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?

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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