I was buying something at a local farmer’s market last weekend.  The guy operating the stall owns the business which is an organic farm.

There was a very small lineup waiting to be served and the first person in the queue was obviously someone the owner knew well.  They had a good conversation about their kids, what they were doing these days and in between put together a small order of vegetables.

So what?

Well, I work in downtown Toronto where a micro-second of delay at a red light leads to a cacophony of car horns.  Where standing in line at a Tim Hortons is excruciating, such that everyone is busily answering emails rather than waste a few minutes.  Where to wait on an escalator because someone is blocking the walking side sends the blood pressure up.  Its a high paced, low tolerance way of life that just seems to be the big city way.

So … standing at this stall I had a range of emotions.

It was a Saturday afternoon and I could afford to be a little patient, but I was subconsciously getting angry at having to wait.

Intellectually I thought it was kind of nice that this farmer, who clearly works very hard for his living can take time out to be social … and I am talking about “real” social, not Facebook.

I intentionally forced myself to not look at my iPhone.

I concentrated on relaxing and just being in the moment … rather than thinking three steps ahead and wondering how fast I could get to the next step.

I smiled.

I decided that I should learn to find some time in my life that is not time pressured, where I could just relax, do nothing and not worry about the time.

I was also very proud of myself for staying calm while these people wasted my time

Life used to be like that for previous generations.  We did not always live in an “instant on”, “instant gratification”, “instant communication” world.  All of that technological innovation makes us much more efficient just sometimes its nice to switch it all off.

I’m not sure if I can actually slow down enough to enjoy “a slower pace” … but I will be on vacation next week, just maybe I’ll treat myself to a technology free afternoon. 

Of course that might become a technology free hour or two!

We all have to start somewhere!

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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!

Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!

Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?

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In ”that” perfect world we would all have indexed pensions, full health care, ever increasing salaries and fantastic benefits.

In ”that” perfect world all of my investments would go steadily up, guaranteeing me a good return into the future.

In ”that” perfect world the “situation” I negotiated at any given point in time would never go backwards.  My “collective bargaining agreement” would protect my “rights” for all time.

It does not exist.

Today’s “real” world brings tremendous opportunities … to those willing to take a risk.

Today’s “real” world offer potential for those willing to “earn” it.

Today’s “real” world is not kind to those who “live in the past”.

Today’s “real” world is affected by recessions that destroy savings.

Today’s “real” world has global competition with access to “inexpensive, yet skilled, labour”.

Today’s “real” world has a changing demographic, with more people retiring than entering the workforce.

Today’s real” world has an aging population that will place greater strains on social and health care systems.

Today’s “real” world sees innovation at an incredible pace, with whole industries changed in a very short space of time both good and bad.  Look at the photography industry over the last 10 years.  Look at the growth in the bio sciences sector.

What are YOU doing in this “real” world, today, to look out for your interests tomorrow?

Remember … YOU have the responsibility for YOURSELF. Do NOT expect your government, your employer, your union or even your parents to handle all of your problems.

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Find Canada’s top hot jobs, updated in real-time!  Visit Eagle’s Job Centre!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
________________________________________________________________

A number of years ago I was feeling pretty good about Eagle’s growth.  We had grown our business nicely over the first few years, added clients, locations and revenues.  I pride myself on having my feet firmly on the ground … but sometimes it takes a friend to remind you!  I was meeting with a “sage” friend of mine who asked me the classic question … “Are you good at what you do, or are you just in a the right place at the right time?”

It is a question all businesses need to ask … and the right answer is that in order to remain successful a company NEEDS to be good at what it does.  The thing is … it is our clients who will decide just how good we are, because if we are NOT, then they will go elsewhere.

So … for Eagle began a commitment to continuous improvement.  We applied for the 50 Best Managed Private Companies award and after a couple of attempts, some advice from the organisers and some hard work we achieved that distinction, and have won that award every year since.

