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February 4, 2011 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

Wow! Such a great article posted on Harvard’s blog this week regarding the always challenging
and yet simple concept of how to get things done. It’s pretty much what we already know,but with a great focus on planning and organization prior
to the task. Plus, a nice concept that I think so many of us forget – take a damn break! – pushing through is not always helpful. Here’s some key
take-aways:

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Plan – you must plan based on priority the night before so you know exactly what you’re doing tomorrow and how that specific time slot
works with your schedule
Organization – you must have a complete list of tasks that have been assessed based on their importance, urgency, and value
Focus – the item in front of you should be your only task. Put cell phones away. It’s hard, but unless you’re expecting an important call,
you’ll probably still survive without it. If on a computer, only have that window or program open and turn off all of the alerts and pop ups
(Outlook is the worst for me because that little bubble notification indicating that I have new mail will completely derail me)
Take a Break – once you’ve had a productive session, go do something else. Learn to notice when you’re just pushing yourself. Most of the
time your quality of work will start to diminish afterwards. Again, do something completely different to reset your brain. Change the scene.

Filed under Business Tagged with Business, Career, Leadership, life, management, time management

January 28, 2011 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

The other day I had an interesting learning experience. It all started from a conversation I had
mentioning my struggle with some recent frustrations due to a lack of progress at work. What was unique and had a key impact was the quick and
unrestrained response from the listener, my director, “Impatience is why you’ll continue to be a successful leader”.

Quick and simple. I didn’t expect that. I was thinking advice would have originally followed. Perhaps a good story, book, or article to refer to. Then
I recognized his point and the principle behind it. That patience is not always the valuable virtue as it is so commonly perceived. That sometimes
especially in our competitive environments, patience can be the death of a business or career. It leads to the blind acceptance of the status quo and
delay of progress. Challenges, however, should be seen as great things and we should welcome them. If used effectively as growth opportunities,
the resulting motivation from their pressure should only spur us on to remain competitive and impatient to the wasteful processes of our business.

“Remember on the field it doesn’t just rain on one team. It’s a new challenge for both. The best team doesn’t wait, but is creative enough
to overcome through effort and perseverance” – anonymous

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Filed under Business Tagged with Business, Career, coaching, Leadership, life, management

January 17, 2011 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

The Significant Few

I’m a data nerd. I love working with it and using it especially with business. It’s something that never fails to amaze or contest the way I think or
make decisions. I always enjoy those occasions when you see your own or someone else’s beliefs challenged by a new set of data – those kind of
head scratching, jaw dropping, “I never would have thought that was why” moments.

When it comes to data analysis, one of my favorite tools to use is the Pareto Principle. Created by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist, the pareto
principle is based on the belief that when analyzing a set of data you will usually have a significant few (data points) that contribute to the majority
of the effects, i.e. 80% of the results are caused by 20% of that data population, hence, if you’ve ever heard of the 80/20 rule. This principle stems
from his interesting studies involving the distribution of wealth and the resulting analysis that 80% of the land in his area was owned by 20% of the
population. Of course, this 80/20 ratio does not fit all data exactly. Sometimes you’ll see 20% cause 95% of the effects. It is widely accepted
among statisticians and analysts that if you have gathered the correct amount of data and have reliable sources, you will find a small vital group
that contributes the majority while the trivial many do not which is the key element to note.

As you can imagine this technique is very useful for problem saving applications and decisions. Knowing what key factors will contribute the most
can easily become your targets to fix or use. This is extremely helpful for time management and focus, i.e. spend your time on the those 20% that

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will yield the majority of results. When it comes to problem solving, it is extremely satisfying to target those key areas and then reap the rewards
because again you focused on those significant few and didn’t waste your time elsewhere.

