SOLVE Q4 2014

Meaningful Meetings pg 04

Smarter Decisions pg 06

Bold New Thinking pg 12

WinTeR 2014

WHERE TO FIND YOUR NEXT

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WINTER 2014 | VOLUME 1 | NO.1

Features

08

departments pROduCTiviTy

04 Remote meetings that Get Results Keep your employees on the same page, even when they are not in the same city.

5 PLaceS To LooK WHen SaLeS aRe STucK

is the problem in your staff—or in your structure?

peOpl e smaRTs

06 The simple secret to making Better decisions Tap into the power of triads. suCCess in aCTiOn

Chief Talk

16 norm Brodsky, serial entrepreneur: putting people first 17 Ted fienning, Babiators: Creating a flight plan for Growth Guide TO GO

12

20 your iT Checklist for an Office move

f iel d RepORTs

05 miron Construction: Technology enhances Teamwork

innoVaTion Made eaSY

07 Ruibal’s plants: Speed Helps Sales Soar

use this strategy to get better and bolder ideas from the people who know your business best: your employees. plus: OuTside sOuRCes Of inspiRaTiOn, and

19 liberty ford: driven to Succeed

9 idea iGniTeRs Winter 2014

1

LETTER TO THE READER

Solutions, At Your Service WELCOME TO THE PREMIER EDITION OF SOLVE MAGAZINE. Created by Time Warner Cable

Business Class, Solve connects you with a lineup of exceptional business leaders who deliver fresh and actionable insights for the challenges you face.

At Time Warner Cable Business Class we are passionate about providing solutions that drive success. As a company, that is our sweet spot: we are a leader in helping businesses leverage technology to become more productive and grow.

As we talked with executives around the country, we saw another opportunity to support businesses and the people who lead them: this magazine. In Solve, you will find useful and original advice from top experts and fellow executives. The guidance here comes from your peers—people who have been where you are and know how things work in the real world.

People like Norm Brodsky, a bestselling author and street-smart entrepreneur.

Drawing on his experience as the founder of nine successful businesses, Brodsky explains why creating a culture is the most important thing you can do as a company leader. And people like futurethink founder and CEO Lisa Bodell, who in this issue shares a powerful, game-changing technique for accelerating innovation.

Through Solve you will also meet leaders like you who are leveraging Time Warner Cable Business Class solutions to drive gains in productivity, revenue, customer satisfaction, and competitiveness. From a top Midwest construction firm with over 1,000 employees to one of America’s largest Ford dealership groups to a fast-growing garden center business, each company explains how it selected the right infrastructure for success.

Through our relationships with more than 600,000 business customers, we know there has never been a more exciting or challenging time to be a company leader. We also understand the demands on your time and the pace at which you operate. Solve delivers timely, smart, and concise articles with ideas that can be implemented immediately. This approach spotlights our commitment at Time Warner Cable Business Class to provide all that you need to drive your business forward.

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Jeff Greenberg Group Vice President, Mid-Market, Channels and Alliances

Produced by RSL Media, LLC SOLVE Magazine is published by Time Warner Cable Business Class at 60 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023.

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For additional copies or reprints, please email SolveMagazine@twcable.com. © 2013 Time Warner Cable Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. Material in this publication must not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission.

2

Winter 2014

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PRODUCTIVITY

Remote Meetings That Get Results Keep your employees on the same page, even when they are not in the same city.

By Hassan Osman

T

he interconnected global economy allows—in fact, requires—companies to tap into talent around the world.

That fact has led to a virtual explosion in virtual meetings. There are just two major problems with such meetings: high quantity and low quality.

Because meetings tend to be the default mode of communication in corporate settings, we end up with too many meetings. And because we are still not very effective at communicating without face-to-face interaction, we end up with too many bad virtual meetings.

We have all heard the typical how-to advice to address these issues, and it still holds true: Have an agenda. Have a clear objective. Never schedule a meeting if you do not really need one.

However, as someone who manages remote teams for a living, I have discovered a few lesser-known strategies to make meetings more productive:

Batch them up Often the same members of your team need to have multiple meetings—for example, with finance, with HR, and with the client. To protect blocks of uninterrupted work time during the week, try to batch meetings, especially recurring ones, in two ways: on the same day and in the same part of the day. Days that are early in the week and times that are early in the morning are preferable.

4

Winter 2014

Manage the multitaskers Everyone multitasks during a remote meeting. Some people answer their email, others read the news, and some even attend other virtual meetings. While it’s nearly impossible to ensure that everyone is always 100 percent attentive, you want to make sure that the right people are listening when they absolutely need to be. Before starting an important discussion, call team members by name. Say something like: “Sarah, Dave, and Steve, here is how I think we should approach this problem” to prime them to focus on what you have to say.

Get honest feedback Human nature and team politics being what they are, asking a question such as, “What do you really think about this?” to a colleague in a remote setting will not necessarily yield a truthful answer.

Phrase the question in a way that allows team members to feel comfortable being honest, such as, “What would you do differently?” or “What are your thoughts about how we can make this better?”

Have zero tolerance for off-topic discussions One of the biggest reasons remote meetings are ineffective is that they get hijacked by two or more team members who go off on tangents. The onus is on the person who is running the meeting to keep it on track, so be sure the facilitator is firm (and diplomatic): “I’m sorry to

cut you off, but given that we’re short on time to cover all the agenda items, I think it would be best if you schedule another meeting to discuss this issue.”

