Increasing the Effectiveness and Enhancing the Lives of CEOs
and business owners.

Contents of this issue...
   .. Welcome - A few words from the publisher, Gary Lockwood
   .. Thought-Starter -  "How to Have Better Meetings"
   .. Guest article - "Concepts that Drive the E-conomy"
   .. CEO Resources
   .. Quotes to use in your staff meeting this month
   .. Humor to lighten up the executive suite
   .. Contact the publisher
   .. Subscribe and unsubscribe instructions

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      WELCOME to this issue of the CEO Success Report!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hello again. I'm Gary Lockwood, President of CEO Success.

Welcome back once again to the CEO Success Report. I know you
have no shortage of material to read and I thank you for choosing
to read our newsletter.

We work hard to provide practical ideas, thought-provoking concepts
and useful information for you. Please give me some feedback
about this issue. Send your comments to
   mailto:Gary@CEOSuccess.com

How do business people spend about 17 hours each week? You
guessed it; meetings. Sales meetings, project meetings, staff
meetings, quality meetings and so on. My "thought-starter" in
today's issue looks at how to make your meetings better.

Our guest article this month is by Nicholas Mercader. Nicholas
is a business thinker. His specialty is examining business
models, old and new. Nicholas publishers a remarkable
newsletter that regularly explores business models; how they
work; why they work (or don't work).

The dynamics of business have been revised wholesale to take
into account the way the New Economy works. Assumptions
about profits, valuations and productivity have been redefined
over and over in the past few years. In today's guest article,
Nicholas revisits some of the driving concepts, principles
and rules that shape the New Economy. Developing business
models is one thing, and it would be oxymoronic to pin a structure
on the chaotic world of today's Internet business models, but
there are concepts that serve as foundations from which people
utilizing today's business models can move forward better equipped.

Read more about Nicholas at the end of his article.

I hope you enjoy receiving these articles and ideas to
help you sharpen your thinking about being an effective CEO.

My wish is that you use the ideas in the CEO Success Report to
get the results you really want. If you want some help in putting
them into practice, or if you have questions, email or call.

As you know, our specialty is Increasing the Effectiveness
and Enhancing the Lives of CEOs and business owners.

Enjoy this issue with my compliments. May I ask a small favor?
Please forward this issue to other CEOs and company presidents
who may be interested in receiving these messages. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Gary Lockwood
CEO Success

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       This month's THOUGHT-STARTER
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     How to Have Better Meetings
     by Gary Lockwood

How do business people spend about 17 hours each week? You
guessed it; in meetings. Sales meetings, project meetings, staff
meetings, quality meetings and so on.

Our modern workplace now demands that people, teams, and
sometimes different organizations pull together to obtain the
desired results. Complexity of problems and opportunities require
the collective input of various sources and backgrounds to find
unique and highly effective solutions.

When people work together, one inevitable event occurs that causes
a collective groan. The "Meeting" is the worst, least popular time
waster of them all. What's with this aversion to meetings? Just
what is a meeting? Are they necessary? If necessary, how can we
improve their effectiveness?

To make your meetings more productive and effective, incorporate
the following four phases into the plan for each meeting:

  1) Determine a clear focus and be action oriented -- what do you
want to accomplish?
  2) Make sure that all necessary resources are available including
advance information, the proper people, and adequate facilities.
  3) Stay focused during the meeting by following your timetable, and
accurately record all decisions and follow-up actions.
  4) Evaluate the process -- have the group discuss and identify good
and bad aspects before they leave the meeting.

Statistics: Meetings are necessary -- but poorly run meetings are
a terrible waste of time. A recent survey of American business
people provided us with this statistic: people spend an average
of 17 hours each week in meetings. This is not necessarily an
excessive amount, but respondents said that 5 of these 17 hours
were wasted time. this is an average of one hour each day wasted!
Poorly run meetings are one of our biggest time wasters, so make
sure your meetings are focused on your agenda.

Meeting Maddeners: Most frequently mentioned problems include:
   1) late starts;
   2) run too long;
   3) lack of focus for the meeting;
   4) straying off the subject;
   5) inviting the wrong people to the meeting; and
   6) lack of closure or clear decisions.

Solve these problems and you will have better meetings
in half the time!

   About the Author...
Gary Lockwood is Increasing the Effectiveness and Enhancing the
Lives of CEOs, business owners and professionals.
Get the Free BizSuccess newsletter -
http://www.bizsuccess.com/newsletter.htm
or send any blank email to mailto:subscribe@BizSuccess.com
Email:  mailto:Gary@BizSuccess.com  Web: http://www.BizSuccess.com


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          Guest Article
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     Some Concepts that Drive the E-conomy
     by Nicholas Mercader

The dynamics of business have been revised wholesale to take
into account the way the New Economy works. Assumptions
about profits, valuations and productivity have been redefined
over and over, and only in the past few years.

