A Consultant's Chronicles

Learning From Failure

Here we are in a new year so recently when I heard probably one of the best quotes for this time of year I just had to share it because it immediately rings true. As we all know, the new year is all about the perennial "clean slate" which we all frequently talk about in terms of our personal & business lives. Typically this is done by making new year's resolutions... resolutions that get broken quickly. However, listening to an interview with veteran sportswriter John Feinman, he shared a quote from one of my favorite figures in sports today, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski [better known as Coach K].

Why Failure Can Be An Important Tool For Success

According to Feinman because Coach K learned from failure, he has become the coach with the most wins in the college game surpassing some very big names. Feinman recalled sitting  in a local Denny's with the coach after a particularly bad loss early in his tenure at Duke & raised his water glass & said "here's to forgetting that game". What was Coach K's response?

"...Here's to NEVER FORGETTING that game...!!"

Why? Only by never forgetting failure can you learn from past mistakes & change the trajectory of experience in the future. Moreover, unless you pay attention to those less than stellar times, you will more likely than not, repeat the same mistakes.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, Ellen Gunty is a graduate of Duke University.

Behavior In the Workplace: The YouTube Guide To Life

Recently I read an article, which offered many different & useful tips when it comes to managing in a crisis. The source of these tips came from consultants, academicians, authors & CEO's alike. However, there's a tip that really caught my eye. It comes from columnist Bruce Weinstein & it is something that I believe every manager should heed at anytime. It requires screening your actions in a very simple way. Always ask yourself "can my actions pass the YouTube test? If you wouldn't mind seeing what you've done [or plan to do] "going viral" in a video clip great but if not, stop right there! Actually this is a pretty egalitarian guidepost since it could easily be applied to managers & employees alike.

Line of the Week 6-07-09

When it comes to the line of the week today I have to give it to a "that says it all" line by Alan Feuer of the New York Times. "Finger pressed perfectly on the pulse" of what's going on in "big law" as well as companies large & small all over the country today, quoting a young lawyer at White & Case he wrote:

"...Many office doors are shut — not because of meetings, but, as one associate put it, so that “the man with the ax” cannot find the occupants..."

People have heard & continue to hear those particular "footsteps all over the country.

 

Safety-net Sales: A New Sales Pitch Or A Gamble

You read it here first! Back in mid-January I wrote about a new kind of sales pitch-one with a "safety-net" attached. I first saw it employed by Hyundai but since then many other companies have adopted similar policies. Companies that sell big-ticket items are no longer the only ones using this strategy. Yesterday I was booking a flight & noticed that JetBlue had built a safety-net structure for booking airline tickets. Not only is this creative & adaptive marketing but also it is good PR since it puts the company on the side of the consumer.

A Sales Pitch Or A Gamble

Similar to rebates, my bet is that that most companies using this sales model are betting that once the purchase is made, the statistics swing in their favor. Right now it's hard to get people to part with their cash but psychologically, once the item is in hand, it's becomes harder to return the merchandise. Rebates are an appealing inducement to consumers at point of purchase because the companies believe that either a. most people won't even bother mailing in the rebate form or b. will do so incorrectly [ex. mail it in too late, forget the sales slip, or other requested information]. Times like these demand creative marketing. Not surprisingly, those who adapt will thrive & those who don't will get left in the dust.

Is The Newspaper Industry Capable of Changing

I live in the San Francisco bay area & our newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, is like a 3 legged stool with 2 wobbly legs & 1 leg so compromised that if a strong wind comes along, the whole stool [read: newspaper] will fall. As a result, well-known writers have had to take buy-outs, opt for early retirement, etc; basically they have had to "order" from the same undesirable menu as employees in many other industries all over the country.  

Means vs Medium

Opining about the death of newspapers [particularly her own] & questioning whether there is even a shred of a chance of saving the dying industry, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd cleverly frames the problem by appropriating a theme from the new Star Trek movie. Borrowing from one of the movie's themes, the difference between what is morally praiseworthy & what is morally obligatory, she maintains that while newspapers may do the praiseworthy thing of shining a bright light on our political & cultural darker tendencies, it seems that society as a whole no longer views this endeavor as obligatory.  Personally I believe this is only partially true. I think she's mistaking means & medium. People are hungrier than ever for news otherwise things like blogs & sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon & many more simply could not exist. On the other hand, what has changed is the desired medium for information. Instead of newspapers people have turned to their computers, mobile phones, Ipods, & Kindles.

Newspapers Are No Longer In A Class By Themselves

Basically if they want to thrive, newspapers have to stop seeing themselves as a "protected class," & change their delivery system with the times. The entertainment industry [music, TV, & movies] changed its delivery model & newspapers must do the same. Not unlike the American auto industry, their choice is change or become extinct.

 

Effective Decision-making & 10-10-10: A New Name For An Old Concept

Recently I read an interview given by Suzy Welch, wife of GE's famed CEO Jack Welch & co-author of the regular weekly column in BusinessWeek: the Welch-Way. Mrs. Welch has just put out a new book entitled10-10-10, which I look forward to reading. The title is based on the idea that when we make decisions we have to think about their impact in 3 ways: what will happen as a result in the next 10 minutes, 10 months, & 10 years.

