Month: February 2006

Here is a fascinating article (and I forgot who linked to it, so my apologies to whoever it was) that takes the book On Killing and applies it to salesmanship. I found it interesting how realistic, repetitive training has lifted the response and effectiveness of a soldier or squad.

When I was in basic training, being able to quickly don a gas mask was a skill we repeatedly were tested on. On our final combat training march, one of the drill sergeants rolled a tear-gas canister right at my feet. I stood there, just a few seconds later, literally amazed at the fact that I had my gas mask on.

On Killing…Similarities of Soldiering and Selling:

“Clearly, if only 15% of the assets you have expensively brought to face an enemy are performing, your army has a major problem. The US Army raised this traditional firing rate from 15% up to 50% between W.W.II and the Korean conflict and again to better than 95% in Vietnam and Desert Storm. …

‘Numerous studies have concluded that men in combat are usually motivated to fight not by ideology or hate or fear, but by group pressures and processes involving (1) regard for their comrades, (2) respect for their leaders, (3) concern for their own reputation with both, and (4) an urge to contribute to the success of the group.’

Many sales organizations, by contrast, pit salespeople against each other and minimize the role of sales managers. It is a world of lone wolves, though teamwork and leadership are demonstrated multipliers of effectiveness.”

I kind of figured it was possible but never tried until today. You can simply drag iCal files to the “Calenders” folder on your iPod. (Mac users can use iSync to do this automatically.)

We are using iCal exported calendars from Goldmine as I’ve talked about before. In an effort to be a GTD person, I’ve been hemming and hawing about going with an electronic personal calendar, but now I think I will (using Sunbird to create ical files). Dragging-and-dropping is a step I’d rather avoid, but since my iPod goes everywhere I go, it should be my tool of choice.

Got a favicon for your website? Everyone should! In the past I’ve pointed to software to do this, but it wasn’t the easiest–this is: The Favicon Generator. (Found via the Generator Blog, which is fun to track.) It converts an image file on your computer to a favicon.

“What is a Favicon? A favicon (short for ‘favorites icon’ and also known as a page icon), is an icon associated with a particular website or webpage that is displayed in the browser address bar next to a site’s URL.”

You’ve heard me say it a bunch of times. Usually with concrete examples of what can go wrong that will ‘kill ya’.

Here is how Seth tells it in his post A million little cuts: “you avoid a slow death by getting every little thing right.”

That’s why we are guardians! (See that post for a gem from another guru, BPG, who says “Empires crumble at the fringes”.)