lox.Journal

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Update [Wednesday 30th September 2009] Since it has been quite a long time since I have not been writing anything I thought about giving a brief update of what is happening in this part of the globe. Workwise things are not all that great, the company I work for is undergoing a very tough period and there are serious concerns that we'll be able to make it through 2010. As if this is not good enough, I have grounded myself for a little, meaning that I do not need to travel until November. Normally this would be a good thing because I have more time for myself, but all my schemes of using these few months to enhance my private life in Florence have fallen, mostly because it seems that all the things that I want to do (sport, cuban percussions, etc etc) are going to start in October. I am going through a very "calm" period in a way, that sort of calmness that you KNOW is just the prelude to a good old storm. Role playing games are going on well, as much as my Iphone apps search, I really like this piece of equipment, and I am sure that I will like it better when the data plan that allegedly my company has made for me is going to be activated. During the weekend I will make visit to a place that is very familiar to me, Alghero in Sardinia. I have spent at least 20 summer holidays there during my life, because my grandmother and relatives are living there (and incidentally is one of the most famous holiday resort places in Italy). It's going to be a very strong trip down memory lane, I wonder if it's going to be a nice one or not to be fair... Those days were really something special, no worries, no school, just plain fun and holidays. Now things are a bit different, with age comes responsibility, stress, worries, sadness. It's part of growing of course, and sometimes I wonder if that kid that did not have an Iphone, had a better life than the grown up kid that has one... Probably the comaprison is plain unfair, because at that time we didn't need much to spend a month in a total bliss... We'll see what happens there! [No comments] Running free [Monday 21st September 2009] Today I finally got around calculating the distance that I usually run when I find the time to do it, and I was quite impressed to see that, with no training whatsoever, I do 3.5Km in 20 minutes (maybe a bit less than that), on a very hilly and slopey circuit around my house. Here at work one of my colleagues is preparing an half-marathon, while another one is running the full thing under 4 hours. Running wouldn't be all that bad I guess, but it's terribly boring to me. I mean no disrespect, recently with my Ipod shuffle I can at least listen to the music, but the whole exercise is quite dull and that's probably why I need to be involved in some kind of competition with a ball to have fun. I am actually quite disappointed of myself for this reason, because running is something that I always liked to do, but done just by itself it seems not enough to keep my mind busy. Oh well, that's it really, hopefully this week I might start playing some more entertaining sport again, let's see how the knee reacts to it of course... [No comments] Tales from a lost PDA - Meeting with the CEO [Monday 20th July 2009] I have just come out one of those "events" and I found fit to translate this bit written by our hero, Mr.X, where he's now telling us about the meetings with big shot directors and the sale force. A truly stressing experience by the looks of it. --- Monday morning, 8.54 AM, computer booting up and "electric coffee" (that's how I call that beverage that comes out of the vending machines here at the head office) already starting to spread like a poison through the digestive system. Barely awaken, computer churning away trying to run a virus check routine together with the disk de-frag (for the people that do not understand, this is why it takes 20 minutes for a PC to turn on, thanks to the poor IT services), email springs up and.. "Meeting, CEO Room, Thursday 15.00 PM - Bigcompany SWOT Analysis, Sales Policies SWOT Analysis" - Confirm, Reject, Reply - Everyone for a moment has the idea of "Fucking REJECT" this thing, just to see what happens, a revolutionary escape from the boring routine, but eventually the mouse moves slowly and unmistakeably towards "Confirm". As a sort of insult added to the injury the computer now asks if you want to say "something" in comment to the meeting... Again the hand moves towards "Send"... You have just won a trip to the Time Wasters Hell, with no return ticket. SWOT Analysis is an acronym for "Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats" and it's a quite basic form of check that is employed in many fields. In this case the idea is to have something concise, direct and quick for future reference. As you approach this task the feeling is always the same ".oh finally they want to hear MY opinion!" but then after some years of work the realistic part of the meeting strikes in ".oh shit, we are going to waste 4 hours discussing about nothing, bickering all time, and this is all because the Commercial Director doesn't have the balls to stand up to the board!". Yes, you read correctly, since many directors do not have the courage to tell the proprietors or the CEO the truth about something, they need to send the front line forward, although the problem is that instead of having a discussion one to one, you have a discussion ten to one, where the ten do not hold back and start going through every little detail of the things that are not working "FOR MY MARKETS". Well, yes, you read correctly, the magic word "for my areas/markets" is the safety box for any Area Manager as usually the expertise that a salesman has on the area and clients is by far superior to the one that directors and big cheese CEOs think they have. And no matter what you say they are never going to contradict you because the reply is the old time favourite "... well you could go there yourself to experience directly...". Anyway, going back to my terrible Monday, mind quickly races to the last time that a meeting was held, people screaming their opinions on the top of each other in order to get the spotlight, CEO and directors denying all the problems and replying with Macro-data, few people try to mediate the positions to no avail, in the end the meetings end up with a distinct feeling that nothing was achieved. This is more or less the way I am preparing my SWOT analysis, as usual I have listed all the things that I do not like, that do not work and that most certainly would cost me the job if spoken in such occasions. How would you think our board would react to a "Innovation process impaired as left to the same old people", "Sales Division limits not clear, predator attitude from divisional directors to steal clients from other sale staff" and the one I like best "Lack of an homogeneous commercial strategy". So in the end, I am getting ready for the usual run-of-the-mill address from the CEO and the even more usual we-always-say-the-same-shite part from our sales team In the end the real problem is that the over-complications that modern times have imposed on companies is at the heart of this inefficiency. Some people work to explain their role in a certain organization, and to do so they must create problems so that they explain their role in a certain firm. In this case the sales director doesn't know what to say, actually doesn't NEED to be there, and must put on a show, so that people are convinced that he's doing something... Oh well, my excel page and stats are ready, I guess that we'll add some points from the other sales staff just to look as if we are a real team, and then we'll get ready for the show! -- Check out the older Chapters in the Tales from a Lost PDA series: I - The Lesser Damage II - Good Times III - We Need to be a Team IV - Sledgehammer V - Tonight? VI - Bokki VII - Sales on the Move [No comments]

Lox, Lorenzo... ME!! A little introduction about the author and the blog itself. Plus contacts and CVs... You never know! Pictures A Selection of the best pictures that I have taken all over the world during the years, all nicely indexed by year and geographical area. Jolly good! History of this Blog A collection of all the articles that I have wrote so far, divided by month/year. I have had the bad idea of writing my e-mail address on the board before, so this time I'll try to prevent some spam to get to me by putting this little image.. Let's hope it does the trick! [--------------------] A reminder to Myself Left and right Like day and night That's what makes the world go round In and out Thin and stout That's what makes the world go round For every up there is a down For every square there is a round For every high there is a low For every to there is a fro To and fro Stop and go That's what makes the world go round You must set your sights upon the heights Don't be a mediocrity Don't just wait and trust to fate And say, that's how it's meant to be It's up to you how far you go If you don't try you'll never know And so my lad as I've explained Nothing ventured, nothing gained You see my boy it's nature's way Upon the weak the strong ones prey The human life it's also true The strong will try to conquer you That is what you must expect Unless you use your intellect Brains and brawn, weak and strong That's what makes the world go round [------------------------------]