Be A Better Boss By Friday Chester Elton
Brainstorming is Stupid Stephen Shapiro
The 10 (and a half) Commandments of Visual Thinking Dan Roam
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Be A Better Boss By Friday Chester Elton
Brainstorming is Stupid
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to Life on Earth
CONTENTS 06 - Seeking Help in the Shadow of a Doubt
24
– Adam Grant
08 - How One Person Can Change a Team – Liane Davey, Ph.D.
11 - Character Triangle: Strengthen Your Culture – Lorne Rubis
13 - 10 Keys to Reinvent Yourself – Jim Fannin
18
24 - Chris Hadfield: An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth 27 - World’s Greatest Social Media Strategy – Avinash Kaushik
30 - The Challenger Sale – Matthew Dixon
32 - Leading Change with Influence and Emotional Intelligence – Ed Hennessy
35 - A Fork In The Road
16 - Innovating From Within: The Rise of the Intrapreneur
40 - Leadership is an Obligation
– DJ Kennedy
– Vince Molinaro Ph.D.
18 - Be a Better Boss by Friday – Chester Elton
22 - Actionable Summary: Ken Robinson’s Finding Your Element – Jennifer Knighton
– Martin Hayward
30
44 - The Merits of Reading a Book – Mitch Joel
46 - What South Park Can Teach You About Business
The Editor’s Letter
– Christine Comaford
48 - Tips for Achieving Tech-Life Balance in Your Career – Randi Zuckerberg
53 - How do You React to Change? – Peter Aceto
55 - Preach to the Choir – Tom Fishburne
57 - Brainstorming is Stupid – Stephen Shapiro
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59 - The 10 (and a half) Commandments of Visual Thinking – Dan Roam
Scott Kavanagh, Editor Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either”
- Marshall McLuhan Content with a high degree of both educational and entertainment value is known as edutainment. It is our belief that it is the fine balance of both that triggers change and creates the largest impact for both individuals and their organizations. When we created The Art Of seven years ago we asked ourselves what it might be like if we were to blend the experience of attending a rock concert with the idea of listening to an Ivy League lecture. Although this sounds like something that would be very difficult to achieve, I believe that we have made steps in the right direction. The perfection of this medium is an ongoing mission. The educational process and how people engage with learning has changed significantly over the past few years. Understanding how people learn is always on our mind and the questions we are currently exploring include; How a learning environment impacts an individuals engagement with the content, how experts learn and how this is different from non-experts, and what the ideal state of mind is for the consumption of content. Lifelong learning is the “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge. Regardless if you are attending one of our events, reading a magazine or spending hours in the depths of YouTube we encourage you to to be a sponge for learning. Scott Kavanagh, Editor
62 - From Donuts to Dynamics – Rob Adams WINTER 2014 | 3
We Were here first so naturally, We picked the best location.
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FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Matthew Dixon EDITOR Scott Kavanagh
Bestselling Author, The Challenger Sale & Executive Director at CEB
PUBLISHER Christopher Novais DESIGNER Joey Van Massenhoven HOW TO REACH US
Adam Grant New York Times Bestselling Author, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success & Tenured Management Professor at Wharton
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SEEKING HELP
in the Shadow of a Doubt Adam Grant
Several decades ago, a team of experts built the world’s most expensive mirror. It was for the Hubble Space Telescope, and the mirror was the key to focusing light that predated the stars, capturing images that had never been seen by human eyes. The precision was measured in millionths of an inch. If the mirror’s surface were the size of the Atlantic Ocean, the surface would need to be so smooth that no wave would be taller than three inches. When the telescope launched in 1990, the images came back blurry. The mirror was the wrong shape by 2 percent of the width of a human hair. It couldn’t focus light with the required precision. The telescope was only able to do about half of the work that it was launched to do, and in 1993, NASA burned several hun-
6 | WINTER 2014
dred million dollars on a repair mission. What went wrong? When journalists Robert Capers and Eric Lipton investigated, they discovered that the team of designers, engineers, and technicians at Perkin-Elmer resisted help from experts. When initial tests of the mirror pointed to potential problems, the engineers refused an independent test. To safeguard against errors, the company appointed a former chief scientist, Roderic Scott, as a consultant and adviser. Scott was a world-class optical designer with an astronomy doctorate from Harvard, but the team refused to seek his support and follow his guidance. As Capers and Lipton put it, “Whenever Scott knocked on the door of the polishing room, the technicians... would say, ‘Hey, Rod is
out there. Don’t let him in. Turn up the radio.’” What would prevent the team from seeking and accepting help? Research by Fiona Lee, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, documents pervasive fears of help-seeking in organizations. People worry that if they ask for help, they’ll appear incompetent, vulnerable, dependent, or helpless. But does seeking help actually carry these costs? In a study led by psychologist Arie Nadler, employees at a chemical plant reported how often they sought help from coworkers and supervisors. When Nadler’s team collected supervisors’ performance evaluations of each employee, it turned out that the best performers were those who sought the most
Whenever Scott knocked on the door of the polishing room, the technicians... would say, ‘Hey, Rod is out there. Don’t let him in. Turn up the radio’”.
help from experts. By asking for help, employees were able to develop their knowledge and skills, which enabled them to do better work. However, performance was only optimized when employees sought help from experts. Surprisingly, many employees went to non-experts, and the more often they did so, the worse they performed. In a study of nurses, David Hofmann, Zhike Lei, and I found that nurses often chose not to seek help from experts when they lacked a strong tie and doubted whether they would be available. By neglecting to seek out experts for help, they restricted their problem-solving effectiveness, as well as their learning and development. Fragile egos often get in the way of
going to experts. When people are insecure, they strive to maintain an image of superiority, carefully hiding chinks in their armor. In the Hubble debacle, Scott lamented that when he tried to help one of the engineers, “he took it as a personal affront,” as if “I was insulting his intelligence.” Lee finds that these insecurities are particularly pronounced among leaders and managers, who dread the prospect of losing their power and status. And when top executives do reach out, they often go to the wrong sources. In a pioneering study led by researcher Michael McDonald, CEOs reported where they went for strategic advice. The worse their companies were doing, the more likely CEOs were to seek out advice from people who shared their perspectives -friends and colleagues with the same expertise. They should have done the exact opposite: company performance improved when CEOs sought advice from executives who weren’t their friends and who had different expertise. Instead of reinforcing redundant knowledge and bad decisions, these contacts brought fresh insights that corrected errors and sparked innovation. For organizations to prosper, leaders and employees need to seek help and information from people who have vastly different points of view. As Berkeley psychologist Charlan Nemeth sums up three decades of research: “Minority viewpoints are important, not because they tend to prevail but because they stimulate divergent attention and thought. As a result, even when they are wrong they contribute to the detection of novel solutions and decisions that, on balance, are qualitatively better.” Interestingly, this willingness to accept outside ideas led to a silver lining in the Hubble cloud. Before NASA sent
astronauts into space to fix the flawed mirror, they developed new software to correct the blurry images. Radiologist Matthew Freedman saw a presentation on the software, and noticed similarities between locating a distant star in a fuzzy telescope image and detecting small calcifications in mammograms. Rather than resisting the outside idea, Freedman and his colleagues embraced a collaboration with astronomers, which culminated in the creation of a more accurate, efficient technique for using digital images to detect breast cancer, making it possible to analyze tissue with a needle rather than surgery.
ADAM GRANT is a Wharton professor and the author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success .
WINTER 2014 | 7
HOW ONE PERSON Can Change a Team Liane Davey, Ph.D.
If you had to name one person on your team at work who needs to change their behavior to make things run more smoothly,
WHO WOULD IT BE? Is your boss letting half the team slack off on deadlines? Is one of your coworkers a terrible gossip? Does another hoard information like a dragon gloating over its pile of gold? Don’t hold back--be honest. OK, here’s the bad news: That was a trick question. The real answer is you. You need to change your behavior to change the way your team operates. Unfortunately, most people point fingers at everyone else in the team as the source of dysfunction. But the fact that you are on the hot seat is also the good news: You can change the way your team operates, just by changing your own behavior. Walk into work tomorrow with a new attitude and a few new tricks up your sleeve, and you’ll start the process of rebuilding your team, one productive conversation at a time.
Start with a Positive Assumption The first step in this process is to take a careful look at the way you respond to each of your teammates. Chances are you’ve got some teammates you see as allies or even friends, and some that you believe are out to get you. There’s probably at least one person you’ve clashed with before--and at least one person that you just don’t like. It’s time to let that go. Every time you have a conversation with your least favorite teammate, you get tense and defensive. It’s unconscious--you may not even realize you’re doing it. But your 8 | WINTER 2014
teammate can sense your hostility, even if she’s not consciously aware of it, either. He’ll pick up cues from your body language and tone of voice, and he’ll respond with more hostility. So your first task is to start with a positive assumption. Let go of that fight you had last year, and assume that everyone on your team is competent, is coming to work every day to get their job done, and is trying to say something helpful, too.
Add Your Full Value Next, think about your participation in
the team. Do you ever think about saying something and then think, “Why bother?” or “That’s not really my job”? Stop it. Speak up. I once worked with an insurance company that had a great HR director. But even though she was doing a fantastic job in her role, the most important impact she had at that company came from her time in a previous job, in retail. Coming from retail, she was horrified to hear her colleagues referring to their customers as “policy holders,” and to see the internal systems treating one person who bought two kinds of insurance as
two separate policy holders. By showing up as her whole self, and bringing the value of her past experience to the table, she showed this company how to put their customers first. You have value to add based on your experience in other industries, your own experiences as a consumer, your role in the community, and so on. Don’t leave all that insight at the door--share it with your colleagues. Add your full value.
Amplify Other Voices Once you’ve started using your own voice more effectively, try to listen to your teammates’ voices more, too. Healthy teams need to listen to and respect diverse voices--introverts and extroverts, old hands and newbies, big thinkers and fine tooth combers. But many teams end up with a majority of one kind of person, and a tendency to drown out minority voices. There are real risks to shouting down those dissenting voices. The majority tends to represent the status quo and the way the team has always worked in the past, so ignoring the minority can stifle innovation. Teams that agree too much can also slide into groupthink, when excessive cohesiveness blinds the group to possible risks. At your next team meeting, try using your voice to amplify minority voices. Ask someone who hasn’t spoken up much to share their thoughts. Stand up to someone who’s trying to dismiss a dissenting view. You’ll broaden the scope
of the conversation and make the team more productive. OK, enough with the easy stuff. These last two steps are going to be a little harder.
Know When to Say No First, you’ve got to learn to say no. We’re all socialized to believe that the best and most productive workers say “yes” to everything. But in reality, trying to do everything only means doing a poor job of most things. A team full of people who can’t say “no” will be overworked, overstressed, and ill-equipped to interact with each other in positive, productive ways. To do this effectively, you’ve got to know what your own work priorities are. Figure out, with your boss if possible, your primary value to your organization, and a few key areas you should focus on. Your goal will be to--politely and productively--say no to anything outside those key areas. Then, when a coworker asks you to take on an inessential project, help them think about whether this work really needs to get done at all. What’s the payoff? If there isn’t one, skip it. If there is, tell your coworker what your priorities are and give them a sense of what you’ve been saying yes to, so they understand the reason for your “no.” Then help them figure out who else on the team might be better suited to this task. And remember to be respectful when your coworkers say no to you!
Embrace Productive Conflict Even if you accept all the responsibilities I’ve laid out so far, your team might still disagree about some things. And that’s OK--that’s better than OK. In fact, to improve your team, you’ll need to embrace productive conflict. Most teams I work with don’t have enough conflict. Some really do agree on everything, which can leave them blind to new opportunities--and risks. If that’s your team, try to broaden the conversation. Other teams do have conflict, but they hide it. Everyone agrees during the meeting, but afterwards, there’s gossip, or a small group reversing decisions the team made, or one person quietly undermining the group by shirking his commitments. If this sounds like your team, focus on getting that dissent out in the open. One great way to disagree with a colleague without engaging in destructive conflict is to express your opinion as an “and.” Don’t tell that person she’s wrong--acknowledge what she’s saying, and then add your own view. You might say, “I understand it’s important to save room in the budget for a customer event, AND I’m concerned we’re short on money for employee training. What are our options?” If you can take even one of these steps tomorrow, you will start changing the tone of your team. Think about how much time you spend at the office. Isn’t a healthier, more productive environment worth a little effort?
Liane Davey, Ph.D. is Vice President of the Leadership Practice and the Lead Team Effectiveness at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions. She is also the New York Times Bestselling author of You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done. Liane Davey combines her expertise in strategy with her deep insight into group dynamics to create powerful changes in top teams. A dynamic keynote speaker, Liane takes her message about healthy teams to leaders at conferences and management retreats. She also writes ongoing blogs for Psychology Today and for www. ChangeYourTeam.com. In addition to You First, Liane is also the coauthor with David Weiss and Vince Molinaro of Leadership Solutions (Jossey Bass, 2007). Follow Liane on Twitter @LianeDavey
WINTER 2014 | 9
Leaders don’t flinch.
When the going gets tough, the tough stay put. Through the credit crunch, depressed commodity prices and global economic turmoil, we’ve done just that. We never left the side of the people who’ve made Alberta an economic powerhouse, and we continue to custom build solutions to help them do what they do best…lead. Because Alberta means the world to us. atb.com/corporate
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Trademarks of Alberta Treasury Branches.
