but in the meantime, trust that the conference is worth it so please don't get deterred when navigating the registration...

(In the interest of full disclosure, I am on the International Board of IAF and am IAF's US Regional Representative. I do not benefit financially or otherwise based on members, event attendance, or by recommending speakers who may or may not be paid by the organization to present.)

Add "The No Asshole Rule" to Your Book List

Two great bloggers, Guy Kawasaki and David Maister, have been talking (on their respective blogs) about a professor, Bob Sutton, and his new book: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn't.

Author, Bob Sutton, has his own blog that is quite good called Work Matters. In a recent post on this blog, Bob appreciates David's take on his book's concepts. Bob writes:

I was especially struck by his thoughts about the situations that turn typically civilized people into temporary assholes. See his post for the complete set of comments, but it is worth repeating his initial list below. As I went through it, it certainly described the times when my inner jerk has reared its ugly head.

And Guy Kawasaki writes a nice piece sharing Bob's "dirty dozen" list of "everyday asshole actions"

1. Personal insults
2. Invading one’s personal territory
3. Uninvited personal contact
4. Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal
5. Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insult delivery systems
6. Withering email flames
7. Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
8. Public shaming or status degradation rituals
9. Rude interruptions
10. Two-faced attacks
11. Dirty looks
12. Treating people as if they are invisible

and then he proceeds to describe how to avoid being one in the future.

Bob's, David's and Guy's posts (linked to above) are all worth the read...

Where in the World is....

Several weeks away from the blog... and it's been tough to resist the urge to blog instead of meeting customer expectations.

Note to bloggers/future bloggers: downside of having blog your clients read is that your clients can see when you aren't working on THEIR stuff....  :-)

I believe I have concluded my Summer/Fall '06 world tour. Literally, have been speaking publicly or presenting to clients nearly every two weeks since July. Very different for me because I don't normally travel that much. Not all hard work as you'll note from the pic taken in a Dublin pub. (note the Guiness in the really cool mic-stand-drink-holder behind my head...man, who says the Irish aren't innovative!!)

If anyone has great Road Warrior tips (i.e. how to stay productive and focused despite changing time zones several times a week) I'd be very appreciative as I have a feeling this is going to become more necessary for me to master.

At any rate, glad to be back with you...

AWOB

I am having major blog withdrawals. Wish I could say I was on some glamorous vacation or something. Nope. Just super busy working.

My son was describing his first couple weeks of high school and explaining how the students have been warned that if they don't keep up on their homework every day that they should expect to fall further and further behind very rapidly. He says they've been advised to contact school counselors to be counseled through catching up.

That sounds oddly familiar to me. I feel several days, if not a week or two, behind! Think the counselors help out moms?

Interestingly, posting to the ol' blog doesn't feel like "work" in the sense of "to do" items that I haven't gotten to. Instead, I've been craving the therapeutic "space" of thinking and writing.

Isn't it sad when we become too busy to think? Scary, actually.

Must make time to think. Will try to do so more often here both for sanity and to not be "Absent With Out Blog."

Thanks for sticking with me...I've noticed subscribers haven't dropped, just search-engine hits.

And They're Off...

One off to Korea, one started high-school, another began 7th grade.

It's been quite a week.

The little one starts kindergarten next week. The years go so fast...

I remember when this one (pictured) started kindergarten like it was yesterday...and he turns 22 on Monday. <sigh>

I don't make very many personal posts, but I think this week changes me a bit and it seems important to note it. Ever have one of those weeks?

Aug 8 St Louis Event for Creative Thinkers

Calling all creative thinkers in or near St. Louis...

Matt Homann is launching the first in what is sure to be a successful series of events. It's affectionately called the Soulard Idea Market and you can read about it here, on Matt's blog.

He says it's for: bloggers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, speakers, consultants, designers, webmasters, writers, artists, salespersons, technologists, or ??.

5:30 p.m. to ?, come on over. Close to 30 are already signed up. Matt's famous for the unconference events known as LexThink and BlawgThink. Great space, mind-opening format. Come check it out and be part of the newest chapter in unconferencing.

See you there!

Choices Consultants Make

I just HAVE to weigh in on David Maister's post Do You Dispense Useless Pills?

David writes about having made the choice not just to do what potential clients ask...selling them what they want even if those solutions don't work (or if they aren't ready for it?). He talks about walking away from the business rather than just performing the service knowing it won't be effective.

He cites a reader who describes that trainers will be a lot poorer if declining opportunities to do things even if they know they will be wasteful or ineffective.

His example is training, but I see high applicability to consulting. I made the choice when starting my business seven years ago to decline creating strategies or implementing plans that won't lead to sought results. (And we are indeed poorer than our peers who dispense advice, training, or solutions even when they know that they won't stick.)

