Merry Christmas

In the spirit of the season, I'd like to share some observations about well wishes at this time of the year.

I have an eclectic collection of friends; they observe a variety of different religions. Years ago when Happy Holidays crept into use, I asked each person if they are offended or feel uncomfortable in any way when I wish them a Merry Christmas – all said NO...unless I would be offended if they wished me Happy Chanukah or Joyous Kwanzaa or other celebration of the season. In the reverse situation, I am honored when a friend says they will include me in their prayers for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

In my tribe, Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah wishes abound throughout December, with big smiles and good cheer!

This year I conducted an experiment – in December until the 25^th I wished people a Merry Christmas. It was totally indiscriminate – friends, strangers, clerks stocking shelves, people helping to find an item or give directions, letter carriers, the guys on the Trash Truck, and every kid I saw. I offered Christmas wishes to over 250 individuals during the experiment.

Here's my report of this non-scientific project – everyone...no exception...broke out into a smile and most returned the greeting, with some Happy Chanukah's and Joyous Kwanzaa's sprinkled in. There was no negative reaction – not the slightest indication of any discomfort by anyone. Each person beamed at being acknowledged and offered a positive wish for them.

Ben Stein says it best in a note he wrote about Christmas – being wished a Merry Christmas is inclusionary and a positive expression of celebration, which in no means diminishes or degrades the beliefs and observations of the listener...not by intent and not by practice.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas - here's a wish to you for good health, peace, joy, and success for the coming New Year.

2011 – Observations From the Front Lines

This year's collection of Ah-Ha moments in no particular order.

1. Doing Leads to Understanding – I designed the software architecture for a project and saw clearly how the pieces related to each other. I made changes to enhance its functionality from this structural knowledge.
2. Can't Predict What May Move Readers – In a blog post about the New Normal, focusing on poor economic performance and shifting business structures, the readers' comments blossomed into a lively discussion of what is 'normal' and why it's important.
3. Exponential Focus – When learning something new, initially discovered elements float around independent of each other until critical mass is achieved and BLAM! - these pieces come together for deep understanding and practical application.
4. Sales Is a Conversation With a YES at the End – Gone is the role of being an information resource (buyer can get that from the Internet); now we listen to the needs and share customer stories of situations where our solution filled their need and benefited the customer.
5. Develop an On-line Personality for You and Your Business – Google has added to the kit of social media tools with Google Plus and Google Plus Business Pages, which can showcase your activities, offered products and services, posts about topics of interest and value to create your electronic persona. And all of this is findable by anyone with access to the internet.
6. PowerPoint is NOT Required – Shifting to a value-based handout to guide the presentation creates a more intimate session and leaves useful information (and your contact specifics) in the hands of the attendees.
7. Business and Education: A Necessary Partnership – Business needs a stream of potential employees with a strong foundation ( including reading, writing, math, critical thinking, problem-solving) to train as workers to produce the company's products and services. The education system is responsible for building this changing foundation.
8. The World Has Changed While I've Been Working – It's not job change – it's career redevelopment! Individuals in transition are shocked to find that the job they have just left no longer exists in the job market. Suggestion - look for opportunities to acquire new skills while in your current position.
9. The No Customer Recession – Customers stop buying – businesses cut back (or close) – uncertainty abounds. A mantra of the politicians – create jobs! and they throw money at the problem. When all the smoke and noise has settled, it still comes back to “are the customers buying?”
10. Technological Confluence – Using computers, telecom, and internet has matured and the promised changes have arrived – it is altering how things get done. 'Doc in the box' changed how many people get routine everyday out-patient care; Amazon, Zappos, eBay has shifted buying and trading patterns; tax, accounting, and legal software substitutes standard elements in lieu of a trained professional for simple needs.
11. It's the Same – But Different – In the past, selling a better mousetrap was successful by better meeting a need...this still applies today. Now, as before, things that fill a need sell. What is different is the evolution of the solo and small business developing and marketing the solutions. Perfect example: Phone apps: narrow scope; solves a specific issue; sold cheap (99 cents - $5, or free with ads), delivered on-line immediately, and promoted by word-of-mouth or social media.

