Monthly Archives: August 2008

August 25, 2008 · 8:23 am

Careful with that fact, Eugene

I know it’s early in the week for an obscure Pink Floyd reference so let me explain.  The Olympics ended the other day and Nielsen is reporting some very large viewership numbers.  In fact, according to the Hollywood Reporter…

NBC Universal smashed yet another historic ratings benchmark: The Beijing Olympics is the most-watched U.S. television event of all time.  Through 16 days of coverage, 211 million viewers tuned in to the Olympics on NBC Universal’s broadcast and cable outlets, according to NBC citing Nielsen Media Research.  That’s 2 million more than watched the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.

Lovely story, good for NBC, go USA.  But let’s spend a few seconds to look behind the numbers as an example of how one always needs to ask questions about any statistic.  There are roughly 115 million homes in the US and nearly 113 million of them have a TV (112,800,000 out of 114,890,000 to be precise). There are multiple viewers per home so there are around 285 million persons 2+ in the universe base.  I don’t have the 1996 people estimates but I think it’s fair to assume that ratio hasn’t changed very much.

In 1996, there were 97,540,000 homes and 95,900,000 TV homes.  So whilst TV homes grew nearly 17 million since 1996, and the number of people in those homes probably grew by 30+ million, Olympics viewing grew only by 2 million viewers.  Now, is that as impressive?  I’d say yes, given the fragmentation of media since 1996 but one could also argue that Olympics viewing has lagged, with 10% – 15% of universe growth actually reflected in viewing.  Heck, you’d expect a 15% pop in viewing just from the growth of homes.

The point is that in business, one can’t just hear a number and nod one’s head.  Ask questions, look for the numbers behind the number.  Challenge whomever is delivering the number to you.  Great executives will beat you to the punch and make sure every number they deliver is in perspective.

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August 22, 2008 · 7:30 am

New Eyes in the Apple

I was in New York yesterday for a couple of meetings.  As someone who grew up in and around the city, I generally have very little patience for the hordes of tourists who clutter the sidewalks and take photos in the worst possible places for those of us that have places to go and things to do.  It’s pretty easy to see they’re tourists, by the way.  No self-respecting New Yawker would behave as they do (nor dress in many cases!).  I’ve often advocated that the airlines give out a piece of paper as you land at Kennedy or LaGuardia reminding tourists to stand out of the way to take pictures, to keep moving on the sidewalks, to cross against the light if there is no traffic, and not to spend their life savings on fake Gucci from street guys.

But yesterday something struck me.  Maybe they have the wonderment part right (but not the standing in the middle of the sidewalk to take photos part!).  Maybe the lesson for all of us is not to take the familiar as all that familiar.  We need to ask questions constantly, even about those things with which we’re very familiar.  Because even if you walk down the same street every day, things change.  Maybe there’s a new place to get lunch.  Maybe there’s a new pothole you need to avoid.  It’s the same with your business.  Things change and you need to be alert.

I do enjoy being on flights into NY when there are people on board who are seeing the city for the first time.  They squish against the windows, even from the aisle seats, to see.  I’ve flown in hundreds of times but there is nothing like flying over NYC on a clear night – I put down my book and enjoy it every time.  We all need to look with new eyes as best we can as we fly over our business landscapes, no matter how familiar they have become.

But please step to the side when doing so!

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August 21, 2008 · 8:16 am

You’re In

I used to love hearing the coach say “Ritter, you’re in.”  It meant I was going to get in the game rather than just stand on the sidelines trying to stay warm and keep my head involved.  Ironic, I guess, coming from someone who now works in a profession renowned for standing on the sidelines and kibitzing to the players (best line ever – the commercial – where the consultants look at the client and say “oh, we don’t actually DO anything, we just recommend.”)

I’m thinking about this because I had an interesting experience this morning.  You may have seen the announcement that konnects, a new social network, is having its official launch today.  Like you, I need another social network like a third armpit, but I figured I’d search the Twitter community to see what was being said.  Interestingly, of the 35 (as of this writing) tweets in the last 24 hours on this subject, it seemed as if exactly one was from a person who had signed up and was using it.  The other 34 were either people reposting the announcement or asking for thoughts on the network.

How many blogs do you read that are just that?  Folks who are standing on the sidelines but really don’t have the skill required to play the game?  How many naysayers are there like that in your office – folks who are ready to criticize at a moment’s notice but who don’t move the ball up field themselves?

The perspective in the middle of the field or court or rink or tee box is very different than that from the sidelines.  We all need to get in the game and sweat a bit before we make a lot of noise from the bench.  I understand that it’s all a part of the conversation, and it’s certainly OK to ask questions or seek opinions (and I wish more people did both!).  But I think there’s too much uninformed chatter out there.  Maybe it’s peer pressure to blog/tweet/fill up the lifestream.   We’d all be better off sharing experiences, not just opinions.

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