Maria Popo

This past Thursday I flew to Atlanta to pick up Ubee’s award as one of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Led companies chosen by WPO and American Express. Ubee and I made #8! This was certainly an exciting life event for which I am very thankful to WPO and all the colleagues over my career that have helped me along the way.

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101758556809-425/Top+50+News+Release+-+FINAL.pdf

In addition to the award ceremony, I was quite impressed with the Conference itself.  The leaders of this organization and the conference speakers were inspiring. Here are some of the sessions I attended:

1. Jim Collins, Author & Educator was excellent as the keynote on Thursday. Most interesting were his discussions on “20-Mile March” and “luck”. There was a question regarding whether some people are more lucky than others, therefore, more successful. His response was that everyone has luck; sometimes it’s bad & sometimes it’s good. The most successful recognize when they are in either state and take the appropriate action. I had never really thought about it that way until that very moment.
   1. Here’s a link with more info on Jim:  http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/30/jim-collins-great-by-choice-exclusive-excerpt/ and http://www.jimcollins.com/
2. Geena Davis, Academy Award winning actor and activist, spoke a bit about herself and also the need to change gender stereotypes in the media.  She is a smart, strong woman who is fabulously funny. Who knew?  Besides learning about her initiatives she also mentioned organizations that encourage and support women that want to run for office. Here’s one I found:  http://www.sheshouldrun.org/
   1. Geena’s organization on preventing gender stereotypes:  http://www.seejane.org/
3. Marilyn Mobley, SVP Edelman, shared with us highlights on leveraging Social Media & branding your company. Did you know that due to info overload the average person will read what you put out on the Web for about 23 seconds before they move on to another site?
   1. Here’s a link with more on Marilyn: http://www.edelman.com/
4. Jim Horan, President, The One Page Business Plan Company. At his session we wrote a business plan in about 12 minutes and learned how to leverage this tool not only for the company itself but also for each department.
   1. More on Jim:  http://www.onepagebusinessplan.com/about.html

It was an energizing, empowering, well-run event. The sponsors were wonderful and we received so many great gifts. Now that I’ve discovered WPO I will be joining too!  http://www.womenpresidentsorg.com/

The unknown and the allure of “what can happen” is like a drug to the brain. We plug into the possibilities the world has to offer us by way of Web.  We crave data, we process it, we look for more of it.  The potential for new opportunities, new technology, new entertainment, new contacts are an instant stimulus that triggers excitement in what could otherwise be just another boring day.

As leaders we want to harness the enormous benefits of “always on” access while eliminating its distraction and ensuring our people are focused on the right things. So what do we do? First, monitor what you and your employees do over the course of a couple days. You may be surprised at the results. How many hours are spent on cloud services, the Internet or email.  You may also find that you’ve unknowingly hired e-mail connoisseurs. These are the people that go to work and spend their day reading emails, generating emails, being the first to respond to emails in an ongoing cycle.  These same employees typically have smartphones so that they can continuously engage in the same process with no interruption. The problem here is apparent. At the end of EACH day can you say that you and your employees advanced the company in some way purposefully and mindfully? Or are your efforts unconsciously being redirected through a series of chain reactions.

Learn how to quiet your mind by stepping back to understand what needs to get done each day. Here are a few tips to help you eliminate diversions during the workday.

1. Set specific time aside to do emails. Don’t endlessly access emails. If it’s urgent someone will call you. Those smartphones have voice capability.

2. Define a specific amount of time to gather information of interest. If everything is of interest, then you will need to zone in on key areas of importance.

3. Consciously limit your time on Social Media when you know there are other things you need to get done. You can wait to see the photo of my dogs until you get home.

4. The average person should probably eliminate FB, Twitter, LinkedIn & other notifications to their Inbox.  Your high school buddy’s profound thought of the day can also wait.

5. Stop the blinking lights &  transmitted sounds to your smartphone every time an email comes in. This eliminates bright light – moth syndrome.

These are just a few ideas to make your day more productive. I too have to consciously discipline myself to avoid the constant allure of information exchange.

As President of a company selling modems I’m ecstatic about all that the cloud has to offer and your need for my product. However, the success of new and existing businesses is critical to our future. Focus on the priorities and eliminate the potential distractions of the cacophony.