Confirm everything that has been decided Remote meetings are a breeding ground for miscommunication. The lack of visual cues, the varying accents, and the choppy connections are a few factors that increase the degree of ambiguity among your team. So instead of just delegating tasks, confirm them by posing them as questions to your team members. A couple of good ones are, “Can I count on you to get task X done by date Y?” and “Are you comfortable with this assignment?”

Don’t bother with meeting minutes No one reads them. Instead, focus on capturing only three things during every remote meeting: the what, the who, and the when. What is the next step? Who is working on it? When is it due? Then type the answers to those questions in separate bullets and send them in a follow-up email to hold everyone accountable.

Hassan Osman, PMP, is a senior program manager at Cisco Systems who leads virtual teams while working from his home office in Boston. He also teaches an online course on managing virtual teams through his blog, The Couch Manager. Views are his own.

field RepORT Miron Construction corporate headquarters in Neenah, WI

Miron construction Scores with new fiber Connections

T

he quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence,” counseled Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach who led the Green Bay Packers to a remarkable five championships in seven seasons. “Building excellence” is therefore a fitting motto for Wisconsin-based Miron Construction Co., the company selected to complete a $145 million upgrade of Lambeau Field, home to Lombardi’s beloved Packers.

Evaluating its own infrastructure, Miron’s management team determined that outmoded copper telephone line technology was no longer meeting the needs of its more than 1,000 employees working from six offices across the Midwest. With a goal of building excellence for its Internet and office network connections, Miron Construction chose Time Warner Cable Business Class to install a more reliable, scalable, secure, and cost-effective fiberbased solution. The move has been a game changer for Miron.

“We’ve been very happy because you can get so much more capacity and speed for really the same cost,” says Edward Ruffolo, Miron Construction’s Director of Technology. “It has really opened up a large world of new applications for us.”

In this new network-enabled world, Miron employees fill out their timecards online, streamlining payroll processing and compliance with union regulations.

Regular safety audits at remote project sites are now completed electronically, while construction supervisors rapidly exchange updates on equipment utilization and project change orders. The bottom line is improved operational efficiency and profitability for the construction services firm.

“Being able to get information out to project sites quickly and reliably keeps all of our projects running on time and on schedule,” Ruffolo explains.

Completed in May 2013, the Lambeau Field expansion proved to be one of Miron’s highest-profile projects. The stadium improvement added 6,700 new seats, two new entrance gates, rooftop viewing platforms in the north and south end zones, as well as two new HD video boards and a new sound system.

With an on-site fiber-optic connection from Time Warner Cable Business Class, Miron was able to seamlessly use company applications at the stadium during construction, including digital mapping and blueprints, file sharing, email, and telephone service. With enhanced network connectivity on-site, “it’s really just like never leaving the office,” Ruffolo says.

By teaming with Time Warner Cable Business Class, Miron Construction is scoring with key customers, enhancing operations, expanding its business, and building excellence.

Technology enhances Teamwork CHALLENGE: Miron construction, one of the largest construction services firms in

the Midwest, recognized an opportunity to strengthen its operations with enhanced network connectivity.

SOLUTION: in search of improved efficiency and profitability, the company partnered with

Time Warner cable Business class to replace old-fashioned copper-based networking technologies with cutting-edge fiber-optic solutions. Miron construction installed new connections at its headquarters and branch offices, as well as major customer job sites. The move has improved communication and collaboration among project teams and streamlined management processes as paper-based processes shift to online solutions. “There will be no more paper,” says edward Ruffolo, Miron’s director of Technology. “That’s all going to run over the Time Warner cable Business class backbone.”

Winter 2014

5

People Smarts

The Simple Secret to Making Better Decisions

WITH THREE PEOPLE, WE CAN LOOK AT A PROJECT IN A NEW WAY.

Tap into the power of triads.

B y m a r k tay l or

P

icture a sandbox, two children and one toy. What happens? They fight: “It’s mine!”

In business, we often meet with others on a oneto-one basis. What if that relationship structure is causing the significant problems we see in the workplace today?

A study conducted by Tribal Leadership authors Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright over the course of 10 years with 24,000 people concluded that 76 percent of relationships between workplace peers are ineffective.

The remaining 24 percent were between three to five times more productive than the majority. Interestingly, the 24 percent also shared a striking characteristic: They did not meet in dyads—groups of two.

They met in groups of three. They used the power of triads.

A dyadic, or one-to-one, relationship can of course be useful for exchanging information, or when one person is coaching another. But what researchers found is that two-person relationships are less effective when it comes to productivity, teamwork and making decisions.

Dyadic relationships are inherently unstable, especially when we have a difference of opinion. We argue. We get defensive. One person is right and the other is wrong. The idea is good or bad. This friction in our one-to-one

6

Winter 2014

relationships causes stress, resentment, and a disengaged work force.

When we add a third child to our sandbox, the dynamic tends to change: we build a sandcastle together.

This is what happens with triads. Having three people gives us an opening to look at a project in a new way. There is a shift from “mine” to “ours.” The discussion revolves around solving the problem at hand.

Triads work best when they are comprised of peers. In a peer-to-peer relationship, nobody has authority; nobody is trying to please anybody. I recently advised a CEO to put three of his chiefs—his CFO, CMO, and CIO— together on a project. Now, instead of meeting with them one-on-one as he had been doing, all the CEO has to do is check in with the group occasionally for updates.