New Name for An Old Concept

I believe this is an important & constructive way of considering the decisions we make both in business & in our personal lives. Why? I think that it provides a structure for effective decision-making. However, I think it's a new name for an old concept.  Until now I have always referred to this kind of thinking as "playing chess" because in order to be successful in that game, you always have to be thinking several moves ahead. I definitely give Welch credit for giving this kind of organized thinking a name [what 10-10-10 lacks in elegance, it makes up in specificity]. What do you think?  Do you use 10-10-10?  If so, why; if not, why not?

Layoffs & An Employer's Moral Imperative

A couple of years ago a client of mine was brought here to the bay area to work for a fine establishment that while still young had an excellent reputation. He was there 2 months before he lost his job; then again so did everyone else! The business closed rather unceremoniously. Why? The owner's accountant sat down with him & said, "you lost $1,000,000 last year; your other business is feeding your kids, so you have to shut this place down!" He did & my client & his staff were out "pounding pavement."

Trying To Stay Afloat

This is a rather drastic scenario but more commonly today we are seeing companies who are a little more aware of their financial situation trying to stay afloat through the use of workforce reduction [commonly known as layoffs]. Sometimes companies pull this particular trigger too quickly without examining alternatives. Recently I attended an HR training sponsored by Fitzgerald, Abbott, & Beardsley that highlighted some options for companies.

Alternatives To "RIFS"

What are some alternatives to reductions in force [RIFS]? There are three general categories which I am going to put under three subsections: money, tasks,& lifecycle.

The "money" alternatives include:

• Salary & bonus freezes
• Bonus reductions 
• Deferring salary increases
• Altering benefits [ex. greater cost sharing & higher deductibles] 
• Of course, hiring freezes

"Task" related alternatives include:

• Declare a moratorium on temporary & part-time workers
• Job-sharing
• Transfers
• Work furloughs
• Reduction of work hours [& pay]
• Execute terminations based on legitimate & documented poor performance 

And finally, "employee lifecycle" alternatives, which include:

• Informal "severance packages"
• Formal [& therefore covered by ERISA] voluntary attrition programs [using early retirement incentives & voluntary resignation incentives]

An Employer's Moral imperative

Without a doubt, an employer's first obligation is to its board & to its stockholders. However, while recognizing that the primary goal must be to stay alive, in my view, trying the more atomistic measures first is an employer's moral imperative before putting large numbers of people out of work. Why, because an employer's human capital is its most valuable asset.

Line of the Week 3-29-09

I heard this week's line of the week listening to commentary on Hardball about Barack Obama's first trip overseas as president. Comparing the effect Obama has had on the European community with his predecessor, radio talk show host E. Steven Collins reminded the audience of something his father told him [about achieving his goals]:

"...For you to get what you're not getting, you have to do what you're not doing..." 

So simple & so true.

The Global Economy & Jobs: A Tale of Two Companies

I was recently reading about how two different companies, Cisco & IBM are changing in order to operate more effectively in the 21st century. Bearing our current fiscal & employment crisis in mind, I have to say that I believe that IBM has the better general model when it comes to serving the national interest as well as its own business interest. Read on & decide for yourself,

Building A Global Footprint

The Cisco model reportedly attempts to examine its company from the outside-in. By way of trying to achieve this goal, it is building international satellites & training programs all over the globe, which allows them to employ the best & the brightest from places like India & the Middle East. They also are now requiring their engineers & managers to have global experience & speak a minimum of two languages. While these are certainly laudable cultural goals as they relate to business, clearly the larger one is to try to create a giant global economic footprint but at the expense of employment here at home. In my view this narrow model seems to be a microtrend that is similarly as problematic as something I wrote about in an earlier post regarding Pfizer Works. 

IBM Goes Global But Comes Home

IBM however, is taking their home-grown teams all over the globe for one month. In that time, they completely immerse themselves in their host country's culture [which means no CNN or even Western food]. The goal here is to learn new skills & management ideas from these experiences in the service of building global teams gaining insight into how to be better managers of teams that are culturally diverse along the way. The people who have had this training find the experiences profoundly meaningful, for some it's even considered transformational.

Businesses Can Build A Global Workforce Right Here At Home

Of course when it comes to any specific business, the concept of "one size fits all" is a silly one. However, I would much prefer to see American companies embrace the IBM model that employs Americans [first] yet provides them with a global experience than see a US company use its resources [& get tax breaks in the bargain] for creating an international workforce in other places [a la Cisco] at the expense of our economic growth. This strategy does little to boost our middle class, enrich our educational institutions, & fill our tax coffers. I once read somewhere that there are more Albanians in NYC than there are in Albania. Now that's probably a bit of an exaggeration but the point is nonetheless still valid. Ours is one of the few nations where it is possible to build an international workforce right here at home.

Has the 'Hot, Flat, & Crowded' Train Already Left The Station

I am a huge fan of columnist Tom Friedman & believe he is 100% correct in his book The World Is Flat [& followed by Hot, Flat, & Crowded] which explains why we have to change business models & broaden our vision [by including environmental issues] ] in order to accomodate a global economy. However he also notes that other countries are beating us in areas that used to be our domain. No longer can we depend on "draining the brains" of talented people from other lands when they can be just as successful at home. If we don't get onboard bringing the American workers with us, we will all be left behind. The only question remaining is has the train already left the station?

Rise Up In Anger: Oohhh, Yes We Can

In today's Washington Post under the heading of anger management I saw the following picture reminding me of something we all learn as kids: " 'be careful what you ask for'..." Obama asked us to "rise up" [& create change]. However I don't think his plan was to organize against the Democrats & his administration's policies!!!