Started the day off in a grumpy mood.   It seems every time I touch anything finance related I get triggered into a ‘ticked off’ mood – because its the thing that is holding me back – and I wish it wasn’t there.  But, so, it is what it is.

Spent the morning working the integrated cash flows, projections for 2010 and 2011,monthly P&L.    All my work is pointing to an issue that I have and that is the COG and better control (or perhaps I should say) reporting of inventory.   So, we have been messing around with trying to get a system in place to get all this going – and it was supposed to be up and running 2 weeks ago – and still not up.  This didn’t make me happy – and as I looked at it – I could see it being deadlocked between Operations Group and Business Systems group.   Operations is going to Business Systems group and waiting for them – Business System group is then going to Operations and trying to get them work the system.   So, its waiting for Godot – one is waiting for the other – result – nothing! 

So, Operations is comfortable working they way they are – and I can tell that on a subconscious level there will be resistance to change. BUT, frankly, I don’t care.  I have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow, and the law is going to come down – each day I want to know inventory used – whichever way, paper, computer, scrolls – whatever the method – the Operations team will be tasked and expected to deliver a daily consumption report.  No excuses – no waiting for Business Systems, no waiting for this or that. 

Had the weekly meeting with the team – and I changed the format – everyone was now asked to identify their top 3 priorities and discuss those.      Much more intense meeting – more result oriented – and this is just the beginning.   Once people get uses to this (next 2 meetings) – I will add more action oriented items into this meeting  – but also will add more humanizing elements as well.   So, plan is that the weekly meetings will follow a bit of the Rockefeller Habits format – by the end of May.    

Had 3 interviews today – and they where interesting.  One candidate that both E and me liked, had, discrepancies on ‘its’ resume after we did our reference checks.   In this way, you would think it should be an automatic discard  BUT  both E and I, had very good ‘feeling’ about this person.   Was it not for this Book (The Liar in your life) – I would have automatically discarded ‘it’ from consideration – however – in The Liar in Your Life – its pretty clear that almost 80% of people during interviews will ‘Lie’, color the truth or not be completely honest.   So, where I to follow my own standards – this person should be ‘out’ BUT given reality – I accept the fact that people will ‘hide’, ‘color’ or ‘mis-represent’ themselves – BUT that it does not make them bad potential employees.  So, the challenge is to discover if the person is truly capable, or if they are a fake.   Lying on your resume would point to the ‘fake’ BUT that in fact may not be always the case – and so a 2nd change is required, especially with ‘gut’ instinct dictates it.

So, overall – interviews where good.   The day ended well, when I reviewed the SOP’s and Policies for PPC from G… and J…   The first round was a bit rough, but this 2nd time – I was VERY pleased with the outcome.  So, thanks to G and J, I felt like at least one area had forward momentum – so it turned the day into ‘good’.

Took the evening off, relaxed, had a great dinner in 798 with a friend, in bed early, around 11:30PM.  Tomorrow, I have a huge chunk of  time ‘blocked’ off for strategic work (financial dashboard), and 2 hours to focus on getting Operations and COG reporting to what I need.