Plan B Philosophy

It’s About More than Following the “Blue Line”

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:00:00 +0000

28 Second Takeaway:

While the GPS is an extremely efficient tool in helping us get to where we are going, a good old paper map allows us to see the big picture. This is true in business as well. If we only rely on the technology and management tools, we’ll stay focused on the “blue line” rather than looking at the bigger opportunities that might be out there.

On our driving trip across the country I have found myself in places I have never driven through – eastern Ohio, upstate New York and western Massachusetts. In these situations, I have found that Google Maps on my phone is an invaluable tool. No more squinting at a map, trying to understand if I should take I-77 or Ohio 8 to get to Canton (FYI: we are on the Russell family Hall of Fame tour – pro football in Canton, basketball in Springfield, MA, the Patriots HOF for Ben in Foxboro, and the Baseball HOF in Cooperstown).

But there are situations where I have questioned the information I am getting from my phone. "Wow, that doesn't seem like the easiest way to get there. Are we taking side roads where we will get stuck in traffic or interstates?" I know that the GPS will, in fact, get me to my destination, but I am unclear on the big picture of where I am going. All I know is that if I turn left or right and stay on the blue line things will all be good. Or will they?

Throughout the trip, Lisa and I have found ourselves conferring with both Apple Maps and Google Maps - plugging addresses into multiple phones - and they sometimes provide different answers. And because I am a just a bit old school, I bought a good old Road Atlas at the I-80 truck stop early in our journey.

After the 22 hours we spent in the car this week, I have spent some time thinking about the difference between the GPS on my smartphone and the paper map. I think the distinction between the two tools have applicability in the rest of our lives as well.

The GPS has incredible smarts built into it. It knows the traffic on various roads and can route you around traffic jams. It will sometimes let you know alternate ways that may be faster (or slower). It reads the directions to you so you can keep your eyes on the road. In many ways, the GPS is superior to the paper map that you have to decipher, refer to as you drive and provides no additional data. Except the paper map is superior in one way – it lets you easily see the big picture. You can see one state, multiple states, even the entire country at a glance. You can follow a road all the way to the destination easily. Sure the phone has that capability if you keep swiping out far enough, but that isn't the strength of a GPS.

In some ways managing our businesses can be like the GPS – we have metrics and dashboards, tools and techniques. But if we don’t have a map, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture. Just stay on the blue line. Don’t worry about the rest – someone else is looking at that, right?

I believe that an essential part of leadership is backing all the way up and seeing the biggest picture possible. Not that it is always clear, because it isn't. But thinking about the journey – which way will be the best, which way can we navigate the easiest, even what is our preference – is something leaders need to do on a regular basis.

I noticed that sometimes Google Maps will put me on an obscure route because it is one minute faster, even though it may mean a smaller road. In one situation, Apple Maps took me a back route to a restaurant and Google wanted me to take the main road. In another situation, I Googled a restaurant and it sent me to a location 10 minutes away rather than the one I had just passed. Without knowing where I was going, I followed the map, only to realize that I had arrived at precisely the wrong place. The GPS has no judgment beyond what is programmed - when we stopped for gas, it thought we took a wrong turn rather than just a temporary stop on the journey to our destination.

The ability to see this broader context is what maps, and our own judgment, allow us to do better than the GPS. In business, it is what leaders must do. Focus on the context and explain the way forward. Technology and management tools can make sure we get there in the fastest, most efficient way. But in business, like in navigation, only our judgment can make the decision about the best course for us.

It isn't always easy with either tool. Sometimes you find yourself at a fork in the road and needing to make a decision – left or right. A combination of the tools is helpful. The map can let you see many miles down the road in a quick glance – where is the road taking us? The GPS knows the route you originally set and can reroute you if you took a wrong turn. Sometimes I found myself overriding the GPS because I could see another way might be better – we might drive by something interesting, we might have to take fewer turns or maybe there was a rest stop that was desperately needed.

I was talking with someone awhile back about the wonders of Google Maps and mentioned that our kids will never be lost. Plug an address into the phone and follow the blue line. Don't worry about the roads and the way, because you can just follow the blue line. In someways, I think that is a shame – while I hate being lost, some of the most interesting things happen while you are lost. And importantly, you learn what caused you to be lost – what mistake you made and hopefully how not to make the same mistake again. It also concerns me that our children might learn to just follow the blue line – suspending their own logic and judgment.

In business, we need team members at all levels that want to look at the map. It is important to know that on a day-to-day basis, we generally are following the blue line (the course we have plotted out). I believe alignment is critical in an organization (do we all know where we are going – is it New York or California?). We need to know the best way to get there, but we also need people who are continually looking at the map and suggesting that if we took a slightly different road that we might find a new opportunity, get there a bit faster or enjoy the ride a bit more. That doesn't happen if all we do is follow the blue line blindly.

So from the road, I offer these suggestions:

Make sure you are taking a look at the map frequently. Are you still headed where you thought you were? Is it still the place you want to go?
Use the tools and technology to go where you want, not allow the tools to drive where you are headed.
Chart your own path – often a few small deviations will make the trip that much better.

Travel well.

The Brave New World of Small Data

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 10:00:00 +0000

If you are like me, you see a bunch of interesting thoughts, blogs and articles every day that you hope to get around to reading. Here’s my answer – 28 seconds of my learning around a topic I have been exploring. If you think the 28 seconds justify reading more, I believe you will get a “useful insight for your day.” Jeff

28 Seconds of Insight on Small Data:

Quantifiable, personal data (what I have labeled Small Data) takes the generalization out of life – “I am pretty active…” is proven to not be accurate when you now understand exactly how inactive you are on a day that you sit in meetings from 8 am to 5 pm.
What gets measured gets managed, especially for goal-oriented people. That is as true in personal endeavors as it is in professional endeavors
Instant and immediate feedback changes behavior. People will play the “game” towards beneficial results (just as they will toward non-beneficial results).

The Deeper Dive Into Small Data

Big Data is the buzzword of the day. Conferences are developed around how to harness Big Data. Consulting firms are building units to help companies integrate Big Data into their operation. CEOs talk about Big Data with their board and how it will revolutionize their business.

I agree about the nature of data and data analytics. The insights that can be derived across massive data sets about the patterns and tendencies of us all are between amazing and a little startling. The amount of data being developed grows at an astronomical amount every data. The impact of data continues to be seen not only in online site like Amazon.com (People who bought X also bought…) but in entertainment with Netflix and your DVR; politics with microtargeting; and across the marketing spectrum. We have moved from a world of mass media to a world of marketing to one. Nate Silver’s book on statistics and their application is still one of my favorite books of all-time (adding the recently departed Tom Clancy to that list!)

But I have become obsessed with what I am calling Small Data – the impact of being able to track things about myself and my life that I was never able to track. Data at an individual level. Data that was never collected in the past that can change individual behavior. That obsession started with a gift of a Nike FuelBand from my previous colleagues as I was beginning my new role as the CEO of Delta Dental.

The Nike FuelBand is a wristband that measures how often and how intensively you move. It tracks not only calories burned through activity and steps as some do, but a custom-developed score called “Fuel.” It also has a functional watch. As you wear it, you can see your activity throughout the day with a light band display and over time when synced with the app on your phone. You can custom set your goal of Fuel points.

My goal has been 2,000 Fuel points. And I was on 53 day streak of hitting 2,000 points (my streak broke a couple of weeks ago on vacation when I came up a few points short, but that is another story). This is where a goal-oriented, Type A, borderline obsessive-compulsive person discovers the power of real-time feedback regarding activity.

Here’s my defining story: I was at the September board meeting of Delta Dental in Mason City, Iowa. It was my first board retreat and our management team has spent considerable effort to make sure we are prepared to outline a strategy in a time of transformational change in the health care and insurance world. We are at the Park Inn, the renovated Frank Lloyd Wright hotel (which by the way is spectacular). After the second of three days of meetings and a board dinner, I find myself a few hundred points short of my goal. I was currently on a 30+ day streak of hitting my goal. After the dinner meeting, I tell Lisa that I *need* to go for a walk. She is kind enough to walk around the park and downtown Mason City until I hit my mark. Granted, our board is meeting at 8 am in the morning for a significant discussion that I am leading on our future strategy. Yet the Fuel point goal MUST BE MET!

While you might read that last paragraph and laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of a CEO going for a walk to hit a made up goal, late at night, before an important meeting, think about the broader issue. It had become a goal/game that I cared about (my streak). It was better for me to take that ½ hour walk than just go to bed.

Now extrapolate that action to the larger world. One of the largest health issues in the United States is obesity. A particular issue that is gaining needed attention is child obesity. If my children are an indicator of the larger population, they are both digitally wired and love games. The instant feedback loop of points and a goal that needs to be met is important in a digital (and physical) world. Foursquare and others have made successful businesses of around concept. I live professionally in the health care/insurance world, focusing on the dental community. I noticed earlier this year that SonicCare has now made an electronic toothbrush that tracks how long you are brushing your teeth and can download that data to your smartphone. For years the dental community has promoted “2+2” – brush twice per day for two minutes. Sure, I do that…. Really? Let me download that data into an app and show you whether you really do.

There are clearly dangers in Small Data. Personal data should remain personal until I allow it to go somewhere. The economic implications of more data can be significant. Data privacy should be an important part of this. But my learning in my small-scale experiment with Small Data is that when I know my progress in a goal that is important to me (my activity level /health), it allows me to make decisions in the moment that reinforce what I want the large scale result to be. That learning has broader implications for each of us and society at large.

It will be interesting to see where the world of Small Data takes us. What I have learned is that if we can align the real-time feedback into driving actions that help us achieve our goals, we may have unlocked a powerful tool in improving health and well-being.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:31:00 +0000

Summers are mostly consumed with baseball for my family. Both of my sons play Little League and also on local tournament teams. I have helped coach with several of their teams over the years. Baseball is an interesting game to me – it is a team sport and an individual sport at the same time. No teammate can really help the pitcher or batter, but yet defense is clearly dependent on a team.

And when you are 10 or 12 years old it is pretty easy to put pressure on yourself on the pitcher’s mound or in the batter’s box. One of my favorite encouragements from coaches (of which I have done as well) is, "Have fun out there, kid." During one game this year I wondered what that actually meant. There is the pitcher, usually struggling, out there on the mound alone. The pressure of the moment has usually caused the player to over-think, aim the ball and most often, not have the best result. Moving from that point to “fun” is a hard place to get (if you don't think so, trying "having fun" after a horrible golf shot!). In this context, “having fun” really is shorthand for relax, enjoy the game and don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

The thought of fun resurfaced in my new gig with Delta Dental of Iowa. I recently became the CEO after 20+ years with The Members Group, TMG Financial Services and their affiliated-companies. I joined the company at an important time in the health care and insurance industry. As I have said to many people, Health Care Reform doesn't wait for the new guy. There is change all around. In my first month, the team was working on the implications of new regulations, the public insurance exchange (now called marketplaces) and our strategic reaction to these changes. It has been a whirlwind and I would say I am having "fun." Challenges abound for sure, but we are charting a new course for the future (as is every other insurance carrier). While things can be stressful at times, I can say that I am having fun.

Lastly David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) posted a blog recently asking, "Are you having any fun?" His point was trying to clear your mind of clutter so you can enjoy yourself when you are not working.

So I have asked myself in multiple contexts, what does it actually mean to have fun? In my coaching of youth sports, I have often had to define fun (or maybe what isn't fun) for the team. I have said that fun isn't screwing around at practice, being silly and doing whatever you want. That might be fun on the playground or outside of our practices. Fun for the team (as least as I define it) is working together towards a goal and accomplishing that goal (usually that means winning). Few players suggest that they aren't having fun as they win a championship. When my Little League team won its first game, you could see the joy from the 10-12 year olds. They were smiling ear-to-ear. When I asked, “Wasn't that fun?” the answer was a resounding "Yes!"

But we can’t win all the time. In every baseball game there is a winner and loser. Sometimes there should be two winning teams; sometimes there should really be none. Great teams rarely have fun just because they win. They have fun because they have performed at the top of their capacity – and usually won. But even losing teams can have fun in an extraordinarily played game. Think of a tennis player who has just lost a close match telling their foe "that was a fun match." Commentators knowing that a special game has just finished saying, "that was a fun game."

