Vision Without Execution is Hallucination

This is a great quote by Thomas Edison, often considered one of the most prolific inventors in history.

Here's a great quote from Steve Case in today's New York Times:

"I do believe in vision. I do believe in big ideas. I do believe in tackling problems that are complex and fighting battles that are worth fighting, and also trying to, in my case, create companies or back companies. That can change the world. The vision thing is really important — but the execution thing is really important, too. Having a good idea is not enough. You’ve got to figure out some way to balance that and complement that with great execution, which ultimately is people and priorities and things like that. You have to strike the right balance. If you have those together, I think anything is possible. If you don’t have both of them working together in a complementary, cohesive way, you’re not going to be successful."

I completely agree with this. There are many times in my career where I had a great vision for a product or company, but I didn't follow through with strong enough execution, and the idea or company failed, but not because it wasn't a great idea. In fact, I believe that GREAT execution, often with only a mediocre idea, can win in the marketplace. Although great execution is so very hard, I believe it can be achieved with effort, and without luck, and therefore is actually more predictable than a great idea or an idea with perfect timing.

Posted on Linkedin by Bill Gross

Eco Deals

Frustrated at not being able to find eco products when and where she needed them, Lisa Madarasz launched EcoDeals in February, an e-commerce hub that brings deals on eco-friendly products directly to your inbox twice a week.

It's similar to PlanetGoodness in that shoppers get the feel-good factor with a percentage of each sale going to a charity, but the site also incorporates an EcoInfo Section with useful tips on living greener in New Zealand and a list of likeminded businesses in the EcoDirectory.

Madarasz says EcoDeals is experiencing about 25 percent growth week on week since going live. After discussing the original concept with a friend, she says it grew bigger and bigger until it came time to "walk the talk". "One of my biggest frustrations was not finding the eco products I needed when I needed them. Sometimes I'd find them six months too late," she explains."Unless you're out there going into shops, specialty shops, you don't necessarily always come across them."And while there are many small suppliers out there, those niche companies don't often show up very high in Google searches.

"We decided this is a great way of getting products, eco products, into people's inboxes, so people become aware of what was actually available out there."
She's always liked the deal concept, calling it a "win-win" with small businesses getting what amounts to free advertising ("a lot don't have the marketing budget to reach a large amount of people") and buyers getting a bargain.

Madarasz, who started out in biological sciences before shifting to sales and marketing, usually finds products through magazines, word of mouth, or the internet.
She says eco products tend to cost more in general, and with cost and information being the two main barriers for consumers, putting the facts out there alongside the deals is a good thing.
"It's all very well knowing the product is better for you but why is it better for you? We like to link the deals to the information."

She'd like to start doing consumer trials in the future, too, so users can give impartial feedback on what kinds of products EcoDeals might offer.

Posted on Idealog By Esther Goh, April 22, 2013 @ 3 pm

Festival of Colour

This stunning image of FLOX stencil work in the Park is taken by Ants, Wanaka TV and is just a taste of the delights the Festival of Colour has to offer this Autumn. Opens today, see what tickets are left!
www.festivalcolour.co.nz

$100 for you, you lucky dog!

Did you know than when you refer a friend to Findlay and Co you get a $100 to Joe's Garage or Speights Ale House, how cool is that!

You can print this lil puppy, get your mates names on it and we will send you on a night out when they sign up, sweet as!

Top 10 Ways to Guarantee Your Best People Will Quit

Here are 10 ways to guarantee that your best people will quit:

10. Treat everyone equally. This may sound good, but your employees are not equal. Some are worth more because they produce more results. The key is not to treat them equally, it is to treat them all fairly.

9. Tolerate mediocrity. A-players don’t have to or want to play with a bunch of C-players.

8. Have dumb rules. I did not say have no rules, I said don’t have dumb rules. Great employees want to have guidelines and direction, but they don’t want to have rules that get in the way of doing their jobs or that conflict with the values the company says are important.

7. Don’t recognize outstanding performance and contributions. Remember Psychology 101 — Behavior you want repeated needs to be rewarded immediately.

