Past Week's Offers | June 2007 | May 2007 |
Bring the Customer to the Center
About a week ago, while at the office, I made and offhanded - and probably inappropriate - remark. Then, a couple of my coworkers expanded upon my remark - taking it to probably an even more inappropriate level. We have a pretty loose office, so we all just went with it. It was funny (No, I'm not going to tell you the joke), and no one was offended, so it was OK. Or so we thought. What we didn't realize was that we jokesters were surrounding Dylan, who just happened to be on the phone with a customer, and that customer was placing a fairly substantial order. Apparently, the customer heard everything that was said, and was clearly taken aback. DOH!!!
We should have known better. Why? Because we spend our time around books and thought leaders who have made one thing very clear as we move forward: MARKETING IS EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY. No longer is the perception of a company controlled simply by ad folks and marketing gurus. Marketing happens on every level - from the CEO to the Customer Service worker to the product design team. To drive this home, check out the book, The Marketing Mavens, by Noel Capon.
One Smart 8cr and a Generation
We're going to switch it up a bit today. I work with a lot of very smart and talented individuals, almost all of whom range in age from twenty-two to mid-thirtysomethings. One of those people is Kate, or as I like to call her, K8cr. I don't know how often you all make it over to the 800-CEO-READ Blog, but she's been contributing insightful posts for a couple years now, and a recent post of hers speaks to the topic of today's book by Cam Marston, Motivating the "What's In It For Me" Workforce: Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits. So what I thought I'd do is reprint the first half of Kate's, "A Manifesto from a Praised Young Person," then cut to the Marston's book description, then give you the rest of the essay. Saddle up, because this is way more thoughtful than most of my schlock. So, without further ado...
It's Your Fault. Nuh Uh, It's Your Fault...
Back in high school, I was driving fork lift in a factory. My department was the receiving warehouse where we had and endless stream of 18-Wheelers docking at our six dock doors. Not only did we not have the manpower to keep up, we ran out of room to put the freight.
Adjacent to the receiving warehouse was the stock warehouse of about the same size, so when we ran out of room, we tried to run the freight directly to the stock warehouse. Pretty soon, both warehouses were chock full, new freight was blocking aisles, and the two warehouse bosses were at each other's throats until they both came to the conclusion that at fault was the system created by the next level of management. "There's no communication around here. There's no room to put anything, and when we try to find extra space, we get yelled at," was a common conversation.
Be Brazen, Be Radical
I can't count how many of my peers have relayed the following conversation after graduating college over the past 5 years.
Parent: Why don't you have a job yet?
Graduate: Because I haven't found anything I want.
Parent: But you need a job. Didn't you have three interviews last month? Why didn't you take any of those jobs?
Graduate: Yeah, I did. But I none of those jobs were right for me and I'm going to Ireland next month.
Parent: I just don't understand. Why are you wasting your college education?
Graduate: Mom! Dad! Chill out! Don't worry, I'll find something when I'm ready.
Parent: I just don't understand.
From our parents' generation to ours, the idea of career has changed leaps and bounds. Twenty somethings aren't boldly leaping straight from classroom to cubicle; we are not taking a job just to have one. Today's graduates are waiting to start careers for a lot of reasons. But this is just one way the generations differ. So, since our parents have such differing ideas about career, who are we supposed to look to for advice? I'll tell you who - Penelope Trunk. She's the woman behind the book Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success.
Don't Get Caught Working Too Hard, Too Fast
I saw it materialize before my very eyes. On an atypically sunny and warm morning in March, I sat on my front porch absorbing the sun, letting its heat revitalize after the long winter. Out of no where comes a dump truck speeding through my quiet, slow-paced neighborhood a couple miles south of downtown Milwaukee. I heard the behemoth trash transporter slow a touch, which forced my head to swivel to the left to catch a glimpse of the intersection where the truck would soon be turning. At the corner, on the street perpendicular to they truck's course was a carpenter's cargo van. 30 seconds earlier I saw the driver scurry out of Groppi's with a sandwich in hand, obviously in a rush to get back to the job site. Instantaneously, the reverse lights came on and the van leapt backward.
