Tag Archives: management

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 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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March 29, 2013 · 9:43 am

Toasting The Barrel

The first Foodie Friday post of Spring, or maybe I should be calling it “Boozie Friday” given the topic.  Either way it seems as if Spring has taken forever to get here.  Now that it has arrived so too do some of my favorite sporting events, one of which is the Kentucky Derby.  There are many beloved traditions associated with the first Saturday in May but the one in which most people seem to indulge is the Mint Julep which of course means bourbon, Kentucky’s whiskey.

Bourbon is aged in barrels, specifically new, charred white oak barrels.  That’s right – charred.  Before the raw whiskey is put into them, the barrels are “toasted.”  The heat burns the wood which imparts flavor to the end product.  Which is, of course, the business point today.

Many managers spend an awful lot of time trying to avoid conflict.  In some cases, they legislate the conflict away – they make all the decisions and the staff is there to follow orders.  I disagree.  I think businesses need to be more like bourbon barrels.  No, I don’t advocate burning them down.  Applying heat to them in a strategic manner is, however, something in which I do believe.  People need to bat ideas around.  They need to have a good debate about product, marketing, resources, and anything else that affects the business and, therefore, them.  Those discussions will, by their nature, generate heat.  It can’t be allowed to set the entire enterprise ablaze (you want to char the barrel, not burn it up) and that’s part of the manager’s role.  Heat imparts flavor – you don’t hear of any foods that are frozen to impart taste (you cook ice cream before you freeze it, wise guys).

Don’t be afraid of conflict.  People will disagree and that friction can lead to better things if it’s managed properly.  Letting your team know that it’s ok to have differing points of view brought to the surface is important.  Ultimately the supervisor needs to help everyone reach consensus and if that’ not possible, to make a decision as to the final direction.  But even if a team member’s desired course of action isn’t the one taken, knowing that they had input which was considered as one option strengthens the team.  A little heat for a brief time added flavor and made for a better product.

Now where did I leave the mint?

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