PIONIQ Minute for Life

Peter Fuller — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:21:17 -0600

If you don't have much time, these videos are for you. Just 60 seconds long, they'll give you some great bits to think about throughout the day. Watch them here or download them form iTunes! These videos are meant to be uplifting and a help to changing your mental attitude. There's even more in the Wisdom for Business Section .

Your Future Doesn't Lie in Your Past

You Seldom Make a Bad Choice

Life is Not an Option, Take Some Risks

Relax, You'll Get There

How to Beat Despair

Oh, the Crazy People You Meet

PIONIQ Minute for Business

Peter Fuller — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:53:33 -0600

Want some quick business wisdom, but don't have a lot of time? Check out theses PIONIQ minutes. Just 60 seconds long, they'll give enough food for thought to last the whole day. They're also available on YouTube and iTunes.

Maintaining Your Creative Edge I		Maintaining Your Creative Edge II
How to Evaluate Business Risk		What Does it Take to be an Entrepreneur
You Don't Need to Lead to Be a Leader		Evangelism: Win without Selling
Maintaing Your Creativity Part III		Why Purpose is Important to Business
How to Get a Vision

Family Goal Setting the S.M.A.R.T. Way

Peter Fuller — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:23:47 -0500

Savoring my last sip of morning coffee while reflecting on my day ahead, I hear the dreaded sound. Those of you with dogs know what I am talking about, the glug, glug. I look over and there is my sweet dog ‘s stomach moving up and down and I know what is to come. My laptop and brand new iPhone 4 are on my lap, so I can’t get to my dog fast enough to move him from the area rug to the hardwood floors. So you guessed it, he vomited on the area rug, just 2 short inches shy of the hardwoods. I gather up the mess and pat his cute little head and hope that this is a single incident. I settled back in my chair and readjust my electronics on my lap. Then I see something that I’ve read about but never witnessed….the dog returned to its vomit!! Gross. Proverbs 26:11 says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”

I began to think about the last part of that proverb, repeats his folly. To relate this to a person and to think about our past, we can see from this proverb that the person really hasn’t changed. They may have appeared to change on the outside but their actions stayed the same.

It challenged me “not to return to my folly.” I think about my kids with the fresh start of the school year approaching and the hopes and anticipation for what lies ahead. As a family, we celebrate the end of a school year by going out to dinner and looking back on the year. We will continue to do that; however, this year, we are having a family dinner, a “Back to School Dinner,” to celebrate the year ahead and write down goals and aspirations. My hope for this dinner is for each child to take ownership of their school year, to write attainable goals and emphasize the importance of taking it nine weeks at a time versus looking at the year as a whole. As a mom, there are definite actions that I do not want repeated from last year…last minute forms signed, forgotten homework or last minute lunch packing! I look forward to this dinner and the goals my children formulate. Just as important is that first day of school outfit, is the mindset going into the school year. I certainly do not want to return to mistakes that have presented themselves in the past.

Although the SMART Mnemonic is used primarily in project management, we will be incorporating it into our goal setting initiatives for this school year.

SMART Mnemonic

S    – Specific
M – Measurable
A    – Attainable
R    – Relevant
T    – Time-bound

Wisdom for Life

Peter Fuller — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:34:17 -0500

The PIONIQ MINUTE: Pursue Your Dreams in 60 Seconds video series is designed to be much like a 60-second life and business coach. If you haven't seen it yet, watch the sample below, then subscribe to it on iTunes or YouTube.

If you want more information on one of the podcast topics or want to understand the full logic and story behind each 60-second segment, this Exclusive Content section is for you. Ideal for home, business or entrepreneurial support groups and staff, this exclusive content section gives you access to:

The full-detailed article that came before the podcast.
Case studies and real-life examples that illustrate the principles you'll find.
Behind-the-scenes sources of information and inspiration.
E-mail notification when new content and podcasts are published.

Do You Have a Semmering Mindset?

Peter Fuller — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:13:12 -0500

The movie Under the Tuscan Sun has one of the most memorable movie quotes: "Signora, between Austria and Italy, there is a section of the Alps called the Semmering. It is an impossibly steep, very high part of the mountains. They built a train track over these Alps to connect Vienna and Venice. They built these tracks even before there was a train in existence that could make the trip. They built it because they knew some day, the train would come.

