Category Archives: Reality checks

March 5, 2014 · 9:27 am

Opinions Etched In Sand

When was the last time you changed your mind? I don’t mean about something trivial such as what you wanted for supper but about something important. What should our business model be? For whom should I cast my vote? I also don’t mean when was the last time you made a decision. We make those all the time. It’s what happens after the decision is taken that is our topic today.

English: Footprints in the sand My footprints ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I changed my mind about something the other day. It’s not really important to our discussion what it was, just that my view of the world moved from point A to point B. As I thought about that I realized that many people stick with their initial decisions about things all the time through thick and thin.  That might not be a bad thing, especially if you made a good choice at the time.  It’s a terrible thing, however, if you do so out of habit or sloth.  Things change and they do so more rapidly these days than at any time in our history.  If you made a decision five years ago some of what you took as fact when you did so probably is less right now.  Markets change.  Information changes.  Technology gets invented.  Stuff happens! If you make any investments you probably have that mindset.  Why doesn’t it extend to your business life (I’m ignoring politics here but…)?

A road you’ve driven down for years can suddenly have construction or a bridge out.  You have to alter your route or fly off the bridge.  Pretty obvious, right (I know – I’m a master of that!)?  Yet that thinking doesn’t apply to other aspects of many people’s lives.  Changing one’s mind is seen as weak or indecisive.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Strong people challenge their own beliefs. They look for facts, especially ones that contradict their own opinions, and avoid confirmation bias.  They keep an open mind when they go to make decisions and they test whether that decision is still valid based on changing circumstances.

My decisions aren’t etched in stone.  More like footprints etched in wet sand.  You can see what they are but when a strong wave comes along they might change.  I might be opinionated but I also accept that I might be wrong on some things.  Am I right about this?

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March 4, 2014 · 10:43 am

Roam

It’s TunesDay and I gave a lot of thought to our musical choice this week. I don’t know yet (we’ll see how this comes out) if it’s a good pick but the song that has been with me most of the week comes to us via the end of the 1980’s (1989 specifically) and my second favorite band from Athens, Georgia (R.E.M. would be #1): the B52’s.  Over the years this band has produced many serious pieces of ear candy but this is one of my favorites.  Turns out it has something to say about business too:

This song is catchy with a great beat, the chorus stays with you, and it’s easy on the ears.  That’s a tiny, obvious business point – the product needs to be appealing.  That’s where the simple stuff ends.

The B52’s are a band (they’re still around, you know) that often writes songs full of multiple meanings.  On the surface, “Roam” is about world travel and the freedom to pursue it without preconceptions or inhibitions.  As we’ve discussed before here on the screed, we don’t appreciate in business that the journey itself is the goal, not the just the end destination much of the time.  This song reminds us of that.

Then there is another layer of meaning.  The sexual innuendo in this band’s music is pretty apparent and this song is no exception.  The innocent song about taking extended vacations is actually a not so innocent one about stretching one’s sexual permissiveness to the limits (I’ll wait while you listen again!).  So what’s the business point there?

Great products can serve multiple purposes and audiences.  While Mom and Dad hear a catchy song about travel, the kids hear a song about sexual freedom.  A lot of music has those multiple meanings (go listen to “Little Red Rooster” and then explain to me how it’s about a chicken).  Smart business people define themselves and their brands but also leave room for their consumers to add their own meanings.  Our customers do define us in many ways just as much as we do ourselves.  Does that make sense?

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February 25, 2014 · 9:37 am

Salt Of The Earth

It’s TunesDay and time to pause from our work day to celebrate a bit of music.  Since it’s a business blog, work will be our subject today and the Rolling Stones will be our instructors.  There was a lovely moment during the concert following the 9/11 disaster during which Mick and Keith came out to play a song from Beggar’s Banquet.  It spoke loudly to the audience of police and firefighters as well as to any of us who have ever gone to work:

The “salt of the earth” line comes from the Bible, of course, but it’s the “salt” imagery which prompted the thought today.  Salt has always been incredibly valuable throughout human history.  Once people could begin to preserve food, they could begin to explore and travel long distances without worrying about having enough to eat or to go hunting or foraging.  Certain cultures used it as currency and although Roman soldiers were not paid in salt (they were given money with which to buy salt), it’s the genesis of the expression “worth his salt.”  People fought wars over it and many cities were built on mining, producing, and trading salt.  Impressive for something so common and inexpensive now.  Which leads to my thought.

In a time when technology has made productivity incredibly high, I think many of us tend to devalue work and workers.  Specifically, some managers believe that the people who provide that hard work are interchangeable pieces, common and inexpensive like salt.  However, it’s those hard-working people that keep businesses going.  To carry the salt analogy a bit further, when a dish lacks salt, the flavor isn’t fully developed and the dish lacks brightness.  When we devalue the labor force, our businesses turn out the same way.

Mick and Keith put it very well:

Raise your glass to the hard-working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leading but get gamblers instead

Given the economic crisis and part of the reason it happened, that’s quite well put, especially 40 years before the crisis occurred!  Regardless if you’re the chef or the cook, the boss or the intern, I’m raising a glass to the hard work you do today.  Who’s with me?

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