by Pete Julius
It is that time of year once again. And no, I am not talking about the Holiday Season. Individuals and organizations are planning ahead for the coming year. In some way, shape, or form, whether it is personal or professional, people are gearing up for 2005. Are you ready?
For some of us 2004 was a very successful year, while others would like to forget it and move ahead to a more prosperous 2005. As you begin to plan ahead for 2005, you may want to consider some of the following ideas as guidance for a successful new year.
- Focus, Focus, Focus – with all of our day-to-day responsibilities and the new ones that appear on a daily basis, we must never forget about focusing on what absolutely needs to get done.
- Motivation – if you are in a position to motivate your staff members and fellow colleagues, then make sure that you enable people to accomplish their responsibilities rather than directing them.
- Keep Clients/Customers Happy – this will make your job easier and more stress-free. Implement compensation plans to encourage outstanding customer support.
- Resources – make sure that you have all the resources to complete your job effectively and efficiently. Without them, your job becomes more challenging than it needs to be.
- Learn – continual learning spurs ideas and excitement. Take the time to learn something new every week through reading or research.
- Leadership – is the ultimate key to success. The ultimate leader will help accomplish all the above, making everyone else enthusiastic, motivated and successful.
- Have Fun – work is what you make of it, but it is much more enjoyable and tolerable when you are having fun.
These ideas came from a recent Business 2.0 magazine article that I read on how to succeed in 2005. The article provides interview summaries with a few leaders of highly successful businesses. Some of the people interviewed include Meg Whitman (CEO of eBay), Ed Zander (CEO of Motorola), Bill Gates (Chairman of everyone’s favorite software company) and Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon.com). All four of the interviewees revealed what made them and their respective companies successful.