CHARACTER TRIANGLE
Strengthen Your Culture Have you heard statements like this: Why don’t they do something about it? I wish I wouldn’t have to change? Why can’t things be better? Why do salespeople suck? Why does operations screw up all the time? I wish we had better tools. We need a bigger budget. Why do the other guys have a better territory? My boss is a jerk. These comments likely indicate that one or more core values may require strengthening. While an organization requires a purpose that is inspiring, a business model that works, a great management system that drives value; at the heart of the entity is how people think and work together. My research and experience underscore the importance of three core values—Accountability, Respect and Abundance (the Character Triangle)— and their impact on the mind, hands and heart of the people who make the place run.
think, “How can I contribute to a more desired state?” Before asking anything of anybody, ask yourself, what can I do about it?
2. RESPECT: Your successes or failures are built on the strength of your relationships—and relationships run on respect. To be true to the root of respect, you need to look at yourself with openness and understanding. Examine the way you treat yourself first and then how you treat others.
Most of us want to be listened to with understanding, treated with courtesy, and recognized for our contributions. Do you do that with yourself—and with others—in every interaction? When you give respect first, you believe: my teammate is a valuable colleague with insight and information that can propel me and the organization forward. In response, you’re given the same platform. Listening becomes imperative, and communication and problem solving skills are requisite. This listening
1. ACCOUNTABILITY: This starts with self. When you approach every situation by first asking what you can do about it and how, you begin to understand self-accountability. The ideas associated with blame and victim have little place in the self-accountability framework. Do you often blame others for your condition and circumstances? When you see yourself as having the responsibility, power, and control to influence your personal remit, the impact is powerful. Instead of thinking that they are responsible for your state, you WINTER 2014 | 11
SUSTAINABLE EXCELLENCE EMERGES WHEN THEII PURPOSE, FORM, FITNESS, AND FUNCTION CONNECT” and dialogue platform of respect is naturally then extended to customers and the partnership ecosystem. Acting from a foundation of respect becomes a way to think and act. Tough issues and problems are addressed in timely ways, since everything is seen as a process. And processes can be measured and improved to achieve better results. A strong culture of respect is based on attacking processes and not each other.
3. ABUNDANCE: Abundant people don’t have to take anything away from anyone else to succeed. It is fun to work with people who are abundance-focused. They may be competitive, but not just to beat someone, rather to advance something. Abundant people relish other’s success and achievements. They focus on the resources available and find
what they need to get results. Generosity of spirit and the belief that giving leads to getting is their makeup. Abundantthinking people focus on resources they have rather than what they lack. They try to expand the pie by finding more resources or better using what they have. They do not use a lack of resources as excuse for inaction or stasis. Some people are eaters (they see the pie as definitive and ultimately want more than you); some are bakers (they try to expand the pie so everyone has more). Abundance is about the value of personal growth and progression. Who has more or less, and petty jealousy, is not on the agenda. The focus of abundant people is on what’s possible. These three values become exponentially more powerful when connected; hence The Character Triangle.
When the elements play off each other, the way people think, act, and connect measurably shifts to a positive, action orientation. Sustainable excellence emerges when the purpose, form, fitness, and function connect—when accountability, respect, and abundance drive the head, hands, and hearts of people.
Lorne Rubis is Chief People Officer with ATB Financial and author of The Character Triangle. Visit www.thecharactertriangle.com.
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10 KEYS TO REINVENT YOURSELF BY JIM FANNIN
We all evolve. Change is an absolute. Life is about mental, physical and spiritual growth. The more introspection, the faster there is growth. Sometimes we need to accelerate our growth and this may require reinvention. Reinvention usually comes from immediate need. You may have the need to overcome great hardship, to prove yourself to yourself or others, or you may need to live a better life. Marriage, divorce, separation, addiction, cancer, near death, new job, failing business, and
bankruptcy can all facilitate swift change in one’s mindset. Multiple times in a lifetime, most humans need reinvention. The transition from infancy to early childhood is a great time to showcase your character. Reinvention. The only child that suddenly has a baby brother and needs more attention comes to mind. Reinvention. Teenagers are desperately seeking change to find their adult identity. Reinvention. Turning 30 will get most of us to start taking life more seriously. Reinvention. Millions seek change when they turn 40 or 50. This mid-life crisis can be the embryo of a new red corvette, sleek yacht, complete makeover or even a new significant other. Reinvention. Approaching the backside of life can be scary. Hustling to check off your bucket list can be disturbing for your long-time loved ones. However, sometimes we just need to reinvent ourselves. Miley Cyrus needed change. Her Hannah Montana character with Disney was a huge hit. It was an American television series that originally aired on the Disney Channel from March 24, 2006 until January 16, 2011. It aired 98 episodes across four seasons and
launched the young actress into the minds of millions of fans. As Miley matured, the persona of Hannah Montana and the responsibility to millions of fans and their parents became overwhelming. Miley was not Hannah. Miley needed swift change to showcase her adulthood, her sexuality and her new way of thinking and acting. So she shocked the public with her VMA Award Show performance that blasted through social media as her Hannah Montana persona was publically eliminated forever. Her sexually charged dance moves swept her directly into the adult marketplace, catapulted her on to magazines covers, Saturday Night Live television, the Jimmy Fallon Show, and launched a #1 selling album. Reinvention came overnight like a FedEx package. The list of reinvention in the entertainment industry is a long one. Hip Hop artist Snoop Dogg legally changed his name to Snoop Lion and reinvented himself as a Bob Marley clone with his latest reggae-sounding album appropriately titled, Reincarnated. Even though Ben Affleck won a best original screenplay Oscar with pal Matt Damon for Good Will Hunting, he wasn’t always taken seriously in WINTER 2014 | 13
showbiz thanks to his personal life and some dubious film choices. However, the now husband and father began taking on respected projects such as The Town and Argo, which earned Affleck his second Oscar. Mark Wahlberg had many legal troubles as a teen growing up in Boston. He became Marky Mark with the Funky Bunch in 1991 releasing his hit album, Good Vibrations. He reinvented from a troubled past and Marky Mark of the Funky Bunch into a serious actor, appearing in films such as Boogie Nights and The Fighter. Now with the blockbuster-hit movie Ted, he has showcased his comedic side with one of his best starring roles. He’s even the executive producer of Entourage and How to Make It Happen in America. Former Mouseketeer Justin Timberlake went from one-fifth of the boy band *N Sync to a solo force of nature with success in music, business ventures and acting. Arnold Schwarzenegger went from being a professional bodybuilder and starring in movies such as The Terminator and Predator to serving two terms as the governor of California. Reinvention is at the top of his list now after a failed marriage, fathering a child with his housekeeper, and no longer being a physical force of nature. Reinvention is a way to take charge of your life. If you are going down a pathway that is wrong for you, make a change. Here are 10 ways to reinvent yourself. 1. See the new you. Envision the new you. See in your mind how you want your friends, family and work associates as they react to the new you. 2. Sell you on the New YOU. Change your inner dialogue. Talk to yourself in the most positive manner. Never put yourself down. Always encourage. Write a brief 60-second commercial on the awesomeness of you. Open this monologue with a power statement and be sure and showcase all of your strengths. Now in private, deliver this
14 | WINTER 2014
speech to the universe with passion and confidence. Repetition will facilitate a quicker change. The greatest sales job is selling you on you. 3. Be patient. Do not be in a rush to make drastic change. And even if you do, be patient in the desired results. Positive change in how others respond may take more time than you think. 4. Change your Seeables. Spruce up your closets, bathroom, bedroom, garage, car and personal wardrobe. Everything that you see and other people see on a daily basis needs an upgrade. 5. Deal from strength. Every champion that I have coached to a world title built their success on what they do best. Leading with your strengths will give you the confidence to facilitate swift change. Find your niche strengths. Assess what you do well and compare this to your competition. What comes naturally? What is easy for you? These are your special gifts that you’ve inherited or honed. Now develop them further. Understand what people compliment the most about you. These may be a strength you haven’t realized. 6. Find your purpose. This may take more time than you like. If you will relax and just ask this question, “What is my purpose in life?” for 7-10 days every night before you go to sleep, the answer will appear. Trust me. 7. Take down the rearview mirror. The best in the world only go into the past for analysis, evaluation and swift learning. And with a solid plan of where
they want to go, they stay focused in the moment. Keep your eye on the horizon. 8. Upgrade your hellos and goodbyes. Within 90 seconds of your hello and goodbye, the recipient will swiftly have a thought of positive, negative or indifference about you. If your response to a simple “How Are You?” is “OK, I’ve been better” or even worse, then an “I am awesome” response will definitely get a reaction. Use this greeting for a week, and you’ll be on your way to a positive reinvention. 9. Immunize from your detractors. Not everyone will like your mental and/ or physical makeover. Your friends and family will definitely let you have it by accusing you of jumping off the deep end. Before reinvention, you might want to grow some thick skin, especially when your spouse, mom, or mother-in-law raises their eyebrows about your new hairstyle or clothing. 10. Build your inner circle. Your inner circle contains the people that you communicate with on a daily or weekly basis. Make sure they understand that the change in you is permanent. This is not a flash in the pan or flavor of the month action. Get them on board for your new adventure. This fan club will catapult you further than going it alone. Learn the S.C.O.R.E.® Success System and apply the necessary tools to facilitate positive change. Now you’ll be on your way to a new you. Enjoy your new journey. Good fortune favors the bold.
Innovating From Within:
THE RISE of the INTRAPRENEUR DJ Kennedy, CEO TechWyse Internet Marketing
Entrepreneurship and leadership have a natural correlation. How would entrepreneurs build successful companies without strong leadership qualities? But there’s a new breed of leader cropping up in the world of business: the intrapreneur. SO WHAT EXACTLY IS AN INTRAPRENEUR?
The ‘intrapreneur ’ thinks like an entrepreneur, they explore new avenues of business, they’re creative, they’re natural leaders and are able to hire and build teams, but they do so working for a company. They function with a start-up mentality spearheading new streams of business within a company. They 16 | WINTER 2014
are responsible for much of the product innovation in the world today. The intrapreneur works within the confines of an organization rather than breaking off to start an independent venture. They must get buy-in from their managers and CEOs, but they become experts in their department and can operate completely autonomously. They can leverage existing resources and get their ideas off the ground much faster. Whereas the entrepreneur wears many hats and has at one point or another performed every basic job function: from accounting, to HR, to sales. The intrapreneur is often free of start-up responsibilities like raising capital or paying for office space. Google naturally lends itself towards a culture of intrapreneurialism by allowing select engineers to take one day each week to work on self-directed projects. This has led to some of the company’s most well-known products
including: AdSense, Google News and Gmail. Another example is Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works project that was responsible for the development of the U-2, and F-22 Raptor aircraft (among others). Hackathons, where developers come together and create new software (often while pulling an all-nighter) is another breeding ground for intrapreneurs. Legend has it, the Facebook Like button was created during a hackathon. A t Te c h Wy s e , I l o o k f o r Intrapreneurial qualities in the people we hire. Sometimes they’re people who’ve run their own business in the past, other times they’re people who felt stifled at their previous jobs. Most of the time they are people who see the “big picture” and are most interested in helping their colleagues succeed. Running a business means wearing many hats, business development,
head of operations, accounting, etc. It’s impossible to have your mind fully immersed in one aspect of the business, much the way a specialized employee can. I’ll give you an example from our business. We’re an internet marketing firm and our team member who runs the Facebook advertising noticed a flaw in the ad approval process. What did they do? They rallied a team together to create a tool that helps advertisers check to see how much text their ad image contained. Too much and the ad was rejected. Our tool helped save time and prevent delays in the ad approval process. We didn’t sell this, so no, it was not an example of intrapreneurialsm for profit; however, this tool attracted a lot of attention (Facebook even came out with their own version a month later). In our industry where links and positive press translates into higher web rankings, it brought us new business, albeit in an indirect way.
TWO EXAMPLES OF INTRAPRENEURIALISM MADE EASY Let’s say you already have a network of clients, why not look to a new employee to resell a product or service? This could be as simple as bringing in a new line of deserts into your restaurant. Or let’s say you’re a web development firm and you’ve got clients who want video marketing. Wouldn’t it be great is a project manager could take it upon themselves to partner with a video marketing firm and resell their product?
IDEAS FOR FOSTERING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION Most of us have team meetings, scrums, operations meetings, sometimes weekly, sometimes daily. The only problem with these meetings is that collaboration and
great ideas don’t always happen at once. At TechWyse, we’ve created a private Facebook group that acts as a bulletin board and starting point for new ideas that are shared across the entire team. Try running contests. At TechWyse we have contests for people who can write the most viewed blog within a certain time-frame. We also have a CRM software called AdLuge that we developed, we’re all encouraged to suggest new features and functionality. Many of these suggestions have profoundly influenced the direction of the tool.
IS THERE A SILVER BULLET FOR BUILDING A TEAM OF INTRAPRENEURS? In short: no, but when you allow those with potential to thrive in the areas that most excite them, good things will come!
A GROWING TREND AMONGST MILLENNIALS In Dan Schawbel’s new book Promote Yourself he found that 58% of managers were “very willing” or “extremely willing” to allow employees to develop new streams of business. In addition Dan’s survey also found the Gen Y’s were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in becoming intrapreneurs. It will become increasingly important for business owners to promote this way of thinking. Schawbel cites in his book that one of the top reasons millennials leave their jobs after two years is due to a lack of career opportunities. I’ve seen it myself over the years, where I’ve hired a person for one role and they’ve gone on to doing something else altogether. Often times because they’re better-suited for the new role and sometimes they feel stifled by a job they’ve been doing for too long.