Spoken by the character Martini, this quote isn't Hollywood fiction. The Semmering Railway was constructed between 1848 and 1854 by nearly 20,000 workers. It has a maximum gradient five times that of other railways. At the time of its funding, a train that could traverse the grade didn't exist.
But it was built anyway to provide the Austro-Hungarian Empire with a route to the sea. Engineer Carl Ritter von Ghega was chosen to build this unique, technological wonder that included 14 tunnels and 16 viaducts.
Carl didn't spend much time wondering if the train to ride the tracks would never be built, if the railway would make money, or if the train would be safe enough. He knew that if he provided a vision and a tangible foundation for achieving it, the rest would come quickly.
And it did.
Engineers soon began designing the most technologically advanced train of its time. Freight, then passengers followed later. Nearly 150 years later, Carl's tracks still stand; his vision achieved.
The Semmering Mindset
Life is like Semmering Railway. There's a lot that has to be built by faith and vision. Sometimes the grade looks too steep, the mountains impossible to navigate, the forest too dark.
That's what the path to achieving your vision should look like. If doesn't, you're not aiming high enough. True vision seems impossible to attain. It will appear like a lot of work. New education will be required (to various degrees). Easy isn't an adjective fit to describe the prescribed path. The terrain is venomous, the path notorious and few will reach the ultimate achievement.
It takes a leap of faith.
Governments came and went during and after the construction of the railway. Yet, railway and vision remains. Through several wars and two World Wars, it was sheltered from the enemy only by the weight of its importance.
Action Plan
Sometimes vision requires movement and action before confirmation of its legitimacy is attained. Focus on what you know, learn what you don', push forward into the mist and believe that the train will eventually come.

IPADS: An Entrepreneur's Dream Tool

Peter Fuller — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:01:17 -0500
Last week, I was in California helping Apple sell its iPAD 2 to SMBs. That’s right, a storage guy from Scale Computing was chosen by Apple to shoot a few video promos for their new, smaller, faster tablet. I was even used as a hand model to demonstrate the apps we use in business (probably my first and last shot at modeling).
I didn’t get paid to do it, although the company did fly me out to the Bay Area (which I took advantage of by scheduling meetings with our venture partners) and put me up in Union Square.

Why would I spend the time pitching some other company’s product? Well, as we all know iPADs are cool. My kids love them, my department can’t get enough of them and our entire sales team uses them to help sell our storage solutions.

The iPAD is what I call a social presentation tool. It’s not formal like a laptop and not awkward like a carry-on white board. While in London this week, I sat down over a pint with some analysts and used the iPAD to show a video, product collateral and our standard presentation--all while sitting in a casual setting with the device in my right hand and pointing to things with my left.

The audience really paid attention. I even waved the presentation in the air for extra effect, and handed it around to the folks sitting on the couch for a better look. One of them pinched the screen intuitively to expand an image he was having a hard time seeing. The other looked on, nodding. The point is, he was looking. If I had used a laptop, the two of them would have wandered around the building with their eyes and imagination; the presentation gaining about as much interest as the unlighted candle on the table.

Sociologists will one day study the iPAD’s effect on meetings. I think it’s significant, but I don’t know why. People simply pay attention more when I use it. It’s as if data storage suddenly looks dead sexy when viewed on the awesome display. I also think that the human element is re-introduced to presentations. Because you can sit in a casual, open body position, the presenter seems more approachable than if a laptop sat on a table for all to hover around in typical back-breaking postures.

The elegance of the product also plays a part. It has no keyboard and the screen is incredibly clear. When Keynote is presenting on the iPAD, no other distractions exist. There are no dirty keys with Cheetos crumbs stuffed between the “f” and the “g” characters. Typical Windows distractions (like the numerous anti-virus notices that pop-up) are gone.