As our next quality initiative we focused on achieving ISO registration.  Again this required significant effort, an investment in consulting services and a company wide commitment to the ideals of ISO’s quality standards.  We have been ISO registered for a number of years now.

Again, it is a company’s clients that determine the kind of activities they need to be good at in order to be relevant.  Companies exist to serve their clients … and thus any continuous improvement program needs to focus on their client’s needs.

It will always be the clients who let us know just how good we are … or not!

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” … Sam Walton

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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!
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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The ideas, thoughts and opinions of this blog are intended to inform, challenge, share and generally bring some value to the reader.

I am often asked about my success and how I was able to go from a 16 year old school drop out, to owning a company that last year generated $140 million in revenues.  I try to share some of my experiences, some of my thoughts and ideas … but they are based on my journey, and you need to be able to apply the concepts to your journey.  Your journey will never be exactly like mine.

I sometimes write about personal development with ideas for people to explore, if they so desire … but that is entirely within the control of the individual.  I don’t presume to know you or what you want from your life … I share my thoughts to help, not judge or dictate.

I have often been approached by people I know who think a blog entry was about them.  It isn’t!  I don’t write any blog entry directed at an individual, although experiences I have along the way will generate the thought for the blog entry.  I write them based on my 40 plus (ouch) years of work experience.

It took me a long time to realize that most of my barriers were within myself … that once I believed I could succeed, I began to have success.  Once I was able to “do what it takes” rather than allow barriers to stop me, then I was on my journey.  If you have not yet truly reached that point then you may be reading this blog and thinking things like  I can’t do that; or he must be lucky or have rich friends or brilliant; etc.

I am definitely not brilliant, my background was very modest; I started my working life in the Royal Navy at the very lowest rank that exists and was never an officer.   Every entrepreneur needs some element of luck … but like Jefferson (or Goldwyn) said “The harder I work the luckier I get”!

The keys to Kevin’s success … hard work, time management, attitude, energy and a willingness to be constantly learning.

I took a shine to this poster, and I’m sure every entrepreneur can relate!

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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!
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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Managers can affect their staff’s motivation at any given point in time … both positively and negatively.

If your company creates a positive work environment, with respect for the employee and a healthy number of incentives it can serve to motivate people to a degree … but over time for many people those “perks” become expected.

Only YOU can truly motivate yourself.

The misconception is that it is a natural state … most people need to work at it.  In fact I would hazard a guess that everybody needs a lift sometimes, and there are things you can do for yourself to kindle that motivation!

So I collected some links of ideas to motivate people … see if any of these work for you.

1.  Top 20 Motivation Hacks. An Overview.

2.  The Surprising Science of Motivation (Dan Pink) .. video.

3.  A Daily Motivation Poster.

4.  Reddit’s Get Motivated page.

5.  If I ever need to be reminded about how good I have it I watch the amazing Nick Vujicic’s video, No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!

If you want success in your career you MUST get motivated.

If you want to excel at anything in your life it takes motivation.

Motivated people are more interesting, more successful and happier … think about it!
________________________________________________________________
Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Find Canada’s top hot jobs, updated in real-time!  Visit Eagle’s Job Centre!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
________________________________________________________________

A few days ago I blogged about Time Management … the concept of being as productive as possible in the time that you have.

“The essence of self-discipline is to do the important thing rather than the urgent thing.”  … Barry Werner

For most people the concept of “time management” is associated with work rather than with their non-work activities.  I like to think of my time, both work and non-work, as one holistic entity called my life … and both of those components of my life are pretty well inter-twined.  Therefore if I can find some extra hours in my current schedule, I can use that time for something more important in my life.

What kinds of things could YOU do with some extra time?  Depending upon your current situation some of these might be relevant …

i.  Spend more quality time with your family;

ii.  Do some self improvement work … career development, self interest courses, read books that add to your knowledge base etc.

iii.  Work on your fitness.

iv.  Increase your work productivity … leading to promotions, higher commissions, self fulfillment or any number of career oriented objectives.

v.  Add a new hobby that you have been wanting to do.