When I’m training, I explain the concept of triads to people, then have them perform the following exercise: Come up with a real, work-related issue. Choose three people for the team. Each is assigned a role; in real life, these roles would naturally rotate among the three. The first person is going to articulate the problem.

The second person is going to act as the coach and just ask questions. The third person is going to be the observer and look at body language, listen to values that are being communicated or violated, and report back on what he or she sees.

In just five minutes, people see how different this experience of working together is. The first speaker realizes he has felt “heard” for the first time. The person asking questions sees how valuable that can be, as opposed to jumping in with solutions. The observer provides useful feedback on the dynamics of the conversation that others were not aware of. “You crossed your arms defensively here,” he might tell a team member, or “We agreed to challenge one another, but I have a sense that you are holding back.”

So, the next time you need a team to solve a problem and make good decisions, remember what the research shows: three is better than two.

Mark Taylor is a leadership trainer who delivers workshops, provides training, and runs retreats for companies who want to change their culture for increased profit and less stress.

He is a Vistage International chair of several think tanks composed of successful CEOs.

field RepORT Mark Ruibal Vice President, Ruibal’s Plants of Texas

Ruibal’s Plants grows network Capacity

M

anaging growth is a challenge for the leadership of many midsized companies. From its first days as a simple family-run stand at the Dallas Farmer’s Market, Ruibal’s Plants of Texas has blossomed into an enterprise with four retail stores and two farming operations in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

“In nearly 20 years, we’ve grown from a true mom-and-pop shop to one of the area’s largest and preferred choices for plants, shrubs, garden décor, and supplies,” explains Gina Ruibal, the company’s IT Manager. “Over the past three years in particular, we’ve rapidly expanded our service offering and operational processes.”

Such growth offers unique opportunities to drive down costs and expand marketing reach by leveraging increased operational scale. Doing so, however, means managing escalating complexity while continuing to deliver the quality products and customer experience expected from a trusted, locally-owned business.

Concluding that upgrading its Internet connection and links among branch locations was essential to supporting the company’s growth, Ruibal’s Plants picked Time Warner Cable Business Class as a partner. Today, the garden center is thriving as it expands with the help of a high-capacity fiber network that connects its retail centers and farm operations.

With this fiber-optic foundation, Ruibal’s is benefiting from the deployment of many productivity-enhancing

applications. The company now remotely monitors and manages greenhouses— turning on lights, adjusting watering schedules and performing other critical operational tasks. Additionally, high-speed Internet connectivity has helped grow online sales by allowing the company to fulfill orders and track their status with greater convenience and ease.

“Today’s garden industry is evolving faster than ever before,” explains Mark Ruibal, the company’s Vice President. He explains that advanced connectivity from Time Warner Cable Business Class helps the business “capitalize on advanced technologies that can help improve our efficiency and processes, as well as unite our widespread operations on one robust platform.” Ruibal says the infrastructure helps his firm to share “vital inventory, personnel and operational data in real time. All of this is with the goal of maximizing our customer service, which has always been—and will always remain— our top priority.”

This is no small feat for a company with a headquarters the size of a city block and almost 30 acres of farm operations. For more than six years, Time Warner Cable Business Class has served as an essential partner, offering networking solutions that help Ruibal’s grow and flourish.

speed Helps sales soar CHALLENGE: Riding a wave of rapid growth, Ruibal’s Plants of Texas needed to improve

its network connectivity to strengthen its expanding operations.

SOLUTION: The garden center partnered with Time Warner cable Business class to

connect its four retail and two farming locations with a state-of-the-art fiber network.

The partnership has been a catalyst for success, allowing Ruibal’s Plants to improve operations and sales with leading-edge network applications. “Time Warner cable Business class has accommodated our growing needs without interruption,” explains gina Ruibal, the company’s iT Manager.

Winter 2014

7

5 Places to Look When Sales Are Stuck

Is the problem in your staff— or in your structure?

By kaRen JaCksOn

W

hen revenue plateaus, it’s normal for the business owner to blame the sales team— after all, it’s their job to sell! And it’s true that sometimes the team in place doesn’t have the right skill set, or work ethic, or desire. However, sales problems are rarely so simple.

In my work with B2B sales teams, I have discovered that the reason sales get stuck generally lies elsewhere—namely, in a lack of structure and discipline. Could this be your company’s predicament? Ask yourself the following questions:

1 dO we Have an aRTiCulaTed GOTO-maRkeT sales plan?

Of course you have a plan—every company does. All too often, though, the plan resides in the CEO’s head and isn’t disseminated to the team.

Articulating a strategy is part of the basic block-and-tackle of sales. It ensures that everyone is targeting the right prospects for the right reasons, which leads 8

Winter 2014

to the best chance of closing profitable business. Without a clear plan, reps are operating on a strategy called “go forth and sell,” an ad hoc approach that always wastes significant time on poor prospects.

In order to ensure that sales reps have only high-value prospects in their pipeline, they must clearly understand: • Who is the ideal customer?

• What are the key criteria for targeting them?

• What situational factors or trigger events would cause them to buy?

A clear sales strategy answers each of these questions. To eliminate lowprobability prospects, create a simple scorecard, with seven or eight criteria for an ideal prospect. If the prospect does not meet at least five of the criteria, the sales rep should not spend time pursuing that lead.

2 dO we Have a sales pROCess?

I have yet to meet a successful CEO who did not implement processes in finance or operations, but I have met dozens who forgo a sales process. The number one rationale is, “I pay our sales people

extremely well so they should already know how to do their jobs.”

