ARE YOU ADDICTED ?



Too many uses - Too much time ?


Are we all becoming smart phone addicts?

I have myself an iPhone, an iPad and a BlackBerry - to be mobile, connected, inspired and reachable... And I spend a lot of time on those devices every day, for my job, with my family, for my social and societal activities, and of course for entertainment and news!

Is that too much? I bet you that you sometimes ask yourself the same question.

Actually, in the corporate world, a new health concern has been raised throughout scientific studies: CPA - cell phone addiction, which is a behavioral addiction as severe as certain substance addictions. CPA is pretty similar to credit card or gambling addictions...

You might have experienced it yourself on your BlackBerry, with the "red light symptom" as I call it - once the red light is flashing, you have a compelling, compulsive need to look at your email inbox! You can't help it.

A study has looked closely at this impulsiveness, within 2pools of business-school students in the USA (191 people in total). On average, each student receives 110 text messages a day, sends about 113 SMS a day, consults its smart phone 60 times and spends 7 hours using it... This is just amazing, and frightening too: And this is our future business leaders!

The big question is: Do we really need that? Are we obliged to get be so connected in the "Now World"? Well... Dr James Roberts, who led the study and published it in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, asked the B-school students that question. And their response was rather unanimous: Not being able to use the smartphone would seriously damage social life, according to the respondents. And intuitively, we would share the same feeling wouldn't we...

Now, when am I definitely considered a smart phone addict? There are 10 symptoms identified in the good article attached from Digital Trends website: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/top-10-signs-of-cell-phone-addiction/

Is it too late? Is the CPA a disease we cannot cure? Certainly not. I bet you will soon find the nearest CPAA: the Cell Phone Addicted Anonymous association to help out :-)

More seriously, as for all addictions, the best remedy is anticipation, prudence, prevention. It is our duty as parents and responsible leaders to lead by example, to limit our own smart phone consumption, and to incentivize younger ones to "calm down" on cell phone use. 

Easier said than done though, isn't it.

So one word of conclusion: Now that you have read all this and thought about it, just switch off all your mobile devices, your laptop and your television... and go talk with your colleagues, your wife, your children or your friends, whoever is the closest... DO IT NOW.

WHAT YOU MUST OFFER TO YOUR EMPLOYER




Be Number One

 A while ago some of you wondered why I blogged about "what you must demand from your employer" (see post below)... For some people it should be the other way round, as it is employers who demand stuff from employees when recruiting !

Well, I still believe that if you do not demand the Three L's (learning, leadership, love) you will be sad and depressed at work.

On the other hand, everyone has to bring something to the table, both employer and employee. So what the employee must offer to the employer is also 3-fold : Your success in the job (or your best storyline for a recruitment interview) is based on 3 words :

CREATIVITY

The world is moving fast; information flows super fast; ideas are emerging and fading rapidly; only the great ideas survive, move the lines, and shake the trees. Innovation is key in such world, and creativity is the fuel for growth. You must become and remain leading edge idea generators.

ADAPTABILITY

The world is changing on a daily basis. On September 14^th 2008, all MBA graduates fancied a job at prestigious Lehman Brothers. On September 15, none of them, Lehman was vaporized... So, more than ever, you must adapt to (instant) change, you must seek change, you must love change. Change is your best ally, when you can cope with it. Actually you must become agents of change, take command of change… Change should become your daily bread. Those who resist change will soon become out of job.

CAPABILITY

Needless to say, life is going to equip you with leadership ammunition, management toolkits, best practices etc… Everyday at work is a learning day! Your capability will become deeper and broader as you get older, the only trick is to figure out how and when to use it in your next move. And remember: in today's world pure strategy is meaningless ; only strategy with good execution, based on real capabilities, will succeed!

86 400

$ 86,400 a day - $ 31.5M a year

I often use this story to MBA students, senior executives or friends during coaching or mentoring sessions.

Imagine the following (nice) situation: Your bank is crediting your bank account every morning on 9:00am with $ 86,400. there are two rules attached.

