Last year I wrote a blog entry called 10 rules on How to Enjoy Your Life.

In that same way of thinking, ask your self these “What if …” questions and see if they apply.

1.  What if … you went to work with the same enthusiasm that you have when leaving work?

2.  What if … you spent your time focused on the possibilities ahead of you, rather than the regrets behind you?

3.  What if … you focused on GIVING and let the RECEIVING just happen?

4.  What if … you looked for the GOOD in people, rather than noticing the things that “bother” you?

5.  What if … you spent as much time working on your challenges, as you do worrying about them?

6.  What if … you looked for ways to fix and improve rather than excuses?

7.  What if … you spent an hour a day on self improvement and an hour less a day doing less fruitful activities?

8.  What if … you smiled instead of frowned?

9.  What if … you took charge of your health instead of making excuses?

10.  What if … everyone did these things?

Please KNOW that there is NOTHING stopping you from doing ALL of this … except YOU! 

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right … Henry Ford

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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It is budget day in Canada and the government is talking about cuts, savings etc.  Here is a novel idea … attack all the low hanging fruit first. 

According to Statistics Canada there are approximately 417,000 people working for the Federal Government in Canada.  That is an increase of approximately 10% (or close to 40,000 people) since 2006.  Our deficit was $34 billion last year and we are approaching a national debt of $600 Billion meaning that we need real value for our dollars and we can’t afford to waste tax dollars on “deadwood”.

I live in Ottawa and know lots of good people who work in the Public service and have the greatest respect for them.  I am also amazed at the number of stories they tell me about the “slackers” in the government who never get dealt with.

• The guy who is getting close to retirement, doesn’t much feel like working any more so he comes to the office most days, reads the paper, reads a book, occupies a chair and does basically nothing.
• The lady who was hired last year, still on probation, formerly a contractor … now as an employee she just doesn’t come to work.  She doesn’t feel like it, who knows why … but she is being paid out of taxpayer dollars and nobody does anything about it.
• The many people I have heard about that get shuffled between departments because nobody wants them.
• The “sidelined” executives that have no real task but are just kept around … and who then apply for every job for which they might be a fit on paper, but everyone knows they can’t do.
• The employee caught surfing porn multiple times and the answer is to put him in a more public office space … why, so everyone can see?

I couldn’t make this up … these are stories I have been hearing about on a regular basis for years.  It is my very strong belief that I could talk to ten people in this town and they would all know someone who could fit into this “deadwood category”. 

If 2% (my conservative estimate of numbers) of the Federal Government staff were actually fired for this kind of inexcusable stuff the tax payer would save $400 million (assuming an average $50,000 cost with benefits etc.  which is also a conservative estimate based on Treasury Board information). 

In addition to the considerable savings …

The affect on government programs would be zero.

The affect on employee morale would be positive … nobody likes to see that kind of behaviour.  The vast majority of government workers earn their pay cheque, and they would appreciate not having to carry the deadwood!

How hard can this be?  What private sector organization would let this happen?  Maybe the govt could create an official Director of Firing, if it was a guy he could get a Donald Trump haircut!

Once Project Deadwood is done we can tackle Project People Investment that could look at the training investment the taxpayer makes in people with a year or two left before retirement.  After that I have plenty more Projects in mind

PS.  This would work at the provincial and municipal levels of government too … even more tax savings!!!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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One of the very first blog posts that I wrote  back in 2006 was about the 50 Best Managed Companies awards gala.   That night Eagle was added to the Platinum “club” having already been on the list of 50 Best Managed companies for seven years.

Last night was the 2012 gala and Eagle celebrated 13 years of receiving this recognition, remaining one of the less than 100 companies in Canada to have reached the Platinum status.

My original post talked about the value of this program, and I remain a committed proponent of it to this day.  For private companies in Canada it is a great way to promote best practices, to get some professional guidance, to be recognised for good work and to have an award that speaks to the quality of your company.  This makes for better companies, it leads to more jobs (and what is more important in today’s economy) … and it celebrates success.

Kudos to Deloitte, CIBC, Queens School of Business and the National Post for sponsoring a program that truly helps to stimulate our Canadian economy by promoting small and medium sized businesses.  They throw a mean party too!!!

Now if only our governments could figure out how to help businesses to grow and create jobs! 

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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Spotted in a Toronto store!

