Tag Archives: business

May 2, 2012 · 10:12 am

Bubbles

Many of you may have seen a bunch of articles asking if we’re in another tech bubble.  There was an excellent one today in The Silicon Alley Insider (they conclude we’re not and their reasoning is pretty sound and fact-based) and it got me thinking about the nature of “bubbles” and how tech is far from the only area to experience them.  In fact, I’m going to posit that your business may fall victim to them at times.  Let me explain.

Here is the definition of a bubble from the article:

…We have to ask what a bubble is. And the important thing to get is that a bubble is a mass delusion. Technology investor and visionary Peter Thiel has a good definition which boils down to this: a bubble is a) a widespread, intense belief that’s b) wrong.  In other words, a bubble is what happens when the vast majority of people believe (and are putting their money into) things based on a fundamentally wrong-headed notion.

I like that, and I think it’s applicable to people just as much as it is to businesses.  We can start with many of the “celebrities” that populate so much of our popular culture today.  Many people seem to believe things about them (they’re role models, they’ve got talent) that are fundamentally wrong.  Add most of the “artists” we hear who are incapable of performing without electronic enhancement if, in fact, they’re the ones performing their music at all.  Most of the time, they’ve taken a riff from someone else’s work and gone from there.

Then there are some “thought leaders” out there who haven’t had an original thought in a decade.  Unfortunately, a good portion of the traditional trade press (which makes a lot of its dough from subscriptions and ads from these some folks) doesn’t point out that these emperors are naked.  There is a leadership bubble in many sectors – an intense belief in people who are just wrong.

Sorry for the snark today but am I off-base?  Are we living in a time of mass delusion?  Or am I the only delusional one?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , ,

May 1, 2012 · 11:02 am

Being Prepared

A very long time ago that seems like yesterday, I was a Boy Scout.  Given that it was the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, being a part of a quasimilitary organization (or even any organization other than a rock band) was a fairly brave thing to do on my part although I certainly didn’t see it as such at the time.  The thing that scouting impresses upon you almost from the outset is the need to BE PREPARED.  Yep, in caps.  Be prepared in mind, be prepared in body.

"A Boy Scout" Boy Scout Cigarette Card

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I got to thinking about that the other day as I left a meeting.  I had spent several hours getting ready – trying to anticipate questions I might be asked, learning about the company and person with whom I was meeting – and the prep work paid off.  We had a very productive session, hopefully the first of many more.  Rather than spend a lot of time going over preliminaries, we were able to move into the real questions each of us had for the other.

When you drive beyond a town you sometimes come across a sign for a new housing development that’s nothing more than some roads.  It’s easy to say “I have no clue what this is, what it will look like, if it’s worth thinking about, etc.”  But someone has to build the road first. Sure, it’s all empty lots, there’s not much around. But being prepared is building the road.  Equipment and workers can’t get in without a road; nothing much can happen in any project or meeting without prep.

I used to say I didn’t want to walk into any meeting where I hadn’t already answered the questions.  What I meant was that I always wanted my team to get ready in advance by thinking through all the possible options, the potential questions, and projected outcomes.  That wasn’t about predetermining the outcome.  It was about being ready to discuss any and all thinking.  More importantly, it was showing respect to the other participants in the room by not needing to get up to speed or to schedule another meeting because you need a lot more time to gather information.

So today’s thought is the scout motto:  be prepared.  As a teacher you learn that every hour teaching is preceded by an hour or more of prep.  It’s been a good lesson to carry forward into business – devote as much time to preparing as to doing.  You’ll be surprised how much more actually gets done.

Enhanced by Zemanta

1 Comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , , , ,

April 25, 2012 · 7:02 am

Digital Just Might Be Dead And Why That’s Good

Do any of  you focus on the miracle that is the telephone any more?  We can speak to someone thousands of miles away as if they were in the same room.  How about the fact that we did away with wires on those phones and now they’re “cordless?”  Maybe even that phones are not tied to a location any more but we can walk around with them on the street or in the car.  A miracle, no?  And yet, for those of us that still use voice communication as a preferred method of interpersonal interaction, the telephone is just a means to an end.  We’re so past the technology that we can get back to focusing on the conversation itself, whether or not the person with whom we’re having it is in the room.

"Technology has exceeded our humanity"

"Technology has exceeded our humanity" (Photo credit: Toban Black)

I thought of that as I read the Ad Age piece on their Digital Conference and a statement by Gap’s CMO that “digital is dead:”

He made the bold statement for Ad Age’s Digital Conference, explaining that the idea of “digital” ceases to be relevant when brands stop thinking about technology for the sake of technology and simply think about their purpose.

I like that.  Way too many brands are enraptured by the technology and stop thinking about the business.  They’re focused on the phone and not on the conversation.  Most of us don’t think about how a metal tube moving at hundreds of miles an hour many miles off the ground works – we just get on the plane.  Maybe digital isn’t dead but maybe we’re getting to be post-technological.  We’ve got over the amazement brought on by viewing content anywhere on any screen (when those pesky business relationship don’t get in the way) on demand and instead we just enjoy the show.

I agree we need to spend more time on “purpose” and less time on doing tech because it’s “cool” or the next shiny object.  The next step is to realize that purpose is customer-centric and transparent and not “We talk you listen”.

Isn’t progress grand!

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under digital media

Tagged as , , , , ,