In reality, without a defined sales process, a company’s sales growth is dependent on hiring only “A” players who instinctively grasp and use a process.

This kind of hiring approach is a difficult, expensive, and often culture-wrecking proposition with no guarantees.

A sales process can be thought of as a set of progressive stages the rep follows in order to move a prospect from the introductory call to a closed deal. A simple example of a process is: Prospect, Qualify, Demo/Present, Trial (where applicable), Negotiate, Contract.

A key element is defining the milestone reached at the end of each stage that triggers the move into the next.

By utilizing a sales process, a company can answer questions that lead to strategic adjustments in its approach to the market. Among them: • Where in the sales cycle are we getting stuck?

• What could we do differently to move the sale into the next stage?

• What percentage of prospects are we failing to convert?

• Are our sales stages taking longer to complete?

Need to Know

9 OuT Of 10

sales messaGes fail TO addRess wHaT’s mOsT impORTanT TO THe pROspeCT.

Equally important, a sales process provides a framework to hire “B” players and coach them to success.

3 dO we use a playBOOk? Just as sports teams design plays before a game, so must a sales team.

The playbook provides the tools and tactics proven successful in moving a prospect through the sales cycle to close. It includes everything from templates for creating successful emails and voicemails to lists of common objections and rebuttals.

Of course, some plays will change as situations warrant. The playbook should be a living set of documents that are updated and adjusted as results come in.

As with process, one major benefit of the playbook is the dissemination of best practices to the entire sales team. It also helps the team identify necessary tactical changes. Importantly, it makes onboarding new salespeople far quicker and more scalable.

The most effective way to create a playbook is for the entire team to build it under the direction of the sales manager, or if needed, an outside facilitator. As a bonus, during the discussion, your newcomers will learn from your successful veterans.

4 dO we Have meaninGful aCCOunTaBiliTy meTRiCs? The adage “What gets measured gets managed” is particularly true in sales.

Unfortunately, many companies don’t

—fORResTeR ReseaRCH

understand which metrics are meaningful, so they measure success by “face time” or the number of phone calls made per day.

Meaningful accountability metrics correlate to the activities that drive performance and map to goals. For example, if the data shows it takes five proposals to close one deal, and you need a rep to close four deals per month, then a meaningful accountability metric would be 20 proposals presented each month. Other relevant metrics include things like the number of calls converted to meetings, or the number of qualified opportunities in the pipeline. These metrics ensure buy-in from salespeople; they want to do the things that drive success.

Metrics should be consistently measured in a central place, such as a dashboard, that is available for all to see. This keeps everyone focused on how they spend their time and enables the manager to identify where a person is struggling.

5 is THe RiGHT peRsOn in THe sales manaGeR’s seaT? The most effective sales managers are in the bullpen with the team mentoring, motivating, training, strategizing, diagnosing, and measuring. Essentially, they are coaches.

In mid-sized companies, we often see that one of four types of people is mistakenly assigned to the sales manager’s seat: • A star salesperson promoted as

a reward, but lacking the hard and soft skills necessary for management • An outside hire with an impressive resume who is a bad fit for the company • An internal trusted manager with great soft skills, but lacking sales expertise • An “early-in” employee whose competence is no longer sufficient to scale In these scenarios, the CEO must make the decision to move that person out of the manager’s seat or suffer a drag on sales. It is essential to invest in a skillful sales manager who fits the culture of your organization.

Create structures, find the right sales manager: they sound like simple prescriptions, but in fact they are among the most challenging tasks any CEO faces.

The good news is that having these pillars in place enables you to guide your team with maximum effectiveness.

Structure and discipline will put you back in control of your sales.

Karen Jackson is founder and president of Jackson Solutions LLC, a sales and growth advisory firm.

Winter 2014

9

The productivity

There’s a disconnect between the way we work and the way we get things done.

It’s called productivity. Often we think the way to get things done is to buckle down and put nose to grindstone. And while there will never be a replacement for hard work in any business, without the right tools to transform that effort, we will always just be doing things the hard way.

10

Winter 2014

8 in 10 companies…have experienced networkrelated issues, such as insufficient capacity and slow throughput, causing declining productivity.

Source: IDG Research Services, May 2013.

For Liberty Ford, in Vermilion, Ohio, an outdated system reliant on copper telephone lines failed time and again, making day-to-day business difficult and unpredictable. As one of the nation’s largest Ford dealerships—responsible for five high-volume locations statewide and nearly 400 employees—a network failure is not an option. Especially, when productivity directly impacts profitability.

“Everything is done over the Web, from getting program updates from Ford to receiving and processing customer credit applications. Downtime is simply unacceptable,” said Ray Warner, Liberty Ford’s Director of Management and Information Systems.

How Liberty Ford Dispelled Its Productivity Myth

This is an increasing problem nationwide. An IDG Research Services survey from May 2013 showed that 8 in 10 companies with new enterprise applications have experienced networkrelated issues, such as insufficient capacity and slow throughput, causing declining productivity.

In order to eliminate costly interruptions and increase network capacity, Liberty Ford switched to a fiber-optic network from Time Warner Cable Business Class.

The new fiber-rich connection gives Liberty Ford advanced voice services, constant access to essential data, plus secure online transactions. “The fact that

we always have reliable, high-capacity connectivity in all our locations ensures we can operate at peak capacity, which translates into productivity and revenue,” confirms Dustin Peugeot, General Manager for Liberty Ford.

