Failures

By Jamer Hunt   Article

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Among Six Types Of Failure, Only A Few Help You Innovate

“Fail early and fail often. I use that phrase over and over again in teaching the design process. Borrowed from the world of computer programming, it expresses the urgency of getting iterations out into the world early in the process so that they can be tested, debugged, redesigned, and refined. The sooner in the process one does it, the more likely one can bake meaningful adjustments into the final product. To me, this is a golden rule of design.

… in order to better distinguish these conflicting kinds of failure, we need a failure spectrum — from devastating to productive — that allows us to differentiate among these different modalities. And like the Eskimo’s many words for snow, each type of failure conveys slightly different qualities and characteristics, helping to shed light on what exactly we mean when we say something fails.

Abject failure

This is the really dark one. It marks you and you may not ever fully recover from it. People lose their lives, jobs, respect, or livelihoods. Examples: British Petroleum’s Gulf oil spill; mortgage-backed securities.

Structural failure

It cuts — deeply — but it doesn’t permanently cripple your identity or enterprise. Examples: Apple iPhone 4’s antenna; Windows Vista.

Glorious failure

Going out in a botched but beautiful blaze of glory — catastrophic but exhilarating. Example: Jamaican bobsled team.

Common failure

Everyday instances of screwing up that are not too difficult to recover from. The apology was invented for this category. Examples: oversleeping and missing a meeting at work; forgetting to pick up your kids from school; overcooking the tuna.

Version failure

Small failures that lead to incremental but meaningful improvements over time. Examples: Linux operating system; evolution.

Predicted failure

Failure as an essential part of a process that allows you to see what it is you really need to do more clearly because of the shortcomings. Example: the prototype — only by creating imperfect early versions of it can you learn what’s necessary to refine it.”

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I don’t understand why it’s not growing

Source

Top 10 Reasons Offshoring is Bad For Business

By Geoffrey James   Article

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“On paper, that’s a compelling business case.  However, in the long run, offshoring to the lowest bidder may be profoundly stupid. Here’s why.

• REASON #1: You can lose control of your intellectual property. In the parts of the world where outsourcing is cheapest, there is often little or no respect for corporate secrets.  Patents are often unenforceable, and many companies discover copycat processes and products, soon after they’ve deployed there.
• REASON #2: It can result in low quality, brand-damaging products. Many firms that provide outsourcing quickly cut the quality of component parts in order to increase their margins.  Eventually customers who believe your brand promise notice that your once-great products are now cheap and crappy.
• REASON #3: You may be supporting slave labor and child labor. Outsourcing agreements often involve an entire supply chain that may involve labor practices which, if publicized in the United States, could destroy your company’s reputation.  How do you think they can supply things so cheap?
• REASON #4: You might create massive environmental degradation. One reason it’s cheaper to manufacture abroad is that the companies there are often cutting costs by simply dumping their toxic chemicals.  Someday, somebody will get stuck with the clean-up bill; it could be your firm.
• REASON #5: You may not get access to local markets. The Chinese, in particular, are famous for giving lip service to free trade, but setting up a regulatory environment that favors local firms.  Many companies have deployed there hoping to see new sales, but instead seen them go to imitators (see REASON #1).
• REASON #6: You may be empowering political thugs. Make no mistake about it: communist countries are run by thugs who suppress dissent, shoot protestors, lay claim to border areas that don’t belong to them, and support other, worse thugs.  Do you really want your brand name associated with that? ….”

7 life lessons from the very wealthy

By Barry Ritholtz   Article

“Some context: In my day job, I come into contact with very high-net-worth individuals. These include young technologists with modest portfolios to families that measure their wealth in nine and 10 figures. For the math-averse, that’s hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. Over the years, I have had some fascinating conversations with people who have hospitals and graduate schools named after them. I’d like to share some of the things I have learned from these folks. …

2. Don’t become “cash rich” and “time poor.”

Devoting all of your waking hours to making money is a problem, especially in professions with a partnership fast track. Lawyers, doctors, bankers and accountants can get so caught up in the competitive nature of their jobs that they lose touch with their family. Any semblance of a normal personal life disappears, and a very unhealthy balance between work and home can develop.