WINTER 2014 | 17
CHESTER ELTON
BE A
BETTER BOSS BY FRIDAY
In 1839, Charles Goodyear finally figured out what was missing from his attempts to transform rubber – which at the time was useful as little more than a doorstop - into a highly functional substance. Heat, in the form of steam, became Goodyear’s accelerant. Commonly used by scientists to speed chemical reactions, accelerants can work the same way in business, heating things up and making a company work better, faster and more smoothly. While there are countless accelerants that can be applied to different businesses, here are 3 that have helped spur change for some great organizations and leaders. These are just a starting point, but give them a try and see what happens.
These 3 exercises will help accelerate positive change in your business and in your interactions with your team. 18 | WINTER 2014
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Take 90 Seconds to Say Thanks This week, when one of your people does something great, grab a thank-you card and pen an old-fashioned handwritten thank-you note (e-mails do not count). Follow these steps: • Thank the person specifically for what she did that you appreciate: Sue, thanks for picking up the phones for me this morning. • Explain in detail how that helped you: We would have missed the call from Cheryl at VitalTech, and I’m guessing she would have placed her order elsewhere. • Tell her why that’s important: That’s what teamwork is all about. We back each other up. If the company were full of Sues, the competition wouldn’t stand a chance. You should send at least three cards a day each day of this week.
Ask 4 Great Questions In his book Hardwiring Excellence, Quint Studer provides four very good engagement questions. This week, take a few minutes to ask each of your people these questions. • “Are we living up to our promises to you?” • “What do you think we do best here?” • “Is there anything you’ve seen at other places you’ve worked that we might be able to use here to make our company better?” • “Have we done anything that might cause you to leave us?” As you ask the questions, listen, take notes, and promise to follow up. While you may be tempted, please don’t argue with your employees’ points of view.
Have Some Fun A growing body of research supports the claim that lightening up can increase team productivity, reduce employee sick day uses, and boost morale. Kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it? Who doesn’t want to work for a boss who encourages a little levity now and then versus someone who thinks “fun” is rolling up his sleeves at 5 p.m. on a Friday (“What could jocularity have to do with saving the world, which is what we do here at Acme Rivet and Bolt?”). This week, lighten up on purpose. Hold a pot-luck lunch, take the team outside and throw around a Frisbee, watch a funny video together, play a game, have a contest - just do something enjoyable and let down your collective hair. The result will be a team that’s more enthusiastic and engaged.
WINTER 2014 | 21
CTIONABLE Finding Your Element
SUMMARY Jennifer Knighton
Finding your Element is a quest to find yourself…it is a two-way journey: an inward journey to explore what lies within you and an outward journey to explore opportunities in the world around you.” -Finding Your Element, page 5 Finding Your Element is a deeply introspective guide to your talents, passions, preferences and goals. Based upon his bestselling book, The Element, Ken Robinson outlines an intensive journey that will help each of us discover our own Element. Robinson provides a series of guided exercises to evaluate your current life, review what activities and ideas give you energy, and ultimately to identify your unique contribution to the world. While the bulk of this work is personal and intimate, the author outlines key behaviors that will help anyone dig deeper into their inner workings to identify and harness their Element.
GOLDEN EGG - Three Elemental Principals Being in your element is where your natural aptitudes meet your passions.” -Finding Your Element, page 33 The process of discovering one’s Element is more like a quest than a 10-step program – highly individualized, introspective, and challenging. Robinson reminds us of the unifying factor for this journey: the simple miracle of our existence. And his three principles set the stage for our quest.
1
YOUR LIFE IS UNIQUE
2
YOU CREATE YOUR OWN LIFE
3
LIFE IS ORGANIC
“There’s no one in the world precisely like you, nor is there anyone else living your life.”
“What sets human beings apart from the rest of nature…is that human beings have immense natural powers of imagination and creativity.”
“Life is a constant process of improvisation between interests and personality on the one hand and circumstances and opportunities on the other.”
22 | WINTER 2014
GEM #1 - Where’s Your Tribe Connecting with people who share your Element can have tremendous benefits for you and for them… affirmation, guidance, collaboration and -Finding Your Element, page 188 inspiration.” The value of finding your tribe(s) cannot be understated. The members of your tribe offer validation and encouragement, but finding yourself in the wrong tribe sucks the life out of
you. Robinson encourages us to “try a tribe on for size.” Spend time with other people with differing interests, seek opportunities you may never have considered, and look for others who are
doing what you think might be your passion. Getting to know the culture of a tribe can help you determine your Element, as well as the ways in which you prefer to engage your Element.
GEM #2 - What’s Your Attitude Whether you see the cup half empty or half full is often a matter of choice and experience.” -Finding Your Element, page 148 Citing Carol Dweck’s research, Robinson reminds us that our mindset, dispositions, and attitudes have a significant effect on what we achieve in life. In fact, individuals with a growth mindset (versus a fixed mindset) believe that they can change and grow. “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it even, or especially, when it’s not going well is the hallmark of the growth mindset.” So too, finding your Element is frequently the result of your attitude and persistence. It’s important to remember that identifying your Element is an extremely
personalized process. Finding your tribe and having a positive mindset are only a couple of the strategies outlined in Finding Your Element, but they resonated with me as key to determining if your current state (in work and life) is fulfilling or draining. If you’d like to delve deeper, pick up a copy of Finding Your Element and work through the exercises outlined in its pages. You’ll be glad you did. Have you found your Element? Is it something you always “just knew?” or did it take a while to discover? What activities have helped you to get there?
Jennifer Knighton is a guest writer for Actionable Books, a Canadian company dedicated to providing business leaders with the tools to improve their own organizational health through conversation and action. Learn more at ActionableBooks.com. WINTER 2014 | 23
AN ASTRONAUT’S GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTH CHRIS HADFIELD SHARES HIS UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ON TRUE SUCCESS “Good morning, Earth.” For more than five months, those were the words Colonel Chris Hadfield used to greet the world via Twitter each day while orbiting our planet in the International Space Station (ICC). The first Canadian commander of the ICC, Hadfield became a part of the cultural lexicon by using social media in ways no human had before. His Tweets and YouTube videos from space became a worldwide sensation, sparking a sense of wonder in millions not felt since Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon in 1969.
BRINGING SPACE DOWN TO EARTH Hadfield officially became commander of the International Space Station in March of 2013. His Tweets, photos and videos throughout his time there have given the world unique glimpses into life as 24 | WINTER 2014
an astronaut. Hadfield used Skype video to answer questions such as, “How do you wash your hands in space?” “How do you wring out a washcloth in space?” and even insights into how to play a game of Scrabble in weightlessness. But Hadfield is perhaps best known in social media circles for singing and playing his guitar in space. He collaborated with the Canadian pop group The Barenaked Ladies to record a song that was sung by almost a million people all at once. His captivating swan song performance of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” just before turning over command of the ICC in May 2013 has been viewed well over 18 million times.
A STORIED PAST Hadfield is the pride of Canada and has experienced many “firsts” throughout
his career. In 1992, he was chosen by the Canadian Space Agency as Canada’s first fully-qualified Space Shuttle crew member, a NASA Mission Specialist. Just a few years later, he became the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in space and board a Russian spacecraft, assisting in the building of “Mir.” Hadfield performed two spacewalks in 2001. Then in 2010, NASA and CSA announced the selection of Chris Hadfield as a forthcoming commander of the International Space Station. Hadfield is a decorated astronaut, pilot and engineer, receiving awards such as the Meritorious Service Cross, the Order of Ontario, as well as the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He has been inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame and was named Top Test Pilot in both the U.S. Navy and Air Force.
Hadfield is now back on Earth for the foreseeable future, having announced his retirement from the CSA in July of 2013. However, he is already busy finding new ways to bring the glory of space travel, science and the things he’s learned to humanity.
vised, “Be honest and insightful in your communications, and give the reins to someone much younger.” Indeed, knowing the parameters of your capabilities (and what should be outsourced) is foundational to business success; Hadfield himself called upon his son Evan for help in getting up and running with Twitter.
AN ASTRONAUT’S GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTH One of Hadfield’s first post-space projects has been to write a book. Aptly titled, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything,” the book takes readers back to Hadfield’s experiences during his training years, as well as to his adventures in space. Through compelling stories and anecdotes, Hadfield offers success principles rooted in his unique perspective, as well as inspiration in the art of making the impossible possible. Hadfield also ex-
plains how conventional thinking can sometimes actually get in the way of achievement and true happiness. Having logged nearly 4,000 hours in space and decades of training as an astronaut, the crux of Colonel Hadfield’s success is a philosophy he picked up during his time at NASA: be fully prepared, but enjoy every moment along the way.
BALANCE IN LEADERSHIP
PUTTING RELATIONSHIPS FIRST AND ENJOYING THE JOURNEY Hadfield calls his wife, Helene, his greatest mentor and places a strong emphasis on the significance and importance of family. He considers “tenacious patience” to be the character trait most critical to his success both professionally and while raising his three children. Hadfield believes that no matter how busy or successful you become, you should always make time to stay well-connected with friends and family. Fortunately, technologies such as the internet, social media and Skype are making this easier to do than in the past. When asked what advice he would offer business leaders looking to start using social media as a part of their communications strategy, Hadfield ad-
Hadfield believes that the key to effective leadership is the ability to truly listen to others while also holding onto your own core beliefs and values. To lead effectively, the viewpoints of your team should be considered as you come up with the best plan of action; from there, use all of your available skills and resources to influence the group in the direction of the highest good. Hadfield believes that everyone has a “best” they can aspire to, and “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” offers simple, powerful tools to help readers reach those heights. Patience is an indispensable virtue; while not always easy, it’s something we can strive to cultivate whether we’re the leader or part of the team. Lastly, even as we’re focused on our goals, we should always strive to stay present and savor each and every moment of the voyage along the way. Hadfield’s epic social media posts are a case in point. The clear, refreshing insights of Chris Hadfield can inspire anyone to “think like an astronaut” and bring out their very best while living life on Earth. The book “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” will be available in stores on October 29, 2013 in Canada, the U.S. and the UK.
“Good morning, Earth.”
THE
LIST
12
BOOKS ON OUR RADAR
26 | WINTER 2014
World’s Greatest SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY:
Invest Smarter & Inspire Conversations! Avinash HERE’S THE STANDARD SOCIAL MEDIA CYCLE: 1. Get outrageously excited about social. 2. Rush into a social strategy headlong. 3. Lots of tweeting, facebooking, Google plussing. 4. Wonder why nothing magical seems to be happening for the business! With over 300,000 social followers, I’m a gigantic believer in the platform. But I believe companies make two simple mistakes that results in zero business value being delivered. First is an investment mistake, the second is related to what we actually do when we participate in social media. Let’s have some fun and create the world’s greatest social media strategy using venn diagrams.
Kaushik
Investment of Company Resources: Silly Version Rent
Own Presence on Facebook / Google+ / YouTube
This is a new trend amongst companies. Swept up in the fervor of Google+, Facebook, YouTube and other social platforms, they are massively shifting their resources (people, time, dineros) into their presence on these new platforms. That in of itself is not a bad thing. Everyone knows there are a quadrillion people on Facebook. It is absolutely a valuable audience.
Remember, when you create a presence on Facebook, Google+, Sina Weibo, Vkontakte, you are renting.
The bad thing is that all this seems to come at the cost of investing resources on efforts related to the company’s website. So many companies have irrelevant posts by expensive employees on Facebook all day long (more on this below), and don’t spent the little bit of money to create a mobile website. #arrrrrhhhhh
You don’t own the domain, you don’t own the customer data, you don’t create/own the rules, you can’t influence changes, you don’t have a say in how many characters you can type or how long your video can be or how much creativity you can express. You play by their rules (after all you are just renting).
Your Website
This does not make those platforms any less valuable. But it is astounding silly to have your rented presence come at the cost of a platform you own! Build your own magnificent platform first. Where you create the rules, you control the evolution, you own the customer data, you have a direct relationship with your audience, you get to decide what happens next (or if ever!), and there are no limits to your
WINTER 2014 | 27
Investment of Company Resources: OMG! Version Own
experimentation with creativity!
Rent
Once you nail your own existence, move on to nailing your rent existence. And going forward, always forever remember the balance between own and rent. Outsized investment in own, and an appropriate investment in rent. It is the only way to win big.
Presence on Facebook Google+ YouTube
Your Website
Now that we have the optimal investment strategy, let’s go rock our social participation strategy. Why does L’Oreal Paris USA, a multibillion dollar corporation with a marketing budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, have fewer followers than I do on Twitter? Why is the talking about this brand metric for Avis rent-a-car less than half of what it is for my brand page (and I have 50,000 fewer Likes than they do!)? Remember, Avis is a corporation with thousands of employees in tons of countries. Why does TravelZoo have 224k fewer Followers on Google+ than I do? All these companies are big and magnificent, and I’m very small and inconsequential. So, why? The answer is simple: this is their social media strategy… They wake up everyday and, on the world’s greatest channels for conversations, they shout at people. Every single post they write, every single tweet they send, is simply another variation of BUY IT NOW! The challenge is a tiny, tiny, minority of the audience is there to buy anything. (If you need more proof, just see how poorly advertising performs on these platforms.)
28 | WINTER 2014
Just because you are good at shouting on TV/Radio/Print/Display does not imply that that is what you do on social media. Even if you somehow manage to get a bunch of Likes/Followers/+1s, your conversation rate, amplification rate and applause rate will be pathetic. [More on these metrics: http://zqi.me/ rocksocial]
week. And if you can be clever about it, like getting your customers to pimp for you, even better. Ninety-five percent of the time create conversations and try to add value to your customers/likers/+1ers.
These channels are awesome. Here’s the strategy that works…
Write about topics both of you are interested in. If you sell smoothies, talk about food, how to develop a great palette, travel, evolution, agriculture, the future of the planet… the topics are endless.
Pimp your stuff sometimes – say twice a
Provide utility. Share tips on how to
So stop that.