By understanding the challenges facing this customer, Time Warner Cable Business Class was able to transform Liberty Ford into both a business success story and the stuff of productivity legend.

See page 19 to read more about how Time Warner Cable Business Class improved productivity at Liberty Ford.

Ethernet Local Area Network

WiFi

A multipoint-to-multipoint

lets Liberty Ford customers

connection puts all Liberty Ford

work or surf the Web while

locations on a single network.

they wait.

Dedicated Internet Access

Primary Rate Interface

Television

All of Liberty Ford’s critical

Digital voice service delivers each

and targeted TV packages

business and customer data

Liberty Ford location a reliable

to entertain customers in

travels over a high-capacity

connection, capable of handling

Liberty Ford showrooms and

fiber network, with speeds up

simultaneous calls and other

service centers.

to 10 Gbps.

complex needs.

how we wecan canimprove improveyour yourproductivity. productivity.

See how click here Call 1-855-275-0754 or to visit our today. website today.

Call 1-877-874-1965 or visit business.twc.com

Wireless Internet access

Provides tailored programming

Innovation Use this strategy to get better and bolder ideas from the people who know your business best: your employees.

By Lisa Bodell

12

Winter 2014

MAde eASy

I

f you were your competitor, what two things would you do to put yourself out of business?

Think about that for a minute—not the answer to the question, but the question itself.

It is an example of what I call a Killer Query—the kind of question that approaches a topic in a new way. This is a tool that senior leadership can use when fresh thinking is needed; when there is a team roadblock due to politics, processes, or people; or when you need to cleverly address a problem everyone is aware of but no one is acknowledging. A Killer Query helps us get to the root cause of issues and take a hard look at how to successfully move things forward.

In short, it helps us innovate. And innovation is where a mid-sized business has both unique challenges and unparalleled opportunities.

Would it shock you to learn that many large organizations look to smaller businesses with envy when it comes to innovating?

Mid-sized companies don’t have the kind of time, resources, or established brand name that their larger business counterparts have. What they do have are tremendous advantages when it comes to generating ideas and getting them to market. Here are a few of those advantages: • You are entrepreneurial. Starting new things is in your blood. Large organizations like the status quo.

• You are agile—pivoting and changing plans are what you do. It comes

• •

naturally. Large organizations take months, even years to make even small changes a reality.

You can afford to take risks.

You are not (yet) bogged down in excessive rules and procedures. As a result, you can move faster, fail faster, and try more things.

In fact, mid-sized organizations have no choice but to innovate. How else will they stand out but by launching new, unique, often disruptive things into the marketplace?

Killer Queries put you on the road to doing that. conTinued on nexT Page

WHERE TO GO for INSPIRATION These are some of the resources Lisa Bodell recommends to help leaders and teams discern key trends and uncover emerging patterns in the economy and in their industry: Cool Hunting coolhunting.com Reports on the intersections between design, culture, technology, style, travel, food and drink.

Kurzweil accelerating Intelligence kurzweilai.net Based on the concept of “accelerated intelligence” first introduced by author Ray Kurzweil, this web site seeks to forecast and give insights into the exponential growth of information-based technologies and how they will affect civilization.

PSFK psfk.com a collection of inspiring ideas across businesses, consumers and culture by research firm PSFK.

Shell Scenarios www.shell.com/global/ future-energy/scenarios.html Shell literally invented “scenario planning”— the art of visioning the future to understand implications for one’s business.

Springwise springwise.com Tracks and reports on inspiring new business ideas around the world. technorati technorati.com indexes more than one million blogs, making it a leading source for the top stories, opinions and images emerging across news, technology, lifestyle, business, politics and more. trendwatching trendwatching.com Leverages the insight of its more than 700 trendspotters in 120 countries worldwide.

The firm organizes and analyzes consumer trends, examining their possible impact on business and society.

Winter 2014

13

9 IDEA IGNITERS Here are a few more Killer Queries to get your creative juices flowing so that you can begin to use this powerful tool: 1 “What would we need to do with our products and services to blow the minds of top Silicon Valley venture capitalists?”

2 “How can we reduce production costs by 50 percent? What would be the impact?”

3 “How can we make our customers feel like heroes? How can our product or service help the customer look good?”

4 “How can the product or service be changed to respond to seasonality or other fluctuations in demand?”

5 “Which suffers more breakdowns: our products, our process, or our people? Why?” 6 “What trend is most likely to uproot our business model? When will it be reality for 20 percent of our customers?”

7 “What can we offer for free that no one else does?”

8 “It’s 2025 and we’re the best company to work for in the world. What two things did we do to earn this award?”

9 “We have 140 characters to instantly capture 100 new customers on Twitter.

What message is going to resonate?”

14

Winter 2014

conTinued FRoM PReViouS Page

BUILD A BETTER BRAINSTORM Killer Queries are smart questions, ones that make people say, “That is a really great question” and then start thinking in a new direction. However, learning how to ask smart questions—a process known as inquiry—takes practice.

First, consider how you will phrase the query. A close-ended question is one that typically starts with Is, Can, Do, Should, Would, or Where. On the positive side, close-ended questions get right to the point and elicit either “Yes,” “No,” or some other short answer. On the downside, they do not lead to thoughtful responses or insights.

When you frame your question in an open-ended way, people have to elaborate. Open-ended questions tend to start with phrases like How might we, What else should we, or Why can’t we.

People are inspired to provide details, ideas, and explanations.

For example, consider the different responses likely to be yielded by these two questions: Could we improve our customer service? and In what ways can we improve our customer service so that it rivals the best in the industry?

