Wednesday is the last day of the 1st quarter of the year.
Ye gads.
Feels as if the Christmas tree lights were just re-boxed.
Quarterly earnings reports are a big deal for public corps. Too big a deal, some say, because of their emphasis on short-term results.
Maybe it’s my age showing, but I think 90 days is a long time.
If you made some serious personal or professional “resolutions” for 2010, and your progress is slim, well, 90 days is a looooong time. That is, you’re pretty far behind the eight ball.
My point: I heartily urge you, in, at most, the next 10 days to issue a 1Q10 Results Report for Anne R. Smith, or Robert Edmonds or …
I suggest that the report be Formal in all respects, and 2 pages or less in length (there can be Appendices). I suggest that it more or less cover:
• Progress, scored quantitatively, against key resolutions.
• Projects underway or completed and their score on a 1-10 “Wow Scale.”* (*One
measure of “Wow”: Odds that I’ll be talking about this one 2 years from now.)
• Revised or new or discontinued resolutions for the year.
• Network development activities-plans-goals. (Be rigorous in your reporting.)
• Lifelong learning projects launched or completed. (Including coolest new area you’re busy learning about right now.)
• Key steps for the 1st 2 weeks of the new quarter.
• Progress against a set of personal behavioral aspirations such as improvement at listening or showing appreciation or …
• A 10-word summary of 2010 for you so far. (“Really demonstrating my project start-up skills.”
• Overall “Grade” for the year to date.
• If you’re a boss, specific successes at people development (answer in detail, no generalizations allowed—use Appendix.)
I suggest that this effort is worth a pretty decent investment in time.
And I suggest that you review it with a trusted advisor or two; otherwise it need not see the light of day.
[Some things have started but have a long way to go. Picture above, Spring in Tinmouth VT is a possibility but hardly around the corner yet!]