Careers: Interviews
Internationally Renowned Strategist and IT Authority
This week, Stephen Ibaraki, I.S.P., has an
exclusive interview with the acclaimed Mitchell Levy.
Mitchell Levy is a strategist, educator
& prognosticator helping companies succeed by putting tools in the hands of
corporations/individuals that enable them to create their own success. He is a
frequent media guest and a popular speaker, lecturing on business and
management issues throughout the U.S. and around the world. He has started 10
companies/joint ventures since 1997 and has provided strategic consulting to
over 100 companies.
Mitchell Levy is Chairman and Partner of
CEOnetworking (http://CEOnetworking.com),
an executive networking organization facilitating conversation and learning
among peers and coaching executives on being successful. He is also Director
and Chief Strategy Officer of the innovative Silicon Valley Executive Business
Program (http://SiliconValleyPACE.com)
from San Jose State University (SJSU-PD) and President and CEO of ECnow.com (http://ecnow.com), a Management Consulting firm
helping company's grow with strategic consulting and targeted business
education.
He is author of the book E-Volve-or-Die.com (http://e-volve-or-die.com), creator of
the Value Framework�, a strategic framework for analyzing and creating
corporate success (http://ecnow.com/value/),
Program Consultant for the Business Management program at SJSU-PD, and
Executive Producer of the strategic eZine VMS3.info (http://VMS3.info).
He was the former Founder, Program Consultant, and Faculty Member of the
premier SJSU-PD Enterprise & E-Commerce Management Certificate Program, the
former Chair of comdex.biz at Comdex Fall and was at Sun Microsystems for 9
years, during the last 4 of which he managed the e-commerce component of Sun's
$3.5 billion supply chain.
View Mr. Levy's Public speaking
appearances: http://ecnow.com/speaking.htm
View ECnow.com's media coverage: http://ecnow.com/media
Discussion:
Q: Mitchell, you have an impressive and
long record of accomplishment as a world-renowned authority. We are fortunate
to have you do this interview�thank you!
A: You're too kind Stephen. It's my
pleasure to be part of this series.
Q: What sparked your interest in computers?
A: When I was in undergraduate school, I
made a decision to spend my time on the areas that would be the hardest to learn
with self-study. I switched from an International Finance & Marketing major to
one in Operational Research / Systems Analysis. This discipline relied heavily
upon computers and I quickly realized the importance of leverage. Computers
created a tremendous amount of leverage and it was apparent to me that business
was not taking advantage of it yet. At the same time, another thought that went
through my mind was "where there's uncertainty, there's margin".
Q: Do you have any "surprising"
stories to tell from your days at Sun Microsystems and as Chair of comdex.biz?
A: At Sun there were a number of stories
that were interesting.
1)
April 1st was always
a fun day at Sun. I knew the organizer for Sun's famous April fools jokes. The
company would do things like take a senior managers' car, disassemble it and
reassemble it inside their house, or put it in the middle of the pond in front
of the main campus or build a miniature golf course inside the CEOs office. My
surprise was the integration of fun into the workplace. A good lesson to learn
and one I try to focus on every day.
2)
In my first 5 years, I
completed two projects that made me truly understand people's reluctance to
change and helped me hone my skills as a change agent. I was responsible for
implementing Sun's first tool allowing the analysis of actual vs. plan numbers
from the General Ledger. At the time, Sun's financial analysis was conducted by
consolidating disparate worldwide spreadsheets and my customers in the finance organization
were concerned about change. They could take a floppy out of their desktop,
take the numbers with them to work at from home, and bring them back to work in
the morning. Years later, I was in charge of a team to migrate the original
system to a UNIX-based client/server environment. Amazingly, the same people
were concerned with change. This time, they didn't want to move from a
centralized system where backups were automatically done, to one where the data
sat on their desks and they would have to ensure that the backups were done all
the time. The same folks were complaining about change, however, this time it
was the change to bring them back to where they were in the first place. It was
then I realized that the negativity about change was change itself, not the new
process, regardless of the value of the new process.
Comdex was
amazing. It was the place to be. Everyone wanted to be there. The most amazing
aspect was the quality of speakers that Comdex could attract and that they
never received payment for speaking. My takeaway was that companies were
willing to foot the bill and share their expertise if you could supply the
audience.
Q: With your extensive background of
success, which experiences were particularly compelling? What lessons can you
share with our audience?
A: There are three lessons I'd like to
share:
1)
Success is about who you know.
