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I do everything fast. I think fast. I talk fast. I play fast. I make decisions fast. I always
have. Then I came to work in and run an Internet company, the fastest - and fastest-changing - thing around. That
meant I had to hire fast, buy companies fast, change strategies fast, put out fires fast, and push people to do
things they never thought they could - and to do them faster than they ever could have dreamed.
Here's what I've learned in my years of running full-throttle in the fast lane of the I-way.
It's a road, sadly, where my old friend The One Minute Manager would probably be found facedown with tire tracks
up his back. It's a fate the book certainly doesn't deserve: I agree completely that the best minute a manager can
spend is with people. But what do you do when you don't have a free minute? That's why you need to learn to be The
10-Second Internet Manager.
1. Act fast and act smart. Your edge against bigger and better-funded competitors is speed. Use it or lose
everything. If you're going to do this, though, you're going to have to learn to "will" your company forward,
shaving time off every task possible.
2. E-mail morning, noon, and night. Talk in between. E-mail is the oxygen of the Internet. But used badly,
it can smother recipients and slow down an entire company. Using e-mail effectively is what separates the savvy
manager from those who don't get it.
3. Make feedback your friend. The biggest problems most businesses suffer are from not listening to
customers, not focusing on customer service and not working hard to understand what customers want. Appreciating
customers is one of the secrets to marketing success - whether on the Internet or anywhere else. The Internet
offers tremendous opportunities to solicit and receive customer feedback. But ignoring it opens the doors to
faster-moving, customer-focused outfits who will eat your lunch.
4. Make your meetings effective. Meetings are the bane of many employees' work lives: too much time, too
much discussion and not enough action, too little respect, too much finger-pointing, too many late arrivers, and
too many people who talk too much and don't stick to the point. No manager who wants to succeed in the Internet
age can afford this kind of dead-end meeting.
5. Make your brand matter. Building a consistent, recogniz-able brand image is crucial. And creating and
securing a brand identity starts with the business proposition itself. To become the authority, the go-to, the
"verb" for your category, every decision has to be made with brand in mind.
6. Have fun. Work should be fun, rewarding, and empowering. But over time, obsessed workaholics will
burn out. So subdivide your company into impassioned teams, celebrate successes frequently, and build a "work
hard, play hard" culture. You'll reap major benefits in energy, creativity, and productivity.
For more tips on how to succeed in the Information Age, visit
www.10secondmanager.com.
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