Bill Clinton printed these four words on a big sign he kept in his office throughout the 1992 presidential campaign:

“It’s the Economy, Stupid”

That was the message. That was the focus.  And that, many say, was what got him elected.

Twenty years earlier during his revival at Avis, Robert Townsend hung a sign across from his desk that said:

“Is what I’m doing or about to be doing getting us closer to our objective?”

The sign on a salesman friend’s wall says:

“Twenty calls today.”

Do you need a sign on your wall? What should it say? Action, question, or goal?

Regular folks need reminders from now and then. ADDexecs need reminders all the time. I suspect that action reminders work better than question or goal reminders, because there’s a shorter path between an action message and what we need to be doing. What works for you?

ADDexec summary:
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work is a nice little book of advice and affirmations. Nearly one-third of the 100 entries have direct relevance to ADDexecutives (see examples below). However, many of the entries also contain ideas that are either counterproductive or overly simplistic for the adult with attention deficit disorder. It’s worth buying and reading for the good parts, but be prepared to discard many chunks.

Additional review:
An earlier ADDexecutive post quoted Carlson’s advice, “Accept the fact that there is almost always going to be someone mad at you.” For ADDexecs (who are often extra sensitive to criticism), this is very useful advice.

Unfortunately, Carlson’s good advice is often packaged in too many words:

The fact that someone is virtually always going to be mad or at least disappointed in you is inevitable because while you’re busy trying to please one person, you’re often disappointing someone else. Even if your intentions are entirely pure and positive, you simply can’t be in two places at one time.

Then again, for the ADDexec who skims and only reads half the words on a page, Carlson’s writing style may be perfect.  *

Another criticism is that Carlson’s tips are sometimes too simplistic for the adult with attention deficit disorder, or just plain wrong. For example:

Item 72. Complete as Many Tasks as Possible

Wouldn’t it be easier to simply plan ahead and do whatever is necessary to get the job done – all the way done?

This is an easy habit to break. Take an honest look at your own tendencies. If you are someone who often almost finishes something, take note of the tendency and commit yourself to that last final completion. You can do it – and when you do, your life is going to seem so much easier.

If things were that simple for adults with ADD, the people who make Strattera and Adderall would be in big trouble.

In Item 39, “Get a really comfortable with using voicemail”, Carlson says:

I always chuckle when someone says to me, “Gee, you leave really long voicemail messages.” While it’s true that I sometimes do so, it’s a potentially stressful mistake to think of them as “long.” The truth is, even the longest voicemail messages, if they aren’t even remotely effective, are huge timesavers and excellent communication skills.

In most instances, the longest voicemail message, you can leave is around three minutes. In those three minutes, you can be very detailed, specific information, and respond carefully and accurately to specific questions or concerns, all the while allowing the other person the luxury of reflecting on your comments, hearing them several times, if necessary, and listening at their leisure.

This was lousy advice in 1998 when Carlson published this book. In 2007, with e-mail in common use, it’s just plain nuts.

Despite these criticisms, Carlson’s book does provide plenty of apt advice for the ADDexec, like:

5. Have some “no phone” time at work.
58. Don’t be too quick to comment.
76. Learn to say no without guilt.
42. Stop scrambling.

With ~1/3 of the book directly relevant to the ADDexec and another ~1/3 fairly useful for any business person, it’s not a bad buy. Especially since it’s broken up into 100 chapters with each tip as a chapter title. Especially if you skim.

Buy Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work: Simple Ways to Minimize Stress and Conflict While Bringing Out the Best in Yourself and Others (Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Series) here from Amazon from $0.01 to $8.96.

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*the ADDexecutive promises to reduce its own wordiness before long.

“Accept the fact that there is almost always going to be someone mad at you.”

This is a difficult concept to accept, particularly if, like me, you are a “people pleaser,” or worse still, an approval seeker. Yet I’ve found that if you don’t make peace with this virtual inevitability, it guarantees that you will spend a great deal of time struggling with one of the unfortunate realities of life – disappointment.

– entry No. 55 in Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work, by Richard Carlson, Ph.D., 1998.

Adults with attention deficit disorder are particulary sensitive to criticism.* For us, Carson’s advice is doubly useful.

Click here for a full ADDexec review for this book.

*stay tuned for an ADDexecutive article on this topic.

Unfulfilled Potential: The A.D.D. Child as an Adult
Glenn Hunsucker
1993

ADDexec summary:
Unfulfilled Potential is a questionable book by a questionable writer. Though it includes some interesting tidbits on ADD in the workplace, don’t buy this book unless you also enjoy getting news via The National Enquirer, in which case you should definitely buy this book.

Additional review and commentary:
Hunsucker’s several ADD titles are in many bibliographies for attention deficit disorder. Maybe they’re listed for their info, but maybe also for the quantity and vibrancy of his writing which is, in truth, a lot of fun to read.

From p. 182, here’s a glimpse of Hunsucker’s argument (punctuation copied here as published in the original from ):

Consider this: It is a fact that the number of people with ADD increases every day. Why? Because it’s hereditary. This means that the problems caused by ADD will increase. (ie: crime, alcohol/drug abuse, dropouts, irresponsible workers.) The problems will not increase immediately. It will take ten years or more for the accumulative effect to be noticed.

…If we do not start diagnosing and treating ADD at an early age, I see it as having one of the biggest negative impacts on our society since Aids. It may be more serious than Aids because, unlike Aids, treatment isn’t the problem. …Getting it properly diagnosed and treated by professionals is the biggest problem.

Hyperbole aside, Hunsucker does make a useful argument in Chapter 1:

Focusing on those [untreated] ADD people who are successful is the most negative thing you could possibly do. These people are exceptions to the rule.

