... and I though I could get away with "trust me!"

One of those interesting slide shows from Forbes - How To Get People To Trust You

Being comfortable with the uncomfortable

It is not easy to be comfortable with things that are unfamiliar and not within the realm of our experiences and background. So what do we mean when we talk about diversity? I hope we have been talking about the invisible diversity, because if not we have been fooling ourselves!

I think as leaders we need a team of people who can think different and question things from multiple different perspectives. I strongly believe as leaders we need to identify and assemble a team of deeply skeptical individuals that can some where along the way hold hand firm and tight. Its like a voyage on a yacht, you question the direction at each point but once the team agrees they all pull the ropes in the same direction with gusto and alongside every one else!

Cultural fit to me is a match in emotional energy

During each interview I have conducted I have always wondered how I knew if the candidate across from me would fit and thrive in the culture. I have asked that question to myself as a candidate, “would I fit in this culture”? My answers have been often vague, incoherent and not cohesive.

One hour is not enough to know a person let alone to bring some one into your family. All background checks apart there is a lot of a person than where they have been and what they may have done? I am sure we all agree. We would not have been a nation with a 50% divorce rate if that was not half as true. All said and done during a recent conversation I had an epiphany. It seemed apt to mention it in an essay.

Each of us has different responses to different events and episodes, of course we are unique! We are all diverse we think and we act different, it is who we are and it is our personality. That being said I believe we process things on two planes – logical and emotional. Given the binary choice one comes first and the second must follow. Also not one is right in its entirety. It is this sequencing of choices in context of the challenge we are trying to resolve that defines who we are and how we fit within a symphony.

The logical portion of the assessment always results in the same answer independent of who we are and where we come from as long as we provide the same inputs, the beauty of math (I have to add that on account of my analytical background)… the inputs we provide do vary based on whether we have emotionally processed the facts or not (remember the sequencing piece?) our emotional energy varies and is a function of all that is around us not excluding us. So by deduction, fit is emotional energy. That still does not answer the question on how to measure it. Guess I need to think further?

Word smithing and funny business

Interesting Fools post - Career Education CEO Expelled

The article talks about the stock leap of 14.4% with the CEO's sudden departure... partially attributed to the PR statement?

"Current lead director Robert Dowdell will serve as interim CEO while the company seeks a permanent replacement for Larson. But consider how the press release described the situation: "The board of directors is in the final stages of engaging a nationally recognized executive search firm to lead the search for a permanent CEO."

Parse that statement fully, and you'll see it translates roughly as "we're almost ready ... to ask someone else ... to begin looking for a replacement." That suggests to me that Larson's departure was sudden, abrupt, unplanned -- choose the adjective that suits you best, but be aware that words like "calculated," "smooth," or "unpanicked" have no place in this sentence. "

http://www.fool.com/news/mft/2006/mft06092810.htm
By Rich Smith (TMFDitty)09/28/2006

Creativity matters more, not size!

Creativity is more important than just scale and size. - Article from the Media Dailty News

Careers & culture

It is so interesting to note that we (The people of the United States) celebrate the day our founding fathers signed and published the declaration of independence; July 4th, 1776. The war of independence ended in 1782 and the British accepted defeat in 1783 but the Independence Day stands firm at July 4th. The day the nation readied itself to take the mantle of democracy, lead the world and satisfy our citizen’s primary need for freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of action. No don’t get confused I am not trying to make any significant contribution or change historical records through this essay but I am trying hard to make a point!

I was evaluating corporate principles and policies in light of the above…. people often get promoted based on what they have done not the capabilities they project. I had the opportunity to experience a culture, where people were promoted based on successfully completing tasks required by the role versus the role they were preparing for. It does sound much like our educational institutions. Just the way students move up from one grade level to the next on successful completion of tasks within their current grade level.

Alls not lost though…. when it comes to admitting new candidates even educational institutions subjectively measure capability and drive as a proxy to future success.

