Like a lot of people, I've been troubled by the recent sale of Anheuser Busch. One report suggested the sale of the company was necessary because the beer giant was "finding it difficult to fuel growth". For God's sake, they sell like half the beer in America! How big is big enough?

At the other end of the spectrum, blogger and Austin resident, John Moore, tells the story of Snow's bar-b-que. Please read it – it's a wonderful counterpoint to the bigger is always better mentality that seems to permeate world business.

The question for many of us truly is: How big is big enough? Many times bigger isn't necessarily better or more efficient or certainly not more fun. So is bigger really necessary? It's worth thinking about.

Herb Kelleher once commented that he had successfully predicted 12 out of the last 4 recessions.

If you spend much time with any kind of media these days, you're bound to bump into some bad news. And predictions of even worse yet to come. Some of news MAY be accurate and some of the predictions MAY be true. So what do you do if times are tough? Here's one idea:

Give your stuff away.

If the pundits are right, businesses and consumers may be somewhat more cautious in their purchasing. But, assuming what you sell has value to your prospective customers, they still want it or need it. So give it to them. Maybe it's a six-months free offer. Maybe it's a free trial. Maybe it's a no-risk guarantee. Maybe it's delayed billing.

If times are tough – that is, if the reality of your marketplace has changed, it probably means you need to do something different. If a prospect has been buying from your competitor, but he can try you for free, he just might do it. And then, you have a new customer.

A few days ago I got a letter from the truly brilliant folks who manage our company's 401K plan. The message I usually get from these letters is, "Don't panic – we're managing your money for the long haul and everything is going to be OK." But THIS letter was a little different. Although the letter didn't exactly say this, following is my interpretation of the message:

"We're concerned, this could suck, maybe for quite a while."

My plan? Let our money managers figure it out and get my butt back to work. There's a good deal of fear permeating most aspects of business life right now. It's the leader's job to acknowledge the tough realities and explain how the company is going to respond and prevail. If people believe in the leader's plan, the fear diminishes and operations stabilize. If there is no plan, or if people don't know the plan, or if people don't believe in the plan – then there's big trouble looming.

I thumbed through Maggie Jackson's new book, Distracted, recently. It has some staggering information about the cost of interruptions and distractions in our lives. Costs to our productivity, of course, but also to our happiness and peace of mind. Worth thinking about.

Shortly after I was re-reading Getting Real from the 37 Signals guys. They suggested this:

"Set up a rule at work: Make half the day alone time ... A successful alone time period means letting go of communication addiction. During alone time, give up instant messenging, phone calls, and meetings. Avoid any email thread that's going to require an immediate response. Just shut up and get to work."

I suspect that's good advice.

I just came across a blog post by Lauren Keller Johnson on the Harvard Management Update. The post asked the question:

"If you’re the manager of a new manager, what can you do to help her stride confidently into her new role?"

The answers (by Linda A. Hill, the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School) turn out to be:

1. Balancing multiple demands from multiple constituencies

2. Influencing and persuading others

3. Delegating wisely

I'm thinking about it a little differently. Here's the foundation principle: Managers don't get paid for what they do, they get paid for what their people do.

So new managers need to understand and focus on what each of their people are supposed to be producing/delivering and help each of those people do that work better, faster, cheaper.

What really matters is how well a manager helps turn a person's potential into performance.

On January 8th I wrote:

"I've determined that not everything I do in my business day is really worth doing. So first, I'm going to stop doing those things that don't have some significant impact on the success of our company. Second, I'm committing to ferocious focus – lasering total attention on the task at hand, NOT getting distracted by email, texts, phone calls, interruptions from other people, and my random racing thoughts."

I've just returned from 10 days in the Rocky Mountains. I spent a couple of hours of each day reflecting on the first six months of the year. The truth is I did pretty well with regard to ferocious focus. For a while. And then little by little, bad habits and lazy practices slipped back in. So here we are about half way through the year and I need to recommit. I guess that's why they have church every Sunday.