Here are some interesting and common pareto statistics from all aspects of life (not all are entirely accurate, but have been based on data):

One I analyzed – Texas released a top 100 congested roadways and here’s what I got – 80% of the highest trafficked roads exist in 33% of
the counties they listed (source data link)
17 countries (9%) harbor more than 70% of the earth’s species (source link)
In health care in the United States, it has been found that 20% of patients use 80% of health care resources (no specific data, but this has
been suggested as pretty accurate)
Several criminology studies have found that 80% of crimes are committed by 20% of criminals
80 percent of a company’s revenue comes from 20 percent of its products (I know product managers that say this follows pretty closely)
80% of the traffic in town travels over 20% of the roads (again, suggested as accurate by some various sites)
20% of your customers contribute to 80% of your sales (Timothy Ferris’ new book, 4-Hour Work Week suggests specifically targeting those
20%)

Imagine if you were to examine your expenses. Would you rather reduce your mortgage rate or your telephone bill by 1%? You can see your
efforts would yield greater results on the former mortgage to save money. Take a look and consider how you might use this to help with work,
money, or something else. Overall, as you can see, the biggest advantage by using this principle is the prioritization and targeting of what few things
will yield the largest gains.

Filed under Business, Personal Finance Tagged with Business, Career, Data Analysis, finance, life, Problem Solving, project

January 14, 2011 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

Here’s a quick article that I enjoyed as I have similar thoughts of branching out on some entrepreneurial ideas. One of my favorite key points is
regarding the focus on researching the market and it’s viability for a need or product and avoiding the trap of being narrow minded by developing a
business solely on your idea or vision. If the market or need is not there, you will struggle to profit. The article mostly discusses this in regards to
the popular app market for phones and tablets right now, but you get the point. Enjoy!

Reuters website article

Filed under Business Tagged with Business, Career, entrepreneur, life, market

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January 12, 2011 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

Not sure about you, but it has always been a pain to have keep track of all of my to-do lists. Some are work related. Some are for the house. Some
are even for fun things like travel ideas, movies, books, restaurants, etc. For years I’ve tried so many methods: lists at the office, notes on my
computer, email list back and forth, and a note pad app on my phone. Usually I just lose the discipline to keep them updated because they require
so much time to maintain and keep things organized.

What’s been the answer for me lately has been the Springpad site and app (Android). You can conveniently access your list from anywhere and
keep your categories separate such as work and home tasks or see them all at once as needed.

The best feature by far is ability to create tasks/notes for items you find by searching the internet – books, movies, restaurants, gifts, etc. Trust me
– just check out the video and give it a shot – the apps (Android and iPhone) and website are free!

Filed under Android, Business Tagged with android, apps, Business, Career, life, software, technology

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January 6, 2011 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

I really enjoyed this quick article from HBR about analyzing your day. The concepts apply to your job as well as some aspects outside of it. I know
for me taking the time to realize why my day was good or bad and then reflecting upon what worked or needs improvement has helped my career
through the years. It’s so easy to get caught up in everything and become a robot that never reflects upon successes or failures. That to me is the
scariest – to go about life and not recognize those things – you’ll never know what has been helpful or detrimental.

Common Questions I Like to Use:

Did any of my activities today help go towards achieving my career goals? – no, then why not? If yes, good! what’s next and how do I
prepare?
Do I have a replacement for my current role so I can move up in my career? – if not, then who? what other trainings do they need?
If I’m stuck on a problem/project, then why? – do I need to ask for help? can someone outside my department help? mentor perhaps?
Why are some meetings more successful than others? – better facilitator? the use an agenda? better powerpoints?
Do I need to update anyone on the decision we just made? – who else maybe affected that needs to know? what’s the best method for
communication?
Is there a new skill/tool I learned? – how will I use this? how will I remember to use it? who else should I train on this?
During the meeting, why did I encounter so many objections to my idea? – was it just a bad idea or was I too pushy? who would be best to
ask for feedback?

Hopefully you have a good manager, leader, or mentor who can recognize these same things as well, but of course the most rewards will come from
when you take the time and effort to do so on your own. I hope you enjoy this as well. Cheers!

http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2011/01/the-best-way-to-use-the-last-f.html

Filed under Business Tagged with Business, Career, coaching, feedback, Leadership, life

January 3, 2011 by Stephen Baird 2 Comments

As I continue to learn more about finance and the strategies associated with money, I find that I usually have to remind myself to not default to my
old belief that all debt must be paid off prior to any type of investing. Now, this is definitely a good principle to live by – something I wish our
government would exercise more of - however, for the majority of our lives, we will have to take out loans for large purchases (house, college, et
cetera). Not ideal, but for most people debt will always exist to some extent. The key is a balance of using that principle towards high interest debt
(credit cards), but also not becoming blind to great money making opportunities such as your company’s stock purchase program or 401k match.
My favorite example is the following excerpt below from a nice USA Today article:

You should put at least the minimum you need to invest in a 401(k) to get your company’s match. Many companies match at least some of

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your investment, and your money grows, tax-deferred, over time. If your company matches, say, 50% on the first 6% of pay you invest in a
401(k), you’ve got a 50% return right off the bat.