   1) You must have invested or spent the full amount before 9:00am the following day, so that the bank will credit your account again. No single dollar can be saved until later, you MUST spend.

   2) The bank can stop the credit any day any time, unilaterally and without your consent.

Now close your eyes for a minute, and imagine what you would do with this daily amount...

***

The reality is that each of us is being granted 86,400 seconds per day, every morning no matter what. And each second is gone after 24 hours. And the account will be stopped at a very specific but unplanned moment.

So the ultimate question of life for anyone is: What do I do with this amount of seconds I get every morning, precisely 86 400 per day...

There is no magic recipe for efficiency or happiness, but I can say from experience discussing with thousands students, executives, friends, professors, spiritual leaders, athletes... that great TIME MANAGEMENT is one of the fundamental components of LIFE FULFILLMENT.

There are of course natural needs (foods, hygiene, sleep...) that consume a large part of our time, and which are unavoidable. SLEEP is actually one big differentiator between individuals. Some need more sleep, some need less. This is certainly a genetical gift (determined by the gene ABCC9), but it can also be trained, dominated, educated... Sailors or commandos give a good example of sleep management, being forced to sleep very little, and in short sequences. If you want to know more about sleep phases and needs, please see this wikipedia page, well written: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep

Beyond natural needs, it is critical to master time management whoever you are, and whatever you do in life... Otherwise time will take control of your days, your activities, your life, and ultimately your destiny.

In fact, time management has been recommended and preached for ages by our ancestors. You will even find some time management advice in the Bible, in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 "There is a time for everything and a season for every activity...". Worth a read.

In a nutshell, the best way to manage time is NOT to plan, to divide and to schedule... because this is doomed to fail... because you cannot predict all and anticipate uncertainty !

Rather, one should always be prepared for uncertainty, and be ready to welcome the unexpected. A good way to do this is to focus on work-life INTEGRATION : i.e. Do not split everything like work-life balance implies (33% time with family, 33% time at work, 33% time for social activities...), it does not work. Instead, our aim should always be to do everything 100% !

From today, start focusing on doing everything possible at your best, with radical optimism and full passion and enthusiasm. You will see that doing more and more everyday makes your 86,400 seconds worth and more fruitful.

A wise quote of Benjamin Franklin says: "When you want something done, ask a busy person"... There is truth in that old saying of the 18th century.

So: Let's get busy today ; Let's learn to sleep less ; Let's do more to invest our daily 86 400 seconds ; Let's take a few seconds to say thank you for this wonderful gift which is Time ; And let's do one more thing today than yesterday !

WELCOME BACK and BEST WISHES !

AFTER 60 DAYS ABSENCE

Dear readers,

It has been too long! 60 days basically since my last post here...

But 60 days filled with tons of exciting changes and events:
- We moved in a new house with the family, still in beautiful city of Saint-Cloud in France !
- I joined a new consulting firm as a Partner: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
- I visited clients in Germany, UK, Singapore, UAE, Netherlands... in less than 8 weeks. 
- I was formally appointed as board member of christian Association Alpha in France, whose purpose is to help people explore the meaning of life - a totally "inspiring and connecting" mission.
- We concluded the year of INSEAD Alumni Association in November-December with 40+ events, including a successful and innovative Assemblee Generale... and more to come in January. 
- We held a formidable event in Paris, the very first INSEAD Essentials, a conference focused on "How to Make the World a Better Place", with fantastic emblematic speakers - CEOs, education and religious leaders - who are really changing the world and having great impact on our society

You can see a video replay of INSEAD Essentials on our YouTube channel, IAAFchannel, with 8 sequences starting here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KVahBlFb7oA

But there is no excuse - despite this rather heavy schedule - to have paused publishing on this Blog... Some of you made the comment that they missed the various posts on inspirational themes: many thanks for this support and your compelling incentive to write more often and regularly. 

I wish you all the best for an excellent and inspiring new year. May 2013 be for all full of joy, happiness, hope, success and radical optimism !!!

See you very soon again on this blog, and Welcome Back...