So what is fun? And certainly, what is fun for those of us that can’t report a score at the end of every day.

A friend of mine provided a piece of sage advice that I often remember. He said that when you get up in the morning and get into the shower, if you are thinking about problems, you should figure out how to fix them so you can be thinking about opportunities.

I think that is a part of fun in a professional sense – are we chasing after great opportunities or are we grinding out another day? Are we playing at the top of our game or mailing in another day at the office?

As I think about the times when I have had fun for an extended period in a professional sense, a few things come to mind. I was an integral part of a high-performing team. I was engaged in work that challenged the limits of my talent and the talent of the team. I was working a project worth doing. And I could see some result of how our team could be successful.

That being said, not every project, endeavor or opportunity challenges us at that level. It would be hard to keep that pace for months and years on end. And, let’s be honest, everything we do at the office is not fun. Some of it just needs to be done.

But we spend as much time at the office as we spend in almost any other aspect of our life. If, on average, we aren't having fun, then it is probably time to find a new way to earn a living. Not fun in the "go to the (party, park, concert, etc.)" type of fun, but fun where you feel engaged in a pursuit worthy of your talent. I think having fun, to some extent, is a measure of attitude. Some might suggest the banking and insurance industries aren't their definition of fun (shock!). Yet I have made a career of having a blast in both of those worlds.

So in the end I believe that, "are you having fun, yet?" is a question that depends on how you approach it. Are you engaged in something that truly challenges you? Are you a part of a high-performing team? Do you see your work as an integral part of your team/department/company’s future? And do you show up every day with the intention of having fun. As with many things in life, it depends on how you approach your work.

I aim to have fun every day. Do you?

Partnerships are Inefficient… And That’s OK.

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Brazil with other credit union leaders to study the SiCredi cooperative financial system (what we in the U.S. would call a credit union or credit union system). They have a federated model much like Quebec-based Desjardins caisse popular (also a credit union system) with a centralized “home office” that can build expertise and scale, but is owned and governed by individual financial cooperatives each with their own individual governance models. In a sense it is like a super-franchise – a common brand but the “franchisees” own the entire system rather than the home office.

SiCredi's president is a gracious man named Ademar Schardong who was instrumental in building the federated model in the 1980s as Brazil re-emerged from the military dictatorship that ruled the country since the 1960s. He spent a great deal of time with our study group explaining how their model works and their impressive growth trajectory in the last decade.

Frankly, I believe their model is genius not only for financial cooperatives but other types of businesses.

It leverages a single brand recognizable to the consumer with local governance of the financial cooperatives spread throughout the southern part of the country. It is very different than the United States where we have 7,000 credit unions and nearly 100 million members but have historically been an afterthought in the larger banking world. This type of federated model is clearly a best practice for cooperatives across the globe.

One of Sicredi’s strongly-held beliefs is that it is their governance model makes the real difference, not the brand or expertise or scale. But it is exactly that governance model that seemed inefficient to me. Each of the 112 cooperatives gets an ongoing say in key operating issues of the system through an assembly process. In some cases, two-thirds of the cooperatives must vote yes for a decision to move forward. Sicredi management explained that these decisions could take multiple years to work through the process. That struck me as out of place. After all, in today’s world, isn't it the fast that eat the slow? In the fast pace of the global economy, is it at all reasonable that a partnership would allow decisions to take that long just so everyone could have their say?

I think, yes.

Partnerships – whether in the form of a true cooperative, a federation, a joint venture, a marketing alliance or some other form – are inherently inefficient. The most efficient form of management is command and control. The old military and factory model is very efficient. One person decides, everyone else implements. “Ours is not to wonder why, ours is to do and die.” Clear. Concise. Easy. And yet, discredited in many ways. Dictators and autocratic governments have been mostly disbanded or are on the ropes (see Venezuela). Even militaries and factories have moved to more collaborative models. It is possible that the only command and control systems left in operation are public schools, but that is another topic…

Today partnerships are the rage. Collaboration is the word of the day. Books are written and speaking tours engaged on the topic. But why is an inefficient partnership or collaboration better than consolidation and acquisition – thus ensuring one voice and one direction?

In 2001, we recast the mission of The Members Group to “Creating Successful Partnerships.” It was not so much a new concept but an articulation of what our cultural DNA was about. We endeavored to create successful partnerships with our clients, our employees, our business partners and our owners. When we rolled this new mission statement out to our staff, some responded with positive comments. Others said, every company says partnership are important. It was perceived by some as trite. “That's what you put on a trade show booth, not a mission of a company,” someone told me. Yet, in today’s marketplace, I believe a competency of partnership is critical to success.

Why?

Because no organization – not the largest company on the planet – can do it all alone. The days of complete integration, the Standard Oil model, are over in the global, technology-driven economy. If I need a data center I can build out one at great expense or leverage the Amazon cloud to be up in a day. If I outgrow that, there are many partners – many specialized in fields like financial services – that can take my business to the next level. I can leverage marketing distribution networks, outsourced manufacturing agreements, application programming interfaces (APIs), management agreements and the like to build a virtual company with real world assets in a fraction of the time it might take many years ago. Some of these are just vendor agreement. But others are much more than vendor relationships, over time they become important strategic assets of the company.

But they aren't efficient. So the question becomes: What level of inefficiency are you willing to live with to gain the advantages of a partnership? Partners have different priorities – often they are managing multiple partnerships. You are always not the biggest fish in the pond. Alignment becomes one of the most important things. We need to have “partnership meetings” or “steering committee meetings” to gain alignment. We create structures to navigate difficulties. And inevitably the cultures between partners are not the same. Strategic decisions take longer, more face-to-face communication is needed, and my way doesn't always win.

The funny thing about collaboration and partnership is this: If you want to partner with me, agree to all my ideas and help fund a portion of the development, THAT’S AWESOME! But usually decisions are a give and take, my ideas meshing with yours. Building on top each other’s ideas to find something that of can work in the market. A meritocracy of ideas where titles matter less and ideas matter more. Those are the successful partnerships.

And one other thing I have noticed. Partnerships are initially built on relationship. My experience is that a few people from each side open the dialogue based on mutual respect (but not always initially on mutual likeability). Without champions on each side, there are always reasons to say no. Someone must want the partnership to succeed. It is another case where it is easier to say no than yes. Without a champion, it is hard to break through the inertia of every day.

But once the partnership is formalized, it has to move beyond the personal relationship. It needs to become a competency of the organization – some companies are good at partnering, others are simply not. In the credit union industry, we are watching many partnerships formed many years ago on personal relationships disintegrate because the next generation of leadership never bought in the way the first one did and there was not a formalization of this competency within the broader organization.

Partnerships are a cultural issue. Are you good at it building them or not? Do you see partnerships as legal agreements and alliances or living, breathing organisms that need care and feeding. The vast majority of partnerships fail and it is rarely because the economic reasons weren't as strong as the day they were formed. Remember OS/2? Probably not. Microsoft and IBM tried to come together to build the next generation of computer operating systems in the late 1980s. But they never trusted each other and couldn't get past years of a distrustful, détente-based relationship. In the payments industry, this type of relationship is being formed in McX, the merchant-based payment network. WalMart is in the same room as Target, with Best Buy and others in the mix. Maybe it will be successful, but to get there they will have to overcome decades of competition and distrust.

So how do you identify whether you will be able to build a successful partnership? Here is my (surely incomplete) list.

Jeff’s key attributes of a partnerships:

A win-win – economically and strategically. Do you agree what the definition of success is for the long-term? Can you both articulate using the same language?
A history of successful partnerships within the organization. Can your culture accept a minority role as well as a majority role? Can you lead as well as follow? Can you do both within the same partnership?
The ability to accept another way of doing something. Do you REALLY believe that your way is not the only way to do it? Does your partner believe the same?
The ability to build relationships and navigate through difficult issues. Are you willing to discuss the brutal realities about the good and the bad? Are there people on either side who can mediate issues with the key points of the partnership in mind?
A willingness to look to others for new ideas. Do you suffer from not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome, where ideas from the outside are looked at skeptically or does the best idea win, even if from another party?

Near the end of our visit to SiCredi, I said to Mr. Schardong that their governance model seemed inefficient to me. He was nearly offended at the suggestion. He defended the nature of their model as critical to their success. The culture of partnering and this cooperative governance model was ingrained so deeply in the organization that the benefits so outweighed whatever inefficiency might be associated with the process. It was basically a rounding error to him.

He said that “the only reason for the organization (the home office) to exist was to support the system.” Their model of partnership was beyond symbiotic – in that it helped each organism live and grow. It was more like a host-based system – if one part was removed, both would die. It was like saying that your liver really isn't very efficient, so you are going to go a different direction. To survive, it is critical. I left the conversation with a new thought to ponder - is the inefficiency I saw actually a strategic asset? As I have thought about this I believe the next challenge for a fast-growing organization like SiCredi is whether they can institutionalize that core belief beyond a “founder?” Time will tell but my bet is yes. It does seem a part of their culture.

So I turn the question to you: What is your definition of partnership? Does your organization really know what partnerships are about? Are you willing to fight for them, like you would a part of your own organization? Are they a strategic asset?

In a new connected world, I believe partnerships are vitally important. And hard. And most of us aren't very good at them. But with practice, we will be. And if we get better, we will be able to grow and succeed in ways that we might not have imagined.

Win One for the Gipper and Other Nuggets of Advice from Coaches

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Now is a great time if you are a sports fan – college football bowl games having just completed (except for this BCS thing that drags on until mid-January) plus the NFL playoffs and the college basketball conference season getting rolling.

Over the years, I have had the great pleasure of listening to a number of college coaches from the state of Iowa talk about their teams and their approach to coaching. With each one of them, I ask one question, “What do you do between games to prepare your team for the next game?” It is a question about how a team moves from a win or a loss in its previous game to focus on the challenge ahead. I think it is a question that goes to preparation in any endeavor – sports, business, drama or music.

Nick Saban made business journal and blog headlines this past summer after a Sports Illustrated article talked about how Alabama prepared for games (click here for article). This was followed up with a sister publication, CNN Money, adapting this for the business world (click here for article). He is entirely focused on “the Process.” I remember watching an interview when he first took the job where he said, “the process will work here.” It was less about the location or the storied history of Alabama football than it was about his process. The process is so scripted that he eats the same thing for lunch every day so as not to distract him with one extra decision in the day that isn't about moving the team forward.

In early November, I had a chance to hear University of Iowa Basketball Coach Fran McCaffrey and his comments reminded me of “the question” I have asked coaches and their answers. I thought I would share some of their wisdom with you. Their comments are paraphrased from my memory and my notes.

Fran McCaffrey, Head Basketball Coach at the University of Iowa

Coach McCaffrey spent a few minutes talking to the YPO Iowa chapter on the floor of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. To be fair, I will probably remember his graciousness to a family group as much as his Xs and Os (Lisa and our kids were all there, and the kids got to shoot on the practice floor with Coach McCaffrey rebounding).

Iowa was in the middle of a five games in nine days stretch, including a tournament in Mexico. As we entered the arena, the team was working on a drill where they were down five points with two minutes remaining. It was a controlled scrimmage, focusing on executing, then teaching, then executing again. As Coach McCaffrey came over to talk with our group, I was amazed at his attention to the details of the game. Spending valuable practice time in specific situations and teaching game-specific tactics will prepare them for the season to come. I am quite confident there will come a time during this season when the work from that practice, plus the countless practices before and since, will make the difference between winning and losing.

Another thing struck me in his comments. Iowa had just beaten Central Michigan (coached by former Drake coach Keno Davis – see below). Central Michigan had played a five guard offense to throw off the Hawkeye game plan and had kept the game close with the unusual approach. McCaffrey countered with a four guard offense and a number of players that were expected to play significant minutes sat on the bench. He talked about how he would need to spend time with those players to boost their spirits coming into the next game. Handling players who have been successful in the game, and were most often the star on their high school team, is an underrated skill. Coach McCaffrey knew exactly that those players would be disappointed, but he adapted his tactics for that game and to come out victorious.