What was the best thing you learned in 2011?

Best wishes for success in the New Year.

Come join us for The Direct Economy - How Can You Benefit From The Strongest Economy In The History Of The World? At The Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) January 12, 6 pm, Chevy Chase RSVP Here

What I Remembered In 2011

Most of these year-end posts are about what was learned. Increasingly, I find old ideas come back with more meaning.

No matter how hard you do the wrong thing, it never quite works. Ted Long

The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed. William Gibson

If we can't beat a copycat at our own game, we suck. Ben Huh

The middle class is disappearing. Media hysteria

For many years I read how businesses were buying personal computers, yet productivity wasn’t increasing. Turns out we were just learning how to use them.

What took ten professionals in 1970 now takes two.

In the commercial sector we’ve seen a 40% reduction in employees for the same sales volume, probably well over 50% when you count the businesses that have gone away.

During the last five years government employee count has risen ten percent, and government pay rates have held steady as commercial pay rates have plummeted.

I expect a massive equalization in the next 18 months. The equalization has started, not from legislators but from employees who see the end coming.

It is our expectation of constantly reducing cost and constantly improving quality which will overturn our “Because I SAID so” bureaucracy.

82.5% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

There are two things that force decisions. Lack of time and lack of money. John Sanders

If you’re not embarrassed when you ship the first prototype, you’ve waited too long. Brett Battjer, Product Manager, Living Social

People keep trying schemes to corral and divvy up the Internet. The value from the Internet is its breadth. So far all the attempts at walled gardens and apps have failed based on their lack of breadth.

Most work can be redesigned to use the Internet, cutting cost and increasing accuracy. We are in a period of learning how to do that in industry after industry.

I can counted ten different independent Internet business models for books. Publishers complain about slipping sales and new technology, but the two, slipping sales and new technology, are the two ends of the continuum. You can have one or the other.

Everything new is an improvement on something else. Merlin Mann wrote, “Innovation is starting where the last person stopped.” 

What was the best thing you learned in 2011? 

Come join us for The Direct Economy - How Can You Benefit From The Strongest Economy In The History Of The World? At The Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) January 12, 6 pm, Chevy Chase RSVP Here

Doing the Impossible – The War Horse Lesson

With the holiday celebration over, the eggnog finished, and dinner a very pleasant memory, we went to see War Horse (liked it).

Early in the movie, the boy and the horse took on the monumental challenge of plowing a field of thick deep-rooted grass and stone for the first time. They succeeded.

What we watched was the accomplishment of a virtually impossible task by sheer will-power, refusing to quit, and learning to work together.

This scene serves as a powerful reminder to leaders that inspiration, focus, and working together can overcome huge obstacles to achieve results.

Kennedy and landing on the moon is another example...can you recall others?

January 10^th Sales Lab’s next Rainmaker is Designing Your Work To Take Advantage Of The Internet at the Capital Technology Management Hub on Tuesday, January 10^th. The featured CTMH speaker will be Hector Del Castillo on the topic of Why a Product Strategy is Essential to Drive Your Company’s Revenue Growth. More Info

Rainmaker #9 Convey Your Business Personality – Easy, Simple, and Free

 Definition: A Rainmaker creates a significant amount of new business for a company. The Sales Lab Rainmaker Series is one rainmaker technique for technologists during the first 300 seconds (five minutes) of the monthly Capital Technology Management Hub Meeting. This is the handout for our December meeting.

At the beginning of this Rainmaker presentation in December, 3 of the 25 technology professionals indicated they had put up a Google Plus Business Page. At the end of the session, two more planned to put up a Plus Business Page next day – 20% adoption in five weeks of availability.

