I'm spending this week in Mexico City attending the ISO meetings. As I listen to the various member nations representatives discussing items of business I am struck by the huge differences in doing business in other parts of the world from the United States. For trade purposes our world has grown very small and goods seem to move almost anywhere from any country of origin. Most of the representatives in attendance are trying to do what they can to improve our industry (ceramic tile) but some, just a few, who blatantly are only self-serving for their companies or nations interests without consideration for what is best for the industry or the rest of the world.
The purpose of the ISO organization is to develop standards that facilitate trade and ensure that our customers (consumers) get what they expect when they purchase a tile installation. This started out just as tile manufacturers but has now expanded to include the installation systems, hence, my purpose for being here. Think of this as a auto manufacturer, they are concerned about making their cars the best and safest but need the support of the others who make the systems that are necessary for the car, like the tire companies, headlight companies, etc.
I suppose for most of my life I have not paid much attention to countries meeting and discussing various items of mutual interest, such as the UN talks. Now that I am part of the "system" my eyes are being opened in all of the various factors that effect the outcome of the discussions and just how carefully each and every item is considered within the context of member nations differing viewpoints. What may be critical to the folks in Europe may have no value in Asia and only small concern in other parts of the world.
It does make for an interest week and a huge learning experience.
Steve
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Procrastination
I keep asking myself, What do I feel like doing? What have I been saying I'm going to do? Why am I not doing what I need to be doing? And finally, What am I doing? For some unknown reason (maybe not so unknown, read on friends) I find myself full of excuses why I'm not doing what I KNOW that I need to do.
Take this blog for example, I've been ruminating over what I wanted to write about since last Saturday, yet I didn't even start this until mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Oh, I have excuses (yep the phone did ring, people stopped by my open office door, etc) but really the bottom line here is I didn't start writing until just now. In fact, I am going to still not write about what I was thinking about so that I can discuss how to deal with my procrastination. I promise I will get to that other subject soon.
Here are several points that I am going to throw out (mainly for ME to re-read) that may be helpful to others. These are actions that I can take to stop my procrastinating.
1. Stop making excuses. I just need to make my choices as to which priorities are important.
2. Start NOW. TODAY. I tend to push off until tomorrow and I have no guarantee of a tomorrow, or the time tomorrow that I couldn't seem to find today.
3. Establish a planned schedule and stick to it. I need to put each task on my calendar and allocate proper time frames to accomplish it (or the bite sized pieces if it is a large task) and then stick to my schedule. PERIOD. Ignore the phone and close the office door.
4. Face my fears. I'm not sure what I am afraid of but obviously subconsciously I have a fear of doing something or I would just do it.
5. Focus on what I gain, not the pain of doing the task. Very few worthwhile things in life are easily accomplished. I need to push through the frustration and concentrate on how great I will feel when this task is finished.
6. Perseverance. I once gave a 20 minute talk about perseverance that lasted almost 2 hours. Seriously! What I found was that once I got started I knew a lot about the subject and wanted to share with others, much like writing this blog. I actually enjoyed that 2 hours and it only seemed like 20 minutes had passed to me.
7. Self awareness. Monitor my internal monologue to see and understand WHY I decide what I do and HOW I make that decision. Then the rest is easy - just re-write the script the way I KNOW it should be and go forward.
OK, so now you can start cheering and clapping for me as I've overcome procrastination for today and have a written plan to re-read every time I need to do something. A preacher friend of mine loves to say that it is much easier to be a Christian in the church building than to walk down a street with sinners full of temptations that pull at me.
Procrastination seems to be one of those sin's to me - it is much easier to identify it AFTER I've overcome it and reflect back and wonder why it took me so long.
How do YOU handle procrastination and overcome it in your world?
Steve
Take this blog for example, I've been ruminating over what I wanted to write about since last Saturday, yet I didn't even start this until mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Oh, I have excuses (yep the phone did ring, people stopped by my open office door, etc) but really the bottom line here is I didn't start writing until just now. In fact, I am going to still not write about what I was thinking about so that I can discuss how to deal with my procrastination. I promise I will get to that other subject soon.