For me and probably several others of you out there, you actually may get a higher match (return) from your company. A 75% -100% company
match for the first 3-6% of your paycheck towards your 401k is not uncommon and quite amazing when you consider it’s free money. Even
with significant credit card debt and a national average interest rate at ~13% applied towards your account, you should still take part in your
company’s 401k plan.

Let’s think how the numbers would work. If you now had the opportunity to throw an extra $100 towards your credit card with the rate mentioned
above you’d save about $13 of interest per every $100 you put towards the account. I know this is an approximate number that is not entirely
accurate considering that the interest is compounded monthly, but for the most part it’s pretty close if you were to do all of the math. So, if you had
the option to place that same money in your 401k accompanied by a 50% match, you can now see you’d make an extra $50 for every $100 you
contribute. Of course this depends on how your paychecks fall within that 3% of pay company match range, but the numbers I used above work
out well for anyone making $40,000 or higher annually and faced with this decision. Here’s an easy paycheck calculator I used to get some of these
numbers working with a 3% 401k contribution (3% of 40K salary = $100 per month to 401k).

There are so many more scenarios to consider whether or not to pay off debt or invest, but the above example is more common than you think and
it’s an easy mistake that many make regarding their 401k. If you consider that the average return on the stock market is around 10% per year, it
makes sense to knock out those credit cards and leverage your 401k match first. However, if you’ve already done so and only have a reasonably
low fixed interest mortgage, school, or auto loan, you might want to do the math and see if you can make more money down the line with other
investment vehicles such as mutual funds, ETFs, etc. - all fun things to think about.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/basics/2006-09-14-debt-invest_x.htm

Filed under Business, Personal Finance Tagged with 401k, Business, debt, ESPP, finance, investment, life, retirement, stock market, stocks

December 11, 2010 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

I just tried this out today on my HTC EVO after seeing Google‘s release here. So far so good!

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Message Composition
Updates

The main two updates are:

New window for composing/editing emails and replies

Priority Email filtering (now allows coordination with desktop version)

I’m still pretty new to the priority email settings that the desktop version has, but I definitely see it as useful for filtering all the crazy amounts of
email that hit us each day, even the ones we want. For me, the best new feature is the message composition window. They’ve made it quicker to
fire off a message or save a draft without hitting the usual menu key. Also, when replying to a message, you now have the chance to change how
you reply (reply, reply all, forward) while editing (see display) – give it a shot and update via the market!

Filed under Android Tagged with android, apps, HTC, HTC Evo, life, news, software, technology

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December 6, 2010 by Stephen Baird 1 Comment

I always find it amusing how sometimes you can look back and realize missed opportunities especially those involving investments, careers, etc.
You wonder, how did I miss out on that?! A recent one for me involved my company’s ESPP. Initially it sounded like a lot of effort dealing with
extra accounts, risks, and taxes for an assumed low financial reward. Little did I know…

Do you take part in your company's

ESPP?

Yes

No

Considering it

Wish I could

Vote

View Results Share This Polldaddy.com

So, what exactly is an employee stock purchase plan and how does it work? Well for the most part it’s just like using a coupon. You sign up for an
account via whatever investment provider your company uses - Fidelity is common. By doing so you receive specific discounted rates
for purchasing your company’s stock shares with most ranging from 10-15% off the actual value. Usually this program involves a 3-6 month period
in which you’ll be donating a predefined percentage per paycheck. Eventually depending on the guidelines, that lump sum of money will be used to
purchase your shares at the end of the period.

Now in regards to how the company decides at what price point to purchase the stock depends, but usually they buy at the lowest price at either
the beginning or the end of the determined time period. So if the stock price is $18 the first day and somehow the price falls to $16 the last day of
the period, they’ll purchase your stock at the lower price of $16. And of course vice versa if the price is higher at the end. Once the stocks are
purchased you have the opportunity to sell that day or till whenever you decide – this is where it depends on your tolerance for risk - sell then and
make your 10-15% or wait to see if your stock goes up.