This is how most of us live our careers. We're so determined to get where we're going, where we are supposed to be, that we don't pay close attention to what is happening around us. Before we know it, there's a merger speeding through the neighborhood or a downsizing backing into the intersection.
Resounding a thunderous bang and the shrieks of a steel ton being played like an accordion, the dump truck had made that brisk right turn right into the back end of the reversing cargo van. And if we're not careful, we're bound to be struck just as quickly and affectingly by the consequences of reshuffling or restructuring of corporate jobs. Don't be the dump truck driver or the hurried carpenter, read I Didn't See It Coming to secure your job, and your future.
Risky Biz
Have I ever told you about this paper I wrote in college? The topic we were supposed to discuss was something like "how technology negatively impacts modern society." I started writing the paper, got about two pages in, saved it, and went to bed. At the time I was working on a three year-old desk top that often had a mind of its own. When I opened the file in the morning, what I got was about half of what I wrote the day before with a whole lot of computer character gobbly gook scattered throughout. Being technologically illiterate, I had no idea what happened or how to fix it, and at first was quite peeved. But then I realized that technology was negatively impacting my life, so I left the paper as it was, added a quick conclusion, and two days later, handed it in (mostly because I was lazy). This was pretty risky. The professor was a pretty intense dude. But I decided that a few things were on my side. I was one of the few people who regularly contributed in discussions, always came to class, and had even had coffee with him on a couple occasions. I got the equivalent of an A+ and the professor used my paper as reference in his next lecture.
I did this sort of thing a lot in college, but I didn't do it ALL the time because I knew some professors wouldn't accept rules being broken. I had to manage the risk on a case by case basis. That's how I, at least temporarily, succeeded.
Managing high risk in business is also how good companies stay on top. Some companies avoid risk altogether; others blindly take on too much risk. But the really great companies see risk as growth opportunity and attack high risk with a smart game plan. This is what Adrian Slywotzky writes about in his new book, The Upside: The 7 Strategies for Turning Big Threats into Growth Breakthroughs.
My Start-Up Life
What were you doing at age 12? My guess is that you were feeling a bit like Gregor Samsa as zits riddled your face and your once barren under arms started sprouting patches of fuzz. I imagine you were also a bit confused as to why you no longer thought the opposite sex would transmit diseases simply by poking you in the back or pulling your hair. All of the sudden you had a crush on little Wanda or wanted to meet Studly Sonny behind the dumpster to sneak a peck on the cheek. Maybe you were even gearing yourself up for Mr. Hettiger's 7th grade health class, where he featured classic episodes of the Canadian teen drama, Degrassi Junior High, to begin discussions about the issues we all suddenly faced as teens and pre-teens (which was, BTW, totally awesome). Or maybe still your young mind was trying to comprehend why, for the love of Frank, it suddenly became acceptable to where Zubaz....in public (check out the link for sheer hilarity)!!!
Whatever your pre-teen life looked like, I'm guessing it wasn't anything like the life that Ben Casnocha was building. While most of us were awkward, gangly little whipper-snappers asking even more awkward questions of our elders - watching their faces contort with discomfort as they chose their words carefully - Ben was, you know, helping his city government communicate with constituents. Four years later, AT AGE 16, he was nominated for Inc. Magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year." You can read all about it, and a whole lot more in his new book, My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley.
From Good to Even Better
It happened when David Caruso left NYPD Blue and when the Braves traded for Crime Dog McGriff in 1993. It happens almost daily on Seth's Blog. It happened on New Years Eve when I became enraptured by the smiling blue eyes of an angel, and continues to happen every day those eyes rest upon mine. And it happened when Bell's came out with the Hop Slam (be careful with this one). What am I talking about? I'm talking about something really darn good getting even better. A solid TV show and a good baseball team both improved; one by subtraction, one by addition. A life, my life, a good life, reached great with the arrival of iBLF. And a Brewery announced their intention to remain my favorite when they added yet another great beer to their repertoire. Good things do get even better.