I know this sounds like a clich�, but it's true. It's not about the one person
(although there may be one that stands out above the rest), but the large
number of people that you interact with along the way. You absolutely need to
build relationships. You absolutely need to make friends and do favors for
others. It's also ok to ask for help when you need it.
2)
Treat everyone with respect.
That wacky peer or one of your subordinates can easily be your bosses boss a
couple years down the road. I've seen it happen a lot in Silicon Valley.
3)
If a product or process can be
done more efficiently, it eventually will. However, you can't underestimate the
power of "the status quo".
Q: What is the "value" in your
"Framework?"
A: The word strategy is often overused. In
my mind, it means two things:
1)
The creation and proliferation
of the overarching statement of who the company is and the key goals it has.
This is the Jack Welch/GE definition of strategy where one defines the
vision/mission, goals, and initiatives of the company. This is what I refer to
as defining "value". See the next question for more detail on this
component of strategy. �
2)
The second meaning is the
approach and specific business models the company executes to deliver value as
defined in #1 above. The Value Framework� (http://ecnow.com/value/)
is the approach I've been using to help companies deliver its value.
The
"value" in the "Framework" is its ability to allow
executives to clearly see the multi-dimensional strategy that the company is
executing on and then to communicate it effectively to the employees of the
company. The Value Framework� is one of the first comprehensive frameworks on
the market that addresses #2, defined above. It is a business unit tool that
helps the executive clearly articulate the business models they are executing
today and will evolve to tomorrow to deliver the value the company promised it
will. We've applied the framework to over 100 companies and have a number of
the results posted on this page: http://www.ecnow.com/value/companies.analyzed.htm.
Additional details of the framework can be seen here: http://www.ecnow.com/value/ValueFrameworkWorkbookIntro.pdf
Q: Can you articulate the
components of traditional strategy?
Of course. Ask any CEO or senior manager if
they have a strategy and they'll say yes. But what really is strategy, how do
you create it and how can you incorporate it into what you do?
For me, strategy sets the values and drives
the structure and operations of the company. Done properly, it helps everyone
in the company make the "right" decisions. If any employee is posed
with a choice, the decision they make should be shaped by the strategy the
company has deployed. In short, it sets the values and helps to shape the marching
orders.
There's often confusion with the phrases
strategies and business models. Additionally, there's corporate strategy,
business unit strategy, and functional strategy. Tactical planning is also put
into this category. I often hear CEOs treat strategy like a 4-letter word.
"We don't do strategy at our company". Unfortunately, these CEOs are
causing one of three outcomes:
1)
They have an intuitive
understanding of the company and are forcing the company to revolve around this
particular figurehead (empowerment is not part of this type of company)
2)
They are forcing strategy to be
done further down the organization below the CEOs radar
3)
They are forcing the company
down a path of its demise
Whether you're a corporate CEO, an
entrepreneurial founder, or owner of a small business you need strategy, i.e.,
consistent useable blueprints for both high-level and tactical actions. They
are necessities for your long-term survival.
The 4 basic
steps are:��������������������������������������������������������
- Crafting your vision (Embodied in a 30-second pitch)
- Coming up with 3-5 goals that will allow you to achieve your
vision
- Putting the metrics in place to monitor the goals
- Alignment: Ensuring that the metrics are part of the performance
evaluations of your employees
These steps are illustrated on the
following pdf: http://ecnow.com/ECnow.com.Strategy.Setting.Process.pdf
that can also be picked up by going here http://ecnow.com/consulting.services.htm
and clicking on "PDF of process" at the bottom of the page.�
1) Crafting the vision.
The cloud is not the Internet cloud, but the cloud of possibilities that are
available to any company. Crafting the vision allows you to put a box around
the set of possibilities. Your job is to draw the boundaries. Every employee of
the company needs to be able to state the vision and the goals of the company.
The vision should be expressed in a way that it's easy for everyone to
understand and articulate. That vision needs to carried into everything the
company does (e.g. culture, goals and objectives, product and/or service,
marketing material, customer service offering, etc.) The vision typically will
span 18 months. In the past, vision statements lasted 3-5+ years. Today, they
should be evaluated at least every 18 months.
2) Coming up with 3-5 goals that will allow you to achieve your vision
Regardless of the size of the company, there should be 3-5 goals the company
wants to achieve. These goals can then be further broken down by division or
function into sub-goals. This is the blueprint the company uses to set
direction for the day-to-day activity. There should be a mix of qualitative and
quantitative goals. These goals should be set for a 12-month period. This is to
align with the performance evaluations of the employees.
