Random Thoughts

closerlook holiday video

Every year closerlook creates a holiday video, this year we made four....

http://www.lookcloseproductions.com/

My first time

I sold something on the web today. 

Ok, I realize that isn't groundbreaking, but as a heavy user of the internet going back to the days of dial-up, it is nonetheless a milestone for me.

Sure I have talked about selling things online.  Talked about it for years.  I have a sizable collection of stuff in my basement that has escaped donation solely because I have promised myself (and more importantly my wife) that I would sell it one day.

But selling stuff online is not as easy as buying stuff online.  Sure it's easier than having a garage sale, but it still takes a bit of effort, and before this weekend I never actually made the effort.

Then my wife realized that we had $800 worth of high-school textbooks aging in a closet.  And with new editions coming out almost every year, it was possible that that pile of books would be completely worthless if we didn't act soon.

After 6 months of increasingly frustrated reminders Showing great initiative, I sprang into action this past weekend, set up a seller account on Amazon and started entering ISBN codes for the textbooks.  The process was straightforward, and amazingly within 48 hours I received an email notification that one of the books had been purchased.

I printed out the buyers address and with some help managed to address an envelope and put postage on it.  Thanks Liz.   A couple minutes ago the mail guy picked up the package.

I am a peddler of used textbooks an internet retailer!

Now that would be Genius

Did you know that Bruce Springsteen is in town this weekend?  

Neither did I until a couple minutes ago when I found out by accident looking for something else. Turns out Bruce and the E Street Band are playing Sunday night at the United Center.  I wish someone had told me.

How often do you hear about a concert or event that you would have absolutely attended but you found out about it a day or a week late?  Right?  Happens all the time.

Sure you can sign up with Metromix (I did long ago) and get emails all the time.  But they come when I am at work as an interruption, they are not really organized well, and not personalized based on what I really am interested in.

Why hasn't Apple jumped in to solve this problem?  They know where I am, and based on my iTunes library they know what music I have, what music I buy, what music I listen to most.  The Genius is always telling me about music I might like, or offering to build a playlist for me.  Why didn't it tell me Bruce was coming to town?

When I'm in iTunes I am in a far different place than when reading email.  That is exactly the time to give me personalized music related news.  

I put the over-under at 12 months before Concert Promotion is a central part of iTunes.  And considering the greed and tone deaf approach to customer service that Ticketmaster has shown with ridiculous fees and charges even as we print our own tickets, I think that Apple could do to them what it did to the cell phone market.  Come in late to a mature market, redefine it based on user experience, and then own it.

Do you want the over or the under?

Confused about healthcare reform? Duh.

Last night I watched President Obama's speech to Congress on healthcare reform and the GOP response on CNN.  It was an amazing display of passion and certainty on both sides.  Each side essentially claims that the other is deliberately lying about their central thesis.  Wow.

In addition to this, virtually all the commercials starting about 30 minutes prior and for 30 minutes after the speech were either pro-healthcare reform or anti-healthcare reform.  One after another.  They alternated pro and con, and were wildly contradictory, but all designed to appeal to emotions.

And then coming out of a commercial break that was literally 100% conflicting healthcare reform ads, the CNN commentator said, "polls show the American public is confused about the healthcare reform issue"

Ya think?

Google Voice Comedy

I am one of the early adopters of a new service called Google Voice.  It's a cool new service which I will not try to explain in detail since there are already dozens of good reviews available on the interwebs. 

One thing that Google Voice does is take voice mails and transcribe them into text which is then emailed to you.

The thing is, the transcription software is not all that good yet, and the results can be hilarious.  Here are a couple I have received so far.

"the frigid brilliant really it's i think you're or right by the past here if i hear from the window hi mike"

"i'm feeling really coming it's gary hey listen i have to say is nice car"

That second one actually reads like somebody named Gary is leaving me dirty messages on my voicemail, which is not the case.  Nor is it Mary leaving me dirty messages, which would be better.

Another thing that Google Voice does is allow you to create a widget on your website or blog that a visitor can click on and be connected to your phone or sent into a custom voicemail box. 

I thought I would put these two pieces together and see if hilarity ensues.

If you are reading this on the web (as opposed to email) there is a "Call Me" button on the left side under the picture.  If you are reading this in email, click on the title and it should take you to the web.

Click the Call Me button.  It will prompt you for a name and phone number.  A couple seconds after you click "connect" that phone will ring and you will be connected to my voicemail box for this blog.

Record whatever you want and I will review and post the best mis-translations.

Except for you Gary, you perv.

Craziest Governor Contest

It seems like just yesterday I was thanking Mark Sanford for sharing his "love story" with us and giving us - count 'em - two great new euphemisms; "hiking the Appalachian trail" and "crossing the ultimate line." 

Our hometown favorite Robo-hair was in danger of losing his title of craziest US Governor, but my money was still on Rod.

What a difference a week makes....

Does anyone still think that Rod will be the Governor most remembered for leaving office early in 2009?

Thank you Governor Sanford

A little over a year ago when it was revealed that Elliot Spitzer was "Customer 9" I wrote a post expressing my feelings about how his actions were a gift to people who are in the dis-trust business, and bad news for the rest of us.

And now playing out over the past couple days is the story of another Governor who had a loose interpretation of his marriage vows, and who was willing to pay even more for a hook up than Elliot - when you consider the cost of international travel.

But instead of being pissed at Governor Sanford, I am actually grateful.

You see, I live in Illinois. 

Until yesterday, any serious discussion of the Craziest Governor in the US was pretty much a slam dunk for our guy Rod Blagojevich.   At least now it's a horse race for the title of Craziest Governor.

My money is still on Robo-Hair, but a couple more steamy emails and one or two press conferences and this could become competitive.

Why so confident?

Feeling confident today?  Like you are ready to take on the world?  You know your stuff and you are ready for anything.

This may not be good news.

A ten year old study (that I just heard of today) by two researchers at Cornell University, Justin Kruger and David Dunning reaches some amazing conclusions that will surprise almost no one, but should make you a little uncomfortable at the same time.

The essence of the Dunning-Kruger effect is that “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than knowledge.”

Their studies show that the most incompetent individuals are the ones that are most convinced of their competence. An important corollary of this effect is that the most competent people often underestimate their competence.

The really interesting thing is that after being shown clear evidence of their incompetence relative to others who had taken the same test, they still did not have the tools to recognize their incompetence.  It was only through actual learning that they could come to recognize their previous incompetence.  As long as they remained incompetent they likewise remained convinced of their competence.

The researchers point out that there is no bright line that divides the competent from the incompetent, and that in fact we are all competent at some things and incompetent at others. 

But it does make you think...

Some things I used to do

Within the last five years:

I used to read the Chicago Tribune first thing every morning and that's how I got all my news until 10pm.  Now I skim 4-5 different news aggregation services all day long, on my laptop, on my iPhone.  If an elevator door doesn't open immediately, I have probably checked the news.

