Super ultra mobile

This trip I decided to travel super ultra mobile. No 7 inch UMPC for me. No 5 inch UMPC. No I instead opted for a Nokia N95 with a Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard


All my email goes to my mobile and I figured I'd only need to send a couple of emails and possibly logon to the intranet (which I can do from the phone too actually) a couple of times, so I thought I'd probably get away with this ultra-portable setup. I did.

I successfully conducted all my business from the phone/keyboard and even did these blog posts. The N95 has all sorts of connectivity options, wifi, bluetooth, 3G internet, etc. I found the wireless handy for the free wifi in the Qantas club and otherwise when away from a wifi I could connect via 3G. It wasn't perfect as the screen is very small and the keyboard can get a bit tiring to type long comms on, but overall I was very happy and know I could do it again no problems.

IBM online gaming management study is flawed

IBM recently commissioned a study and has now published a report about the Online Gaming Community and how the leadership lessons can be applied to real life and business. I'm afraid I'd have to disagree. Below the post you'll find the link to the article which you can download in pdf format.

MMOG's do indeed have leaders. They form out of necessity, and are a type of leader to be sure. But come on, does anyone except someone commissioned for a large sum of money to produce a report actually believe that these skills will be valuable in real life? I think leaders in these games probably already have leadership skills and they simply manifest in the gaming environment. I'm certainly not looking for managers to join my teams who have online gaming on their resumes. Nor do I look for MBA's either (in fact that's a negative).

Online games lack real consequences. The trial and error approach to management may certainly work there but not in real life. What consequences are there for a rushed, stupid decision in an online game? You lose some points? You lose a game "life"? If you wanted a  manager to apply those sorts of techniques in the real world of business then you'd better be prepared to lose a couple million. Maybe that guy who brought down the big British investment bank was a gamer. He certainly took some big risks and kept taking them to cover it up. What the hell, it's not real money; it's just figures on a computer screen.

Virtual Worlds, real leaders.

Deals and meetings

A day full of meetings and a day full of opportunities.

Today started at 6am and finished at 8.30pm. Probably not long by a lot of peoples standards but with a young family it certainly is by mine. The day required travel interstate and thank heavens for the decent coffee in the Qantas Club.

The morning started off slowly as the major player we met with was extremely hard to read. When you don't get a lot of feedback from the guy you're talking with it's hard to modify your anner on the fly which I believe is essential to conducting a successful negotiation.

By the lunchtime meeting the day had picked up and it looks like one of our new ventures now has a valuable partner who will bring a lot to the table.

The afternoon went extremely well and we picked up a vendor who expressed interest in ordering $500,000 worth of merchandise from another of our ventures. Earlier this year we picked up the exclusive distribution rights to an International Brand and this is now starting to pay dividends for the company as our two fulltime sales staff are now on the road pushing the wares. It's good quality stuff and the pricing is razor sharp. I actually went with one of them to meet with this retail buyer simply for moral support and because we were on the road trip anyway and in the vicinity. I hazard a guess the buyer didn't know the CEO was right there in the meeting :).

On a tech note my little UMPC tablet performed flawlessly the whole day (I run a Fujitsu P1610D convertible tablet PC with extended battery).

Rodney Adler: Out of Jail and back in business

Rodney Adler just published his account of his time behind bars. He was probably paid a fortune too. I wonder how that made the tens of thousands of Aussie investors who lost millions because of his criminal, dishonest acts feel. Possibly not that much worse than knowing he's still living in a mansion in Vaucluse that's gotta be worth $10 million or so.

He's back in business. Sure he's banned from being a Company Director for 20 years, but he can still operate a business. And I'm sure he can use those millions of other peoples money he squiriled away to buy and sell and make more money.

Shame on anyone who does business with this morally bankrupt excuse of a person.

He should be listed on a "buyer beware" list to worn people not to do business with him.

I await the day the ACCC gets the power to seize ill-gotten family trust monies that these criminals hide away. Let's say you make a wage of 10 million plus for afew years running a company that never makes a cent for your shareholders. Then it goes belly up and you lose every cent those investors ever put in. Why should you have the right to keep those millions. They should be seized and redistributed to the investors. It may amount to 10 cents in the dollar but at least those people that lost their life savings don't have to watch you driving around in your Mercedes and swimming in your massive pool.

Anyone who now knowingly gives Rodney Adler a cent of their money or get's into bed with him in a business sense ought to have their head read.

Levels of management and future vision

Executives are required to have vision. How much vision, and by that I mean how far ahead you look, depends on where you are in the corporate food chain. I'll be examining all these roles in detail in further posts.

CEO - 20 year vision

A good CEO looks ahead to see where the Company needs to be in 20 years. He/she then hires, fires and strategises to ensure the Company can get there.

General Manager - 10 yearvision

Manager - 5 year vision

Line manager - 1 year vision

Staff, workers, people in the company
The members of a company who aren't in management don't really have to look. a long way into the future. At least not the company's future. And why should they? They need to get on with the job. That job is dictated by the company for sure; obviously the company is in business for a reason and the staff need to make, deliver, provide service or whatever is required to meet that reason.

The future they are concerned with is their daily, weekly monthly output. How does this differ from the next level of management and why? Well imagine if you not only had to make the shoes, plan what shoes to make next year, plan what market, to expand into next year; the year after. five years after that. plan what other products to expand with, tool up to make those products. Hire and fire people as part of expansion or contraction. Getting the picture?

It sort of sounds like a small business owner to me, and that's an awful lot of work. Some people are better at making, some at planning, some at looking ahead. 5, 10, 20 years. Rarely someone can look even further ahead.