3) Putting the metrics in place to
monitor the goals
This is where many companies fall down. It's important to know what defines
value for a company and the blueprint the company will use to get there. It's
as important to know the metrics that are going to be measured to judge the
progress. These metrics should be shared with all parties that can help the
company be successful. Not just management, but employees and key partners.
4) Alignment: Ensuring that the metrics
are part of the performance evaluations of your employees. Unfortunately, not
all employees work for the good of the company, but for the paycheck ;) Given
that, it's important to incent employees to deliver performance that's in line
with the vision and goals of the company. This is done by incorporating the
vision, goals, and metrics into their performance evaluations. This step is
crucial!
Concepts to remember:
- 30-SECOND PITCH: 18 months
- CORPORATE GOALS: 12 months, used to determine employee
compensation
- METRICS: Measure goals, used to determine employee compensation
(one page, share with all)
The vision/architecture is where the
overarching direction of the company is set. The goals articulate that strategy
in bite-size chunks and the metrics help ensure that you deliver it. Make
sense?
Q: Can you profile your Executive Business
program?
A: The Silicon Valley Executive Business
Program (http://siliconvalleypace.com/)
is an absolutely unique approach to education that will certainly be copied.
Instead of traditional academic training, we bring in outside experts to
explore the business world from the CEO and their staffs' perspective. In
essence, from the inside out. This makes the program extremely practical with a
focus on real-world experiences the CXOs bring to the table.
The program features eight CXO modules.
They are the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) as well as the CMO (Chief Marketing
Officer), CFO (Chief Finance Officer), CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), CTO (Chief
Technology Officer), CRO (Chief Revenue Officer), CPO (Chief People Officer),
and COO (Chief Operating Officer). Check out the faculty at http://siliconvalleypace.com/faculty.html.
This is a cohort program where each set of students goes through the program as
a group. Total classroom and on-line course time is 120 hours. In addition to
the eight on-ground modules, included in the price are the required books (http://www.siliconvalleypace.com/books.html),
some meals and 14 on-line courses (six of which are required) from NinthHouse (http://www.ninthhouse.com) with faculty
such as Tom Peters, Ken Blanchard, Peter Senge, etc. We review the online
courses during the on-ground modules.
Executives that go through the program
leave with an insider understanding of business, a much broader network and lots
of ideas on where to take their businesses and careers going forward.
Q: Can you describe your current work and
the benefits offered by your companies?
A: The primary focus of what I do is to
help companies and individuals grow with executable strategic frameworks,
business management training, and executive coaching. Since 1997, I've created
1-3 new companies or partnerships per year. Some make it and are still around
today while others, like an on-line training company we started in 2001, were
created at the wrong time and are no longer around. Currently, I spend my time
in three primary areas:
1)
CEOnetworking (http://CEOnetworking.com) is a Membership
Organization for CEOs providing an efficient way to create a peer-based
advisory board that does not have a vested interest in the company. All executives need to vent
frustrations or brainstorm ideas in a neutral environment that does not exist
within their company. CEOnetworking provides just such an environment.
2)
Silicon Valley Executive
Business Program (http://SiliconValleyPACE.com)
is a cohort program providing executive attendees an insider understanding of
business, a much broader network, and lots of ideas on where to take their
business and careers going forward.
3)
ECnow.com (http://ECnow.com) is a management consulting firm
that has been delivering strategic tools and education to customers since 1997.
Various strategic tools available can be seen at http://ecnow.com/ECnow.com.Strategy.Tools.pdf
while our 1x1 executive coaching service can be seen at http://ECnow.com/executive.coaching.htm.
Through ECnow.com, we've created and run four conferences for Comdex bringing
in over $2m in revenue, three of executive training programs for San Jose State
University (the Enterprise & E-Commerce Management program brought in over
$1.7m in revenue), and have provided strategic consulting to over 100
companies. To promote my activities, I've created five
assets.
1)
Media Attention Now (http://ecnow.com/mediaattention/)
is an expert pay-per-performance publicist whose business model is exactly what
I was looking for that wasn't available in the marketplace. The company has a
low monthly fee that guarantees two bronze placements per month of your money
back. Gold or platinum placements or for placements above two per month,
there's an incremental cost. Essentially, you get what you pay for, nothing
more, nothing less. Exactly what an expert is looking for. Customer wise, in
addition to others, I am also a customer. Check out: http://ecnow.com/media/ to see the types of
press I've received.