Learning: Practice must be about learning game-specific situations. Spending time preparing for inevitable scenarios will prepare a team to execute when the pressure is on. Also, adaptability in the face of a surprise game plan is important, but so is the care and feeding of players whose role changed based on the new strategy.

Mark Farley, Head Football Coach at University of Northern Iowa

Coach Farley's most memorable nugget was that his team's weekly preparation was dependent on their opponent for the coming week. He said that if his UNI team was likely better or more athletic than their opponent, they would work on putting in more new plays and schemes. This would make team focus on what they were doing and not get too complacent or overconfident as they were thinking and engaged in a new game plan. If his team was less athletic than their opponent (he mentioned playing a Big Ten team like Iowa), they would work on being crisp and fast by slimming down the playbook and focusing on execution. This provided confidence to the team as they felt they could master what the game plan was and they would go into the game focusing on execution and instinct, rather than thinking about what was coming next.

Learning: Staying fully engaged every week is important for a team and the coach should change the practice plan to keep the team engaged and primed for the upcoming game.

Paul Rhoads, Head Football Coach at Iowa State University

I had the chance to hear from Coach Rhoads at an event just before his first season at ISU. He was working with his players and was clearly focused on building a program. I asked my usual question on preparation and he launched into the answer with the enthusiasm he shows in many situation (see his post-game speech that was viewed more than 150,000 times on YouTube here). His focus was on planning the schedule for his players minute by minute for the entire week. He said that with restrictions on practice time from the NCAA and the complications of students’ schedules, it was important to manage every minute to maximize their preparation. He talked about the complex schedule that had sections for offense, defense, special teams, position meetings and even where coaches should be at every point in time. This discipline allowed ISU to exceed expectations that first year and now has been in bowl games three of the first four seasons for Coach Rhoads.

Learning: You never get back a wasted minute. Time is a precious commodity in preparation and planning is a key element in winning. The logistics of preparation are underestimated.

Keno Davis, Head Basketball Coach at Drake University (now at Central Michigan)

2007-08 was the magical season for Drake basketball. They were undefeated throughout much of the year and won the Missouri Valley post-season tournament. They lost a heartbreaking game to Western Kentucky on a last second shot. But during the season, Coach Davis (who was selected as the AP coach of the year that year) talked about this particular basketball team and the advanced basketball IQ of the team. He said time and time again that it was this particular team that allowed him to implement new offensive scheme, as well as wrinkles that kept opponents guessing. More importantly, they kept working hard, no matter what their record was and how many times they made SportsCenter (which is not a regular occurrence for a Drake basketball player).

The Drake team was not the most athletic on the floor most nights. Most of the players weren't highly recruited but they were a team that thirsted for more. Their enthusiasm for learning never stopped. While they didn't take a magical Hoosiers-like ride through the NCAA tournament, they will be recognized as one of the best Drake teams of all time.

Learning: An unquenchable desire for learning and improving can propel a team to greatness where the whole is certainly more than the sum of the parts.

Mark Phelps, Head Basketball Coach at Drake University

Coach Phelps replaced Coach Davis after the 2007-08 season. He was a well-regarded assistant coach from Arizona State and looked to take the underclassmen from the Davis team on to new heights. I had the opportunity to ask him “my question” shortly before the season started. As I reflect four years later, what strikes me is that most of his answers could have come from the movie Bull Durham, “We just need to get better as a team,” and “We continue to set our team goals and work hard to achieve them.” It struck me that there was no specific philosophy or program that was his at that point. It could have been an off-day, we certainly all have those. However, I would guess after four somewhat difficult years that Coach Phelps would probably answer the question differently today. Coach Phelps brought experience to the job as an assistant, but may not have brought "experiences" to his first head coaching job. I have always sought to distinguish between “experiences” and “experience.” Experiences are the learning events that create wisdom for future challenges. Experience can do this, but a repetitive role for many year doesn't always create the experiences that position a person to adapt to the challenges ahead. These past few seasons have certainly provided many experiences for Coach Phelps that likely have brought learning.

Learning: The top job is appealing to those not there. Most times it is a lot harder than it looks. Wisdom isn't something you can read in a book (or a blog), but the sum of many experiences.

Summary:

I love asking "my question" to successful coaches. Most often the coach will pause reflectively as the question isn't about the latest opponent, offensive scheme or player controversy. Coaches are experts at their craft, which often goes beyond the Xs and Os. The best coaches are the difference between a team that is a perennial loser and one that begins to win. To be sure, talent matters. But preparation and how coaches approach practices, player development and each game can make the difference.

I will continue to ask the question. In fact, someday I hope to spend a week or month with a team that is known for its preparation – maybe Nick Saban or Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots or Kirk Ferenz and the Iowa Hawkeyes (even as they are coming off a down year). I believe the focus on preparation is key to their success. The approaches of these successful coaches are all slightly different, but there is one commonality – they know exactly what THEY must do to prepare for the upcoming game. That focus radiates to the entire team and in the end facilitates their success.

Guest Post: Five Leadership Lessons Worth Remembering

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:25:00 +0000

From time to time I hear great stories from others that feel like they need to find their way out to the larger world. I wanted to share a post by April Schmaltz, who is our VP, Marketing at TMG Financial Services. I thought this was a great summary of her personal lessons learned at the Inc. 500 conference, where she picked up some hardware for us as one of the fastest growing private companies in America (shameless plug #1). Also, if this is your first time to PlanBPhilosophy.com, take a moment to view past posts and subscribe via email or RSS (shameless plug #2).

Jeff

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By April Schmaltz

Sometimes life is a little bit like the teacher on the childhood Charlie Brown cartoon specials. All you hear is noise. Noise that sounds remarkably like “Wanh, wanh, wanh,wuh-wahn, wahn” especially if it doesn’t help you cross a task off your to-do list.

But what if you take a moment to listen? What do you hear? What do you learn?

I have prided myself on being a life-long learner, with the ability to adapt and grow not only as a leader in our company, but also in my personal life. However, with many responsibilities at home and at work, there can be a tendency to push off what doesn’t need to be heard or done right now until later.

"Later" recently happened for me at the annual Inc. 500 conference, where TMG Financial Services received its official award for being one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. It wasn’t necessarily the easiest time for me to step away, but it was an honor to be selected to attend and accept the award on behalf of our organization. So, I tried to close off my mind about what I was leaving stacked on my desk, and went to the conference to accept our award. And, I came away from the conference with so much more than I anticipated.

With each speaker better than the one before, I found myself taking many notes. And, when that wasn’t enough, I purchased a camera to capture some of the truly inspiring conversations and moments during the conference. While I was checking in with the office to make sure things were moving as they needed to, I made a conscious effort to focus on listening and learning. See, I had an opportunity to listen to a group of distinguished speakers from across the country talk about their road to success and provide insight into their journey—possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear some of them speak. I walked away inspired by so many ideas to apply to my own personal and professional leadership development, as well as a wealth of ideas that apply to how we conduct business at TMG Financial Services.

What I learned, or perhaps re-learned in some instances, are themes that we all inherently understand, and are relatively simple. Below are some of my favorites.

Lead for Others. Take the time to ensure the people who work with you have the opportunity to grow (professionally and personally). This is not easy when at times it seems tough enough to keep your own head above water, but empowering your team to accept more responsibilities ensures you are a high-functioning team that is efficient and effective.

"You are not a leader until you make it your job to look after others"-- Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why.

Good Vibes Are Contagious. There is no doubt that it is easy to get mired down in the day-to-day slog, especially if things aren’t going as you expected. Step back. Take a deep breath. Re-evaluate, if necessary. Focus on how you can make something work, not why it isn’t working. And, do it in a positive manner. We could all use a little more positivity in our lives!

The CEO (Chief Executive Optimist) from Life Is Good, Bert Jacobs, said it best, "Optimism can take you anywhere."

Widen Your Decision-Making Process. "When you have a decision to make, fall in love twice. Push yourself to find two good options rather than fall into a rationalization trap. OR, run the 'Vanishing Options Test'. Make all of your current options vanish. What other options can you come up with?" -- Dan Heath, co-author Switch, Made to Stick and Decisive.

Another useful tool Chip Heath, co-author of Switch, Made to Stick and Decisive

stated was worth considering is Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 approach. Decisions are often made on a short-term emotion. Ask yourself, what are the consequences of your decision in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years?

Enchant Others. "The key to success is to achieve the quality of Apple, the trustworthiness of Zappos (free shipping) and the likeability of Richard Branson (owner of Virgin Airlines)" -- Guy Kawasaki, founding partner and entrepreneur in residence, Garage Technology Ventures; author, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, Actions.

Have the Aptitude to Never Give Up. When Captain Mark Kelly spoke about his inspirational career, he emphasized the importance of aptitude and practice. In his first months as a naval aviator, he discovered that he was not a natural 'Maverick'. (In fact, he thinks Tom Cruise would have flown the plane better than he did at the time!) But with dedication and perseverance, he achieved nationally recognized success. Captain Kelly also talked at length at how he was able to apply his ‘never give up attitude’ to his personal life, as he and Gabby have faced many challenges on her road to recovery. -- Mark Kelly, retired astronaut, U.S. Navy captain and naval aviator; co-author, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.

So now what?

There has been a lot of talk lately about remaining relevant, and while that has largely been in relation to keeping a business moving forward, perhaps we should also look at how we can remain relevant as leaders and employees. Sure, we can still move forward if we put our heads down and blaze towards accomplishing the next task on our list. But, it isn’t necessarily the most effective, efficient way.

Stopping and thinking (that involves listening and learning) helps us move forward with purpose and energy. It helps us grow as individuals. Take a break for a minute or two. Get to that book, magazine article, conference or whatever inspires you. You may be surprised at the results.

April Schmaltz is the vice president of marketing for TMG Financial Services.

Are you content with the status quo?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0000

I have had the great pleasure of spending some time with credit unions outside of the United States in the past few months. First, I was honored to speak at the World Credit Union Conference in Gdansk, Poland. I met many amazing leaders of credit unions throughout the world. This past week I spent time talking with three different groups of Irish credit unions about their challenges to gain scale and their hope to look to collaboration through credit union service organizations (CUSOs) to build a better future.

Through these conversations I have met many great, dedicated people. However, I have noticed a trend that I think is not unique to credit unions. That trend is that people can often be sorted into those that are satisfied with the status quo and those that intolerant of that same status quo.

This seems like a dramatic observation. To be clear, it is not like making a distinction between Nelson Mandela and those that protected apartheid in South Africa. While there are similar reasons that cause people to protect the status quo, most of our lives are not defined by such clear distinctions of black and white. Most of our lives are the subtlety of shades of grey (come on, not those shades of grey…).

Credit unions in Ireland face a clear choice. There are more than 400 credit unions serving a country of a little more than 4 million people. As a contrast, the state of Oregon has a few less than 4 million people and about 75 credit unions. The banking system is in shambles as the government has essentially nationalized the two major banks. Credit unions, for many years the “bank” of the people, are facing challenges that will force them to radically change their business model going forward. A government commission report suggests that mergers may be the answer and has appointed a “restructuring board” to facilitate the future. It is clearly a transformational time in Ireland.

With some colleagues from the U.S., I was fortunate to spend some time with three different groups over the course of a week. While there are as many opinions as there are credit unions, from my perspective the groups were separated into those who knew that change was necessary but were waiting for someone to bring it to them and those that were clear that they had to take charge to create the needed change (pardons to President Obama for borrowing his idea that “we are the change we have been waiting for”).

I think that history, business and life is most often (maybe only) changed by those with a true intolerance for the status quo. Not those that suggest, “It is what it is” but those that can add, “it becomes what you make of it.” Truly the world is only changed by the few who in the words of RFK do not look at things the way they are and ask why? Instead they dream of things that never were and ask why not?

The Irish credit union system is remarkable to me. About two-thirds of Irish citizens belong to a credit union. They are clearly a part of Irish cultural life – as much as the football or hurling teams (maybe even the Church). Yet they have not captured the vast majority of their members’ financial lives. Some of the issue is regulatory – alas the regulators will always be with us – but many are stuck in the glory days of the founding of credit unions in the 1950s and 1960s. Surely they were glory days, but it is a new world.