For us, it came down to two things: reputation and unwillingness to further harm the profession.

Reputation. Those who know me know that, from day one, I've been determined not to be equated with consultants who've become rich charging mega fees for strategic planning, but left those firms with merely a dusty binder on a shelf.

Yes...while consultants cannot be responsible for implementation (unless hired to do so), we ARE responsible for making sure the recommendations we make or strategies we suggest are actually employable, have better than a snowball's chance in hell of achieving the stated outcome, and are assigned to people who are capable and desirous of doing them. If not, they simply aren't the right strategies (for them) and we didn't do a good enough job researching and planning.

Advancing the profession. To be categorized with the consultants who perpetuate reinforcement of the sacred "billable hour" and other such measurements--counter to the improvement of firms--is also against my grain. We don't require firms to change or even beat them up, but we do try open eyes to the negative impact to customer service and marketing that charge-hour-goal and pricing-after-the-work mentalities foster. And by addressing the problems, we work through solutions that improve profitability, customer communications, and increase revenues. We teach focusing on leading, not lagging, indicators.

I like to think we are beginning to bridge a gap. It's beginning to look that way...

Many prestigious consultants to the professions still emphasize tracking productivity and realization as among the most important statistics in a firm. It upsets me because some of these consultants even admit these focuses are counter-productive and have no bearing on future success (it is PROVEN they don't), yet they continue to preach it because it's what firms want, and expect, to hear. And will pay good money to hear.

Consultants have a degree of influence and authority, especially when they are highly visible as when on the speaker or author circuit. If dispensing one-size-fits-all or wrong advice, consultants can do as much harm as good.

Consultants might agree with me that a reality seems to be that few firms are actually ready or willing to change much of anything. After all, professional service firms are achieving great monetary success. Most professionals are making more money than they ever thought possible. Yet the professions are in crisis.

And consultants who aren't part of the solution are part of the problem. Many are cynical, no longer trusting that the professions are capable of changing their ways. (And most probably won't unless they have to, but I sure hold out hope for those who will!)

Though poorer I admit I am, I simply cannot abide by giving advice and selling solutions that won't change what customers desperately want to change. Or that would give the wrong idea about what works and what doesn't.

Maybe it's a product of having been in-house before consulting. When in-house, we become less vocal every year because of politics, getting shot-down, whatever. Personally, I found consulting very liberating because I could say what I REALLY THOUGHT and not have my entire livelihood at stake. (Just one engagement, I suppose!)

For me it is the ultimate in professional responsibility AND enjoyment. Even if riches elude me. So be it.

Court Orders Counsel to Go To Lunch

I'm sure only readers from the legal profession will appreciate this...

A law firm client brought to my attention a court decision in Maricopa County, Arizona resolving some challenging behavior between attorneys.

<snip>

Plaintiff’s counsel extended a lunch invitation to Defendant’s counsel “to have a discussion regarding discovery and other matters.” Plaintiff’s counsel offered to “pay for lunch.” Defendant’s counsel failed to respond until the motion was filed.

Unbelievable...and absolutely hysterical.

Stormy St. Louie

Just a quick post to say we are among the half million customers in St. Louis with no electricity (61% in my zip code are unplugged) and no good indication of when it will return--they say 3-5 days. Blog posts may be scarce for a bit.

Our storm is obviously nowhere near the disaster that our Louisiana & Mississippi neighbors faced (and still face) from Katrina. Yet it is absolutely stunning to see how one quickly building, relatively small storm can pretty much shut down a city.

My daughter's Montessori was closed, my son's high school summer school was closed. Many stores and business are shut down.

Trees down everywhere, sirens sounding constantly, ice pretty hard to find. Temps well over 100 (113 with the heat index today).

Prayers needed for the elderly and young because some won't have made it through this brutally hot day. And for the workers trying to untangle trees from live wires have a terrifying and monumental task ahead.

My gratitude and appreciation mounts for all the fire, police and rescue workers as well as utility and city workers who are trying to put all the pieces together to keep everyone safe. It's no small thing.

Last Day to Win VA Conference Registration

A reminder that today is the chance to sign up to win the multi-day practice management conference registration. (see my prior post for details).

I know I have a lot of readers in the East so here are the drive times to reach the conference location, a fabulous resort.

Baltimore, MD 5 hours

Charlotte, NC 5 hours

Charleston, WV 3 hours

Cincinnati, OH 7 hours

Columbus, OH 6 hours

Harrisburg, PA 5 hours

Knoxville, TN 5 hours

Lexington, KY 5 hours

Norfolk, VA 4 hours

Philadelphia, PA 6 hours

Pittsburgh, PA 5 hours

Raleigh, NC 6 hours

Richmond, VA 3 hours

Roanoke, VA 2 hours

Washington, DC 4 hours