2)
VMS3.info (http://vms3.info) is a bi-monthly eZine we've been
running since 1999 with a 5,000-person distribution that focuses on viewing the
world from the perspective of the Value Framework�.
3)
Annual Predictions: Annually,
in conjunction with my 1,000-person speaker database, I create an annual set of
predictions which gets wide media distribution. This page shares the predictive
accuracy since 1998: http://ecnow.com/top10accuracy.htm
4)
E-Volve-or-Die.com (http://E-Volve-or-Die.com) is a book
written in the year 2000 which explores a series of questions companies should
ask to help prepare for the ultimate integration of the Internet into their
industry and, of course, their company.
5)
I also maintain the content and
optimize each Web site for search engines. 50,000 visitors are served at the
Web sites monthly. The most heavily trafficked page contains a list of a number
of Internet Marketing techniques applied throughout the years. You can view it
at http://ecnow.com/Internet_Marketing.htm.
Q: Where do you see yourself and your
companies in five years?
A: That's always a great question, one that
we should all be thinking about. For me, there are three ideas that run through
my mind:
1)
I am really addicted to the
running multiple companies. Yes, sometimes I spread myself too thin, however,
it's never boring. When I describe myself, I often call myself a parallel
entrepreneur. I've been toying with the idea of being the CEO of a single
larger company and bringing it public. Not sure I'll ever go in that direction,
but the thought occasionally crosses my mind.
2)
I have a 5-year plan for the Value
Framework� in which I'd like to see it actively used at over 250 companies.
Along with that use comes a series of strategic consulting, speaking, and
training opportunities.
3)
I have a science fiction novel
in my mind that I'd like to get on paper.
Q: Which experiences continue to
"amaze" you?
A:� I
teach a course on "Thinking Outside the Box". As an instructor of
this topic, I thought I truly acted upon my words. However, hanging out with my
5-year old son teaches me everyday how much of a box I still live in.
Q: Do you have any additional humorous
stories to share?
A: My dad bought a gift of a rocking Zebra
for my son when Duncan was 2�. Dad was excited about the gift and couldn't wait
to share it with Duncan, so he brought him into a room away from everyone else
to share it. Duncan unwrapped the paper on the box and proceeded to play on top
of the box for 5 minutes before my dad said, Duncan, "that's not the gift,
the gifts inside the box". So my Dad opened the box, took out the gift and
watched Duncan play inside the box for 5 minutes before he took the box away
and said "Duncan, that's not the gift, this is the gift" and he gave
Duncan the rocking zebra. My son was happy with the Zebra, however, it had a
base plate on it which made it not rock fast, so he asked Duncan to get off of
the toy so he could take the base plate off. My Dad's expectation was that
Duncan couldn't have been happy on a slow moving Zebra, so a faster moving one
would be better. Duncan, however, proceeded to play with the base plate for 5
minutes until my Dad took it away and said, "no that's not the toy this is
the toy". Finally, Duncan had the toy that my Dad wanted him to have and
Duncan played with it making them both happy.
I was watching from a distance and found
this interchange one of the most hilarious ones the two of them have had to
date. It was hard to be quiet, but I really wanted to see where they went with
this interchange. In the end, my dad was happy. All along the way, Duncan was
happy. To Duncan, everything is a toy, not just what we define as one, but
everything. The moral of the story is "how many opportunities do we pass
up every day because there's no stamp on it that says OPPORTUNITY!"
Q: Please pick four topics from your
extensive consulting, and management experiences. Can you share three
"special and very useful" lessons in each topic area?
A1: As many books that are written and as
many consultants that are out there, strategy is still a misused and
misunderstood discipline.
1) Strategy is not an annual one-time
event, but a continual evolutionary process. If you perform a static activity
once a year, it can guide you if all things remain the same. However, in
today's business environment, it doesn't work that way. Strategy needs to be a
dynamic activity that's continually deployed, managed, and evolved within a
company.�
2) Strategy should not be decoupled from
execution and business process execution (BPR). If you walk down a bookstore
aisle (physical or virtual), you will not see the BPR and strategy books in the
same place. A company's strategy needs to be embodied into its operational
processes.
3) Every employee and partner of the
company needs to live, think, and act in the best interest of the company. This
can only happen by creating an open sharing culture where the employees know
where the company is heading and how they can help it get there. Well-run
companies have a management team that creates the vision/mission, goals,
initiatives, and metrics package that set a framework for operating the line
management
A2: The Web is an extension of your
company.