Here are several points that I am going to throw out (mainly for ME to re-read) that may be helpful to others. These are actions that I can take to stop my procrastinating.
1. Stop making excuses. I just need to make my choices as to which priorities are important.
2. Start NOW. TODAY. I tend to push off until tomorrow and I have no guarantee of a tomorrow, or the time tomorrow that I couldn't seem to find today.
3. Establish a planned schedule and stick to it. I need to put each task on my calendar and allocate proper time frames to accomplish it (or the bite sized pieces if it is a large task) and then stick to my schedule. PERIOD. Ignore the phone and close the office door.
4. Face my fears. I'm not sure what I am afraid of but obviously subconsciously I have a fear of doing something or I would just do it.
5. Focus on what I gain, not the pain of doing the task. Very few worthwhile things in life are easily accomplished. I need to push through the frustration and concentrate on how great I will feel when this task is finished.
6. Perseverance. I once gave a 20 minute talk about perseverance that lasted almost 2 hours. Seriously! What I found was that once I got started I knew a lot about the subject and wanted to share with others, much like writing this blog. I actually enjoyed that 2 hours and it only seemed like 20 minutes had passed to me.
7. Self awareness. Monitor my internal monologue to see and understand WHY I decide what I do and HOW I make that decision. Then the rest is easy - just re-write the script the way I KNOW it should be and go forward.
OK, so now you can start cheering and clapping for me as I've overcome procrastination for today and have a written plan to re-read every time I need to do something. A preacher friend of mine loves to say that it is much easier to be a Christian in the church building than to walk down a street with sinners full of temptations that pull at me.
Procrastination seems to be one of those sin's to me - it is much easier to identify it AFTER I've overcome it and reflect back and wonder why it took me so long.
How do YOU handle procrastination and overcome it in your world?
Steve
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Embracing Change
I spent all of last week at our corporate office HQ in Chicago and had the opportunity to be involved in many new and exciting things that are happening at USG. To list them all would take several pages but the quick view is that I am proud to be associated with a company like USG that takes so much corporate responsibility for every issue they are involved with. We have a updated and revised Sustainability policy, we have updated and revised literature and product labeling/packaging to help our customers better understand how to use and where to use our products. We discussed training our employees as well as our customers employees who sell our products to the ultimate users so everyone has a better understanding of all the possibilities of our full line of products.
What impressed me the most with this trip was the use of new cutting edge technology to stay on the top of our game. How we can transfer this to our customers and their customers remains to be fully explored, but in the meantime it relates to how well and quickly USG can respond to the industry and it's changing needs/wants/requirements. USG has built the greatest team of talent and skills in our people, but to fully utilize their talents and skills they need the support of the latest technology available. If your company or the suppliers you currently use are not providing latest technology to you then may want to investigate how to move into this newer higher level of progress.
At this point you may be thinking that I feel we have everything the best it can be - WRONG - I feel we are ahead of our competition but I know we will never rest on the process of improvements and change for the better. Sometimes it feels as if we just have endless meetings about issues but in reality these are necessary to consider all of the potential possibilities and probabilities that are involved with changing what we do. We need to be as sure as possible that we are making GOOD changes and that they make sense for USG as well as our customers and the ultimate consumers. It may not be fun, but it is absolutely necessary to insure our leadership position in our industry. Plus it is a constant reminder that the customers are in charge and have choices, therefore we do everything possible to earn their business each and every day.
What impressed me the most with this trip was the use of new cutting edge technology to stay on the top of our game. How we can transfer this to our customers and their customers remains to be fully explored, but in the meantime it relates to how well and quickly USG can respond to the industry and it's changing needs/wants/requirements. USG has built the greatest team of talent and skills in our people, but to fully utilize their talents and skills they need the support of the latest technology available. If your company or the suppliers you currently use are not providing latest technology to you then may want to investigate how to move into this newer higher level of progress.