…If we give the false impression that there are just as many successful people as unsuccessful, we are sending the same message as those who don’t believe that such a thing as ADD exists.

Here at the ADDexecutive, we agree that attention deficit disorder has a significant downside in the workplace that can be mitigated with treatment. We also believe that when the downside is managed, the upside potential of an ADD mind in combination with other mental and emotional strengths can bring great gifts to its owner. Our plan for the ADDexecutive is to address ADD holistically for the executive or business owner: managing the downside, taking advantage of the upside, and keeping all the pieces working together.

To read more of Hunsucker’s ideas, including his offer to drastically reduce alcohol/drug abuse and crime while also increasing academic test scores for your contribution (or loan) of $5 million, buy here from Amazon: Unfulfilled Potential available used from $0.01.

ADDexec Summary:
It’s common knowledge that no business can be all things to all customers. What’s special about this book is how the authors dissect business focus not by the types of products or services a business offers, but by the way a business provides value.

Discipline argues that a necessary ingredient for success is to focus on leading via only one of three types of value-proposition: product leadership (i.e., providing best product in its class, like Google or Toyota/Lexus), operational excellence (i.e., providing lowest total cost, like Wal-Mart or Home Depot), or customer intimacy (providing best total solution, like DHL worldwide shipping).

For the executive with attention deficit disorder, the book is useful on at least two counts: (1) the title is a fast reminder that we can’t be all things to all people and (2) the theory of selecting a value-proposition model is both (a) sound advice and (b) useful for unifying or comprehending other business advice that may seem either incomplete or conflicting without the “type of value-proposition” idea as a dimension for examining business strategy.

Additional review and commentary:
It’s common knowledge that no business can be all things to all customers. Too many types of products under one brand or one roof is a bad idea. No 21st century company sets out to sell cars, lumber, and t-shirts under one brand (even if they say, “but that way we could be a one stop shop for construction companies!”). Same goes for too many types of services. Since 1995 when this best-selling book was first published, many other books have helped business owners either define core competencies (i.e., inner strengths) or key market sectors (i.e., external opportunities that can be targeted with the greatest efficiency).

The value of The Discipline of Market Leaders is in the authors’ look at a different dimension: the nature of the value-proposition. In 1995, they were the first to push the idea that, no matter how else you slice and dice your offerings or your clients, your final strategy won’t work unless all the pieces lead with the same type of value-proposition: either product leadership, operational excellence, and customer intimacy. In the 1995 edition, Wiersema and Treacy use Intel, AT&T, and Airborne Express as teaching examples to show how companies can lead from, respectively, product leadership, operational excellence, or customer intimacy. While all three companies continue to prosper in 2007 (with Airborne Express now part of DHL), some current examples might be useful.

Who would I pick as representative leaders in 2007? For product leadership, I’d point to Google with its leading and ever-improving search engine or Toyota with its consistently strong record of reliability and overall cus). For operational excellence, easy examples are Wal-Mart or IKEA, both with predictable product quality, price, and delivery – not always the best, but with the lowest total cost for their target customers. For customer intimacy, I’m coming up empty. Readers – feel free to leave a suggestion via the comments!

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Buy The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market from Amazon, used and new from $0.14 to $10.20.

note: The New Market Leaders is Wiersema’s 2001 followup to Discipline.

Chase Two Rabbits, Catch None.

True in ancient Rome.  True in modern business.

This phrase was written (in Latin) on a pin that my third year Latin teacher gave me as a gift when I was in high school.  If I had been a better student, I wouldn’t have needed her help to translate it.

Of course, this was in the early 80s before we knew about ADHD.  I remember all-too-clearly my final exam, a “do it on your own” that I took in the library.  I think I took three hours to get through what should have been a 45-minute test.  I spent those other two hours wriggling around, pacing around the library, reading every other book I could possibly find instead of working on the test that was (for me) difficult to the point of impossible.  When I wonder if I ever had the “H” in ADHD, I remember that test, and the mystery is gone.

ADDexec summary: Danger Ahead — Entrepreneurs, don’t let employees talk and drive in Entrepreneur magazine, May 2007.

Full article: Cell phones are useful, but pull over if you need to use the phone while you’re driving. Same for your employees — whether or not they have attention deficit disorder. Why worry?  For starters:

Under the doctrine of vicarious responsibility, employers may be held legally accountable for the negligent acts of employees committed in the course of employment. Employers may also be found negligent if they fail to put in place a policy for the safe use of cell phones.

– Insurance Information Institute, February 2007.

The science now verifies that cell phones impair driving performance. States and cities across the US are now prohibiting or limiting cell phone use by drivers. And the courts are awarding ample damages for injuries caused by drivers who were talking on cell phones at the time of an accident. What’s the dollar risk?

In a suit against lumber wholesaler Dykes Industries in December 2001, a Miami jury awarded $21 million to a woman who was severely injured by one of the company’s salesmen involved in an accident while he was talking on his cell phone.

In Pennsylvania, a Smith Barney stockbroker–who was talking on his cell phone on the way to a non-business dinner–hit and killed a 24-year-old motorcyclist. Testimony revealed that the firm expected its employees to make “cold calls” on personal time. The plaintiff alleged that the firm was negligent because it encouraged employees to use cell phones without providing training on the potential hazards and risks.

Smith Barney settled with the victim’s family for $500,000.

And in an action involving a state employee who was allegedly talking on her cell phone when she hit a tourist, causing permanent brain damage, the state was found partially liable and paid $2.5 million.

– California CPA, May 2003.

And of course, those are just the monetary risks — never mind the actual injury to persons and reputation.

Read the Insurance Information Institute article for detailed and current information about US and state laws on corporate cell phone liability.