Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

June 30, 2015 · 9:33 am

The Blank Page

I’m sure that there are situations in your life, the mere thought of which are terrifying.  For some folks it’s public speaking.  For others it’s hosting a dinner party.  For many business people I know it’s facing a blank page.

Many authors have delivered quotes about that challenge.  Most of the good ones welcome the empty expanse of the blank canvas as an opportunity for personal growth.  Not so much business people.  They are making commerce, not art, and so there really are wrong answers.  A faulty business plan.  An unclear presentation that won’t deliver a sale.  Maybe even a blog post that means to be thoughtful but never quite hits the mark.  I face that vast wasteland every work day morning and here is what I’ve found with respect to navigating it.

First, try to get yourself into the recipient’s head.  If it’s a presentation, your focus is on the reason they’re seeing you, whether it’s at a conference or a one on one meeting.  If it’s a piece of writing such as this, what question are you answering or what enlightenment are you bringing?  Next, don’t get too caught up in the words as you write them.  You can’t edit what’s not on the page.  I know you all believe these screeds come out of my head fully-formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus but there is a fair amount of editing involved.  Embrace the help others can bring.  Let them read drafts and ask them if anything is unclear.  Be sure you don’t ask the person who would totally understand it even if it was all over the place.  Maybe the receptionist?

Every blank page is a challenge, but the hard part isn’t in the creation.  It’s in having something to say that others will find worth their time.  Hopefully, this was worth yours!

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June 24, 2015 · 9:33 am

What Are We Buying?

There was a piece this morning about how Samsung appears to be blocking Windows updates on its laptops. The folks over at The Next Web are reporting on a security researcher’s findings during his investigation of Samsung’s softwareupdater. That updater installs another app:

Automatic Updates 'Restart Required' in Window...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The app, conspicuously named Disable_Windowsupdate.exe, is installed automatically without the owner’s knowledge. According to a support representative, it’s there to stop the computer from automatically downloading drivers from Windows Update that could be incompatible with the system or cause features to break.

Unfortunately for Samsung it also appears to change the user’s update settings and disables Windows Update entirely. Once installed, the app even disables Windows Update after the user re-enables it.

As anyone who has ever owned a Windows computer knows, no updates means security risks and other issues.  Which raises a question – who owns the device?  When you buy a house, you’re free to make whatever changes you want – paint it, knock down a wall, or add on.  When you rent, your options are far fewer in number and you might not be allowed to make any structural changes at all.  In my mind, Samsung is behaving like a landlord – you’re a tenant, don’t change our building’s structure.

They’re not alone in this.  Think about your iPhone – your ability to make changes to the device are pretty limited.  Even Andriod phones carry bloatware from manufacturers and carriers that can’t be removed unless you void your warranty and gain root access.  As Wired reported –John Deere—the world’s largest agricultural machinery maker —told the Copyright Office that farmers don’t own their tractors. Because computer code snakes through the DNA of modern tractors, farmers receive “an implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.”

I’m sure you have other examples, but it raises the question of who owns what we buy?  At what point does the notion of ownership become outdated?  You might not realize it but you may not own your music, your electronic books, or even your car from a legal perspective.  So what are we buying?

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June 15, 2015 · 10:53 am

Too Big To Care

More bad publicity for the folks at United Airlines over the weekend.  This time, a mechanical issue in-flight resulted in a plane full of passengers having to spend the night in a military barracks.  Obviously there was no issue with the need to land the plane – who wants to be 6 miles up with a mechanical issue?  But what happened next is yet another black eye on United’s record of customer care.

English: United Airlines Boeing B747-400 at Be...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What company needs this headline:

Hundreds Of United Airlines Customers ‘Abandoned’ In Remote Canadian Barracks Without Heat, Little Food

I won’t reiterate the list of stories that portray United as a company that hates its customers and instead I want us to have a think about a bigger question.  Only four airlines—United, American, Southwest and Delta—now control 85% of domestic air travel due to mergers and acquisitions. I think we’ve all seen higher fares and worse customer service pretty much across the board. According to the Department of Transportation, airline-related complaints increased by 26% in 2014.  This same sort of routine – a business sector becoming more consolidated and customer service declining while prices rise – has played out elsewhere.  Banking, cable TV and broadband providers and insurance are just a few areas where we’ve all seen this play out.

My thinking is this.  Companies become too focused on improving systems without focusing on how those improvements affect customers.  United, for example, may focus on improving financial performance by increasing baggage and other fees while angering their customers.  Maybe their attitude is “If everyone does it, what choice will the customers have anyway?” and that has, for the most part, been true.  What’s also true, however, that the many of the quality metrics – are declining along with their costs.

Smart companies improve the bottom line but not at the customers’ expense.  They maintain the small company mentality even as they become quite large.  Customer satisfaction is always a front and center metric, and product improvements are made to benefit the customer, not always the bottom line.

All of which makes me wonder if “economies of scale” generated through dynamic growth can actually not mean “too big to care”.  Do you have any thinking on that?

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