"Side hustles aren't just for millenials"/ "Twelve ways meetings can go wrong"

Mar. 21, 2018 "Side hustles aren't just for millenials": Today I found this article by Linda Nazareth in the Globe and Mail:

Linda Nazareth is the Senior Fellow for Economics and Population Change at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 

Her fourth book, Work Is Not a Place: Reimagining Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy, will be published in 2018.

If you hear "side hustle" and your mind goes to "tiresome millennial trends," you are thinking about things all wrong. Loosely defined as a gig separate from your main job that brings in cash, the side hustle is having a moment right now. 

As it stands, it looks to be set to spread widely among the generations, perhaps becoming a key income support for everyone from twentysomethings through to those who have supposedly long retired.

If you want to know how to do a side hustle on a royal scale, look no further than the Queen. That's right, as well as being ruler of Britain and the Commonwealth for 66 years, the Queen has also developed a very lucrative side business as the owner of racehorses.

 And a business it is: According to data from Myracing.com, over the past three decades, she has made a cool $9.3-million in winnings. Not bad for a second job.

The Queen's side hustle hits all the bases. It allows her to spend time doing something she is passionate about (breed and race horses), fits in with her broader job (ruler) and brings in income (a lot of it in her case). For others, they might have to settle for less passion or less money from their side hustle, but the principles of it are the same.

It is easy to scoff at the economic significance of side hustles. If you think of them in the sense of the waiter who wants to be an actor or the accountant who sells artisan pies at weekend markets, you probably miss the fact that side hustles are slowly becoming a necessary income support for many people.

 A better term for them might actually be "economically necessary second job or activity." Not as catchy, for sure, but it captures the truth of them.

A 2017 U.S. survey by GoDaddy found that 50 per cent of U.S. millennials and 25 per cent of baby boomers had some kind of side hustle. That could mean anything from working a second job, selling things online, renting out a room or running a whole business on the side. 

More than half of all surveyed said that they wished they could make their side hustle a full-time gig. That said, most had a strong monetary motive for pursuing their hustle, with 61 per cent of boomers saying their main motivation was the money.

The explosion of side hustles has a lot to do with technology. Thanks to the power of the internet, if you want, you can now sit in your house in Toronto and buy inputs from Hong Kong, get something manufactured in China and sell it internationally over Amazon. Or you can just list the snazzy banana-leaf mousepads you made in your home studio and hope that they find global buyers over Etsy.

As boomers age, that new-and-improved side hustle is likely to get increasingly important as a way for them to maintain their incomes. If the Etsy shop selling banana-leaf mouse pads takes off, great. If not, perhaps they can use their basement apartments as vacation rentals, or help out in a friend's catering business before or after leaving their main jobs.

It is all a nice get for policy makers. After all, we really do not need to dredge up the depressing details again: 

Pick any survey you want, and you will find that boomers feel that they have not saved enough for retirement, and that financial and policy experts agree. If they can supplement their incomes through any means, that takes some pressure off public purse strings.

As with everyone else, the Queen probably has ways to employ her winnings. That said, she probably does not need them to fill in the gaps that are left between her own income and the income she needs in her senior years. 

For others, the side hustle seems to be becoming a key source of income and an important part of the way that the labour market is evolving. Perhaps it is time to start tracking its importance with targeted data, and to give it the respect that it deserves.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/side-hustles-arent-just-for-millennials-look-no-further-than-the-queen-for-proof/article38312767/

May 24, 2018 "Twelve ways meetings can go wrong": Today I found this article by Harvey Schachter in the Globe and Mail:

Ah, meetings, how do I hate thee? 

With apologies to Elizabeth Browning, let me count the ways they go wrong, assisted by Steven Sinofsky, who tackled the issue of reaching peak efficiency at Medium.

