Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

March 17, 2014 · 9:57 am

St. Patrick And Your Business

photo credit: Lawrence OP via photopin cc

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! This is one of the two days of the year (the other being New Year’s Eve) I like to call “amateur night.” People who rarely drink to excess seem to do so and the streets and trains are filled with people who were over served. All this in honor of the patron saint of Ireland.   As you can see from the statue, nearly every representation of him makes reference to his banishing the snakes from a country where they apparently never lived.

Patrick had the right idea even if the facts are a bit murky and that’s our business point today.  While different religions view snakes in different ways, a snake does get the blame in the Old Testament for tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden, thereby earning a reputation as a symbol of evil and plotting.  We see those kind of snakes all the time in business.  You know the ones I mean.

They might be the kind who pat you on the back and smile while they’re looking for a soft spot into which they’ll stick the knife.  Maybe they’re the ones who spread fear, uncertainty and doubt to create non-existent problems while presenting themselves as the only ones who can solve those problems.  Or maybe they’re just the people who come to work each day and are incapable of making decisions while keeping their conscience fully turned on.  They’re snakes and they need to go!

There are also systematic snakes.  The gremlins that inhabit all machines so they fail at exactly the wrong time and for which we have no back-up plan.  The process that ties up way too many people to produce way too little return on that time investment.  You probably know of quite a few of these in your business.  Why not take up St. Pat’s staff and drive all the snakes away?  Today is as good a day as any, before you have a sip of the green beer, isn’t it?

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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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