Tag Archives: managing

March 14, 2016 · 10:59 am

Daylight Saving

We turned our clocks ahead an hour yesterday and Daylight Saving (no “s”!) Time is upon us. Hopefully, you checked the batteries in your smoke and CO2 detectors too. There are some funny things about Daylight Saving and they’re instructive for business as well.

Victory-Cigar-Congress-Passes-DST papa edit

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First, as with many things in business, the origins of DST are widely misreported. There is a collective myth that Benjamin Franklin invented it when, in fact, he only commented back in 1784 that the French (he was in Paris) could save a lot of money if they’d awaken earlier. He proposed a change in sleep schedules, not in the time. The real father of modern DST is an Englishman, who had the idea and campaigned for it in the early 20th century (Germany implemented it in 1916, the first country to do so).

Second, the reasoning behind it is commonly misunderstood. Many people believe that it was to benefit farmers when, in fact, it was a wartime measure. Farmers don’t especially like it and they work by the sun anyway. In fact, farmers led the fight to repeal DST in 1919.  It doesn’t save energy and it does seem to lead to more strokes and heart attacks.

So the “who” and the “why” are not correctly understood and yet we continue to have DST in many places (interesting that it’s not universal, even within the USA). I bring this up because it seems as if there is beginning to be a discussion about why we have DST at all. Which leads to the business point.

So many things in business happen just because “that’s how things are done.” Why they’re done that way is often misunderstood and who is behind the process or practice is often misidentified.  There is rarely, if ever, a questioning and reevaluation, but like Daylight Saving, maybe it’s an anachronism that causes more problems than it solves.  Thoughts?

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March 2, 2016 · 12:02 pm

Linear Equations

I suspect that most of you had to take algebra in high school. One of the most basic things you learn is how to solve linear equations. You might have wondered, as I did at the time, how the heck is this going to prove useful other than passing an exam. As it turns out, there is quite a bit we can learn as businesspeople from them.

English: Revision of File:FuncionLineal02.svg

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As you recall, in order to solve for the unknown variable in one of these equations, you must isolate the variable. As you’re doing that, you also need to be cognizant of the order of operations: multiplication and division are completed before addition and subtraction. Yes, I can feel you shuddering as you recall algebra class! Here is the point, however. We need to be doing exactly that in business.

As businesspeople, we need to ask ourselves “for what are we solving?” What is our unknown variable? It’s always amazing how few managers identify specific, measurable goals. We see this in reports that puke up lots of data but which fail to identify either what impact the actions reflected in the data might have or what actions might be taken to improve the business based on the data. We need to identify the unknown variable and to solve for it.

Second, we often forget the order of operations in our businesses. How often do you hear the “ready, fire, aim” complaint? We need to identify, plan, budget and evaluate constantly, recognizing that markets are fluid and opportunities may be fleeting.  We can’t always chase the next shiny object or, at least, those which don’t fit into our business model and plan.

The flaw in my analogy today is that business is not “linear”, meaning that it’s rare that there is a straight line drawn as there must be in a linear equation.  Nevertheless, isolating the variable in order to solve for it – identifying our goals and the data which allow us to measure our progress – is critical, don’t you think?

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February 4, 2016 · 12:12 pm

My Bat, My Ball

A long time ago I had a boss who used to recite a little rhyme when he’d get into a discussion with other managers about how something ought to be done. It’s stuck with me: 

My bat, my ball
My ass, my call

In other words, as the person in charge of our division, I’m the one who answers to top management if things go wrong, so I get to decide how things are going to get done. I thought of him as I read the results of a survey by General Electric (GE) and Edelman Berland, which asked respondents to choose their three most challenging best practices to implement for enabling innovation  This was reported by eMarketer.  There were two best practices which the respondents found most difficult to implement.

The first was creating a connected culture where idea-sharing is facilitated and where all the contributing parties are recognized and rewarded.  The second was creating a set of metrics to decide which product or service should be funded or killed, as well as having a clear process and structure in place to manage innovation.  These we cited by over 40% of the survey respondents. What struck me about that, and how it relates to my old boss’ saying, is that both are about control.

With respect to the first point. If you’ve worked in any organization larger than a handful of people you’ve probably come across the dreaded silo effect.  You know what I mean: people not allowing anyone outside of their immediate group to see into their area and the lack of communication and cross-departmental support often found in large companies.  As a boss, you can mandate that people play nicely with other departments but the reality is that unless you proactively facilitate it and monitor it, it doesn’t really happen.  The second half of the point about reward is also about control since rewarding subordinates is often how managers keep people in line.  Shocking news: managers often play favorites irrespective of some folk’s contributions.

With respect to the second point.  That same boss had another saying: let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story. Again, a control issue.  He wanted to decide what we did and how we did it.  We would innovate HIS ideas and we’d kill something when HE decided, irrespective of the data we had.

The real challenge these points raise is that of being adult enough to relinquish control in order to gain control of the business.  Turning a dictatorship into a benevolent monarchy is hard, but necessary.  Are you up to the task?

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