Work is the process of exchanging your time for money. Remember: What you do with your time is far more meaningful than the goods you accumulate with your money. If you are working so much to become rich but you ignore your spouse and miss seeing your kids grow up, you are actually poorer than you realize. …

6. You must live in the here and now.

Goals are important, but don’t miss out on what is happening today. This is especially true among entrepreneurs, corporate execs and Type A personalities. Do not let dreams of that mansion on a hill prevent you from enjoying the home you live in.

This is an area that can easily veer into cliche. Rather than risk that, I’ll simply remind you of what John Lennon sang in “Beautiful Boy”: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” ….”

22 Ways to Dramatically Increase Your Influence

By Dan Rockwell   Article

“Some leaders are born; most are made. Long-term, powerful influence is never an accident; it’s always intentional.  Experience and research indicates these 22 principles and behaviors dramatically increase leadership-influence.

1. Extend honor rather than demanding respect.
2. Dream bigger for others than they dream for themselves.
3. Serve others – they don’t serve you.
4. Build confidence by spotlighting successes.
5. Provide opportunities in new contexts. A series of small wins magnifies potential.
6. Focus on next levels more than perfecting current skills.
7. Struggles strengthen; don’t solve stresses for others – solve stresses with others.
8. Give authority.
9. Embrace high standards.
10. Expect accountability.
11. Listen to and occasionally speak into fears.
12. Lift them to the point where they lift others.
13. Question, occasionally suggest, always encourage, sometimes confront.
14. Align correction with their values and vision not yours.
15. Don’t pressure them; they will pressure themselves.
16. Let them point out their own weaknesses. When they assess their weaknesses accurately, agree. Don’t soften the sting.
17. Humbly share your failures.
18. Ask permission before correcting.
19. Use language that expresses their values.
20. Focus on practice more than theory. Solve a problem.
21. Be honest but not adversarial.
22. Always come back to purpose. ”Why” is the central component of “what”.”

Are your customers stupid?

By Michael Schrage   Article

Do You Think Your Customers Are Stupid?

“Paying close attention to customer complaints is a leadership “best practice.” Here’s a better practice: Pay even closer attention to people’s complaints about customers. Few things say more about organizational culture and character than how employees complain about the customers and clients they serve.

Put aside hypocritical tropes and truisms that “The Customer is King” and “The Customer is Always Right.” When frustrated and on deadline, your people rarely talk about their most challenging and/or most important customers that way. What employees say — and how they say it — when the going gets tough speaks volumes. So listen up.

Respectful criticism and critique should always be welcome. But all too frequently there’s condescension and contempt. The “smartest” and ablest experts in knowledge-intensive industries sometimes appear quickest to mock their customers’ perceived ignorance and incompetence. This behavior isn’t cathartic; it’s corrosive. …

While firing employees who mock or badmouth their clients would send an unambiguous signal about what should be a core corporate value, this merely ducks the real leadership challenge. What does healthy criticism and constructive efforts to rehabilitate difficult clients look like? How are you facilitating client critiques that don’t simply allow frustrations to vent but encourage proactive solutions to emerge? …

Some customers and clients really are too stupid and self-destructive for words. But they shouldn’t be allowed to become cesspools of complaints. They should be fired. Are your people’s complaints about their customers a source of innovation and inspiration? Or do they signal something disturbing and unhealthy about your organization’s culture? I’d like to see your complaints.”

The process, not the event

From Epic Living Blog   Source

“The road of life includes processes and events.  Many prefer the events, and that’s a problem.  Events are not the enemy, it’s the over-attraction to them that creates the pitfall.  But it’s understandable why we prefer that moment of elation, since events gives us immediate stimulation that we want and maybe crave.  Nobody talks a lot about processes because it tends to require faith, imagination and vision.  Did I mention that it can feel like drudgery.

One of the my best experiences in the process and event arena has been my marriage.  It began with a big event, the ceremony.  Great joy and happiness.  The future seemed unbelievably bright.  And then she had to face the reality of living with me (humor is important here).  That event was 20 years-plus ago.  We’re still happily together because of the process, and not the event.  Ironic how the thing that feels like work produces the happiness we so desperately desire.

