Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers!

We hope you have a fabulous time over the holidays and take the chance to truly rest and unwind with friends and family. We look forward to seeing you all in 2024!

Festive fun and feasting the whole night through!

Thank you to the York & Albany at Regent’s Park for the delicious food and their diligent hosts, and to everyone for a Secret Santa gift exchange to remember.

Thanks also to Faye for running a very challenging quiz that came down to a nail-biting finale! There was quite the variety of questions… Do you know how the speed of a computer mouse is measured, or where Microsoft got its name? If not, you might know - how much Guinness is lost to facial hair every year? Let us know your best guess!

We asked Saul Rans of The Strategy Builders...

...which business book do you repeatedly reference for good advice?

"Peter Drucker is looked on as the father of modern management theory and practice. Many of the reasons why are on display in this classic book. It’s packed full of sharp insights and no-nonsense advice for executives about how to maximise their impact.

The book’s core thesis is that an executive’s job is to be effective and effectiveness is a skill that can be learned. Drucker organises his book around five topics he considers are central to this argument.

These are the management of time not tasks, focusing on the contribution you make not the effort you put in, making strengths productive rather than compensating for weaknesses, discipline in setting priorities and effective decision-making.

Drucker’s principles are timeless and it’s remarkable how contemporary much of the book feels. For example, the author is deeply concerned with how best to harness the value-creating skills of knowledge workers – a challenge corporations are still striving to crack decades later."?

Very many thanks to Saul for his wonderful contribution to our newsletter - you can read Saul's full review of The Effective Executive here.

Saul Rans is a small business advisor at boutique advisory firm The Strategy Builders . He helps startups and small businesses to unlock their full potential by offering clear, practical advice on business & marketing strategy and effective financial management. Before becoming an advisor, Saul worked in the City as a smaller companies research analyst. He is also a Chartered Accountant.

Ring in the new, donate the old

Are you looking to upgrade your business machines in the new year? Or did you upgrade at the start of 2023 and still have old machines sitting in storage gathering dust? Or maybe you want to get rid of your old machines but the cost of secure disposal is making you wince. Well, there’s a free, secure and charitable resolution to all your disposal problems.

The Air Ambulance Service, amongst other charities,?is looking for IT equipment?– new or old, working or in need of repair. They collect your unwanted IT and prepare it to be resold, with the profits going to charity.

We're supporting Coram Beanstalk

This Christmas we are continuing to support Coram Beanstalk, a local charity very close to our hearts.

1 in 4 primary school children will move on to secondary school unable to read at the expected level, something which will continue to worsen throughout their teenage years. The knock-on effects of poor literacy can be devastating. In line with The Final Step's primary mission, we want to help children achieve their full potential and set them up for success.

One last ConnectWise Advisory Council

For the 8th and final year, our Founder Raja Pagadala attended the ConnectWise Advisory Council meeting in Orlando, Florida. Remarking on his final trip, Raja said:

“December sees the end of my eight year stint on the Advisory Council at ConnectWise and I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you. People who are ready and willing to learn have always made an impression on me and it wasn't a surprise that ConnectWise, keen learners and innovators, should setup an Advisory Council. I was flattered and a bit daunted to be asked but it was too good an opportunity to miss.

I hope I have made some difference for ConnectWise, as that was the focus. But participants also gain by taking part and it has certainly made a difference to me. Any business owner weighs additional commitments carefully, but the personal and professional development has been considerable. Many thanks to ConnectWise and all those people who have listened, debated, instructed, guided, questioned and experimented, many of whom have become friends.”

Thank you for your readership in 2023

We trust all of your Christmas festivities are well underway, and we hope you enjoyed your 2023 as much as we did at The Final Step. Thank you to all of our clients, suppliers and partner organisations for making it a year to remember.

We hope you take the opportunity to unwind this holiday period, but if you do need our support, we recently sent out our Christmas working hours to all IT contacts.

For now, there's nothing more to do than wish you happy holidays,?and leave you with our yearly dad joke...

Best wishes from us all at The Final Step.