With those as potential carrots where could you find some time?

i.  Watch less television (or radically, no television) … the same concept applies to gamers.  If you just reduced your “addiction” by one hour a day = 365 hours every year.  You could do a lot with that kind of time.  If you are a big TV watcher (or gamer) you might burn 3 or 4 hours a day on this activity … that is some serious time you could use on more productive activities.

ii.  Sleep less.  You could work at spending one less hour in bed every day … again, 365 hours a year.  If you sleep a lot perhaps you could double that?

iii.  Utilise waiting time better.  Always have a book, some articles or a useful magazine to read when waiting for appointments, the bus, in the line at Tim Hortons or Starbucks.  Ten minutes a couple of times a day = more than 120 hours a year of additional self development!

iv.  Don’t waste time at work:

• Drink the office coffee, saving the 20 minutes going to and from Starbucks (and some money)!
• Give up smoking, saving the 4 trips a day of 15 minutes a time (1 hour a day wasted)! Plus save money; Plus improve your health!
• Don’t read the news, the sports sites, the shopping channel during the work hours … dedicate 30 minutes at lunch, while eating a sandwich!  This can burn untold time!
• Don’t get drawn into “water cooler” chat … put your head down and work!

v.  Split chores with your partner so you can be twice as effective … you do the shopping while she washes the car etc.

vi.  Plan your trips so you can accomplish multiple tasks in one efficient trip, rather than taking multiple trips.  Salespeople should (where possible) plan multiple meetings in the same geographic location at the same time, rather than each separately over several days.  When you go out to the grocery store, cover off the other potential stores in the same trip … beer store, hardware store etc.

vii.  Buy exercise equipment for home and save on the commute time to a gym and back.

viii.  Listen to books on tape while driving, on the bus or sitting in the rink waiting for you child to finish hockey practice … again increasing your knowledge in otherwise lost time.

“Your time is your life.”  … Elizabeth Grace Saunders

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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!
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Many salespeople can be found at their desk … 70%, 80% or even 90% of the time.

I don’t believe they are likely to bump into their clients and prospects there.

In a 40 hour week if a salesperson has just 5 meetings with clients then they are probably spending 35 hours at their desk.  How much sense does that make?

“If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.” … Bob Hooey

Many salespeople will find endless tasks that keep them at their desk … emails, research, “paperwork”.  I call them excuses.

It is much harder work to be out meeting clients, bringing value to prospects, establishing credibility and building relationships … BUT that is what salespeople are paid to do.

If you want to be a successful salesperson you MUST get out of the comfort zone!

So … get out there, where all the good stuff happens!

PS.  I saw a similar comfort zone drawing on a friend’s Facebook page … I like it!

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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!
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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This is my 30,000 foot look at events in the ICT industry for May 2013. What you see here is a précis of the monthly report I produce, which will be available in more detail at the News section of the Eagle website, where you will also find back issues.