I used to go to the comics page of that same newspaper and check out Dilbert every day.  Now I go to Dilbert.com once or twice a month and catch up.

I used to watch television shows when they were on and arranged my schedule around them.  Then I got TiVo and what night shows were on didn't matter so much. 

Now I wait until I have heard consistent, positive input about a show from a variety of friends and then get DVD's from Netflix and catch up on whole seasons in a couple days.

Kind of an interesting study in time-shifting.  Some things went from daily to minute to minute.  Others went from daily to bi-monthly.  And some of my "new" favorite television shows are in their 3rd or 4th season or even canceled.

I wonder what this list will look like in five more years?

Getting in trouble while sleeping

I recently visited my sister MaryBeth at the hospital where she was in the early stages of labor with her first child. While I was there I recovered a repressed memory from the birth of my first child and realized that it was a worthy successor to the advent candle story.  The common thread to these two stories (and most of my good ones) is that I am a doofus, my wife is a saint, and that I am unusually qualified to provide “what not to do” advice to the next generation….

I woke up quickly.  My very first wake up as a father.  Stiff after 3 hours sleep in the recliner chair in our hospital room, I was full of energy.  After 14 hours of induced labor and the birth of our first daughter Stephanie at 4:34 am I was short on sleep but excited to start this new phase of my life.

I got up and stretched and looked at my beautiful wife who was sleeping peacefully in her hospital bed.  A warm feeling came over me and I decided to go see and hold our daughter.  Maybe bring her back to the room so when Mary woke up we would all be together.

I was feeling very good about myself.  I was a new dad, had performed well in the delivery room and had even cut the umbilical cord without injuring anyone. In the couple hours after the birth we basked in the glow of bringing a new child into the world.  Every single person we interacted with was all smiles and congratulations.  Nurses, doctors, technicians, everyone was great.

With a big smile on my face, I opened the door and headed to the nursery to see my daughter.

Walking down the hall I smiled as I approached a nurse working the floor.  She however did not smile and as I passed her she said, “look who’s awake.”

Huh?  What?  Is she talking to me? Whatever.

I walked on to the nursery and they have a check-in desk before you can go inside where the babies are.  With a big smile I said I was there to see Stephanie Riley, and the clerk said, “well good morning Mr Riley.”  But not in a nice way.  Not cold exactly, but more than a little sarcastic.  And with it came that first twinge of “did I miss something?”

So with just a touch of paranoia, I walked into the nursery half expecting that people would be whispering and pointing at me.  And sure enough the nurses whispered and nodded at me.  I checked to make sure I was fully dressed.  Check.  OK, so what’s up?

I walked over to Steph’s crib but she was sleeping so I didn’t pick her up.  After a couple minutes being lost in the moment of viewing our newborn baby I looked up and saw two nurses who appeared to be openly talking about me. OK, I thought, now you are just being paranoid.

Typically in moments like this I laugh at myself for thinking it’s all about me, and move on, because of course it’s not really about me.  And this was exactly like that except that one of the nurses walked up to me, grabbed my sleeve and said, “I need to talk to you.”

She backed me up against a wall and began to talk about how a father’s responsibility doesn’t end with making the baby, and that I need to be supportive and involved.  It was a solid 3-minute lecture on parental and spousal responsibility and included her wagging a finger in my face.

We had gone through Lamaze classes at the hospital, and I know there is a lot to prepare for as a new parent, but the whole in your face, don’t be a jerk, discussion was really throwing me off.  And on top of it all, the nurses seemed to be genuinely upset with me specifically, not just new fathers as a category.   I don’t think I am a talented enough writer to capture the utter sense of befuddlement that I was feeling as I tried to figure out what could possibly have happened to make them all hate me.

In the course of about 10 minutes I had gone from the new father walking the hospital with the stride of pride, to one very confused, self-conscious, tail between his legs dad (with a small d) scurrying back to the safety of his wife’s hospital room.

When I arrived back at the room, there was yet another nurse in the room and my wife was now awake.  I timidly said hello to the nurse, who scowled at me and then left the room.  Yup her too.

As soon as the door closed I went to the side of the bed and said to my wife, “everyone here is being really mean to me.” Then without taking a breath I related the entire story from the time I woke up until I came back into the room. I was expecting that my wife would tell me it was all in my head, and hoping for a little sympathy.

Instead as I related the story, it became clear that whatever had happened to turn everyone else against me, it apparently had included my wife.  Instead of a smile or sympathy she just shook her head at me.

I was looking for sympathy, but what I got was an explanation. 

When we were transferred from the delivery room to a regular room my wife had traveled by wheel chair, her legs still being completely numb from the epidural she had gotten during labor.  The nurse and I had lifted her into bed and got her comfortable and she advised us to get some sleep.  I pulled a reclining chair up next to the bed and promptly passed out.

Shortly thereafter a nurse came in and told Mary that she needed to try and use the bathroom.  So she helped her out of bed and into the bathroom. The nurse asked if she should stay and Mary said no, her husband could help her back into bed.

After a few minutes, Mary begins calling out to me.  Gradually raising her voice until she is practically shouting, but I didn't even stir.    This goes on for more than 10 minutes.  As Mary describes the situation she was becoming quite uncomfortable, was getting very annoyed that she couldn't wake me, and her only fallback plan was pulling that emergency chain found in hospital bathrooms - and she really didn't want to do that.

Several nurses responded to the emergency call and helped Mary get back into bed. 

        “wow your husband is asleep right over there…”  “yeah I know” 

A few more nurses came in and out of the room as they reached the decision that Mary needed a catheter.    And they were all commenting on my incredible sleeping prowess, although they didn’t see it as a gift so much as an assholic character trait.

At some point they just pushed my chair into a corner of the room so they could work on Mary.  And still I slept.

Invasive procedure complete, Mary was finally able to get comfortable.  The last nurse, who later became the first nurse I saw, asked “what should we do with him?” and Mary said “push him back over here.”

A few minutes later, I woke up quickly….

Congratulations!

Congratulations is my new favorite word. 

I was recently introduced to the concept of frequently and sincerely saying congratulations by my co-workers. 

In my company people congratulate each other all the time.  I am new to the organization and don't know if there is a particular history or genesis of this phenomenon, but it's very real.  Don't get me wrong, we don't all run around patting each other on the back all day, but noticing, mentioning and congratulating achievement is in our DNA.

I have always been a big believer in positive reinforcement and catching people doing something well, and I have had a few bosses who were really good at it too.  I have written my share of attaboy, and keep up the good work emails and have frequent positive discussions with my employees all the time not just at review time.

But congratulations adds something more.  Congratulations says good work and good outcome.  But more than that, it is all about acknowledging personal accomplishment.  This may be the key component.

"That was a good meeting" is just an observation of an event.

"Congratulations, that was a good meeting" is a clear statement that I think YOU are the reason the meeting went well.