Every industry can be like this. Credit unions in the United States are often like this. We remember the glory days when every employee of the “company” or the “plant” were members. We wonder why our new members don’t have the same affinity as those on the plant floor from yesteryear. Communities can be like this, remembering the “good old days.” School districts that refuse to face the fact that they are too small or too isolated to compete in a global marketplace are like this. In my home state of Iowa, we have 99 counties, to make sure that the average citizen could ride his horse to the county seat within a day’s ride. Really.

But those that are intolerant of the status quo are unique. They often live on the edge. Sometimes they don’t look like us – they have tattoos or piercings; they are a different color; they have weird ideas; they just seem different in our status quo world. They say things that are rude, brash and uncaring. And they are essential in order to create the future. The greatest leaders I have known in my life have had an acceptance for this diversity – not the type defined by law (gender, race, religion), but the type defined by thought or a way of being. It is those unique souls that challenge something without wondering whether they might look stupid or offend someone. They challenge it simply because they thought it could be better.

So my learnings from my time with the Irish credit unions:

It is always easier to suggest transformational change from the outside, than the inside. We are all better fixing someone else’s problem than our own. It is as true for me as anyone.
It takes courage to do something significantly outside the status quo, no matter what that status quo looks like. The inertia is heavily weighted towards doing what we already do today.
There are a brave few that will change the reality of today, against the conventional wisdom.
Those brave few remind me of those brave few I know from my own past. There are common traits. I met people this past week who I know will succeed in bending the future and making a lasting impact on the future of their industry. Their passion, dedication and persuasiveness will win the day. A continent apart, the traits are the same.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The hard part is knowing exactly what must be done and taking the risk. It would be easier if someone would do it for you. But that isn’t the way the world works. It takes an individual to take the first step.

I am anxious to see the progress of the people I met this week. They have all the tools to be fundamental forces in rebuilding the Irish economy. They have the soul to care deeply for every Irish citizen. And they have the spirit to succeed. When we were touring the West coast of Ireland during a day off, we saw how the Irish overcame the potato famine to build a successful future. Comparatively this banking thing is a piece of cake.

But it will take leadership. Like any dramatic change there are those that rise to the occasion. They rally those around them to see a different future. I mentioned to a veteran of the Irish credit union movement that you can’t take your political capital with you. He smiled knowingly. I know he will be a part of leading the future – respecting the past that he clearly helped to build since the early 1980s, but also to lay the foundation for the next generation.

You may think this issue is unique to credit unions or to Ireland, but I suggest it is the primary issue of our day. In America we have an election coming up. Without getting into politics, both sides of the aisle could clearly do better if we would have leaders that would lead based on addressing the issues of the day head on. In politics as well as business, we limp along day-to-day with the hope that someone (anyone) will fix it. We all know the issues and nod knowingly. And then we go through the rest of our lives.

It is those that are intolerant that change the future. Those that may seem on the fringe. Acceptance of the status quo leads to complacency. Complacency leads to laziness. Laziness is a fundamental element of decline.

Transformational times call for transformational change. That’s a call to all of us. Sometimes it takes seeing it somewhere else to realize it in ourselves. Maybe we are the change we have been waiting for.

Insanely Great... Steve Jobs in His Own Words

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:03:00 +0000

I have been an admirer of Apple. Not a fanboy, but an admirer of their simplicity, design and consumer focus. So I read the Steve Jobs biography. I am not a big fan of those that quote Jobs incessantly, but I found the last bit of Isaccson's book riveting - when Jobs spoke in his own words. Many of you have read it. Some of you haven't gotten to the end. I have re-read this part about five times in the last few weeks. I thought I would share it.

Jeff

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My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary. Sure, it was great to make a profit, because that was what allowed you to make great products. But the products, not the profits, were the motivation. Sculley flipped these priorities to where the goal was to make money. It’s a subtle difference, but it ends up meaning everything: the people you hire, who gets promoted, what you discuss in meetings.

Some people say, “Give the customers what they want.” But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.

Edwin Land of Polaroid talked about the intersection of the humanities and science. I like that intersection. There’s something magical about that place. There are a lot of people innovating, and that’s not the main distinction of my career. The reason Apple resonates with people is that there’s a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo daVinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor.

People pay us to integrate things for them, because they don’t have the time to think about this stuff 24/ 7. If you have an extreme passion for producing great products, it pushes you to be integrated, to connect your hardware and your software and content management. You want to break new ground, so you have to do it yourself. If you want to allow your products to be open to other hardware or software, you have to give up some of your vision.

At different times in the past, there were companies that exemplified Silicon Valley. It was Hewlett-Packard for a long time. Then, in the semiconductor era, it was Fairchild and Intel. I think that it was Apple for a while, and then that faded. And then today, I think it’s Apple and Google— and a little more so Apple. I think Apple has stood the test of time. It’s been around for a while, but it’s still at the cutting edge of what’s going on.

It’s easy to throw stones at Microsoft. They’ve clearly fallen from their dominance. They’ve become mostly irrelevant. And yet I appreciate what they did and how hard it was. They were very good at the business side of things. They were never as ambitious product-wise as they should have been. Bill likes to portray himself as a man of the product, but he’s really not. He’s a businessperson. Winning business was more important than making great products. He ended up the wealthiest guy around, and if that was his goal, then he achieved it. But it’s never been my goal, and I wonder, in the end, if it was his goal. I admire him for the company he built— it’s impressive— and I enjoyed working with him. He’s bright and actually has a good sense of humor. But Microsoft never had the humanities and liberal arts in its DNA. Even when they saw the Mac, they couldn’t copy it well. They totally didn’t get it.

I have my own theory about why decline happens at companies like IBM or Microsoft. The company does a great job, innovates and becomes a monopoly or close to it in some field, and then the quality of the product becomes less important. The company starts valuing the great salesmen, because they’re the ones who can move the needle on revenues, not the product engineers and designers. So the salespeople end up running the company. John Akers at IBM was a smart, eloquent, fantastic salesperson, but he didn’t know anything about product. The same thing happened at Xerox. When the sales guys run the company, the product guys don’t matter so much, and a lot of them just turn off. It happened at Apple when Sculley came in, which was my fault, and it happened when Ballmer took over at Microsoft. Apple was lucky and it rebounded, but I don’t think anything will change at Microsoft as long as Ballmer is running it.

I hate it when people call themselves “entrepreneurs” when what they’re really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so they can cash in and move on. They’re unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business. That’s how you really make a contribution and add to the legacy of those who went before. You build a company that will still stand for something a generation or two from now. That’s what Walt Disney did, and Hewlett and Packard, and the people who built Intel. They created a company to last, not just to make money. That’s what I want Apple to be.

I don’t think I run roughshod over people, but if something sucks, I tell people to their face. It’s my job to be honest. I know what I’m talking about, and I usually turn out to be right. That’s the culture I tried to create. We are brutally honest with each other, and anyone can tell me they think I am full of shit and I can tell them the same. And we’ve had some rip-roaring arguments, where we are yelling at each other, and it’s some of the best times I’ve ever had. I feel totally comfortable saying “Ron, that store looks like shit” in front of everyone else. Or I might say “God, we really fucked up the engineering on this” in front of the person that’s responsible. That’s the ante for being in the room: You’ve got to be able to be super honest. Maybe there’s a better way, a gentlemen’s club where we all wear ties and speak in this Brahmin language and velvet code-words, but I don’t know that way, because I am middle class from California.

I was hard on people sometimes, probably harder than I needed to be. I remember the time when Reed was six years old, coming home, and I had just fired somebody that day, and I imagined what it was like for that person to tell his family and his young son that he had lost his job. It was hard. But somebody’s got to do it. I figured that it was always my job to make sure that the team was excellent, and if I didn’t do it, nobody was going to do it.

You always have to keep pushing to innovate. Dylan could have sung protest songs forever and probably made a lot of money, but he didn’t. He had to move on, and when he did, by going electric in 1965, he alienated a lot of people. His 1966 Europe tour was his greatest. He would come on and do a set of acoustic guitar, and the audiences loved him. Then he brought out what became The Band, and they would all do an electric set, and the audience sometimes booed. There was one point where he was about to sing “Like a Rolling Stone” and someone from the audience yells “Judas!” And Dylan then says, “Play it fucking loud!” And they did. The Beatles were the same way. They kept evolving, moving, refining their art. That’s what I’ve always tried to do— keep moving. Otherwise, as Dylan says, if you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying.

What drove me? I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the work that’s been done by others before us. I didn't invent the language or mathematics I use. I make little of my own food, none of my own clothes. Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on. And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow. It’s about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how— because we can’t write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays. We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That’s what has driven me.

Risk and Reward

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 10:00:00 +0000

With my absence in writing for a couple of months, you could believe that I haven’t been thinking much about the ideas that I write about here at Plan B Philosophy. In reality, there is nothing further from the truth. I have so many ideas for blog posts that sometimes I don’t know where to start.

But a few events during the past month have spurred me on to write. The event I want to focus on is multi-billion dollar trading loss by JP Morgan Chase and subject of risk. This loss happened as a result of a highly complicated trading scheme that had JP Morgan trying to mitigate risk in their portfolio by taking a bet on the European economy.

The media was *shocked* by this event. It was seriously reported for about a week and JP Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, testified in front of Congress. With an upcoming election and the political implications of the Volker Rule, we will probably hear about this for some time to come.

Putting aside the actual issue, the media reaction amazed me. While Dimon called it a colossal mistake because of oversight reasons, let’s be clear - the job of a bank is to take risk. It borrows money from its customers in the form of deposits, and makes loans and investments that need returns which exceed the cost of deposits. While the global financial markets are obviously more complicated than that, JP Morgan takes an assorted amount of risk every day. Its losses from this event equal less than 1 percent of capital and .01 percent of deposits, and apparently no insured deposits were used in the trading. They were clearly on the wrong side of the risk, but the risk itself wasn’t huge in relation to the assets and capital of the bank.

To JP Morgan’s credit, they faced down the issue, admitted they lost on a bet (even if Dimon said it was stupid and a few billion dollars is a real number to people like me that don’t work in “billions” very often) and vowed to move on.

In my experience, people (especially the media) want to talk and celebrate the reward of taking risk but are rarely prepared for the downside. We celebrate the risks people take. We celebrate those on the edge and then just as easily look at them sideways when risks turn out to be real and some sort of failure ensues. The first impulse is to explain just how inept these people were because they took a risk and failed.

I work in a highly regulated industry – financial services. It should be highly regulated as we all need to be confident that our money is safe and sound. But let’s face it – companies and industries that don’t take a little risk won’t survive very long. When someone hits it big, they call that innovation. When they take a chance that doesn’t pay off, it gets called “risky.” Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan. Few people talk about Steve Jobs at NeXT, but they glow about his work at Apple. Or as they say in the banking business, “No one has ever made a bad loan. They just go bad after you make them…”

And it is certainly easier NOT to take a risk - just to say “no.” You never have to face the second guessers, the Monday morning quarterbacks who say, “I knew it would never work, but (fill in the blank) just wouldn’t listen to me.” But the world is only changed by those that don’t freeze up in the face of risk but try and find ways to smartly manage it. America would have never sent a man to the moon without the chance that the rocket that would take us there could blow up. Every astronaut has faced that reality when they stepped into the rocket. History shows other examples as well. Many of the inventions and breakthroughs that we take for granted took an individual or small group stepping out into the risky unknown to try something new that people thought would never work. Those that succeed are famous; those that did not succeed are not. Yet the effort and courage between both are many times the same.

So that brings me back to JP Morgan. They took a risk and lost. In fact, they lost a lot of real money. But think if this hedge had been successful. Few people probably would have ever known and maybe a small team would have seen a larger bonus at year-end. In the end, JP Morgan might have had sloppy procedures and oversight. But they admitted it and moved on to protect against risks that are outside of their tolerances. They were in the financial position to weather the storm and will hopefully not overreact and discourage risk taking that is within their tolerance.

Risk is easier to evaluate in finance and sports than in the rest of life. When New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick decided to go for it on fourth down a couple of years ago to keep the ball away from Peyton Manning and failed, there was plenty of second guessing. But if he goes for it and succeeds, he is a genius all-around. The play is the same. The outcomes are clearly different. But the courage that it took to make that strategic calculation in that moment didn’t change based on the outcome.