Case in point: the revised and updated new edition of Fun Works: Creating Places Where People Love to Work. Leslie Yerkes could have rested on her laurels with this book. It was already the best book about developing fun, productive working environments that are so instrumental in a company's efforts to achieve sustained success. But she didn't. She took a great book and made it even better.
Feed Us Some Carrots Already
Sometimes a book is so helpful and well-written that I just have to feature it more than once. Other times, publishers and authors call me up and say, "Mr. inBubbleGuy, you have neato site. We likey much and likeyed much the first time you talked about our aggregation of wisdom, so we desire to give our book again to your audience." And there are even times when members of inBubbleNation email me asking, "Senor inBubbleAmigo, I was really hoping to have that book arrive on my door step wrapped in bubble wrap; any chance you have an extras you'd be willing to part with?" All three of these things happened after I feature, back in January, The Carrot Principle, written by two fine gents named Adrian Gostic and Chester Elton. Oh, I even had iBLF ask for a copy. So, as Mr. inBubbleGuy, I say, OK, let's feature it again, but let's juice up the prize a little bit. Let's put a little bang in the box. But before I tell you what that bang is, I'm gonna remind you what I wrote about the book back in January.
Weird Ideas That Work Part II
Before we get to today's book, I want to let you know that yesterday's book, Bit Literacy, is being offered at a pretty sweet discount, plus free shipping, over on the 8cr web site. Go get it y'all!
As you may have guessed, 800-CEO-READ often likes to go against the grain. You want proof? How about the willingness to take a generally disheveled 20 year-old college dropout with no discernable business acumen and turn him first into some form of salesman, then, five years later, re-hire that same kid and allowed him to develop an alter ego as a self-deprecating and often absurd reviewer of business books (ok, not so different from primary ego). You want more proof? They hired two of my brothers!!! Three Schleichers in one office with no partitions...what were they thinking? Didn't they know that we like to throw and catch and bang and strum and draw and paint and do pretty much everything that doesn't require the use of a spreadsheet? AND, to top it off, they just promoted the youngest of us three misfits. They must be out of their mind.
Well, maybe they're not crazy after all. Perhaps they just agree with Bob Sutton, whose book, Weird Ideas That Work, is out in paperback right now. Jack and Todd must have thought about this argument from Bob: "We are told to hire people who fit in; to train them extensively; and to work to instill a corporate culture in every employee. In fact, in order to foster creativity, we should hire misfits, goad them to fight, and pay them to defy convention and undermine the prevailing culture."
Thank you Mr. Sutton for helping make it OK for three riff-raffs to find a place in this fine world of creative business endeavor.
Bit Literacy - How We Need It So
Think about what you are looking at for a minute. I don't mean these words or this site in particular; I want you to look at, and think very hard about, your computer. What does it do and how do you use it? You can scan the interweb for information and use its tools; you have some variation of an email program; there are probably oodles of files on your desktop and even more files living in multiple document and spreadsheet formats. You have lists and folders and more lists and more folders. You have raging inboxes and information flying at you infinitely faster than you can process it.
In his book blurb, author Barry Schwartz said, "Most of us learned how to deal with digital technology in piecemeal fashion. We developed bad habits that served us well for a time. But for the modern digital age, almost all of our habits are bad." Hale-freaking-lujah!!! I hear you brother, and I'm sure most of you feel the same way. That's why it's about time someone wrote a guide on how to deal with digital technology that is far superior to all the other books that simply offer us some tips and suggestions. Sure, tips can help, but most of us need to completely relearn how to approach all that is digital. Instead of learning things as we go and reading manuals, we need a big picture approach combined with small picture functionality. This book now exists, and it's called Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload.