Corporate culture or the societal culture… your guess is as good as mine.

Careers & culture

It is so interesting to note that we (The people of the United States) celebrate the day our founding fathers signed and published the declaration of independence; July 4th, 1776. The war of independence ended in 1782 and the British accepted defeat in 1783 but the Independence Day stands firm at July 4th. The day the nation readied itself to take the mantle of democracy, lead the world and satisfy our citizen’s primary need for freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of action. No don’t get confused I am not trying to make any significant contribution or change historical records through this essay but I am trying hard to make a point!

I was evaluating corporate principles and policies in light of the above…. people often get promoted based on what they have done not the capabilities they project. I had the opportunity to experience a culture, where people were promoted based on successfully completing tasks required by the role versus the role they were preparing for. It does sound much like our educational institutions. Just the way students move up from one grade level to the next on successful completion of tasks within their current grade level.

Alls not lost though…. when it comes to admitting new candidates even educational institutions subjectively measure capability and drive as a proxy to future success.

Corporate culture or the societal culture… your guess is as good as mine.

Sustainability & Advertising

More than just a spin...

Advertising Ecosystem from MediaPost, interesting article.

Slippery slope

I was thinking about all those occasions when I have either driven me or depressed me? The one and only thing I thought was common between the two was “Ego”… the green monster!

Don’t chew my ear!

One my most favorite poem is William Shakespeare’s “To thine own self be true” from Hamlet. Polonius speaks to his son Laertes before his travels…

Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!

As marketers we’ve been getting a far smaller share of the consumer’s ears these days than we ever did and that percentage continues to drop at an alarming rate.

The clutter often feels like some one chewing on my ear than a valuable message, don’t you think?

Now that's a good recipe for success

CREATIVE RISK TAKING

People Development
Understanding Risk/Taking Risk/Rewarding Behavior
Direction/Strategizing

Don’t change for the sake of change

Gone are those days when people believed “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke”, I often challenge myself and my teams to “Think different!”. That’s not just an extension of the Apple campaign either. Organizations today strive to think and more importantly act different.

Change is not easy but it’s not a choice either! If you don’t some one else will and then you will be forced to follow.

Its one thing to innovate/change and a whole different thing to add value to the consumer. With the death of product differentiation since the introduction of distant and contract manufacturing organizations have transitioned to commercial innovation, commercial differentiation in a crowded market place and on an ever crowded shelf. As we strive to differentiate in a mass market by micro segmentation. Organizations are challenged to entice I mean it! In that moment of excitement and euphoria generated in the consumers mind clearly articulate the value of the difference.

It’s all about the value, how ever small and incremental, its all about the value! Don’t change for the sake of change but change to make a difference. Its true of my brands, your brands as it is true of brand “I” and brand “You”!

Dissociative identity marketing

This is new to me too but I liked what I read, who knows you may see the value too?

Kalivo.com - Show
Fads or Smart Marketing?

Price & Value

Oscar Wilde was responsible for the original form of the quote but I am not sure where I heard the following one... nonetheless I love it.

“Economists know the price of things but not the value and Marketers know the value of things but not the price”.

I recently told someone they knew the value of things but not the value of it and they lashed out at me. I had particularly chosen not to generalize the Economists and the Marketers when I said it out loud. The quote is deep and indicative of the equity the two functions have developed as cynics and romantics.

Responding to success can be more challenging than failure

Much like gravity, nothing can stand up there for perpetuity. All that goes up or even grows up there like Newton discovered will some day come down. So is the story of life. But what about the momentary euphoria from going up there, getting to the top? That can be a tough one… We humans have a natural persistence of vision, but sometimes persistence can affect our mind and brains too.

When one fails one can commit greater rigor, more focus or sometimes even change of course to get to the top, but when u are at the top the only three place to go are either further up, stay there or go down. With the three options none can stay there for ever and obviously none can grow forever. Responding to success can thus be tricky, appearing arrogant, docile or humble all have its own issues.