Embarrassing Social Media Strategies
Tips to make your life a little better, from our area of expertise.
Your Website
BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF!
Conversations that Power Brand Building + Earn Attention make my life better. Share tips on a healthy lifestyles, exercise, wellness of children, latest relevant mobile apps…. the topics are endless. Your customers have given you permission to interrupt their day. Don’t stink at it. Be respectful of their attention. Create a warm space in their heart for your brand. Contribute something incredible, of value. That is the only way to win big.
Topics we are both interested in BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF!
Tips to make your life a little better, from our area of expertise
Social media provides us an incredible opportunity to create an immense amount of business value. And now you know how. Good luck!
DRIVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD Become an EXHIBITOR at THE 2014 TORONTO ENTREPRENEURS CONFERENCE
MAY 14, 2014 | MISSISSAUGA May 11th, 2012
CONFERENCE
CONTACT US:
EMPOWERING TORONTO AREA BUSINESS LEADERS Phone: (905) 566-5627 | Email: info@TorontoEntrepreneurs.ca Fax: (905) 566-1179 | www.TorontoEntrepreneurs.ca
THE CHALLENGER SALE: TAKING CONTROL OF THE
Matthew Dixon
CUSTOMER CONVERSATION
Ask any sales leader how selling has changed in the past decade, and you’ll hear a lot of answers but only one recurring theme: It’s a lot harder. Yet even in these difficult times, every sales organization has a few stellar performers. Who are these people? What’s the key to their success? How can we bottle their magic so that others can improve their own performance? To better understand what sets these successful sales reps apart, CEB launched a global study of sales rep productivity involving more than 30,000 reps across hundreds of companies around the globe.
WHAT WE FOUND MAY BE THE BIGGEST SHOCK TO CONVENTIONAL SALES WISDOM IN DECADES. First, all salespeople fall into one of five statistically derived profiles. Second, one of these profiles performs dramatically better than the rest while one consistently comes in dead last. And here’s the kicker: the one that comes in last just happens to be the profile that most heads of sales are betting their entire strategy on.
FIVE TYPES OF SALES REPS Through this research we found that every B2B sales rep in the world can be placed into one of the five discrete selling profiles, characterized by a specific set of skills and behaviors that defines the rep’s primary mode of interacting with customers:
1
THE RELATIONSHIP BUILDER doesn’t want to appear pushy, focuses on customer needs and is generous with his or her time.
2
THE HARD WORKER shows up early, stay late, and always goes the extra mile. He or she will make more calls in an hour and conduct more visits in a week than just about anyone else on the team.
3
THE LONE WOLF is a salesperson who is self-assured, difficult to control and follows his or her instincts.
4
THE PROBLEM SOLVER is detail-oriented, addresses service issues quickly and places importance on postsales follow through.
5
THE CHALLENGER has a different view of the world, understands the customer’s business and pushes his or her customers to think about their business differently.
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ONE WINS AND ONE LOSES When we look at sales performance, there is one clear winner among these five profiles: the Challenger. CEB research revealed that Challenger reps dominate the high-performer population, making up close to 40% of star reps in our study.
WHAT MAKES THE CHALLENGER APPROACH DIFFERENT? The data tell us that these reps are defined by three key capabilities: • Challengers teach their customers. Rather than focusing the sales conversation on features and benefits, these reps use commercial insight to bring a unique (and typically provocative) perspective on the customer’s business. In fact, more than 53% of what drives B2B customers’ purchase decisions is the salesperson’s ability to teach the customers something new or challenge their thinking. These reps come to the table with new ideas for their customers that can make money or save money — often opportunities the customer hadn’t realized even existed.
• Challengers tailor their sales message to the customer. To successfully close a deal today, a sales professional must build consensus among customer stakeholders. Challengers have a finely tuned sense of individual customer objectives and value drivers and use this knowledge to effectively position their sales pitch to different types of customer stakeholders within the organization. CEB’s research shows that decisionmakers care whether a given supplier has widespread support across their organization.
• Challengers take control of the sale. In the current economic environment, 80% of business is lost to no decision at all. Challenger reps are not deterred by hesitation from customers. While not aggressive, they are certainly assertive. They are comfortable with tension and are unlikely to acquiesce to every customer demand. When necessary, they can press customers a bit - not just in terms of their thinking but around things like price.
While it may be surprising that the Challenger profile is the most likely to win in the B2B sales environment, it’s almost more eye-opening who loses. In our study, Relationship Builders come in dead last, accounting for only 7% of all high performers.
WHY IS THIS? While it would be naïve to conclude that it’s because relationships no longer matter in B2B sales, the results suggest that the nature of the customer relationship has fundamentally changed. Challengers win by pushing customers to think differently, using insight to create constructive tension in the sale. On the other hand, Relationship Builders focus on relieving
tension by giving in to the customer’s every demand. Where Challengers push customers outside their comfort zone, Relationship Builders are focused on being accepted into it. While the Challenger is focused on customer value, the Relationship Builder is more concerned with convenience. At the end of the day, a conversation with a Relationship Builder
is probably professional, even enjoyable, but it isn’t as effective because it doesn’t ultimately help customers make progress against their goals. In today’s world where customers can learn on their own - the Challenger wins by bringing new insights to the table, new ideas to make money and save money that customers couldn’t learn on their own.
NOT JUST THE “DOWN ECONOMY” SALES APPROACH CEB research shows that when transaction, product selling reps and complex, solution-selling reps are compared, Challengers absolutely dominate as selling gets more complex. In fact, 54% of all star reps in a solutionselling environment are Challengers. At the same time, Relationship Builders fall off the map almost entirely, representing
only 4% of high-performing reps in complex environments. Put differently, Challengers win because they’ve mastered the complex sale, not because they’ve mastered a complex economy. Challenger reps – who continued to perform through the downturn – are more than just the top performers of today. They are the
top performers of tomorrow, as they are far better able to drive sales and deliver customer value in any kind of economic environment. For any company on a journey from selling products to selling solutions, the Challenger selling approach represents a dramatically improved recipe for driving top-line growth.
WINTER 2014 | 31
Leading Change LEADING CHANGE with Influence and WITH INFLUENCE AND Emotional Intelligence
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
decision from your audience such as images, written Who’s been a positive influence in your life? What are the or spoken words, or other ways to convey belief in qualities and characteristics you would use to describe anchange. idea. What Persuasion createsmany the interest that person? What kind of impact did they have or I observed leaders and that influence had Who’s been a positive influence in cases, establish the pace of leads the implementation. continue to have? Do they inspire and motivate you to your life? What are the qualities and is influence? As a noun “Influence is various levels of influence over their reach beyond your limits to a higher level of performance? characteristics you would use to describe the ability to be a compelling force on soldiers and I was taught that people During my time in the military I observed many leaders Is this person someone within your current company or that person? What kind of impact did the actions, behaviors,that and had opinions follow leader for 3over reasons. variouswill levels ofainfluence theirFirst, soldiers are they from a different circle in your life? When I‘ve is to they have or continue to have? Do of others. As a verb, influence they will follow because they have to: for and I was taught that people will follow a leader asked these questions to teams across the country the sway or impel to action. Dictionary. they inspire and motivate you to reach they are lower in rank. Second, they will 3 reasons. First, they will follow because they have most common answer is unfortunately not a person or manipulation. beyondwithin your limits to a higher level of com” Influence is not to: followinbecause need to: the will leader they are lower rank. they Second, they follow leader their current organization. without has orto: is perceived to have an ability to performance? Is this person someone Manipulation is influence because they need the leader has or is perceived to have an is ability fill for a need for the person. Why influence important leaders today? fill atoneed the person. Third, peopleThird, withinis your current so company or arefortransparency and integrity. Influence people will follow they are andand willing. Influence criticalcircle skill because it allows they fromis aa different in your life? also an notindividual/ persuasion. Think of persuasion willbecause follow because theyopen are open Individuals can accomplish a certain level of success organization to keep up with, or in some cases, When I‘ve asked these questions to teams as all the elements used to create your willing. Individuals can accomplish a using influence given with authority or influence establish pacethe of change. What iscase influence? Asa adecision across thethe country most common to prompt from your certain level of success using influence from a perceived ability to fill a need. However, greater noun “Influence is the ability to be a compelling force answer is unfortunately not a person or audience such as images, written or given with authority or influence from a success can be achieved by people who can influence on the actions, behaviors, and opinions of others. As a leader within their current organization. spoken words, or other ways to convey perceived ability to fill a need. However, by creating an internal desire for action and sense of verb, influence is to sway or impel to action. Dictionary. Why is influence so important for belief in an idea. Persuasion creates greater success can be achieved by belonging in others. In the military we called it “Esprit com” Influence is not manipulation. Manipulation is leaders today? Influence is a critical the interest and influence leads the people who can influence by creating De Corps” which Merriam-Webster defines as “feelings influence without transparency and integrity. Influence skill because it allows an individual/ implementation. an internal desire for action and sense of loyalty, enthusiasm, and devotion to a group among is also not persuasion. Think of persuasion as all organization to keep or in some my time the military belongingofinthe others. In the military who are of members group.” the elements useduptowith, create your caseDuring to prompt a inpeople 32 | WINTER 2014
Intentional: Influence is seen and felt by action. People may listen to what you say but they will always watch what you do. Passion and persistence in pursuing what’s most important demonstrates to others our belief in what we are doing. Navigating challenges business world today we see companies rise and obstacles with a determined and unbiased focus called it “Esprit De Corps” which was connections are People rooted operates from a transparent of challenges. One we of my former military commanders very clear Intentional:set Influence is seen These and felt by action. at a rapid pace usually tied to their ability allows us to engage others firmly and directly but Merriam-Webster defines as “feelings principles that inspires confidence and in thesay concept of emotional intelligence about the importance of embracing change. “If you don’t may listen to what you but they will always watch t to change. During my 15 years of executive remain respectful, objective, and engaging. like change, goingand to devotion like irrelevance even youand do.fairPassion and persistence in pursuing of loyalty,you’re enthusiasm, to serves as less.” a model what of moral or what is called our Emotional Quotient g experience I was fortunate to place a General Ericamong Shinseki, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff. what’s important to othersisour a group people who are members behavior. Authenticity is the most hinge that or EQ.demonstrates Emotional Intelligence a of executives within Fortune 500 companies. How can we develop these attributes to enhance challenges our belief in what we are doing. Navigating of the group.” One of my former military opens the door to commitment. trending topic in people development d that even though industries and we companies ability In awith deeper examination of these, focus In the business world today see companies riseto influence? and obstacles a determined and commanders was very clear about the but the concept has beenunbiased around close to ves varied widely; when it came to leadership we see connections to understanding ourselves, and fall at a rapid pace usually tied to their ability allows us to engage others firmly and directly but importance of embracing change. “If VISIONARY: A visionary person creates 30 years in various models. The model to adapt to change. During my 15 years d very similar needs. They wanted people whoof executive understanding others, objective, generating emotional remain respectful, and engaging. you don’t like change, was you’refortunate going energy and aahopeful picture of the I use and refer to below is the EQ-i 2.0® recruiting experience ability to lead and influenceI change. When I to place momentum, and navigating challenges. These (Emotionalattributes Quotient Inventory), which to like even less.” General500 future. Optimism is the critical contagion number of irrelevance executives Fortune companies. How can we develop to enhance our he decision makers to furtherwithin define what they connections are rooted in thethese concept of emotional Eric Shinseki, former U.S. Army Chief for an infectious vision. Optimism is is a global assessment and is scientifically I noticed that even though industries and companies ability to influence? In a deeper examination of these, oking for regarding the ability to “influence intelligence or what is called our Emotional Quotient of Staff. varied widely; when it came shared in words aligned that validated. The EQ-i 2.0® measures one’s themselves to leadership we with seeaction connections to understanding they shared these competencies: or EQ. Emotional Intelligence is a trending topicourselves, in In very the business today wewanted see maintains resilience understanding through challenges others, self-reportedgenerating emotional potential across they had similar world needs. They people who emotional people development but the concept has been had companies the abilityrise to and leadfall and influence change. When I momentum, and composites navigating challenges. These and setbacks. at a rapid pace of Self-Perception, Selfive communication skills around to 30 years various The model asked the decision makers totofurther define what they close connections areinrooted in models. theInterpersonal, concept of emotional Expression, Decision usually tied to their ability adapt to y to inspire action I use and refer to below is the EQ-i our 2.0®Emotional (Emotional werechange. looking for my regarding ability RELATIONAL: to “influence intelligence what is called During 15 years ofthe executive Relationships areorthe Making, and Stress Tolerance. Quotient stands our culture Quotient Inventory), which is a global assessment and change” they shared these competencies: or EQ. Emotional Intelligence is a trending recruiting experience I was fortunate to driving force for success. The bigger the Reflecting on key words topic withinin ® at and optimistic is scientifically validated. The EQ-i 2.0 measures one’s people development but the concept has been place a number of executives within goals the stronger relationships need to our discussion of the 4 attributes of an nticity Effective communication skills around close to 30 years in across various composites models. The model self-reported emotional potential matter how smart someone is if influential person, we can see Fortune 500 companies. that there is Ability to inspire action I noticed that be. Noof o build collaboration & unity I use and refer to below is the EQ-i 2.0® (Emotional Self-Perception, Self-Expression, Interpersonal, even though industries and companies they can’t develop and maintain healthy a strong emotional basis, unquestionable Understands our culture Quotient Inventory), which is a global assessment and s oriented Decision Making, and Stress Tolerance. themselves varied widely; when it came relationships their success will be limited. impactThe on the people us, and a Upbeat and optimistic is scientifically