Mothers and Success...and More
I hope all of you mothers out there had a most joyful celebration of your motherhood yesterday. Speaking of mothers, mine totally rules. Four boys in five and a half years? I can't even imagine!!! We were little monsters running around in SuperMan underwear, peeing on my dad's records, and generally destroying anything and everything we could get our mits on. And if you think this sounds bad, you should have seen us before high school. I hereby nominate inBubbleMother for Sainthood. It's just too bad we inBubbleBrothers didn't always treat our mother like the saint she is. We took for granted that she and our father would run around the country making sure there was always someone at our games. We sometimes tested her sanity even as she was doing her best to sustain ours. She always did (and continues to do) her best to ensure our success and was the glue that held our family together. But we sometimes overlooked what a marvel she was. She was steady ol' reliable, and we bratty boys didn't put in the necessary effort to ensure our family grew even stronger.
Think about your company using my family. Family = Company. Mother = What made your company a success (strategies, products, etc.). The question now is what equates to "ungrateful sons". I'll tell you. Just as we took our mother for granted and often didn't contribute to lasting family success, a lot of companies rely on what got them to some level of success but don't do what it takes to continue being a success, or to get to the next level. So, Ungrateful Sons = Stagnancy and Reliance on Previous Success. According to Robert Herbold, companies that act like my brothers and me have been Seduced by Success.
Revolt in Early Adult Life, and in the Boardroom
Growing up, I had a hard time, um, following the rules. I know. Shocking. You all probably thought I was a straight-A student who set standards for punctuality and obedience. But nope, I was just arrogant enough to believe that there was always a better or different way to do things, and that MY way would be THE better way. But like most teenagers, I felt like I was living under the permanent tyrannical rule of teachers, coaches, and parents. This, for the most part, was true. Check that - my parents and most of my teachers and coaches weren't tyrants, but like most kids, my life was pretty much in the hands of other, much older, people - grown-ups. So you can imagine my delight when I finally left home - when I became dictator of self, ruler of my own domain. But funny things happen after a while. I remember my first "Ah ha" moment. I had just received a jaw-breaking arse kicking from three large football playing men in an alley. The next day I thought to myself, "My parents did everything they could to keep me out of these situations. Maybe they were strict for a reason." It's true, not only would my parents have not allowed me to get drunk - or walk to the gas station for smokes - they also would have told me not to walk down a dark alley while drunk, which, again, they would have not allowed me to be.
Pretty soon I realized that just because I was now in control of most of my own decisions, it would be beneficial to get good supplemental advice from smart people. I didn't need to be so hard-headed and arrogant (still struggling with the arrogance thing...crap, and the hard-headed thing). Success in life would be more likely if I consulted people who might have strong, informed opinions.
Now, I know most kids go through similar periods of growth when unleashed from the clutches of adults, but you know what, we've seen the same type of growth within the corporate world in the recent past. It used to be that the CEO was an all-powerful autocrat who dictated direction and whose word was law. They ruled the company like I thought I ruled myself. But all of the sudden, CEOs started getting ousted with increasing frequency and boards were making statements. Now we see a new type of CEO. This transformation is documented and exposed in Alan Murray's (WSJ) new book Revolt in the Boardroom.
Dips and Cul-de-sacs
There is absolutely nobody who can strip and scrape away unnecessary paint in order to get to the natural wood like Seth Godin can. I actually don't know if he knows his methylen dichlorides and sodium hydroxides from his disc and belt sanders, but he's definitely the master of filtering through all the BS that infiltrates our business brains so that we can focus on what really and truly matters most - being exceptional, spreading ideas, laser focus on customers...the list goes on and on. You'd think at some point that Seth would eventually run into a thought wall like bands go into album slumps, but it just doesn't seem to be happening. Evidence of this is SG's new book that speaks to the dilemma Kenny Rogers made famous when he sang, "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run." The book is called, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick).
Who's Cooler?
Every once in a while, while at a watering hole or sitting around the office, I find it mildly entertaining to play "Who's Cooler." You pick two well-known celebrities and ask every one in the vicinity which of the two is cooler, and they just have to pick one. No justifications, no arguments, no reasons - just pick one and move on. Let's try it: Who's cooler - Peter Jennings or George Clooney? See isn't this fun? How about Christopher Walken versus Lebron James? Sometimes the decision is easy, sometimes not, but for some reason once you start this game, it can be hard to stop. Oooh, who's cooler - Steve Jobs or Chopin? That's a tough one.
