Be hopeful

Bismillah

Choose hope over despair. Hope is a beautiful and meaningful emotion. We all go through tens of emotions every day. Remember to be grateful for your blessings and try your best to be hopeful.

In my faith tradition, one of sayings of Prophet Muhammad is, “you will not have complete faith till you love for your brother what you love for yourself.”

I find that this state of wanting the best for others is healthy and helps me stay hopeful.

How do you stay hopeful?

Lots of love and peace

Gary Vaynerchuk's Twelve and A Half: Leveraging the emotional ingredients necessary for business success

 Bismillah

So I have been listening to and following Gary Vaynerchuk on Instagram for a bit and appreciate his approach to business. Gary V. is an investor, serial entrepreneur, author, and public speaker.

I wanted to understand his philosophy better and I started reading his book, Twelve and a Half: Leveraging The Emotional Ingredients Necessary For Business Success. 

Gary proposes cultivating and developing the following emotional ingredients within oneself on a consistent basis:

1. Gratitude
2. Self Awareness
3. Accountability
4. Optimism
5. Empathy
6. Kindness
7. Tenacity
8. Curiosity
9. Patience
10. Conviction
11. Humility
12. Ambition

I just finished the introduction and will plan to shares more tangible lessons/reflections in the upcoming days. I believe his basic thesis is to focus on happiness and the importance of using emotional intelligence in leading "successful"/fulfilling lives.

Enjoy this Friday.

Making the Most of Our Mistakes- quick review on John Maxwell's podcast

 Bismillah

Some of our leadership team and team leads recently discussed John Maxwell Leadership Podcast's Making the Most of Our Mistakes.

We had an interesting discussion on the importance of taking advantage of our mistakes in achieving success. 

The podcast shared an Arianna Huffington quote, "Failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success," that set the tone for the discussion.

A basic overview of the podcast is the following:

1. Stop Fearing Mistakes

2. Don’t make the biggest mistake of all: Do nothing

3. Learn from the mistakes of others

4. Focus on progress, not mistakes

5. Focus on the future

6. Don’t make the same mistake twice (Admit it, learn from it, don't repeat it- Coach Paul Bear Bryant)

7. Remember that the size of the person, not the size of his mistakes, determines success or failure

8. Evaluate your mistakes and respond accordingly

9. User your mistakes to take yourself to a higher level

I appreciated Mark Cole's advice on John Maxwell's lessons: "Our attitude toward our mistakes will determine our altitude after our mistakes." Cole gives his prescription on mistakes:

1. Fail First

2. Fail Fast

3. Fail Frequently

4. Fail Forward

The main thesis here is to be courageous, reflect, and take action. It is too easy to second guess our next move or action, and ultimately not make significant progress. We should plan and take tangible steps forward towards our goals and aspirations on a routine basis.

Anyhow, hopefully, this summary and reflection were beneficial to you. Talk soon. Thanks, Marie for the reminder to write the blog post.

The Power of Full Engagement

 Bismillah:

As I jumped on the computer this morning, my first instinct was to take care of tasks of some sort: I entered the URL address for our payroll site. Before logging in, I picked a book from my bookshelf and started reading The Power of  Full Engagement, written by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

Let's work towards growing in perspective and expertise a bit each day, iA.

The authors make the assertion that "Energy, Not Time, Is Our Most Precious Resource." I can definitely relate to this. I am definitely more productive and inspired when I'm focused and energetic. 

They outline 4 principles that will help individuals become fully engaged:

1. Full engagement requires drawing on four spearate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiratual
2. Because energy capacity diminishes both with overuse and with underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermitted energy renewal
3. To build capacity, we must push beyond our normal limits, training in the same systematic way that elite athletes do ("We build emotional, mental and spiritual capacity in precisely the same way that we build physical capacity")
4. Positive energy rituals-- highly specific routines for managing energy-- are the key to full engagement and sustained high performance

I will try to add some more notes from this book as I continue reading-

NR

Write something

 Bismillah.

I follow Seth Goodin and he recommends writing something every day. Writing is always listed on my calendar, but it seems that I never get around to it.

Anyhow, I hope today is the day I begin this habit and hopefully, we will get to some consistency as we move forward.