Going a step further, think about ways you can enhance the impact of your question so that it is provocative and engages people’s imaginations. For example, try phrasing it this way: What could we STOP doing that would make customers say ‘thank you’?

To get your people thinking differently, try a brainstorming meeting using Killer Queries. I recommend the following process.

Arm your team with worksheets, pens, colored markers, and a whiteboard or flip chart on which you will write down all group ideas. The entire meeting should take 60 minutes—5 for the introduction,

30 for the initial brainstorm and 25 for group discussion.

1

REvIEW anD PICK: Show the group a list of Killer Queries (see samples at left) and ask people to identify the relevant ones for their part of the business.

2

aDD: Ask them to add one or more of their own Killer Queries—questions they would love to ask, but have been afraid to.

3

BRaInStoRM: Break into groups of three to four people. Have them brainstorm possible answers to the questions that are most relevant to their business.

4

SHaRE: Have groups share the ideas and facilitate group discussion.

In addition to using Killer Queries to elicit candid insights from your team, you can also use them to great effect in one-on-one settings and in focus groups. To get a range of feedback, consider different audiences as well: front-line employees, outside experts, vendors, someone from another company but in the same industry, or customers who have registered complaints.

Innovation does not have to be complicated, and change does not have to be scary. The truth is that smart solutions and game-changing ideas are within any company’s reach. The secret lies in the way you ask the questions.

Innovation leader and futurist Lisa Bodell is the founder and CEO of futurethink, the largest source of innovation, tools, and training curricula in the world.

She is the author of Kill the Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution.

“Keep Up with demand?

Can my Bandwidth

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Be ready for any Challenge with

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suCCess in aCTiOn

Chief Talk

Business leaders share key lessons they’ve learned.

inTeRviews By lee lusaRdi COnnOR

Photo credit Evan Kafka

norm Brodsky at Citistorage, his first company

noRM BRodSKY, SeRiaL enTRePReneuR PuTTinG PeoPle FirST

N

orm Brodsky has launched nine successful businesses, including a courier business, a storage company, a document security business and, his two latest, an Asian fast-casual restaurant chain and a north dakota hotel that is reaping profits from the booming oil business there. Brodsky is co-author, with Bo Burlingham, of the bestselling book Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs, the longtime “Street Smarts” columnist for Inc. magazine, and a mentor to countless business leaders.

When asked what wisdom he would share with Ceos and other top executives, he laughs. “i’m not wise,” he says. “like most business owners, i’m smart—and the trouble with smart people is that they have to make their own mistakes, rather than learning from those of other people.

That’s too bad, because it’s better to be wise than smart.” nonetheless, he agreed to share what he considers key advice for any top executive—lessons he learned the hard way.

16

Winter 2014

KeeP your eMPloyeeS Around For A lonG TiMe. Your employees—not your customers—are the most important aspect of your business. Long-term employees bring stability. It takes a lot of time to train somebody, and continually bringing in new employees is disruptive.

Moreover, longevity helps inspire dedication and a willingness to help the company grow. Employees feel more comfortable proposing new ideas; they know that their history with the company gives them the room to make a mistake without losing their jobs. You don’t need to bring in outsiders to find fresh ideas. That happens naturally as your company grows, and as you provide opportunities for your employees to learn.

THe MoST iMPorTAnT THinG you do iS To CreATe A CulTure.

As a CEO, you can create a company culture based on what’s important to you, and that’s what will attract and keep likeminded people. For example, if what you value is the ability to help people live healthy lives, you’re going to create a culture around those beliefs—a cafeteria with good food, an on-site gym, and company outings where you all go trekking.

In my first business, my wife and I wanted to create a culture around making a positive difference in people’s lives. We did this for our employees in a lot of ways: bringing in tutors so parents could learn to help their kids with their math and English homework, offering discounted movie tickets, matching 401(k) plans up to 160 percent, and so on. We also created a charity where workers could participate, so our employees had the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives as well. People were attracted by and stayed for that culture, and it was a very successful business.

Make your life plan first, then your business plan.

–norM BrodSKy

Success in action

Ted Fienning, BabiatorS Find somebody to talk to.

The toughest part of being a CEO or somebody in charge is that it can be really lonely. You face problems, but you often can’t confide in people who work around you or for you. Even if you’re thinking clearly when making big decisions, they weigh on you.

It’s useful to hear yourself talk an issue through by speaking to somebody else.

So you need to find a few people you can bounce things off of. It’s not easy to do. It has taken me probably 15 years or so to find four people that I can rely on for this purpose, and two of them are out of state. These “business friends” should be outside your normal circle of friends, acquaintances, and employees. You may meet some through networking groups or professional organizations. Ideally, these people are not judgmental, not invested in your success, and have good common sense. Though you may have to open yourself up to find them, it is a really important thing to do.

You need a written “life plan.”

Most people who run businesses are very goal-oriented. They use business plans, short- and long-range, as guideposts to how they’re doing.

But the most important thing is our life plan. We think about it all the time, but never write it down. Just as in business, you have a much better chance of achieving your life goals if you have a plan.

I’m into making life plans really simple. My wife and I sit down every year and review our five-year life plan for the two of us. Then, I sit down and make a one-year and five-year plan for my own life.

A personal life plan might include something like lose 20 pounds, or go fishing more, or read 12 books. A longer-term plan could be something like, “I want to be able to run in the New York City Marathon in five years,” or “I want to buy a new house with 14 bedrooms,” or some other life-changing thing.