It’s just you and your message. It’s so elegant, it’s almost primitive and takes us back to the basic, sophisticated nuances of interpersonal communication that PowerPoint and laptops couldn’t afford.
As an entrepreneur, the iPAD could be the extra edge you need.
_____
GET YOUR LIFE MOVING: SUBSCRIBE TO THE PIONIQ MINUTE PODCAST
The pioniq minute is a unique video podcast designed to get you out of your routine, off the couch of comfort and into the game of life. If you've every had that dream--the one that tugs at your soul and either guides your path or instills angst and depression when ignored, the video podcast is for you.
Part self-help, part wisdom, part real-life experiences, you'll enjoy "snackable" content that gets to the point quickly and gives you something to think about each week.
Created by serial entrepreneurs Peter and Susan Fuller and sponsored by Scale Computing, the pioniq minute won't leave you hanging for the punch line, or bored to death. It's the right message, at the right time. And it only takes 60 seconds to get.
Subscribe to the on Apple's ITunes Store today. Just click on the RSS logo and you'll be automatically taken there.
Have fun...and tell your friends!

Pillar of Leadership--Evangelism

Peter Fuller — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:54:53 -0500

Evangelism is a noun that means missionary-like zeal, purpose or activity.
Corporate evangelism was pioneered by Mike Murray, the director of marketing for Apple’s Macintosh division in 1983. Mike hired people to evangelize Apple to developers. One of those evangelists was Guy Kawasaki, who later wrote a book on the subject called Selling the Dream: How to Promote Your Product, Company, or Ideas--and Make a Difference--Using Everyday Evangelism.

In his book, Guy differentiates between sales and evangelism.

Evangelism isn’t exercised with the goal of selling. Yet, selling is a welcomed outcome of evangelism. So what gives? In the context of leadership, the evangelical trait deploys most obviously with change management. When change occurs or is occurring in an organization, people tend shift into one of these four predictable dispositions:

Lock and Load. You know these folks. Maybe you are one. When change occurs, the natural instinct is to lock the cube and load up the defensive weaponry.
Save the Career. Some jump into uber-cooperation mode in an attempt to show flexibility and support. These people agree to just about anything and invite change on their department simply by being overly cooperative. What they don’t realize is that management views over-cooperation as lack of leadership or, in the worst case, a willingness to default on leadership and let others solve their problems.
Do nothing. This one’s easy. People often think that if I just hunker down and maintain my routine, I won’t be noticed. That’s not usually the case, however.
Stand up and Lead. This last case is the most rare, but the best one to have.
To stand up and lead, you need to exhibit the spirit of evangelism. Here are five tips to short-cut your path to leadership through evangelism:
Don’t defend the status quo.
Don’t aggressively work to destroy things that are working.
Understand the principle reasons behind management’s change and work to apply them to general tactics of your department or area of responsibility.
Evangelize a new position for the future with the goal of influencing the way management views your department.
Use passionate, measured, pragmatic, data-rich argument to positively alter the present and future view management will have of you.

Leaders are evangelists and change agents. They don’t force a sale, they influence a change of mind. And in doing so, sell their ideas.

7 Questions to Discover Work-Life Balance

Peter Fuller — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:41:58 -0500
It’s a Monday morning and I’m sitting here listening to a webinar provided by a technology company. To my left are the results of the Indiana’s Best Places to Work report. Scale Computing won fourth place out of 36 finalists. Not a bad showing for our first time in the contest.
The report details each question answered, by department. Respondent identities were kept secret to protect the innocent. My team gave the highest rank possible—100 percent-- for everything but maintaining a healthy “work-life” balance. Apparently, a few folks (who won’t fess up) dinged the department head (me) for too much work and too little life.

I’ve thought about my possible responses:

Increase the workload.
Put every employee under a CIA interrogation until I find the culprits. Maybe water-boarding would elicit a different response next time the survey rolls around.
Consider the statements to be true.
Do nothing.

The second option is certainly the most appealing. Apart from the likely lawsuits and attrition, I may at least get a confession or two. I’ll check with legal, first.

Honestly, I’m not sure what—if anything should be done. But before deciding whether action or inaction is the path before me, I’ve crafted a set of questions that may help find the deeper truth.