validated. EQ-i 2.0®around measures one’s ethical foundation to leadership they had very similar Influential individuals understand that relationship to the EQ-i 2.0® composites. Authenticity emotional potential across composites Reflectingself-reported on key words within our discussion of the needs. Theycollaboration wanted people&who had people come first and never treat others Self-Perception: trust, moral, and fair. Able to build unity of Self-Perception, Self-Expression, Interpersonal, mmon connection with these companies 4 attributes of an influential person, we can see that Results oriented the ability to lead and influence change. as a transaction. Self-Expression: transparent, alignment Decision Making, and Stress Tolerance. t they knew change was constant and they there is a strong emotional basis, unquestionable Solid ethical foundation When I asked the decision makers to of words and actions, and engaging. someone who could influence people, impact on the people around us,within and a relationship Reflecting onand key words our discussion of the Influence is seen Interpersonal: healthy relationships further define what they were looking INTENTIONAL: ® and strategy. We can consolidate these companies to the EQ-i 2.0 composites. Self-Perception: The for common connection with these attributes of an influential we can Making: see that listen to what and peopleperson, first. Decision regarding the ability to “influence felt by action. People4may characteristics be considered was that into theywhat knew can change was constant and theymoral, trust, and fair. Self-Expression: transparent, there is a strong emotionalchallenges, basis, unquestionable change” they shared these competencies: you say but they will always watch navigating unbiased focus, portant needed attributes of an who influential someone could person: influence alignment people, of words and actions, and engaging. impact on the people around us, and a relationship what you do. Passion and persistence and objective. Stress Tolerance: energy, culture, and strategy.and WeIntentional. can consolidateInterpersonal: these icity, Visionary, Relational, to the EQ-irelationships 2.0® composites. Self-Perception: healthy and people • Effective communication skills in pursuing what’s most important optimism, and resilience. first. desired characteristics into what can be considered trust, moral, and fair. challenges, Self-Expression: transparent, Decision Making: demonstrates to others our beliefnavigating in what The good news isunbiased that unlike our • Ability to inspire four important attributes of an influential person: alignment of words and actions, and engaging. icity: An authentic person is action someone who focus, and objective. Stress Tolerance: energy, we are doing. Navigating challenges IQ or personality, which are relatively Visionary, andset Intentional. Interpersonal: healthy relationships and people first. es trust Authenticity, and operates fromour a Relational, transparent • Understands culture optimism, and resilience. and obstacles with Decision a determined and static, our emotional intelligence can be Making: navigating challenges, unbiased iples that inspires confidence and serves as a • Upbeat optimisticperson is someone unbiased who focus allows us to engage developed. Measuring our emotional Authenticity: Anand authentic focus, and objective. Stress Tolerance: energy, f moral and fair behavior. Authenticity is the The good news is that unlike our IQ or personality, which others firmly and directly but remain intelligence and developing it to enhance generates trust and operates from a transparent set optimism, and resilience. • Authenticity at opens door to commitment. are as relatively our emotional intelligence canwill be allow ofthe principles that inspires confidence and serves a respectful, objective, andstatic, engaging. the 4 attributes of influence • Able to & unity developed. Measuring our emotional intelligence and model of moral build and collaboration fair behavior. Authenticity is the How can we develop us unlike to leadour more by creating The these goodattributes news is that IQeffectively or personality, which ry: A visionary person creates energy and a hinge that opensoriented the door to commitment. developing ittoto enhance 4 attributes influence • Results are relatively static, our emotional intelligence canfor be to enhance our ability influence? In the within others an of internal desire picture of the future. Optimism is the critical will allow us to lead more effectively by creating developed. Measuring our emotional intelligence and action, a sense of belonging, and an a deeper examination of these, we see • Solid ethical Optimism foundation Visionary: A vision. visionary person creates energy and a on for an infectious is shared developing it to desire enhance theand 4 attributes of within others an internal for action, a sense of only openness willingness to influence not connections to understanding ourselves, hopeful picturethat of the future. Optimism is the critical s aligned with action maintains resilience will allow us to lead more effectively by creating belonging, and an openness and willingness to not only The common connection vision. with these understanding generating manage change but to lead change for contagion for an infectious Optimism is shared others, challenges and setbacks. within others an internal desire fora action, a sense of manage change but to lead change for successful companies was that they knew change emotional momentum, and navigating a successful future. in words aligned with action that maintains resilience belonging, and an openness and willingness to not only future. was constant they needed someone through challenges anddriving setbacks. nal: Relationships areand the force for manage change but to lead change for a successful who could influence people, culture, The bigger the goals the stronger relationships future. Relational: Relationships are the driving force for Ed Hennessy is a Master Trainer in and strategy. We can consolidate these be. No success. matter The howbigger smartthe someone is if they goals the stronger relationships Ed the Hennessy a Master in EQ-i 2.0 is & EQ 360. He Trainer specializes desired characteristics into what can be evelop need and tomaintain healthy be. Nofour matter how relationships smart someone is if they the in EQ-i 2.0 & EQ 360. He specializes considered important attributes leadership development and also Ed Hennessy is a Master Trainer in ccess will limited.and Influential can’tbedevelop maintainindividuals healthy relationships in leadership development and of an influential person: Authenticity, certifies the use of the theprofessionals EQ-i 2.0 & EQin360. He also specializes and thattheir people come and never treat individuals success will first be limited. Influential certifies professionals in the use of Visionary, Relational, and Intentional. in leadership development and also EQ-i model through his company s a transaction. understand that people come first and never treat certifiesthrough professionals in the use of the www.leadershipcall.com. EQ-i model his company others as a transaction.
my former military commanders was very clear e importance of embracing change. “If you don’t nge, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” Eric Shinseki, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff.
AUTHENTICITY: An authentic is a trademark of Multi-Health Systems Inc. person is someone who generates trust Systems and ®EQ-i 2.0 is a trademark of Multi-Health Inc.
the EQ-i model through his company www.leadershipcall.com. www.leadershipcall.com. ®EQ-i 2.0 is a trademark of Multi-Health Systems Inc
WINTER 2014 | 33
A FORK IN THE ROAD:
HOW BRAND LOYALTY CAN BE ENHANCED OR DIMINISHED IN THE
DIGITAL TRANSITION The on-going digitization of everyday life is providing the world of marketing with numerous emerging opportunities to interact with customers in a timely and intimate way. The arrival of ever more data about consumer’s behaviours, attitudes and aspirations together with a rapidly expanding array of communication channels to talk with them should provide the opportunity to understand and reach out to consumers with a relevance that could previously only be dreamt of. However, as with every previous revolution in customer data and channels, there lies the opportunity to either nurture these new possibilities for the long-term benefit of brands and customer relationships or to allow shortterm promotional activity to prematurely flog them to death. A new golden age of marketing Looking to the future, we could be about to enter a golden age of marketing, where the right message can always be delivered to the right person at the right time in the right place in the right way, and to put the icing on the cake, we’ll be able to measure how the message worked. Achieving good ROI
for marketing expenditure could become more a science than an art. The potential implications for the future of Customer Loyalty are equally profound. The loyalty industry has always been at the forefront of both understanding customer behaviour and using this understanding to deepen relationships for the long term benefit of both companies and their customers. The potential to use new sources of data to understand customers even more and new communication channels to reward their behaviours more rapidly and relevantly bode well for the industry. So why a fork in the road? Surely on the above evidence the future for marketing as a whole, and the loyalty industry in particular, looks rosy? It does; but as with every era of technological development, there is a danger that industry gets carried away with what’s possible at the expense of what’s really wanted by consumers. In an ‘always on’ digital future, we may soon have the ability to send messages to consumers at any time, wherever they are. It’s already starting to happen. However, there is currently a potentially dangerous and naive
WINTER 2014 | 35
assumption in the marketplace that consumers are both willing and able to be in receipt of an endless stream of targeted messages wherever and whenever they may be, whatever they may be doing. However relevant a message may be, there will clearly be times, places and occasions where consumers will prefer not to receive it. The key challenge for marketing is to embrace the digital transition with both hands while showing enough restraint to avoid killing this new goose that lays the golden eggs. The key principles of loyalty; trust, personalization, reciprocity and a longer term perspective have never been more important.
Scenarios for the Future of Loyalty Management: To enable us to understand how the future of loyalty management could evolve with these new capabilities becoming available, Aimia has undertaken a detailed Scenario Planning exercise to assess the key uncertainties and possible outcomes, and has distilled them into two key axes of uncertainty that will shape the future. The first axis of uncertainty is the degree to which data is brought under control by companies and/or individuals. Currently, discussion around ‘Big Data’ tends to focus on what companies can do with it all, but as this new data rich, data driven world emerges, there are unanswered questions. Who will get access to what data, how will legislation evolve, will the value of data become more explicit and the degree to which consumers will be able to take ownership of their own data? The second axis of uncertainty is the degree to which brand relationships will either shrink or deepen as a result of more plentiful data and opportunities to ‘nudge’ customers. New sources of customer data, and new communication channels open the possibility of companies delivering
36 | WINTER 2014
WHAT WILL LOYALTY MANAGEMENT LOOK LIKE IN 5 YEARS’ TIME? HIGH DATA CONTROL
REAL RELATIONSHIPS
PAY TO PLAY
RATIONAL ENGAGEMENT
EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT
OFFER ANARCHY
THE HUNT FOR AFFINITY
LOW DATA CONTROL
relevant, timely messages to consumers, building deep, long lasting relationships. However, early signs suggest that these new sources of data and channels also create the potential for ever more bombarding of consumers with short term messages, potentially driving consumers to drift towards more deal based behaviours and weaker brand relationships. As a result of these two axes of uncertainty, four interesting and equally possible future directions for our industry can be assessed.
Future 1: Offer Anarchy In this future the volume of customer data created by the digitization of everyday life remains freely available and only loosely controlled by companies, governments or consumers themselves. Consequently the opportunities presented by ‘always on’ customers tend to be over-exploited by many vendors leading to highly transactional dealbased behaviours, limited loyalty and frustrated, over-messaged consumers.
The key challenge for marketing is to embrace the digital transition with both hands”
Future 2: Pay to Play In this future, data is increasingly acknowledged to be both valuable and powerful by companies, governments and consumers alike. Consequently, it begins to be controlled and traded as a commodity requiring business to pay to access customers through increased rewards.
Future 3: The Hunt for Affinity Potentially the future could evolve towards an environment where consumers and brands realise that despite a huge background of data driven, and only partially relevant communications and offers, it is possible to search out meaningful relationships that offer more relevance, value and affinity. In this future the total brand experience can start to overcome market noise, allowing strong longer term relationships to be built on more than just short term offers and rewards.
Future 4: Real relationships The final possible future is the one that we should all strive to build. In this
scenario, winning companies build deep trusting long-term relationships with customers, who in turn share their precious data to deepen the relationship yet further. It becomes a truly virtuous circle of partnership to help consumers manage a complex environment, and achieve value and satisfaction from their commercial relationships. Due to the uncertainties that lay ahead, the scenarios are currently all equally likely to evolve, but any senior executives concerned about the longevity and prosperity of their business will understand that getting the correct contract with customers about the use and value of their data, together with a relevant and permission based contact strategy will ultimately build a better future. As we sometimes say at Aimia, the secret to successful long-term profitable relationships is to do things for and with consumers rather than to them. If the industry gets this right, the new possibilities to better understand consumers by ‘Connecting the Dots’ of the various types of data that are now available about them, and the exciting new capabilities of mobile and social interactions should provide marketers with not just new channels, but a significantly expanded opportunity to build relationships, engagement, and long term loyalty.
In an ‘always on’ digital future, we may soon have the ability to send messages to consumers at any time, wherever they are”
Martin Hayward Martin Hayward is Vice President, Global Digital Strategy at Aimia, a global leader in loyalty management, with unique capabilities and proven expertise in delivering proprietary loyalty services, launching and managing coalition loyalty programs, creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the emerging digital and mobile spaces. In Canada, Aimia owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada’s premier coalition loyalty program, as well as a proprietary loyalty division that designs, launches and operates new client programs. Aimia also offers world-class data analytics through its Intelligent Shoppers Solutions suite of tools and has a minority position in Cardlytics, a pioneer of transaction-driven marketing in banking.
WINTER 2014 | 37
LEADERSHIP IS AN OBLIGATION Vince Molinaro, Ph.D. In 1907, an American engineer named Theodore Cooper was leading a project to build the Quebec Bridge. Once complete, it would be one of the largest and longest structures ever built, spanning the St. Lawrence River. It would provide an economic boost to the region, enabling goods to be shipped more easily by rail between the American New England states and the Canadian province of Quebec. Cooper was chosen because of his stellar reputation, illustrious career, and deep expertise in bridge building. His 1884 book, General Specifications for Iron Railroad Bridges and Viaducts, was the definitive textbook for other bridge design engineers at the time. But on a hot summer’s day in late August of that year, tragedy struck. Near the end of the workday, a worker was driving rivets into the southern span of the bridge. He noticed that the rivets he had driven in an hour before had snapped in two. As he was about to report his concerns to his foreman, the air was suddenly filled with the deafening sound of grinding metal. The worker looked up and saw the bridge begin to fall into the water, creating a force like nothing he had ever seen before. The sound carried for miles.
People in nearby Quebec City felt an earthquake-like tremor. Most of the 85 men working on the bridge were immediately catapulted hundreds of feet into the air as the bridge fell beneath their feet. They died the second they hit the water. Other workers were crushed or dragged underwater by the weight of the bridge. Some died on shore because rescuers couldn’t free them from the twisted metal debris. And when the tide came in that night, the
They seem to carry the weight of their obligations front and center in their minds every single day.