1) It's still amazing to me how many
companies state that customer service and interaction is one of their top 3
goals, however, survey after survey will show that 25-40% of these companies do
not respond to Web inquires within 24 hours, if at all. The Web is an extension
of your company. How you treat customers and partners in the physical world
should be the same as you do in the online world.
2) There are still a large percentage of
small entities that do not have a Web site as well as a large number of
medium-to-large sized corporations that have Web sites that are not consistent
with the goals of the corporation. A company's Web site is its 24x7
communication vehicle to the world. It is a public persona of the company and
should be treated like all other business units of the company. There should be
measurable business objectives and goals and all Web activity should be
integrated into the activity (and vice versa) of the traditional units of the
company.
3) The Internet is the great equalizer. The
Internet is the most democratic vehicle the United States has ever introduced
to the world. It truly equalizes the law of supply and demand. With it,
companies can�and a number of them have�dramatically streamlined their
businesses. In addition to squeezing out the cost, companies need to realize
that partners in the Value Chain can only be efficient if they have the
information they need to act on behalf of the company. Companies today need to provide
information that will allow their partners to conduct business as efficiently
as possible.
A3: Never pass up an opportunity to network
or learn.
1) I went to a dinner social with my wife
which had general seating. We spent a lot of time socializing prior to taking
our seats and by the time we decided to sit down, we were guided to a table in
the corner that didn't have folks at the table we knew. As it turned out, we
had a great time. Additionally, after following through with two of the folks
at the table, I've generated over $25k in business and created a good long-term
client. You never know who you will meet and how you can help them or how they
can help you.
2) Speak second and follow through. When
you go to a networking function, think about being the second person who
speaks. I always want to speak second so that I can tailor by 30-second pitch
to the person I'm talking with. I'll often ask questions like "what's your
biggest problem today". As I'm listening, I'll write notes on the back of
their cards on the type of information I'll send in my follow-through e-mail. I
am shocked at the small percentage of people that do what they say they will do
at a networking event. I'd say it's as little as 5%. Even when I'm a potential
customer with money ready to spend. Always send an e-mail following through
with folks you meet and share some information that can help them with the
problems they discussed. You will be remembered for it.
3) It's not the degree, but the path you
take to get there: Often times, students ask me what job they can get with one
degree or another. Yes, in a number of cases, the degree helps. But it's not
really the degree. It's who you meet along the way. It's not just what you
learned, but how you applied it. My thoughts are to a) Try to apply what you
learn, b) Meet and stay connected to as many people as possible, and c) Given
all other things being equal, go to the school with the largest network.
A4: You need to stay focused.
1) Ok, coming from a parallel entrepreneur,
it seems like advice I don't follow. That's not exactly true. Although I have
multiple entities, they all have a singular focus. People and companies that
define and deliver on a couple of things well are those that always tend to
prosper.
2) Within practical limits, you can be
whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. What's important is to
stay focused, research and learn the discipline, practice what you learn,
deliver it as often as possible, collect customer feedback and modify your
processes based on what you hear and what you do.
3) Try to create multiple revenue streams.
Another thought that might seem contradictory, but alas, try to have multiple
revenue streams along the same line of focus. If one stream reaches a plateau
and starts to decline another may pick up the slack. It allows for more
flexibility on how you execute your business models.
Q: What are the five most important IT
trends to watch, and please provide some recommendations?
A: 1) Offshore Outsourcing: This needs to
be part of your business mix, however, it needs to be managed carefully and you
need to ensure that information gathered at customer touch points make their
way back into your company.
2) Software Continues to Change Forever
Especially via the ASP Model: The days of $50+m software procurement and
implementations are coming to an end. Re-exploring and incorporating ASP models
into your business processes makes sense.
3) "E-Commerce" Comes Back into
Vogue: Companies continue to benefit from various uses of e-commerce
(incorporating the Internet into how you conduct business). Incorporate
e-commerce, where appropriate, into your business.
4) Internet Telephony: Significant savings
and increased capabilities will filter its way into a large percentage of
companies this year.
5) Social Business Networking: It's a small
world and social business networking is making it much smaller. Companies
should be test-driving the use of these technologies both inside and outside
their walls.
Q: What are the five greatest challenges
facing businesses today? What are their solutions?
A: 1) Continued Global Economic Dependency:
Coupled with offshore outsourcing, the world is getting smaller and the laws of
supply and demand are being equalized. Increased growth of China as a dominant
capitalistic world player. Increased off-shoring of all business processes. You
need to be cognizant of worldwide events.
