Tag Archives: business thinking

April 9, 2013 · 9:45 am

The View From The Bench

Great game played by Michigan and Louisville last night in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.  It was everything a championship game should be for the most part: great action, close scoring, and some interesting story lines.  I wish that two things had been different   the officiating had been better (both teams got screwed on a number of incorrect calls) and that the Wolverines had won.  However, besides an excellent evening’s entertainment, I got something else out of the game I’d like to share.

Stretching before the 2006 NCAA Men's Division...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two players – Luke Hancock and Spike Albrecht – were the stories of the game in many ways.  When Michigan’s star guard got into early foul trouble, Albrecht came off the bench and scored 17 points before halftime.  For a kid who averaged under 2 points a game, that’s quite a performance.  Hancock went him one better with a performance off the bench that was so good he became the first non-starter to be named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.  Both players made an excellent business point which is today’s thought.

There are a dozen players on a basketball team and yet only five play at once.  Generally the rotation of players, barring foul trouble or injury, isn’t more than seven.  Still, every person on the bench needs to stay ready.  Every sport has a crew of backup players – those who, for one reason or another, don’t play as much on game day but are integral parts of the team.

It’s the same in business.  Every person on the team needs to understand the game plan and keep their skills sharp even if the plan isn’t for them to be the main players that day.  I wanted “bench” players on my business team who understood that their job went beyond the time when they were front and center.  When you’re out of a game for a spell, your job isn’t to rest.  You have a wider perspective – you can see the entire floor or field.  Help your team with your observations.  For business, this means, for example, reading drafts of presentations carefully and offering suggestions  not sitting around pouting because you’re not the one giving the show.  Who knows – like Albrecht and Hancock, you might get a chance when you least expect it.   Be ready – the chance may not come a second time.

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April 4, 2013 · 11:11 am

Are You A Middleman?

I was having lunch yesterday with a business friend and he remarked on some new eyeglasses I’d recently bought.

eyeglasses

(Photo credit: Lynn Kelley Author)

I told him about the purchase process and how the next time I bought some new specs (these were an emergency purchase due to a misplaced foot) I’d be doing so online. I talked about Warby Parker and how they are selling high quality frames and lenses for under $100. I went on to talk about an article in the Times this week on how there were companies like W/P who are cutting out the middlemen in areas such as bedding (Crane and Canopy), office supplies (Poppin), nail polish (Julep), tech accessories (Monoprice), men’s shoes (Beckett Simonon) and shaving supplies (Harry’s).

As I drove back from lunch I thought about how that process really should raise a question for each of us and every business:  what value are we adding?  The reason the above companies are successful is that they’re offering the same high-quality products at lower prices by cutting several layers out of the business transaction.  Obviously, if the quality of the end-product remains the same, all of those layers were adding nothing of value but were adding to the costs.

Disintermediation is probably the biggest effect the internet has had over the last twenty years.  It’s not just in the retail chain either.  Video on demand services such as Netflix cut out the local video store.  The ability for program creators to access audiences directly has cut out distributors such as TV networks and even cable systems.  The easiest way for any of the middlemen to remain a part of the equation is for them to define the value they bring to the sale and make that value very apparent.  This is true, perhaps even more so, if you’re in a service business.

There is a tendency to think that the technology is simply making things more efficient.  If clarifying the value chain means “efficient” then I guess I agree.  If you are a middleman of any sort, you need to be doing that clarification yourself, both internally and externally.  Does that make sense?

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March 28, 2013 · 10:32 am

Word Count Zero

Some days it’s a pretty easy thing to crank out three or four hundred words here in the screed.  Other days it’s a struggle and today is one of those days.  Oh sure, there is plenty of research to write about and a few stupid business tricks about which I’m aware, but I’ve noticed you guys tend not to read the research-oriented posts (there will be fewer) and the stupid stuff the businesses are doing isn’t really taking the idiocy to a new level.  So I’m kind of stuck here at word count zero.

600x750mm sign intended to match the specifica...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Maybe it’s a good day to write about inspiration vs. preparation.  I try to be prepared by clipping articles I think might provide good fodder for the screed on those days when the inspirational spirit is weak.  The process is one that many businesses use in product development   Find something that’s interesting, add your own twist (hopefully making it better in the process) and market the heck out of it.  The articles I’ve got clipped are fine but my own twisted thoughts seem to be lacking.

Maybe it’s a good day to write about that there’s not a lot to write about.  Businesses seem to be in a rut – there’s a lot of more of the same but not a lot of innovation.  Perhaps that’s because we’re finally on a more sound economic footing and business is getting a chance to see what works in a more normal economic environment.

Maybe it’s a good day to wish one of my dearest friends a happy birthday and write about how the lessons I’ve learned from our relationship over the last 20 or so years have helped me be better at business.  Too many of us tend to think that personal and business behavior should be different.  Not me.   In part that’s because he’s helped me to understand that people who are nice to you in a restaurant (business) and nasty to the servers (personal) are going to turn on you as soon as they no longer think you can help them.  All too true.

Then again, maybe I’ll expand each of those thoughts later on.  In the meantime, we’re done here today unless you have something to add.  Do you?

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