40 | WINTER 2014
community watched helplessly as these workers drowned. Seventy-five men lost their lives that day. A Royal Commission investigating the tragic event found that the bridge had collapsed under its own weight. Design errors and miscalculations of the load that the structure would bear were the root of the problem. But the issues went far beyond technical errors. The commission criticized Cooper and the bridge company for putting profit before the safety of the public.
Cooper came under fire because, although he was an expert in bridge design, he had never personally designed a bridge as large as the Quebec Bridge. The commission also concluded that political and economic pressure had influenced his judgment. Finally, Cooper’s arrogance kept him from heeding the many warning signs regarding the weight of the bridge and quality of materials that emerged during the construction. It would take a full two years for all the metal debris to be cleared from the river. But even then the story of the Quebec Bridge wasn’t over. In 1916, a second attempt at building the bridge ended in another collapse. Thirteen more lives were lost. The two tragedies clearly showed that the engineering profession needed to change. In 1918, reforms put the engineering profession on a stronger foundation. Professional engineers would have to be licensed, and designs for public infrastructure projects would need to be approved by a licensed engineer. Then in 1925, a group of Canadian engineers established a ceremony called the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer. They aimed to make graduating engineers aware of the obligations of their profession. In 1970, engineers in the United States began observing a similar ceremony called the Order of the Engineer. Their ceremony intended to foster a spirit of pride and responsibility in the engineering profession, to bridge the gap
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As a leader, you need to feel the weight of your leadership obligations... The consequences will go beyond you and end up affecting your customers, your organization, your employees, and your communities. between training and experience, and to present to the public a visible symbol identifying the engineer. Over my career, I have worked with a lot of technical organizations and engineers. I truly respect and admire the care and concern engineers have for safety in the work that they do. They seem to carry the weight of their obligations front and center in their minds every single day. I believe too many leaders in business today lack this sense of obligation. As I explain in my new book, The Leadership Contract (Wiley, 2013), when people first take on leadership roles, nobody teaches them that leadership is an obligation. We only need to look at the leaders at the center of scandals and corporate corruption. It’s clear that many of them have lost their way. They have either forgotten or were never aware of the obligations that come with being a leader. As a leader, you need to feel the weight of your leadership obligations. If you don’t, you run the risk of not living up to them, and we have all seen what happens then. The consequences will go beyond you and end up affecting your customers, your organization, your employees, and your communities. Assuming that you have truly decided to be a leader then the next thing you need to realize is that it’s not all about you. I’m sure you have
worked with leaders who were driven primarily by personal gain. For them, their leadership role was all about the money, the titles, the stock options, the company cars, the perks, and the power. When you work with them, you get a sense that they have missed something along the way. They are just not getting it, or maybe they’ve lost their way. I work with a lot of executive teams for two- or three-day off-sites to discuss strategy or the future leadership of their organization, and I can always tell how the leaders are truly wired by what they talk about during their dinners together. Some teams continue the discussion f ro m t h e d a y ’ s meeting. Others talk about their personal lives. And then from time to time, you get the team that talks only about what’s in it for them; hours of discussion about who is getting a new BMW or Audi as their company car or other perks being handed out. I believe these leaders are missing the mark. I’m sure if their employees could hear these conversations, they would be very disappointed. I believe this partly explains why there is such a low level of trust and confidence in senior leadership.
Employees look to the upper echelons of their organizations and see leaders primarily motivated by personal gain. I suspect that if you asked, employees would say, “I see what’s in it for you, but I don’t see what’s in it for the rest of us.” This is where we need to begin our reflection on the obligations of leadership. If you make it all about you, you won’t be truly successful because you will be leading for the wrong reasons. You will be letting down everyone who is counting on you. More important, your true colors will shine through when your leadership is really tested. As a leader you must be clear of your
“this partly explains why there is such a low level of trust and confidence in senior leadership” obligation to your customers, employees, organization, and the communities in which we do business. It’s time business leaders learn from engineers. It’s time to put your obligations as a leader front and center in how you lead every day.
Vince Molinaro, Ph. D., is Managing Director of the Leadership Practice within Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions. Vince is regularly called upon by the media for his innovative opinions on the future of leadership. An engaging speaker, he conducts keynote presentations for corporations and conferences. He is the author of the New York Times Best Selling book, The Leadership Contract (Wiley, 2013), and co-author of two other successful books: Leadership Solutions (Jossey-Bass, 2007) and The Leadership Gap (Wiley, 2005). He also is an active blogger on www.thecommunityofleaders.com. Follow Vince on Twitter @VinceMolinaro. 42 | WINTER 2014
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The Merits of
READING A BOOK Mitch Joel
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK THAT YOU READ? I buy new books all day. Literally. I read most of my book on my iPhone using the Kindle, iBooks or Kobo app (but, mostly Amazon’s Kindle). That seems to freak some people out, but it’s true. People wonder how it’s possible to read a book on such a small screen. In fact, it’s not that small at all. If you take a magazine (like this one) and look at the size and length of a single column of text, you will notice that the Android and iPhone screens practically replicate the column of text that you will typically find in a magazine or newspaper. Plus, I get to carry around hundreds of books with me wherever I may roam (and I don’t need to see a chiropractor from neck, shoulder and back pains). I haven’t been reading enough books this year, sadly. I used to read - on average - about a book a week. In fact, my good friend, Julien Smith (co-author of Trust Agents and The Impact Equation), runs an annual 52book challenge on his blog, In Over Your Head. He encourages everyone to read one book a week for a year, and sets goals (and punishments) against it. I think I have only read a handful of books this year. I feel like I am letting myself down. Still, I find myself reading all of the time. Tweets on Twitter, Facebook status updates, e-newsletters, articles online,
44 | WINTER 2014
blog posts, magazine articles, newspaper articles (remember those), and more. I still consider myself an infovore, but my consumption of books has not been at a personal level of satisfaction. Because of this, I feel like I am letting myself down. Not good.
MOVING FORWARD. Recognizing this flaw in my personal development, I’ve made an active push to read more books in the past few months. I even have physical books lying around my offices, by my bed and even in my knapsack. Book reading is an important part of what makes me grow. I know this. Still, this past year I got lost in less meaningful pieces of content. Yes, less meaningful. Sorry to burst any bubbles that you may have, but as amazing as an article like this might be, or as enjoyable as it can be to spend a lunch hour scrolling through Facebook and Twitter feeds, I can’t help but feel like all content (outside of book reading) leaves me as hollow as a meal at a fast food restaurant. It feels like the right thing at the time, but there is nothing but regret and the desire for a more substantive meal shortly thereafter. Reading a book does more for the soul
and the brain that you can imagine.
DIVING DEEP INTO A BOOK. Last week, I finished reading Steven Pressfield’s latest book, The Authentic Swing. Pressfield is a consummate author. He is best known for The Legend Of Bagger Vance, but he is also an amazing author on the skill of writing (or being creative at anything). He has two seminal books on the topic (The War of Art and Do The Work!). The thing about Pressfield (and his books) is that he forces you to focus and dive deep on the topic of writing and getting the words out of you. For me (and anyone else with a passion for writing), it’s inspiring. Still, that’s first-level on what happens when you read a good book. It’s much more about focus. A book allows you to shut-out the real-time Web, the beeps, the alerts, the distractions and more that continuously drive us away from the things that we really need to focus on. Pressfield calls everything but doing the work that we’re supposed to do “the resistance.” Never has there been a tool to seduce the resistance more than the Internet and social media (as much as I love both of those things). Books take you away from that. We need that.
Writing notes and adding perspective to the books that you’re reading do that too. Sadly, I got away from that. My guess is that I’m not alone. My guess is that you should probably be spending much more time with a book as well.
I ONCE WAS LOST... I’m not done with Twitter or reading blog posts or articles in The New Yorker, but I am done with those resources being the primary destination when I have a moment for content. Books first. Everything else flows after that. I don’t know about you, but the more books that I read, the more creative and strategic solutions my brain can come up with. We live in a world where content is short, fast and free. Perhaps this is more of a “stop and smell the roses” type of magazine
article, or perhaps this is more about how to develop better critical thinking skills. Famed investor Warren Buffett is known for spending the bulk of his waking moments reading. The fact is that he’s not just reading. He’s consuming. He’s ingesting. He’s thinking. From there, he’s doing the critical thinking about the topic and what the implications might mean to him and the customers of Berkshire Hathaway. Regardless, the merits that are derived from spending the time, energy and effort of reading a full book (cover to cover) is something that is easily lost in our fast food content culture. It doesn’t have to be that way. It’s a choice. You can make the choice today. Right here. Right now. Interested in fine dining? Try reading more books. I’m going to. Please join me.
MITCH JOEL
is President of Twist Image an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications agency. His first book, Six Pixels of Separation, named after his successful Blog and Podcast is a business and marketing bestseller. His latest book, CTRL ALT DEL, was released in May 2013. Follow Mitch here: www.twistimage.com/blog.
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Can Teach You About Business (Hint: Stealing Underpants Isn’t Enough)
My favorite South Park episode is called “Gnomes.” Here’s the gist of the story, as I remember it. Tweek’s underpants are being stolen. He has only one pair left. Tweek invites the boys to sleep over and catch the thieves in the act. In the wee hours of the morning, the boys spot a gnome sneaking into Tweek’s bedroom and stealing his last pair of underpants. “Why are you stealing my underpants?” Tweek shrieks. “That’s my last pair!” The gnome replies, “It’s all part of our business plan.” The boys accept the gnome’s invitation to follow him to his headquarters and learn about their business. When the boys arrive at the gnomes’ headquarters they see piles and piles of underpants, all shapes, sizes, colors, and styles. They are heaped in huge piles everywhere. Gnomes scurry to and fro, pushing enormous carts of underpants around. “What are you doing with all these underpants?” the boys ask. The gnome confidently replies, “Oh, this is just the collection phase: Phase 1.” “What is Phase 2?” Now the boys are
46 | WINTER 2014
getting really curious. The gnome doesn’t know, so he introduces them to the CEO gnome, who fires up a PowerPoint presentation. “We have a three-step plan for our business,” the CEO gnome proudly says as he clicks to the first slide. It says, “Phase 1: Collect Underpants.” He clicks for Phase 2, which we see
has no strategy—just a giant question mark. Phase 2 is blank. He clicks again for Phase 3, and the slide reads, “Phase 3: Profit!!!” The gnomes cheer as the CEO reads this last step aloud. There is much rejoicing. Too bad the gnomes will never reach Phase 3. Without Phase 2, they’re toast. Sound familiar?
Compelling Vision or Vague Concept? How many loyal workers go about their business but have no idea why they do what they do? The gnomes themselves do not understand their own business plan, or why they steal underpants. This is identical to a business where team members do not understand the vision or how to contribute to it. That business, just like the Underpants Gnomes Underwear Enterprise, will never move to the next inflection point—not for all the underpants in the world. We have a clarity issue here; how
exactly do we move from stealing underpants to profit? That’s key - that’s really all that matters to get to the gnomes’ endgame. As it stands they simply have a cave full of underpants. No sales, marketing, distribution, target market, merchandising, you name it. Profit? That’s a pipe dream. Ain’t gonna happen. Do you know your company vision? Do your team members know it? Do they feel emotional about it? The answer to those three questions
can stall a company’s ability to create a SmartTribe and stunt their growth at the current inflection point. When my team does a Cultural Assessment at a company, often the first questions we ask each of the interviewees are about the company vision and their alignment with it. We’re not looking to see if the vision is almighty and powerful. We’re looking to see if there is one at all, if people can articulate it in their own words, and if they are engaged by it. We’re looking for clarity. It’s that simple... and yet that difficult.
The 3 Types of Clarity Clarity is crucial in both vision and communication. Clarity can also be an act of omission—what we choose to be explicit and implicit about. This choice sets up the person we’re interacting with to succeed or struggle—and sometimes this person is oneself. Being clear is essential to leading. When we’re clear we feel aligned and energized, and our team feels motivated because they have explicitly stated expectations. So why is being clear
sometimes hard? Because being truly clear means we need to take the time to discover what we need, to articulate it clearly, and to be sure the other party understood our communication. The meaning of the communication is what the other party understood, not what you said, or intended to say, or “really meant.” You are responsible for making sure that the receiver understood, and if they didn’t, to try, try again. Clarity has three domains:
• CLARITY of our words (saying what we truly mean or expressing what we truly need) • CLARITY of our vision and plan (where we are now, where we want to go, and how we are going to get there) • CLARITY of our intentions and energy (embodying and modeling the outcomes we want for our team) Let’s look at clarity of vision and plan today, since that’s where the gnomes are struggling.
Clarity of Our Vision and Plan In my previous book, Rules for Renegades, I talked about how an MBA is optional but a GSD (Get Stuff Done) is essential. To ensure you reach the next inflection point it helps to make your brand = results. Mastering the skill of clarity in terms of communicating your vision and plan is crucial so your team
will know where you are now, where you want to go, and how you plan to get there. For example, the Underpants Gnomes would’ve benefited from a plan that included exactly how, once collected, the underpants would be marketed and distributed to retail/web/catalog outlets, how orders would be fulfilled,
how annual revenue targets would be achieved, what the costs of goods sold would be, and more in order to get to their glorious profit goal. To take this a step further, a clear mission, vision, and values statement will grab hold of your team’s emotions and provide motivation to excel.