2) Security: Post 9/11, companies need to
focus on both physical as well as online security.
3) Viruses and Spam: 2004 will see an
increased set of virus threats and spam at an alarming rate. Proper safeguards
need to be applied and taught at all levels of the company. Crisis plans need
to be put into place for the instance where a virus will heavily bring down
traffic for at least a day.
4) Transparency: As the Internet continues
to bring more transparency to business, companies need to find ways to deliver
incremental value to justify their margins. In a number of cases, margins will
erode. Services will continue to be a differentiating factor.
5) Surviving the downturn and
Sarbanes-Oxley: Companies are looking for ways to show growth in a downturn and
will look for undervalued companies to acquire. Is your company the acquirer or
the acquiree? Another area companies need to address in 2004 is Sarbanes-Oxley
(S-OX) compliance. S-OX puts a minimal cost of $4-5m on publicly traded
entities. This will cause a number of smaller public companies to merge and
will put yet another barrier to entry in the IPO market. In 2005-06, we'll see
portions of S-OX compliance being forced on VC-backed companies to allow for an
acquisition by a public company already compliant with S-OX as an exit
strategy.
Q: Who are the winners and losers in the
next five years?
A: Companies that continue to center their
business around satisfying their ever-changing customer base will win. Examples
here include: Microsoft, Dell, IBM, & HP. Companies that don't realize that
the customer is the most important asset and needs to be satisfied in the way
that's most efficient for them will lose. Examples here include: Sun & SGI.
Q: Any predictions about the economy and
future IT spending?
A: There will be some positive IT, economic
and stock market movement this year based on the following statements:
- IT spending has not been high since the 1998-99 timeframe when
business prepared for Y2K. The equipment in place needs to be replaced.
- Companies have been trimming themselves for the last 3 years
and this will be demonstrated in the profit numbers with just a small uptick
in business.
- The IPOs of Google, Salesforce, and a handful of other
high-flying entities will help reopen up the IPO market.
- Countries benefiting from the globalization of business will
increase their imports of worldwide products.
Q: What are your top recommended resources
for both businesses and IT professionals?
A: The following URLs are the recommended
resources:
- If you're in Silicon Valley, the following two resources apply.
If not, let me know if you'd like to help in bringing these resources to
your part of the world:
-
http://CEOnetworking.com
-
http://SiliconValleyPACE.com
Q: What kind of computer setup do you have?
A: I use a Dell laptop with a docking
station with 10/100 Ethernet and wireless connectivity. I need flexibility. If
I have my cell phone and laptop with me, then I have my office with me.
Anywhere in the world.
Q: If you were doing this interview, what
three questions would you ask of someone in your position and what would be
your answers?
A: Q1: Who are some other folks that I
should interview?
A1: Let's talk offline, I have a
1,000-person speaker database and I'd be happy to share some names with you.
Q2: How do you find balance in your life?
A2: That's never easy for any of us in
life. As you can see, I work very hard. One thing that helps is that I
primarily work out of a home office. This allows me to see my wife and son
throughout the days that I'm home. As an entrepreneur, it's hard not to work 7
days a week. To stop that from happening, we've made Sunday a father/son day.
It gives my wife a day off and gives Duncan and me a whole day together. We do
whatever he wants, which he loves. In his vernacular, it's called Daddy/Duncan
day. A final technique that we've implemented is based on a promise I've made
to my wife to take 5 weeks off a year. Typically, we go to some European
country. So far, we've gone to Italy, France and England and have plans to make
that happen again this summer. I don't turn off completely, but I go into
maintenance mode and deal with only the most pressing business issues. The way
I look at it is that you only live once. If you're going to work hard, you
might as well enjoy the fruit of your labor while you're healthy and can enjoy
it.
Q3: Was this the most interesting set of questions, you've ever been asked on
an interview.
A3: Yes, I've been interviewed for 100s of
different media vehicles and your set of questions was by far the most
interesting I have yet to encounter. Thanks for taking the time to make this an
interesting experience for me.
Q: Mitchell, your in-depth insights are of
great value to our audience. Thank you for doing this interview!
A: My pleasure, thanks again for giving me
the opportunity to express myself. BTW: Have you done one of these interviews
on yourself?
To contact Mitchell Levy to speak at
your event to inquire about one of the services described above, please e-mail
him at mitchell.levy@ecnow.com or
call him at 408-257-3000.
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