Book of the Week: "The 4-Hour Workweek" PART II

It's been two weeks since I published a "Book of the Week," but really I'm still plugging my way through "The 4-Hour Work Week." Let's dive right in to Part II.

I made it 129 pages before I came across something that connected with one of my previous books ("What They Don't Teach You In Harvard Business School") and something I heard high-ranking college administrator last spring.

On page 130, Tim Ferriss brings up a very important point: eliminate before you delegate and NEVER delegate something that can be automated.

I'll tackle the first part of this statement. Sitting in a meeting with fellow athletic communications professionals, this long-time and high-ranking college administrator and former Division I coach said something that I will never forget. He said "I never do a job that someone else can do."

That is an extremely eye-opening quote, but it is very true. Start removing things such as registering for conferences and booking flights from your to-do list. Either give that to a secretary or give it to a virtual assistant. It will free you up to do the bigger and more important parts of your job.

Now the second part of Tim's quote, I never heard before but definitely brings up another interesting point. Figuring out the things that can be automated and automate them. Do NOT delegate them. If you delegate something that can and should be automated, you're now wasting the other person's time and also your money. It's a lose-lose situation.

I'm going to fast-forward a little in the book (ok a 80 pages) where Tim talks about customer service. Customer service is NOT catering to every whim of the consumer. That would be like a GM of a professional sports franchise listening to the fans about who they should sign and how the head coach or manager writes out the starters. The quote from long-time NFL coach, Buddy Ryan, holds truth, "if you find yourself listening to the fans, one day you'll be sitting with them."

We wouldn't want to run a sports teams franchise this way, so why are we letting customers dictate how we do business? Customer service is actually about providing an excellent product and solving legitimate problems in a quick and timely manner. It's not bending over backwards to give the customer everything he/she wants. More "bells and whistles" leads to indecision and indecision is chaos for everyone. The customer gets overwhelmed and you suffer because he/she will end up walking away from your product - even if it is the BEST product in the world.

Look at higher education. Institutions want to entice students with the best and top-tier things (i.e. state-of-the-art athletic facilities, top-tier dorms and buildings). They keep wanting more and more, hoping it will attract people to their school. But in reality giving people more is making them indecisive. It's been statistically proven in this book that the less options are person has, the more confident they feel in the decision he/she makes.