Off the Grid

I am taking the week to "walk off the grid." I will have no Internet, TV, radio, phone or watch. I have become so connected that my electronics are controlling my actions and behaviors and causing me to constantly be in action. Wisdom comes in silence. Answers are clearer without the blur of distractions we call life. To find direction, sometimes you have to stop and look around and be still. I will be back on the 7th.

In the meantime, each day I will have questions I am working on for you to ponder as well. I'd love to hear any revelations you care to share. Here is something for you to ponder in the quiet moments of your day:

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." -- Bertrand Russell

What one fear is guiding your actions at work? How can you manage that fear so it isn't such a strong voice in your mind?

10 Questions to Make You Think on Kick Ass Friday

1. Why do we want our employers to be there for us when we are sick, but not to help us keep from being sick?
2. Why do you have to be so connected electronically all the time? What are you afraid is going to happen you don't know about?
3. When was the last time you "walked off the grid?" I mean a week with no Internet, computer, TV, radio, phone or watch?
4. If that idea scares you so much, why are you not jumping at the chance to disconnect and be a person again? (Because you've lost touch with who you are.)
5. When was the last time you acted like a Human Being instead of a Human Doing?
6. What if you started all over again? How would your life be different? (I know people right now doing this exact thing with their lives.)
7. Like a bad golf swing, what behavior do you need to unlearn so you can relearn the right way?
8. What negative memories are still molding your current behavior? How can you sear them out of your brain?
9. How have you changed so gradually as to be undetectable, but now has you wondering, "How did I get here?" What are you going to do about that?
10. What negative influences do you need to say good bye to today?

Is Your Second Right Answer Better?

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one we have." -- Emile Chartier

When anyone is totally invested in one idea, right or wrong it becomes the idea they grip too closely. Regardless of facts that say otherwise, people will stick with an idea even to the detriment of the organization.

The heated debate of a healthcare proposal has lost focus on what is best for the country over all and has now become focused on which side of the aisle wins; those with the idea or those against the idea.

Board rooms wrestle in the same ways, just not as publically on the defense and attack of the one idea in the room with health care.

How often is the second right answer even better than the first one? Most of the time. This is why writers edit, why marketers look for the slightly off center and why executives need to explore deeper to find other right answers.

What are the singular right answers in your organization that you hold as infallible truths? The customer is always right? Our logo can never change? We could never move the main office? Our signature product will not change with the times, people like it just the way it is?

Find the second right answer and you will find a better idea most of the time.

Does Free Work For You?

We are now in the age of free. Free Big Macs, Free KFC grilled chicken, free ruby pendants (while supply lasts) from Stauer. My email from them had the banner ad in the email: Buy NONE get ONE.

Those who thought up the campaigns are no doubt high fiving each other because Americans will stand in line for quite a while for something free. And that free day’s test results will look awesome. But how effective is the marketing in elevating business long-term?

In the months following the terrorist attack of 9/11 auto manufacturers needed to stimulate their sales so they offered zero-percent financing, and yes car sales increased. But something else happened. Car buyers know a good deal when they see one, and why pay for financing when you can get it for free? So auto manufacturers became locked into the concept of zero percent financing but they had to figure out other ways to still make money, so the gamesmanship began, but a savvy public wasn't buying because they knew it was no longer the deal it used to be.

Free samples have always been a good idea to test market products and get people familiar with what you are offering, but it also can devalue the product if you give too much away for free. How good can a free ruby pendant be? You know that was your first thought when you read that.

Deep discounting sets a new price in the customer's mind. Will you ever be satisfied paying more than $5 for a foot long sub again? Are newspapers dying off because they no longer are capable of reporting on the news, or is it because they began to give it away free on the Internet? When Costco gives away a cracker with lobster spread on it, it is a sample. When they give away an entire container of the spread it's devaluing the product.

Free is a slippery slope that only works if there is a payoff of more loyal customers down the road. Denny's had people lined up in the parking lot for their free breakfast day where they estimated 2 million people participated. Have you seen a line since then?

Know your market and when you offer something for free, be sure there are lasting returns and you aren't just the freebie of the day.

If you want FREE to work for you:

1. Make sure it is a tease opportunity to sample something you want customers to buy later. Giving the full product away devalues the product, unless it is in scarcity like a lottery winner.

2. Monitor the traffic or sales of the free product to see how your actual sales were truly impacted. Just because they now know you doesn't necessarily mean they are buying from you. The Taco Bell dog was recognized as their brand over 95% of the time, but those ads showed no bump in sales.

3. Free is a great way to get your name out on new products or as a new entity, but you have to have a strategy in place of where free will lead to profits within a specific time frame. After all, you are running a for-profit business.

When is Good Enuff, Enuff?

Years ago I was working on a yard project putting a park bench on a small brick pad. I cut out the square for the pad poured the sand in the hole and began setting the bricks in place. Next thing I know my mother is bring out a level for the job. Are you kidding me? After the first rain the sand is going to shift making the bricks unlevel anyhow.

As long as I eyeballed it well, I was fine. She wanted to spend the extra time to get it exactly right. But it was my yard! Was it really worth arguing over 1/64th of an inch? We laugh about this today, but the same battle is happening all over the business world and...

Good enuff is winning

Because of the economy or our drive to have everything right now and easy to use, the level of acceptance of good enough is changing how we make products. My Flip video camera or my Nikon Coolpix photo camera are hardly the tools of exerts, but they are the fastest selling products in the digital video and picture market. What happened to multiple lens cameras and home move cameras with 100 different features? There are much better quality products with many more features but what is important to the customer?