Certainly there is no substitute for knowing what you’re doing is a fit.  Be it in your career, your money, your learning, etc.  But once that’s been settled, you’ve got to embrace the process”

Brandverbing

From Branding Strategy Insider Blog  Article

More Marketers Embracing Brandverbing

““Google it.” “Did you Xerox the report?” “Please FedEx it.” Once upon a time, using a brand name as a verb was verboten. It was behavior that would drive a trademark lawyer crazy.

But more and more marketers are deciding that the grand slam of branding is to become part of the language – in effect, having your trademark substitute in everyday usage for the type of action or service that your mark identifies. Could there be, they argue, any clearer expression of a brand’s leadership? …

Allow the use of your brand name generically, barristers would warn, and you lose – over time – your trademark rights. ’Tis true. Look up common words such as “aspirin” or “escalator” in the dictionary and you’ll realize they were once registered trademarks.

But in today’s hyperactive world, marketers are more concerned about getting known now, today, immediately – more so than weakening their naming rights later on. Marketing author and gadfly Seth Godin likes to say, “Nouns just sit there, inanimate lumps. Verbs are about wants and desires and wishes.” Which is why so many marketers encourage the verbifying of their precious brand names – and why so many consumers are so comfortable using them as everyday words.”

A repatriation holiday?

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI   Article

Companies Push for Tax Break on Foreign Cash

“Some of the nation’s largest corporations have amassed vast profits outside the country and are pressing Congress and the Obama administration for a tax break to bring the money home. Apple has $12 billion waiting offshore, Google has $17 billion and Microsoft, $29 billion.

Under the proposal, known as a repatriation holiday, the federal income tax owed on such profits returned to the United States would fall to 5.25 percent for one year, from 35 percent. In the short term, the measure could generate tens of billions in tax revenues as companies transfer money that would otherwise remain abroad, and it could help ease the huge budget deficit.

Corporations and their lobbyists say the tax break could resuscitate the gasping recovery by inducing multinational corporations to inject $1 trillion or more into the economy, and they promoted the proposal as “the next stimulus” at a conference last Wednesday in Washington. “For every billion dollars that we invest, that creates 15,000 to 20,000 jobs either directly or indirectly,” Jim Rogers, the chief of Duke Energy, said at the conference. Duke has $1.3 billion in profits overseas.

But that’s not how it worked last time. Congress and the Bush administration offered companies a similar tax incentive, in 2005, in hopes of spurring domestic hiring and investment, and 800 took advantage. Though the tax break lured them into bringing $312 billion back to the United States, 92 percent of that money was returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, according to a study by the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research.”

Marketing fairy dust

By Tom Fisburne   Article

“Kathy Sierra wrote a wonderful post recently called, “Pixie Dust and the Mountain of Mediocrity“. It includes these insights:

“We’re always searching for that secret formula, that magic pixie dust to sprinkle over our products, services, books, causes, brands, blogs to bring them to life and make them Super Successful … why are so many so convinced that [insert favorite buzzword] is the answer vs. just making a product that helps people kick ass in a way they find meaningful?”

Marketing is too often seen as something that happens at the perimeter of a business. Once everything is defined, marketing steps in to magically drive consumers to take products from the shelf. Even if the product experience is undifferentiated and unremarkable.

The most important marketing is indirect and long-term. It’s the hardest to measure, but the most meaningful when done well. This is the marketing that is baked into the entire organization. This is the marketing that makes meaningfully unique products and engaging consumer interactions.

The best marketing breaks the marketing silo. We all work in marketing, no matter what our functional expertise may be. We all impact our products and services and touch consumers in some way or another.”

 

Pull top performers from the front lines

by Patrick Lefler   Article

Leadership Lessons from the Marine Corps

“The United States Marine Corps is one the great leadership organizations whose principles have become the envy not only of other service branches but for business as well. Companies large and small have spent enormous resources trying to successfully emulate the Marines’ basic leadership principles and put them into application. …

It’s not the rigor that makes the training so successful; rather, it’s the personnel resources that the Marines utilize that make the difference. Unlike other organizations, the Marines pull their top performers from the front lines to serve as instructors. That’s right; the Marines actually pull their top performers—both officers and enlisted—from the front lines and use them as trainers, sometimes for two- and three-year stints. This unique practice is how they get the most from their significant investment in training, and why most other organizations (which don’t put an emphasis on using top performers to train others) fall short. It’s one thing to talk up the benefit of training, but it’s another to back up that talk with the proper human resource allocations. …

In fact, training and leadership development duties are viewed as some of the best and most well-rewarded assignments within the Marine Corps. A quick look at the biographies of top Marine generals and enlisted personnel will all have one thing in common: they all served significant time away from the front lines in important training and leadership development roles. When was the last time you observed a similar career path for their civilian counterparts serving as CEOs or other C-level officers?”