I guess the response is a function of the culture, the landscape and the competition.

Administration is a job unto itself

Administration is an elegant word for the corporate sludge and politics we all have to put up with. There is more to administrator then the rut! The meetings, the decisions, agreements and negotiations.

Years ago when I was a consultant I learnt a wrong lesson, you have meetings in the day and work on the real stuff in the evenings. Things were simple and easy then, I was single, I was on the road and staying late meant hitting the restaurants and bars late at night with my colleagues and buddies. I loved it, but life is different now! Work life balance is critical, and what’s more important is not just managing my work load but ensuring my team is not overloaded.

Balancing work with the rest of the load can be a tough act. Administration can be a job unto itself. I cam eup with a model to address the situation... working backwards:

7. Prioritization
6. Delegate
5. Develop talent
4. Reward diligence & commitment
3. Manage and track development planning
2. Institute and agree on a skill matrix
1. Hire the right people

The most expensive thing in business after life itself

I was ruminating over what is the most expensive investment a business or an individual makes? My thought process got as little philosophical and so I thought it was an apt candidate for “The Blue”.

I believe the answer is F l E x I b I L i T y!

From every angle I thought of it I seemed to convince myself that the answer is flexibility, it is the cost of uncertainty combined with the luxury of maintaining options. Be it launching a new product as a premium or a flanker, setting up a new consumer driven supply network, entering a new market, all these decisions have associated risks. The classical way most businesses and people mitigate risks in their personal lives is creating fall backs. Basically a full featured execution option or at least a partially developed option that may be executed in the event of a failure in achieving desired results from the choicest selection.

In conversations as to how flexibility costs us on a personal level I have realized… think of all the money people invest in buying branded merchandise. The brands comes with a promise of meeting expected needs. Implicitly committing to the fact that if the brand failed to meet the needs the manufacturer will replace it with one that does. It is the flexibility of being sure one way or the other expectations will be met!

In line with my recent post...

Be happy now from FC

In a rush…

During my recent trip to India I noticed some thing quite interesting and may be even unique in its own right. People seemed to be in a rush! I am serious! This coming from me seems rather odd, given my pace. But the quirk was that this anxiety and obsession with getting things over with was unusual. Whether it was completing a task, getting somewhere, eating, visiting someone or a tourist attraction people were in a rush!

What’s with the idea of getting things done & getting them done NOW!

Does that mean we have a little extra time to squeeze in an added activity that we love… may be a couple extra minutes of that sweet sleep in the morning? It did not seem so to me?

I am not sure I have figured what it really is but one thing for certain people seemed to focus much more on task completion and much less on enjoying it. This is not about elevating ourselves beyond the mundane to the surreal but I do believe every individual needs to make a clear distinction between satisfaction and conquest!

My India top 11 - based on a recent trip...

The India top 11

The Good	The Bad
o Open to new ideas! Open to change!	o Conflicting performance measures across disciplines resulting in overall chaos across the system
o The opportunity is NOW! I guess the size of the population to affect something	o Need for greater organization, most things operate as islands unto themselves
o Everything is a social process, strong support system. Guess the joint family extends far & beyond	o Overly complex systems, it is no surprise every western company invested in India operates as a JV
o Institutions that work! Financial, Taxation, Post, Logistical, Information & Media, etc.	o Lack of originality, resulting in a lot of “Monkey see Monkey do”
o Faith based system with a strong culture	o Negative motivation works! The system perpetuates delivery against the fear of punishment
o	o Lack of overall trust & fear of the next person... everyone for themselves resulting in competitiveness

I just added the 11^th.

Long trip to India and back now!

Couple interesting posting on FastCompany, Business Week, etc.

Putting a price on customer opinion - FC
If size really mattered... - BW
It's time for a McD, I am loving it - ChicagoBusiness


Look for my top 10 on India, I am just about done compiling.