One of the most famous quotes on risk taking is from Theodore Roosevelt. You have all probably read or heard it at some point:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

In my mind, the most interesting part of the phrase is, “who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming... and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly” That is the essence of risk-taking, success and competition – the willingness to step on the field or in the arena with a very real probability that you could lose but all the while focused on daring greatly.

In the end I suppose, history will always be written by the winners. Those who take a risk and win will be exalted; those that take risks and lose will be written off as substandard in some way. But I think a more accurate picture of the truth is that there is often only a narrow difference between success and failure, and often it is determined by circumstances beyond our control. We take risks and sometimes fail. I believe to invent the future we must have to have a tolerance for risk and the potential for failure.

What is Your Legacy?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

On February 15 the world lost a great man. Warren Morrow, my friend and co-worker, unexpectedly passed away of heart failure. He was 34. And he left an incredible legacy.

Warren accomplished so much in his short life. He was the CEO of Coopera, a company devoted to helping credit unions reach the Hispanic marketplace. Out of college he co-founded the Latino Leadership Project that helped Latino high school students strive for and reach higher education. Beyond his roles or titles, he was a tireless champion of the double bottom line – doing well by doing good. His funeral lasted more than two hours, as there was a chance for people to come forward and talk about the impact Warren had on each of them and their life. It was an amazing experience for me to witness. Person after person came forward to talk about how his positive attitude, his encouragement and his persistence impacted their life. Certainly Warren impacted my life in many ways.

I became a board member of Coopera when the Iowa Credit Union League became an owner. I have helped the company with strategy and how to reach into the credit union marketplace. In turn, Warren taught me many things about the Hispanic marketplace and how truly multi-faceted it is. He also provided many great life lessons to me.

One of my favorites is how he reminded me that my world-view was not always complete. While I have a number of roles, primarily I work in the credit card business. When we engage with new credit card issuing partners they sometimes have expectations that as soon as they launch their new credit card program, there will be a flood of applications and their program will be a resounding success. While there are programs that have that level of immediate success, most often it is because of careful strategizing and hard work. My short hand for this viewpoint is a relatively sarcastic statement that, “No one comes home, sees a credit card offer on their kitchen table and says, ‘Wow, a credit card offer! I’ve never seen one of those before.’” The point is that in a saturated marketplace, each offer needs to be unique and tailored to that individual to gain action.

Well, I repeated that at a board meeting Warren was at and he stopped me afterwards to note that in the Hispanic community there may be individuals who would see that envelope and truly say they had never seen a credit card offer targeted to them before. I was appropriately chastened – he was right, of course. I have tried to change my language since that day and we are looking at how we can broaden our offers to other populations.

His one comment completely changed my point of view around how I think about marketing credit cards. His legacy to me was to broaden my views as we run our businesses, realizing that my perspective is not universal. And I believe he left a legacy to almost everyone he interacted with.

Couple Warren’s passing with my upcoming birthday that ends in a zero, and I have been thinking about legacy a lot these days. Usually legacy is associated with someone as they near retirement or after they have passed away. But I believe legacy is, like leadership, the sum of hundreds of interactions each day. Each day we have a chance to leave a legacy on those we interact with.

Each day we impart a legacy on our children, spouse, colleagues, friends, neighbors and others. What is the legacy you leave each day? The comment you make in the hallway at the office, as you run out the door at your house, talking to your kids in the car – how is that impacting your legacy on them? If you were to die tomorrow, do you know what your legacy would be with those around you?

More importantly, are you waiting for “just the right time” to make the impact that you know you can?

Some days I tell myself that I just need to get through the day. We've all had those, right? Certainly those around me will understand. And, in fact, they usually do understand. But that day that I “got through” was one day that I squandered the gift given to each of us – to positively impact another person, a business, a community and the world. I see this reflection most often in my three children, who can remember with precision actions and comments that were offhanded at best.

When Steve Jobs was recruiting John Sculley from Pepsi to be the CEO of Apple in the 1980s he asked,

“Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

While I thought (and still think) that was a bit of hyperbole for what was then a computer company, in fact Jobs did change the world. My belief is that his legacy was inspiring a generation of people that they could design new things that could change how we interact in our everyday life (as I sit here listening to music on iTunes, with my iPhone next to me).

Certainly we will not all have the opportunity to do what Jobs did on the scale he did it on. But I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Robert Kennedy,

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Certainly my friend Warren Morrow sent forth many ripples of hope and even started to bend history itself. It is worth each of us thinking about our own legacy and the ripples we send every day. I hope each of our legacies can be as impactful as Warren’s.

Do Meetings Make us Dumber? Thoughts on calendars and the Tyranny of Outlook

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

This is the time of Resolutions and new goals for the year ahead. Lose some weight. Exercise more. Spend more time with family. Take up a new hobby. Only the truly dedicated make it past the Super Bowl in keeping their commitments.

One of my constant resolutions is to have fewer meetings. Not that all meetings are bad – many move things forward in a way that email just can’t do. Yet we have all experienced what I call the “Tyranny of Outlook.” I have mentioned this topic in this blog and elsewhere in the past. It isn’t that Outlook is inherently a bad tool. Outlook doesn’t schedule meetings, people schedule meetings.

In January 2007, I had a unique experience in my professional career. I was a senior executive leading the technology and product development teams for The Members Group and our executive team agreed we needed to move quickly on our strategy for the agent-issuing credit card market (for those not in our business this is where one financial institution issues a credit card for another financial institution or association – think your university alumni card). I was leading the initiative to develop the strategy but many things were getting in the way. There were always day-to-day responsibilities to attend to before I could spend time digging into the business plan. In what was a pretty radical move for us, our team agreed that I would give up my day-to-day responsibilities for 90 days and finish the plan – either it was a go or no-go at the end of March. We called it a Sprint Project. We announced this to the entire organization and I turned over all but a few minor responsibilities and devoted my entire focus to this project. In the end, the business plan led to the creation of TMG Financial Services, the company that I helped to found and led since 2007.

As I was working on the project, I had an insight that led me to write something for our internal company blog. It was titled “Meeting Make us Dumber.” MSNBC was citing a study that concluded that meetings actually cloud decision making rather than enhance it. I don’t know whether the conclusion was true, but I noticed during my Sprint Project that it was difficult to get help from others to build the business plan. I was totally freed up, but no one else was. They were all in back-to-back-to-back meetings. I wrote this for the blog:

I have uncovered a Blinding Flash of the Obvious (BFO) – we have lots of meetings around here. I call it “the Tyranny of Outlook.” The calendar tools make it really easy to schedule meetings because I can see everyone’s calendar and with a few clicks of my mouse convene them all in a one-hour meeting in a conference room named after a tree (side note: many of our conference rooms are named after trees). With a few such clicks, I can monopolize someone’s entire day, even if there is not clear reason to meet. And this is on top of our already scheduled standing meetings, status meetings, client meetings, pre-client meetings and other such gatherings.

It’s nearly five years later and I’m not sure I have gotten any better at managing this environment for myself. A colleague the other day suggested that he only schedules meetings from five-after until five-til the hour (:05 to :55) rather than a full hour. After all, even in junior high you had a few minutes to move from room to room. Not a bad suggestion. I previously have suggested that we default meetings in Outlook to ½ hour blocks and only schedule more if we absolutely need more time (as it turns out it is apparently difficult to configure Outlook to default to ½ hour blocks for an entire company).

In my estimation, the burden of the meetings and a packed calendar is the albatross of corporate America. I know that I have been amazed at how refreshed I am with just a few hours of uninterrupted work, accomplishing that one project that has been looming on my to-do list.

As I write this blog, I usually try to offer some solutions to issue I am writing about. The thing is, I am not anywhere close to having a solution for this. I have tried many systems. I was an avid Franklin Planner user and managed my daily planning with the A1, A2, B1, B2 priority system. Outlook killed that as the software was initially pretty bad and meetings were easier to schedule electronically than when people had to call to see if I was free. I have migrated to David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system, but can’t quite get my arms around 42 folders and the In-box sorting. I have blocked time on my Outlook calendar for “work time” only to not have the discipline to keep it when something urgent comes along. I have worked outside the office at a local coffee shop (which worked better in the days before Wi-Fi and “always on” connectivity). In the end I have a modified listing-type system with a calendar separate. Even as I write this on a plane, I find that may be the last refuge of solitude (if you resist Gogo In-flight Wi-Fi).

When I talk about this issue with friends, colleagues and random strangers, it seems to resonate. Maybe a radical solution is needed. Declaring email bankruptcy (deleting all of your email and telling everyone if their email was important to resend it) or turning off access to your electronic calendar are two of my favorites. But they seem impractical for most in today’s world.

So what I think we need is a crowd-sourced resolution for this tyranny. An “Outlook Spring” of sorts. A new Tea Party, Occupy My Calendar, or whatever your mass-movement of choice is – let’s figure this out. So post your best thoughts in the comment section below or send me an email (if you must). I will award special prizes and comment on what I believe are the best solutions.

Above all, let’s see if 2012 can be the year of throwing off the yoke of calendar oppression.

The Challenges of Growth…

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I’ve just past the first year anniversary of writing this blog (truth be told, when I started this entry, I was just coming up on the date, which leads me to this topic). It started with an invitation to some trusted friends and colleagues to tell me if I was crazy for wanting to write some of these ideas down. With some encouragement, it continued. While I have realized that having a day job seems to get in the way of writing and marketing these thoughts (see early point), I have come to find it a respite from some of the other challenges of professional life.

Which brings me to the point for today – as I think about the idea of Plan B Philosophy that I have been writing about, sometimes it seems that things are just that easy. Adapt, change, make due and move on. Plan B. Slam dunk.

Of course life is not that easy. Even in times when things are going well we have challenges. In fact, many times there are real and significant challenges when we are growing the fastest. Volume outstrips infrastructure and processes. We need to find people to help when we are the busiest. We are just operating in a “read and react” mode – like a quarterback with a rushing defensive line, we are looking at what is coming at us and trying to make the right decision in the moment. It is hard to keep your eyes down field when there are people right in your face.

It is exactly at this time that I remind myself of this axiom that I have said many times: The challenges of growth are better than the challenges of not growing, but they are still challenges.

I have had times in my professional career where my companies have been challenged to achieve growth or financial performance. People get grumpy and start pointing fingers. “If only we had listened to my ideas…” or “why can’t sales deliver…” or “if operations would just get things right…” The focus turns inward, the second guessing and proverbial Monday morning quarterbacking begins. Those times are not fun. I have had one experience in my professional life where we had to lay off a few people because our spending got ahead of where we projected our growth to be. It was unpleasant and I really don’t want to go there again. Just in the Des Moines Register, the founder of Pinterest (an Iowan by the way) talked about his displeasure of silence when their app went down (http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/10/26/reprint-how-an-iowan-founded-one-of-the-webs-hottest-sites/).

But the challenges of growth can be just as big of a challenge. In our companies, we are experiencing an abundance of growth opportunities. The opportunities are great. They are awesome. And they create challenges. The laws of physics sometimes apply and there are only so many hours in the day. I find myself saying, “Sorry I am late on this response” a bit too often. I am disappointed in myself for not being able to respond in what I believe is a reasonable timeframe. And yet the opportunities are happening for all the right reasons.

When you have a product or service or approach that resonates in the market and hits the right environment, that’s when growth explodes. Your phone starts ringing rather than always having to make cold calls. Customers are seeking you out. Maybe that’s an overstatement, but the biorhythm cycle seems to be just right. You look around like Robert Redford at the end of the movie The Candidate and say, “Now what?"

And it is just as challenging as when nothing was going right.

Which growth opportunities are the best? If we are going to entertain partnerships, which will best serve our long-term business? Everyone is going a hundred miles per hour and the communication we want between our teams isn’t as smooth as it could be. People feel stressed, excited, left out, fearful and exhilarated all at the same time.

So what to do?

