Tag Archives: business thinking

April 22, 2013 · 11:38 am

How Many, Not How

Mondays are no fun.  As you might know if you’ve been on the screed on a Monday, I spend most of my weekends when the ground isn’t covered with snow playing golf.

English: Golfing in Ontario golf course, Oregon.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mondays are the days when my obsession with the game (and my lack of golfing prowess) usually shows up here.  This Monday, it’s about a thought I had while I was playing in a tournament on Saturday.  I was playing on a team with a person who had clubs that were at least 10 years old.  Golf technology changes very rapidly, and his driver was the size of my five wood (meaning it was way smaller than any modern driver).  The shaft of the club was slightly bent down by the club head and I had no clue how he could hit the ball.

Hit the ball he did – some of our team’s best drives came off that club.  In fact, he hit some amazing shots both good and bad.  My favorite was a worm-burner that rolled and rolled and rolled maybe 150 yards until it stopped rolling 10 feet from the pin.  Which reminded me of the old golf adage “it’s not how, it’s how many” which is my business thought today as well.

It seems to me we spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing the tools we use in business just as there’s an equipment obsession in golf.  Those are really about the “how.”  No matter what tools you’re using, none of them matter if you’re not being consistent and clear about what you’re trying to do with them – the “how many.” It’s easy to get caught up processes and in so doing you miss a focus on achieving the real goal.   If you haven’t clarified the things you want to accomplish over time, there’s little chance of success.  The tool or app is less important than the way you use it.  The process isn’t the business.

We’ve all had bosses who focused on when a report was delivered and then never read it to see what was inside.  Woe be to those who missed a deadline, even if the work was crap.  That’s “how”, not “how many.”  Take an extra day and achieve perfection is my preference.  Hit one long and straight with a crooked driver.  Make a par with an awful shot that winds up next to the pin.  There are no pictures on the scorecard, folks.

You with me?

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April 12, 2013 · 11:37 am

What Grills Teach Us About Scaling

A rainy Friday but we’ll still have our Foodie Friday Fun as if the sun was shining and we’re firing up the grill outside.

Beef and Corn on a Charcoal BBQ grill

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is getting to be that time, of course, and with it comes one of the big differences between a professional kitchen and most amateur kitchens:  the ability to scale.  Cooking for a family of four is vastly different from making the exact same meal for 24.  In the case of the aforementioned grill, grilling burgers, dogs, and chicken for four is relatively easy; doing so for 24 requires excellent timing, a much bigger grill, and a way to keep food hot while the rest of it cooks.  That’s why I have a firm rule against “piece work” when cooking for a lot of people – I always use big cuts – racks of ribs, briskets, whole chickens – and cut them into serving pieces.  It makes scaling the operation a lot easier.

Many business folks don’t think about scaling.  They develop a product or service or management style that works when things are small but which can’t handle a much larger set of challenges.  Managing a staff of three can be easy – communication should be efficient, there are only a few egos and skill sets to align.  When three becomes 30, look out, especially if your management style is one of detachment or tolerance rather than engagement.  Obviously there are technical challenges in many businesses as well – servers can only handle so much traffic, sloppy code can’t process quickly enough to handle demand are some examples in tech.  Customer service lines can be full, inventory management can be a nightmare – some non-tech issues.  Those are things that must be contemplated very early on with an eye towards the stress brought on by success (not a bad problem to have, right?)

How the business will grow and how to support that growth is probably not on enough radars.  Do we get bigger through new products?  Do we add areas of focus?  Do we get enough funding to make acquisitions?  Strange as it may seem, planning a cookout can help think it through.  If you’re running out of food or serving it cold, guest walk away hungry or maybe sick.  Scaling to serve your guests (customers) isn’t something that just happens – it requires thought and planning.  So does business!

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April 11, 2013 · 10:09 am

A Riff On Transformation From AI

I’m pretty sure that each of you has a guilty pleasure or two. One of mine is American Idol which, despite its diminished viewership and declining influence, is still the only singing competition that regularly puts out talent making hit recordings. Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are the two biggest musical names that also won but Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry, and a slew of other musical names have come out of the show.

American Idol logo 2008–2011

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the things I enjoy most about the program, besides watching unknown singers turning into stars, are the times when a truly memorable performance occurs. Last night we had one and it actually made me think of an important business lesson.

Most of the really great performances on Idol have come when a singer takes a song and remakes it in his or her own style. Over the years, Adam Lambert took a Tears for Fears song (Mad World), slowed it down, and stripped the arrangement to feature his voice. Brilliant, although the fact that he sang it out of the park helped too! The year David Cook won, he transformed a song almost every week to make it his own. Last night, one of the contenders, a young woman named Candice Glover, did the same with The Cure’s “Love Song.” She performed Adele’s re-imagination of the song and took it to another level.  Which is exactly the business point.

While it’s hard to say, as does Ecclesiastes, that there’s nothing new under the sun (not in technology anyway), many of the best new products and services are transformed versions of things that have come before.  In some cases it’s optimizing a service or product for a digital world (for the digital voice, if you will).  In other cases, it’s transforming something altogether to make it better – mp3 players to iPhones are the most obvious examples but there are many others.

The lesson from Idol is that whatever you do, make it yours and make it spectacularly good.  Seems like some excellent business thinking as well.  You agree?

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