Your life plan affects your business. Ten years ago, my wife and I decided we wanted to be able to take off a significant amount of time each year. I couldn’t do that unless I made some major adjustments to my business plan, such as giving up some management tasks. It took me five years to get my business to where I could take off four weeks in a row.

So make your life plan first, then your business plan, and you are more likely to achieve the goals of both. And be clear on what your spouse’s plan is. You may be focused on doubling your salary so you can afford a bigger house, but his or her goal may be for you to spend more time with the family. That could put you on a whole different trajectory.

Creating a Flight Plan for Growth

A

Ted Fienning during active duty days in the shades that inspired the company

s its second year of business comes to a close, Babiators, makers of a line of aviator sunglasses for children, is flying high. The product is in 1,800 retail locations in more than 40 countries; sales are on pace to exceed $2 million; the company has added 10 employees and 100 sales reps, and the future looks bright.

The success story began with an observation made by Molly Fienning on a sunny day in 2010. She was on a flight line with other military family members, awaiting the return of a Marine Corps fighter squadron that included her husband, pilot Ted Fienning. As the welcomes began, Molly noticed that the service members were wearing aviator sunglasses, their spouses were wearing aviator sunglasses . . . and a bunch of children were running around squinting in the sun. “We should make aviator glasses for little kids,” she told Ted. “We can call them Babiators!” he replied. With that, they knew they had found the business opportunity they had been looking for.

Along with their best friends Carolyn and Matthew Guard— pals from Harvard days who were consultants at McKinsey and Bain, respectively—they launched Babiators in May 2011. Selffunded, they recouped their initial investment in 28 days. Today, growth is ahead of projections, new products are in development, and would-be acquirers are circling. Ted Fienning shares what he and his cofounders have learned about growing a company.

Become what your customers want.

We’re exploring expansion opportunities in the next 12 to 24 months, and many of those potential product lines are already in prototype production. We do a lot of product research in advance. We ask our major retailers, like Macy’s and Nordstrom, for their customers’ preferences before we continued on next page

Winter 2014

17

suCCess in aCTiOn

By BiO HeRe

The four co-founders: Ted fienning, molly fienning, Carolyn Guard, matthew Guard conTinued FRoM PReViouS Page

finalize production decisions. Our international distributors are amazing, because you have a single point of contact that distributes to all of Canada, Indonesia, or Brazil, and they can tell you what their customers are looking for.

The best thing Babiators ever dreamed up is the Lost and Found Guarantee where we’ll replace a pair of Babiators for free—this has been huge for us. Plus, when the first few thousand moms sent in their registration for that program, we asked them if they wanted to become part of our Idea Wing, a group of moms who want to contribute to a conversation about product development. We get great feedback from them.

This not only helps us design a superior product; we can also take that data and use it to market to our retailers.

PlAn liKe THe BiG BoyS. We’re focused on prioritizing our time and capital in the right way, and in order to do that we brought in a couple of young externs—second-year associates from Bain who gave us a six-month commitment.

They do internal business cases for us: “Okay, team, if we do a line of hats, here is the lead time, here are the costs, here is what the market looks like.” And Babiators does this not just for products, but for everything—web redesign, SEO, logistics support, software, opportunities to find the best vendors, you name it. They are our internal R&D, a crack team of researchers helping us make sure every dollar and every hour is spent as efficiently as possible.

In fact, they’ve since decided to come to work with us full time. It’s a great opportunity for them to be leaders in a business that is rapidly growing.

18

Winter 2014

KeeP A FooT on THe BrAKe, eVen WHen GroWinG FAST. We only add employees when it’s absolutely required. We like to work very hard and max out on all cylinders before we bring someone on to relieve the pressure.

We don’t typically hire ahead of sales. We are now in the process of hiring our first outside C-level executive, a COO. The original four partners are still 100 percent owners of the company. Though we have had to seek working capital lines, Matt, a cofounder and our CFO, is an extremely judicious and conscientious cash manager.

He’s been able to manage cash flow and inventory so well we haven’t had to seek outside investors.

The best thing we’re doing right now is building a strong board of independent advisors, so as we grow bigger and bigger we will have the best advice on the appropriate timing for major decisions. Next year is going to be very telling for us in terms of how far the four of us can take the brand, and how much a large enterprise could take the brand beyond that. Our eyes and ears are open. leAd liKe A MArine.

Military service is one of the greatest incubators for entrepreneurs. Ultimately, one of my goals is to help jump-start the American economy by helping veterans get out there and build businesses for themselves.

Being in the military, particularly as a Marine Corps officer, you are constantly in pressure-cooker situations. You are responsible not only for the individual work effort of your personnel, but their physical, mental and spiritual preparedness for combat. You are forced to make decisions with imperfect information, in environments where you don’t know exactly whether Decision A or Decision B is the right move, but you’ve got to press on. And that’s exactly what running a fast-growing business is like for our team.

field RepORT

dustin peugeot General manager, liberty ford

liberty ford: dRiVen To Succeed

L

iberty Ford is among the nation’s largest Ford dealerships, with five high-volume Ohio locations and nearly 400 employees in sales, service and parts operations.

It is a hands-on, high-touch business— but as General Manager Dustin Peugeot knows, it is a business that can only thrive with fast, reliable connectivity.

One major reason for that is customer demand. A recent consumer survey by Polk found that over 70 percent of vehicle buyers leverage the Internet while shopping. In fact, more than half of buyers said Internet research was the most influential element in their vehicle search and led them to the dealership where they ultimately made their purchase.

