Ho‘ohana Aloha

I appreciate transparent posts like this one: He didn’t have to write it —-or did he? Brian explains a key decision to his customers. I’m one of them, for I met him when selecting two of his Genesis themes for my website reinventions here and here.

“Why I Left My Solo Gig” contains tidbits we all can learn from… the concept of team continues to evolve, and this harks back to those “brutal questions” we spoke of on Managing with Aloha when the month of May began:

What should you be doing, and what should someone else be doing, and what shouldn’t anyone have to do at all?

What a great question to ask of your own values: How would I build a beautiful company?

Beauty isn’t just “a look” it’s the flavor of your human morality, ethics, and integrity.

Bill Witherspoon:

I am an optimist and an idealist. In shaping The Sky Factory, I started with the assumption that people are naturally curious and creative. I wanted to craft an environment in which they would act like entrepreneurs, not like robots. My first decision was to give people the opportunity to purchase discounted ownership, and 100 percent of employees have participated. The responsibility for revenue and profit belongs to everyone. From that foundation, I derived five principles… read more at Inc.

Recently for me, at TalkingStory.org: If you worked for me

Management gurus love to tell companies to reinvent themselves. The Bainies do something more interesting: they preach simplicity. They argue that most successful companies share three virtues. They have a highly distinctive core business. They make great efforts to keep their business model as simple as possible. And they apply it relentlessly to new opportunities.

Simplify and repeat.

The Bain authors argue that there are three ways to apply the repeatability model. Some companies, such as American Express, target ever more precise groups of customers. Some apply the model to new markets: Nike has brought its “swoosh” to one sport after another. Some apply the same management system to lots of different businesses: Danaher, an American holding company that specialises in manufacturing, has applied its “lean” management system, the Danaher Business System, to the 85 businesses it has bought over the past ten years.

Learning from the news:

This was the big news of the tech world yesterday: “Facebook acquires Instagram in $1 billion deal.” — USA Today

Here’s my take on it: Acquisitions and mergers fascinate me in two ways (and I do think separating these considerations gives us a useful study within our learning about business) …

I’m not alone as an employer with a newly improved business model for 2012… are you on board?

Have a Kindle and love/admire Stephen Covey?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is the Daily Deal at $0.99 today!

I have no idea how many times I have read, annotated, and referred to my dog-eared copy of this CLASSIC book, and I still grabbed this digital copy (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) because it makes searching SO much easier.

If you want a quick reminder, these are his 7 Habits:

• Habit 1, Be Proactive, is the Habit of Personal Vision.
• Habit 2, Begin with the End in Mind, is the Habit of Personal Leadership.
• Habit 3, Put First Things First, is the Habit of Personal Management.
• Habit 4, Think Win-Win, is the Habit of Interpersonal Leadership.
• Habit 5, Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood, is the Habit of Communication.
• Habit 6, Synergize, is the Habit of Creative Cooperation.
• Habit 7, Sharpen the Saw, is the Habit of Self-Renewal.

Last post, we talked about an approach for the January overwhelm that can appear this time of year, and our talk story about it slanted toward the personal. Let’s talk about your workplace today.

If you are a business owner, or an Alaka‘i Manager — one with Kuleana (a sense of personal responsibility, and personal accountability) within your circle of influence, whatever its scope, and you have the Ho‘ohana intention to manage with Aloha — this post is for you.

An Aloha Business for 2012

What will the Aloha business look like and feel like? Why will it be the best kind of business to tackle the coming year’s challenges with the greatest prospects of success? What will it take, so it truly thrives and prospers?

Here are my suggestions for you…

Great story of how a business supports a community.

From the Fast Company story Scott pulls from:

“I had a dream to make the life of my employees more dignified.”

via @jonathanfields and @gretchenrubin on Twitter: As Jonathan tweeted, “Authors and aspiring authors, brace yourselves..”

An all-too-true look on how an intern helps reinvent conventional publishing houses.