G M Wilson

24/11/2016

With once inconceivable ideas such as autonomous cars now a reality, it would be easy to believe that technological advances will one day replace all people with robots and render - New Zealand Herald

10/10/2016

Getting fired is something most of us at least try to avoid. A little common sense, reasonable effort and behaviour are in most circumstances enough to keep your job. - New Zealand Herald

10/10/2016

THE 13 DEADLY SINS WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY KILL ANY LEADER!

Leadership is a complex blend of competencies and capabilities.
It means communicating and empathizing, directing and modelling, teaching and mentoring—and, above all, trusting and serving.

With so many directions, it’s a practice that can stretch and bend to accommodate different strengths and skills, and even weaknesses.

There are a few qualities, though, that can kill even strong leadership.

Here are few of the deadliest—keep them far from your own practice of leadership if you want to advance and be successful.

1. DISHONESTY. Honesty is one of the most important qualities in a leader. A dishonest leader cannot be trusted. A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future.

2. REVENGE. Weak leaders seek revenge; strong leaders forgive; great leaders know the best revenge is to have enough self-worth not to seek it.

3. ARROGANCE. Arrogance is most often an unhealthy ego in need of repair. Great leaders know how to keep their ego in check, because ego is only about edging greatness out and doesn’t allow greatness in. Arrogance diminishes leadership.

4. FEAR. Great leaders need to be too brave to be doubtful, too courageous to be fearful, and too determined to be defeated. Fear has no place in great leadership. Successful leaders experience fear, and then they fuel it into something bold and brave. The fears we don’t face, though, become our deadly limits.

5. DISRESPECT. Disrespect is the weapon of the weak, and it hurts people and organizations. The kind of people who make up great organizations don’t tolerate disrespect. Disrespecting others, or tolerating others who disrespect you, shows a lack of self-esteem.

6. ENVY. Great leaders know who they are and take great pride in what they can accomplish. They enjoy watching others succeed and they make no room for envy. They know that if you’re always looking over your shoulder at what other people have, you can’t look forward to accomplishing great things.

7. INGRATITUDE. Great leaders value those around them and appreciate their hard work. They know they cannot attain success without others.

8. FAVOURITISM. Leaders who practice favouritism in the workplace have no chance to build a trust or respect. Great leaders value all people and their gifts while understanding their differing needs, and they do their best to treat everyone well. This may sometimes look like favouritism on the surface, but those involved will always know the difference.

9. LAZINESS. Good leadership requires hard work. In fact, the leader should be willing to be the hardest worker on the team.

10. POOR COMMUNICATION. Communication is how leaders keep people and the organization healthy and on track as they fulfil their vision, goals, and objectives. The key to a culture of success is an environment where people can thrive without unnecessary dysfunction or confusion—and that means great communication. Great leaders know that clarity and communication reinforce human connection.

11. CONCEIT. A leader who always thinks they are the smartest in the room or they know best without even consulting others has fallen into conceit. Conceit almost always partners with arrogance, and great leaders know that it’s never compatible with compassion and understanding.

12. RIGIDITY. Some things are worth being rigid about—for example, you should never be flexible when it comes to your values and vision. But for most issues, leaders are called to be adaptable, because those who cannot change their mind usually cannot change much else.

13. SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS. The best leaders think long term, with big plans and even bigger dreams. They do what they can today to make the future—distant as well as near—successful.

Most of us in leadership struggle at some time with one or more of these issues. It’s best to keep a close watch, though, because even the smallest beginnings of these habits can be deadly.

05/10/2016

Running a business and FEELING STRESSED? You’re not alone.

Small business owners might be optimistic about the future, but that doesn’t mean that the daily grind isn’t stressful, research reveals.

A range of issues are keeping small business owners awake at night, including business and succession planning, stress and lifestyle, cash flow, business protection and at times, declining sales and profits.

When was the last time you took a break?

Research has uncovered key aspects of business performance, challenges and opportunities, and reveals that while 71 per cent of business owners spend time doing things they enjoy, only 30 per cent think their business can run without them.

This is corroborated in a 2015 survey by cloud accounting platform Xero, which revealed that 23 per cent of SME operators had not taken a holiday in two years, with more than half of those admitting it was hard to take a break.

Stress and burnout hits business owners hard

Heightened romanticism with the concept of business and entrepreneurialism has resulted in some people underestimating the work involved in running a business, according to founder and CEO of education institution for entrepreneurs, The Entourage, Jack Delosa.

Perhaps unsurprisingly stress was a major concern for respondents of the Report, with many business owners suffering burnout.

“Starting a business is one of the most difficult career paths an individual can pursue because essentially you’re creating something out of nothing,” says Delosa.

“This requires a high degree of resourcefulness and energy – because there can be so much uncertainty in the path that you’re walking.”

Once your business grows and revenues increase, suddenly you need to meet the demand and deliver on the sales being generated.

“In the early stages, there’s often a high staff turnover, it’s chaotic and there’s lots of changes and demands on staff in the business. Meanwhile, the business owner needs to be focused on building sustainable and reliable revenue streams.”