The handout:

Google released Plus Pages just for business in November. Who cares – I got a website. CARE!
 Be found – show your stuff – give some value – share your knowledge
 ñ Searchable from anywhere on the web
ñ Pictures and videos to showcase your offerings
ñ Live links to pages, website, blog, catalog...the world
ñ Blogs and articles from you, resources from other thought leaders, and your community highlighted (list automatically updated)
ñ Small group video conference ability
ñ Simple, easy set-up and updating – can do it yourself
ñ Cost – free to the individual.
 Face to face meetings - you can do maybe 20 per week. Google does over 121 MILLION searches per day – want to show up more? Google Plus Business Page bumps to top of the pile through Google + search

The previous Rainmakers:

Rainmaker # 8 - Google + Your Personal Website

Rainmaker # 7 - Mark Your Territory

Rainmaker # 6 - Networking – Are you Being Served?

Rainmaker # 5 – Start With An Offer

Rainmaker #4 – Time, Talent, and Treasure

Rainmaker #3 – Process to Purchase

Rainmaker #2 – The Nametag

Rainmaker #1 - Gifts

The next Sales Lab’s Rainmaker series for the Capital Technology Management Hub, is Tuesday, January 10^th with 300 seconds of Designing Your Work To Take Advantage Of The Internet. The featured CTMH speaker will be Hector Del Castillo on the topic of Why a Product Strategy is Essential to Drive Your Company’s Revenue Growth. Come join us!

Gurus

I had contact with a “guru” recently and it made me realize how rare it is to find someone who really knows what they are doing in this world of “specialists.” All of us occasionally have the good fortune to interact with a genuine guru and we should all keep track of these special people and pass them on to those who need them. Knowing a guru has a lot of benefits, not the least of which is that it enhances your prestige to know of one.

Defining “gurus” is kind of twicky. Experts, specialists, and authorities are all synonyms for gurus. I run into “experts” every day…and it seems like everyone is an authority on something. Sages or maharishis (also synonyms) get a little closer to what I mean when I talk about gurus. To me, they are very special people who have a special gift of knowledge and almost unique talent in a particular field of endeavor.

(You will have to excuse my home improvement metaphors, but a big part of my life is devoted to several of these projects these days.) If you think it is problematic defining a guru, it is really difficult finding a leak in a roof! The roof of my wife’s parent’s house in North Carolina developed a leak that had become an ongoing subject of speculation and trial for more than a year. When we were down there lining up contractors for construction work, five of the contractors gave us their opinion about what needed to be done. Lots of trial and error, no fix.

Then I called the “roof guru” we knew from a previous job. He came, waved me off so he could look by himself, and in a few minutes he got his ladder and a caulking gun, climbed up on the roof, came back down, and declared the leak fixed. Two days later a severe rainstorm confirmed the fix. It took 30 minutes (if that) and $40.

Everyone should make a list of the gurus they know (for me it is a short list) and pay close attention in the New Year so you can add to it. Interaction with your network should help.

The Whine Connoisseur

You know them – always the glass half empty outlook...complaining about the brightness when the sun breaks through the dismal gray February days.

They derail conversations and meetings. When making a contribution, it comes with negative overtones and is diluted by the complaint of the day. They are disruptive to creative sessions and are toxic to an organization over time.

I met a person in transition recently, who said they resigned to take advantage a sweet deal in bonuses and pension supplements. The conversation went on about how unfair it was to be cut loose after 18 years, into a horrible economy, at this time of year, without some rehab training, and with experience that is stale and limited. Next was a question if I could recommend some employment prospects (couldn't think of any).

Make no mistake, these folks are not seeking help to resolve a problem – they revel in their gloom. It is a mistake to take time to try to understand their issue and problem-solve for solutions or alternatives. Waste of time. Waste of effort. Not appreciated or heeded.

When speaking with a whine connoisseur, it is useful to be like a 4-year old child and continue to ask 'Why?' repeatedly – the individual will drift off to rain on another parade fairly soon.

As a leader, you will have these folks in your organization – make use of their skills and contributions, while mitigating their negative impact. Avoid putting them in key results process roles; on project teams or committees, balance them with strong can-do positive personality.

