Tag Archives: life

October 28, 2013 · 10:31 am

The Scenic Route

I’ve been doing a bit of driving in places with which I’m unfamiliar lately.

Map of Gray's Inn Road

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Way back in the dark ages of the 1980’s, doing that sort of thing required one of two actions. Either one bought a map from someplace such as a gas station or the AAA or one called ahead for directions. I vividly recall a moment of panic on a business trip years ago when I thought I left a folder full of routing instructions to get me through a day’s worth of appointments in a hotel room.  The thought of finding a pay phone (remember them?) and having to write down turn by turn directions when I was already on a tight schedule gave me agita before the day was very old.

Today, of course, getting from point A to point B is as simple as pushing a button and announcing the destination. Every “smart” mobile device (which means about 60% of the mobile phones out there) has some sort of mapping/driving directions program.  The device speaks, we listen, and somehow we arrive despite having no clue as to where we are or how we got there.  Occasionally the devices are even smarter than we are.  While we might know a shorter route than the one we’re being told to take we don’t know about traffic, construction, or other delays en route.

There is no doubt that Waze, Google Maps, and other software are great for when we’re driving.  I am fond, however, of “getting lost” a little bit when it come to taking about business.  Have you ever just got in the car and driven around?  Maybe you see a sign for a town you’d heard of but never seen.  Along the way there might be a diner or fruit stand.   It might not be the most direct route and if you get lost for real you can announce to the GPS system you want to go home, safe in the knowledge that you’ll get there.  But discovery often comes when we get off the fastest route and maybe try the scenic route.

The pace of business is demanding but turning off our business GPS and “wandering” can often pay off handsomely if we can be disciplined enough to get off the beaten path.  Oxymoron?  No – imagining new things and being creative is hard and takes discipline.  Losing our directions without getting lost is tricky.  Can you do it?

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October 15, 2013 · 9:01 am

Better

Ready for a two-fer TunesDay? Today I have two songs that deal with the same issue – our approach to the world and, therefore, how we’re likely to approach business as well. The first is from The Kinks, who are probably better known for Van Halen‘s interpretation of one of their songs (You Really Got Me) then they are for creating some of the most innovative music of the late 60’s and the 70’s and 80’s.  The second one is from The Boss, mostly because it hits on the same theme, I love his music, and its my screed!

First The Kinks:

If you’re ever feeling a little down, this might just be the uplift you need.  I don’t know of a more positive song.  The core of it is contained in these lines:

Be an optimist instead,
And somehow happiness will find you.
Forget what happened yesterday,
I know that better things are on the way.

And that’s really the business point as well.  Unsuccessful people tend to look externally, in my opinion.  The market is bad, a competitor cut prices, a key employee just left, what can we do?  There are always things out of one’s control that are the root of the problems the business is having. As the song points out, a positive attitude lets happiness – which in business is often measured by success – find you.

The Boss weighs in:

What’s so interesting about this song – one of Bruce‘s most positive – is that it was written when his life was kind of confused.  He had dissolved the E Street Band and left New Jersey to live in California.  He had gotten divorced and had changed the style of his music and none of this was well-received by his legion of fans (me among them!).  In the midst of that time, this:

These are better days baby
These are better days it’s true
These are better days
There’s better days shining through

Maybe it’s a lost soul trying to convince himself that everything is fine or maybe it’s a man who faces each day sounding a positive note on whatever may come.   It’s the same point Ray Davies is making in our first song – being an optimist at heart leads one further along in life and in business because, as Bruce puts it “it’s a sad man my friend who’s livin’ in his own skin/And can’t stand the company.”

Make sense?  Oh – extra credit:  In September 2010, Ray Davies released “See My Friends”, an album of reworked classic Kinks songs, which contains a duet of ‘Better Things’ with Bruce Springsteen.  The streams converge!

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October 10, 2013 · 10:19 am

I Wonder…

When I talk about meeting new people or potential new hires, I always look for two things which are related to one another. The first is how curious that person is while the second is how they translate the results of that curiosity into cogent thinking. I suppose when I’m hiring I push this second point a little and try to get at how that thinking translated into action (and results). Both of these things come down to that person’s ability to wonder.

The Thinking Man sculpture at Musée Rodin in Paris

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s nice to respect the thinking that got a business or individual to where they are.  For some businesses, continuing to move forward on the basis of the usual patterns of thought can work.  For many, however, it won’t.  Markets change as do market conditions.  More importantly, the technological changes of the last decade and a half have ripped apart and rebuilt almost everything we thought we knew about how to interact with those markets.

The best way to approach business today is with a strong sense of curiosity.  We need to use one phrase a lot:  “I wonder…”  I wonder what would happen if we skipped a trade show and used the money to throw a golf outing.  I wonder what would happen to our sales if we took money out of TV and put it into search and I wonder if the drop in our unaided brand awareness is a big deal.  We need to maintain a mindset I try to foster in brainstorming sessions.  No idea is a”bad” idea.  Maybe some aren’t feasible as expressed but perhaps lurking inside that idea is a nugget of innovative thinking brought about by wondering about a topic.

Ask questions.  It’s a great social media strategy, by the way, since your audience is probably wondering about some of the topics that might help your business grow.  As an aside, it’s an important mindset for us to maintain as people – and citizens – as well.

If you can find a minute or two today, start wondering.  Ask questions.  Don’t dismiss the answers you get out of hand no matter how unfeasible or silly they might seem.  Start a sentence with “I wonder…” and see where it leads.  If you get a chance, tell me how you made out, because I wonder what you think!

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