Decisions

Whatever you do, make a decision. The longer you take to decide, beware that these things can happen to you: people will think you've said yes when you haven't; work will go on without you; or because of your indecision, you'll be asked to leave.

Make a Decision

Every day calls for a decision. Are you making best possible decisions? How do you know when you've made a best-possible decision?

Business Betterment

Now is a great time to focus on bettering every aspect of your business. What costs can be saved? What customer innovations can you offer? What employee ides can improve your business? Start talking to each other to discover the very brain-power that will get all businesses out of this economic doldrum.

Down in the Conference Room there Arose such a Clatter

Down in the Conference Room there Arose such a Clatter

Adapted by Jana Kemp from Clement C Moore’s The Night Before Christmas for the 2008 4th Quarter Better Meetings for Everyone newsletter

‘Twas the week before holiday vacations,

when all through the office

all creatures were fretting, fussing,

and sometimes even cussing.

The candy bowls near empty

at the reception desk and in the meeting room

reminding us of holiday weight gain

that we’ll all dread soon.

The children’s wish lists

echo in our heads

while we’re in the midsts

of accomplishing the to-do lists we dread.

All workers wish for a long winter’s nap

and a settling of brains

to keep from showing holiday strains.

When down toward the conference room

there arose such a clatter,

we sprang from our desks

to see what was the matter.

Away down the hall

we trotted in a flash

threw open the conference room doors

and ran to the windows in a dash.

The can-lights on the whiteboard

gave the room a glow,

eerie and wonderful,

like the room had filled with snow,

when what to our wondering eyes

should appear

but a heavily logo-adorned sleigh

and eight tiny reindeer with logo-adorned sashes,

with our CEO as the driver,

so flush and so quick,

we believed for a moment

we’d seen St. Nick.

More rapid than superman gets suited,

and more loudly than over quarterly returns we sigh,

the CEO’s sleigh-pullers came nigh

as he whistled and hooted,

and called them by name:

Now Crasher of the computers,

Now Dancer upon tables,

Now Parader of stories, and Vixen to us all!

On Comet the cleaner,

On Cupid the office lovelorn,

On Darn’d if it doesn’t beat all and Blitzen too.

To the top of the elevator stack, to the top of the wall!

Now, Dash away, Dash away, Dash away all.

As the recycled papers that before

the wild waste-managers fly,

when they meet with an obstacle,

reach for the sky.

So up to the building-roof

the fastest the eight flew,

with a sleigh full of office supplies

and our CEO too.

And then, in a twinkling,

we heard on the building’s roof

the prancing and pawing of each hoof.

As we drew in our heads

and turned around,

up out of the podium our CEO

came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur,

from his head to his boot,

and his clothes were all radiant

with good cheer and good office supply gifts down at each foot.

His eyes, how they sparkled!

His dimples, how cherry!

His cheeks were like cotton-candy,

And his nose lit up like a strawberry.

His droll little mouth

was drawn up like a bow,

and the beard of his chin

hadn’t been shaved for a week or more we know.

He had a happy face and a barely noticeable belly

That shook, when he laughed, like a plastic-single-serving of jelly.

When we saw him, all dressed up and jolly,

we laughed in spite of ourselves by golly.

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

soon gave us to know that we had nothing soon to dread.

For he spoke some words but a few,

“the year has turned out better than feared for we’ve all been cleared to return to work”

then he turned with a jerk

and went straight back to work, leaving us with ours to do too,

and laying his finger aside his nose,

and giving a “go-be-merry” nod, behind the podium he froze.

Then sprang to the logo-adorned sleigh,

to his team gave a whistle,

and away they all flew,

like the down of a genetically improved-for-flight thistle.

And we heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight:

“Happy Holidays to All and to All a Good Night!

Last one out, remember to turn out the light!”

Who Reads a Blog anyway?

Who Reads blogs anyway? Busy with work, family, and personal time investments, I'm amazed at how many people find time to read blogs....so how do you do it? What sparks your "read" and what keeps you reading?

Meeting Mania Runs Rampant

Yet again this week I heard complaining over people asking for meetings and then rambling at length, wasting everyone's time. Meetings can be improved when everyone attends with a clear understanding of WHAT needs to be Discussed and Decided. Without ingoing clarity, rambling is the typical result and frustration follows. Put an end to meeting mania and lost time - always ask for an agenda, or at the very least "what's the purpose of the meeting?"

When Did I Go Green?

My “green” work was probably originally sparked in the 1970s by the commercial calling US citizens to stop polluting our highways and rivers….the one with the Native American standing silently with a tear running down his cheek at the end.

Fast forward to 2005/2006 when I co-wrote Building Community in Buildings with Ken Baker. Then in 2007 Ken and I teamed up with interior designer Suzie Hall to form GreenSteps . Both Ken and Suzie are LEED Accredited experts in their fields.

More on GreenSteps:

GreenSteps offers dynamic and engaging consultation in sustainable strategies for building developers, owners and operators. Call the GreenSteps team when:

• Starting to sort out the hype from the profitable reality
• Going Green with a new building or a remodel
• Looking for a green and sustainable tenant improvement process
• Seeking high-performing buildings for your portfolio
• Ready to seek LEED certifications
• LEED project management
• Seeking to build and train your own internal Green Team

Visit www.greensteps.us