Why do you feel your life is out of balance?
Are those stresses placed on you by the job, yourself or you peers?
Do you feel the worklife imbalance permanent, temporary or cyclical?
How is it impacting your personal life?
Is it impacting your professional life?
What changes can you make to bring things into balance?
Is there anything your manager or I can do to help adjust the situation?

A balanced life is key to success. True leaders listen, adjust, and if necessary call the CIA.

Inside Deference: A Look at My Management Team

Peter Fuller — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:43:22 -0500
We work with an entrepreneur-executive coach named Debbie King. She’s a Californian who dresses like a tree-hugger and wears billowy, comfortable guru-type clothing and wire-rim glasses. Before Scale , she coached Intel executives for many years. Her degree is in marriage and family therapy, a pedigree unusual for the corporate world. Yet, it works. She says a corporation is one big family with similar conflicts, wars and competing interests.

She’s got that right.

We recently hired a new VP of Operations, Doug. Poor guy. His first foray into the Scale management team was a dinner at a burger joint in Las Vegas’ Rio casino (just off the strip).

Deb says our management is, hmmm, “honest” with each other. That’s one way of putting it, dear guru. We tend to enjoy our “honesty” by whacking each other over the head with facts, interpretations, and obvious conclusions made somewhat obscure because we usually don’t listen to each other for the first 50 minutes of any debate.

Doug said it was great. The look on his face, however, belied the internal panic he surely was feeling.

Some may observe an organizationally challenged approach to management. There are times when our CPO and CTO will stand up and both accuse each other of not knowing technology from an awkwardly positioned corncob. Sales will claim marketing never sends them anything, and I’ll posture that sales is always wrong—a general, but accurate statement. Our CFO doesn’t really understand high finance. He’s concerned with burn rates and cash and doesn’t understand that flying me first class really could be more beneficial for the business. Then there’s Rod. He’s our financial planning and analysis guy. If MBAs had cookie-cutters, Rod would have stepped right out of it. He’s our gingerbread man of metrics and continually publishes facts that interfere with our assumptions. Our VP of Sales tells him so, quiet directly.

Deb says every company goes through its stages. We’re at the part where fast growth (see next week’s press release) is pushing us quickly into the hardest phase. The run of fun is over, the company is up and running and now we entrepreneurs need to focus on building. It’s this phase where ten ounces of effort produces one ounce of results; doers become managers; and the executive team will clash swords regularly.

We’re here, for sure. What helps us get through is that we all respect each other and exercise one of the most important, but often overlooked Pillar of Leadership: Deference. After wrangling, clashing and humorous name-calling, we’ll all eventually defer to common sense and, yes, reluctantly, facts.

We also have Jeff (pictured here), the CEO. He’s an effective leader. He’ll often sit back and watch us kill each other for a time. Then, he’ll surface and state the obvious we so eagerly rejected or blinded ourselves to at the beginning of the debate. I’ll look at Alan and say, “Jeff’s right—that’s exactly what I was saying.” Alan will say the same to me, and, inevitably, everyone agrees that the thing Jeff said is what each of us attempted to communicate in the first place. Then, it’s over. We defer to a conclusion, move on and laugh about the good barbs that came up during the last battle royal.

I’m off to California today for a board meeting. Should be fun. Our team is in sync; we have a plan and know how to execute.

I might pick up some guru-style clothes while I’m out there; after this last quarter, I feel worthy.

Good Friday and Great Leadership

Peter Fuller — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:56:23 -0500
One of the greatest examples of leadership is Jesus Christ. This isn’t really a secret as both atheists and Christians alike agree that a man who can create a worldwide perpetual religion in just three years has some mad skills.
Christ had several advantages over us mortals. First, as the Son of God he possessed a level of knowledge and insight into the human condition we can’t really comprehend. Second, he had the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, predict the future and forgive sins.

Those abilities were sure to draw a crowd, but they have nothing to do with leadership. If any of us mortals were able to possess such might, we could easily find a following—without being leaders.
How did Christ exhibit true leadership? Let’s look at my pillars—yes, the inspiration behind them is Christ.