How often does someone tell you congratulations?  How often do you say it?

Try it.  Don't save it for graduation and promotions.  Use it all the time. And don't shorten it to congrats, and don't send it in an email if you can easily say it in person. 

You will be surprised how it feels to say it, and how the other person reacts.

Are you creative?

For the longest time I thought about the word creative as an adjective, as in, “she’s so creative.”  Creative described people who liked to think a lot, look at different perspectives, come up with innovative ideas.  Creative people see things a bit different from everyone else and are fun to be around.  Off the wall ideas are more likely to be described as creative. 

Creative was an adjective that described the person or the idea.  And it was totally subjective.

But lately I have been struck that this is not really the nature of creativity.  Don’t get me wrong; novel ideas are definitely important for the creative process.  But I had the wrong part of speech when I thought of creative as an adjective.

Creative doesn't describe the person or the idea, it describes what they do. (don't get all grammatical on me)

A creative person creates things.  Painters, writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, architects, developers, marketers, are easy to imagine, but creative can exist in every job, or not.  Or completely outside their job.  The measure of creativity is the creation of something new, not the imagining of it. 

The thinking, the imagining is just a means to an end.

I work for a creative marketing agency, and the other day I was in our storeroom and found myself looking around at all the artifacts on the shelves.  The company started as a video production shop and there are literally hundreds maybe thousands of tapes of various formats that are a window into the history of the organization.  I walked around and read the names off one tape after another and tried to imagine the story behind each.  Some of these tapes go back 21 years.

As I read the various titles and dates I had a profound sense of what it means to be creative. 

To commit yourself to create something that didn’t exist before.  To actually make it happen. And then to put it on the shelf, to move on and create something else. 

Lather, rinse, repeat.  Forever.

Creative doesn't describe what a person is, it describes what a person does.

So I ask all of you reading this who consider yourselves creative. 

Are you happy with what are you creating?  What's on your shelf?

Great Expectations

I measure all paid software and web based solutions against my experiences using Turbo Tax.  I measure all breakfast restaurants against Walker Bros.  I measure free web services against Gmail.  I measure hotel beds against the Westin Heavenly Bed.  I measure the way an airline treats me against my experience as an Executive Platinum member of American.  I measure commercials against the Mac vs PC ads these days and the older Bud Light commercials, both of which make me laugh.  I measure TV shows against Seinfeld, 30 Rock and The Office (which also make me laugh.)  And I measure consumer electronics against TiVo and the iPod.

These are the standards against which you will be judged if you want to feed me breakfast, sell me a gadget, or get me to watch your TV show. 

It doesn't matter to me one bit if you consider yourself in a different "space" than Gmail, TiVo or Turbo Tax.  You will be judged by the standard they set because I said so.

I'm not being difficult, I just know what is possible based on my experiences with my favorites and I will hold you responsible every time you fail to meet my expectations. 

It's tempting to "mange expectations."  But be careful, if you manage expectations too low, I will just avoid you.  If you manage expectations too high, you better stack up against the best.  It's a catch 22, it's completely out of your control, and it's the cost of getting my business.  Get over it.

Microsoft spends billions developing and improving it's core software product Microsoft Office and sells it for around $300 retail.  Or you can get a 100% compatible suite of software from Open Office for free.  I used to buy shoes at Nordstrom's, but now I use Zappos because it has a better selection and is a better use of my time.  Two hugely recognizable brands with long histories of being the best at what they do, swept aside because my expectations changed.  Don't get me started on books, music and movies...

And if you think that this only applies to businesses, think again.  I'd bet that every one of you can name a person that does a really good job at something that's important to you.  Whether they work for you, with you, or as a customer or contractor you know who they are.  They set the standard for how you will judge other people you come in contact with. 

When you take a new job, how will you most likely be introduced?  "This is Tom, he is the 'new Steve.'" 

How much of your acceptance in your new job will be based on who you are and what you bring, and how much will be based on how you stack up against Steve?  Fair?  Doesn't matter. 

There are simply too many options available to us consumers to think that anyone can get away with being "below expectations" for longer than it takes me to find an alternative and switch.  And you don't even have to be bad at what you do to find yourself on the wrong end of expectations.  Sometimes a new concept comes along and totally changes expectations (Zappos).  Or circumstances outside your control change how people view you (kinda wish you bought a Prius last year instead of an SUV?)

So you can be the best at what you do, or be so different that you create a whole new expectation.

At the very least make sure you are obsessed with understanding the expectations against which you are being judged. 

And be ready to change.

Not my proudest moment

This is a completely true story that happened to me and my family last winter. 

A couple weeks ago my wife mentioned to me that we would be going to mass this Sunday, something we don’t do every week.  In retrospect I must confess that I may not have given this discussion my full attention, but I do remember, “something something kids, something something candles” and figured that this was one of those weeks where all the kids come up to the altar and light candles or sing a song or something along those lines.

So Sunday comes and my wife is frantically trying to get everybody showered, dressed and ready for mass, and as we get closer to the starting time she is getting more and more agitated.  Being the thoughtful, helpful husband that I am, my main contribution is to make sure I am ready and to occasionally make a comment along the lines of, “it’s not the end of the world if we are a few minutes late.”  Hard as it may be to believe, my helpful comments did not seem to ease her stress levels.  At the last second I threw on a sports coat.

So we get out the door with 5 minutes to spare, make the short drive and arrive pretty much right as mass is supposed to begin.  My wife is half-running across the parking lot and urging the kids on.  For my part, I am holding up my watch to show her that we are actually fine on time, which is again earning me some very un-church-parking-lot looks.  I am a little confused because this is really pretty darn good for us to be there right on time, and I can’t understand why my wife is so worked up.

We walk into the church and the first thing I notice is my wife’s parents standing just inside the door looking very anxious and upon seeing us they say, “thank goodness you’re here.”  I notice that the priest and altar boys look relieved to see us too.  This is my first clue that I may have missed a detail or two.

The priest steps back and guides me and my family into the space between the altar boys and him, shakes my hand, leans close to me and says, “when we get to the altar you go left.”  Then he claps me on the shoulder and says, “ok, everybody ready.  Let’s go.”  The organ music swells, and we begin walking down the aisle of the church.  In the processional, with the priest and altar boys, and everybody in the pews watching us.  

In 30 seconds I went from a guy who wasn’t particularly worried about being late for mass and slipping in the back, to walking down the aisle with the priest and my whole family, and we are heading for the altar. 

And I have no idea why this is happening to us or what we are supposed to do.  But I know one thing for sure.  When we get to the altar, go left.

So we’re walking down the aisle, and everybody is looking at us, and I’m feeling pretty good about the decision to wear a sports coat, but other than that I am totally clueless about my circumstances and starting to experience that out of body, “this is just a dream feeling.”  

And then it hits me, candles.  "Something something candles."  We will probably light some candles.  Ok, that sounds easy enough.

