Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .
IN OUR WORLD
It’s unheard of! Airlines, hotels, taxi cab companies are reeling from a sudden decline in their bottom lines. I had a full week in Dallas. Yep, my first full week of no travel in 2011.
Part of it was due to client rescheduling and part of it was self imposed as I had a couple of projects that needed my undivided attention and you just can’t do that on the road. I was also blessed with Chicago and Atlanta based clients coming to Dallas to work on curriculum projects.
So I customized a couple of presentations to meet some very specific client needs and continued the development of two strategic platforms that are currently in play:
- The Opportunity of Meeting: An entire strategy around the missed opportunities that happen due to the horrible planning around meetings.
- Dazzling Blue: A brand new strategy around pushing barriers and changing your thinking around what you really CAN do.
Next week finds a quick trip to Houston.
HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE
AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
THE LAW OF STRUCTURAL SUPPORT – Often, the best leaders are only as good as their support team.
Very few people can do everything themselves. The best leaders grasp this issue and have developed wonderfully supportive teams and systems to help them achieve goals that would otherwise be to complex and resource intensive to even embark upon.
What are the keys to this methodology of delegation?
- TRAINING: Your goal should be to have the finest trained staff on the planet. By having a knowledgeable and skillful team you free them from the risk of not knowing. The best tool for achieving the extraordinary is a well-trained and informed team.
- ACCOUNTABILITY: This is a key concept and one the team would be grateful for you to bestow on them. Give them the task, allow them the freedom to perform, after all they are the best trained team on the planet and hold them accountable for the outcome. That’s a winning formula.
- YOUR NETWORK: Sometimes your support is not always found in YOUR team; instead it’s in the networks you have built. The Law of Support governs ALL the support you have. Use your external team when the project requires perspective outside your traditional framework of support.
Think of your career as a house, the stronger the foundation, the better the outcome.
ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES: Fast Five: I haven’t seen this yet but everyone I know that has, gives it a big action movie thumbs up!
NetFlix Fans: The Illusionist: Great animated feature.
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TV: Dr. Who: Dr. Who returns to American TV on BBC America.
BOOK: The Improvisation Edge – Hough: An interesting look at the power of reacting to the situations as they present themselves.
MUSIC: Rob Thomas singing a very emotional and minimalistic version of 3 AM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUVWzvFYk0k&feature=related
WEB SITES: Looking for good TV – here is the list of the top 25 shows of 2010. They have Justified at #14 – Geez, should be in top 5.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-25-best-television-series-of-2010,49229/
SOUTH OF NORMAL
From my friends at Springwise – As a weekly traveler, airport stuff always interests me!
We’ve recently seen numerous innovations designed to ease the tedium of pre-flight waiting. Take the ebook library[www.springwise.com/media_publishing/elibrary/] at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, for example. This morning Schiphol airport in Amsterdam launched their own effort, with the world’s first airport park.
The park consists of a large interior space as well as an outdoor terrace for when the weather is fine. The indoor area of the park is designed to replicate the feeling of an outdoor space, with butterflies projected on to the walls and floors, and with sounds such as bicycle bells, animals and playing children filling the air. Surrounding a once-threatened 130 year-old tree, the park features a number of loungers and wire frame and ivy chairs for travelers to relax in, as well as the Park Café, serving fresh juices, organic coffee and hamburgers. Around the periphery of the park there are power points for travelers to charge electronic devices such as laptops, and there is the option to charge mobile phones by pedaling one of the energy generating bicycles. To boost its eco-credentials, the airport uses LED lighting wherever possible, with natural light also entering the park through fiber optic cables and tube lighting.
As airports continue to be a hotspot for innovation, there are plenty of lessons to be to be applied anywhere that consumers are forced to wait – take note and be inspired! (Related: Portland airport installs bike assembly station for travellers[www.springwise.com/transportation/pdxbikestation/] — Singapore airport’s four-storey slide rewards duty-free spending[www.springwise.com/tourism_travel/slide_t3/].)
Website: www.schiphol.nl/airportpark
Contact: www.schiphol.nl/Reizigers/OpSchiphol/Contact.htm
Drop me a note with your comments at steve@creativeventures.com
Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.
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