Big Red Car here. So The Boss is in Steamboat skiing but he does a lot of work every day. He thinks of it as “working remotely” and it seems to work for him.
Should a CEO try to do a bit of remote working and is it effective?
Many CEOs have the opportunity to organize their affairs — their working conditions, in particular — in a bespoke manner. By “bespoke” the Big Red Car means in a custom manner. The Big Red Car says: “Go for it, Grasshopper. You can make this work better than coming into the office every day.”
The Boss, even when he was running a public company, always thought that a good remote working location and a good equipment set up would enable him to get a lot of work done.
The Boss operates under the notion that just about every day includes a bit of work and that a CEO can work on certain things from anywhere.
Here are the rules:
1. Be organized to actually work not to just surf around on your computer and pretend to be working.
2. Have the right technology that makes remote working easy. Go ahead, get those dual 30″ monitors you’ve been craving. Get that ultrabook with the solid state hard drive that boots like lightning. Get that HD video camera. [Unleash your inner gadget freak sayeth the Big Red Car. Haha, gadget freak. YOU!]
3. Make damn sure you have the files and materials you need to work efficiently. The Boss is transitioning everything to the cloud so that smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop can use the same files instantly.
Here’s The Boss’s setup in Steamboat Springs. Big powerful laptop, small powerful ultrabook (can’t see it because it’s behind the laptop monitor), lazer mouse, digital camera and his topic notebooks (Moleskine, don’t you know?) and a bit of caffeine. Each project or client has their own notebook to keep stuff organized.
4. Be prepared to use Skype or Google Hangouts effectively. One of the things The Boss likes about this kind of video conferencing is the ability to start and end conversations with a high degree of efficiency. [Pro tip: The Big Red Car says to watch your grooming. No plaid flannel PJs, please. Haha, Big Red Car, STFU already.]
5. Work on the right subjects that are long on thinking. Also, you can make a lot of phone calls while working remotely. The Boss likes to use the audio capabilities of Skype for his phone calls. Hands free and great sound and all that jazz.
Of course the real payoff is the ability to be where you can work and play efficiently and effectively. And why the Hell not? Working remotely!
View from The Boss’s deck. Did I mention it’s snowing?
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