At this point you may be thinking that I feel we have everything the best it can be - WRONG - I feel we are ahead of our competition but I know we will never rest on the process of improvements and change for the better. Sometimes it feels as if we just have endless meetings about issues but in reality these are necessary to consider all of the potential possibilities and probabilities that are involved with changing what we do. We need to be as sure as possible that we are making GOOD changes and that they make sense for USG as well as our customers and the ultimate consumers. It may not be fun, but it is absolutely necessary to insure our leadership position in our industry. Plus it is a constant reminder that the customers are in charge and have choices, therefore we do everything possible to earn their business each and every day.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Welcome TalkFloor followers
Today is a big day on my calendar as I welcome the followers of TalkFloor (www.talkfloor.com) to our little tribe. Dave Foster and I have been discussing this move for quite a while now, and as many things seem to be, it took much longer than either of us anticipated. Maybe our entire flooring industry is subject to that some issue.
I read another blog today that talked about how we vote in this country and why it takes longer than we want to receive results. We currently need to wait most of the evening, sometimes dragging on into the night and early morning hours, to discover who won what political race. I agree with that author that it doesn't make sense in today's times with the technology we have available that we can't track the votes hourly and report the results almost as they happen. Downside argument seems to be that (A) cost to set up the system would be higher than what we currently do, (B) some folks wouldn't go vote because their candidate is leading (or losing) or (C) the always big reason - potential voter fraud. Now I am not the brightest candle in the box and never claim to be, but I know folks much smarter than me can design systems to overcome the fraud potential issue, and cost is secondary to any politician after they get in office so this is easily overcome and that just leaves the final concern of folks too lazy or uneducated about their vote power. How we change people and their actions is to offer them something they (1) want more, (2) feel better about, (3) make them angry about the current status. I believe that hourly reporting of the voting status would overcome the feelings of not caring by addressing all 3 of the above concerns.
I try to live my life based on EXCELLENCE, and daily look at things to see how we can make the item or system better. Sometimes it does cost more, but the value received is always higher when something is improved dramatically based upon excellence.
What are your thoughts?
I read another blog today that talked about how we vote in this country and why it takes longer than we want to receive results. We currently need to wait most of the evening, sometimes dragging on into the night and early morning hours, to discover who won what political race. I agree with that author that it doesn't make sense in today's times with the technology we have available that we can't track the votes hourly and report the results almost as they happen. Downside argument seems to be that (A) cost to set up the system would be higher than what we currently do, (B) some folks wouldn't go vote because their candidate is leading (or losing) or (C) the always big reason - potential voter fraud. Now I am not the brightest candle in the box and never claim to be, but I know folks much smarter than me can design systems to overcome the fraud potential issue, and cost is secondary to any politician after they get in office so this is easily overcome and that just leaves the final concern of folks too lazy or uneducated about their vote power. How we change people and their actions is to offer them something they (1) want more, (2) feel better about, (3) make them angry about the current status. I believe that hourly reporting of the voting status would overcome the feelings of not caring by addressing all 3 of the above concerns.
I try to live my life based on EXCELLENCE, and daily look at things to see how we can make the item or system better. Sometimes it does cost more, but the value received is always higher when something is improved dramatically based upon excellence.
What are your thoughts?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
What I do
Many folks have asked me what I do for a living. Interesting question. I have a totally unique position at USG Corporation that was really created around my specific skills and talents. I want to give you some idea of the items I'm involved in but in the interest of space and time all I am going to give you is some of our company micro websites that tell all about what I am involved with at USG.
http://www.usg.com/tileandflooring
http://twitter.com/usgtileflooring
http://www.durocknextgen.com
http://www.durocktilemembrane.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/USGCorporation
Finally, don't forget our company website: www.usg.com which also has links to other info.
http://www.usg.com/tileandflooring
http://twitter.com/usgtileflooring
http://www.durocknextgen.com
http://www.durocktilemembrane.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/USGCorporation
Finally, don't forget our company website: www.usg.com which also has links to other info.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Blessings
I am so very Blessed. Some days (like today) I just sit and wonder why God Loves me so much and provides so many wonderful Blessings in my life. These are difficult times we live in, and yet I can find beauty and happiness all around me during each and every day. I am presently at our lake house at Lake Hartwell, Georgia and as I write this I can look around and see so much beauty both on the lake side of the house as well as the wooded side of the house. I also never forget that even being able to own this house and property are also God's Blessings on our family.