At this point I should probably tell you that I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools from grade school through college, was an altar boy, the whole deal.  None of that seemed to be helping, as we got closer to the front of the church I was still trying to figure out why we were there.

We get to the front of the church and the priest goes right and we go left, and the music is playing and even more than walking down the aisle, we are now on the altar and the whole church can see us.

And then I see them.  The Advent candles.  “Something something candles....”

We are here to light the Advent candles!

I glance around and quickly spot a long handled lighter that is clearly there for me.  I pick it up and with a quick look at my wife to make sure I’m doing the right thing start to light the Advent candles.

There are four Advent candles, three purple and one pink.  One is lit each week during the Advent season, in a specific order for reasons I’m still not clear on.  Not being sure what to do, I went ahead and lit all the purple candles.

At this point the crowd began to murmur and as I looked up I could see my mother and father-in-law shaking their heads and waving their hands at me.  It was pretty clear I had done something wrong, but I really didn’t know what it was.  This is not an unfamiliar emotion for me.  From the crowd I hear my mother-in-law whisper quite loudly, "the pink one, the pink one."  So I lit the pink candle.

But this did not stop the murmuring from the church, and in fact it seemed to grow louder.  I looked from my mother-in-law to my wife both of whom seemed to be re-thinking my place in the family, and I heard, "lose a purple candle."

So I leaned forward and blew out one of the purple candles, which seemed to please the crowd and my in-laws who were now looking more than a little embarrassed.   I looked out into the church and the thought running through my mind was, “Well the good news is that not too many people know us here….” 

And it is at this exact moment that I hear the priest say, “we’d like to thank the Riley family for lighting the Advent candles for us today.”

At least I was wearing a sports coat….

So bad it's good, really good

I have written about the increasing ability of consumers to screen out messages that they don’t want to receive.  I observe my kids as they effortlessly avoid anything they aren't interested in, embrace technologies like iPod and TiVo that help them skip or avoid commercial intrusion, but at the same time stop a fast forwarding TiVo to watch a commercial they find amusing.  This led me to propose that businesses were going to have to find a way to be funny or entertaining in order to reach customers.

But recently I have seen another phenomenon at work that presents an alternative to being funny and engaging.  You can create a commercial that is so bad it is remarkable. 

And not just in the sense that it is so bad it is good, but one that is so bad that people talk about it.  That kind of remarkable.

In the past several weeks,I have seen multiple people stop and comment on this one particular commercial currently playing in the Chicago area and talk about how much they don't like it.  My kids even re-wound TiVo to play the commercial for me and tell me how much they hated it. 

A couple days later we were having a party at our house and the TV was on in the background with the sound turned down and this particular commercial came on.  Someone noticed it and immediately began a commentary on how terrible the commercial is.  Another guest who had missed the beginning of the diatribe walked over and said, "what are you talking about?"  At which point the speaker grabbed a remote and rewound the commercial so they could share the whole story. 

This falls into the uncomfortable zone of, "Yikes, this smells terrible!  Here you smell it..." 

But then I started thinking about the real goal of a commercial.  Isn't it to be memorable?  Does it really matter what causes it to be memorable?  OK, it shouldn't offend your target audience, but does it have to be good? 

I'll bet that you can think of a few advertising jingles.  You know the ones that get into your head in the morning and stick with you all day.  Do you remember any of them because you really like them?  Probably you hate the jingle, but do you hold it against the company?

So here are a couple questions for you: Do you think that any company really sets out to make a commercial that is so bad it's remarkable or is this a fortunate accident?  If this was an accidental strategy, would they be happy that people are talking about them even if they knew it was for this reason?

Can you guess what the commercial is that I am describing in this post?  Hint, it has a jingle at the end.

Look behind you

When struggling with a problem, especially one that does not have an obvious solution, I have a little game that I like to play that has a remarkable track record for helping me identify and implement a solution.

I start by making a list of the obstacles or challenges or problems that I am dealing with.  Really define the problem, don't try to solve it.

Then I take that list and do what I call a 180 exercise with it.  I take all the items on the list and say, "instead of obstacles, these are the benefits, or advantages associated with the problem, I just have to figure out why." 

This is not a power of positive thinking exercise, it's much deeper than that.  It forces you to fundamentally rethink your assets and liabilities, and examine your challenge through a different lens.

"Lack of senior management is the reason I can't get my project done" becomes "lack of senior management support is fantastic because it allows me to______ and get my project done"

"my biggest problem is I don't make enough money" becomes "it's great that I am low paid because it allows me to______"

Once you get into the 180 habit, you will find yourself instinctively questioning basic assumptions, you will become more inquisitive and a better problem solver.  You will ask "why" more often, and you will also become more of a contrarian.  You will annoy some people, but they weren't going to support you anyway.

Zigging is more fun when everyone else is zagging.

You will be amazed at how frequently a great solution is right in front of you, after you turn around and look behind you.

We need to talk

Think of that conversation you look forward to the least.  You know the one:

• asking your boss for a raise
• telling a friend you are mad at them
• asking a co-worker why they talk bad about you
• telling your doctor about that thing
• apologizing to your wife for being a jerk
• or that thing you were supposed to call your friend about, but then you forgot and now you're embarrassed because it's been like 6 months and they haven't called you back....

I have a challenge for you.  Take out a piece of paper.

Make a list for yourself of all conversations you don't want to have, really give it some thought, and rank it according to the thing you want to do least.  Date the list and put it in an envelope.  Wait a couple days and then open it.

This is your to-do list for the next year, and it is already ranked for you.

You need to do a bunch of other things too, eat better, exercise more, and create a bunch of micro-goals, but you will never regret working those relationship based challenges.

I tried calling you last night

When was the last time you heard a busy signal?  Not a network congestion message or bad connection on a cell phone.  But the good old fashioned sound of a busy signal.  Click to refresh your memory busy.wav

Is there even an analog for the busy signal today?  It used to mean I'm busy talking to somebody else, so I can't talk to you.  Call me back later. 

Do we even have that anymore? 

If I can't reach you I leave a voice mail, or send an email, or use IM, or text you.  In any case I got through to you and the responsibility has transferred to you now to get back to me, using any of the above options. 

The only thing I can think of that is even a little bit like a busy signal is when you get an error message saying your email couldn't be delivered.

Some other phrases that I propose can be officially retired:

• Pull over, I have to make a call.
• There is a line for the pay-phone.
• Free coffee.
• Call us toll-free.
• Color television.
• I don't have any cash because I couldn't get to the bank.

Now I'm going to take the phone off the hook so I can take a nap....call back later.

Tom's Mom

What an amazing post from Seth Godin today, and a terrific tribute to his Mom.  It can't be lost on any regular reader of Seth's blog where he got his contrarian, "question everything" nature when you read that his Mom was not a fan of Mother's day and for such logical reasons.  Way to go Seth's Mom!