I should likely ask you. One of my key learnings in the year of writing this blog is that great ideas and dialogues come back from you. But here are a few things that I have focused on:

1. Make sure you keep one eye on the future, even as you have to keep one eye on the present.

This is hard. There are deadlines and contracts and approvals and meetings and presentations to finish. Work hours start to expand into places where you don’t want them – infringing on family time, personal time even beyond where you are normally comfortable (because work-life balance is rarely 50-50, huh?). But at the same time you feel in a groove. This is the place when I try to look to my blind side. What am I missing? Is there anything that I am missing that could kill us? Am I taking my focus off our long term vision for a short term fix? I find doing this outside the office is the most useful. A couple hours at the coffee shop getting things in perspective is useful. And I do this is an old school way – me and my legal pad, sketching out the opportunities and risks. The important thing is to do it. Invest the time to step back and see the proverbial forest for the trees.

2. Don’t forget to make sure the team is with you and find someone who will tell you the truth.

In all fairness, this is one of my weaknesses. There is a joke about a leader blazing a trail and at some point he turns around and finds that no one is following him. Those that work with me would likely suggest that sometime I can outkick my coverage (hat trick - three football analogies in one blog entry!). I have great teammates who will suggest that I need to come back to reality and focus on what we can accomplish and by when. Rarely is this in a “we can’t do it” but rather “we want to do it right for our customer/partner/cardmember, so let’s make sure we can get it done.” That’s a valuable skill to have on your team. In fact, in my study of the great founders and entrepreneurs, they always had a partner who would balance their focus on growth in a way that moved the business forward (see Apple, Starbucks, Microsoft).

3. Know when too much is really too much.

This is even harder for an entrepreneur or a person who loves to drive growth. I always say that I am a bad one to judge opportunities, because life looks like a big buffet of great food and my eyes are always bigger than my stomach. But there is a time where we need to actually say “no” (or for me, “not now”). That is almost as hard as juggling the opportunities.

4. Realize that true success is more than one week/month/quarter/year away

This too is hard (hey if it was easy, why write about it?). When you are battling monthly financials, that problem or a compressed project timeline, realize that while it is hard, the true measurement of success is rarely defined in a short period of time. While there are some exceptions, most often in emergencies (see FEMA’s lack of performance post-Hurricane Katrina, the financial crisis of 2008 and maybe Europe today), most of us judge true success over a longer period. It is hard to think even in the medium term when there are so many things that are urgent today. But we need to make sure that the short-term aligns with the long-term.

In the end, I’m not sure if my strategies are optimized to manage hyper-growth, but they are what I think about (of course, maybe you should ask my teammates if they actually work). I would love feedback on what has worked for you (yeah you – the one out there who tells me that I meant to post in the comments but didn’t or was going to wait to later).

In the end, I think this is one of the fundamental truths: The challenges of growth are certainly better than the challenges of not growing, but they are still challenges.

It is what it is. Is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0000

It is what it is.

How many times have we each heard that said with the intent of convincing us to just accept the facts, reality or status quo of a situation?

However, I love an addition to this line made by Pat Summitt, the legendary coach of the University of Tennessee women’s basketball program. She recently announced that she had been diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s but that she would continue coaching, with help from her assistant coaches. While people were wondering how she and her team would react, I listened to an interview with one of her friends. She asserted that the team would use the circumstance as a way to come together because of what Coach Summitt often said:

It is what it is, but it becomes what you make of it.

Isn’t that a great phrase? I have been struck by this phrase during the past few weeks – I can’t get it out of my mind. It takes a passive, almost helpless state – there is nothing I can do, because it is what it is – and turns it in to a choice. It becomes what you make of it.

The main reason I continue to advocate for what I call a Plan B Philosophy is to remind us all that adaptability is key to success in most situations. It doesn’t mean to hide from the brutal reality or the facts of the situation. They are, in fact, what they are. As I say, sometimes the laws of physics apply. We can wish gravity wasn’t there, but that won’t make it go away. However at the point we understand the facts, we have choice: How do we react to the facts of the situation? What action do we take?

Do I, as an individual, accept a less than satisfactory outcome because I really don’t have control over the situation? After all, it is what it is. Many times we take a look at a difficult situation and are overcome by the circumstances. We can’t possibly change things. We get scared. We retreat. We give in. We procrastinate. We quit.

But what if we each took an outlook that focused on the second half of the statement? What if each of us focused on the reality that we can change the outcome by our actions, influence and attitude? That we are not passive observers to our own future. That we can define our future and can realize that future despite the circumstances.

Sure it’s not easy. I know this first-hand and have been living it for about three months not related to a business or professional situation. Lisa and I decided to do a large remodeling project and addition to our house. It is the definition of “big bang” – remodeled bedroom, kitchen, plus an addition of a garage, family room, new bedroom and bathroom. We have touched almost every part of our house in some way. We live in a house built in 1919, so there are always surprises along the way. One of the biggest was our roof.

We knew there problems with the roof as the overhangs were sagging significantly. That has been the case since we bought the house 12 years ago. What we didn’t know is that the overhangs weren’t really attached to the roof in a structurally sound way. As the framer was working on the first one, it took much longer and was way more difficult than anticipated. After that, there was concern among all of our construction folks about attacking the rest of the overhangs because the existing bracing might break loose if they touched it. There was also a concern that they could even make it better. It is what it is.

I was discouraged. And in the end, I was not willing to accept that as the future for our house. In retrospect, I was maybe even a bit belligerent. After all, it was my house. If the roof wasn’t fixed at the point it was all torn up and it fell down two weeks, two months or two years later, I would still have to deal with it. I pushed for different solutions and a better outcome. We talked and debated. Each of us consulted with others. We brainstormed solutions that we all knew we couldn’t be sure of until we actually started. It could have ended badly – that was a possible outcome. As it turns out, our framer came up with a solution that provided the structural integrity for our future. To the layperson, he performed his own version of magic on our roof. The roofers added to his work and finished the roof. Is it perfect – no. Is it the outcome we needed for our house – yes.

It is uncomfortable to push for something beyond average. Very few people really like conflict. Those around me at work and home know that this has been a difficult project in many ways. There have been lots of times I wanted to just give up or give in to what I saw as something less than the best result, in the name of “just getting it done.” On the times that I have given in, I have been unhappy with the result, because I know what it could have been if I had been resolute to the vision of what it could have been. When I have been insistent, I believe we have gotten the result that we wanted when we embarked on this project.

In many ways a remodeling project is the perfect embodiment of the Plan B Philosophy. (In fact, my very first blog post was about my first remodeling project in this house). There aren’t square corners, level floors or perfect circumstances and you have a vision of what you want but not the exact road map to get where you want. There are surprises that no one expected. There are decisions that have to be made on the spot.

A project, a customer, a business, an old house: each one “is what it is.” But it does become what you make of it. And sometimes that means being a bit stubborn – standing up for the vision of what it could be become.

The next time someone says, “It is what is” with the intent of shutting down the conversation, remember Coach Summitt’s second half, that it “becomes what you make of it.” It is in your control. Facts are facts. Reality is often reality. But what you choose to do about it is under your control. Make of it the future that you want.

Are You Really Different? Really?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Today’s marketplace is more competitive than ever. Increasingly the time for your competition to adapt to your new innovations is growing shorter and shorter. Yet some companies are finding ways to continue to stand out and draw in consumers. It is worth asking why?

I believe the companies that have a truly defendable competitive advantage are those that understand where they create value. One of the key principles of Plan B Philosophy is to understand where you create value for your customer and be relentless in pursuing that proposition, even as tactics in delivering that value must continually change in the market.

Yet there are key features and functionality that our competitors are offering every day. They, too, adapt to changing information and find new ways to create value. Let’s be honest, the guys on the other side are usually pretty smart as well. To stay ahead, we must continually adapt in providing more value to our customers.

As we all face new features, new competitors and a changing marketplace, we must really ask ourselves, “where do we need to emulate our competition and where do we need to differentiate?” To say it another way, sometimes we need to offer a product feature to remain competitive – it becomes table stakes. Yet, matching point for point each of your competitors is a recipe to be out of business. It’s clearly not sustainable, and as Herbert Stein once said, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

So as we think about how we compete, it is important to think about where we can differentiate.

Think about customer service. In the world of financial services, many people talk about having “great service.” But what does that mean? First, you have to define what, in fact, is “great service?” Is it always giving me the answer I want? Is it answering my call on the first ring? Is it talking in the same accent that I have? There are many definitions of great service.

But think about the math. Let’s divide service into average, good and great (we’ll ignore fair and poor for now). If most people are average, some are good and just a few are great, it is impossible for everyone to have great service. It’s like the old joke about Lake Woebegone, where all the kids are above average. Furthermore, “great” is a difficult place to sustain. If everyone raises their level of service, and you stay the same, you are no longer “great,” you are now just “good” or “average.” And do you have clear measurements of what “great service” is to you?

In the end, a strategy of differentiation is hard. Mostly because it forces you to say that you are going to be mediocre at some things to be great at others.

At TMG Financial Services, we have spent the better part of this year defining what we want our cardmember experience to be. We know that we have to be competitive with our core credit card product offering. When a consumer lays out all of their credit card options on the dining room table, we can’t be deficient in any of the key areas – rates, fees, rewards or technology. It’s not like someone gets a credit card offer and says, “WOW, a credit card. I hadn’t thought about getting one of those. I might just try that.” That being said, it is impossible to be the absolute best in every single category.

We need to be top tier in all of those things, but you could find cards with better interest rates (albeit, maybe not with rewards) and a more robust rewards program (if you qualify for an AmEx Black Card – OK, so I’m biased). I love technology, but based on our cardmembers today and into the future, we are probably not going to be at the bleeding edge in technology (as much as it sometimes pains me). What we have defined is our service promise of being authentic, providing a personalized experience and having the best interest of our cardmember at heart.

It’s not an easy differentiation point, and one that we’ll have to work hard to deliver upon. However, if we can continue to deliver that experience, it is a clear differentiation in the marketplace – a credit card issuer you can trust and has your best interests at heart. Usually an oxymoron.

Anyone can argue whether our points of differentiation will work. That’s the hard part. What we believe are points of differentiation may not be perceived that way by the marketplace. If it’s not, then we’ll have to adapt. People continue to use our card for a reason – we need to better articulate that and build our entire operation around that value. It’s our point of differentiation. You have yours. But if you really look at it, are you trying to be super-competitive at everything? If you are, you may be making the point of Mr. Incredible, “When everyone is special, no one is special.”

Postcards from Wine Country

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Like many pursuits in life, when I get into something, I like to really understand it. For awhile now (more than 15 years), I have been “into” wine. Lisa and I had a chance to spend some time together in Sonoma this past week, I had a chance to reflect on customer service, particularly through the eyes of a wine taster.

For those of you who have not had a chance to visit the wine country, we are fans of the Sonoma side. A bit more laid back, a bit less like Disneyland (Napa). While Napa has some great wines, it’s just not our speed. The Sonoma side still has some agriculture feel left to it and particularly when you find a smaller winery where the family is involved. While we were there, I experienced some things that are transferrable to any business – whether you’re in the paint business or financial services.

A personal touch matters. We visited about 15 wineries this past week. Some are the sort that you walk in the door and they ask, “So are you here for tasting today?” (No, actually I was just driving by and thought maybe there’d be a good taco here… yeah, I ‘m here for tasting!) The ones that were memorable were those where people were interested in helping each and every person discover the wines that were from their winery.

Mike Talty, the owner and winemaker from Talty Vineyards (a small producer in Dry Creek Valley) showed us personally his three different Zinfandel styles (the red ones, for the record – the pink ones are not our style, although it’s OK if that’s who you are). Lisa asked which one he liked best personally – he struggled with the question, and I suggested that it was like choosing which of his children he liked more. He agreed – but you could tell that he loved his wine and loved sharing it with his guests. Certainly he had a business to run, but it was more about creating that experience for each guest that mattered. His 1/2 hour with us created a great experience. But it didn’t have to be the winemaker (although that was better). It was his passion with his job (and maybe the fact Dire Straits was playing in the background!).

I can tell when you are being fake nice (and you can’t fake whether you like your job). This is Corollary 1a from the first. If you don’t like your job, it’s pretty apparent – even after a full day of tasting wine. And when you are from a script, even more so. Hello, welcome to ___ Winery. (pause) Where are you from? (pause with the enthusiasm of a wet noodle) What would you like to try first? (really long pause). Or the attitude that, “You are just one of 500 people who will come in here today and I could really care less about you unless you order a bunch of wine and join our wine club.” Then there was the winery that stopped us in the parking lot and asked us what brought us to the parking lot. (Hint: “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning …”) Welcome to Disneyland … bye-bye.