• Failing to hear from all present: In many recurring meetings, the same people talk and the same people don’t talk. Mr. Sinofsky’s solution is to use your floor time to seek contributions from those who have just been listening, asking a very specific question that seeks their expertise rather than just saying, “Do you have something to add?” You don’t have to be the meeting’s chair to manage this.
• Mostly talking and little listening: Mr. Sinofsky says just as common are meetings where everybody is too busy talking – and preparing to talk – that there is no listening occurring. He suggests adopting three meeting rules to counter that tendency. First, if you take the floor, your comments must build on what the previous person said. Second, before stating opposition to a point, the speaker needs to offer their interpretation of that point. Third, if someone wants to take the discussion to a different direction, the room must grant permission.
• Reading data off slides: Everyone falls asleep when the leader is showing slides and reciting everything that people are reading more quickly. Instead, summarize what the data says in words and percentages, but be prepared to back that up with comments on the data.
• Fake data: Sometimes, in order to refute a comment, another participant will produce a data point or customer anecdote, leaving everyone to wonder what is the truth. “Don’t try to counter someone’s point of view with ‘customers are saying’ or make up a number unless you can back it up,” he says.
• Taking over the whiteboard: Some people take over a meeting by going to the whiteboard, picking up a pen, and assuming control. His solution: Don’t let someone run to the whiteboard unless they are truly drawing a picture that everyone needs to see and they sit down quickly afterward. If you want to track action items or notes on a board, then the person volunteering to do it shall continue to participate normally.
• Meeting notes: Early in his career, Mr. Sinofsky was taught to “own the notes” as a way of managing a meeting. You need to be wary of people in that role, because they can editorialize and foist their agenda and interpretation upon others. If you want team notes, he suggests the group be clear on the point of view and use of the minutes, particularly if they are distributed beyond the participants.
• Surprises: Meetings shouldn’t be a time to spring news on the rest of the group – particulate news is that somebody is falling short on performance. Let participants know in advance what will be discussed, particularly those with special insight. Even if you can only give 15 minutes notice of an issue, that’s better than a meeting surprise.
• Hijacking agendas: Meetings do wander on occasion but don’t contribute to that problem. Submit your agenda items before the meeting, and if something arises during the session, wait until the first priorities are covered before suggesting another direction.
• Slow check-ins: It’s fine to go around the room and have people offer updates. It builds collaboration. But discuss the rhythm you want – how much detail and whether accompanying stories are enchanting or a waste of time. “With just 10 people in the room, the bulk of an hour can be taken up inadvertently by this process,” Mr. Sinofsky warns.
• Does what happen in a meeting stay in a meeting?: Even in very open companies, some meeting discussions can be highly sensitive. Be clear about your meeting rules.
• Not all functional areas represented: We’re told to keep meetings down to only critically needed people. But Mr. Sinofsky argues that in any meeting attempting to be a step towards a consensus about a major company event, all functional areas must be represented.
• Presumptive close: Sometimes in a discussion the person responsible for the area being talked about will suddenly declare “sounds like we got an answer” and announce that it seems time to move on. This may be well-intentioned, but it also could be intended to cut off further discussion. To be sure, ask if everyone has been heard and then seek permission to close the discussion.

Five steps to productivity

Productivity guru David Allen is often asked, “What’s the one thing that we do that gets in the way of us being productive?”

His answer is that it’s not one thing but five, all wrapped together:

• People keep stuff in their head.
• They don’t decide what they need to do about stuff they know they need to do something about.
• They don’t organize reminders of actions they need to take and of appropriate support materials in proper categories that fit the function.
• They don’t maintain and review a complete and objective inventory of their commitments.
• As a result, they waste energy and burn out; their busy lives are driven by what’s latest and loudest. They hope they are tackling the right things but never feel the relief that it is.

So what do you need to do instead? You need to view those five issues as pointing to best practices to follow. “Get everything out of your head. Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up, not when it blows up.

Organize reminders of your projects and the next actions on them in appropriate categories.

Keep your system current, complete, and reviewed sufficiently to trust your intuitive choices about what you’re doing and what you’re not doing at any point in time,” he writes in his e-newsletter.

More simply: Focus on positive outcomes and continually take the next action of the most important thing. It requires consistent implementation. And, he adds, it’s “easier than you’re afraid it is, but not as easy as it sounds.”

The seven traits of super-productive people

Here are seven traits of super-productive people that consultants Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman gleaned from data on the top-rated 10 per cent of a sample of 7,000 people, reported in Harvard Business Review:

• They set stretch goals.
• They show consistency.
• They have knowledge and technical expertise.
• They drive for results.
• They anticipate and solve problems.
• They take initiative.
• They are highly collaborative, working well with others.

Quick Hits

• How you exit a conversation is critical. Chris Fralic, a partner of First Round Capital, says you should end every meeting or conversation with the feeling and optimism you would like to have at the start of your next conversation with the person.
• People who get things done make lists, says trainer Dan Rockwell. Divide your list into three columns: Must do today; tomorrow; beyond.
• Online ads cut use of theathe service. A study of an online streaming site found increased advertising caused a 2.8-per-cent drop in usage.
• Strategy and effort are not enough to achieve your goals. You must pay attention to the constraints preventing success, advises consultant Anthony Iannarino.
• Today’s quote (and every day’s quote for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has it on his fridge door), usually attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson:
• “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier be.
• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-twelve-ways-meetings-can-go-wrong/cause you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”