I myself have a confession to make.  This year, for no good reason at all, I forgot to call my Mom on Mother's day.  Sure I could say it was because I was busy pampering my wife, and we went shopping for a new dishwasher cause the old one is dead, and then I got distracted with things around the house...but it's really just BS.  Somehow or another I just plain forgot to call my Mom.  My bad.

To her credit, she did not seem particularly disturbed about this when I realized my oversight and called her first thing Monday morning.  I am guessing this is some combination of me being a relatively good son the rest of the year and having given her some nice clay pencil holders for Mother's day back when I was in grade school.  In any case Mom, thanks for not making me feel worse than I already did.

Over the years I have told a number of stories about my Mom, usually to illustrate the challenge of designing high usability solutions on the web.  For a number of years when I was running an e-business department my challenge to the design team was not to build a web-site that they could use, but to build a web-site my Mom could use.  And every designer knew exactly what that meant, not because they knew how my Mom used the web, but because they could picture their own parents trying to figure out complex applications.

Thus was created the Tom's Mom standard for usability.  Thanks Mom for helping me see things through the eyes of my customers and giving me the vocabulary and stories that resonated with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. 

Not in a million years, nor with a billion dollar budget could an ad agency come up with our "right-click" story.  (On the phone one evening trying to help her edit a document I kept telling my Mom to highlight text and then "right-click" and she thought I meant to write "c-l-i-c-k" - you can imagine how little my "help" actually helped with her document.)

It was through these joint troubleshooting adventures as the help desk to you and Dad that I truly came to appreciate the language barriers and faulty assumptions that all too frequently lead to bad technology and bad customer service experiences.

You told me once that you loved that I told people the "right-click" story because you felt like even after all these years you were still helping me with my career.  Mom, you have no idea...

Long live the King

I have never before used this space to promote a specific product.  I have mentioned a number of free web services, but have intentionally steered clear of any commercial endorsement.  That changes today.

Last night my family and I sat down and watched the movie "King of Kong: A fist full of quarters."  It is a documentary about Donkey Kong.  That's right Donkey Kong, the video game from the early '80s.  And I have to tell you that it was as engaging as any movie I have seen in years.  You do not have to be a video game aficionado to enjoy this film, in fact it doesn't matter if you have never before seen or played the game.

At it's core, King of Kong is the true story of a man's journey to break the world record high score for Donkey Kong, set back in 1982.  And if that were all it was, it would be a pretty boring movie.  What makes this movie fantastic is the cast of real life characters that inhabit the bizarre world of Video Game Superstars. 

As the curtain is pulled back on this peculiar subculture we discover alliances, animosities and intrigue worthy of a billion dollar Wall St story.  By the end of the movie we were up off the couch cheering and booing and cheering again.

Take a chance on this quirky documentary, it is well worth the rent.

What can you teach?

The other night my daughter asked if I could teach her to play guitar.  I said that we should sign her up for lessons.  My wife asked why I wouldn't teach her to play guitar, since I play myself. 

I replied that I wasn't sure that I would be able to teach her.  I am entirely self-taught and while that would seem to be an advantage, it seemed like just the opposite to me.  I'm not sure that I could teach another person the way I learned. 

Imagine trying to teach English to someone who doesn't speak English at all today.  Where would you begin?  What are the building blocks that lead to the core principles?  I have no idea for English.  Nobody really taught me to speak English, I picked it up along the way from my parents and friends, not because they were teaching it, just by listening to it.  Then teachers taught various rules and books I read developed additional vocabulary.  That's how I learned to play guitar, except without the teachers and books.

Ironically, I think I would be more comfortable teaching beginning Spanish than I would English, because I learned it as a beginner myself and still remember those early lessons.

So here is my question.  Can you teach something that you haven't yourself been taught?

technology adoption curve

As a public service I have developed a very brief self-test that you can use to determine where you are on the Internet adoption/innovation curve.  Ok, that's not entirely true, it would be more accurate to say I stumbled across a new yardstick for measuring my own Internet savvy.

Actually I was just trying to get some new comfortable shoes for work.  In doing so I discovered that I was not in the place on this adoption curve that I thought I was.  Which was somewhat disconcerting, having long thought of myself as an Innovator.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Here's the self-test:

Have you ever bought shoes online?

Based on a completely unscientific study that consisted of asking the people that I work with, it turns out that I may be the last person on earth to purchase shoes online.  I have been aware of the concept for quite some time, but couldn't get my head around the idea of actually trying it.  And since I only buy new shoes when the old ones actually develop visible holes in them, there really wasn't any urgency.

But I am here to tell you that it works, and works really well.  I used Zappos, but I am told there are a number of online shoe stores (according to my innovator, online shoe buying co-workers.) 

The key is not to stress too much about getting the right size, or even whether or not you will like them based on the smallish picture on the web.  They provide free shipping to you, and free shipping back.  Go wild.

I ordered 5 pairs, tried them all on, walked around the office, got some interesting feedback from people with a wide variety of aesthetic tastes and promptly sent 3 pairs back.  Between browsing and trying them on, I don't think I spent more than 15 minutes total on my shoes, which is reason enough for me.

But enough about my shoes.  Where are you on the adoption curve?  And what services do you think of that justify your position on the curve?

Things I should have learned in school

The other night, as I was helping my kids with their homework, I was struck by the number of things that they are learning that will have absolutely no bearing on the rest of their lives.  Don't get me wrong, I am a huge proponent of learning, for learning's sake.  But some of the stuff is so esoteric it's unbelievable. 

At the same time, I think there are a lot of things that are useful for your entire life, no matter what you do, but the education system doesn't really address.  And most of these are things everyone wishes they did better.

Here is my list of things I wish I had learned in school:

1. How to remember the names of people I meet.  Don't you wish you were better at remembering names?
2. How to do basic math in my head.  A lot of really smart people admit to struggling with this.
3. How to speak in front of a group.  A nearly universal fear. 
4. How to introduce and talk about myself.  Will be important in every job interview.
5. How to negotiate.  Will be important in every major purchase.

What do you wish you had learned in school?

Hey me, what's up?

A couple days ago I received an email that really got me thinking.  Actually it was an email from me written exactly one year earlier.  Using a free service called FutureMe.org you can write an email and have it delivered to yourself in the future.  This is not a reminder service, the minimum length of time between writing and delivery is 6 months.

Think of this more as a digital time capsule.  Very easy to use, no digging up the backyard...

One year ago I was wrestling with a potential career change, lot's of internal debate about my next steps.  I knew I had to make a decision, but it was a big enough one that it couldn't be rushed.  The subject line in the futureme email was "so what did you end up doing?"  And when I opened it and read what I was thinking a year earlier, it all came rushing back to me.  I updated the message with what's going on in my life now, and forwarded it out another year into the future. 

The fascinating thing is asking a question that your future you will know the answer to, that your present you doesn't and can't possibly know.