A Little History of May in previous years …

Five years ago in May 2008 HP paid almost $14 Billion for EDS, and CBS paid $1.75 Billion for the CNet suite of web based sites and the recession was the biggest news.  In May 2009 there were early signs of a recovery but still lots of bad news.  Some big layoffs announced this month Sony (8,000), BT (15,000), Seagate (1,100) and HP (6,000).  On the M&A front the telcos continue to feel pain with Verizon selling off 14 states worth of wireline assets to Frontier Communications for $8.6 Billion.  Facebook received an injection of $200 million from Digital Sky Technologies (valuing the company at $10 Billion); and NetApp paid $1.5 Billion for Data Domain.  Three years ago in May Twenty-Ten economies were recovering, but there are still plenty of concerns including the financial impact of the volcanic ash hitting air schedules and the meltdown of the Greek economy.  The big deal was SAP’s $5.8 Billion purchase of Sybase.  Google picked up two companies GIPS and BumpTop and invested in a third Recorded Future (a company that claims to forecast the future).  Cisco added Moto Development and CoreOptics.  The other big dollar deal was Symantec’s $1.28 Billion deal to buy the security assets of Verisign.   In May 2011 probably the biggest news was Microsoft’s record breaking offer of $8.5 Billion for Skype.  Other M&A activity included Nvidia paying $367M for Icera; Rambus buying Cryptography Research for $342M in the security space; Sandisk acquiring Pliant Technology in the storage world for $327M; and Twitter paying $40M for TweetDeck.  May 2012  saw the long anticipated, but somewhat disappointing start of Facebook’s appearance as a public company!  There was also a fair amount of M&A activity, the largest deal being SAP’s $4.3 Billion acquisition of Ariba with CGI’s $2.8 Billion acquisition of Logica PLC of particular interest to those of us here in Canada!  EMC continues its pattern of acquisitions with the $430 million purchase of XtremIO: perennial acquirer Oracle paid $300 million for social media marketing firm Vitrue;  in the storage space Seagate paid $186 million for a controlling interest in LaCie; Microsoft invested $300 million in a Barnes & Noble subsidiary; and LinkedIn paid $118 million for Slideshare.  There was plenty more activity, but with the amounts not published.  Twitter bought RestEngine; IBM bought customer analytics company Tealeaf Technology; VMware bought Wanova; and Cisco bought Truvisco.

Which brings us back to the present …

The big news in May 2013 was Yahoo’s $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr (the current joke suggesting Tumblr will be able to afford an “e” now!).  It is interesting that a $6.9 billion deal to take BMC Software private did not cause the same kind of splash … the power of the brand?  Manitoba Tel decided to shed its Allstream division to a holding company for $520 million; Telus is attempting to buy Mobilicity for $380 million … but regulators have yet to approve the deal; McAfee is paying $389 million for  Finnish security firm. Stonesoft; Dell is adding to its cloud capabilities with the purchase of Estratius … even while heading down a path to become private; AVG is buying PrivacyChoice; and Ottawa based N-Able Technologies is yet another Canadian company to be bought by a larger US company, this time Solarwinds for $120 million.

There were lots of small indicators that the US economy is continuing to head in the right direction, with GDP, unemployment and confidence indicators all positive.  Canada added jobs, had less job vacancies and also had positive confidence indicators.  The EU on the other hand, at least countries using the Euro had record unemployment at 12.2% … the disparity growing between Greece & Spain with more than 25% unemployment and Germany at a healthy 5.4%.

Apple was in the news (a) for positive reasons bringing some manufacturing jobs back to North America by opening a plant in Texas; and (b) for negative reasons, settling a class action lawsuit to the tune of $53 million over warranties of iPods and iPhones. Finally HP is in the press battling a shareholder suit over its acquisition of “overvalued” Autonomy, and the subsequent associated $8 billion write down

That’s what caught my eye over the last month, the full edition will be available soon on the Eagle website.  Hope this was useful and I’ll be back with the June 2013 industry news in just about a month’s time. 

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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!
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Have you ever been asked that question … If you could go to dinner with anyone in the world (sometimes the question includes historical people) then who would that be?

Over the years here at Eagle we have asked that question of “newbies” as just a small insight into who they are as people.  It is not a test, and there are no wrong answers.

The answers have however revealed some humour, some deep thinkers, some nervousness, some bravado and some seriousness.

The answers have covered the full gamut … cartoon characters, religious leaders, athletes, politicians, world leaders, actors and family members.

I think it would be an interesting follow up question, particularly to sales people … how would you earn the right to have dinner with these people?

That is a real challenge salespeople have every day … how do they earn the right to meet with senior people?  Why should busy people take time from their day to meet with them?

Often there is an assumption that an executive should meet with a salesperson  because that salesperson might have something of value.  I can tell you that over the years as I have met with salespeople, more often than not they had nothing to offer!  That is a problem for sales people because they need to go into meetings or even into relationships with clients bringing something to the table.