Perspective. Gratitude. I believe it is important to reflect on your blessings on a routine basis. This reflection brings comfort and sets the tone for each day. Believe in yourself and always strive to want the best for others.

Till next time- 

The Difference Maker- attitude- John Maxwell notes

 Bismillah.

I'm reading The Difference Maker by John Maxwell with one of my teammates. See below for notes from the book. I believe John Maxwell's reflection below is the best summary of the book-. Maxwell advises the importance of leveraging a positive attitude and explains how to deal with 5 Attitude obstacles in this book.   

"Attitude is important. It is so important that is truly is the difference maker. It isn't everything, but it on thing that can make a difference in your life."

How to make your attitude your greatest asset:

1. Take responsibility for your attitude
2. Evaluate your present attitude
3. Develop the desire to change
4. Change your attitude by changing your thoughts
5. Develop good habits
6. Manage your attitude daily

Dealing effectively with discouragement-->

1. Get the right perspective
2. See the right people
3. Say the right words
4. Have the right expectations
5. make the right decisions

  Get the right perspective (remember discouragement is temporary)

• take a good look  at the whole picture
• take a short look at the problem (focus on solutions)
• take a close look at yourself
• take a long look at successful people
• take wide look at the possibilities

Change

1. you must make a commitment to pay the price for change
2. change must happen within you before it can happen around you, and
3. its never too late to change

Problems:

Perspective on problems:

• problems are everywhere, and everyone has some
• our prespective on the problem, not problem itself, usually determines our success or failure
• there is a difference between problem spotting and problem solving
• the size of the person is more important than the size of the problem
• problems, responded to correctly, can actually advance us forward

Fear:

• Fear breeds more dear
• Fear causes inaction
• Fear weakens us
• Fear wastes energy
• Fear keeps us and other from reaching our potential

How to handle fear?

1. Admit your fears
2. Discover the source of your fears
3. Realize your fears can limit you
4. Accept normal fear as the price of progress
5. Convert fear into desire (Roger Babson, "If things go wrong, don't go with them")
6. Focus on things you can control
7. Give today your attention- not yesterday or tomorrow
8. Feed the right emotion and starve the wrong one

Failure: 

How to profit from failure?

1. Change your attitude
2. Change your vocabulary (failure isn't failure if you do better the next time)
3. Pay little attention to the odds
4. Let failure point you to success
5. Hold on to your sense of humor
6. Learn from your mistakes
7. Don't lose your perspective
8. Don't become too familiar with failure
9. Make failure a gauge for growth
10. Never give up

"Success each day should be judged by the seeds sown, not the harvest reaped." - John Maxwell

Making the most of our evenings

Bismillah.

I am a morning person and thus I tend to focus my energies on trying to make my morning productive. Over this past few weeks, I have noticed that my evenings haven't been that productive or fufilling. This morning, I started researching afternoon/evening habits that can I hope to incorporate in the upcoming days/weeks, iA.

As an aside, I am reading  The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod with one of my teammates. I will plan to share some of lessons learned from this book in the a few days.

Going back to making better use of afternoon/evenings, I didn't see any books that popped up easily with my initial Google searches. I did find some of articles and will share some those links below.
John Rampton from Entrepreuner.com wrote the following piece: 11 Afternoon and Evening Routines That Will Make You Much More Productive Tomorrow. 

His list of routines include the following:

1. Stop while you are ahead
2. Get up and Move
3. Take a micro nap
4. Save the easy stuff for last
5. End your workday on a high note
6. Chillax when you get home
7. Do one more thing that you love
8. Eliminate negativity and reflect
9. Prepare for tomorrow
10. What good did I do today?
11. Turn your bedroom into a cave

Thomas Oppong from medium.com wrote the following article:  8 Powerful Evening Habits That Will Prepare You For a Better Tomorrow. He included the following habits:

1. Get ready for tomorrow today
2. Create a shutdown ritual
3. Establish a restorative place to unwind
4. Make time to reflect
5. Focus on mastery experiences
6. Read something you enjoy
7. Cut out the blue light
8. And prioritize sleep

I  haven't really been as structured on my evening habits. I plan to try some of the aforementioned routines and see how that changes my evenings. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have figured out to make the most of your evenings and/or are working to making your evenings more productive.