What was important shifted.

Home movies no longer had to be about options, vibrant image colors and clarity. Most important now was how fast a video can be loaded onto the computer and uploaded to the Internet. Still cameras no longer had to be about zoom capability and lens features; it's about immediate feedback and the ability to share with friends.

Is a $5 pizza a work of culinary art? No it is cheap and filling, period. As Ray Croc, builder of the McDonald's brand used to say: We don't serve food fast -- we serve fastfood.

Do you know your customer?

Had I been paying my mom for that yard job and she charged me two extra hours to get that last 64th of an inch level, I would be upset. As the customer that wasn't what I wanted. That's like taking an extra few minutes to make sure the pepperoni is exactly placed across a $5 pizza!

The $5 pizza buyer wants it hot, wants it cheap, and wants it right now -- who cares if the pepperoni looks perfect!

Customers and suppliers are seeing things differently in the shift of importance. Some customers are looking for top quality and have the willingness to pay for it, which is why expensive photography equipment still has a piece of the market, although that market has shrunk significantly and it now more niche than mainstream. The suppliers are committed to their products want the best quality that can be made, but are customers willing to pay for it? You need to meet your customers where they want to be met. Know what they consider important.

Are you focusing on the right service with the customers in mind? If you are spending time on what used to be important to customers, you most likely are losing customers and don't understand why. Figure out what is important to them today and give them what they want.

Is Your Baby Ugly?

"The Illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." -- Alvin Toffler

One of the greatest obstacles to accepting innovation and the need for new business methods is to accept old methods, practices and rules may no longer apply. When working with executives and board of directors on strategic planning we have discussions on "Sacred Cows." Invariably, more exists than anyone wants to admit. I can tell the depth of the "cow commitment" by how vigorously they defend it.

Unlearning has to be one of the most challenging things a person can do. Even when you know there are better habits (dealing with eating, exercise, and communication; for example) people will fall back into old habits, patterns and comfort levels.
How do you unlearn something?

When you are convinced old learned behaviors are bad enough to cause damage, you begin to unlearn those behaviors. Weight Watchers, Alcoholic Anonymous are there to help people unlearn bad behaviors and then they are able relearn and replace bad choices with better behaviors.

Corporations need to do the same thing. Ask yourself, what old behaviors do you need to be convinced are no longer good for the company? Is your branding outdated? Mr. Whipple lasted longer than his usefulness for the bathroom tissue that is squeezably soft. At the beginning of that campaign he was your friendly grocer; in today's world he would be perceived as a pervert! Societal attitudes change, so must your business.

Three steps to unlearning:

1. Make a list of those things you need to unlearn that no longer apply to today’s business environment.

Marketing methods, interviewing processes, performance evaluations, leadership development, product R&D, sales approaches, even the products you offer need to come under a strict review complete with employee and customer survey information to get the real picture.

Because frankly, sometimes you have to ask someone outside of the family whether your baby is ugly or not.

2. List the specific reasons why these are no longer the right way to operate your business.

Once you have created the list of behaviors and habits that have to be unlearned you need to delve deeper in to the whys. Rarely, does a smoker quit smoking for good until a health scare happens. Unfortunately, in some cases it is too late, and the same can be said for businesses. The reasons why behaviors no longer apply clarify the immediate need to unlearn.

Entire industries are disappearing because they failed to recognize what they needed to unlearn and why it must be done sooner rather than later. Once information became so prevalent on the Internet for free, the previous purveyors of daily news delivery (newspapers) should've taken note. For many of those newspapers it is too late, and they are no longer in business.

3. Accept that transition is painful

Anytime there is significant shift in expected and acceptable behaviors there is pain involved. There is pain for people who need to learn new skills, pain for people who liked the comfort of the old ways, pain for people who refuse to comply and must move on, and pain for those driving the changes because the pushback can be relentless.

To unlearn is to admit your ways are wrong. To convince others in the organization to unlearn is not only to convince them current methods are wrong, but to trust your assessment of the situation and to follow you down the harder path of change.

Most people only unlearn when the pain is too great employing the old ways of doing things. Great leadership has the presence of mind to recognize the fallibility of old ways and begins the unlearning process before the pain gets too great. Obviously, this year has been a painful economic experience. How are using this opportunity to unlearn what put your organization in this level of pain?

10 Important Questions for Kick Ass Friday

1. What meeting rules do I need to hold all meeting to, so everyone feels they have the right to speak up, the need to express their opinions, and the desire to contribute?
2. What am I afraid of in the workplace that is holding me back from being the best me I can be?
3. How do I intend on addressing those fears?
4. Who is the person I need to have a private conversation with to rebuild our communication lines?
5. Do I feel meetings are ever a safe environment to speak my mind? If not, how can this be corrected? What would be the benefits?
6. How does my management team shut down good ideas brought up in meetings? Has everyone been shut down so much no one even brings up those ideas anymore? What can correct this failure?
7. What work environment could I create to make everyone feel more comfortable and more productive?
8. Is my management style a push strategy or a pull strategy? A push strategy means you have to keep pushing people to get work done. A pull strategy means your work and leadership pulls people along because they want to be following you. Which do you think is most effective?
9. How well do I handle negative feedback? How can I improve my ability "to take it"?
10. What pain do I need to go through in order to become a better person on the other side of the painful experience?