Analyze, Act, Advance. Quick impact list.

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In my opinion, the nicest genuine Catalan tradition is Saint George day, on April 23th, when women receive a rose from men who appreciate her, could be from her father, husband, son, boyfriend, colleague, or from all of them, and men receive a book from the woman. The street is full of roses and books, and everybody is enjoying the day. It’s a must-see.

To celebrate Saint George, I am encouraging you to read my book Analyze, Act, Advance, reflections and cutting-edge strategies to build in your life, your family, your organization, and your community a virtuous cycle of hope, innovation, renewal, and continuous improvement.

I have summarized the most important ideas or concepts that are covered in the book in the form of mottos. I guess American publicists call this technique bullets. I copied this idea from the quick impact list in the book, The Trusted Advisor, by David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. 

 The book is structured in four parts:

1. The challenge.
2. Obstacles and barriers to be overcome.
3. Strategies and available tools.
4. The life cycle. The attitude of constant improvement and renewal.

The first part deals with my vision of the grassroots problem that we are facing and the ecosystem it belongs to, whereas it also presents the most significant aspects and features.

The second part lists and discusses the specific difficulties we encounter every day and that hinder our progress. The barriers described are common to any project, be it of a personal or business nature, and increase the more innovative the latter is. The biggest challenge is to change one's own culture or our approach to life, be it that of an organization or of a community.

The third section presents strategies and available tools to advance and successfully carry out life, business, or innovation projects. All projects must contribute to building a better future for all. Tools are divided into three groups: philosophical, organizational, and technological ones.

Finally, the concluding section summarizes the book's message and encourages everyone to reach their own through reflection.

1. The challenge

• To solve a problem you must first acknowledge and accept it.
• The real crisis is the crisis of values.
• Malthus and his disciples—who are quite numerous—are wrong, because they deny innovation. They predict disasters regardless of the improvements and discoveries we are continuously making.
• Reality is multifaceted.

 2. Obstacles and barriers

• The worst laziness is the mental one.
• We may encounter: builders, destroyers, and vegetating people.
• Be careful, there is always someone who scores his own goals.
• Envy is highly destructive. Envious people seek lose-lose agreements.
• Doing nothing is almost never a good solution.
• True wellbeing is being satisfied with yourself, not having it all sorted.
• We are not freer if we do not commit ourselves. We do not progress without committing ourselves.
• Make a phone call. Or, rather, make a video call.
• Emails are dangerous, you never know where they end.
• Prioritize one-by-one contacts.

 3. Tools

• We have many very good tools to face problems.
• We have never had so much great technology.
• We know ourselves and other human beings increasingly better.
• Attitude is a personal choice and cannot be bought. Instead, skills can be acquired or hired.
• What are we excited about each morning?
• Let us be influential, do not remain silent.
• Do not take decisions, make them.
• Let us keep the division of powers; at least three legs are needed to support a structure.
• It is okay to ask what we do not know.
• We need people working on important but not urgent things: in the analysis and strategy department.
• Innovations and changes have to be sold, and this is difficult.
• Good agreements are win-win ones.
• Good contracts are those which are left rotting in drawers.
• Learning organization: a culture of continuous learning.
• Beware of meetings. Prepare them thoroughly.
• The key to the success of projects is found in the analysis and design stage.
• Keep it simple.
• You have to carry out load tests and a whole array of tests before implementing a new system.
• Celebrate successes, share them.
• A leader is best when people barely know that he exists.
• A good leader gets his team to adopt the right attitude and collaborate with discipline.
• The world is imperfect, and there are unforeseen events and misfortunes.
• When a crisis strikes: react and cool down.
• Communication networks are the nervous system of the organization; if they do not work well, the latter will suffer from Parkinson's disease.

 4. Conclusions

• Less competition and more cooperation.
• Let us build smart communities that adapt their rules of the game depending on the outcome.
• If You cannot stop, at most rest awhile to sharpen the saw.
• It is better to move at a regular pace than stumbling; in the way Indurain did rather than Perico Delgado.
• Balances that cannot be broken:

Freedom/responsibility.

Rights/obligations.

Supervision/autonomy.

• Rewarding those who take on risks/social awareness.
• We take over from the generation preceding us and deliver it to that following us.

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 You can download for FREE the book at AppleStore or GooglePlay or acquire the book at Amazon

About the Author: Agustin Argelich 

Director and founder of Argelich Networks, an independent and international consultancy boutique of ICT, management and digital business. 

He is a Telecommunications Engineer from the La Salle Bonanova Engineering School in Barcelona and an expert in enterprise communications. He has designed and developed innovative ICT projects and boasts extensive experience in negotiating large contracts with telecom operators and in cost optimization.

He was one of the youngest project managers of the committee organizing the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 when he was the Technological Director for the 9th Paralympic Games. He also worked as a Telecommunications Manager at the Ascó nuclear power plant.

He is a proud member of the Society of Communications Technology Consultants International, the world's largest association of independent telecommunications consultants. He served on the board for 8 years.

He regularly attends national and international conferences as a speaker and teaches seminars on leadership, change, motivation, and negotiation related to information technologies, the knowledge society, and the networked world. He is a professor of Leadership at Lleida University.

Agustin can be reached at [email protected] and to read his blog, visit his personal website: https://www.agustinargelich.com/en/