Our staff and managers are a diverse collect of talent and personality – sometimes it take some creativity to make the best use of them. It is worth the effort.

Do you have suggestions for mining the positives from the whine connoisseurs?

January 12^th! Join us for The Direct Economy at AITP!

Consider: The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed.

Did you ever notice, no matter how hard you do the wrong thing, it never quite works?

The Direct Economy will give you a better understanding of what is changing and how you can win at the new game. RSVP Here!

Google Plus for Business – Why Be An Early Adopter?

In November Google released Plus Pages for Business – it is similar to your personal Google Plus Page, but with features to create your electronic business personality.

Whoa! – you say you work for a large organization or an agency and can't put up a page for your day job...the Plus Business Pages works well for a community association, a swim team, or a social group where disbursed information, schedules, and news are valuable to the group.

Establish your brand on-line in a highly flexible (and easy to use) environment and be visible to everyone on the web through the search box. They can find you by your organization name or by a full text search of your content.

I just did a presentation about Google Plus Business Pages at the Capital Technology Management Hub meeting and asked the 25 technology professionals how many had put up a Plus Business Page – three had.

Why Not? – I asked. They are trying to figure out how Plus Business fits with the other outreach vehicles.

Here's how I use the stack:

• The website is a fairly static resource with info about the organization, services/products, and other useful material;
• Twitter and Facebook can be used to alert the readers about what's happening – like events and blog posts;
• LinkedIn is your professional history and it also has a broad range of discussion forums to exchange ideas, but LI is restricted to just other LI members;
• Blogs provide an outlet for sharing thoughts and discovered information, but distribution can be a challenge;
• Plus Business Pages tie all of the above together – it can spotlight current activities and posts, display a detailed description of your organization, show pictures of your products or activities, provide direct access to your videos, and even hook up video conference of up to 10 connections.

Why be an early adopter? Naming the Plus Business Page is on a first come basis – getting in early offers the greatest selection. Based on the experience with Twitter, early adopters enjoy a sustained higher level of activity – worth leading the charge if history repeats itself.

As a Plus Page, Google search provides a useful filter to seek out the plus pages and display at the top of the pile of results – a significant advantage if you want to be found.

Google Plus Business Pages – it's easy, simple, and free – and integrates with all the other Google features. Why not lead your community by putting up a Plus Business Page? Of the 25 technology professionals mentioned at the beginning, two more put up their Plus Business Page the next day (20% now).

Please share your thoughts.

January 12^th! Join us for The Direct Economy at AITP!

Consider: The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed.

Did you ever notice, no matter how hard you do the wrong thing, it never quite works?

The Direct Economy will give you a better understanding of what is changing and how you can win at the new game. RSVP Here!

Badges

I was in a meeting yesterday where I heard, “Well you’re the only one with skills to do that. The rest of us came up in corporate environments.”

Lesson: The skills we develop are appropriate for our current environment.

In Reamde, I remember two telling realizations.

Zula, the refugee niece, understood that looking good by keeping the suits communicated was more important than solving the problem. And the way to get the time to solve the problem.

Her Uncle Richard, the founder, was wondering just what his job was, until discovering a core threat, when he found that the suits didn’t have a frame of reference to even address how to solve the game ending problem.

When your environment changes, how do you change behavior for a group?

Well, let me back up. The game you are playing has changed in the last few years, right?

Proceed.

How do you motivate people you seldom see?

One of our best practices this year has been awarding badges. We got the idea from game designers and social networks, where awards are given for beneficial activities. Alex George  of The Federal Contractor Network called his "The Wall of Ego." I paid attention to that wall.

Ours is a little different. In every case the award doesn’t actually exist, it is just described. And it is made up the first time awarded.

We have awarded for first blog post, first public presentation, first sale, first completed project, first LinkedIn recommendation, first referral, first website, first software architecture of a new product, first Google Plus page, first Corporate Google Plus page, and so on. Notification of mastering necessary skills.