It actually matters that you care. Sorry, it does. Why is wine better on a sunny day in California in the vineyard than in January in Iowa ? It’s the experience. You are part of the experience whether you sell shoes, credit cards or wine. People can figure out if you don’t like your job PDQ.

The product isn’t enough – it’s the experience that counts. I like free stuff, so the special wine pour matters to me. But more than that it was that you listened to what I like and didn’t just read off the script. Our friend Linda at Geyser Peak not only bent over backwards to make sure our experience at their winery was great (we enjoyed the great tour and barrel tasting), but she called her friend at another winery to make sure we were treated well there, too. Do we love Geyser Peak wines – yes. Will I always remember how Linda went above and beyond – yes. There’s another note here – we’ve known Linda for more than a decade (see below). Yet, every time we are in California she and her co-worker, Lisa, go out of their way to make “the couple from Iowa” feel like we got a local experience – exactly what we are looking for. They make our experience. In fact, the wines are good, but not that much better than others around them, but our connection with the people matters.

Every once and awhile, you can make a connection that lasts a lifetime. This is a longer story than I have room for, but one worth noting. We were long-time members of the Canyon Road Wine Club (they called it the Roadie Club – maybe the laid back nature and bocce ball in the back attracted us). The people in the tasting room became our friends – not “call every week” friends, but “make sure to stop when you were in the neighborhood” friends. It probably helps that we are from Iowa and are different compared with the horde of folks that come up from the Bay Area (not that there’s anything wrong with that ;). Canyon Road closed a few years ago (sad) and we transferred our club membership to their sister winery, Geyser Peak. We have kept a part of this club and connected to them because of our relationship with Lisa (the tasting room manager) and Linda (a long-time employee). Every time we come out they make our experience special, because they know us, what kind of wine we drink and what we like to do. Remarkably, I don’t think this is because they have a great CRM system, but because they are one. I’m sure there are many more people that buy lots more wine than we do, but we appreciate them every single time.

But this time we found a new winery to love (as well – we’re not leaving Geyser Peak). Paradise Ridge is a little winery in Russian River that opened a new tasting room on Highway 12 (a main road in Sonoma). It was the end of the day when we stopped by, but Annette greeted us with, “Welcome to Paradise” and had glasses out before we could sit at the bar (notice difference to point #1). She clearly loves her job. I don’t think you can fake that kind of enthusiasm. Especially when you make your son work there (and her husband the next day). We spent about two hours talking about their wine, where is was grown, drinking different things and enjoying the business. We bought quite a bit. When we got back to the hotel I texted an old friend and said we found the “new Canyon Road” because they were so much fun. And that’s what wine is for Lisa and I – fun. They have good wines, to be sure, but wine is about friends and fun, and that’s what we found at Paradise Ridge. Annette was infectious in her fun – you knew that it was a job, but it was also “her” winery, even though I don’t know if she owns any of it (or that it would matter if she does).

Annette took care of us as we were shipping some wine back to Iowa – but in the end it felt more like we gained a new member of our extended family. As we were getting ready to ship, we came back to the tasting room and she had a big group come in. It was just she and her husband working. Lisa and I felt compelled to (and did) grab some glasses and tried to help out. It’s a bit out of character for me (although probably not for Lisa) but it seemed like a friend needed help. As I reflect, it was a part of the connection she made with Lisa and me. I’ll probably only see her 5-10 more times in my life – we don’t get out here that much – but it made a lifetime connection.

My last observation was coming home on the plane. The man across from me on the plane was talking loudly at his credit card company (which will remain nameless but rhymes with Emerican Axpress) before we took off. Being in the credit card business, I eavesdropped (sorry). He wanted to buy some wine but they declined his transaction. In all fairness, that happens. Lots of reasons, but it happens. The customer service person on the phone kept asking for the Merchant ID. He said, “I don’t have a clue, I’m just trying to buy some wine.” They asked him to have the merchant re-run the card, to which he repeatedly said, “I’m on a plane, I’m not there.” This went on for many minutes, until he had to hang up because we were leaving. The juxtaposition between my experience at Paradise Ridge and this was shocking.

So my question is: How much harder is it to be genuine and engaging than fake and scripted? Certainly we need scripts. Certainly we need process and real answers to support our service promise. But in the end, customer service is about heart. Do you really care about the person across the counter or on the phone? Do you really want to serve the customer or are you trying to manage to an average call time or just bide your time until 5 o’clock? Do you have the empowerment to solve problems and create experiences, or just to check boxes and follow scripts? My company is not perfect at this by any means, but it reminded me that we need to keep working.

This idea I call “Plan B Philosophy” is largely about adapting to the changing market and business environment. But regardless of your business model, the core has to be serving the customer. My experience in Northern California gave me a revised lesson in what service can look like. What is service to you? Post your experiences below – I know you might just have 2 minutes to write about them, but please do share. Your experience might just raise the “average” experience a bit and we’ll all be better off for that.

Things I Learned on the Little League Diamond

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:00:00 +0000

For those of you that know me personally, you know that a significant portion of my spring and summer are spent on the baseball diamond coaching youth baseball for my sons, Ben (10) and Alex (8).

I believe that sports moments are often great analogies for business. There is a true scoreboard in sports, which we don’t often have in business. Leadership, performance, teamwork and inspiration are all a part of winning the game. But during the past two weeks I was given the gift of two great lessons coaching baseball that I thought I would share.

I have a philosophy on youth sports that sometimes does not make Type A parents of my players happy. When I start a season, I try to remind the parents that of all of the kids in Little League, at all ages and levels, it is likely only one or two will play college baseball and, statistically, none will make it to the major leagues. I would love to be wrong and would happily eat that crow, but the numbers are what they are. Therefore, we need to focus on why kids play ball. What is important to me about youth sports is that my players learn how to be a part of a team, challenge themselves to improve, put forth their maximum effort and have fun. All of these are good life lessons.

What I have hated about youth sports is ESPN.

Don’t get me wrong, I love ESPN personally. But kids, mine included, have become so enamored with the glory of professional sports and the Play of the Day on SportsCenter, that they sometimes forget that they have to master the fundamentals before they can execute a diving catch or a 360 degree dunk. In the past I have often said that, “the SportsCenter cameras are not here” when a player tries to turn a routine play into a spectacular one.

And I was wrong, at least in one aspect.

My son Ben plays on a USSSA 10U team called the Riders (the high school is the Roosevelt RoughRiders). As they have played in tournaments, the outfielders, including Ben, were not being aggressive. They seemed to not want to make a mistake and let the ball go by them, so they would hold up and take many fly balls on the one-hop, letting the hitter on base safely. Furthermore they didn’t have confidence that if they went to make an aggressive play, that their teammates would back them up.

In our last tournament, I was working with the outfielders in warmups. I wondered why they weren’t going for balls and making plays. Just for kicks, I told them that the SportsCenter cameras WERE at the game today and they should go make plays. Their teammates needed to back them up because we were going after the ball, even if we dived and missed it. Their eyes lit up. “The cameras are really here?” they asked. “Sure,” I said. “Can’t you see them?” (That’s motivation, not lying, right?)

Their demeanor immediately changed. They were aggressive going after fly balls. Their teammates were hustling into the other fields to back them up. They played as a unit of three, rather than three individuals. They knew that each player was going to be aggressive and they had a role to play – either to make the play or back it up.

It was amazing the change in their attitude. Now there were no plays that probably qualified for SportsCenter that day, but we did play much better baseball in my opinion. I think there’s a lesson in this story for us in business.

Are you playing to win or not to lose?

The outfielders were basically playing not to lose. We can do that as adults as well. If I “lay out” for a “ball” in my job and miss, my reputation and my pride could be hurt. Sometimes I’m not sure if a teammate will be there backing me up. But what if everyone played all out every day? What if we played as if the business equivalent of SportsCenter was watching every meeting, proposal and sales call? (Maybe CNBC would build a show based on that!) I think we would be better off because the hesitation and tentativeness that can creep in would be gone. We’d just go play, and our customers, teammates and our companies would be better for it. If the fear of losing was diminished, we’d focus on being the best we could be every day, rather than on making sure we looked good, even if the proverbial ball dropped in front of us for a base hit.

The second lesson I learned was on incentives, or maybe even bribery.

My son Alex is eight-years old. His Little League allows the kid-players to pitch, but if they throw four balls, the coach from the hitter’s team comes into pitch. This rule is to encourage players to hit the ball, rather than wait for a walk. Our team was doing well early in the year, really hitting the ball well. But our coaches had noticed a disturbing trend – instead of players trying to hit off of the pitcher, they would wait for four balls (or sometimes watch three strikes) with the hope the coach would come in to pitch. We tried intervention – we told them the coach was going pitch faster, hoping that it would encourage our players to try and hit the pitcher, because the coach was hard to hit. That really didn’t work.

You also need to know that generally I hope players are intrinstically motivated. That they want to do well for internal reasons, not for external rewards. But it was in the 90s on Saturday in Des Moines and so I told my players that I would bring a Gatorade to the Sunday game to each player who hit the ball solidly off of the kid pitcher. Hits off of the coach did not count. I had my list as the third base coach and was marking off each time a player hit the ball well – out or not.

Amazingly, nearly every player hit the ball.

Maybe I should not be surprised, but I was. Out of 10 players, we had eight hit the ball solidly, including two that went three-for-three and two others that were two-for-two. Two players didn’t hit it, but they took good, hard swings at pitches. In the end, the players who got multiple Gatorades gave them to their other teammates (which was a good display of teamwork) so everyone got a Gatorade on Sunday. We have not hit the ball as well as we did on Saturday all year. And while it didn’t exactly translate the same way into our next game, but we were remarkably better than before Saturday.

So what’s to be learned? That we can all be bought? Not exactly. I have always believed incentives are as much about focus as they are about pay. They are certainly about pay, but there is a significant component that is about what is important. If you, as my boss or board, incent me to do something, it must be important to you or our company. Sure I want to get the payout, but many times that is just about keeping score. The piece that it critical is that I clearly understand that some action is important to our shared success – just like hitting the ball in baseball. The Gatorades I paid out were really not of monetary value – each player probably had plenty of Gatorade at home. What was important to the players was that a coach said he would incent them if they did something. It was a game within the game. And when they succeeded they heard me say, “There’s a Gatorade!” and make a checkmark on my roster. To start the game, they wanted to know the rules (what happened if they hit the ball but got out, what if they didn’t get a good pitch to hit, etc.). I said that I wanted them to focus on hitting pitches from the player pitcher, not the coach, and that is what would count. Period. And that’s the result I got.

There are probably two lessons from my coaching experience that are pretty obvious:

When we play to win, we often do win.
We get the behavior we incent, not always because of the monetary value of the incentive, but because of the focus we put on the behavior.

That being said, sometimes we need to look at our children to see ourselves. I find many things that apply to coaching my kids apply to our companies, but I would certainly love to hear your thoughts. Comments are open and feel free to post. Maybe I’ll buy Gatorades for those who post a comment!

Eat More Chikin... Lessons from the Folks at Chick-Fil-A

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:36:00 +0000

As a part of the strategic focus of our companies, we are continuing to evolve from an organization that has traditionally focused exclusively on business-to-business marketing to becoming more of a consumer marketing company. That is, while we serve consumers through our business clients (mostly financial institutions), we need to design our products, services and customer experience around the end consumer need. In the competitive financial services marketplace, there is no other choice – if you are not meeting the current and future needs of consumers, you are toast in the long-term.

Through a connection of the marketing director at TMG, we were able to have Tina Murray, a regional marketing director from Chick-Fil-A, spend the majority of the day with us this past Wednesday. Chick-Fil-A is a unique company, in that they have created a brand that has true raving fans, as well as their focus on an internal corporate culture of quality food and outstanding service.

While you will not benefit from all of Tina’s presentation, these were a few of my takeways from her presentations.

