Source: Wealth Creator Magazine Nov/Dec 2006

enewsletter signup:
Why subscribe?View archive

Executives Without Borders

Source: Wealth Creator Magazine Nov/Dec 2006

Executives Without Borders

If you’ve woken up in a strange hotel room and you’re not sure where you are, chances are it’s not due to the ingestion of foreign substances, but rather that you are part of a growing trend of Executives without Borders (EwBs), aka road warriors or corporate soldiers.

Best friends

One of the EwB’s best friends is technology; especially mobile phones, laptop computers, modems, and Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The most important weapon, and the ultimate road warrior status symbol, is the PDA with the holy mantra being smaller and faster.

This all in one Swiss-army-knife-like device allows you to have all your contacts and appointments at hand, a phone, a dictaphone, a camera, a video recorder, an MP3 player and a cable speed wireless modem (that also connects to the laptop) which allows me to receive and send emails and surf the web wherever you are. It allows you to fool yourself into being ‘in control’.

The next vital piece of technology is your laptop. There have been huge strides made with most computer brands offering lighter models. Many of these hovering around the 1kg mark and below.

As well as considering your specific computing needs, ensure the laptop you take on the road is wi-fi enabled which will allow you to go to McDonald’s, Starbucks, many hotels and airports and surf the net wirelessly – this has security issues that you’ll need to take care of, but as always there are solutions out there.

Time savers

The first rule of booking interstate and overseas appointments is that each trip has to defy the theory of time. Meetings must be held back-to-back and in as many places as possible. To be able to squeeze all this into your day, you’ll need to choose your flights carefully. You can do this online with any of the airlines or through third party consolidators like www.webjet.com.au , www.flightcentre.com.au , www.lastminute.com.au, www.zuji.com and many others. Likewise there are many sites on which you can book accommodation in addition to the hotels’ own sites. These include www.lastminute.com.au, www.wotif.com.au, www.needitnow.com.au.

Once you have chosen your airline, choosing your seat is next. Vigin Blue allows you to choose your seat online up to 24 hours before your flight, as will Qantas in the near future, and both offer touch screens at the airports. If you’re not sure what the best seat is go to www.seatguru.com or www.seatexpert.com for insights in to the best seats on any plane.

Family and friends

It is also important to maintain contact with family and friends. I use webcams and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) to make keeping in contact easy and cheap. The tyranny of distance is softened by the good use of good technology.

Those who travel frequently will tell you it’s not the picnic that it’s made out to be, those exotic ports of call are no more than another hotel room passing by in blur; but the challenge for many of us in building our businesses is to see through the traditional fixed business walls and begin to think and act globally.

Written by Morris Miselowski