Enough said!!!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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Wikipedia tells us that Blinders, also known as blinkers or winkers, are a piece of horse tack that prevent the horse seeing to the rear and, in some cases, to the side.  It goes on to say that many racehorse trainers believe these keep the horse focused on what is in front of him, encouraging him to pay attention to the race rather than other distractions, such as crowds.

In theory, blinders would be an excellent tool for many of today’s leaders … helping them to stay focused on their core values and not be seduced by the A.D.D. and those other “fantastic opportunities”.  I have blogged on many occasions about the need for focus.

Having said that, all leaders also benefit from “other” points so view, perhaps different ways of looking at their problems.  In 2006, the year I started this blog, I wrote about the Value of Strategic Planning … for exactly those kinds of thoughts.

I’m not the only one who thinks this way either, and wrote a blog entry in 2009 with Advice from Some Proven Leaders.  There was a common thread of valuing the opinions of others.

Today I bumped into a fellow CEO at Ottawa airport, and we are both attending the same Toronto events in the next couple of days … related to the 50 Best Managed Companies awards.  Tony and I have known each other probably 10 years, and were in the same President’s club for a number of years but don’t get to chat too much these days.

It took about 2 minutes of conversation to realise that we talk the same language … we are business people, we are business owners, we are both entrepreneurs who started our own companies.  It was refreshing to have that instant “bulb on” chat about issues that are difficult to talk about with anyone who hasn’t “been there”.

It reminded me of some leadership lessons I have learned over the years …

1.  It is lonely at the top.

2.  Partners are a wonderful asset … and I am blessed with GREAT partners.

3.  We all have doubts … but we need to have the “guts’ to make things happen.  Great Seth Godin blog on this!

4.  It is good to be introspective, to question whether your time as leader is done … but it is also good to verify how good you are!

5.  With reference to #1 … you can’t do it alone.  LISTEN to others, be OPEN to advice, TRULY take it in, Develop trusted advisors … THEN make your own mind up about what to do.  At the end of the day it is you who has to lead … and don’t blame the advisors!

You cannot do this with those blinders on!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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Whenever you read that statement, it is true!  Some of you will take that as an opportunity to procrastinate and others will take it as an opportunity to act.

Life does not always work out the way we had expected … in fact it rarely does.  We make plans and “things happen” along the way … that’s just life!

“Have you got a problem? Do what you can where you are with what you’ve got.” ___ Theodore Roosevelt

There are a number of aspects to our lives, and you need a plan for ALL of them.  You will not be truly content if any one of these is causing you concern … so work on them all!

1.  Your work life.

2.  Your home life/relationships.

3.  Your health.  Check out my Healthy Executive blog entries.

4.  Your education.

The best way to get where you want to go, is to start!  Set yourself goals and exceed them.  Every time you meet a goal you increase your confidence AND the likelihood that you will reach your end goal (at which point you will need new goals)!

You need to PLAN, and Revisit that Plan often.

You will need GOALS … they give you something to shoot for, and how else will you know where you are going and whether you have actually arrived if you don’t have goals?

You need to believe in yourself … and good things WILL happen.  

Take some time to make YOUR goals a reality.  The past is done … but the future is full of promise!   LIVE your life!!!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change … Charles Darwin 

Do you make it easy for your client to buy from you?

Do you find ways to make your client’s life easy?

Do you solve their problems?

Or … do you provide a service that solves some (most) of your client’s issues and assume that they will solve the rest some other way?

Here is the issue … you might provide a GREAT service that solves 90% of your client’s issues, but the minute someone has a service that solves 100% (or even 95%) of their issues then you are in big trouble!

Scenario #1

If you owned a small local hardware store and you knew all your customers, you provided them with their paint, their wood, their tools and maybe a bunch of other things.  Along came “big box store” … it does everything you do, plus a bunch of things you can’t do … at a price point that might be lower than your cost!  The things you have going for you are your level of service, your relationships and the “loyalty” of your customers.

Over time your customers find that they can “one-stop shop” instead of buying some stuff at your shop and some stuff elsewhere; there might even be more selection at the big box store; they find they can save money; they don’t much like the service, BUT … its easier and cheaper!   Loyalty helps, relationships help but unless you are doing a better job of solving the customers problems you are in trouble.

