Category Archives: Reality checks

February 15, 2013 · 12:18 pm

The Saying Vs. Doing Conundrum

Foodie Friday! Today I want to build on something discovered by the folks at The Hartman Group.

English: A common variety of gorp (trail mix) ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They have a site called HartmanSalt (which is not a site about ways to increase your blood pressure). They conduct regular surveys about food and food consumption.  I was checking out something on snacking which triggered a business thought.

As the results show, Americans love to snack.  We consume 2.3 snacks per day on average.  This tends to happen later in the day and generally at home.  What triggered the business thought were the next two data points.  57% of the respondents in the survey said it is important or very important  for the food and/or beverages to be healthy.  However the two most often mentioned snack foods are chips and soda. What we say doesn’t always align with what we do and that’s an important thing to remember in business.

That dichotomy is one of the things we find in focus groups – the things in which people express interest are not necessarily the things they’ll buy. Having done a few of them as a part of designing and building web sites, how users tell you they’ll use something and what they actually do as you observe them can be very different.   It’s a point we see in management all the time.  How managers say they behave and how they actually do are often out of sync.  No manager, for example, will tell you that they mistreat employees and they say that they always are there for their staffs.  Ask the folks on the other end if that’s true.

I’ve had friends who couldn’t understand why they were fat.  They said they ate carefully and watched their portions.  When they started keeping a food log (and there are some great apps for that!) they found out that what they said vs. what they did was showing up in their larger pant size.  It’s something all of us in business need to think about – are we listening to what people say or are we verifying it against what they really do?  How are we handling the conundrum the difference between the two?  That solution is often the key to success.

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February 14, 2013 · 1:35 pm

Flying Into The Merger Wind

I see that American Airlines and USAir announced their long-rumored merger this morning. I’ve flown over a million miles on American so I know it quite well. Over the years I’ve flown USAir from time to time but it I’m certainly not as familiar with it. Why do I bring this up?

departing LAX

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve been through several corporate mergers. I was with ABC when CapCities bought it and then again when Disney bought CapCities. I was at CBS when Viacom bought it. From those experiences I learned a couple of things that I think have broader implications even if your company isn’t getting bought.

Mergers fail.  A lot.  In fact, studies indicate that somewhere between 50% and 85% of mergers come up short.  I suppose that part of it has to do with the reason for the merger in the first place.  If a company is buying another to eliminate a competitor  the mission is accomplished no matter what happens to the acquired company.  Part of it may be the enthusiasm for the merger blinding those involved to the potential pitfalls or wacky financing.  But I think it’s primarily for another reason.

Simply put, culture.  Think for a second about new immigrants to this country.  They may not speak the language.  They are unaware of our customs.  They might not even know our laws.  All of those things create resentment – look at the news and you can find many examples of it.  It’s not that they’re bad people – their culture is different.

It’s no different when corporate cultures meet.  There are almost always differences in management styles.  How employees feel about the companies vary as much as do their benefits.  Lost in the shuffle is the fact that one company is not buying another – you’re acquiring people!  Those people may have been trained to have a different focus and how they measure success might not align exactly with your expectations.  As with the immigrant example, helping them to learn the culture and to speak the language is an imperative.

I’ll be watching this merger with interest.   I’m wondering if and how the cultural changes will manifest themselves to the flying public.  If the managers are smart , the next year will be spent making sure everyone is on the same page and understands the cross-cultural changes.  If they aren’t, like the vast majority of mergers, this one will fail.

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February 11, 2013 · 11:53 am

I Know They Suck At Business

We had a little snow here over the weekend.  You might have heard about it – all 30+ inches worth of it.  Fortunately, we hunkered down and made it through without any damage of loss of power.  By yesterday we had been plowed out and the streets were clear enough to venture out.  Besides getting some fresh air, I got a quick business lesson I’d like to share.  It’s the business equivalent of a poker “tell” – something a person does that is a dead giveaway as to how good or bad a hand they hold.  In this case it has to do with how good or bad they are at business and it’s something you can use as well.

Driving around we saw an incredible number of cars with snow on their roofs.  I’m not sure why but the majority of them seemed to be SUVs.   Oh sure, I understand that its difficult to get all the snow off of the roof when the car is six feet tall.  It takes a little extra effort and maybe a minute to find a broom.  Apparently, that was too much for the folks behind the wheels of these vehicles, none of whom looked to be older than me (so age and infirmity are no excuse).

I know they suck at business.  The snow on the roof is a dead giveaway.   Driving behind one of these idiots is dangerous – we must have seen six or seven explosions of snow and ice blow off of the roofs as we drove down the parkway.  Not that it makes a huge difference but this was not some dusting of snow that blew off – most of the cars had a least a foot of snow on them.  Fortunately, we didn’t see any accidents but we did see several cars hit their brakes or swerve.  Pretty dangerous.

I know they’re bad at business because they’re selfish and self-absorbed   They can’t possibly put the needs of customers or clients ahead of their own desires   They can’t stop thinking about themselves long enough to listen to an employees cry for help.  They can’t make products that appeal to others. They’re too “Me”-focused.  If they weren’t, they’d take the time to think about the drivers sharing the road with them.

An over-reaction on my part?  Tell me.

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