Why smart people lose a fortune

By Barry Ritholtz   Article

Apprenticed investor: Lose the news

“Have you ever noticed how the stock market reacts differently to the same reported events? Why is it that we sometimes sell off “in response to rising oil prices,” but at other times the “market rallied, despite the rise in the price of crude”? How come a selloff was caused by a suicide bombing in Iraq, but a week later, the markets shrugged off an even larger, deadlier bombing? Is it possible that the markets are responding to forces other than the latest headlines? Short answer: Absolutely. Yes.

Longer answer: Keep reading.

As we discussed last week, it’s clear that predictions of pontificating pundits have an extremely short shelf life and can be safely ignored. But it’s not just the talking heads who can throw you off your game. The value of the entire financial news complex — both print and electronic — seems to be hugely misunderstood by investors. …

There are at least three problems with this approach:

• First, news is hardly new. The vast majority of it is backward-looking, informing you as to what has happened already. Investing is about what is going to happen;  …
• Second, … Did the FDA approve a new drug or not? The subsequent reporting is irrelevant; it’s the event that matters. …
• Third, because news organizations often try to appeal to as many people as possible, they have a disconcerting tendency to catch various trends just as they are peaking.

Have a look at these charts provided by Neal Frankle, author of Why Smart People Lose a Fortune. They offer a compelling explanation as to why the mainstream media should not be the source of your investment strategy; in fact, they can often be a strong contrary indicator. ….”

Stop being so rational!

By Holly G Green   Article

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Want to influence others? Stop being so rational!

“Ongoing discoveries in psychology and neuroscience increasingly support the notion that human reasoning is rife with emotion. In fact, our preexisting beliefs often have far more influence over our logical conclusions than facts or hard data. Turns out that despite our neocortex and higher level reasoning abilities, we’re not so rational after all. Especially when it comes to ideas or information that threatens our deeply held views of the world.

Scientists have also discovered that humans apply our fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators but to data itself! When we encounter ideas or information that contradict what we believe to be true, the brain perceives it as a threat and instantly shifts into fight-or-flight mode. We either reject the information out of hand (flight) or argue vociferously against it (fight).

This leads to two common behavioral phenomena. The confirmation bias, in which we give much greater credence to evidence and data that bolster our beliefs. And the disconfirmation bias, in which we vigorously dispute arguments, information, and points of view that contradict our own. It also helps to explain why some people continue to hold on to their beliefs even in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence.

The bottom line is that we all wear blinders in certain situations. If we want to persuade someone or get them to accept new evidence, we need to set the stage by appealing to emotion first, facts and logic second. The key is presenting the evidence in a context that doesn’t trigger a defensive emotional reaction.

To influence others in this context: ….”

12 True Behaviors that Expose Liars

By Dan Rockwell   Article

“Robert Feldman of the University of Massachusetts reported, “Women were more likely to lie to make the person they were talking to feel good, while men lied most often to make themselves look better.”

All managers and leaders hear lies because people tell them what they want to hear.

12 behaviors that expose liars:

1. Pausing while speaking
2. Less physical contact and creating physical barriers between them and the person they are talking with
3. Touching their face (especially the nose)
4. Defending themselves without being attacked or questioned (defensiveness)
5. Repeating questions
6. Avoiding contractions. “I did not.” Cp. “I didn’t.”
7. Avoiding eye contact or establishing uncomfortably long eye contact
8. Facial expressions are limited to the mouth; eyes remain neutral
9. Looking down and to the right indicates an internal dialog in the listener
10. Looking up and to the right indicates a person is tapping into their imagination
11. Avoiding direct answers
12. Changing the subject

Be careful: ….”