Take advantage of 5

 Bismillah.

The Prophet (S) says, "Take advantage of five things before 5 others.. 

1. your youth before you become old; 
2. your health, before you fall sick; 
3. your wealth, before you become poor, 
4. your free time before you become preoccupied, 
5. and your life, before your death."

This is an excellent reminder to prioritize life's blessings before they are gone or diminished. 

John Maxell says in his book, Today Matters, "You will never change your life until you change something you do daily."

Lets always be proactive in the way we approach life and our daily challenges.

Have a wonderful and productive Friday- 

Fail or Succeed Quickly

 Bismillah.

Failing or (succeeding) quickly allows us to test hypothesis or potential solutions efficiently. I am a believer in executing on your vision or idea as quickly as possible so that you can either build on your idea and/or move on to your next contribution to the world. 

John Maxwell writes in his book, Failing Forward, "The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure."

John Maxwell also cites a Thomas Edison quote, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

I haven't read the full book, Failing Forward, but Maxwell's main thesis to redefine how we look at failure and treat it as a stepping stone towards success.

notes from today matters by John Maxwell

 Bismillah.

I'm reading Today Matters 12 Daily Practices to guarantee tomorrow's success by John Maxwell with one of my teammates.

I listed some quotes from chapter one that resonating with me. In terms of reflection, John Maxwell’s main point is to take full advantage of today, don’t stress about what happened yesterday, and don’t push off something worthwhile to start tomorrow. 

Hope some of the notes below inspire you to make the best use of today. I’ll try to add more reflection in future posts IA.

"Real, sustainable change doesn't happen in a moment. It's a process."

"Growth comes from making decisions and following though on them."

"The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda...Successful people make right decision early and mange those decisions daily."

 "One today is worth two tomorrows; what I am to be, I am now becoming." Benjamin Franklin

Today can become a masterpiece

The only adequate preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today.

Today's Priorities give me Focus

Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing." Michael LeBoef

Ralph Waldo Emerson advised, "Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life."

Priorities help us to choose wisely. Author Rober J. Mckain says, " The reason most goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first."

John Maxwell recommends asking yourself three questions when determining your priorities:

1. What is required of me?
2. What give the greatest return?
3. What gives me the greatest reward?

Today's Health Gives me strength

Successful people make the major decision in their life early and mange them daily.

Today's family gives me stability

Decide on your philosophy

1. Commitment to God
2. Continual growth
3. Common experiences
4. Confidence-- in God, Ourselves, and others
5. Contributions to Life

Today's thinking give me an Advantage

1. Big Picture Thinking
2. Focused Thinking
3. Creative Thinking
4. Realistic Thinking
5. Strategic Thinking
6. Possibility Thinking
7. Reflective Thinking
8. Questioning Popular Thinking
9. Shared Thinking
10. Unselfish Thinking
11. Bottom-Line Thinking

Today's Commitment Give me Tenacity:

Today's Finances Give Me Options

Today's Faith Give me Peace:

Self Evaluation 

1. Attitude: Choose and display the right attitude daily
2. Priorities: Determine and act on important priorities daily
3. Health: Know and follow health guidelines daily
4. Family: Communicate with and care for my family daily
5. Thinking: Practice and develop good thinking daily
6. Commitment; Make and keep properly commitments daily
7. Finances: Earn and properly manage finances daily
8. Faith: Deepen and live out my faith daily
9. Relationships: Initiate and invest in solid relationships daily
10. Generosity: Plan for and model generosity daily
11. Values: Embrace and practice good values daily
12. Growth: Desire and experience improvements daily. 

Some notes from 7 Habits from Highly Effective People- Stephen Covey

 Bismilah. 

I'm going to try and be consistent on this blog again. I listened to a talk from Seth Godin recently and he spoke of the benefits of writing/blogging every day.

I am currently reading a few books with my team members at Altenew. I will share some of the lessons/takeaways that are in my mind from two of the books today.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People- by Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey discusses the concept of P/PC balance. P stands for production of desired results and PC stands for production capability. He gives an example of a goose that lays golden eggs. Golden Egg in this example would be the P and the goose itself would be the PC. Covey makes the case to nurture both P and PC to be most effective. Focusing on just one of these concepts isn't optimal.