Scenario #2

You are a big box store and you service a large area with a wide selection of items at bargain prices.  A niche paint store opens up, a niche tile place opens up … and the high end clients want more service, a better shopping experience and some advice to go with their “stuff”.  You lose some customers and they capture their share of the market!  What niche will open next?

Whatever business you are in, you need to understand your customer’s needs.  The more of those needs that you can handle for the customer, the better positioned you are. 

Its not enough to just do what YOU think is good for the client … it is much more important to do what your client thinks is useful to them. 

You can be quite successful for a long time serving most of your client’s needs … right up until someone does it better!

I won’t complain. I just won’t come back …Brown & Williamson Tobacco Ad 

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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For all those English majors out there this blog entry is about documents that sell, which would include documents such as proposals, sales presentations and emails to clients etc.   It is not about how to sell documents!

Your most powerful “tool” when writing any document designed to sell is the “so what?” statement.  Read the document, from your client/prospect’s perspective and ask the question “so what does that statement mean to me?”

A couple of months ago I wrote a blog entry called “Sales 101 – Compelling Messages” which talks about the need for strong messages.  Today I want to talk a little about actually communicating those messages.

Most documents that clients read tend to just state the facts, and expect the client to translate that into what it means for them.

For example, I could state that our company is a 15 year old national, professional staffing company which has been named a 50 best Managed Company every year since 1999.  We supply IT professionals, Finance & Accounting people and Executive/Management Consultants.

I would be stating some facts in a concise manner, which isn’t awful … but it doesn’t SELL the company.

If I want to turn that into selling messages then I need to tell the client what that means to them.  I need to ask the question, “so what”?

So what … about being a 15 year old company is important to a client?

So what … about being national is important to a client?

So what … about being a 50 Best Managed Company since 1999 is important to a client?

So what … about supplying professionals across a number of disciplines is important to a client?

Also … are there any benefits to a client from the total of those statements?

The result of asking those questions might say something like …

We are a professional staffing company that has continuously worked at developing our best practices over the last 15 years.  This commitment to excellence means that we have been recognised with the 50 best Managed Companies award every year since 1999, but more importantly we have been able to attract a “who’s who” client base that recognise our ability to deliver for them. 

Equally important has been our relationship with professionals across the country in IT, Finance & Accounting, and Executive/Management Consulting.  Over 15 years we have developed a database of contacts second to none, meaning that we are exceptionally well positioned to meet our client’s needs.  In supplying multiple disciplines our clients benefit by having one consistent supplier, with one contract vehicle instead of dealing with a separate company for each type of resource (IT, F&A and Executive/Management consulting).

When you put all this together we provide a unique solution for clients.  Our client base is exceptionally strong which attracts the best consultants, AND our consultant base is exceptionally strong which means the best clients want to work with us.  Our national reach provides the additional benefit that we can find rare talent even if they are not available locally!  This capability is the result of 15 years of dedication to becoming Canada’s #1 professional staffing company.

I don’t claim to be a professional writer, or a trainer and I wrote this “on the fly” … but even so, if I am a client looking at evaluating companies the latter description tells me why I might want to work with this company.  The first description just states the facts … and hopes the client reads between the lines.

So … Tell your client what the value is to them.  Don’t expect them to read your mind! 

Don’t sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance can do … Ben Feldman

Don’t sell your product or service.  Sell its value to the client … Kevin Dee

PS.  If you want to work with a GREAT staffing company in Canada I might know one! 

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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First let me state that I am not a big believer in HOPING for anything.  I don’t believe that fate is some pre-ordained destiny that will somehow happen no matter what I do!

I believe that we are the architects of our own destiny!

Today I was chatting with a writer from a local newspaper about the potential impact of the upcoming Federal budget, and the ensuing government cutbacks.   What will it mean to business in Canada’s capital, Ottawa?

Here are some thoughts …

1.  If any business is TOO dependent upon one source of revenue then they put themselves at risk.  Many Ottawa based businesses have all their eggs in the Federal Government basket … that just might prove very painful.

2.  Ottawa has always been a “government town”, but for a while we had some “anchor” companies that created a significant high-tech presence.  When Nortel and JDS succumbed to the crash, and Cognos was bought by IBM, we were left with no MAJOR anchor companies.  So we are once again a government town.

3.  There is a burgeoning set of start-ups in and around Ottawa, that creates employment for small numbers of highly skilled people at a time.  They may grow into larger employers, but are much more likely to be acquired by large companies headquartered elsewhere meaning we will still be a government town, with SMBs in the community.

