Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

August 26, 2013 · 9:43 am

The Same But Different

At the risk of alienating a few of you who are sick of golf-related posts, I want to tell you about a tournament in which I participated over the last three days. It inspired some business thinking as I reflected on it so I feel it appropriate to share with you. I guess I’ll see the rest of you tomorrow!

Golf Anyone?

(Photo credit: Amber B McN)

The tournament was one in which I was paired with another club member for three days. Each day we played golf but the format varied by round.  The first round was what’s known as a scramble – each player on the team hits, we pick the better shot, and both hit the next shot from there.  Rinse, repeat for 18 holes.  It’s a format that encourages thoughtful, aggressive play.  One partner hits a safe shot, the other can try something more difficult since there is no penalty for failure.

The next day was best ball.  Each partner plays their own ball, handicap strokes are deducted, and the better net score is written down for each hole.  This is basic golf.  While there is some strategy, it’s not much different from the regular game one plays all the time.

Finally, there was alternate shot.  In this format, both players tee off, the best drive is selected, and then the player that didn’t hit the chosen drive hits the next shot.  Players alternate shots from there until the ball is holed.  It is a tremendously difficult format in many ways, the biggest of which is that a bad shot forces your partner to fix your mistake.  There is a fair amount of strategic thinking if you hit two good drives.  Who should hit onto the green?   Who do we want putting?  Weak players are exposed and better players often feel helpless since they can’t display their skill while trying to recover from a partner’s miss.

The similarities with business are what struck me this morning.  The rules and conditions are ever-changing even while the basic game remains the same.  One must adapt or die.  You have to build your team so that you can play under any condition.   Teams that had done well in the first two formats posted horrific scores yesterday because one player was very good while the other was pretty bad.  Attention to the strategy appropriate for the situation is always critical in golf and more so given the changes to the rules each day.   Finally, one bad hole doesn’t kill your team nor does one bad day or quarter in business.  Maintaining a good positive attitude with the big picture in mind can deliver a trophy; staying mad about the bad hole (or quarter!) can keep the negative results coming.

We won our group (by a stroke!), mostly on the basis of delivering solid results each day.  That’s not a bad thing for any business to do.  Wouldn’t you agree?

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August 23, 2013 · 9:48 am

Perfect Pitch

We’ve come to the end of another week and so it’s Foodie Friday time.  Today, I’m going to make up for omitting the TunesDay post last Tuesday and combine music and food (and yes, they of course lead to business).  Perfect pitch is the ability of a person to listen to a piece of music and tell you (or play) in what key the piece is written without the benefit of hearing a reference tone – a known note to which they can compare it.  In other words, it’s much easier to know that something is written in A minor if you hear a Middle C before it plays.

Graphic details the nomenclature of the musica...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think there is perfect pitch in the kitchen as well.  There are those cooks who can recreate a dish or break it down having tasted it once.  They also seem to know what the folks eating their food want on a plate.  They can “hear”  the palates of their customers perfectly.  Food is very much like music in that when a note is even slightly off it’s noticeable and off-putting.  Great cooks keep the flavors in harmony and in tune.

In both cases, having perfect pitch assures that the harmonies are tight.  The Beach Boys or Crosby, Stills, and Nash are perfect examples.  The harmonious mix of flavors in a well-executed braise is another.  The overtones – harmonics that surround the musical or culinary compositions – resonate perfectly.  Think about Jimi Hendrix’s brilliant use of feedback (overtones, kids) and you’ll get an idea of what I mean.  Done badly, it’s just awful.  Done right, it’s a classic.

As businesspeople, most of us aren’t born with perfect pitch.  I certainly wasn’t in any of the three roles – musician, cook, or executive.  What we can do is work on having perfect relative pitch.  Once we get some sort of reference tone we can take it from there with confidence.  We need to train our ears to find that tone and then proceed keeping it in mind.  In business, that tone comes from customers.  Once we have it, we should have already trained ourselves to listen to the harmonics and make sure they’re in tune as well.

Success in music, the kitchen, and the boardroom all come from listening with a trained ear.   If we have the gift of perfect pitch, it’s an invaluable asset.  If we don’t, we need to train ourselves to mimic perfect pitch behavior based on a solid starting point and never lose sight of that reference point.  Hard to do, I know, but the rewards are worth it.   Wouldn’t you agree?

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August 16, 2013 · 10:53 am

Supermarket Eyes

Foodie Friday (yay!) and I want to write about a topic inspired by my local supermarket.

The interior of a T & T store

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I know what you’re thinking – awfully boring for the readers looking for a cooking tip or at least another place to complain about my recipes.  Stay with me – it’s kind of an interesting story that related to food and to business.

I’ve been going to that same supermarket for at least a decade.  I know the store like the back of my hand.  Or at least I did until a week or so ago.  They’re doing some sort of work and “improving” the store layout.   You can bet corporate management is at work here – I’m sure there are a bunch studies on shopper movement and purchasing that are in play. Most of the shoppers seem to use a hand-held scanner which traces their movements while shopping in addition to allowing a quick getaway once shopping is over via self checkout.  That data might have something to do with the changes as well.

Why I bring this up is that I noticed something while shopping in the “new”  store.  Since I no longer knew what was in each aisle or where the things I needed were, I paid a ton of attention to every shelf.  In fact, I discovered a couple of interesting food items that had probably been there for a long time.  I’d never had occasion to be or look where they were so I missed them.

That’s the business point too.  Most of us go about our days as if we’re in that very familiar store.  We know where the things are that get us through our days  but because of that we’re a bit oblivious to other things all around us that might be useful.  We need to make a mental change and approach our business lives as if we’re in that reconfigured store.  That small change in perspective can result in a big change in results.

Happy hunting!

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