After someone gets an award, there is a flurry of activity as others pile on to get it.

We talked about the badges as they were awarded throughout the year, recalled them when embarking into a new area, like the Vikings meading up around the fire the night before a pillage.

Now it’s December, and I had three conversations yesterday going over the achievement of the past year. I’m seeing a hardened cadre of professionals able to get results in a new area in less than a day.

When we started, we have documented instances of over a year to get a first badge. They are part of our “I wish I knew then what I know now” culture. Humor greasing progress.

Badges. Who knew?

January 12^th! Join us for The Direct Economy at AITP!

Consider: The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed.

Did you ever notice, no matter how hard you do the wrong thing, it never quite works?

The Direct Economy will give you a better understanding of what is changing and how you can win at the new game. RSVP Here!

The Direct Economy

How To Profit From The Most Lucrative Market In The History Of The World!

A Tale Of Two Resorts

Orlando, Florida and Carolina’s Outer Banks (OBX) are two areas on the east coast where people go to enjoy the weather, vacation, and be entertained.

Orlando, with a major airport, Walt Disney, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Legoland, and the Magic playing at Amtrak Center, is an implementation of big companies. Most workers are corporate employees.

Legend has it that Nags Head was named for lights hung on mules' heads by “wreckers” who would lead ships to be shipwrecked near shore where the economically challenged could loot the ships of their valuables.

COBRA logo

Home Depot came to OBX less than ten years ago, and competes with much older hardware and lumber recyclers providing construction materials.

At the Outer Banks, instead of hotels, most visitors rent houses. Chain franchises compete with local restaurants. There is little corporate overlay, most people work  by themselves or in small crews.

Contractors performing maintenance on houses change every year, and we find competent help by asking neighbors.

The New Work Model

Please, somebody tell me what to do!

Guys saying that will be unemployed or in low reward employment.

It used to be that you did what your boss asked and the boss would get you paid. That hasn’t been true for 20 years. 

Increasingly, staff jobs, and the “professions” of the ’60’s are being done by software. Figure that ten positions then is two positions now, and the repetitive, billable work is done online by the customer.

Clearly, we need a new understanding.

We know the job prospects for someone who can’t read.

What are the job prospects for someone who doesn’t know how to find and use the opportunities in the new economy?

How can you learn what you need to know?

Mary Meeker’s 2009 Web 2.0 Summit presentation, slides 31, 32, 62, shows how there were a million mainframes in the ’60’s, ten million minicomputers in the ’70’s, a hundred million PC’s in the ’90’s, a billion desktop/cellphone users in 2000, and predicting 10 billion mobile consumers in the next decade. 

The New Opportunity

Ten billion addressable customers connected to you through  your browser!

Those southern boys coming north to Detroit after WWII knew how to dirt farm. They had to learn how to build cars.

This isn’t about computers. The internet breaks down the old barriers of distance. But you have to design your offering for that market.

For the past 15 years, we have been learning this new model. Did you ever call 1-800-GOOGLE for support? There is no one there.

Consider the difference between the Microsoft (paid consultants encouraged) and the open source development paradigm (Proceed. You won't break the Internet).

Technology is how you do things. That is what is changing.

Look at buying books, cupcakes, shoes, zip cars, clothing, even air travel. New companies are undermining entrenched providers. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

At Global StartUp Weekend, Washington DC had the third most startups of any city in the world. Were you involved?

New Organization

Last week, I figured out I was working with 15 people in 9 distinct ventures, some paid, some under development.

It’s not a management pyramid structure, it’s a hub and spoke system, some projects I am dominant, others I play a supporting role. The model is Open Source Leadership.

I was leading BlogLab, when we got into a conversation about monetizing blogs. I asked if there was an example of monetization without blogging? Got a good one. That video had advertising, went viral, and the person who posted the video said it paid for his kid's college education. The lesson, monetizing is not connected to blogging, monetizing is connected to monetizing.

One of the participants described it as lightning fortune. Reminded me of the sculpture in Sweet Home Alabama.