My experience would suggest that it doesn’t even always need to be a business value … as long as it is valuable to the recipient!

An executive might be willing to give you time if they like you, or if your were referred by a friend, or if they like to help good people.  A sales trainer, Colleen Francis has written many times about a great quality of good salespeople is that they are nice people.  McKinsey even wrote about jerks … suggesting that jerks are a problem (not rocket science I know) and people (read clients) don’t want to deal with jerks.  If you are lucky enough to find clients like this your big challenge will be in maintaining your credibility such that they will meet again.

An executive might be willing to give you time if you are bringing real value, and not just “taking”.  It could be knowledge of an interest area outside the business.  It might be a subject the sales person is an expert in, and sometimes you won’t even know why you were given time.  Some of this is within the salesperson’s control, some is not.  There could be many reasons why an executive will give you time … so good salespeople will have real value to bring, and will understand what is important to their clients.  Once you have EARNED it then work hard to keep it.

When you get really good at that, you might just earn the right to have dinner with that “special celebrity”.  Pass the salt Elvis!

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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!
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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We all get the opportunity to shape our own lives.

We can choose to take full advantage of our education … or not.

We can choose a career that we find fulfilling … or not.

We can choose to put in the required effort to be successful … or not.

We can change the course of our lives at any time and it is never too late.

I don’t suggest that changing your life is easy … in fact it takes hard work!

I have made some very poor choices along the way … but I chose to change things in my life and despite being a “late bloomer” I am very happy with my life.

Here are some truths …

1.  IF you decide to change your life it will be hard.

2.  The BEST things in life come from hard work, tough decisions and sacrifice.

3.  ”You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take“, Wayne Gretsky

4.  You don’t need to give up everything for success … it is very possible to have a life beyond the office.  See my blog entry about Life Balance.

5.  Here are some examples from my life …

• I went back to school at age 23, after 7 years in the Royal Navy.
• I chose to change my career at that point to get into computers which I felt offered a good future.
• I emigrated to Canada at age 27.  My family all still live in the UK.
• It took me a few years to begin to change my attitude to work … making it an integral part of my life, not a chore!
• I abandoned my technical career to move into sales.  A conscious decision because I felt an executive role was more likely through a sales career.
• I chose to work harder than most of my peers … but always made time for my family.
• I was 41 years old when we started Eagle.  My wife and I each had good management positions with industry leading companies, and a potentially bright career ahead of us.  We chose to risk our careers, and all of our assets by starting the company.
• Over the last 17 years I have continued to work hard and put in long hours, I work Sunday mornings too.
• Many of my business commitments have entailed travel, but I have worked things so that I could be back home for all of the significant family events.
• I have taken “red eye” flights to ensure I was home to coach my kid’s soccer.  At other times I have arrived at the soccer field from the airport, in my suit in time to coach.
• I attended almost every parent/teacher event; hockey games & practices; birthdays and special occasions … but my work didn’t suffer either.
• I missed my own soccer games sometimes, messed up my own workout routines, didn’t eat very well (travelling) and spent more than a few nights burning the midnight oil.

6.  I have NO regrets about the choices I have made along the way … good or bad!  I am who I am today because of ALL of my life experiences.

7.  I repeat it is never too late to change your life.

8.  If I can do it … so can YOU!

9.  It takes a goal, and a plan to reach that goal … plus the determination to get there.  The goal will change and that’s OK.  The plan will change and that’s OK.  As long as you are working towards some goal you will see progress.

10.  Sometime you just need to make a choice and go for it … even when the choice is not clear.  Things become clearer over time and making any choice is most times better than status quo!

You only get one life, and your career/work is a BIG part of it, so why not get as much enjoyment/fulfillment from it as you can?

________________________________________________________________
Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)
Gain a competitive edge!  Join Eagle’s Executive Consulting Network!
Find Canada’s top hot jobs, updated in real-time!  Visit Eagle’s Job Centre!
Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?
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