Let's talk about Respect (especially in the era of Virtual Meetings)
I saw Seth Godin’s Tweet this week announcing this post on his blog. It is definitely worth a read as a reminder to us all.
We are all guilty at times of not being “present” when interacting with others in person. Not paying attention or listening-to-respond are things that we unfortunately all do and it is simply a case of us not providing due respect to those with whom we are interacting.
In virtual meetings, it’s worse! Whether we’re hopefully only multitasking and not surfing Facebook or simply treating a meeting like a television show, the amount of time that is being wasted is scary to consider.
I personally liked Seth’s list and, if we’d all commit to following them, the effectiveness of our meetings (both virtual and in-person) would dramatically improve.
At work, my leader gave everyone permission to leave a meeting where they did not feel was providing information they needed or they were not providing value to the other attendees.
That’s a gift we should all give to our staff and we’d all be better off for it!
Note: I did a blog post and YouTube video in March at the start of the pandemic giving hints to have more effective virtual meetings. Check it out.
This is an excerpt from my recent post reviewing The E-Myth Revisited and sharing my notes taken as I read through the book. You can check out the entire post at this link.
I reviewed The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About it by Michael E. Gerber. Originally written in 1995, it still contains relevant and actionable guidance for building and growing a business.
It was suggested by more than one person whose advice a respect as a good read for a business owner and, after reading it, I understand why.
Each of the chapters blends principles with practice application.
Specific to his practical application, Gerber introduces us to “Sarah” whose journey we will follow through the book. He suggests that she is representative of a friend or consulting client, but it is through her experiences and viewpoint that we see an example of his ideas in use.
For the purposes of his avatar, she learned to bake pies from her Aunt and, as an adult, took that love for the skill into starting her own bakery. When we meet her, “Sarah” is experiencing the typical feelings of frustration and burnout that many owner-operators go through as they struggle to handle the different parts of their business. She based the bakery on her skills and love for pie-making but struggles with the operational side.
Prior to his involvement, Sarah & her bakery were on track to be one of the unfortunate statistics of independently-owned business startups.
On average, there is a 50% failure rate in their 1st year and an 80% failure rate within their 1st 5 years.
Gerber’s goal is sharing a process and system for building a business that defies those odds.
Here are a few other things that I have caught my eye this week! I included a quick synopsis, but I would love to hear your thoughts on them as well!
Another WordPress Bug Uncovered (WooCommerce)
My website runs on WordPress. If your site runs atop it (or any of the main platforms), be sure that it is being kept up-to-date (including your plug-ins and themes). As many companies have cut staff and reduced expenses, many of these operational activities are falling by the wayside and it will ultimately lead to big problems.
Shoot me a TM or email if you’ve got concerns, but with the increased activity among hackers, this is a time when we need to all become vigilant.
Start Your Holiday Planning Now
If you’ve got a business, it’s time to be putting your holiday plans into action (especially as it relates to marketing and advertising). With the increase in online sales, decrease in in-person interactions, and 2020 is not only Covid-19 but an Election Year, we are likely to see some of the highest advertising costs (Digital, TV, Radio, etc) that we have ever seen! As costs go higher, your copy, content, and targeting have to be spot on because conversion and returns are becoming more challenging in this increasingly competitive market.
Apple vs Epic – Update
I shared a number of stories in a “big section” write-up last week about Apple’s spate of App Store-related issues with developers. WordPress worked with them and was able to work out their issues are get their app reinstated; Epic Games does not seem to be following the same path (or getting the same result). Based on the link above, Epic Games has not gotten their entire account disabled in the App Store which could affect more than Fortnite. Thankfully, they have a separate account for their Unreal Engine (used by a multitude of other game developers) which could’ve made this a much more widespread problem for a much wider audience.
Couple of thoughts
- Neither Apple nor Epic Games looks good in this. Their USERS are the ones who are losing in this fight!
- This should be a cautionary tale to app developers as well. Many of us build things atop platforms for the ease, convenience, and ready-made audiences that they bring. However, that model is risky when battles break out between the behemoths who own the platforms and engines upon which we build functionality.
New MS Teams Feature
I use MS Teams for work. For my personal interests, I use Zoom. I have not used MS Teams Rooms, but for the features that I have used, I have no issues with either Teams or Zoom.
That said, the feature being highlighted does sound cool. The capability to set up and integrate devices in such a fashion that you are selecting which of your set of devices to use during a session is intriguing. I can understand how it would effective to us a cellphone (with AirPods) for audio, a WiFi-enabled camera for video, and my laptop for screen sharing in an integrated fashion. Effectively, you can use each of the devices to create the best-integrated experience. Assuming you have a good router and high bandwidth, this sounds exciting.
Do I think it will make me “forget Zoom”? No. If it truly becomes a “game-changing” feature, Zoom, Google Meets, and WebEx will release their own version of it.
If there are posts, articles, etc. that you found valuable, mention it in the comments below or shoot me an email.