We've seen how the very mighty have fallen, gotten "Amazoned"
(as in the case of Barnes & Noble), or (as with the case of Time
Warner) were acquired by a company (AOL) who is a fraction of
its size in revenues, and who only a very few years ago was in
the throes of total collapse. Man bites shark, and today seems
able to digest it in a single bound.

You've heard it all before. The Internet is redefining everything.
It does everything but clean the kitchen sink (even that must be
coming soon). The business models of the new range from the
banal, to the practical, to the plain duplication, all the way to the
really bizarre.

A lot of people liken the Internet to a tsunami that is going to
sweep the world and wipe-out clueless businesses. Well, that
has already happened. Many have been sidelined, yet many have
also adapted. If you ask me, however, the Internet is none of that.
It is like an entirely new universe, some parallel dimension with
its own rules, environment, principles and yes, physics.

It does follow a good number of rules we are used to, however.
Like Darwinian economics, where rule of the game is survival
of the fittest. Or customers, where they still are number 1.

Mostly though, it redefines the way people do things, and the
winners are those who are able to take advantage of the medium
in its pure form: not as something analogous to the status quo,
but as a wholly different animal that one can either get swept
away with, or use as an asset to conquer whole new business
worlds.

One thing is for sure: a lot of them work, and a lot of them take full
advantage of the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the new
medium. In this article, we'll revisit some of the driving concepts,
principles and rules that shape the New Economy, for developing
business models is one thing, and it would be oxymoronic to pin
a structure on the chaotic world of today's Internet business
models, but there are concepts that serve as foundations from
which people utilizing today's business models can move
forward better equipped.

They are by no means an exhaustible list, and the nature of the
Internet is such that they continually (and even rapidly) evolve and
change. And by definition, a good amount of flexibility has to be
factored in. But they have served many a company before, and
I list them here in the hopes that they would better arm you as well.

So here they are. Read and weep.

MARKETING. "It" matters most. Except only for people, marketing
is the underrated, ultimate key to success. From straight adver-
tising to word-of-mouth "viral" marketing all the way to PR and its
many other manifestations, just as location is key in the physical
world of bricks-and-mortar storefronts, so is marketing the key
in the world of the New Economy. (Of course, it doesn't hurt to
have a top-notch venture capitalist to make the jobs of PR flaks
a lot easier.)

CUSTOMERS. "They" matter most. They still do, and always will.
'Nuff said.

INVESTING. There are many kinds of people who cash-in on the
Internet. 1. Those who do. 2. Those who fund them. 3. Those
who invest in them.

The first two found, run, work, and capitalize companies. The latter
one simply invests in them. Interesting how the most successful
seems to be that latter one. Masayoshi Son and Softbank invested
early in powerhouses like Yahoo!, E*Trade and a host of others.
Today, he is fast approaching Bill Gates (by only $10 billion at
last count) as the world's richest human. David Wetherell's
CMGI does the same, mostly investing in a portfolio of companies.
So does Fortune cover-boy Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Indeed, they run companies of their own, but most of their wealth
is from investing in Internet companies and not directly (not always,
at least) actively running them. You can start and run your own
Internet start-up and reap riches beyond your wildest dreams.
Or you can simply invest in them and become even richer. Besides,
you can only actively run so many Internet companies. Investing in
them, though, and letting others (who are the best at what they do)
run them, can make you richer. Of course, as a matter of
correlation, the flipside is just as true: the possibility of getting
burned is an understatement. So ask yourself: are you in it for it,
or to make money? In many cases, if you answered the latter,
you can take a cue from the performance of these savvy investors.

And yes, there was a recent stock plunge. The bloodletting was
massive, leading expert upon expert to cry "the bubble has burst."
Yah, right. As predicted, the next couple of days, the NASDAQ
rebounds. It's more of a roller-coaster ride than a trend. And
a number of these companies like Softbank have suffered some
bruises, but while we all agree stocks seem overvalued, they are
bound to continue its upsurge.

PEOPLE. They're the key to any company. All the concepts
described here will only work if you have the team to get them
there. So as your mother has told you, treat them right. (Including
stock options.)

TIME. You know how 1 dog-year equals 7 human years? Well
Internet time is not like running in dog-years but in cicada-time.
Everything's simply moving so furiously so fast. The one who
makes the most in the shortest time, therefore, wins. This is
a truism that is so old, yet is even truer today than ever.

