Category Archives: Thinking Aloud

June 9, 2015 · 10:16 am

Welcome To The Machine

Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
Where have you been? It’s alright we know where you’ve been.

You might think from Roger Waters‘ lyrics he was thinking about privacy. His take was on the recording industry but the song came to mind as I was thinking about robots. I’m hoping today to get you to ask yourself about them as well. Specifically, are you better than one, or at least the one that can replace you in the business world.

Before you laugh that off, consider a few things. We have cars that are driven by robots and they will absolutely do a better job than a human driver most of the time. Sure, there will be times when a road is temporarily closed and the mapping software will be lost. The car will need some immediate human input but that’s probably the exception. Most trips will be safer and less stressful.  Bots don’t get tired or distracted.  Can you say the same?

Bots can write and do so in a way that is pretty indistinguishable from humans writing the same stuff. Around 10% of Wikipedia articles were written BY ONE BOT. How many people do you know that are that prolific? You’ve read sports stories both on the web and in newspapers that were written by bots interpreting statistics to produce a game narrative.  Financial reporting is being done by bots too.  They do an excellent job of sticking to the facts, uninfluenced by some PR flack’s spin.  I’ll admit that I get weekly reports on Google Analytics that are written by a robot.  They’re not great but they do a good job of calling my attention to things that require further investigation.  I imagine they’ll continue to improve.  Much media selling is now done by robots and programmatic ad buying is forecast to have robust growth as more publishers, advertisers and agencies embrace programmatic technologies. As a result, Magna Global projected that the volume of transactions will grow to $17B by 2017 in the US, of which $10.5B will be RTB-based.  Those are lots of sales, sales support, and media buying jobs going away.

Am I bringing this up to depress you? Not at all.  We need to think about how we can do many things – still – that can’t be replace by a machine.  Nested phone menus for customer service are a form of automated response – do you know anyone who prefers that over talking to a human for service?  Bots are only as good as the algorithm that drives them.  While we’re heading to a world of artificial intelligence and algorithms that will self-improve, I suspect that we’re a long way off.  That said, we need to emphasize the human parts of every interaction.  A bot could present the facts of this post but I don’t think it can provide tone and nuance (or ramble quite as much).

So that’s the question for each of us, isn’t it?  Can we be replaced by a bot or are we adding things that are uniquely human to our business – and non-business – lives? What’s your answer?

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May 26, 2015 · 10:09 am

TV And Disruption

I have been thinking about a conversation I had with someone about the future of TV. OK, to be totally accurate, the chat was about the massive disruption that’s going on across all legacy media – newspapers, magazines, and radio as well as TV. I said that while that disruption is just now really beginning to be felt on a mass scale by TV, the TV industry seems to be learning from the mistakes made by newspapers and radio. I thought those learnings would help mitigate the disruption somewhat. Let’s see what you think.

Over the last year you’ve probably watched less live TV (other than sports and breaking news) than you have in the past. You’re not alone – live viewership of broadcast TV is down 30 percent since 2008 according to some measures. Time-shifted viewing is up quite a bit, however. Obviously it’s not a lack of interest in the programming but a desire to watch it on the viewer’s own schedule via whatever device is handy at that time.

Unlike the newspaper folks, who vigorously resisted the “what I want, where and when and how I want it” reality of the digital transformation, TV seems to be getting it. In fact, total overall consumption of video based content is skyrocketing. Admittedly some of that is from non-TV content sources (YouTube channels, etc) but as more TV content becomes easily available to cord-cutters and cord-nevers, I suspect what we’re seeing with CBS (CBS primetime is generating more viewers now than it did in 2003) will be true of most TV networks.

Some of my former colleagues in TV are finding ancillary benefits as well.  None of us were ever delighted with the Nielsen ratings system and the vast amount of viewing and audience information that’s now accessible through other channels is incredibly useful from both a programming and a sales perspective.  Frankly, the TV set is the viewing channel from which we get the least data and what information we do get is probably the least accurate.

All of the above is a long way of saying that despite my occasional jabs at TV clinging to their old business ways and traditional business model, I do recognize that they’ve quietly been changing and adapting to the new realities of digital disruption.  It’s encouraging and a good lesson for any business.  Do you agree?

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May 19, 2015 · 11:06 am

Broken Strings And Business

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the passing of B.B. King. While I have been to hundreds of concerts in my life, at one point I had seen B.B. King more than anyone (yes, even Springsteen although that’s no longer true). He has been rightfully honored over the last few days by every guitar legend – Eric Clapton being the most prominent – as having been a huge influence on their music. When he wrapped his fingers around Lucille, his guitar, he could say more in three notes than most guitarists can say in an hour.

English: King performing at the Fox Theater in...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of the dozens of times I saw him, one night in particular stands out and as it turns out there is a business point to be made as well. B.B.’s shows always began with the band playing a number or two and then the master would hit the stage. This particular night he played his first song and began his second when a string broke on Lucille.  It would have been incredibly easy for him to have signaled the band to stop because it was very apparent that a string had snapped.  Instead, as he continued to sing the lyrics, his right hand reached into his jacket pocket and out came a few strings.  Singing all the while, he proceeded to change the string, tune it as he played, and finished the song without missing a beat.  The audience stood as one when he finished, not because the song was a show highlight but because of the master class we had just seen.

The business point is one that I think we all know.  Strings break in all of our businesses from time to time.  The customers don’t really care even when they’re aware that something is amiss.  The broken string is your problem, not the customer’s.  How prepared are you?  Can you go about your business of providing an uninterrupted product or service of the expected quality or do you stop the band and make the customers wait?  B.B. King didn’t play a different guitar every other song.  He stuck with Lucille, so waving a roadie out to swap instruments wasn’t an option (and I could go on here about loyalty and consistency but you’re already there).  He probably had those strings in his jacket every show and rarely needed them (this was the only time I ever saw them come out in dozens of shows).  Do you have strings in your pocket or are you looking for a roadie to bail you out?

I’m sad The King Of The Blues is gone but thankful for all the joy he gave me and the inspiration he provided to many of the others whose music I love.  I’m also appreciative of his professionalism and have learned a little from his broken string.  You?

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