But part of managing stress means anticipating these challenges and planning ahead.

Once you start to achieve growth, keep in mind this growth can devour your cash with the sudden need for more staff, product and expertise, says Delosa.

“Once you scale and get more employees, you need very rigorous management reports and financial controls throughout the business.

“Then your wage bills and your expenses increase. By now, it can’t be all love, trust and pixie dust anymore – there needs to be controls and responsibilities.”

Why you need a business plan

Stress is also a factor in hampering the documentation of business plans.

72 per cent of business owners don’t have a plan due to feeling swamped by the everyday pressures of operating their business, according to the report.

However, a business plan can help cement the direction of your business and is a key tool in influencing financial providers to secure you finance.

For assistance in business planning and improvement, SMEs should seek an external adviser who can help them to benchmark how they are performing relative to other businesses, then help owners set some real goals and establish a plan for how to reach them.

Once you have a documented plan for your business’ future, this can take a huge weight off your shoulders.

Four top tips to lower your stress levels

1. Take a break – studies suggest that a holiday can bring down those stress levels, but be warned, according to Harvard Business Review, a stressful holiday will only make things worse, so make sure you make it easy for yourself

2. Exercise – getting exercise is key to helping you reduce stress

3. Create a business plan – focusing your business will focus you, and will take away some of those stressful thoughts that keep you up at night

4. Share your burden with someone who can help – if you don’t have a trusted ally who can advise and work with you, it might be time to find someone.

28/09/2016

God help Auckland ... unreal behaviour!

As two rival Auckland candidates came close to

06/05/2016

NZI's national manager liability says: "There's a quote which goes like: "There are only three kinds of companies in the world - those who have been hacked, those who are going to be hacked, and those who don't know they've already been hacked".
Its not only larger organizations being attacked, small business operations are not exempt. Most companies are still not adequately prepared for, or even understand, the risks they face.

Mick Broughton (not his real name) remembers well what he did when cyber criminals hit his international logistics business, one of thousands of examples of cyber crime costing New - New Zealand Herald

04/05/2016

Sensible advice from the lips of a high achiever!

Business news, business advice and information for Australian SMEs

02/05/2016

Interesting approach ... certainly worth a read

Do you believe in destiny or free will?

18/03/2016

Directors are liable for more than ever under new laws - so what do they need to know?

17/03/2016

It all makes so much sense. Read, apply, and your daily productivity and sense of control will increase substantially

They said computers would make us all a lot more productive, and free up our personal lives. Yeah right.

07/03/2016

SCAMMERS NEVER GO ON HOLIDAY, so always be alert!

(A toolkit is also available on how small business can help protect themselves online http://www.connectsmart.govt.nz/businesses )

Article from Business.govt.nz …. Connecting Small Business with Government

Scammers never take a break! In fact, in the last few months there has been a significant rise in the number of reported scam incidents.

New Zealanders, including businesses, reported 492 scams online at the orb-reporting site in November - up from 289 in November 2014.

And the reported losses totalled $1,309,095 - a large increase from $510,944 lost in November 2014.

NetSafe, an independent non-profit organisation that promotes safe online use, says website defacement, denial of service attacks, and compromised accounts were all reported last month.

Small business owners were among victims who reported spear phishing and whaling emails, where hackers target specific “big fish” people in a company.

The emails often include links to websites hosting malware or carrying malicious .pdf, .jar and .zip files. Don’t click on any links in unsolicited emails or from addresses you don’t recognise. NetSafe’s website has tips on how to avoid email accounts being hacked.

NetSafe says there was a notable rise in “IRD refund” and “government grant” cold calls last month. IR has advice on what to do if you have been scammed by a fake Inland Revenue email or website.

And there have been repeated warnings about the NZ Funding Grants website which has tricked many small firms into paying fees to find grants are non-existent.

Some other recent examples of scams reported last month include:

• Small business websites being cloned and used to recruit money mules via fake job adverts. A North Island agricultural equipment supplier found their site had been duplicated under a .uk domain and was being hosted in Russia.

• Business email being compromised, with several companies finding the attackers had recently registered .nz domains very similar to their genuine URLs to increase the chance of staff processing payment requests. A total of $234K was lost through these scams in November.

• A company in Christchurch handling earthquake payouts was among the victims with funds channeled to an NZ-based mule.

• One small business owner reported that their website database had been hacked with scam emails sent to all customers. One customer lost $14,500. The business also reported that the hacker demanded a $50,000 (USD) ransom to not publish the compromised data online. NetSafe alerted the Police Cybercrime Unit about this and the business owner was told not to pay the ransom.

As you can see from the above list, it’s very important to keep an eye out for any activity that looks a bit suspicious, such as unusual invoices, odd email addresses, demands for urgent payments or requests for you to log into websites.

Connect Smart, led by the government’s National Cyber Policy Office, has a toolkit for small businesses (view this toolkit at: http://www.connectsmart.govt.nz/businesses) on how to protect your business online.

www.teamperformance.co.nz