Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

July 30, 2013 · 8:46 am

Goosebumps

Today for our TunesDay song, let’s consider an entire genre of them.  The unfortunate thing is that no two people would agree as to which songs qualify for this classification so I’m going to talk about one which does for me.  You can take it from there with a song of your own choosing.

I was driving back from a meeting yesterday afternoon when Tom Waits‘ Jersey Girl came on.  Of course, it was the live version by The Boss which I’ve loved from the moment I saw it live in 1981 as Bruce opened the new arena in the Meadowlands.   Danny Federici‘s organ sounds like the calliope on the boardwalk – the carnival referred to in the lyrics – and the  backing vocals sound like a great doo-wop group singing on some corner as their sound drifts up into the night air.  The song gives me goosebumps every single time I hear it – every hair on my arm stands up.  It’s a strange and wonderful physical reaction brought on by the power of the music.  Which is, of course, the business point.

We should all be trying to achieve that reaction in what we do.  In many ways, goosebumps – piloerection for you scientific types – is a reflex left over from our animal pasts.  It’s something that happens in response to strong emotions such as those music inspires that touch us deeply.   It’s an obvious goal for any of the arts – film, culinary, or otherwise – but why not, say, industrial design?  I imagine some people had that response the first time they handed the first iPhone or saw a high-def plasma TV for the first time.

Maybe shoes move you.  Maybe it’s a brilliantly written analysis of last month’s sales.  Whatever we produce, I think I’m putting the goosebump standard up there with the Dylan standard I use when discussing musical acts (will my grandchildren listen to and discuss this artist and if not, are they really worth the time?).  Sure it’s a lofty goal – but why not set the bar high?

Touching people’s emotions in ways of which they’re maybe not even conscious is a guarantee to success in business and life.  How are you going to do that today?

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July 29, 2013 · 10:18 am

Being Fearless

I played (badly) in a golf tournament over the weekend and on the heels of that I saw an article that triggered some business thinking.

Tigers fight

(Photo credit: @Doug88888)

The piece was from last week and was on ABC News’ site.  It is about a paper written, as it turns out, in 2010 by a professor at the Kellogg School of Management and concerns what the author called the “Tiger Woods Effect” (you knew it would relate to golf, didn’t you?).  The author – Jennifer Brown – explained it this way to the Wall Street Journal:

Ms. Brown argues that the superstar effect is not just relevant on the golf course. Instead, she suggests that the presence of superstars can be “de-motivating” in a wide variety of competitions, from the sales office to the law firm. “Most people assume that competing against an elite performer makes everyone else step up their game and perform better,” Ms. Brown says. “But the Tiger Woods data demonstrate that the opposite can also occur. It doesn’t matter if the superstar is an athlete or a corporate vice president. After all, why should we invest a lot of energy in a tournament that we’re probably going to lose?”

Do we set ourselves up for failure by surveying the competitive landscape and recognizing the presence of some superstars in our competitive area or is that motivation to beat them?  I always make the distinction between losing and being beaten.  The latter is easier to swallow in my book – you did your best and someone was better that day.  Losing, however, stings – we know we were capable of so much more and didn’t perform.

It’s an easy out to discount your chances due to the presence of a superstar brand or firm or individual.  Mike Tyson used to win a lot of his fights without throwing a punch because his opponents would see him across the ring and a look of fear would cross their faces.  Pre-game trash talking is, in my mind, as much about bringing the opponent down to your level as it is false bravado.

We need to be fearless.    Even superstars have a bad day.  Once Tiger’s veil of invulnerability was lifted due to him being beaten on the course and his troubles off of it, the rest of the field recognized that they could win no matter what he did.  That was the case all along, by the way – they just stopped beating themselves.

What will it be?  The choice is yours.

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July 23, 2013 · 8:41 am

Blue Jay Way

It’s TunesDay and we’re going to the birds today.

English: Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) – Onta...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Our musical inspiration is the title of today’s screed:  George Harrison’s song Blue Jay Way.  It’s been on my mind since I saw a jaybird screaming at some other birds in the yard.  I admit it’s a bit of a non-sequitur this week.  The song is about a friend of George’s getting lost in the fog on his way to a house on Blue Jay Way in Los Angeles:

There’s a fog upon L.A.
And my friends have lost their way
We’ll be over soon they said
Now they’ve lost themselves instead.
Please don’t be long please don’t you be very long
Please don’t be long or I may be asleep

The connection, however, between the bird, the song, and what’s on my mind will be clear in a moment.  Blue Jays are, in my mind, a typical office species.  That’s right:  there are a lot of human jays hanging around.  You see, this specie of bird has a number of characteristics which line up nicely with many of the folks you just might have seen flying around your office.

For example – jays are known as being very territorial birds.  They will attack or kill smaller birds and they will chase others from a feeder for an easier meal.  I’m sure you see that sort of behavior all the time – I know I did – from certain misguided souls in your work space.  When they perceive someone to be weak, they attack.  When they can claim credit for someone else’s achievement – eating from the other’s feeder if you will – they do so without hesitation.

The other thing about Blue Jays is their vocal pattern.  I think of them as kibitzers – they sit near others and squawk unceasingly.  In fact, real Blue Jays copy the cries of local hawks so well that it is sometimes difficult to tell the Jays from the much bigger predators.  That, to me, sounds much like the office sycophant mirroring the vocalizations of the more powerful boss.

The tie to the song?  These office Jays have lost themselves.  They’re wandering in the fog – not doing very much except protecting their turf and screaming from the sidelines.  Do you know any?  Take a look – I’ll bet you find them!

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