See below for Covey's own words:

Effectiveness lies in the balance. Excessive focus on P results in ruined health, worn-out machines, depleted bank accounts, and broken relationships. Too much focus on PC is like a person who runs three or fours hours a day, bragging about the extra ten years of life it creates, unaware he’s spending them running. Or a person endlessly going to school, never producing, living on other people’s golden eggs-- the eternal student syndrome

The P/PC concept instilled a stronger initiative in me to produce more results  (i.e. share my own golden eggs with the world). Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in reading and learning, and not spending enough time in executing and contributing to the world. I agree with Covey that there needs to be a balance between developing skills and achieving results. 

For those of you that are not aware of 7 Habits that Covey illustrates as fundamental are listed below:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Thing First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First to Understand Then to Be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader by John Maxwell 

Out of the 21 qualities of a leader highlighted by John Maxwell, the one on Vision probably made me reflect the most.  Maxwell discusses the importance of vision in guiding a leader and helping them provide a pathway for their team. 

On a personal note, I plan on outlining a vision statement for Altenew, my family and personally in the upcoming days. Let me know if you want to compare notes and if you want to hold each other accountable.

Hoping these thoughts sparked something in you to contribute a bit more today, inshAllah- NR

Build to Last continued- clock builder vs time teller

Bismillah

In chapter 2, Collins discuss the importance of being a clock builder vs time teller. A person who can tell time by just looking at the stars has a remarkable skill, but the person who can build a clock that can tell time forever even after he/she is gone is more remarkable. 

Similarly visionary companies had leaders and systems that worked on building lasting companies rather than focusing on increasing one's influence or ego within the company.

In own lives and within our companies, are we taking actions that focus on making the best company or the best possible family, or we taking steps that only benefit us personally? This is my biggest reflection from this chapter.

Build to Last Successful Habits of Visionary Companies Mini Review (by Jim Collins)

Salams all:

I am trying to get back to blogging, iA. The hope is that I can share some of the concepts and ideas that I am reading about in a more consistent manner.

So, I picked up a book I started a while back, Build to Last, by Jim Collins. Jim Collins and a team of researchers performed research of a visionary companies and distilled their findings in this book.
Visionary companies were selected through a CEO survey and typically outperformed the market by 15 X and outperformed comparison companies by 6x

In chapter 1, Collins defuses 12 misconceptions on the visionary company habits:

It takes a great idea to start a company
Visionary companies require great and charismatic visionary leaders
The most successful companies exist first and first foremost to maximize profits
Visionary companies share a common subset of "correct" core values
The only constant is change
Blue-chip companies play it safe
Visionary companies are great place to work, for everyone
Highly successful companies make their best moves by brilliant and complex strategic planning.
Companies should hire outside CEOs to stimulate fundamental change
The most successful companies focus primarily on beating the competition
You can't have your cake and eat it too
Companies become visionary primarily through "vision statements"


Two things that stuck with me from the 1st chapter were that visionary companies were committed to "Big Hairy Audacious Goals" (BHAG) and that they were primarily focused beating themselves (rather than competition).

Anyhow, hope I can be consistent with these posts. iA.

Restaurant Success by the Numbers- by Roger Fields, CPA- review of the first few chapters

Bismillah.

My plan is to post on this blog regularly, iA.

I was recently approached to invest in a restaurant at a local mall. I bought Roger Fields' Restaurant Success by the Numbers book on setting up restaurant as a reference tool to orient me to this industry.

I read the first five chapters and glanced through the remaining 10 chapters. I will share some of Fields' thoughts below:

Fields provide a decent framework based on his experiences and other case studies. I found the case studies most useful and made the material more engaging. His methodical discussion on developing the restuarant concept. identifying the target market, securing the appropriate location and making pro-forma statement based on reasonable assumptions was useful and pertinent to gain an insider's prepspecitve of launching a restaurant.

