10 Habits of Highly Ineffective People

(Not all of them, just some of the more annoying ones.)

The habits of highly effective people have already been well studied by Stephen R. Covey. The habits of highly ineffective people have not. Here is my contribution to general management and finance roles.

1. Wishful Thinking as a management commandment. What I want Vs. what I think Vs. what it is. Mistaking enthusiastic optimism for team-destroying dilettantism.

2. Debt addiction. The obsession with evaluating a project for the money it makes instead of putting money into projects according to their worth. The habit of treating the money one gets from an investor as a factor of rest (as if it were a sale) rather than as a factor of worry (return and remunerate). Believing that a project is great to conceive with debt and not so great if it involves more commitment on one’s part.

3. Addiction to throwing money at Working Capital. Over-crediting clients to disguise lack of quality Vs competition. Mistaking between necessary stock and just collecting. Working capital beyond working capital-work in progress and the time to invoice.

4. Emotional attachment. The logic of continuing to lose money on things one has already lost money on, like someone already inebriated who still has money to order more drinks.

5. Procrastination. The inability to decide yes or no without noticing the opportunity cost of not making a decision. And the inability to say no, when necessary, in a clear and timely manner – something that would be/is an undeniable source of true authority.

6. The “entertainment.” Asking for a proposal because it doesn’t cost money. Scheduling a meeting that we know we will cancel at short notice. Creating a collaborative aura to imply that we run things. Setting an expectation that we don’t want to or can’t meet up to. Being enthusiastic but not going for the goal, or going for the goal, but the ball ends up in the pine forest.

7. The absence of assertive empathy. Facing a partner and wanting them to treat us as diligently as our employee of the year, but treating them like the most undifferentiated supplier of the most undifferentiated product.

8. Talking a lot about technology but doing little about it because there is no proper knowledge behind it and we haven’t really tried putting it into practice, we haven’t experienced how difficult it is to do it, and we haven’t realized that the biggest problems with technology are the people who create it and the people who use it. Talking about cybersecurity, but setting a password as “123456” and having the antivirus expire the day we realized we had no backup for that really important file.

9. Talking about sustainability but practicing little. Saying “ESG” several times a day but printing everything one writes, making too many copies, forgetting to turn off the light, and leaving the air conditioning on full blast with the window open.

10. Spending half our lives complaining about the “fat” Government and the other half asking it for the help the banks didn’t give us. Not liking the national market but doing little to access others.

The 21st century and its legacies.

Luís Barbosa
Financial Architect
ABC Sustainable Luxury Hospitality
Proud Ambassador Global Wellness Institute
Happiest Places to Work – Awards