My Inner Child is Growing Up

I used to tell everyone that while I was forty-something on the outside, I was 14 years old on the inside. Lately I find myself doing some things that signal some major changes are underway.

1. I find myself muting TV Commercials. My Dad (who is in his eighties) used to do this quite often. I found it mildly amusing and somewhat eccentric - until I became tired of the same old voices trying to get me to buy their products or services. It is somehow comforting (empowering?) to just shut off the sound - to tune out. After all, these days it seems that unless you're looking for a medication with potential side effects worse than the illness the medication pretends to alleviate, there's not too much to buy.

2. I find myself talking to the TV. Yes, I know it can't hear me. But it's so frustrating to watch 24 hour "news" when 23.5 hours is spent speculating about what might happen, could happen and only 30 minutes is spent on what IS happening. What's with all the political speculation on who's running for President in 2008? Don't we have issues that need to be addressed NOW? Do we waste the next 2 years while more people die in Iraq and Darfur, while we continue to be addicted to middle eastern oil, while 40 million of us go without healthcare, while our status in the World continues to erode, while our education system crumbles, while Political ethics continues to be an oxymoron, whil;e the Earth continues to warm, while Homeland Security continues to be a priority, but open borders do not?

3. I'm tired of people trying to scare me. Whether it's the local 6 o'clock news telling me about deadly escalators, why I can't eat spinich (or was that lettuce?), what the Homeland Security threat color of the day is or whether killer bees are coming to get me. I'm too busy to worry about terrorist threats. I can't waste my time on deadly trans fat. I have the upcoming bird flu pandemic to worry about!

4. Is it me or do "Talk Shows" do more shouting than talking? It seems to me that for an exchange of ideas to occur, one needs to listen to a response. More and more, the news show hosts pose a question or state an opinion, wait 3 seconds, then talk over their guest! I am especially frustrated with the 4 person split-screen format when everone talks at once. I'm barely interested enough to listen to one person that to pay attention to four all talking simultaneously!

5. The butchering of the english language is beginning to bother me. I think it began with the phrase "You've got mail." Whatever happened to "You have mail"? While we're on the subject, I think that any TV interview with any professional or college athlete should include closed captioning. I'm also tired of words like "spin", unless it describes rotation. "Spin" is nothing more that "lie" or intentionally misprepresenting the facts in support of one's belief. Like "We're winning in Iraq" or we may recoomend a troop "surge" when we really mean escallate troop levels for an undetermined amount of time.

Okay. I hereby declare myself Andy Rooney.

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with my son, designing a website for a group of friends. I have to admit that it was an awakening for me.

First, I saw him in a whole new light.. I knew he was a bright guy, but never got to experience him from a co-worker perspective until I had this opportunity. We were able to focus on the task at hand, treat each other like peers and work through design changes, differences in opinion, in a way we'd never done before.

Jeff, while only 15, is pretty adept at Photoshop, and in the course of a couple of hours, were able to design, what we believed to be a stylish and effective website. My friends liked the website so much that they are now using him to test web applications across platforms and with a variety of browsers. A sophomore in High School, he's already taking on tasks that I would have had experienced IT folks perform in a previous life.

In the next few weeks I'll be forming an LLC with Jeff as a partner.

The next time I pass a company with a name of "xxx" & Son, it will always remind me of the special afternoon I recently had. Hopefully we'll get to spend many more together working on IT projects (assuming his homework gets done!)

How are good business practices like losing weight?

Because the advice seems so simple and straightforward, yet is difficult to execute!

Want to lose weight? Eat sensibly, in moderation and exercise regularly.

Want to improve your business?
Develop a compelling vision, backed by a realistic, executable strategy. Translate the strategy into an operating plan, with clear milestones and expected outcomes which can be objectively measured. Assign the plan and responsibility to the right people and compensate them based upon their results. Sounds simple.

I just finished rereading four of my favorite business books; "Leading Change" by John Kotter, "Execution: The Discipline of getting Things Done", by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan and Charles Buck, "Lean Thinking" by James P. Womack and "The Toyota Way" by Jeffrey Liker.

These books offer interesting insights into how some companies clearly outperform the competition.

What all the examples in these books have in common is that the founders or CEOs had a very strong vision with which, they were able to build a strong company culture (of process innovation, waste reduction, innovation, execution, employee development etc) that enabled them to compete very effectively over many years.

If every business leader were like the one's mentioned in these books, all American companies might be executing far better, but in reality, not every company is blessed with gifted leaders.

So the real question is; Is it possible to change a corporate culture from the middle? or must it always happen top down?

I love innovation!

Have you seen Amazon.com's Fishbowl?

While surfing the web yesterday, I ran into an innovation I had to write about. Yesterday I came across Amazon.com's Fishbowl. Fishbowl is an innovation from Amazon.com and UPS which marries the power of television entertainment and retailing into the same personal experience, "broadcasting" over the web.

Now commercials have been on television forEVER, and product placement in movies has been around for a decade or more, but "Fishbowl" is completely different. Fishbowl is a weekly video webcast, hosted by Bill Maher, which includes interviews with authors, filmakers and musicians. As each interview is taking place, Amazon.com links are presented below the screen, to enable the viewer to explore more information or to purchase the product.

The links are not obtrusive, so one can enjoy the show without being too distracted by the links, which change with each new guest. The shows can be viewed "live" Thursdays at 8 pm (Pacific) or after the fact, in whole or in part, at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/16305491/red%3Dent%5Fold%5Ffb%5Furl%5F16305511/103-7186298-2958232

Brilliantly, Amazon.com posts all previous shows (which can be played back in whole or in part). Just for fun, I also went to Amazon.com and searched on a specific song that had been featured on the show and voila! - there appeared a link to the performance featured on Fishbowl.

As more and more shows are produced, more and more "clips" will enrich the Amazon.com shopping experience. Only time will tell whether this new form of cooperative marketing effort actually sells more product for Amazon.com and boosts business for UPS, but the innovation is exciting to observe.

I wonder whether the television industry is watching?

Yesterday, I took my son to see the new Al Gore movie, "An Inconvenient Truth". The trip was inspired by my son's interest in documentaries. He'd just seen Thomas Friedman's special on the Discovery Channel about alternate energy sources and it spurred his interest.

As I watched the movie, I couldn't help but draw parallels in Al Gore's struggle to get his message out about global warming, with managers' efforts to help facilitate change within their organizations.

Certainly one could easily argue that the potential destruction of the planet outweighs whatever challenges we currently face within our industry, but there are parallels. Who hasn't faced opposition to an idea or strategy where;

1. People question whether a problem exists at all.
2. People challenge the severity of the problem or the consequences of inaction.
3. People are actually motivated to ignore the problem, either through their beliefs or by how they're compensated.

Each of us struggles to overcome embedded beliefs, conflicting messages and a natural resistance to change. One quote from the movie that especially resonated with me was:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." Upton Sinclair

How many of us have faced this challenge in our professional lives? Have you ever tried to implement a system, process or strategy in an environment where your co-workers were actually motivated by their compensation plans, to undermine your efforts?

My takeaways from the movie were:
1. Encourage a fact based discussion.
2. Present your arguments as objectively as possible.
3. Take your time. Sustained, meaningful change cannot be affected with a sound bite.
4. Stay the course. Stay on message. It will take many conversations with all constituencies before minds can be changed.
5. Keep your expectations within check. Be persistent, but be realistic.

Only time will tell if these tactics will work for Al Gore's cause.

I would be interested in hearing from other managers who have been challenged with affecting change, as to what has worked for them.

What has worked for you?