Purpose

Christ said, “I came into the world not to condemn it, but to save it.” That’s purpose. It’s a short, easy to remember phrase that guided everything he did and continues to do. The way he treated people, led his “staff” of 12, and communicated his message are all grounded in this first foundation of purpose. He came to save; not condemn.
Deference

The first act of coming to earth was one of deference. He held all the powers of God, but arrived as a helpless infant. From there, he continued to defer to those around him. When tempted in the wilderness, he deferred his powers to prove a point: he was obedient to God. When working with his staff, he treated them kindly. When Pilot sent him packing to the cross, he deferred to the will of people he created and could have crushed with a word. Before his crucifixion, he prayed: “not my will, but yours be done,” referring to God’s will for Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. There is no Biblical record (and therefore no reason to believe) that Christ was an autocrat. He chose to live a life of humility while simultaneously leading.

Entrepreneurship

To the world Christ appeared as an entrepreneur. In His mind, however, he was simply extending fulfilling Judaism. His purpose wasn’t to create a new religion, but to fulfill an existing one.

Nevertheless, his message was new to earth. “the meek shall inherit the earth,” “turn the other cheek,” “treat your slaves well,” “in Christ there is neither rich or poor, male or female, Jew or Gentile.” His entire message reversed the world order. Societies should change, he was preaching. No longer should men consider themselves better than women, because to God there is no difference. God views slaves and their owners as equals; Jews and Gentiles should worship together.

His message was new, invigorating and meant to establish a new order on a dark planet.
This power of “new” was entrepreneurial. It burst upon the scene like Twitter and Facebook, changing the common order almost immediately. Churches, led by slaves, sprang forth. Women held leadership positions and even preached. An entirely new society of equality began to develop within the existing order of tiers and hierarchies.

The power of an idea. There’s nothing more entrepreneurial than that.

Evangelism

His purpose defined his role as an evangelist. To establish a new order for living, evangelism is a must. His message was short and simple (and to some, insane). “Believe in me and you will be saved.” There’s no ambiguity in that sentence; no wiggle room. You knew what Christ was saying and demanding. Take it or leave it, but don’t debate it. Declaring himself the King of the Jews was another one of his more provocative statements.

Delivery

When he took his message to the masses, he was firm and confident; the kind of confidence you can have when you’re God. He made people think. He talked softly and didn’t beat people over the head until their morale improved. To get his thoughts across, he often spoke in parables or stories that related to people’s daily lives.

Proof

He backed up his statements with proof. He didn’t just say he was God and expected people to believe him; he showed them. Who else can raise the dead? Heal the sick? Read minds? Heal people that aren’t even around him? Raise himself from the dead?

True leaders state their positions, then back them up. Never “pound your chest” and expect people to follow you simply because you tell them you’re right.

Leadership

The ultimate act of leadership was dying for what he believed. This selfless act proved beyond all doubt that Christ believed what he said and was willing to give everything to prove to the world the strength of his position. Many other leaders throughout time have also died for their beliefs. Thousands of American soldiers commit their bodies to serve our nation in battle. Christ had to do the same to prove his dedication to his message.

When he rose from the dead, however, he proved he was the leader of leaders; the “King of Kings,” and the “Lord of Lords.” Many kings and lords lie dead; only Christ conquered death and came back to prove it. His final message in this act was clearly delivered. He was the ultimate leader, so follow him (again, no ambiguity).

Another interesting point is that he fully trained his disciples and gave them all the power he had while on earth. Think about that. Are you willing to give your staff the full power and resources they need to be a success or do you hold back to maintain your edge?

True leadership doesn’t hold back. It gives, defers, builds up and ultimately transfers power at the appropriate time.

Summary

Whether or not you believe Christ is who he said, he’s still a great example of what true leadership can and should be.

pioniq Blogs

PIONIQ Minute for Life

PIONIQ Minute for Business

Family Goal Setting the S.M.A.R.T. Way

Wisdom for Life

Do You Have a Semmering Mindset?

IPADS: An Entrepreneur's Dream Tool

Pillar of Leadership--Evangelism

7 Questions to Discover Work-Life Balance

Inside Deference: A Look at My Management Team

Good Friday and Great Leadership