Christine Comaford is a global thought leader on corporate culture and performance optimization. She uses the latest neuroscience techniques to help leaders and teams create reliable revenue, deep emotional engagement, and profitable growth. Download an excerpt from her book at www.SmartTribesBook.com. And follow Christine on Twitter: @comaford
WINTER 2014 | 47
TIPS FOR ACHIEVING
TECH-LIFE
BALANCE IN YOUR CAREER Randi Zuckerberg
KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE Sometimes social media can ignite a firestorm, which has devastating, careerending consequences. But most of the time, getting things wrong online merely results in temporary embarrassment and some hurt feelings. In the end, most things pass, and you have to keep them in perspective. Winston Churchill said that if you’re going through hell, keep going. If you’re going through a flame war, stop, drop, and roll with the
48 | WINTER 2014
punches. In time, people will move on and you’ll recover.
IT’S OKAY TO FRIEND THE BOSS A Wharton School study, titled “OMG, My Boss Just Friended Me,” showed that people were anxious to friend their bosses because of the potential to suddenly eliminate what was previously thought of as a solid hierarchy of communication. If it used to be hard for you to talk directly to your boss, this
often means that it was as uncommon for your boss to talk directly to you. Social networking can level this distinction with a simple friend request. What matters, then, is using the platform to your advantage. Add the boss, but make sure to utilize your privacy settings and only give access to things you want him or her to see.
PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY Become a privacy-settings expert. It
If you stand to lose a job or friends if certain aspects of your behavior were brought to light, then it’s probably smart to stop either doing these things or posting about them”
might seem tedious, but it will pay off. Of course, the controls are never foolproof. It may also be smart to practice posting abstinence. If you stand to lose a job or friends if certain aspects of your behavior were brought to light, then it’s probably smart to stop either doing these things or posting about them, and be cautious of other people posting about them, too.
DIGITAL POSTS CAN HAVE REAL-LIFE CONSEQUENCES A few years ago, I was going out in NYC with my girl crew when, like so many before us, we were rejected from this super-trendy, speakeasy-themed artisanal cocktail bar in Chinatown with a famously strict door policy. Waving us to
the side, the bouncer told my friends and me that we didn’t fit the “dress code,” which clearly meant “not slutty enough.” Annoyed at the bouncer, I pulled out my BlackBerry to vent my frustration on the then-new platform called Twitter. “Worst bar ever = apothecary in NYC. Worst bouncer ever = james. It would be a huge bummer if their facebook pages ‘accidentally’ went down.” I thought it sounded vaguely funny at the time, but I didn’t invest a whole lot of thought into my message. My friends and I continued on, hit up a few hot spots in the nearby Lower East Side, and called it a night. When I woke up the next day, my Google Alerts were at red alert, and my in-box was filled with howls of outrage from
bloggers and commentators complaining about my threatened retaliation against the club. Ah, man. I had no idea the Internet could propel my single tweet so far. Something I meant as a bad joke had taken on a life of its own. Of course, I didn’t have the desire or power to delete anyone’s profile, but as someone with a perceived influence at Facebook, that was an incredibly dumb and irresponsible thing to tweet. I didn’t quite get it then, but I do now. When going out for a night with friends, it may be a good idea to assign, for the night, a “designated poster,” a friend with whom you have to clear any online post before hitting “share.” If you’ve had a couple of drinks and are about to go on a posting spree, this could help prevent
Of course, I didn’t have the desire or power to delete anyone’s profile, but as someone with a perceived influence at Facebook, that was an incredibly dumb and irresponsible thing to tweet.” WINTER 2014 | 49
you from making a potentially careerending mistake. Better yet, just enjoy the moment and don’t post at all until the following morning.
THE GOLDILOCKS PROBLEM Knowing what to post when the workplace could be watching is a kind of Goldilocks problem: you can’t be too hot or too cold. Some people may overshare everything and risk getting into trouble; others may overcompensate and share nothing. Both approaches are bound to fail. The answer is to share, but know your limits. There isn’t going to be a world where we can have our online cake and eat it too, where we can say anything we want online and expect it to have zero ramifications in the offline world. That wasn’t true of the things we said before the Internet, and it’s certainly no more true now, when our passing thoughts and bad jokes have their own universally accessible archive. When I was at Facebook, I had a very talented young intern, who may not have known that I was a Twitter follower of hers, and I could see all her tweets about partying, drinking, and . . . let’s call it “college living.” Entertaining as they were, her tweets put me in a difficult position as her manager. I couldn’t tell her what to post on Twitter. I didn’t own the account and didn’t have the right to ask her to stop tweeting. But by the same token, people knew she was working for me, and I felt that her behavior online was beginning to reflect on me as her boss. I ended up having a sit-down chat with her, saying, “If you’re going to tweet, be thoughtful. Please don’t make yourself—and don’t make me—look bad.” She agreed, and everything was cool. 50 | WINTER 2014
There isn’t going to be a world where we can have our online cake and eat it too” This may seem obvious, but it can’t be said enough: always think before you tweet. If you’re doing something that can get you fired, or is illegal, don’t post about it. That doesn’t make you inauthentic; it makes you smart. Sometimes the safest option really is abstinence. If you are at a job where you live in mortal fear of the HR department, keep that in mind when posting anything online. If you’re applying for any job with a large company—and increasingly, companies of any size— don’t imagine that posting updates to do with #sex, #drugs, #moredrugs, and #evenmoredrugs won’t have some kind of effect on your employment prospects. Remember that an authentic version of yourself lives online, but there may be
some things you’re better off not letting anyone know about. Share what matters to you, with the friends that matter. Sharing in the workplace doesn’t mean sharing everything. Your boss doesn’t want to see your spring-break photos. People just want to see the generic stuff: baby photos, FarmVille updates. Actually, scratch that. No one wants to see your FarmVille updates.
Zuckerberg is the CEO and founder of Zuckerberg Media and author of Dot Complicated: Untangling Our Wired Lives (HarperCollins Publishers, 2013), from which this is adapted.
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HOW DO YOU REACT TO
CHANGE? Peter Aceto
I didn’t realize it would be this exciting around here” “I didn’t realize it would be this exciting around here,” said one employee during a lunch I typically have with team members who are celebrating their oneyear anniversary with us. This particular group included some who joined within one month of us sharing that ING Group needed to sell our business, without knowing how or to whom. As you can imagine, this was a time of uncertainty for our employees. “Will I lose my job?” is most likely the first question most ask when dealt with a similar change. It’s natural in that sense. And surely this applies to the colleagues who have been with us for years. After all, no one likes change. True? Well, I’m not sure it is.
Many naturally believe that change is bad. “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” Said Woodrow Wilson. And we know why. People typically fear the unknown. But others understand that change creates opportunities, like one employee in particular – who joined us just prior to ‘the news’ – even if he didn’t know who the new owner would be. Or others, including myself, who have experienced change, learned its value and have become comfortable with it, even ‘love’ it. Here’s the thing, not much is guaranteed in life other than change. Change is constant. So we either manage it, or it manages us. Take Jack Welch’s
perspective on the matter when he said, “Change before you have to.” We’ve certainly adapted that mentality with a number of innovations and operational changes that meet the times we live in. Change in that sense is in our control. It is essentially part of the DNA of ING DIRECT – we inherently believe that if you don’t innovate, you will be left behind. Which is why we make every effort to remain nimble and entrepreneurial, and why we in fact do our best to hire people who love change. But perhaps dealing with a change of ownership is a little different. We didn’t choose this change. It just happened. It happened to us. So now what? For business leaders, we need to
WINTER 2014 | 53
learn how people respond to change, and their perception matters. Everyone perceives change through his or her own filters. What is 10% uncertainty or discomfort to one is 100% chaos to another. A leader ’s role is to focus on providing clarity and communication with employees so they come to understand what the change means to them. That is precisely what we did when we announced the sale of ING DIRECT to our colleagues. We are built on a foundation of trust and
transparency, and there was no question that I would share whatever I could, as often as I could, to explain why this change is necessary. Equipping employees with information is the single most important thing a leader can do. People don’t expect only good news so a leader must be straight, quick and direct with whatever he or she can share. And it’s crucial to create a safe environment for open dialogue so employees can come to a comfortable place of understanding. My experience has shown me that
people underestimate their personal capacity for change. This is true of many other attributes too. But this is where leaders are most needed, where they can have the biggest impact. Managing change requires understanding how people perceive the change for themselves. With information, communication and trust you can help people understand the change better so everyone can get on with accepting it and making the best of it – and hopefully seeing the opportunity within it.
Peter Aceto, President and Chief Executive Officer of ING DIRECT Canada, is a passionate leader and committed savings advocate. His career with ING DIRECT began in Canada more than a decade ago as a founding member of its senior leadership team.
Equipping employees with information is the single most important thing a leader can do.
PREACH TO THE CHOIR Tom Fishburne In marketing, one size does not fit all. One size fits none. Many brands try to be all things to all people. General Mills CMO Mark Addicks once commented that too many brands were targeted to “women, ages 18-49, with a pulse”. It can be tempting to aim for everyone, particularly for mass-market brands. I’ve been in brand discussions where the target market was identified by writing all possible prospects on a whiteboard, as if we were cold-calling customers rather than trying to connect with them. Yet that broad targeting approach can lead to a split personality that appeals to no one. Your target market is not the same as anyone who could conceivably buy your product. A target market is deliberately exclusive. That niche focus is what gives it teeth. It is what compels consumers to identify with your brand. It is what gives you insight to speak to them so clearly. At Marketoon Studios, we develop cartoon series for brands with hypertargeted audiences. For Guidance Software, we created a series for a target market most people have never even
heard of, e-discovery professionals. The e-discovery industry is an emerging field within Legal IT services where lawyers exchange electronic files in litigation. If you’re not part of the e-discovery community, you probably won’t understand most of the cartoons. But if you work in that industry, the cartoons
are prized and highly shared. Last year, I traveled to the LegalTech e-discovery trade show. The Guidance Software booth was mobbed by fans that wanted cartoon prints to take to their offices and hang on their walls. That level of content engagement comes from the power of speaking to a niche audience.
WINTER 2014 | 55
We’ve created cartoon campaigns for audiences as niche and varied as database administrators, certified public accountants, HR professionals, in-app media buyers, and British secondary school teachers. Each campaign was deliberately exclusive. That’s what made them resonate.
The same holds true for any form of marketing. The more focused the marketing, the better the marketing will stick. Sailor Jerry gets this. The rum brand recently held a marketing event in Brooklyn that was deliberately exclusive. If you were willing to get a
TOM FISHBURNE is Marketoonist and Founder of Marketoon Studios (marketoonstudios.com), a content marketing agency that helps businesses like Intuit, GE, Kronos, and Rocket Fuel reach their audiences with cartoons. Follow his cartoons at his Marketoonist blog or on Twitter @tomfishburne
Sailor Jerry tattoo permanently tattooed on your skin, they would reward you with … a shot of Sailor Jerry. While this campaign was clearly not for everyone, two hundred people lined up at a tattoo parlor in the rain to take advantage of this offer. One Sailor Jerry fan named Sebastian said, “I’m in love with Sailor Jerry. All I drink is Sailor Jerry. You know what, a lot of people don’t really understand, and I don’t expect them to because Sailor Jerry is mine.” Sebastian’s comment is a wonderful articulation of what a brand can mean to a true fan. These are the types of advocates that we need to inspire in marketing. It is better to be deeply meaningful to a few than to aim for the majority and get lost in the clutter. In marketing, preach to the choir. The choir will show up every Sunday, and they will evangelize your sermon to others.
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BRAINSTORMING IS
By Stephen Shapiro
STUPID What keeps CEOs up at night? According to a recent Conference Board survey, one of the top challenges facing organizations today is innovation. Despite the popular misconception, innovation is not about new products, processes, services, or business models. It is about adaptability and repeatability. It is about continually staying ahead of the competition. In many organizations, the answer to the innovation challenge involves brainstorming. You know the drill. You get a flip chart, markers, and maybe some Post-It notes. Then you sequester a group of people in a room and generate ideas. While widely practiced, there’s one major problem with this form of brainstorming. It doesn’t work! Why? Here are four common pitfalls to brainstorming and some potential remedies:
#1: Poorly Defined Challenge One of the biggest pitfalls with traditional brainstorming is harboring the misguided beliefs that “there is no such thing as a bad idea” and that everyone should “think outside the box”. Organizations do not need more ideas, opinions and suggestions! In fact, they are drowning in them. What they need are implementable solutions that address real-world opportunities.
Therefore, instead of setting your team free to haphazardly generate ideas, first get them focused. Provide constraints that limit their thinking to areas that will have the greatest potential impact. In other words, “don’t think outside the box, find a better box.” The issue isn’t that people need to get outside of the metaphorical box. The problem is they are typically in the wrong box to begin with. If you ask the wrong question, you will of course get the wrong answer. While this is logical, most brainstorming sessions do a poor job of thinking through the challenge that will make the biggest different. To create maximum impact, invest a bulk of time identifying the right question. For example, brainstorming ways to improve productivity will most likely yield hundreds of useless ideas. Instead of trying to address an abstract problem like productivity, reframe the problem to “make jobs easier.” Restated this way, it is slightly more focused. Of course, it would be even better to first identify where jobs are overly complex. By targeting more specific jobs or activities, you have an even better chance of honing in on the real value creator. Einstein reputedly said, “If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend
59 minutes defining the problem and 1 minute finding solutions.” From my experience, most companies spend 60 minutes brainstorming issues that are not important. Having positive constraints helps to focus your thinking, increases the relevance of solutions and paradoxically, enhances the level of creative thinking.