Fields splits the book into three sections:

• Dreaming for success (Chapters: The rules of the game, The restaurant concept, Your target market, Location, location, location, Dollars and sense) 
• Developing The Details (Chapters: Constructing the menu, Fashioning designs & ambiance, Setting the table, Raising the bar, Designing the kitchen, Staffing) 
• Getting Down to Business (Chapters: Getting the Money to Make it a Reality, Setting up Your business, Taking it to the street, Opening Day and beyond) 

Fields begins the book with the assertion that it is a myth that 90% restaurants fail by the first year; his assertion is that 26% fail in the first year ans that 59% fail within three years. Fields asserts the following reasons on why independent restaurants fail:

• unrealistically high rent and occupancy costs 
• undercapitalization and lack of working capital 
• lack of attention to details in managing financial resources 
• poor operational management 
• excessive investment in construction, equipment, renovation, and acquisition costs 
• poor choice of location 
• poor choice of concept 
• poor or inconsistent food and service 

Fields lists a few basic rules to consider for an aspiring restuarant owner/investor:

• Keep your foot firmly planted in realities of business and the other in your passion for your restaurant
• Consider starting small event you've had previous experience as a chef or a manager 
• Set initial realistic goals and objectives 
• Recognize from the get-go that the amount of financial resource you have access to will limit the type and size of restaurant you can realistically open 
• Make a commitment to find and surround your self with the right people to help you get the job done

In regards to my thoughts on making the investment into a restaurant, I offer the following recommendations to the operator that reached out to me:

• Consider finding a co-founder who is familiar with local laws and jurisdiction
• Since, the restaurant concept is Mediterranean and target market is individuals who seek out halal meat options, consider approaching existing halal meat stores and figure out if there is opportunity to collaborate in their existing location
• Draft a well-thought out forecast and projections

Review for Jeffrey Gitomer's The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness

Bismillah.

I recently listened to Jeffrey Gitomer's The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness and wanted to share some high level notes.
http://www.audible.com/pd/Business/The-Little-Red-Book-of-Selling-Audiobook/B002V9Z58A

Good ideas/perspectives are most useful when we act upon them.  So, how do you act upon these ideas? I suggest you focus on a couple of principles a week and try implementing a new strategy or action from these principles in a routine basis. Internalizing concepts/ideas occurs with focus and persistence.

Much thanks to Mr. Gotimer for sharing his experiences/perspective in a user-friendly manner.

I listed Mr. Gitomer's 12. 5 principles for sales greatness below:

1. Kick your own ass
2. Prepare to win, or lose to someone who is
3. Personal branding is Sales: It's not who you know, its who knows you
4. Its all about value, its all about relationship, its not all about price
5. It's not work, its NETwork.
6. If you can't get in front of the real decision maker, you suck.
7. Engage me and you can make me convince myself.
8. If you can make them laugh, you can make them buy!
9. Use CREATIVITY to differentiate and dominate.
10. Reduce their risk and you' convert selling to buying.
11. When you say it about yourself its' bragging. When someone else says it about you its proof.
12. Antennas up
13. Resign your position as general manager of the universe. 

I wish you fulfilling success.
 Nabil

Why customers buy (per The Little Red Book of Selling)

1. I like my sales rep
2. I understand what I am buying
3. I perceive a difference in the person and the company that I am buying from
4. I perceive a value in the product that I am purchasing
5. I believe my sales rep
6. I have confidence in my sales rep
7. I trust my sales rep
8. I am comfortable with my sales rep
9. I feel that there is a fit of my needs and his/her product or service
10. The price seems fair, but its not necessarily the lowest
11. I perceive that this product or services will increase my productivity
12. I perceive that this product or services will increase my profit
13. I perceive that my salesperson is trying to help me build my business in order to earn his. My salesperson is a valuable resource to me. 

18.5 secrets of success (per The Little Red Book of Selling)

1. believe you can
2. create the environment
3. have the right associations
4. expose yourself to what's new
5. plan for the day
6. become valuable
7. have the answers your prospects and customers need
8. recognize opportunity
9. take advantage of opportunity
10. take responsibility
11. take action
12. make mistakes
13. willing to risk
14. keep your eyes on the prize
15. balance yourself
16. invest, don't spend
17. stick at it until you win
18. develop and maintain a positive attitude
19. ignore idiots and zealots

Strong Believer is better; Be Determined, Make Dua, and Work Hard

Bismillah.