The thing is, everyone has their own idea of cool. That's why you're not allowed to argue about WHY one person is cooler than the other. I will say, however, that their are two people who consistently trump everyone else as the kings of cool - who for certain reasons, are almost universally considered cool - Paul Newman and Tom Waits. I said we're not allowed to argue why people are cool, but I'll tell you why I think certain people are generally considered cooler than others. They consistently take risks and face possible failure. And it's not just me who thinks this. I'm talking about cool people, but Gene Pressman and Noah Kerner explored what it takes for some brands to stand out from others in the arena of cool. Our conclusions match, and you can see what I mean by diving into Chasing Cool: Standing Out in Today's Cluttered Marketplace.
New Ideas from Dead CEOs
It dumbfounds me how little credence politicians give to the past. Tax policy, war strategy, the decision to go to war in the first place...it's almost as if the economics of the 80's didn't exist, we never bothered researching the history (especially regional religious politics) of the middle east, and wars (oh sorry..."conflicts") such as Vietnam never existed. Sure, every new situation brings its own set of variables, but history shows us that some things work, some things don't. Some tax policies drive us into frightful levels of debt while feeding a select few people who, believe it or not, don't actually let the wealth trickle down; others tax policies don't. I've even heard certain commanders in chief claim that our current War on Terror is "different" because we are fighting an unknown enemy. HELLO!!!! Were you...oh never mind, we don't know what you were doing in the 60's? But we do know what you weren't doing.
Anyways. The same lack of historical understanding is often on display in business. Company heads simply don't seem to learn from the mistakes, and successes, of past business leaders. Perhaps this is because business history isn't as well-known or well-taught, or as visible, as other forms of history - especially now when corporate news is framed as daily info-tainment sensation as opposed to a learning experience we binness geeks can genuinely learn from. If a lack of recourses is to blame, then I have the book for you. It's called, New Ideas from Dead CEOs: Lasting Lesson from the Corner Office, and it's sure to help all you decision makers gain valuable perspective and glean invaluable insights from leaders who have been put, or have put themselves, through the management grinder.
My Father Calmed Me Like This Book Will You
Any time I find myself rushing things - perhaps because of nervousness or even excitement - I remember what my father/coach used to do when I was struggling on the mound. I would look over at him standing beside the dugout. He would open his palms toward the ground, slowly pushing them downward as if gently tapping the heads of children. At the same time his head gave a slight nod, and his eyes were saying, "You are letting your head get in the way again. Relax, slow down, and focus. You're just playing catch with the catcher." I was an emotional ball player who tried to think about every possibility. But instead of harnessing these qualities, I often let my emotions get the best of me while my brain was over thinking. Sometimes the only thing that brought me back to focus was that one simple gesture from my father.
I wish I could teleport my father into the decision-making processes of every business in the world. At all levels of organization there are people making decisions on the fly, managers rushing into action, and leaders making bold moves without making sure it is best for the company. It would often be helpful to have someone like my father around to say, "Hey, slow down and make sure this is what's right." But my father can't fly and teleportation is still just a dream, so we're going to have to turn to plan B, which is a boot by Joey Reiman and Andrea Hershatter, and it's titled, Business at the Speed of Molasses: How Patience Produces Profits.
Spiderman vs The Toyota Trilogy
I'm not sure why everyone gets so excited about a sequel to a sequel, but movie nuts sure do love a trilogy. The current fascination involves some spider fellow with the initials Pee Pee. Hmmm. I think he dies in this one; the bad guy wins for once, and the Spiderboy saga ends. Sorry to ruin your fun by dismantling your undying belief that good triumphs over evil. Now you can take the $9.00 allotted to this marketing extravaganza and buy yourself a nice pecan pie.