I am also starting to write future emails to my kids, telling them about everything they are doing right now and how they are growing up and what their favorite things are.  I will have these delivered in 5 years when my eldest, just an 8th grader today, will be in college. 

What questions should I ask her?  So what college did you pick?  Do you still want to be an actress?  Did you learn to play guitar? 

Try it, write a note to your future you.  What question do you want to ask yourself, that your future you will almost certainly know the answer to?

It's interesting when you think of the future this way.  What email address will you still be checking in 5 years?  Don't use a work address, or one tied to a specific Internet service provider.  I'm sticking with my gmail address.

What devices will you be using 5 years from now?  Unless you bought the very first version, you haven't had an iPod for much more than 5 years. 

Maybe that's the first question; "where are you, and on what device are you reading this?"

Say hello to your future you, from my present me.

 

minimum wage, maximum impact

Who's minding your store?  Who is responsible for your brand image and your reputation?  Whom do your customers interact with the most?

It's my experience that in most companies it is actually the lowest paid, highest turnover employees who have the greatest impact on your customer service and your brand image.  The telephone customer service rep, the hotel front desk clerk, the airline gate agent, the security guard at the hospital, the waitress.

How do they feel they are treated as employees?  What do they think about your company?  You can not out-perform your own self-image.  And when it comes to customer service you can not out-perform your front line employee's perception of you as an employer.

Your employees will not treat the customer better than they themselves are treated. 

These are the people who talk to your customers, and listen to them.  They are the ones who collectively make or break your brand.  Not you.  Not your CMO or your ad agency.  Your lowest paid employees.

And middle-management will not treat these employees better than they themselves are treated by senior-management, and so on. 

This starts at the top.

Put your employees at the top of your mission statement, ahead of your customers, and show that commitment in everything you do.  Make it real, not just a slogan.

Measuring what your customers think about you is a lagging indicator.

Measuring what your employees think of you.  Now that's a leading indicator.

I'm so embarrassed

What are the moments you remember most clearly in your career/life?  The ones you can play back in slow motion and hear every word, remember what you were thinking, maybe what you were wearing.  Take a moment and think about it.

Is there a common thread?  A common emotion?

I am truly a "positive outlook" person, and have definitely had more than my fair share of good memories that bring a smile to my face.  I have also had plenty of setbacks.  But truth be told, nearly all of my really vivid memories are of low intensity screw-ups. 

Common thread, common emotion for me is embarrassment. 

The punch line delivered backwards. (have you heard about the Polish lesbian? she likes women..no wait men)  Calling someone you know by the wrong name. (sorry Janice)  Sweating excessively. (too many to count) Wearing un-matched shoes.  Forgetting to pack a tie for an important sales trip.   I could go on.

My big screw-ups and big successes are all like an MTV music video in my memory.  Lots of different images, moments, flashes of experience, mixed together and probably exaggerated to make the stories better.

But the embarrassing moments exist in my mind exactly as they happened.  Neither embellished, nor diminished.  Perfect reproductions, able to elbow their way into my consciousness at any time, often randomly right before falling asleep.

And they don't have to be obviously embarrassing.  My embarrassment does not in fact require that anyone else notices.  I have gone back and talked about some of my embarrassing experiences with people who were there, and they couldn't remember a single aspect of the event or conversation.  But I did.  And still do.

Is embarrassment the emotion that triggers the long-term memory hormone?  Or is it just me?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

Yesterday I ate an entire meal using chopsticks.  This was not my first time; I have successfully used chopsticks 5-6 times in the past month, but only at home.  Yesterday I put my new skill to the test at PF Cheng's. 

I don't know why I never learned to use chopsticks.  I have tried many times since I was probably ten years old, but I couldn't get the hang of it and my hand would cramp and that would be that. Besides, I'm pretty darn good with a fork.  But a month ago, I decided I wanted to learn to use chopsticks.

Thanks for making it this far, this is not a post about chopsticks, it's a post about goals.

I am discovering a real joy from setting and achieving small goals.  Not a to-do list of tasks, or a "bucket list" of things to do before I die.  Just picking something that I want to do, and then doing it.  Micro-goals. Things you can accomplish in a few days or weeks.

Using chopsticks, eating sushi and writing this blog are all things that I decided to start doing in the past 60 days, mostly just to see if I could.  I find it to be truly satisfying, no matter the size of the goal.

For some great goal ideas, and suggestions on achieving them check out 43Things

Mixed messages

I'm staying at a nice hotel, almost $200 per night.  As I walked into the room the first thing that caught my eye was that they provided a very nice clock radio, one that was optimized to work with an iPod.

I thought this was a very nice touch, and clearly something tailored to a business traveler. The kind of thing that says, "We think about you and want to make your stay a little more enjoyable."  The kind of thing that makes you remember a hotel.  They also have a very nice DVD player attached to the television.

I stay in a lot of hotels, and have to say that having an iPod enabled radio and a DVD player are not common amenities that I run across.

Then I went to unpack and hang up my clothes, and the message changed.

This message was quite different than the first one.  It said, "Welcome, thief.  We can't really trust you even with our hangers.  Enjoy your stay, we're keeping an eye on you."

If you look closely at the picture (click on it to enlarge) you will see that apparently three of these completely useless hangers have in fact been boosted.  So maybe they are on to something after all.

Next I discover the smallest bar of soap I've ever seen.  This is the bar of soap after washing my hands exactly one time.  I put the quarter in the picture so you would get a sense of scale.  At this point I was completely confused.  A couple observations and a question for the hotel manager.

You are savvy enough to know that most business travelers have an iPod, and aren't carrying their favorite CD's around with them.  But you apparently believe that they are carrying DVD's in their travel case.  You have enough money to put a DVD player in the room, which probably doesn't get used very often, but go cheap on hangers and soap which are used by nearly 100% of your customers.

Is this part of a master plan?  Do you have a target audience in mind that responds to this particular positioning?  Or is all this the result of a series of disconnected decisions made by you and your predecessors?

Superstition vs strategy

I have two things that I do every time I fly.  As I board, I always knock three times on the outside of the airplane.  I did it once about fifteen years ago, and it quickly became a habit.  Not too long ago I had my hands full getting on to a plane and couldn't make the knock happen, and as I got to my seat I began to worry that I had broken my routine.  Not OCD worry, but it did intrude on my thoughts for much of the flight. 

This is clearly an acquired superstition.  But it works for me, doesn't hurt anyone, and frequently earns me a knowing smile or a comment from the flight attendant greeting passengers at the door.  Turns out most of them have little superstitious rituals that they do too.

The second thing I do is as I depart the plane I say, "thank you, nice job guys" to the pilots.  It doesn't matter whether it was a smooth flight, or an on-time departure, or I'm going out or coming home.  I always thank the pilots. 