I listened to Shaykh Yasir Qadih's khutbah on the following hadith:
Abu Hurayah reported that the Prophet (S) said, "A strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, and there is good in both. Be eager to obtain that which benefits you, ask Allah's help, and don't be lazy. And if something happens to you (result was different that your plan/expected), then don't say, "If only I have done this, then such-and-such would have happened, but rather, say, Whatever Allah has willed has occurred, and whaterer He wants to He will do."

This hadith has many benefits and I will summarize Shaykh Yasir's points below.

Some commentary from the khutbah:

Strong believer (one who has stronger iman) is better than a weak believer (weaker believer). How do you know if you have strong iman? Look at your commitments to the deen, how often do you pray, how often do you stay away from evil.

People' faith differs, based on their inner and outward deeds. Allah loves the stronger believer. How does one know if ones' iman is strong? All you need to look at inner/outer deeds. Look at your commitment to islam and you will know how strong your iman is? How often do you pray? How often do you think about Allah?

Allah's loves also differs, based on our commitments. if you want Allah loves you, have strong iman.
How do you know if Allah loves us? In the Quran, Allah says he  loves those who have taqwah, ones who have patience. Allah doesn't love who are extravagant, oppressors
.
How do you become  a better mumim? Look at Allah what loves and follow them ,and avoid actions that Allah doesn't love.

Going to the next phrase in the hadith, "and in both is good." Both categories of believers have good in them. This illustrates the mercy of the prophet (S), that even when he is contrast two groups of believers, he points out a positive so that weak believer don't feel negative emotions. Prophet (S) gives us a methodology, that even in criticism, one should highlight the positive.

The next part of the hadith, "Be eager that which benefits you,"  serves as the basis of our actions. You need to have a resolve, determination, drive. Prophet (S) wants us to aim high for all matters of benefit, both in deen and in the dunya.  It could be a successful business, medical school, or other aspirations. Wise person/true believer is always aiming for the best, wants that which is good.

Once you have made up your mind on your goal, "And Seek Allah's help,"

Before undertaking anything, make dua, asking for Allah swt's guidance.  We need the realization that we need Allah's help for everything. We need to have the right frame of mind. Attitude of the believer is that you need Allah's help/decree And, then the hadith says, "don't be lazy", there is no substitute for hard work.

So, three necessary conditions for success
1. Right intention
2. Dua
3. Right action

 And if something happens to you (result was different that your plan/expected), then don't say, "If only I have done this, then such-and-such would have happened, but rather, say, "Whatever Allah has willed has occurred, and whatever He wants to He will do."

Ultimate success is not necessarily guarenteed. You can do everything right, but it might not be decreed. Don't blame yourself, don't be depressed. This hadith contains profound Islamic psychological advise.  Belief in Qadr fundamental part of faith. Accept Allah's decree and trust it.  A believer is always optimistic. True believer can never be depressed over results as long as the three conditions for success are being followed.

Don't dwell on the past. This hadith teaches us to have a positive attitude, rely on Allah, and to be happy with the result.

Review of Marketing Myopia (by Theodore Levitt)--> Leveraging these lessons in a job interview

Bismillah

I just read a classic HBR article, Marketing Myopia, written by the Theodore Levitt (HBS professor). Professor Levitt discusses the importance of defining industries broadly and focusing on customers' needs and desires (i.e. defining railroad industry as transportation oriented instead of railroad oriented).

Professor Levitt encourages a focused approach on customer satisfaction and urges businesses to work backwards in terms of developing a product.  The following excerpt from his paper illustrates his point:

"The view that an industry is a customer-satisfying process, not a goods-producing process is vital for all businessmen to understand. An industry begin with the customer and his needs, not with a patent, a raw material, or a selling skill. Given the customer's needs, the industry develops backwards, first concerning itself with the physical delivery of customer satisfactions. Then moves back further to creating the things by which these satisfactions are in part achieved. How these material are created is a matter of indifference to the customer, hence the particular form of manufacturing, processing, or ... cannot be considered as a vital aspect of the industry. Finally, the industry moves back still further to finding the raw materials necessary for making its products."