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Let’s look at the math. Imagine investing, let’s say a $1,000 dollars from you paycheck over 3 months. They’ll take roughly $333.33 per month
(post tax), store it into an account, and use it to purchase stocks at 85% their value when it’s time to buy (a 15% discount for you). So for example:

January 1st 2010, the stock is valued at $20 per share. Last day (of June), the stock is now valued at $18. They will then purchase at the lower
$18 price using your 15% discount rate. So after applying that discount, you are actually purchasing shares priced at $15.3, not $18, and that
will translate into $1,000 / $15.3 = 65.394 shares! For most plans, you won’t be able to own those extra 0.394 shares, so they’ll take that extra
cash and just keep it in your account for the next purchase round.

So you now own 65 shares worth $18 each, which means the cash value is $1170 (65 x 18) if you sold exactly at $18 that moment. You just turned
$1,000 into $1170 ($170 profit) within 6 months!! Take a moment to think of that return. This is impossible with the current savings account rates.
The average APY (annual percentage yield) is around 1.1%. This means if you had placed your money in a generic savings account, your $1,000
dollars over those 6 months would turn into just a measly $5.50 profit (1.1% APY / 2 for 6 months = 0.55% of yield). Ridiculous, right?! Currently
with the economic situation, it is very difficult to find any other investment vehicle that can yield such high returns with such low risk.

Of course, risk does exists, but when most plans give you an automatic 10-15% profit (discount) and usually buy at the lowest price, you stand to
mitigate most of it.

Yes, I’ll admit they’re other considerations to take into account such as short-term gain taxes, but you see the potential. In regards to the extra
taxes, I’ll keep it brief and simple. If you sell the shares in less than a year and make a profit they’ll tax them, this is call a short-term capital gain
tax. If you keep them for more than a year it’s a long-term capital gain tax which is usually lower than the short-term rate. These tax rates are
determined by your yearly income and for most people it can range from 15-25% of that profit from the stock sold. But, realize that tax applies
only to your profit. So that $170 of profit really is $127.5 (25% rate if short term). Again much better than any savings account that can’t even
come close to competing with the inflation rates. Here is a nice link explaining the different rates and tax brackets (LINK). There are much more
strategies and techniques to discuss, but that’s the general explanation for now.

If you have access to an ESPP, forget about the usual accounts (savings, money market, etc.) and sign up. Now, I say this assuming you have your
high interest credit cards paid off and have some type of retirement setup (401k / Roth IRA) - that is a whole other consideration taking into
account some of the insane 15-25% interest rates or money to be gained by an employer retirement match. But again if you are in a position to use
your ESPP, do it! Even if you have a mortgage or other low interest loan, you can use that investment amount plus the gains to pay off the loan
sooner! Just do the math.

Filed under Business Tagged with Business, economics, economy, finance, investment, life, money, retirement, stock market, stocks

November 18, 2010 by Stephen Baird Leave a Comment

I really enjoyed this today. Reading it, for me, provided a nice little reset and refocus during this hectic time. I’m not sure about you, but I’m

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happily employed yet extremely busy. This one thing I’m grateful for, but since companies are becoming much more cautious of hiring, it translates
to I’m the one who buffers that extra work during those peaks and spends more time at the office.

Key things I enjoyed:

Bringing laughter to any issue or situation

Analyzing the problem and why you’re stressing about it, i.e. is there another perspective to consider?
The power of organization and the related stress relief
Attention management (stop looking at your email or phone and focus!)

Link: http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/fitness/stress-management-tips-better-worklife-balance#

Enjoy this great clip from Luis CK – brilliant! Cheers!

Filed under Business Tagged with Business, Career, Leadership, life

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Why Discipline and Organization Will Always be Required to do More

Leadership, Impatience, and the Status Quo
Vilfredo Pareto and His Useful 80/20 Principle: Vital Few, Trivial Many – Focus to Solve Problems
Entrepreneurs: Locate the Market Needs, Then Create the Solution/Idea
Springpad – Smart & Innovative To-do List / Organizer [video is great]

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All Recipes.com – Always on this one
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