William Gibson wrote, “The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.”

Descriptions abound when you know what you are looking for.

Reamde – Neal Stephenson

Makers – Cory Doctorow

All of William Gibson

What action you are taking after reading this post?

Join us December 13^th at the Capital Technology Management Hub Launching A Green Technology Startup for Sales Lab’s How to Convey Your Business Personality - Easily, Simply, and For Free! Good times! Great crowd! Sterling presenters!

The Last Chapter

The last chapter of the book on our life has not been written yet.

We may feel that it won't be turning out as we had hoped or expected.

While we were working – the world changed!

• The Internet has evolved and many roles which were staffed before are on-line now;
• Processes which had required labor now use technology and fewer people with lesser skill and experience levels;
• Vast amounts of data, research, information, and content are available by simple searching through the browser;
• Entire professions have been radically changed by an 'in-the-box' approach – e.g., basic accounting, legal documents, family physician.

What do we do now, having seen the significant changes that have evolved?

One action not to take is 'wait it out' in hopes of a return to 1985 – won't happen! Holding on to this point of view is like retiring in place and not telling anyone.

Things have changed – now it's your turn:

• Learn new skills and techniques with application in the new economy – become a doer to get greater depth in what you are learning. Building a website teaches more about planning, design, layout, functionality, and connectivity than it does about writing code;
• Explore the new normal – going beyond the local newspaper or evening news. Read blogs and articles by a variety of writers with differing viewpoints – go to events and listen to the comments by the audience for a richer experience...develop your own assessment of 'what is' and 'what's possible;'
• Be open to a new approach – whether as a provider or a recipient – does the change provide benefit...value...efficiency...access? An example – you don't have two-hours for dinner at your favorite restaurant, so you order solo catering on-line and drop by to pick up your dinner (with all the trimmings) – hot and ready to eat at home...as a restauranteur or a diner, you win using a new approach;
• Find out what is needed and figure out how to provide it – do this as an employee and you may be on the way to redefining your job in a World 2.0 model; as a provider, offering what is needed is an evergreen business goal and a possible new line of service for you.

Even more so with the rapid pace of change today – we do not live in a stagnant environment. Change is dynamic. It is not practical to be in a dynamic setting, trying to remain static (unchanged) – imagine how much energy you would expend in a rowboat at the mouth of Niagara Falls, trying to maintain your position. We must continue to evolve in a dynamic setting – or go over the Falls.

The good news is – our last chapter has yet to be written and, by being engaged, we can greatly influence the story.

Got some stories to further the discussion? Please share.

Join us December 13^th at the Capital Technology Management Hub Launching A Green Technology Startup for Sales Lab’s How to Convey Your Business Personality - Easily, Simply, and For Free!

Virtualosity and Building a Sales Team I:

The virtual tools now available through the internet allow for a much more flexible business operation than the traditional sales organization can tolerate. In fact the potential of virtualization for sales is barely being realized at the present time. Add the current economic situation to the present tools available and there is a large pool of qualified and motivated people to provide the manpower for a national sales team without offices.

There are also a number of low and no-cost tools to use to recruit, train, and maintain contact with a team of salespeople. These include listing services, teleconferencing and video conferencing services, social media sites, business networking sites, as well as simple e-mail services that many of us take for granted right now.

Using many of these services I have been able to provide sales teams of up to 15 people for companies doing business across the country, with a current group that should grow to 30. The main pitfall is in not maintaining proper contact with those in the group on an individual and group level. If contact is maintained one can get a feel for the individuals involved, if they are up to the challenge of working as part of a virtual sales team, and who can be counted on for priority or special tasks.

Next-setting up the team

Are you taking full advantage of your blog? Come to BlogLab - Improve Your Blogs! Thursday December 8, 8:30 am - 1 pm. Learn more at http://bit.ly/WMRBlogLab

What Killed Management Consulting?

Once upon a time, there was an industry called management consulting...and it wasn’t about computers.