Overall, much of the automotive customer sales cycle is now managed through the Internet, from sales lead generation to processing customer credit applications. Therefore, any network downtime directly translates into lost sales revenue.

Connectivity problems can also undermine the effectiveness of departments throughout a dealership. “Our

technology infrastructure is the backbone of everything we do,” Peugeot explains. “All of our business units rely on seamless connectivity to personnel and systems. The service department accesses diagnostic information, the parts department procures inventory, accounting and payroll manage the finances, and employees clock in and out over the Web.” However, the legacy technology

that Liberty Ford relied on was creating performance issues. Following an unacceptable string of service interruptions, Liberty decided it was time to hang up on the local telephone company.

In seeking a high-performance provider, Liberty Ford executives knew they were making one of their most important business decisions. The company chose Time Warner Cable Business Class for a leading-edge fiber-optic network solution that offered superfast and ultra-reliable connections. The network upgrade has also helped Liberty enhance the customer experience at its dealerships with amenities like WiFi Internet access and digital television.

Most businesses consider reliability and quality of service—not cost considerations—to be the most crucial factors in choosing a provider of Internet and voice services, according to a recent Cisco Systems survey. Peugeot says the Time Warner Cable Business Class solution delivers on both price and performance. “Of course cost is always a factor with decisions like this,” Peugeot says. “Time Warner Cable Business Class provides us tremendous value for what we receive. The fact that we always have reliable, high-capacity connectivity in all our locations ensures we can operate at peak capacity, which translates into productivity and revenue.”

Connections They Can Count On CHALLENGE: undependable internet and telephone service was impacting productivity, sales and service at ohio-based Liberty Ford, one of the nation’s largest Ford dealership groups.

SOLUTION: internal iT staff traced the problem to the antiquated copper telephone line tech-

nology provided by a major phone company. To eliminate downtime and increase network capacity, the company switched to a fiber-optic networking solution provided by Time Warner cable Business class. “The decision to switch to fiber was a critical but easy one. From cost containment to reliability and bandwidth, it’s all about the fiber,” explains Ray Warner, Liberty Ford’s director of MiS and Purchasing. The new high-speed, high-reliability fiber connection now offers Liberty Ford nonstop access to essential company and customer data and dependable voice services.

Winter 2014

19

Your IT Checklist for an Office Move Avoid common problems—and downtime—with a plan that looks ahead. B y M i ch a e l S pa d a ro

the TO-DO LIST Involve your IT team early in the process Many CEOs are caught off guard by how much lead time is necessary to successfully plan and execute an IT move. Involve your key IT staff or outsourced IT team early in the process—preferably even before you have signed a lease.

Design your IT closet Your architect and IT team should both be involved in planning for IT closet space. Key considerations are square footage, ventilation, physical security, and equipment noise. Be sure to consider your future as well as current needs.

Evaluate Internet and phone service options Your options for Internet and phone will vary from location to location. Find out what vendors service your new location and ensure they will be able to deliver the service capacity as well as up-time assurance that your business requires. In many instances it makes sense to have two Internet connections so that your business can continue to operate smoothly if one of the connections should experience a failure.

Budget and plan ahead for network wiring Be sure you place network and phone jacks in every location you can foresee placing an employee in the future. It’s much easier to go all out now than it is to augment your wiring later after the construction is complete.

Get your wiring vendor and general contractor on the same page In some instances, your general contractor may oversee network wiring. Other times, you’ll need to bring in a separate vendor to install wiring. If you bring in a separate wiring vendor, be sure they’re on the same page as your GC from the start of the process to avoid costly delays.

Decide: will you move or replace IT equipment—or move to the cloud?

If you have IT assets that are approaching the end of their lifecycle, you may want to replace them in conjunction with your office move. This is less disruptive than moving existing equipment because it doesn’t require any downtime during the move and your staff can move into a fully functioning office. This is also a great time to consider options for moving services to the cloud and doing away with aging servers.

Develop contingency plans Always expect the unexpected when it comes to office moves. What happens if a construction deadline is missed, or if a vendor install doesn’t go smoothly? Build contingency plans into your move. Can key staff members function from home if need be? Do you need to allow for an overlap in occupancy from your old office to your new office?

Allow time for IT hiccups and staff adjustment

PLAN AHEAD The explosive demand for bandwidth will grow by more than 300% between 2011 and 2016.

–Cisco Systems

Moving your office network is like performing major surgery on your IT, so give your business time to recover. Allow your IT team time to assess how the network is functioning once the move is complete, and take into account that your employees will need time to adjust to their new surroundings.

Michael Spadaro is the founder and CEO of Profound Cloud, an IT consulting, support and management company.

20

Winter 2014

Planning a city’s future is Kevin’s business.

We’re proud he’s made it our business, too.

At Time Warner Cable Business Class, we listen to your needs, offer advice and deliver best-in-class solutions. That is why Kevin came to us. Together, we set up Dedicated Internet Access and Cloud Services to help him share files faster, videoconference easily and stay connected to his team. We helped Kevin bring his ideas to life. And we can do the same for you. To learn how, call us for a consultation today.

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Call1-877-857-0729 1-855-275-0754oror CLICK HERE to get a FREE call visit business.twc.com/bigdata copy of the new Data you schedule Get a Free copy of ebook the newBig ebook Bigwhen Data when you schedule a planning session. a planning session.

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