I have a wonderful wife who loves me, who has stuck with me even during some very difficult times in our married life, who gave birth to and raised 3 wonderful children for our family, and still finds time for her own career. Christy is truly the wind beneath my wings. Recently our home in Norcross was broken-in and the thieves stole all of our jewelry - as you can imagine, most of it was Christy's. She was disappointed more in the loss of the memories that each piece stood for rather than the monetary value of the loss. Some of the bracelets went back to her childhood. She still was thankful that we were not home and not hurt, our dog was out in the back yard, and not hurt, and it was just "stuff" that was stolen.
Our family is not perfect, but we are all healthy, happy, and the love we all feel for each other shows always - even when we sometimes don't exactly "like" each other sometimes. Our two daughters are happily married, one with a wonderful daughter of her own who also is a huge blessing in our lives. Our son is experiencing some difficult times right now with employment, but still is happy and healthy and working hard without gripes or complaints. He too sees all the blessings around even his current situation.
My work is absolutely perfect for me. It is almost as if God has placed me exactly where he wants me (do you think?) and then surrounded me with fantastic people who are also a large part of the Blessings that I feel daily. Many folks struggle to get out of bed and go to work for eight hours, I love what I get to do, love the people I work with, love the people I come in contract with thru my job and generally just can't want to get started each and every morning. On top of all of that (as if it were not enough) I get paid to do this!
We are surrounded with fantastic friends who love us and support us. Never does a day go by without at least one of our friends calling just to check up on us and see what is happening in our lives. No amount of money can replace that wonderful friendship feeling.
I realize everyone has peaks and valley's in their lives and that the path is not always easy, but I for one just want to keep reminding myself of how Blessed we are no matter if I'm experiencing a mountaintop experience or walking thru the dark valleys of difficult times.
How about you? Where are you today? Are you willing to be thankful for all the Blessings in your life also? I pray so!
I have a wonderful wife who loves me, who has stuck with me even during some very difficult times in our married life, who gave birth to and raised 3 wonderful children for our family, and still finds time for her own career. Christy is truly the wind beneath my wings. Recently our home in Norcross was broken-in and the thieves stole all of our jewelry - as you can imagine, most of it was Christy's. She was disappointed more in the loss of the memories that each piece stood for rather than the monetary value of the loss. Some of the bracelets went back to her childhood. She still was thankful that we were not home and not hurt, our dog was out in the back yard, and not hurt, and it was just "stuff" that was stolen.
Our family is not perfect, but we are all healthy, happy, and the love we all feel for each other shows always - even when we sometimes don't exactly "like" each other sometimes. Our two daughters are happily married, one with a wonderful daughter of her own who also is a huge blessing in our lives. Our son is experiencing some difficult times right now with employment, but still is happy and healthy and working hard without gripes or complaints. He too sees all the blessings around even his current situation.
My work is absolutely perfect for me. It is almost as if God has placed me exactly where he wants me (do you think?) and then surrounded me with fantastic people who are also a large part of the Blessings that I feel daily. Many folks struggle to get out of bed and go to work for eight hours, I love what I get to do, love the people I work with, love the people I come in contract with thru my job and generally just can't want to get started each and every morning. On top of all of that (as if it were not enough) I get paid to do this!
We are surrounded with fantastic friends who love us and support us. Never does a day go by without at least one of our friends calling just to check up on us and see what is happening in our lives. No amount of money can replace that wonderful friendship feeling.
I realize everyone has peaks and valley's in their lives and that the path is not always easy, but I for one just want to keep reminding myself of how Blessed we are no matter if I'm experiencing a mountaintop experience or walking thru the dark valleys of difficult times.
How about you? Where are you today? Are you willing to be thankful for all the Blessings in your life also? I pray so!
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