There wasn’t an internet, so as a consultant, I was passed around a CEO grapevine. The users paid more attention to their grapevine, since it was their best source of necessary information.

Major consulting firms came to a point where they either became their practice in information technology or diminished and disappeared.

Today, the information that management consultants lovingly doled out is available on a browser, and if not from me, then from someone else. Nothing can be hidden.

Management consulting was an early outlier of the current business transformation. We had a fifty year run as a hot industry, and were transformed by the internet. Today costs are down, information is easily available, and the remaining consultants are using the same technology that killed their industry to create better delivery and results.

How does this pattern play against your industry?

Join us December 13^th at the Capital Technology Management Hub Launching A Green Technology Startup for Sales Lab’s How to Convey Your Business Personality - Easily, Simply, and For Free!

World 2.0

Robert made a good point, “Why don’t we drop this 2.0 business?”

We can’t, because there is something there, something that is fundamentally changing our world. Something that enormous is REALLY hard to understand, but we can see the effects of it every day.

Clayton Christensen has some early definition with his disruptive innovation. You routinely double and triple (or more) your users by offering what they want.

People who don’t understand technology say, “The key must be technology!” This gives me a new understanding of why so many IT projects fail. If the leader doesn’t understand both the business necessity and the technology, they keep trying to join the two together and missing. Think about what happens if you understand just one or the other.

People who don’t understand the changed role of pricing say, “We can’t lower our prices!”

People who don’t understand innovation say, “Let Steve Jobs do it!”

Perhaps the key is understanding what your users will want, what technology will be disruptive, how to make your pricing radically more attractive, and offer something that works much better.

And, as Mr. Loaf says, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”

A blog is a terrible thing to waste! Our next presentation is BlogLab - Improve Your Blogs! Thursday December 8, 8:30 am - 1 pm. Learn more at http://bit.ly/WMRBlogLab

Experiential Listening

Communication is an imprecise process – no matter how much effort and innovation we may put into choice of words, method of delivery, and focus on key points. Try as we will, the full transfer of knowledge from our mind to the listener happens only in the Vulcan Mind Meld. Typically a just a portion of what is said is actually received by the listener and a fraction of that is retained.

An analogy of how the mind processes new information that I like is of a mail sorting station full of pigeonholes for similarly addressed letters. When new information is received, the mind looks for bins of similar items to authenticate and store it. No bin of similar information but holds some interest – the mind retains it for a period of time as a data point; no interest: no processing. As additional data points are received, the mind may assign a bin for the topic. If not, the data points will be pushed aside for other active thoughts and ideas.

To illustrate - think back to the 1990's and the Y2K issue – when the issue was first mentioned there was little reaction or interest. Over time, with repeated mention and additional interpretation of the impact, it became a significant element of the coming of the millennium. To the mind it went from a data point to an issue.

As we listen, we are processing the information based on what we have been exposed to earlier – through reading, conversation, events, observation, and doing. When we actually do a task or project, we learn on several levels, including how skill and experience can influence an outcome. When I wanted to play tennis, I read a number of books about basics, strategy, and tips from the pros – but truly learned about the game once I stepped on the court to play.

When we listen through the amplification of our own experience, we deepen our understanding of the topic and benefit from the experience of the speaker as conveyed by their story.

Building a website, writing an article, making a table, or trimming a shrub provides valuable 'doer' experience to add to the current body of knowledge. Doing will broaden your perspective on a topic and will make you a more effective listener and learner.

While you may speak from experience, the listener who hears through their experience gets a richer benefit from the information.

Doesn't it make sense to seek projects and activities that expose us to new experiences – to keep current and to learn new things? Learning by doing is a requirement for the New Normal.

How has experiential listening helped you master a topic?

Looking to improve your blog? Our next presentation is BlogLab - Improve Your Blogs! Thursday December 8, 8:30 am - 1 pm. Learn more at 

http://bit.ly/WMRBlogLab

Lessons from the Field II

Well they say there is nothing like experience, but in my mind there is nothing like repeating the same type of mistake that I have railed about in the past to create humility and focus. First, be realistic and don’t sell yourself a bill of goods. Remember that in the end you need to have something that can be sold and that you can make money selling. If there isn’t enough money then stop wishing.


