The presentation side of my business is booming again, thanks to all the efforts of my business manager, Chris Ryan. The presentation platform provides the primary method for advancing many of our latest strategic ideas and platforms. During the past four years the consulting side of the business has boomed with our strategic planning, goal setting, customer service, and sales platforms being applied to many of our core clients. In order to launch our new ideas, presentations play a key role. My calendar is bursting!

Our new rich media projects (video, HTML, newsletters, and blogs) were fantastic and much of June was dedicated to turning ideas into reality. Look at the opportunities you have to make a visual impact on your customers and think about the benefits of shifting to rich media.

ANNOUNCEMENT: For the first time in the 24 year history of CREATIVE VENTURES, I will be conducting a public workshop, teaching our core curriculum on communication and thinking skill sets. I have made the announcement in my blog and the response has been fantastic. Mark your calendars for July 15 in Dallas, TX for the first OPEN workshop. We are limiting the number of participants due to the design of the exercise portions of the program. The program is a full day interactive, multimedia learning experience. Interested? Contact my business manager Chris Ryan at 214-697-2700 or cryan@paredigm.com

We are the architects of our time. The idea that we control the impact we have on how we spend our time may seem foreign to you - and if it does, that understandable. Time itself is mostly a mystery to us. The great Astronomer Carl Sagan talked of time as “resistant to simple definition”. We all think we have a handle on it. We have watches, clocks and cell phones to keep us in touch with our definitions of time. Though the evidence of its motion is all around us, we can not see it our touch it. Time is the constant wind of our lives. So how does time impact our roles as leaders and managers?

If we are indeed architects of time, then we are responsible for the design of its use. An architect can create designs as bold as their imagination (Frank Gehry) or as subtle as the land itself (Frank Lloyd Wright). They respond to a variety of conditions to get the best design and we have the same responsibility with our time.

During a recent study of sales behaviors among top producers I discovered a great line of demarcation between those top producers and those hovering at a lesser level. It was all about TIME.

Top producers were masters of their days, weeks and months. They planned. Second tier producers were victims of their day. When asked how they plan their day, their responses were often; “my phone starts ringing, emails start flooding my in-box and associates start knocking on my door. I am constantly responding to provide superior service.” OK, so you don’t plan your day, you just respond. You are a classic “victim” of your time. These professionals lack the core knowledge that time is not about minutes or hours, but instead about events. Time management is a fallacy. All that matters is EVENT management. How do I manage the events that fill my time?

Great leaders and managers recognize time is all about choices. How you choose to spend your time is reflective of the impact of your time. Strong leaders help their team choose the events that fill their time wisely. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to get to that”, doesn’t fly. They mean to say; “I chose to spend my time on something else”. Leaders provide time focus.

Find methods of turning this abstract concept of time into a strategic tool. Help your team choose the events that fill their time so that their choices are creating a constant stream of impact. Help them learn the simple tasks of planning regular events like conference calls, meetings, client contacts and they will start to become “architects of their time” and not victims of their choices!

• CAUSE AND EFFECT: Michael Dell and his computer company recently reported that sales were up 9% and earnings increased to $.38 from $.34. They beat the Street’s expectations; a great result for the Texas based computer giant. When you look at this accomplishment you won’t see a big jump in the sales environment, but by looking a little deeper you will see they are reaping the benefits of massive strategic plan launched in 2007. They are seeing the effect of a cause that actually started over a year ago. Cause and effect are often separated by time and space. Learn to work on cause and recognize the value of the space and time that will pass before the total impact of your choices.
• ELECTRONIC MARKETS vs. STICK AND BRICK STORES: Here is a quick bite on the battle occurring on market fronts. First, Barnes and Noble, the largest seller of books on the planet, saw earnings fall again stirring the rumors that they may be buying Borders. The impact of Amazon’s electronic bookstore, rapidly approaching the #1 spot is showing. There is a war between the traditional store and the unlimited inventory and delivery of the electronic market place. That’s a shame as I love going to the bookstore. Then you have Costco whose earnings are up 32%! During tough economic times people shop discount, and Costco is a strong beat. Their warehouse experience is built on a simple floor plan, tremendous selection and a customer centric philosophy. Stick and bricks still rule the world of the grocer. For now!

• ANOTHER EARTH: We are on the cusp of locating another earth type planet hanging around the Milky Way. I am a physics and astronomy geek which made this weeks news of discovering three “super earths” circling a single star startling. These rocky planets fit a very broad earth-type definition, but clearly open the door to a very specifically defined earth-like planet existing. We have the technology that through a combination of professional and amateur star gazers is yielding almost five new planets discovered each month. We know there are similar planets to ours out there and most astrophysicists and astronomers agree, give us just about 5 years and we should find one!

CONTACT: Interested in these ideas?

You can contact Steve at steve@creativeventures.com or give him a call at 972-490-7717.