This mind-set can be applied to other parts of business/professional life. For instance, if you are applying for a job, consider your potential employer as your customer, and try to determine his/his needs and think through how to present your skills to meet the employer's needs. Emphasize how your past skills are translatable and applicable to current job's needs. And, finally, if you need to gain more skills/learn code/go to school, then develop yourself with the appropriate training and then present your product (i.e. yourself) to your potential employer.

You can find the full article via the following link or buy it from HBR:
http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/managementstudies/Courses/bus2010s/2007/Nicole%20Frey/Readings/Journal%20Articles/Classics/Marketing%20Myopia.pdf

Can Electronic Medical Record Systems Transform Health Care? Potential Health Benefits, Savings, And Costs? Health Affairs Article

Bismillah
I recently read through a study performed by RAND researchers that examined the benefit/cost analysis of EMR adoption/interoperability, "Can Electronic Medical Record Systems Transform Health Care? Potential Health Benefits, Savings, and Costs?"

The study predicts efficiency and safety savings of $142-371 billion dollars (didn't see a time frame) with the adoption of interoperable EMR systems.

The study speaks to efficiency savings, safety and health benefits. I listed some high level detail below. For more details to the headers below and study design, feel free to review the full article:
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/5/1103.full.pdf+html
 

1.      Efficiency savings in outpatient setting included eliminating transcription and chart pull services, easier access to lab/radiology tests, better decision support for drug prescription, etc.

2.      Efficiency savings in the inpatient setting included decreased nursing times/length-of stay, simpler access to medical records, easier access to lab/radiology tests, etc.

3.      Safety benefits from HIT including reducing adverse drug events in inpatient and ambulatory settings

4.      Using HIT for short-term term preventive care

5.      Using HIT for near-term chronic disease management

6.      Using HIT for long-term chronic disease prevention and management

Reviewing Islamic Finance

Bismillah.

I recently enrolled in Ethica's Certified Islamic Finance Executive course (http://www.ethicainstitute.com) and am learning about basic Islamic Finance principles and products.

For instance, Islamic Finance is built on 4 principles:

1. interest free
2. risk sharing, asset and service backing
3. contractual certainty
4. ethical

I will share some of the notes from the class through upcoming blogs, iA.

Be safe and I hope you are taking advantage of these blessed days of Ramadan.

Giving positvity presentation to a youth group

Bismillah.

I spoke to a group of youth ~ 20 boys and girls (8-16 years old) about positivity and how it relates to the deen.

For anyone who is interested in giving a talk to group of youth on importance of positivity in our deen, feel free to use the agenda below, PowerPoint presentation (click link) and listen to the lectures listed on reference page of ppt.  (Many thanks to wife, Tasnim Ahmed for making the presentation) 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B940HNLUs8bEMWZBZnI1dC1lTnM/edit?usp=sharing

 Agenda:

1.     Establish Ground Rules (e.g. raising hand meant everyone should be quiet)

2.     Ask everyone to itroduce themselves (say your name and say anything positive)

3.     Review Positivity PowerPoint presentation and asked for participation after each slide

4.     Begin Group Activity (split into groups of 2-3 and chose one hadith or Quranic ayat from the presentation to discuss and come up with a life scenario where that the Quranic ayat/hadith could be applied (kept the summary page up on the  projector during session as a reference))

5.     Present findings (each group presents their story/scenario to the larger group)

6.     Recap lessons learned 

Lessons learned about content:

1.     Reminders on maintaining a positive outlook on life is beneficial and is part of the Islamic tradition.

2.     Focusing on other's positive traits helps individuals and communities grow

3.     In terms of criticism, focus on ones' own shortcomings, rather than pointing out other's faults

Lessons learned from presentation delivery

1.     Planning agenda is key to keeping event on target in terms of time/message

2.     Thanking all the kids and community members who attended the event is important (I forgot to do this). The kids could have been  somewhere else, but came and spend their Fridays nights in a community setting

3.     Establishing ground rules in the beginning of the event helped maintain order (i.e. raising hand meant everyone should be quiet)

4.     Setting up competitions/prize for case study analysis helped focus the attendees (competition/prize should have been announced in the beg of the event)

5.     Presenter should be prepared to be interrupted and be patient (teenagers and young kids are rowdy)