Avoiding the Vacation Blues

Ah, yes. We are in the midst of that special time: Summer vacation. It carries great expectations and many fears. How hard do I have to work to get ready to go? What calamity could strike while I'm gone? When I'm back, how hard will I have to work to catch up and fix everyone's mistakes? Here's six tips to help enjoy your expectations and reduce the chance of your fears becoming reality.

1. Set your email and v-mail with a message that says you're gone. Add how callers can get things resolved while you're gone.

2. Before you permanently slip into flipflops and shades, meet with colleagues who're in the best position to cover for you. A few things to tell them: a) describe what you'd like their help on; b) let them know what could go wrong and how to handle it it does; c) set the bar for a legitimate reason to make that "emergency" phone call. On the last point, also consider the degree to which you want to unplug—completely or partially—on vacation.

3. Set meeting dates for shortly after you return from vacation with whomever you hand things off to. That way they know you will following up on whatever you've agreed to. That increases the chance things will get done while you're gone.

4. Enjoy your time away from the office. Be present. The more you're thinking of business, the less you're with those you care about during precious vacation time.

5. Immediately upon return, set some "shut-in" time. This is do-not-disturb time to catch up on emails, vmails, paperwork and other communication so you hit the ground running with current data.

6. Have that meeting with whomever you handed things off to. Follow on what was done and what's still undone so you can schedule your time accordingly.

Follow these tips and you'll enjoy vacation more, and your business will have a better chance of not missing a beat without you.

'Entitled' Executives and Entrepreneurs

I've always enjoyed Frank Deford, the sportswriter who constantly hits that perfect balance of thoughtful and funny, especially during his weekly radio commentary on National Public Radio. Deford's new book, "The Entitled," is a fictional account about how baseball players, fawned over their entire lives, from a very early age, believe their every whim should be catered to with a smile. They should get what they want, when they want it, if not gratis then at a steeply discounted price. Period.

You know the types, either personally or through the media. It occurred to me that the notion of "The Entitled" doesn't necessarily cover just pro athletes or celebrities. Unfortunately, it also covers business people, from corporate CEOs to Wall Street moguls—even some entrepreneurs.

It's easy to understand how this develops. We get used to employees telling us what we want to hear, laughing at our dumb jokes and doing our grim bidding. It's intoxicating, habit-forming. But we also need to understand that we're building a false reality; one that almost always leads to a big fall. Kahlil Gibran has a great line about this: "The lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul."

How to avoid this trap? Learn to listen for the truth. First, open yourself to it. Try the Rule of Three: When you ask your people what they think, remember that they'll lie the first two times you ask, and generally they'll tell the truth the third time. Then, when they give their opinion and it isn't what you want to hear, don't kill the messenger. Take it in, live in it. As my dad's Swiss grandmother always told him when he was a misbehaving little boy: "Billy, it's what you learn after you know it all that really counts." That's good medicine. Habit-forming, even.