The speed of change and what we can do to succeed.

The speed of change and what we can do to succeed.

Years ago, I had a conversation with a futurologist in a San Antonio convention who told me that knowledge was doubling every three years more or less. He was right and it is possible that now it is doubling every two years which means that by 2011, the world will know twice what it knows now. He also said that within a few years, knowledge was going to double every eleven hours. That is right, knowledge doubling by the end of the day and doubling again the following morning. I can’t even grasp that concept. I can’t conceive that happening. What if he is wrong and knowledge will never double so fast? What if it doubles every 11 days or every 11 months? Even so, it is really mind boggling.
What are we to do?

Well, since we were born, the sky has not fallen. We still use centuries old languages to communicate with each other and we do not speak in the zeroes and ones of binary language. We have shaped computers more than they have shaped us. If this was not the case, we would be memorizing computer commands, wouldn’t we?

Thinking about this change stuff and about the future, I believe there are some strategies that I think will help everyone, but especially business people, better cope with change. There might be others of course but I think the ones I will mention are important.

First of all, you must be well informed now more than ever. Read a couple of local newspapers a day (make sure one of them is the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, please), The Wall Street Journal or New York Times and a few magazines such as Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes,Harvard Business Review and Business Week. If your industry has a magazine, read it too. Reading one book a week is also a good idea.

Take a speed- reading course to allow you to take in more information. While I was in Xerox in Stamford, Connecticut, we developed a reading course that doubled and sometimes tripled the reading speed of people taking the course in just 12 hours. Two hours a day for six days. There are some good reading courses in the market, Google it and find one.

Use technology in your daily life. You must own a computer, you must connect to the Internet and you must know how to go into search engines and look for stuff you need to research. If you can’t afford a computer, go to a library and use the library’s computers. They are available. If you are in business, you must have a good website one that is user friendly and allows you to sell stuff through the internet. Billions are sold this way right now and you shouldn’t be left out of the game. You should also have a blog and you have to communicate with your clients regularly. I post a blog every week.

Life goes by very fast so you have to manage your time effectively. To do that, use a time management system, electronic or paper, doesn’t matter. It is estimated that we get more than 200 messages a day if we count phone calls, emails, faxes, letters, advertising, television, etc. We have to be organized to cope with this.
Focus on the positive instead of the negative. Yes, there is a lot of negativity floating around, but why dwell on it. Constantly complaining or criticizing everything penetrates your sub conscious and everything will look worse than what it is. Don’t make the mistake of living in the past or worrying about the future, especially things you have no control over.

Learn selling and negotiating skills. We are always buying or selling something: products, services, ideas, whatever, so understand how to negotiate. Learn how to communicate your ideas so that you are understood and you move people to action.

When you deal with people, keep a very simple principle in mind. Try to understand, and then be understood. Once, Steven Covey personally told me that if some day we were successful in teaching this principle to all humanity, wars would end.

Look for win-win in everything you do. Do not take advantage of people because no one likes that and sooner or later the relationship will end. If you can’t get a win-win, then don’t play.
If you make a promise, keep it. Make sure your word is your bond. This is difficult to do. How many times you tell someone, “I will call you next week” and you never do. How many times you say “I will be there at 9am” and you don’t show up. Get into the habit of doing what you say you are going to do.

Work is a very important part of life. Do what you feel passion for. Don’t be involved in anything you don’t absolutely love to do. We live once and time goes by and it can’t be recovered. Invest it wisely.

Develop your talents to the point that your weaknesses will be irrelevant. Be good at networking. You can’t imagine how important it is in life to have “connections”, to know people. So, make sure you hang around with lots of people. Join Rotary, belong to a club, go to bookstores and meet people, play Tennis or Golf.

Last but not least, balance your life. Don’t work all the time and forget you have a family, people that love you and that deserve you spending quality time with. If you miss the important events in your children’s lives, you will never get that opportunity again. Do what you need to do to be successful, but don’t forget what matters most, your family.