BP CEO Tony Hayward didn’t get June off to a great start. In an interview with Fox News, Hayward said, “There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do. I would love my life back.”
To his credit, Hayward started off well at the beginning of the oil spill crisis by apologizing for the situation. He should have quit then.
There’s a great quote about leadership that says, “Leadership is about them, not you.” Somebody should read this quote to Hayward every time before he goes on camera.
Was Hayward’s gaffe serious or just (oil-slicked) water under the bridge?
Entrepreneur ran an article recently about the impact of excessive communication interruptions in the workplace. The article was titled “Blunt the e-mail interruption.”
A few of the findings from the article:
E-mail volume is growing at a rate of 66 percent a year.
The average employee checks e-mail 50 times a day and responds to 77 instant messages.
University of Minnesota researchers discovered that frequent interruptions caused error rates on other work to double.
Research suggests the brain can focus successfully on one task at a time and that frequent switching reduces productivity. The Entrepreneur article highlights how several companies have purposefully created time without interruptions to improve productivity.
The opposing school of thought is that businesspeople cannot afford to unplug given the volume of information that is important to our everyday business lives and the speed with which that information is moving. The proponents of this approach are more apt to embrace social media and the constant connectedness that it brings.
Next time you want to copy the image of your computer screen, try using the Prnt Scrn key on your keyboard. Using this key copies a screenshot to your clipboard that you can paste into Word, PowerPoint, or any other application. Some operating systems even allow you to select only the portion of the screen you need. Who knew that key was still so useful?
Movie Clips is a database of more than 12,000 movie clips sorted by movie, actor, dialogue, etc. It even sorts them by theme (e.g. communication) and mood (e.g. inspiring). Best of all, the website allows you to embed clips in PowerPoint presentations (you have to be connected to the Internet to access them) or create your own mashup to share with friends.
It’s vacation time. Good books are a staple of any trip to the beach, lake, or mountains. Here are a few books we’re planning to read this summer.
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki — Entrepreneur. Advisor. Investor. Kawasaki has done it all. The Art of the Start is his take on creating an entrepreneurial environment inside any company.
Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava — Bhargava argues that brands must become dynamic personalities to connect fully and meaningfully with their customers.
Mastering the Hype Cycle by Jackie Fenn and Mark Raskino — Gartner invented its hype cycle several years ago to explain the rise, fall, and ultimately sustainability of innovation. Fenn and Raskino explain how companies can avoid the typical problems and return more from their investment in innovative products and services.
The Big Short by Michael Lewis — Lewis has a stellar track record of fascinating stories, from Moneyball to The Blind Side to Liar’s Poker. In his latest book, he takes on the financial crisis in 2007-08 that led to the current recession.