Chocolate bunnies

By Todd Ordal   Article

Are you creating chocolate bunnies
Sweet on the outside, hollow on the inside

“I recently had coffee with a fraud. He looked good, smelled good, dropped names and used buzzwords like a pro. However, he was a chocolate bunny … sweet on the outside and hollow on the inside. These characters can deflect blame like a superhero deflects bullets. All fluff and no stuff, they add no value to organizations.

But how do chocolate bunnies evolve? I believe they grow up in organizations with extremely poor leadership, never really held accountable for their actions and results. Perhaps they’re even “mentored” by someone who has mastered the art of “nonstick” and is unwittingly passing their skill on to the next generation of bunnies. …

When they eventually get into a healthy organization that requires true performance, accountability and emotional intelligence, they fail every time. They often make great strides early because they’re gregarious and look good. But once uncovered, they nervously jump from job to job looking for the sanctuary of their early career where being a good guy was enough.

Why bother to write about this? Because leadership positions come with obligations, and one of them is to avoid creating chocolate bunnies. I’ve worked with senior leaders who are fearful of, or not adept at, holding people accountable. They end up creating a full basket of these bunnies, thereby ruining careers.

So how do you avoid creating chocolate bunnies? Here are four rules that should help:”

Intimacy and productivity

By Seth Godin   Article

“A shortcut to customer and co-worker intimacy is to respond in real time. A phone call is more human than an email, a personal meeting has more impact than a letter.

On the other hand, when you do your work on someone else’s schedule, your productivity plummets, because you are responding to the urgent, not the important, and your rhythm is shot.

The shortcut analysis, it seems to me, is to sort by how important it is that your interactions be intimate. If it’s not vitally important that you increase the energy and realism of the relationship, then insert a buffer. Build blocks of time to do serious work, work that’s not interrupted by people who need to hear from you in real time, right now.

On the other hand, for interactions when only a hug or a smile will do, allocate the time and the schedule to be present.

Confusing the two is getting easier than ever, and it’s killing your ability to do great work.”

Lessons in longevity

By STEVE LOHR   Article

Lessons in Longevity, From I.B.M.

“AS it turned 100 last week, I.B.M. was looking remarkably spry. … I.B.M.’s stock-market value passed Google’s earlier this year. …

Yet, not so long ago, I.B.M.’s corporate survival was at stake. In the early 1990s, it nearly ran out of money. Its mainframe business was reeling under pressure from the lower-cost technology of personal computing.

New leadership was brought in, and thousands of workers were laid off. It was part of the company’s painful journey to what might be called “post-monopoly prosperity” — that is, a new path to corporate success once a dominant product is no longer the turbocharged engine of growth and profit it once was.

“I.B.M. faced the challenge that all great companies do sooner or later — they dominate, they lose it, and then they re-create themselves or not,” observes George F. Colony, the chief executive of Forrester Research.

I.B.M. met the challenge, moved beyond the mainframe and built a business increasingly based on software and services. So as it celebrates a milestone, the company holds lessons for others.

Evolving beyond past success is a daunting task for companies in all industries. But that problem is magnified in the technology arena, where companies can quickly rise to rule a market, seemingly invincible, until a shift in the technological landscape opens the door to a new generation of corporate dynamos.

That is certainly the test that Microsoft is struggling with today, as it seeks growth beyond its lucrative stronghold in personal computer software. If they are to prosper for the long haul, Google and Apple, too, must reach beyond their dominant businesses. Each of these companies, in its way, is trying.

So, then, what broader insights are to be drawn from the I.B.M. experience? ….”

Total taxes by Country

Via Bruce Barlett (from OECD data)   Source

“here is total taxes collected in the US as a percentage of GDP (this includes federal, state and local):

No analysis point, or argument being made here, just a useful FYI.”

The depth of the problem determines the value of the solution

By Dan Rockwell   Article

Being Negative Creates Positive Value

“The depth of the problem determines the value of the solution. Your great ideas always face frivolous dismissal if they don’t solve a painful problem or a felt need. Don’t begin with solutions; begin with problems. Explore them. Feel them. Own them. Encourage their ugliness rise up.

