The theory is simple.  The business the we are setting up is global in focus and therefore we will need to be contacting people around the world on a regular basis.  Everyone has a PC so this is not a problem and all we do is give each of them a head set and away we go.  We are using Skype Business software that works like a dream.  We now have 20 people working off it and there are no problems.

Often people complain that skype has latency or that calls are broken up etc … however we dont seem to have that problem and our phone bill has been slashed.  In addition, we are able to set people up anywhere in the word and they are part of the same “telephone network”. 

Now if i was to do this with a traditional telephone system i would have to pay for the head sets, routers and so on as well as the telephone lines into the building.  This new approach has slashed all those costs to basically ZERO!!

The next challenge is building the business without reliance on microsoft.  If we can do this, then the costs will drop even further.  By reducing all these types of costs, we can invest in our most important asset, people.

Well i think there should be a different approach – the 30 minute meeting.  In fact, if it can be shorter, thats even better. 

If someone wants to have a meeting with me, i generally allocate 30 min to the meeting and ensure that there is another one right after it – saves me going over.  In the meeting i usually like the person who has called the meeting to have an agenda and a clear outcome they want from the meeting.  I am not a big fan of presentations, i just want to know the facts.  Long power point presentations may impress some but i generally skip ahead if given the presentation on paper.

I tend to find it a bit “sucky” when people present whizz bang high tech presentations – as it usually means they have spent more time moving pixels around the screen than actually thinking about what it is they are trying to say. 

Finally, i always try to make a decision by the end of the meeting.  I think that it is important that people have clear direction and can get on with it.  Now these decisions are not always right and sometimes are driven by gut feel more than anything. However i will take 7 or 8 out of 10 decisions being right any day.

Now what are the sort of podcasts is listen to.  Well they tend to be news, views and opinions from the US and the UK and generally relating to business as well as current affairs.  it allows me to stay on top of what is really happening rather than spending time in front of the TV wading through rubbish.  I am particularly interested in the more insightful analysis podcasts such as the Economist provide.

Recently i gave each of the business managers who attended the REA Group Brussels Conference an MP3 player loaded with articles from the Harvard Business Review.  I found them to be thoughtful, insightful and chocked full of useful tips i could implement.

The other podcasts i listen to are:

NPR – Business Story of the Day
Business Week
The Economist
60 Minutes
The New York Times Headlines
The Wall Street Journal

These can all be found on iTunes.  Enjoy!  What are your favourite business / news related podcasts?

In any job there are always competing priorities.  It doesn’t matter whether you are in sales, marketing, finance, HR, what ever, there are always 100 things you can do and only time to do 5 of them.  What differentiates the effective people from the rest of us is that they decide what they are not going to do and this decision is based on the goal that they are striving for. 

Therefore, in the example of the guy i chatted with yesterday, it became clear that the best long term option for the growth of his business would be through focusing on delivering property portals to his target countries.  This would mean that he would have to stop the web development and translation businesses that his is currently doing.  The down side would be a loss in some revenues however the up side is the ability to really focus on what matters in the long term.

In building the REA Group, i always had a belief that it was one person, one role, one focus!  It is only by adopting this approach that people become truly effective and stand head and shoulders above their peers. 

So what does this mean for you?  Simple, work out what truly matters for you and then make sure that every task is aligned to that target – if it is not, don’t do it.  If you have too much on your plate, spend time working out what you are not going to do and then set expectations of those around you.

1. 30 minute meetings only – i even have a great 30 min timer on my desk as a reminder
2. No agenda, no meeting and the agenda must be sent before we get together
3. No more than 4 people to a meeting
4. There must be a clear leader and that person nominated before the meeting
5. Clear outcomes must be reached including decisions or next steps

Simple in theory but takes discipline to make happen.  They challenge is getting everyone to do it around the business and change the culture from a meetings one to a decision making one.  Now that takes time!!!

Microsoft messenger is now the communication’s tool of choice for the business.  Most employees are registered and everyone is actively encouraged to share their messenger id with others in the business.

I personally have around 70 contacts in my including employees, customers and suppliers.  I find it a great way in which i can quickly connect with the right people no matter where they are in the world.  It also allows us to see who is on line and who is not.  The tool becomes even better when i am traveling as my hand held device (an O2 Pocket PC) has mobile messenger installed – so i can contact who i want, when i want.

Here is a classic case of where free technology is helping us reduce the costs to the business.  If you dont use it, then give it a go.

Wed / Thurs / Fri last week we ran many sessions for people from all parts of the business.  The whole 3 day event is capped off with a gala dinner.

It turned out to be an amazing event.  All the staff became fully connected with the business.  We covered lots of topics from how we have been going, to how we increase our size 10x, to cultural issues and to just having fun!

The highlight was a run down of the financials by our resident CFO / comedien.  He managed in one 30 min session to clearly communicate how the business is going while laying them in the aisles with deft one liners and targeted comments about staff members and beer.

The other highlight was taking the time to get to know people.  I was pleasantly surprised by the number of folk who came up to me at the breaks and over a beer or even at 4 am at the nightclub and who wanted just chat and talk about the business.

The amazing thing is that they are now so connected to the business adn where we are going.  What surprised me most is that when we set the challenge of how we get to $500m in revenues, most said “too low” …

It is so easy to love a business when the team just love it so much too.  The bottom line is that by putting lots into the business and the people, we will get a lot out of it.  I would recommend doing this to all CEO’s.

However, how do i broadly split my time? The answer, surprisingly enough, is simple – 1/3rd is Board, media and investor related, 1/3rd is spent on people and operational related issues with the exisitng businesses and the remaining 1/3rd is on growth initiatives.

Lets look at each of them.

Well the 1/3rd of the time spent on markets / board / investors and this is probably the most challenging.

The second 1/3rd is spent diving in on issues relating to the current businesses and most importantly their operations. On reflection, there are two key areas i spend time on – people (including culture) and product. People issues are always about and it is up to me to help create the right environment for our people to reach their full potential. Product is critical as we operate in an fast innovation industry and slow to market is a long and painful death.

Finally, the last 1/3rd is spent on the building the future. We have great people running the current operations so i spend lots of time with our corporate development guru looking at markets to enter and businesses to buy. Also included in this is time spent on actually doing the deals.

So, my first insight into what i do …

I think i will talk about people and culture soon – these are the most critical.