Monthly Archives: January 2016

January 19, 2016 · 1:24 pm

You Need Scouts

I don’t think there has been a baseball movie made that didn’t feature some weathered old guy seated in the bleachers somewhere.  He usually utters undecipherable baseball jargon while taking copious notes.  This, dear reader, is the baseball scout, who used to be how talent was discovered.  If you’ve seen or read Moneyball, you know that the scout is an endangered species.  This article from USA Today last week talks about how many pro scouts are still unemployed one month before the start of spring training.  The reason?  Data.

Photo by Justin Lafferty 00:19, 7 December 200...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Baseball is in the throes of the Moneyball movement.  Teams have been laying off scouts and turning to sabermetrics, which Wikipedia defines as the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity.  Baseball has fallen in love with data.  Maybe your business has too.

Here is the problem, both for you and for baseball.  There are certain things that don’t show up in data.  A player’s leadership qualities in the dugout aren’t quantifiable.  Potential can often be visible but not measurable.  That’s true in your office as well.  The data may show you what it happening but it’s hard for it to show you what could be happening.  That requires humans: scouts.

We all need scouts.  We need people who use the data as a tool but who also have the experience and wisdom to know when the data is missing something.  That doesn’t mean projecting one’s wishes into the numbers nor distorting the story those numbers tell.  It is, however, an acknowledgment that there is often a bigger picture than what’s inside the frame.

Here is a quote from a scout:

I’ve got 23 years in the business,’’ Wren said, “and now clubs don’t want that experience? I look at teams now, and they’re hiring guys who aren’t really scouts. They’re sabermetric guys from the office, and they put them in the field like they’re scouts, just to give them a consensus of opinion.

That’s dangerous for a baseball team.  It could be fatal for you.  You’re up!

 

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January 18, 2016 · 11:59 am

Making The Dream A Reality

This was the post I wrote in 2009 on Dr. King’s birthday, which we celebrate today.  It’s interesting how over the last 7 years much of what I was feeling at the time about the possibilities that were presenting themselves have yet to become a reality.  In some ways, we’ve gone backward despite some of the progress.  I’m not sure race relations in this country are at the place I recall back in the 60’s but it’s good to have a day dedicated to the man that moved us all forward so we can reflect on the topic.  The business point in the post hasn’t changed – some things, such as Dr. King’s message – are eternal.

Last week was actually Dr. King‘s birthday but since we’re celebrating it today I thought I’d add my two cents. I’m old enough to remember him and while he didn’t light the fire of the civil rights movement in the US (I’d say Rosa Parks is that hero), he certainly brought the fire to life and tended it well until his assassination (and I remember that as well – how horrible a day it was!).

Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deuts...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What inspired me, a young (then) white kid was his notion of bringing a dream to reality. OK, the words and delivery were pretty inspirational too, even when you read them off a page. Yesterday the Inauguration Committee had a concert on the very place where Dr. King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech to celebrate, nearly 46 years later, a big piece of that speech coming to reality. One can’t help but wonder what Dr.King would have felt and said – he certainly should still be alive – he’d just be turning 80.

Robert Kennedy said “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”  I think that’s great business advice as well, even if George Bernard Shaw had the notion before Bobby.  Mark Twain wrote that “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

So today, I celebrate Dr. King’s dreaming of a better world and making it happen.  Tomorrow, we can watch it become real.  What are you dreaming of?  Can it be real?  Why not?  Or better – why not!!

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January 15, 2016 · 11:53 am

Cheering Chipotle

I have a question for you this Foodie Friday. Are you paying attention to what’s going on with Chipotle? You should be because I believe the events of the last few months will be studied for years as a terrific example of how to handle what really could have been a crisis that threatened the chain’s entire existence. Lucky us: we get to watch it unfold in real-time!

Español: Restaurant Chipottle Mexican Grill in...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In case you’re not aware, there was an E. coli outbreak at Chipotle stores in the Pacific Northwest. The outbreak widened to include nine states in which 53 people reported being ill. On the other coast, more than 140 people became sick with norovirus in the Boston area after eating at a Chipotle. Most restaurants take a hit when a single person becomes sick because inevitably that person tells the world via social media. A couple of hundred illnesses, the involvement of the CDC, and the mandatory shutting down of restaurants is well beyond your basic bad day at the office.

The good news is that zero customers have reported getting sick from E. Coli since late November and the crisis seems to have abated. What’s been fascinating to watch is how Chipotle management has been handling this. The stock tanked, understandably. Did they deny anything was wrong or blame suppliers? Nope. They have been incredibly transparent and proactive. As one article reported:

The first step of Chipotle’s food safety plan is to analyze every ingredient and all of the restaurant procedures in a “farm-to-fork” risk assessment. High-resolution sampling and new sanitation protocols will prevent contaminants such as E. coli from entering the restaurants. Chipotle is sampling all of its ingredients using DNA-based tests to ensure the quality of its ingredients.

They are also shutting down the entire chain in February so that management can tell employees everything they know about the E. coli outbreak and what they’re doing to ensure it doesn’t recur. They’ll review food safety as procedures as well. And if that’s not enough, they’ll be giving away free food.

This is a chain that built up an enormous amount of goodwill among its customers through its food. They position themselves as using responsibly farmed ingredients and as a healthy, inexpensive alternative to fast food. Any business can learn why keeping customers happy and making deposits in the goodwill checkbook is so critical as you see how customers are reacting during this crisis. They know there has been a problem but the goodwill will get them back in the stores once the crisis has passed.  Another key point has been to recapture consumer trust by being as transparent as this management team has been.  Finally, being proactive and fixing things is way better than just “letting the crisis pass”.

I’ll be back at Chipotle.  You?

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