6. Don’t have any fun at work. Where’s the written rule that says work has to be serious? If you find it, rip it to shreds and stomp on it because the notion that work cannot be fun is actually counterproductive. The workplace should be fun. Find ways to make work and/or the work environment more relaxed and fun and you will have happy employees who look forward to coming to work each day.

5. Don’t keep your people informed. You’ve got to communicate not only the good, but also the bad and the ugly. If you don’t tell them, the rumor mill will.

4. Micromanage. Tell them what you want done and how you want it done. Don’t tell them why it needs to be done and why their job is important. Don’t ask for their input on how it could be done better.

3. Don’t develop an employee retention strategy. Employee retention deserves your attention every day. Make a list of the people you don’t want to lose and, next to each name, write down what you are doing or will do to ensure that person stays engaged and on board.

2. Don’t do employee retention interviews. Wait until a great employee is walking out the door instead and conduct an exit interview to see what you could have done differently so they would not have gone out looking for another job.

1. Make your onboarding program an exercise in tedium. Employees are most impressionable during the first 60 days on the job. Every bit of information gathered during this time will either reinforce your new hire’s “buying decision” (to take the job) or lead to “Hire’s Remorse.”

The biggest cause of “Hire’s Remorse” is the dreaded Employee Orientation/Training Program. Most are poorly organized, inefficient, and boring. How can you expect excellence from your new hires if your orientation program is a sloppy amalgamation of tedious paperwork, boring policies and procedures, and hours of regulations and red tape?

To reinforce their buying decision, get key management involved on the first day and make sure your orientation delivers and reinforces these three messages repeatedly:

A. You were carefully chosen and we’re glad you’re here;

B. You’re now part of a great organization;

C. This is why your job is so important.

Written by Mel Kleiman on Apr 8, 2013

This was originally published in the April 2013 Humetrics Hiring Hints newsletter.

Mel Kleiman, CSP, is an internationally-known authority on recruiting, selecting, and hiring hourly employees. He has been the president of Humetrics since 1976 and has over 30 years of practical experience, research, consulting and professional speaking work to his credit. Contact him atmkleiman@humetrics.com.

Changes to the tax treatment of commercial lease payments

If you’re considering entering or exiting a commercial lease arrangement in the coming months we advise you to contact us to discuss the potential tax implications arising from proposed changes effective 1 April 2013.

Lease inducement payments are a lump sum paid by a commercial landlord to a tenant providing incentive to enter a lease arrangement in times of high lease vacancy.  Currently such payments are treated as deductible for the landlord and as capital or non-taxable receipts for the tenant. 

The proposed changes will make lease inducement payments taxable income for the tenant with the income spread evenly over the lease term.  Landlords will now also have to spread the deduction over the lease term.

Lease surrender payments are a lump sum paid by the tenant to a landlord to exit a long term lease. Generally lease surrender payments are treated as taxable to the landlord, but non-deductible to the tenant.  In future these payments will be made tax deductible to the tenant.

Both proposed changes will only apply to leases entered on or after 1 April 2013.  Effectively landlords and tenants will in future receive symmetrical tax treatment for receipts and payments.

Changes to rates and thresholds as of 1 April 2013:

Working for Families

The net income level guaranteed by the minimum family tax credit will rise from $22,568 to $22,724.

ACC

The government announced that the 2013/2014 levy rates will remain at their current levels.  However they have introduced three new initiatives:

§  Extended Workplace Safety Discounts

§  Vehicle Classification System

§  Fleet Safety Incentive Programme

We will be following up on these changes in future issues of Wilco, but in the meantime, visit the following website for more information:
www.acc.co.nz/news/WPC116639

KiwiSaver

The minimum contribution rate for employers and employees will rise to 3% from April.

Primary and Secondary School Children

From 1 April 2013 PAYE must be deducted from payments of salary/wages or schedular payments to school children.

Student loan changes

The repayment rate for student loan deductions increases from 10 to 12 cents per dollar earned over the current threshold of $19,084 per annum.