Tag Archives: Business and Economy

August 24, 2015 · 11:53 am

Speed Kills

I was reading a sports business newsletter this morning and I came across a quote that prompted a business thought. The speaker – a host on ESPN – was reflecting on the demands placed on journalists these days. What she had to say about the need to be fast was this:

The whole Wells Report is like 400 pages. I don’t have time to read 400 pages, but I have to go on the air to say something about these 400 pages. I may have read a good third of it. That’s where we are right now. The whole need to produce an opinion has overshadowed the need to produce reporting. When I was growing up, people were watching the news and expecting unfiltered, objective news. Now, if it isn’t about clicks, it is about drawing attention to yourself and making your opinion stand out and that is difficult.

The Wells report, for those of you not following the story, was an independent review of the deflating of footballs by the New England Patriots during a playoff game last season. I think what she had to say applies to any of us in business and it’s instructive.

We get so much information on a continual basis. Inevitably, some higher up asks about what’s going on and there is a rush to judgement. Many of us feel the need to produce an opinion even though we don’t feel as if we’ve had the time to adequately analyze and reflect on the information we’re getting. That’s dangerous and, in my book, often counterproductive.

We all have opinions – just check your Facebook feed and you’ll see dozens.  I think we all like to believe that we base them on facts, but that same feed will show us that many times that’s just not so.  When that request for information is made, the person asking is generally not seeking your opinion.  They want a cogent analysis of factual material.  The problem is that we’ve all become accustomed to getting the answers fast.  After all, in a world where much of the learning of humankind is at your fingertips and is just a search query away, our sense of patience has all but disappeared.  The quote’s reference to “unfiltered, objective news” applies to the expectations we have in business.  Unfortunately, so too does the emphasis on speed and the need to place yourself front and center.

Like you, I get asked for quick answers.  I’ll often give one along with a disclaimer that it’s an informed opinion but not necessarily reflective of all of the facts and request the opportunity to come back with a more informed answer.  If I know the person asking is going to take immediate action on my answer, I might even ask for a brief delay before I respond so I can gather up some more objective information.  How do you handle it?

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Filed under Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

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August 21, 2015 · 9:02 am

Becoming A Steakhouse

It’s Foodie Friday, and my mind is turning to steak. While I enjoy grilling steaks as much as the next person, most of our efforts here at Rancho Deluxe can’t compare to the product put out by a good steakhouse. It got me thinking about why that is, and it turns out there are some really good business points one can take away.

Steak at Peter Luger's

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At first I attributed the biggest difference to the meat itself. After all, high-end steak places serve nothing but prime meat, and generally, it’s been aged. As with any business, NOTHING can take the place of top-shelf raw materials. You can’t make a great product out of inferior ingredients. So on a special occasion, I splurged on an aged piece of Prime porterhouse thinking I now had the ability to replicate that great steak at home. While it was very good, it was definitely NOT the same.

Then there is the cooking method. Top steak places might use a broiler that is heated to 1,000 degrees or more. While I do have a high-end broiler in my oven, I don’t think it gets quite that hot. A charcoal grill can get quite hot using lump (not briquette) charcoal, but it’s a different experience than most steakhouses. Still, it came close in terms of providing enough heat to do the job.

So now I had the equivalent ingredients and a similar cooking tool but it just wasn’t the same. Putting aside that I was doing the cooking and not just being served, I realized that there was one more huge difference: practice. Steakhouses cook 1,000 steaks a week or more. If I do 24 in a year it’s a lot. But it’s a good business point.

There is no substitute for practice, and the more times we do things – presentations, analyses, whatever – the better we become at them. That’s noticeable to the recipient.  Having great raw materials – that includes people – and a great methodology coupled with the right tools to do the job and a LOT of practice can produce a great steak.  That formula’s also capable of producing greatness in your business if you’ll let it.  Will you?

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August 20, 2015 · 12:08 pm

Coleridge And Your Data

Someone probably made you read Samuel Coleridge‘s Rime Of The Ancient Mariner along your educational way. It contains a couplet that got me thinking about data:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

We spend so much time collecting and attempting to analyze data and yet it seems difficult to “drink” from the overwhelming amount we have.  I wonder if we keep an eye on the reasons why we gather data in the first place.  In my mind, there are  two main reasons to collect data:

    • To form actionable business questions
    • To measure how where we are today is different from where we were yesterday

Let me take a second to discuss them.  When we gather information from a customer or potential customer, we should always have a reason for doing so.  Otherwise we’re just filling up our data storage with bits we’ve got no need to store.  A recent IDG Connect study found that the biggest hurdles facing companies in terms of data were poor data quality and excessive data, so we need to think before we gather.  Some of the information they will give you (name, email, maybe a physical address); other information you’ll take yourself (usage patterns on the web and/or mobile, information our of social profiles, etc).

We ought to be using some of that data to educate our fans about our brand and industry.  That falls under the “actionable” category.  What results do we want from them?  How can we tell if we’re moving the needle?  One big day of traffic might be an aberration but trends tend not to lie over time.  I like this quote from the report:

The true value of Big Data is in the ability to leverage it for development of an informed strategy. Organizations need to move beyond a focus on just managing data to extracting trends and insights that will drive business outcomes.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information you have, you probably have too much.  It’s probably not properly focused.  We need to collect as little data as possible – it’s much easier to drink a glass of water than an ocean.  It should be just enough to generate insight and not enough to foster confusion.  Which are you doing?

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