Picking at scabs:

Do you know people or organizations that live with persistent pain and dissatisfaction? I do. It’s amazing to hear someone say, “I’m not ready yet.” Translation, it doesn’t hurt enough for me to change. You don’t help them by soothing their pain. Help them by acknowledging and spotlighting it. Pick at their scab. …

Real world positive thinking:

Positive thinking isn’t pretending problems naturally evaporate. Successful leaders see problems and find solutions. Don’t allow, however, enthusiasm for your solution to prevent you from fully seeing, exploring, and explaining failures. It’s foolish pretending problems will go away on their own; wise leaders grapple with problems, identify solutions, and take action.

Basic principle:

Run toward pain-points not away. Finding what works begins by courageously digging into what isn’t working. When you name the problem and help find solutions you become a person of tangible value. But remember, don’t rush toward solutions.”

I have no time to think

By Peter Bregman   Article

What to Do When You Have No Time to Think

“When we returned to his office after spending an hour together, he had received 138 new email messages. As we talked, the email dings kept ringing out. “How can I possibly keep up?” he asked me.

He can’t. Rajip has close to 10,000 employees in his group. “I have no time to think,” he complained to me.

I have no time to think. Possibly the six scariest words uttered by a leader. But they don’t scare us anymore because they are so commonplace. We don’t need 10,000 employees to feel too busy to think. Almost all of us feel the same way.

It’s not that we’re unproductive; we’re astoundingly productive. We produce deliverables. We make decisions. We create and spend budgets. We direct our teams. We write proposals.

Actually, in some ways, our productivity is the problem. Something’s lost in an environment of manic productivity: learning.

These busy days, we rarely analyze our experiences thoughtfully, contemplate the views of others carefully, or evaluate how the outcomes of our decisions should affect our future choices. Those things take time. They require us to slow down. And who has the time for that? So we reflect less and limit our growth.

Often, it’s only when our lives are forcibly disrupted that we slow down long enough to learn. An illness, a job loss, the death of a loved one — they all compel us to stop and think and evaluate things. But those are unwelcome disruptions and, hopefully, they don’t occur often.”

Demand the truth

By Dan Rockwell   Article

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Verizon’s former CEO – Most Important Advice

“Honesty and integrity seem like inflexibility and harshness to dishonest rule-benders and corner-cutters. Honesty and integrity, additionally, are not the same thing. Honesty is telling the truth. Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

Denny Strigl’s most frequent advice is, “Tell the truth. You are always better off telling it like it is and moving on.”

Denny explained successful managers not only tell the truth, they demand the truth. He said, “You can always tell when a manager is blowing smoke. Call them on it.” For example, whenever a manager blamed people on their team for missed deadlines, Denny would say, “Let’s call them in and talk about it.” That’s when the manager started back peddling. At that point, Denny would say, “I won’t lie to you and you won’t lie to me.” If it happened again that manager would be out the door.

Denny told me about firing the number one salesman on the team for padding his expense account. When approached, Denny’s boss suggested he overlook it. But Denny knew great organizations have cultures of honesty and integrity. He said, “Integrity is the key to everything.” The investigation took two gut-wrenching months. The salesman was guilty. Denny thought he would be fired for firing the top sales performer but he did it anyway. Firing him sent the right message to everyone. By the way, Denny was honored not fired.”

We’re spending half our annual GDP on taxes and interest

By Porter Stansberry  Article

A Secret About U.S. Finances You Won’t Read Anywhere Else

“The U.S. is the world’s largest debtor. As a whole, Americans owe a total of nearly $56 trillion (almost 400% of GDP). That’s federal, state, municipal, corporate, and private (mortgages and student loans) debts. The debt service on our total obligation is $3.6 trillion a year. It’s hard to put that number into context because it’s so large. Think about it this way: It’s roughly the same amount of money as the federal government’s entire budget. …

When you combine this “debt tax” – aka interest – with the size of our actual tax burden (about $4.4 trillion when you combine federal taxes with state and local taxes), you can see why our economy is struggling. We’re spending half our annual GDP on taxes and interest. Imagine if you had to spend half your family’s income on taxes and interest. How would you rate your credit risk? What’s the likelihood of default in that scenario?”