4.  Anytime an anchor organization leaves an area, or significantly downsizes, the impact on the community is significant.  When Nortel shed thousands of jobs the Federal Government “beefed up’ … so the local impact, while significant, was not as bad as it might have been.  As a government town (did I mention that?) the federal government IS Ottawa’s anchor.

5.  The federal government will shed jobs in one of two ways (a) it will stop doing some things; or (b) it will stop doing some things ITSELF.  The latter means some opportunity for private sector … the former means a large net loss of jobs. 

A slight aside … When an organizations downsizes and asks for “volunteers” it is usually the people you least want to lose, that go.  In this case the feds might well lose their best talent.  This creates the issue of those same people coming back (double dipping) as consultants.  That might be nice for companies like mine, but as a taxpayer I’m not sure it makes much sense.

Back to that HOPING versus PLANNING …

The federal government represents less than  5% of my business!  We won’t know how important that business reality will be, until after the budget … but I am planning not hoping! 

What are you doing?

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration … Thomas Edison

I recently read an Executive Book Summary of Reviving Work Ethic by Eric Chester.  it was an interesting read and gave me a few take-aways to ponder.

The book comes about as the culmination of research into the Millennials and how to harness all of their positive attributes, and re-instill a commitment to an “old fashioned” (my words) work ethic. 

Eric suggests that our society has created a different set of expectations amongst the younger workers who have seen the lottery winners, the dot commers and other “start ups” who got rich quick.  They have been schooled in an environment where failure was not possible and their “self esteem” was all important. 

Having said that, the Pew Research Centre produced a report suggesting that Millennials are confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change in addition to being the first “always connected generation”.

How can we as employers, bosses and business owners harness all of those great qualities and bring back a commitment to a work ethic that will bring the best out in this next generation? 

First Chester defines work ethic as … knowing what to do and doing it.  It is marked by an individual’s positive attitude, reliability, professionalism, initiative, respect, integrity and gratitude.

Chester defines a matrix with the desired quadrant being for employees who (a) know what to do and (b) do it.  the GOAL for all leaders is to move people to this quadrant.  of course anyone who is a leader today understands the challenge here, and how do you motivate people to actually do what they are supposed to do?

Chester’s solution is to look hard at the seven attribute of work ethic and mentor, coach, reward, train and set a good example to encourage people to adopt positive work habits.

1.  Positive attitude.  Some people are positive by nature others not so much … but developing a positive work environment and setting the right tome is critical.

2.  Reliability.  people need to understand WHY this is important to your organization AND they need to see it applied consistently.  Leaders cannot treat themselves differently, or play favorites … if you want your team to be reliable then they ALL need to be reliable!

3.  Professionalism.  Once again it is about education … why is it important to dress the part, to act professional and to operate in a professional manner.  Establishing the norm, setting the example and working with the team to achieve this state is the job of the leader but ultimately just becomes the way the team operates!

4.  Initiative.  A tough one because you need to trust people to do what you expect of them and recognise when people go “above and beyond”.  Hold up the good examples, reward them and and let everyone know that is the expectation.

5.   Respect.  We all want and need rules and boundaries but this generations does not respond well to fear.  The best way to motivate them to respect the rules is to tell them why those are the rules, explain the need and set the right example yourself.  As a leader you can’t expect your team to operate at a higher level than you, so if you don’t follow the rules then you are telling them the rules don’t really matter!

6.  Integrity.  Studies suggest that this generation by and large sees cheating and lying as acceptable … ouch!  Leaders need to explain what is acceptable and not within their particular environment, and WHY.  The why is very important to get buy-in and once again the leader needs to set the tone.  If the leader is cheating on expenses, or not putting in the hours then the team will just assume that is OK. 

7.  Gratitude.  This generation needs to understand the need for gratitude … which may be obvious to some, but it will not be obvious to all.  they have been given “a lot” without a need to show gratitude, but developing this trait will help them to appreciate their achievements and to have a better chance of working their way to success.

This next generation workforce has tremendous potential, if they can develop the strong work ethic of former generations.  It requires a big commitment from today’s leaders, a significant effort in mentoring, teaching and setting the right example … but this needs to happen if our Western society is to retain its prominence on the world stage.

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!
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