SPACE. It's approaching infinity. Storage space is getting so
cheap you can now pack several CD-ROMs (and DVD-ROMs)
worth of data (photos, sound clips, video, etc.) in their entirety in
a single hard disk drive without breaking a sweat. Yet the ultimate
bottleneck is not storage, but bandwidth. So the reason I put this
entry here is the same reason why you'll hardly see so much
graphics and frills in the top sites like Amazon.com and Yahoo!:
a lot of space is good for your hard drives, but files that take up
a lot of it are NOT good for transmission over small bandwidths.
So if you have to err, err on the safe side: make your site big
enough to be effective, but not bigger. Layers of pages, graphics
and all the rest are nice, but since most of them only turn off
your customers (where your competitors are the proverbial
mouse-click away) that they don't stay or come back, what price
customer-defection and losing the sale?

THE GOLDEN RULE: He who has the gold makes the rules.
Operating your business is just half the equation. Having good
funding and cash flow will ultimately be something you'll have to
contend with. With the recent troubles of Peapod et. al., you
should take heed and get as much funding as you can before
the rain starts to pour.

BILL GATES: Poster boy for How NOT to Win Friends and
Influence People. To be fair, define monopolist: a businessman
who is more successful. Probably every single Internet executive
secretly dreams of dominating the planet. Gates was simply the
one who succeeded and was just too naked about his doing so
that in the end, he was his own worst enemy.

About the Author...
Nicholas Mercader is the publisher of the Business Models
Insider newsletter, a monthly newsletter and source about the
business models of innovative companies today, from existing
companies to the new and innovative business models used
by such Internet companies like Priceline.com, Oracle,
Vcommerce, Ariba, CommerceOne, eBay, and a lot more.
Subscribe by email to mailto:bizmodels-subscribe@topica.com







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        RESOURCES  for CEOs
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


     The Executive Committee
     http://www.bizsuccess.com/tec.htm

     **  Attention CEOs
Imagine the benefits of meeting regularly with a small group
of company leaders in your area to share experiences, exchange
ideas and solve common problems.

Thousands of chief executives turn to TEC for a learning
experience they cannot get anywhere else. We are committed
to connecting CEOs with the people, ideas and information they
need to help them improve their businesses and enhance their lives.

Check it out at        http://www.bizsuccess.com/tec.htm


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      QUOTES to use in your staff meeting this month
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     The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone,
     not by violence, but by oft falling.
                   Hugh Latimer (1485-1555)

     What's the use of worrying?
     It never was worthwhile.
     So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
     And smile, smile, smile.
                   George Asaf (1880-1951) song writer
                   "Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-bag"

    The people who live in the past must yield to the people who
    live in the future. Otherwise, the world would begin to turn the
    other way round.
                   Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) British Novelist

    The most wasted of all days is that on which
    one has not laughed.
                   Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794) French writer


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      HUMOR to lighten up the executive suite
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Chevy Nova Award
 -----------------
 These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award.  This is
 given out in honor of the GM's fiasco in trying to market
 this car in Central and South America.  "No va" means, of
 course, in Spanish, "it doesn't go".

 1.  The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign
 "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico.
 It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation
 read "Are you lactating?"

 2.  Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where
 it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

 3.  Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the
 following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an
 Electrolux."

 4.  Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into
 Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not
 too many people had use for the "Manure Stick."

 5.  When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used
 the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the
 label.  Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely
 put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people
 can't read.

 6.  Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the
 name of a notorious porno magazine.

 7.  An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the
 Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit.  Instead of "I
 saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato"
 (la papa).

 8.  Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated
 into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in
 Chinese.

 9.  The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela",
 meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with
 wax", depending on the dialect.  Coke then researched 40,000
 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole",
 translating into "happiness in the mouth."

 10.  Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to
 make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it
 takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

 11.  When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its
 ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket
 and embarrass you."
 The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate)
 meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your
 pocket and make you pregnant!"

 12.  When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new
 leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated
 its "Fly In Leather"  campaign literally, which meant "Fly
 Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish!

                    ***excerpts from: http://www.joker.org/  ***


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       CONTACT CEO Success
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gary Lockwood is the publisher of the CEO Success Report.
   Email:  mailto:Gary@CEOSuccess.com
   Office: (800) 272-1575 (USA) *  (909) 984-3344
   Fax: (815) 361-3041

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         Your Comments, please?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I appreciate feedback, corrections, and comments about the
CEO Success Report. Please send your thoughts to:
  Gary@CEOSuccess.com <mailto:Gary@CEOSuccess.com>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
      Subscribe  and unsubscribe  instructions
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