Having an edge in your business

The Olympics

Apolo Anton Ohno is currently the most decorated U.S. male Winter Olympian. He only needs to win one medal to become the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian in history.

Millions of people are watching the Olympics right now.  It’s a way that while we compete with other nations, we ourselves are united as a country.  Whether it’s snowboarding, skiing, or ice-skating, each competitor has something in common: his or her edge.  Whether it’s a special move or turn or simply just being faster or better than the rest, it’s that edge that wins the gold….and if you lose it, you lose the medal, too.

Medaling in your sport: Business

In your business, you can’t lose your edge either.  You may have a crack team or even several sharp individuals, but your business may still not be competing as well as it could.  Why?  Plain and simple: distractions.  Distractions are time-killers and cost you thousand, possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.  In 2008, an estimated $650 billion were lost as a result of these easily-overlooked annoyances.

Smart companies are protecting their employees’ time by implementing some form of sound masking.  You see, a wise manager knows he can’t stifle coworker chatter or personal calls, but he also knows he can help innocent by-standers from falling prey to it.  Similar to white noise generators, sound masking systems provide just enough low-level background noise to cover distracting interruptions.  And unlike music, sound masking units are not distracting themselves.  In fact, most workers report never noticing the hum of the system, just the lack of intrusive sounds.

It’s time to quit settling for less.  Go for the gold.