And although I do this every time I am on a plane, I do not consider this to be a superstition.  This is a strategy.  The way I see it I want pilots to feel appreciated.  I want them to feel good about the job they do.  I want them to feel a connection to the passengers.  If they're having a bad day, maybe this will help just a little bit.  Think about the last time someone thanked you for doing your job.  Didn't it give you a lift?  That's the feeling I want my pilots to have.

Throwing salt over your shoulder after spilling some is clearly a superstition.  Not walking under a ladder just seems like a good idea.  What are your strategies and superstitions?

Oh, and thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read my blog.  It means a lot to me.

Celebrating mistakes

Think back on your career.  How did you learn the most important lessons, the things that stick with you and make you a better person, a better employee?  In my case it has always involved a mistake or mis-step.  I never learned anything from the things I did right the first time.

In my performance review at the end of my first year after graduating college, my boss told me that he was still not sure about me.  I asked why, since I had accomplished quite a bit in that year and was feeling really good.  He told me that I had not had a major screw-up yet.  I said, "that's a negative? I thought that would be a positive mark..??"  His reply, which I will never forget, was, "you never really know an employee until you see how they handle a major screw-up."  Luckily he didn't have to wait long...

But it doesn't take big screw-ups, just about any mistake that creates an unintended outcome puts your brain in "remember this" mode.  Think about it, do you have any sage wisdom that doesn't come directly from a bad personal experience?

So good judgment is a highly desirable trait
    and good judgment comes from experience
        and experience is learning from mistakes
            and mistakes come from bad judgment

So why don't we celebrate mistakes?  Is it because if we acknowledged that a mistake was actually good for us, then we might not burn the lesson into our brain?

One prompt at a time

Somewhere our there right now is a guy designing another set of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) prompts.  With absolutely no appreciation for the irony, he works in the Customer Service department.  He most likely works hard, means well and doesn't consider his work to be evil.  He probably takes pride in his work, after all there is a good reason for each of these prompts.  To route inquiries to the right department, to track volumes by category, etc.

But stop and ask yourself a question.  Do you believe that he actually enjoys IVR prompts when he is a consumer trying to get something done?  Is he disappointed if a live person answers the phone?

Of course not.  So what happened?

Inside out thinking is what happened.  From the inside out every one of those prompts make sense. They solve a problem, or enhance a report, or reflect the corporate organization chart.  And there will probably be another release in a few months that brings new prompts to solve new problems.

But from the outside in, from a customer perspective, everything looks different.

Do you ever try to access your company or department as a customer?  How does your service look from an outside in perspective?

The ROI on funny

I was watching TV with my kids last night, using TIVO as usual.  Between everyone's schedule we don't get much TV time, and we always fast forward commercials.  But several times, I noticed my kids scanning the fast forward and stopping to watch a commercial that they like.  Invariably a commercial they found funny.

Think about it.  TIVO fast forward really moves.  They are giving a little slice of their Gen Y brains to subliminally look for something that amuses them.  Stop, watch for 30 seconds, and then fast forward again.

This generation is going to be the best ever at avoiding messages they don't want.  They have the tools to control what they see and hear, and they have never known a world without banners, Google Ads, spam, and pop overs.  They are immune to it all.  They literally don't see it.  It's all background noise.  To say nothing of all the ads they just fast forward through on TIVO or never hear on their iPod.

But do something interesting, something that amuses them and they will stop what they are doing and come see.  And if they like it they will tell their friends.  And in today's world, that could mean 10,000 people directly with the push of a button.

Marketing to these kids as they start to achieve significant buying power in the next couple years is going to be very interesting.  Is your company ready to make funny commercials?  Maybe even make fun of itself?

Or is Marketing, serious stuff?

You are competing with everything

Are you trying to reach people?  To get them to come to your website, buy your products or services, read your newspaper, view your ad, remember your message?

Good luck.  In the history of the world it has never been harder to do this than it is today.  There was a time, not long ago, when we all watched the same TV shows and listened to a half dozen radio stations.  Your town had one or two newspapers, and a really big movie theater had 2 screens.  The only barrier to reaching people was money.

Getting your message out in today's world requires that you first acknowledge that you are competing with absolutely everything in every medium.  The entire Internet, not just your competitor's website, your customer's favorite iPod playlist, the entire catalog of On Demand movies, the 20 different reality TV shows playing at any given moment.  Absolutely everything.

Because what you are after is a few precious minutes, not of someone's time, but of their attention.  And while people will sometimes allow you to waste their time, they are very protective of their attention, and they punish people who waste it.

So now it's not enough to be able to buy commercial time, or a full page ad, you have to be interesting too.  Interesting enough that someone will choose to give you their attention.  Interesting enough that after having given you their attention, they will be glad they did.

How interesting is your message?  Are you even trying to be interesting, or just accurate?

Whose your Paddy?

Have you ever noticed that the more green someone is wearing on St Patrick's day, the more likely it is that they have absolutely no Irish heritage ...?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The future is fan clubs

Do you remember when the idea of belonging to a fan club conjured up images of geeky obsessed teenagers writing letters to aloof musicians and movie stars?  Marcia Brady as the president of the Davy Jones fan club didn't do a lot for Marcia's image, and Davy showing up at prom based on her request, didn't do a lot for his.  Can you honestly remember any of the "cool kids" being part of a fan club?

And let's face it, actively participating in a fan club always seemed like a one way deal.  The fan club channeled adolescent emotion and energy but had no payoff other than the occasional opportunity to meet William Shatner at a Star Trek convention, and the added insult of paying for his autograph.  The fans had no power in the relationship, and were openly mocked even by the stars they adored.

But that is all changing. 

The TV show Jericho was literally rescued by devoted fans who petitioned vigorously after the series was canceled.  The TV executive in charge of programming opened a dialog with the fans and made a deal with them.  We will bring back the show, but you have to use your considerable passion and energy to help get the word out and make a commitment to not just watch the show but to help bring in new viewers.

Lost, with it's myriad plot twists and mysteries has dozens of communities dedicated to trying to figure out what's going to happen next.  And guess what, the producers and writers read what those communities are saying.  They have admitted changing plot lines based on the communities' theories, and have even killed off unpopular characters.

It will be interesting to see how television executives incorporate fan passion into their traditional means of measuring success, the Nielsen ratings.  Are 5 million casual viewers worth 5 times as much as a million passionate viewers?  Who will stay with a show even if you move it to a new time-slot?  Who will tell their friends about it?  Who will start a fan club?

And listening to your fan clubs isn't the only way to engage with them.  My tweenage kids have gone to 3 or 4 concerts recently all with the same family, who seems to be able to get all the tough tickets.  Hannah Montana, Fall Out Boy, Jonas Brothers.  I finally asked who their ticket connection was, because I knew they weren't paying scalpers rates for these sold-out shows.  And the answer was, of course, fan clubs.  In each case they had joined the fan club, learned about the upcoming event and been given inside information on how to purchase tickets.  Parents are heroes for getting the tickets, the kids gladly fork over $40 for a t-shirt, and load up their iPods with the band's music. Everybody wins.