But you know what; it's not just movie buffs who like a trilogy. We business geeks like them too, but we only like when they are, you know, GOOD, informative, educational, and applicable. And it just so happens that as Predatory Invertebrate Man gets ready show his mad skills throughout the world's theaters, Jeffrey Liker and David Meier bless us with the third book in their super Toyota series. These are the SuperAuthors who blessed us with The Toyota Way and The Toyota Way Fieldbook, in which they introduced us to Toyota's revolutionary 4P model of excellence - Philosophy, People, Problem-Solving, and Process. In the third book of the Toyota trilogy, Toyota Talent, Jeffrey and David break down one of those P's - People.
Wish-Want-Walk
There we were, face -to-face, man-to-man, ready for the first round of intense negotiations. I knew that if I couldn't get the whole package, I at the very least, needed to walk away with the signed Jeff Treadway card from 89, the unopened can of 1985 Jolt, the entire series DVD collection of The Rifleman, and most importantly, the pick Jonny "2 Bags" Wickersham used on the 2004 Social Distortion tour - his first after taking over for Dennis Danell (R.I.P.). I was willing to part with my Prairie Home Companion ticket stub and the original computer version of the game Frogger, but no way was I letting go of my 1st edition copy of The Indian in the Cupboard or my bright orange can of Murray's Pomade.
Damn it!!! Not only did I give up the pomade, but I didn't even get the Jeff Treadway. I played that negotiation as well as Jeter goes to his left...as well as Alberto Gonzales remembers ANY conversation he's had in the last...well, ever. What now? Wait...you say there's a book I need to read? A book that will help me acquire a James Carville head razor for two drops of any hippie's patchouli? And it's called, Fearless Negotiating??? Sign me up because I also need to unload two cases of untouched popcorn flavor Jelly Bellys.
A Billion Bootstraps
When I first moved to Milwaukee several years ago, I lived with one of my inBubbleBrothers. I was in school and working full-time, just trying to get to that next paycheck. He was working full-time but at wages that haven't moved since the early 90's (note to all who employ: please pay attention to how far money actually goes these days). We both struggled, but we had a system. Luckily we got paid in alternate bi-weekly cycles. I knew where he kept his money and he knew where I stashed mine. If one of us was running low, we'd borrow from each other only what we needed, leaving a little note saying how much we took. The only rule was that the money had to be used for necessities. Food, bus fare, gas, bills...the stuff we all need to function properly. I couldn't borrow a ten for a six-pack or because I wanted to go out with friends. The money had to be used to fill an empty belly or a barren gas tank.
Today we are seeing similar systems being used to lift the world's downtrodden out of poverty. Up until recently, the world's poor has been dubbed "unbankable." This means that they have nothing to offer - no collateral, no job, no credit history - that would allow them access traditional credit. Thankfully, some people in the world are innovative and compassionate enough to find new ways to help those most in need, and one innovation seeing tremendous success is microcredit. To gauge the full impact microcredit is having, and how we can help in the fight against global poverty, we should all read A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty.
Catch Yourself on The Flip Side
Before I went away with the band to record our album, I asked a couple musician friends if they had any tips. One guy said, "Do it until you get it right." Another guy said, "Eat lots of bacon and chew lots of tobacco." How that is relevant I have no idea. But the advice that I found the most interesting was, "If you make a mistake that sounds good, keep the mistake." It turns out he was right. In one song, right before the climax of a long crescendo, one of the guitarists hit and sustained the wrong note - a really dissonant note - that was clearly out of place. But it sounded great. It's almost as if that ugly note announced the coming of climax. On another song, I was late on a bass cue by a fraction of a second. You can clearly hear I missed it, but the song as a whole is really lazy, so it actually sounded better that I wasn't totally on rhythm.
When you break it down, what we were doing was allowing our mistakes to become assets. But mistakes and weaknesses don't usually play out like this in real life. If we have something holding us back, a personality trait or behavior, it's rare for these constraints to magically become advantageous. We have to identify and deal with these constraints, or as Flip Flippen would say, we have to "flip" our negative thoughts and behaviors into positive action. That's what Flip's book, The Flip Side is hear to help us do.
