It's Monday the 2nd of November. If it is your birthday; Happy Birthday. I hope it is a special day. If it is not your birthday, I think it is fair to say November 2nd is one of the most boring days ever.
There are 59 days left until the end of the year. Today seems to be the day when we stop, draw breath, get ready to finish off the year and soldier on.
On this day in 1940 the Greeks were fighting the Italians. In 1959 the first section of the M1 was opened. If it is your Birthday you share it with; Fritz Achterberg, Alexander Lippisch, Mireille Delunsch and Vladimir Vocobiev... undoubtedly you are the most famous!
You have to admit, 2nd November is a bit of a car-park day. If Nov 2nd was a drink it would be Ovaltine, if it were a meal, a cheese sandwich. If it were clothes... a pair of baggy pants.
March, as spring breaks through, is imperfect. June, with its fruits and summer abundance is genius. September, with its indecisive colours and weather is ridiculous. November is boring.
November is a loner. A Billy no-mates of a month. November is the month where we look back at the great things that we've done and panic that there is so little time left to do the rest.
One twelfth of a year, abandoned to ordinariness. I think it is time to reshape November. Re model it and make it a month of transformation.
We have to invent the November Manager. A new breed of insightful bright people who use November to recharge, refresh and revive. November can slip through your fingers. We must invent the November Manager... Novanagers.
Novanagers understand that the team ahead, when the whistle blows at half time, are statistically most likely to win the game. Novanagers get three things done by lunch time. They get ahead of the game.
Novanagers pick out the job they least want to do and do it first. Get it out of the way. Then they feel good all day... bring it on! Got a big job to do? Break it into segments and do the longest segment first. The job then seems easier as the segments get shorter.
Novanagers start with perfect and work backwards. Know what 'perfect' looks like and work backwards, step by step, to understand what we have to do now, today, this week, to get to perfect.
Planning services? Start with the patient and work backwards. What do they really want? Do they want existing services wrapped around them, so they end up as the patient in the middle of the doughnut? I don't thinks so. Line of sight to the patient is a straight line. Start with perfect and work backwards.
Novanagers have regular meetings with themselves. They spend time in uninterrupted thought. Have a weekly meeting and talk to yourself about success, failure, opportunities missed and chances seized. Think about how you responded what you did and are you where you want to be? Think about how you need to change, develop and move on.
Novanagers know it's not about them. They create the time and space for good people to do great things.
Imagine it was the first day in the job. What would you do differently if you were start anew? Use November as the month to start anew.
Novanagers know they need to be organised, analytical and focussed. At the same time they have to be charismatic, empathetic and great communicators. Can they be both? Yes, they learn to deliver tough messages based on analysis of the data but do it knowing communications is about bespoke and sensitive and an individual's interpretation of the message.
Jingle Bells is coming to get you. Rudolph is on his way and your credit card is about to melt. December is red and tinsel, October a flame of colours. November doesn't have to be grey.
It was the month America elected the first African American President and in the Far East it is the time of the rice harvest celebrations.
What's your November going to be like?