#2: Lack of Diversity Innovation only occurs when you have a wide range of perspectives. However, most brainstorming sessions invo2ve the same people at each and every meeting. Moreover, those in attendance are typically only the individuals who are closest to the issues being addressed. This can negatively impact their ability to be objective and generate a new point of view. To combat this, identify and engage others that have a tangential perspective - people from different departments, business units, and levels within the organization. Consider inviting people from outside your company who possess an entirely different area of expertise. Do not limit your attendee list to creative people alone. You want analytical people working alongside great
WINTER 2014 | 57
While widely practiced, there’s one major problem with this form of brainstorming. It doesn’t work!” planners. The data-driven individuals will help ensure you are focused on the opportunities with the greatest potential value, while planners will help predict any potential implementation challenges.
#3: Group Think and Single Threading Most brainstorming sessions are set up to have a leader at the front and only one person speaking at a time. A drawback to this methodology is that once the first person throws out a solution, it taints the mindset of everyone else in the room. This causes convergence too early in the process. There is compelling scientific evidence that people can be subconsciously influenced to alter their opinions based on what a crowd believes. In other words, it is easier to fit in than to take a strong stand for your own beliefs. Thinking independently is harder than we anticipate. Another issue with this “single threading” strategy is that it slows down the process and leads to “social loafing.” When groups work together, there is a tendency for individuals to put forth less effort. They assume that someone else will pick up the slack.
58 | WINTER 2014
One way to combat these issues is to start by having everyone jot down his or her individual responses first before sharing with the larger group. This will ensure that each person has an equal say and contribution. Or, if appropriate, use collaborative software that allows for the gathering of solutions in parallel. One strategy leaders often use involves breaking everyone into smaller groups. Unfortunately this leads to a lack of cross-pollination. To address this issue, I developed a technique modeled after the “Speaker’s Corner” in London’s Hyde Park (learn this technique here: http://tinyurl.com/o9nt84n). With this method, simultaneous conversations take place with participants moving freely from topic to topic as desired.
#4: Brainstorming is an Event Brainstorming is typically viewed as a single, standalone event. Therefore, too often it is disconnected from the “reality” of the business and does not convert ideas into results. Instead, if you think of brainstorming as the start of a process (or part of an already established process), you have a better chance of creating value. When innovation is a process, it is repeatable
and predictable rather than ad hoc. To do this, before the meeting, get clear on what you will do after the brainstorming session. Obtain buy-in early on from the people who will make change happen. In fact, do not waste time brainstorming unless you already have an owner, sponsors, funding, and resources allocated prior to stepping into the room. Without these, your efforts will most likely fail. Lastly, be sure that the challenge you are working on (see point #1 above) has clear and measurable evaluation criteria before generating solutions. This helps you look at potential solutions objectively.
Brainstorming Does Not Need to Be Stupid Typically the only result of a brainstorming session is a waste of flip chart paper, Post It Notes, and time. But this does not need to be the case. When done properly, brainstorming can be a great way for generating solutions to important business challenges by tapping into the collective brilliance of the people involved.
THE TEN (AND A HALF)
COMMANDMENTS
OF VISUAL THINKING Dan Roam THE LOST CHAPTER FROM Visual thinking is the future of business problem solving. Using our innate ability to see – both with our eyes and our mind’s eye – gives us entirely new ways to discover hidden ideas, develop those ideas intuitively, and then share those ideas with other people in a way they are simply going to “get”. In fact – as we all know – visual thinking isn’t “new” at all: it’s our oldest problem-solving toolkit of all, predating verbal communications in the evolutionary chain by eons, and giving us as Kindergartners the ability to explore and explain our ideas long before we could read and write. As globalized supply chains and emerging markets flatten the world, as information overload becomes the status quo, and as communication channels proliferate, problem-solving complexity is only going to increase. In other words, there’s more data out there in more forms and languages than ever before, there’s a
greater need than ever for businesspeople to make good decisions and communicate their thinking to others. As businesspeople, becoming comfortable with our visual abilities again – improving our ability to look at complex information, see important patterns emerge, imagine new possibilities, and clearly show those discoveries to others – is about to become our most valuable skill. In my book, BLAH BLAH BLAH: WHAT TO DO WHEN WORDS DON’T WORK, I give dozens of examples of how businesspeople have solved complex problems through learning to think with their eyes. But more importantly, I introduce my simple set of four basic visual thinking tools that anyone can use to address any problem at any time. In order to keep the book as focused as possible on the “how-to”, I decided to remove one of my favorite chapters. Entitled “The Ten and a Half
Commandments of Visual Thinking”, I’m pleased to present that missing chapter here in its entirety. I hope you find it useful and eye-opening.
1. Any problem can be solved with a picture.
WINTER 2014 | 59
Strategic, financial, operational, conceptual, personal, and emotional: it doesn’t matter the nature of the problem we face – if we can imagine it, we can draw it. By drawing it we will see otherwise invisible aspects and potential solutions emerge. Drawing out our problem is always worth a try: even in the worst case – if no solution becomes visible – we’ll still end up with an infinitely clearer view of our situation.
are great idea-sharing places. But when you’re in a more proper establishment with fancy linens, you’ll need to BYOP (Bring Your Own Paper). Best lesson: always carry a little notebook and a pen. (Tip: while waiters in proper establishments are always willing to loan a pen, be sure to give it back.)
1) a PORTRAIT for a “Who” or “What” problem 2) a CHART for a “how much” problem 3) a MAP for a “where” problem 4) a TIMELINE for a “when” problem; 5) a FLOWCHART for a “how” problem 6) a MULTI-VARIABLE PLOT for a “why” problem.
4. To start, draw a circle and give it a name.
From just these six, we have the backbone framework for any problem-solving picture.
2. Everyone starts by saying, “I can’t draw, but...”
If you think you can’t draw, you’re in good company. The only demographic group who really knows they can draw is in Kindergarten today. Wait a minute... weren’t you once in Kindergarten, too? The fact is, we are all born excellent visual thinkers. If you’re visual enough to walk into a room without falling down, you’re visual enough to solve problems with pictures.
3. Avoid drawing on the linen.
6. Anthropomorphize everything.
The hardest line to draw is the first one – so don’t even think about it. Just draw a circle in the middle of your page and label it with the first name that comes to mind: “me”, “you”, “them”, “today”, “yesterday”, “tomorrow”, “profit”, “loss”, “our product”, “our company”, “our competitor”, “the globe”, “the weather” – whatever. It really doesn’t matter what you select at this point; all that matters is you get started.
5. Select the best picture type from the “Basic Six” (Who/What, How Much, Where, When, How, Why).
People respond to people. Faces and stick-figures, however crudely drawn, immediately elicit attention, understanding, and reaction. Whether to show relationships and quantities, emphasize a point, or just provide a sense of scale, draw people in by drawing in people. (In a similar vein, the reason handdrawn sketches are particularly powerful in sales and communications is their visibly human imperfections -- and their ‘work-in-progress’ appearance – invite participatory input from the audience.)
7. Take advantage of every mental trigger you can. (a.k.a. Use “pre-cognitive” attributes.)
The whole point of “napkin sketching” is that you never know when you might want to visually explore an idea. Any paper napkin will work as a drawing surface, which is why cafes and bars
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Once we’ve got that first circle drawn, all we need to do to keep our sketch going is select which of the “Basic Six” frameworks that best supports the type of problem we’re solving:
The human mind has evolved to process
Don’t lie (not to yourself, not to your audience, and most of all not to your picture)” a wide range of visual cues instantly, even before we consciously “see” them – hence the term “pre-cognitive”. We recognize and apply meaning to size, shape, orientation, direction, and position – and make associations and distinctions between these traits – long before we have time to think about them. Since we don’t waste any “higher-level” cognitive cycles processing these basic attributes, the more information we convey through them the more we free up our minds (and those of our audience) to look for deeper meaning.
and narration is magic.
8. Doodle aloud -- and erase even louder.
Everybody has his or her own idea of what things “really look like”, and we’re all wrong. The point of problem solving pictures isn’t to create great art. We’re not trying to show to ourselves and to others what things look like “out there” (in the real world), we’re trying to show what things look like “in here” (what we see in our own heads). The human brain is a remarkable problem-solving device: more often than not, we already know the solution to our problem – usually because we’ve already seen it somewhere before – but it’s locked away just out of grasp. When we see our problem mapped out in front of us pictorially, the solution often jumps right off the page. Don’t worry about what your picture looks like, concentrate on what it shows.
When the first person said, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, he or she permanently warped our understanding of pictures. The point of a good picture isn’t to eliminate words, it’s to replace as many as possible so that the words we do use are the important ones. (Rather than spending time verbally describing coordinates, positions, percentages, qualities and quantities, if we simply show them, we have more time to talk about what they mean.) So as you work through your picture, make a point of describing – even if it’s only to yourself – what the pieces mean and why you’re drawing them where you are. Even a stream-ofconsciousness babble makes sense when it supports an emerging picture. And when something looks wrong, go ahead and erase it, talking through that as well. The combination of simultaneous creation
9. Don’t draw what’s out there, draw what’s in here. (a.k.a. The sky is blue, except when I think it isn’t.)
10. Draw a conclusion.
The simple act of creating our picture is the most important part of visual problem solving: drawing things out helps us look, see, imagine, and show ideas that would have remained hidden had we not picked up the pen. That said, it’s always worth it to take our picture to the point where something new emerges. When you think you’re done, push that pen one more time to write a title, a conclusion, an insight, or a comment. Squeezing one last drop out of your visual thinking muscle almost always delivers a “eureka!”
10.5. Don’t lie (not to yourself, not to your audience, and most of all not to your picture).
Pictures are powerful. Because processing images activates more corners of our minds than words alone, we have a greater tendency to believe what we see – and the images we create are far stickier than things we only hear. While any problem can be helped with a picture, the wrong picture can make any problem worse. So when you’re done with your image, go back and take one more look, if only to make sure that you haven’t gotten so caught in the marvelous act of drawing that you’ve mislead even yourself.
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FROMDONUTS TODYNAMICS: MAKING MARKETING EASIER By Rob Adams How did homemade donuts lead to a passion for innovative marketing and customer engagement technology? Well, that’s a tasty little tale. In 2000, I was fresh out of the University of Las Vegas, and much to my parents’ chagrin I dropped my original plan to go to law school in favour of taking the plunge as an entrepreneur. Armed with a couple of credit cards and an audacious dream, I opened LaMar ’s Donuts in Las Vegas, a popular donut franchise from my hometown, Kansas City, to go head-to-head with the established leader, a little operation called Krispy Kreme. It was an uphill battle in the early days. My first week in business, I had an incredible number of customers: 50, to be precise. Now, keep in mind, when you’re selling a dozen donuts to each one of those 50 customers and you translate that to revenue, well, let’s just say that it didn’t even come close to covering my operating expenses. But despite the meagre cash flow, I knew that I had a superior product and realized that I needed to market my business, so I hired a communications firm. They were able to get my message out on radio and television, and my business grew literally overnight by 3,000 per cent. I went from making $100 a week to having customers lined up around the
I went from making $100 a week to having customers lined up around the block, all because they helped me find a way to tell my story and amplify my brand” block, all because they helped me find a way to tell my story and amplify my brand. People would come into the store, and because they were familiar with my story, they wanted to meet me and understand this concept of homemade donuts and how I did it – but as a business owner, I wouldn’t have been able to build that story and promote it myself. Back then, you couldn’t amplify your message like you can today using the marketing technology available. A year later, I had built LaMar ’s Donuts to a point where I was able to sell it to a famous tennis player, who was a fan of both the donuts and the successful business opportunity. Flash forward to today, I’m now the General Manager for Microsoft Dynamics in Canada. I’ve gone from selling donuts to selling business applications to companies of all sizes. Thinking back on my entrepreneurial experience gives me a chance to reflect on how I might approach things today, if I was still running my own business. Since my days with LaMar’s Donuts, new marketing channels and technologies have emerged – and they’re critical in the competitive business of capturing customer awareness and mindshare. One of the biggest challenges marketers face
is striking the right balance or marketing mix between traditional and digital approaches to achieve the best ROI. That’s where Microsoft Dynamics fits in. Whether you’re a corporate marketing team or an advertising agency, Dynamics CRM (customer relationship management) and Microsoft MarketingPilot deliver powerful, integrated marketing management solutions that can help you better understand your customers, get exceptional insight and control over budgets and resources, and create automated, measurable multi-channel campaigns across both offline and online channels. Whether you are looking to use social media, pay per click on the web, or use email, radio, TV, or billboards, Dynamics CRM and MarketingPilot can deliver improved execution and an understanding of the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. More importantly, our solutions are integrated, providing visibility into marketing investments across all channels which helps marketing leaders, like CMOs, quickly calculate ROI and illustrate their contributions to the business. I genuinely enjoy helping businesses use technology to help resolve these common issues. I really wanted to go into business applications in the first place because I
had run a company. I understood not only the existing challenges around implementing technology and solutions like that, but more importantly, I really did see the value in it. So I wanted to take some of the key lessons learned from having my own business and bring them to my customers, as I’m doing today. One of the other important lessons I learned? The secret to a truly great donut! Fresh ingredients are a must, every donut must be homemade, and it wouldn’t be a great donut shop without a great variety – we had more than 52 different varieties on any given day. My top two favourites: a cake donut with fresh fudge on top, sprinkled with M&Ms; and what we dubbed the “LaMar’s Bar:” a twist of a vanilla glazed donut and a chocolate glazed donut. I’m getting hungry just thinking about them!
Rob Adams is the General Manager of Microsoft Dynamics (Canada), responsible for Sales, Partner and Marketing strategy. In his previous role, Rob acted as Sales Director for Dynamics in the United States; he has been with the business group for eight years. Rob has a passion for making a difference in everything he does, which he extends through his business relationships by working to create true value for his customers. Outside of work, Rob loves to travel. He has also been a Big Brothers mentor for the past six years. .
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