Who are your fans, and are you helping them organize?  Are you listening to what they say?  Are you inviting them into the product development process?  Do you even know who they are?

I'm pissed at Eliot Spitzer

What was your reaction when you heard the news about Eliot Spitzer?  Moral outrage?  Here we go again?  Embarrassment for his wife and daughters?  Partisan opportunity?  What the hell do you get for $5,500 (or $4,300) an hour?  I have heard some version of all of these in the past 72 hours.

But my reaction was much simpler.  I am pissed at Eliot Spitzer.

Not because of what he did specifically, I'm pretty sure his wife has that angle covered.

No, I'm pissed because every time we are reminded that human weakness is the issue, we respond by making more rules and obstacles and checkpoints and oversight to prevent it from happening again.  And it makes it easier for people who are in the "dis-trust business" (expense account departments, the IRS, bureaucrats) to assert that they are the only line of defense against all the cheaters in the world. 

The "dis-trusters" had a good week.  Their budgets will probably go up.  They will get to say, "I told you so", or "I knew he was too good to be true."  It will be hard to argue with their requests for more rules, more oversight and more intrusive monitoring.  And once those new rules are enacted, they are with us for life. 

The problem is that all the additional rules won't stop a dishonest person, and don't do anything to address human weakness, they just make life harder for the rest of us, who are honestly trying to get things done and follow the rules and make a difference.

Thanks a lot, Eliot.

 

Success=wearing comfortable shoes

I was at an event recently, a surprise 40th birthday party for a good friend that I used to work with.  I got to hang out with a ton of people from my previous employer (huge health insurance company - rhymes with "you floss, you yield").  Anyway, as I caught up with people and wandered around the party nearly everyone commented on my wardrobe.  I was wearing nice new blue jeans, leather soled loafers and a collared blue dress shirt.  Which is actually pretty dressed up for me these days.  But people couldn't get over the jeans.  I confessed that I frequently wore gym shoes to work, at this point they said that I was just bragging...

I'm not comfortable all the time.  I have frequent client meetings, and I suit up according to their dress code, but the rest of the time I dress for comfort.

How much is being comfortable worth to you?  Would you accept a lower salary if you knew that you could dress in comfortable clothes every day?  Or going the other direction, if you dress for comfort today, how much more would they have to pay you to get you to put on a tie every day, or wear wing-tip shoes?

Is one of the defining characteristics of the truly successful that they get to decide how they will dress all the time?

Large men

I spotted this checklist in a bathroom in the Jacksonville Airport.

Not sure where the sign is hanging in the women's room, but in the men's room it is way too close to the urinals.

By the way, laughing out loud and then pulling out your iPhone to take a picture of a small checklist that is way too close to the urinals in a men's room will get you some looks and comments from all ten guys in the bathroom.

Monitoring the bathroom checklists so you don't have to.

Generalist vs Specialist

For the first 20 years of my career, I worked at a large health insurance company (17,000 employees).  Now I work in a small creative/marketing agency (40 employees).  The differences in my work life are too numerous to document here, but one of the more interesting questions I find myself debating is the basic career choice of being a generalist vs a specialist.

During my years in the large organization, I felt sure that the best career approach (at least for me) was to be a generalist.  Moving around every 4-5 years, seeking out jobs that were quite different from my previous experience, working hard not to be niched in any one particular area.  I reveled in my generalist career strategy, and it served me quite well.

Now in a much smaller firm, I find myself much more drawn to being very good at a few things.  Maybe even seen as an "expert" in a field, or industry, or type of work.  In fact, being a generalist at what I do today is a path to commoditization, both for me and for my firm.  If you need a generalist, you find the cheapest one you can get.  But if you need an expert, you are willing to pay big bucks to get their advice.

This is exactly the opposite of what I expected to experience since the conventional wisdom is that in a big firm everyone does one or two things, but in a small firm you are called on to do a bit of everything.

What is your career strategy?  Be really good at something, or be decent at a whole bunch of things?

And are you ready if it turns out your original career strategy doesn't work for you anymore?

Career advice

I was having lunch with two young (early twenties) employees the other day and was giving them suggestions on what they should be thinking about as they begin their careers.

I told them that I had two pieces of advice, that I believe apply to any career.

First, become comfortable speaking in public.  It's not easy, and it takes consistent effort over time.  But the more you do it, the easier it gets.  And given that 95% of people are more afraid of speaking in public than anything else (including death), it is a natural differentiator no matter what your chosen profession is.

Second, become comfortable with change.  More than comfortable, find a way to get off on change.  To the point where you become uncomfortable when there isn't enough change in your life.  If your job doesn't regularly force you to accept, create or manage new ways of doing things, you find a way to force it to do so.  When you get to a place where comfort=discomfort and vice versa, then you know that you are there.

If you make those two things a priority in your life, I believe that you will differentiate yourself amongst nearly all of your colleagues, no matter what you do for a living.

What do you tell young folks they should be working on?

What is innovation?

Merriam-Webster defines innovation as:

        1     : the introduction of something new        
        2     : a new idea, method, or device : novelty  

What is your definition of innovation?  Does it require the creation of something new?  A whole new category of product?  A truly original idea? 

Or is innovation something else, something more subjective?

If innovation requires creation of something truly new, then I suggest that neither the iPod, nor iPhone  comes close to being an innovation.  I owned 3 MP3 players before purchasing my first iPod.  And there is nothing that my iPhone does that any number of different cell phones or PDA's didn't already do.  Yet Apple is widely regarded as an innovator.  I would argue that Apple makes game-changing products because of it's commitment to usability and design, not innovation.

-Arthur Schopenhauer said, "thus the task is not to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody has thought about that which everyone sees." 

What does innovation mean to you?

Persistence

My favorite blogger and one of my favorite authors is Seth Godin.  Earlier this week he had a great post that I shared with many of my friends and fellow change agents.

“There's a myth that all you need to do is outline your vision and prove it's right—then, quite suddenly, people will line up and support you.

In fact, the opposite is true. Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance. Products, services, career paths... whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it's over.

If it were any other way, it would be easy. And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued. The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it's unlikely it would be worth the journey. Persist.”

Boy does that one hit home!  Nice work Seth.

If you don’t read Seth Godin every day, you should.  http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Getting Started

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Several recent experiences have led me to this moment, typing my first blog entry sitting on my couch on a Saturday morning.  First I find myself increasingly engaged as a reader of some high quality blogs, and at least once a week cutting and pasting sections of a blog into an email to share with friends.

Second, I have just taken yet another personality assessment which again pointed out that I am no good at scheduled repetitious tasks that require attention to detail (not a surprise to anyone who knows me).

So I thought I would take a shot at blogging as a way to stay connected with my friends, share things that I find interesting without cluttering up anyone's inbox, and work on the discipline thing.

Welcome to Random Thoughts