We took on a product that was not the hotcake selling commodity that we thought it would be and took it on at a lower compensation than we should have, because we thought the volume would make up for it and let us pay our salespeople. That left us trying to renegotiate our arrangement in order to have our people compensated at a level that would keep them motivated and involved. Luckily for us that during the negotiations we came across another opportunity that was a much better match and had a payout that worked for us and our salespeople.


The previous negotiations and flawed structure offered valuable experience toward future success. Additionally, the success at recruiting and hiring across the country through various sites has given us a core of people and the knowledge of how to add to that core.
Humility is often a good thing, though I hope not to receive a steady helping of it. I fell for the excitement my partner had for the opportunity and the excitement of the people offering the product. Tempering my enthusiasm in evaluating an opportunity and then fanning the flames of that enthusiasm once it is determined to be a worthwhile endeavor is quite the accomplishment and completely necessary. This latest helping of humility has put me on a better more focused path to success, which already has me feeling less humble. Oh well…

What lessons do you get from this? 

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Listens With His Mouth

After the last BlogLab, I was invited to meet with a group of policy consultants to discuss where they might find this new economy.

One of the senior consultants got very exercised, detailing the failings of bloggers and blogging. He put a lot of effort into hijacking the meeting.

I’ve had association people tell me blogging is evil, lawyers tell me blogging is illegal, and financial people tell me it is against their rules...all before they began to blog.

I’m waiting for an eye doctor to tell my I’ll go blind if I don’t stop doing that stuff. 

After a loud unruly meeting, the owner said not to worry. He was letting that senior consultant go.

I asked why and he said, “It’s a pattern of things, but it comes down to I can’t have someone who listens with his mouth representing my firm.”

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Surface Thinking

Not enough time is spent to develop critical thinking today. We are faced with a tsunami of data each day from 500 channel 24x7 cable and the virtual infinity of the internet. How to sift through or filter all this input remains a constant challenge – trying to make sense from it all.

When there is a speech on television, first you get word-by-word coverage, then a commentator says what the speaker just said. People often will simply recite the commentator's points, rather than thoughts of their own. This is Surface Thinking – Listen (the speech); Hear (commentator’s remarks); Repeat (tell others); Adopt (what they have been repeating).

Surface Thinking is not just about current events – academics can slip into it as well. Years ago I taught a course about employee training and development at the University of Maryland. The textbook gave statistics about companies investing in training and the authors stated that larger organizations invest more in training than smaller ones. Sounds logical – except the stats showed companies with: 100 – 500 employees averaged $467 per employee; 500 – 1,000 employees averaged $317; and 10,000+ employees averaged $446.

When I asked my classes if they agreed with the authors, only a few disagreed – unfortunately most just accepted what the authors said, regardless of what the data showed.

There's a huge difference between surface and critical thinking – here's an illustration (from pre-word processor days): A lawyer types 120 wpm and the Administrative Assistant types 60 wpm – who should type the brief?

Surface Thinkers look at the 60wpm vs. 120wpm and choose the lawyer since speed is twice as fast and therefore more efficient; Critical Thinkers choose the Assistant because only the lawyer can write the brief.

From a leader's perspective, what is the effect of Surface Thinking?

Surface Thinking is fleeting – new idea, new mantra. Communication about the mission, vision, and goals must be frequent and from many sources in the organization;

Listen more carefully to the Critical Thinkers for input and ideas – tap into new thoughts and insight for contributions to the results;

Broaden the development of Critical Thinking skills – use stories, internal case studies, and recognition as developmental tools.

Looking to improve your blog? Our next presentation is BlogLab - Improve Your Blogs! Thursday December 8, 8:30 am - 1 pm. Learn more at http://bit.ly/WMRBlogLab