Category Archives: Reality checks

February 18, 2014 · 9:48 am

All That You Have…

TunesDay, and today I’m actually inspired by a novel I’m reading called The Circle. I know – a book?  We do music today and we’re going to. The book, however, is what got me started down today’s path so let’s give credit where it’s due, shall we?  It’s the story of a young, idealistic woman who goes to work for a large social network company – sort of an amalgamation of several in my mind. As the blurb says:

What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

I won’t ruin the story for you but the quote that kept popping into my head was the one from Matthew: For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? That’s what led to our song today – from Tracy Chapman:

In particular, there is a point here about which every business person should think:

I thought, thought I could find a way
Beat the system;
Make a deal and have no debts to pay
Take it all, I’d take it all, I’d run away
For me myself first class and first rate
But all that you have is your soul

As you probably know if you spend any time here on the screed, I’ve never understood marketers that promote false claims nor service businesses that don’t provide service.  The notion of “beating the system” by cutting corners, stealing ideas, or burying hidden fees in the fine print is a very foreign one to me.  I’m pretty sure for every insurance claim that someone goes out of their way to deny in order to maximize profit a human somewhere hurts just as much as an employee gets rewarded for improving the bottom line.  Businesses don’t make decisions: people do.

If we want to, as she says, “wake in the world with a clear conscience and clean hands” we need to earn a fair profit through great products and wonderful service.  We need to deal with customers, partners, and employees as if they’re friends and family, not rubes or marks. Sounds simple enough, right?

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February 13, 2014 · 12:03 pm

Smart Can Be Stupid

I’ve written a number of times on the subject of hiring smart people.

The Thinking Man sculpture at Musée Rodin in Paris

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Raw intelligence and a natural curiosity about the world are two qualities I’ve found to be universal in the great executives I know and I always spent a lot of time when I was interviewing new hires trying to uncover those qualities in the candidates.  As I thought about the search for that brilliance the other day I realized that it’s just not enough.  No, I’m not retracting my statement.  I do think, however, I’m doing you folks a disservice by not providing context.  Let me do so now.

Suppose you knew a really smart ten year-old.  He is constantly asking questions about the world and more often than not can hold his own in a discussion with adults.  His logic is impeccable; his ability to express himself is superb.  Would you hire him?  Of course not (although you might tee him up for an internship in five or six years).  While he has two of the skills one can’t teach, he lacks many critical skills for success.  Emotional maturity is probably first on that list; the ability to contextualize (or not) is the other.

What do I mean by that?  When we get too caught up in a moment we need to have the ability to stop, take a step back, and see the forest as well as the trees.    That’s contextualizing. Math teachers would explain it as probing into the referents for the symbols involved – I like that.  Great businesspeople can also do the opposite – decontextualize – maybe even at the same time.  That’s the ability to abstract a situation and think about it symbolically without all the immediate pressures of what’s going on.  These abilities – as well as other critical thinking skills – take time and experience.  It’s why older executives such as me have value that our younger peers don’t: we’ve made the mistakes already and have learned.

Smart people can be stupid.  They need experience, a grounding in facts,  and the emotional maturity that comes with time to be successful in business.  We all know the brilliant jerk – the very smart executive who everyone respects and very few like.  They can crush a company. Our challenge is to find the qualities in addition to smart and curious that make for greatness.  You up to it?

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January 29, 2014 · 8:27 am

Is Creepy Dead?

I’ve had beacons on my brain lately.

Start Point Lighthouse, in the south of Devon,...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ll explain what they are and why in a second but they raise a larger question in my mind, which is our topic today:  has the “creepy” factor left us?  Not long ago, the notion of someone, much less some business, tracking our every move and approximating what we’re thinking would be…creepy.  Have we become so immune to the fact that said tracking occurs almost constantly caused us not to even care any more?  Let’s see what you think.

First, why beacons and what are they?  Here is a good explanation:

Beacons are devices that communicate with a shopper’s smartphone in the hopes of improving the in-store shopping experience. When placed in a store, beacons use Bluetooth technology to detect nearby smartphones and send them media such as ads, coupons or supplementary product information. They can also be used as point-of-sale systems and to collect information on those consumers — particularly how consumers maneuver through stores.

Who you are, what you’re looking at, where you go and how frequently you shop there are all part of the equation.  Maybe not so awful.  A store with an attentive staff can generally say the same about any regular customer and the information delivered about a product should be more complete than any clerk can remember across hundreds of products.  Many stores use cameras to do just that.  Apple, of course, is in the forefront of this with their iBeacon.  It’s built into every device – iPhone or iPad – sold in the last few years.  They recently deployed the technology in all of their Apple stores:  what they set up uses the Bluetooth technology of the iBeacon to detect where a shopper is within a store so Apple can send location-specific product information to his or her Apple device.  Helpful or creepy?

That’s one example.  Combine the beacon with an app and it becomes simple to send targeted messages to devices.  For example, at a sporting event, you might get messages providing discounts on concessions and merchandise or maybe even seat upgrades if you’re a VIP.  Of course, in the process a lot of information about you is gathered.

So back to the question:  is it creepy or don’t we care?  If we use credit cards, our purchasing habits are known.  If we use an in-store scanner at the supermarket, how we wander the store is recorded along with what we buy even as we’re offered coupons and discounts.  Is the prospect of a better shopping experience worth giving up yet another remnant of our privacy?  Amazon and other retailers know how we wander their virtual stores via click-tracking.  Why should physical outlets be disadvantaged?  More importantly, when the online experience can be mirrored and continued by a retailer’s brick and mortar store, doesn’t the shopper benefit?

I don’t know how many iPhone users know they have this technology in their pockets already.  I don’t know how many people realize what they’re giving up when they opt-in to this technology.  Google has deployed something in newer versions of Android that will allow retailers to bid on serving ads to people conducting product searches and Google can then track the person via their phone to see if they visited the store.  I do feel that many wouldn’t be quite some comfortable if they knew all this.

Are you, or is creepy dead?

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