There is value in history and stories in corporate culture. Many of the values that remain important to Chick-Fil-A are because of the history and background, particularly that of their founder, Truett Cathy. There is recognition of those that came before and a willingness to celebrate their accomplishments during more than four decades. The accomplishments are celebrated and remembered for future generations.
While Chick-Fil-A sells food, they deliver service. Food is only the platform to deliver service.
Many companies often talk about being in a commodity business where quality is not appreciated and price is the most important thing. There isn’t much more of a commodity business than quick service restaurants and yet Chick-Fil-A has distinguished themselves on quality (food) and service with a price point that is still competitive with other choices. How can every company do this?
Second mile service. This is one of the keys to the Chick-Fil-A experience. The first mile is the transaction (you pay me, I give you quality food). The second mile is what makes the difference – it is the 3-foot pepper mill for salads that you would only expect in a fine-dining experience; the team member refreshing a drink for a customer in the dining room; carrying the things to the table for a Mom with three kids; shuttling customers to and from their cars with umbrellas when it is raining. Every individual has the power (maybe even the responsibility) to make someone’s day.
Work on the little things and share them across the organization. The idea of having umbrellas and helping customers stay out of the rain spread across their company because an owner/operator (who works usually just in one store) was focused on the little things of service and then the word spread through formal and informal means.
Chick-Fil-A is nearly a completely aligned culture. While their values are not the values of every company, top to bottom they seem to understand what it means to be a Chick-Fil-A employee and what Chick-Fil-A stands for as an organization. It starts with the top and you can see it in 16-year old team members in the restaurants.
Focus on hiring great people with their 3 “Cs” – competency, character and chemistry.
They are about creating Raving Fans who come more often, pay full price and tell others.
Who is your competitor? Chick-Fil-A thinks about their competitors as Panera Bread and Jason’s Deli, not just McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. While their customers might not always put them in that category, what does that mindset do for their expectations of the food and service?
Their training is focused on empowering their employees, but within a framework of what service means to Chick-Fil-A (Saying “my pleasure” when a customer thanks you or delivering Second Mile Service).
Give it away. They focus on having customers and prospective customers experience their food and service by “Be Our Guest” cards. These cards are good for free sandwiches and are given away by operators and other team members to potential customers. Their marketing focus is in a 3-5 mile radius around the restaurant and integrating into the community. How could you give something away to demonstrate your value?
Communication to the frontline is critical. You can’t spend a ton of marketing dollars for a promotion like “Free Breakfast Thursday” and not have your front line people know what you are doing. Have a platform for over-communicating to front-line team members.
Leadership happens by example. Tina told a story of the CEO picking up trash in parking lot during a store visit. This creates a culture where no one is “too good” to do any task and people feel like they should follow the example of leadership, which makes the business better.
Leadership is more than going it alone. If you finish your leadership journey and there is no one with you, you just took a long walk alone. When you have a new opportunity, take someone with you to help them grow. Make it a conscious part of your professional life.
Operators are often “dream makers.” By working in one store, they often know the goals of their employees and help make them a reality, even if that’s not within Chick-Fil-A.
By allowing customers “backstage” you not only provide transparency to customers but employees are “on” everyday, even in the back of the house. Chick-Fil-A allows their customers to touch and feel the aspects of the business by taking a tour of the kitchen, which is likely to engender more loyalty. How could you do this in your organization?
Take a couple of 30 minute time slots for “white space,” where you think, read, refocus.
When does someone need encouragement? When they're breathing.
Their company gave the opportunity for each owner/operator to spend $100 fine dining and asked them to take one thing back into their store. If you do the math: 1500 restaurants x $100 = $1.5 million. That’s a lot of money and would have been easy to be on the cutting block during budget time (well we could make our numbers if we just cut that $1.5 million expense on sending our operators out to eat…) Yet they didn’t. What was so important about that experience that it was worth the money?
Truett Cathy’s saying: Be your best (Jeff) today. Why not give your best?

I thought these were worth sharing. I’m sure that Chick-Fil-A has its struggles, just like each one of us do everyday. Yet they have built a company and culture around quality food (and an unwillingness to take shortcuts even when it costs them real money), as well as around outstanding service. I was inspired by their attention to detail from top to bottom. Just a few nuggets (pun intended) for your thought.

Why Be the Devil’s Advocate?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Fri, 20 May 2011 02:44:00 +0000

There has been quite a bit of buzz in the media and social networking sites about the potential for the world ending this coming Saturday. I am curious what time, because I have a really busy day! If it going to end at breakfast, there are a whole lot of things I won’t do on Friday.

That being said, the world ending brings up connotations of the afterlife – heaven and hell. This reminded me of one of my least favorite sayings, “The Devil’s Advocate.” Usually this advocate is brought out in the middle of a conversation regarding a new initiative or a product/service that someone wants to launch. A person will say authoritatively, “Well, let me be the devil’s advocate here.” What they really mean to say is, “If you don’t mind, I am going to take the license to totally trash everything you just said and let you know how stupid you really are.” Of course we are all too polite to actually say that, so we wrap ourselves in this role of being an objective questioner and looking at the downside of the proposal or situation.

No one wants to be Polyanna and just see the bright and shiny side of the world. But too often we let ourselves drift into the possibilities of the dark side. When someone becomes the devil’s advocate, they have a license to question every piece of logic and assumption proposed, without any responsibility to find a better solution. It’s like sitting on the side of the road throwing rocks at the passing cars from a hidden spot.

In the Plan B Philosophy, the focus is on adapting to the changing environment, while remaining true to the original vision of the product, service or business. This does not mean to ignore the situation or to not face the brutal reality, as Jim Collins would call it. Adaptability is about looking for possible ways that an idea could work, not in ripping down the ways that they currently work or might work in the future.

In all fairness, I have played the role of the devil’s advocate in my professional life. I called it skepticism and wore it like a badge of honor. “I am a realist,” I would say. Or “I am a pessimist – either I’m right or pleasantly surprised.” What I realized is that these comments were not helpful in moving things forward. Most often I blew up the conversation before it got going. It took an active and conscious thought process to begin to see the world differently and look for possibilities where others only saw obstacles and hurdles.

So, here’s my personal formula for helping an idea along:

Listen carefully and with curiosity. Why would someone think this was a good idea? What is the core of the idea that could meet a customer need? Quiet your thoughts of “this can’t work” and start to think about “how could it work – what are the things that would be needed to make this wildly successful?”
Ask good questions. Don’t assume you understand the other person’s perspective on the idea. Make sure you understand the core idea they are proposing. Many times we tear down an idea before we really understand it. I can’t even imagine how many great businesses were destroyed before they ever started by someone dismissing an idea before they even understood it fully.
Look to build on the idea, rather than tear it down. Use phrases like “what if we did x” or “how could we make it do y” rather than “I don’t think it will work” and “haven’t you thought about…” Anyone can take an idea and tell you why it can’t work. It takes a special person and thought process to take the core of an idea and propose new components that make it better and more sustainable for the future.

In the end, my perspective is that the devil doesn’t need any advocates. What we need in our business and personal lives are people who build on ideas rather than tear them down.

One of my favorite quotes is from Robert F. Kennedy, who said, “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Rather than playing the role of the devil's advocate, make it a point to ask “why not?”

Enlightened Trial and Error Succeeds Over the Planning of the Lone Genius

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:15:00 +0000

“Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius.”

This quote comes from a Nightline broadcast more than 10 years ago on the design firm IDEO (Link to Video). I have seen the video many times which documents their process of designing something truly different and unique. But when I saw the video again a few weeks ago, this quote struck me more significantly than it has in the past.

Many times we spend countless hours crafting our message, building our plans and designing our strategies. Much like an annual report, which is said to be a document that is read more before it is published than after, our business plans and strategy documents are revised and refined to “perfection.” Yet when we go to the market, our tactics are often worthless. As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

Our competitors, the market, our customers and even the government are all changing the playing field. The idea of adaptability is what Plan B Philosophy is all about. But yet, what is “enlightened trial and error” and how can we leverage it to create success faster?

There are businesses that are driven on experimentation and data – tech firms are the best example. Companies can measure clicks and usage and transactions to determine whether the new feature was adopted. Google revolutionized this approach in the Web world. But in most businesses it is difficult to sort out the noise from the true insights as a new product or strategy is introduced. Prospective customers provide feedback and we are left to determine which demands are most valid for the market and which are merely a one-off for a particular situation. I know my company struggles with these choices everyday – there are features that can be added or modified that will meet the needs of individual customers, but it is often unclear which features will meet the need of the entire market or market segment.

So how do we effectively have enlightened trial and error?

I am reminded about the approach that Bill Walsh, the legendary coach of the San Francisco 49ers (and my favorite NFL team), brought to a game's first plays on offense. After breaking down the defensive tendencies of the opponent during the week, he and his offensive coaches would script the first 15 to 25 plays they would run to begin a game. They would only deviate from the script if the situation was dramatically different than the play call (3rd and 1 to go and the script called for a deep pass). Certainly their goal was to score, but they were working to see the reaction of the defensive to the plays and understand which of their offensive strategies were to be most effective. Once they understood, they could apply their judgment to the remainder of the game and the offensive plan.

Contrast that to the lone genius offensive coordinator (in my mind I visualize Mike Martz) who singularly analyzes the defense and attempts to call the exact right play at the right time based on his experience, intuition and analysis. It can work – Martz won a Super Bowl in St. Louis – but it takes the right person with the right players, experience, intuition and analysis. Clearly the structured approach creates more opportunity to learn the market, the competition and a winning approach.

In football or any sport, it’s pretty clear whether the tactic was successful or unsuccessful. The scoreboard is available for all to see and you know whether you are ahead or behind. The business world isn’t that clear. But we need to continue to work to develop a methodology for analyzing the results of our experiments. How did that sales strategy work with that market segment? Why was it successful? Was it a one-time success or repeatable?

Admittedly, I am not the best at creating process around these trial and error tests. I tend towards the improvisation approach, more like a jazz or jam band than an orchestra. In my football analogy, I personally prefer the Indianpolis Colts’ approach of letting Payton Manning make the call at the line based on what he sees in the defense. But in the midst of growing businesses, I have realized that to create scale and move beyond a single individual operating like the conductor, you need to have a feedback loop for how your adaptations are impacting the business at large.

Our businesses are certainly not perfect at this, nor do we have a magic answer, but we do talk about it frequently. We try to talk out loud about how this feature, product or solution enhances our competitive advantage and value proposition to our customers? The dialogue I think can aid in the discovery of what truly creates value and what is noise. My opinion has not always been spot on – my co-workers can cite many times when my grand vision has fallen on deaf ears in the market. But our approach of listening and adapting has usually been successful.

It’s tempting to want the answer to come from a lone genius in a locked room with a crystal ball peering into the future. However, in the end it comes back to having a compelling vision with the will to adapt your tactics to meet the needs of your customers. In the IDEO video, there is a moment when the self-appointed “adults” decide which customer needs to optimize and then send their teams off to determine the best way to design their features to meet these needs. Similarly our teams need to continue to look for which needs to focus on and then make sure they are meeting those needs. Enlightened trial and error vs. lone genius. I would put my money on an innovation process than timing the innovation market.

Opportunities or Problems: Where are you Devoting your “Thought Resources?”

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:45:00 +0000

For many years I participated in the Jensen Consulting Executive Roundtables. The Roundtables are a peer group of senior executives who worked in a confidential environment discussing issues in their business and offering outside input to other members.

One of our Roundtable participants owned a manufacturing facility. He had a great perspective on many things but the one that sticks with me is a comment he made as we were discussing an issue regarding one individual's company. He said, “When you are standing in the shower in the morning, are you thinking about problems or opportunities? If you are thinking about problems, take care of them and then start thinking about the opportunities.”

There are two lessons I took from this notion:

You have make time and space to find those creative thoughts. If you don’t, mostly you’ll be focused on the problems in your world and can easily fall into “playing work” (see previous blog).
You will never know the true costs of the opportunities that you miss when you are focused on the problems.

A number of people I know say some of their best ideas come while taking a shower (mine actually come when I am running or even mowing the lawn, but you get the point). Why is that? It is where our minds wander and we can let the creative juices flow in an environment where we aren’t interrupted. That time and our “thought bandwidth” is precious. Many times I end the day looking around and thinking that if I just could have gotten 15 or 30 minutes to slow down and think through something, I would have been much more effective. But we’re all so busy. It’s why I don’t believe that the comment “I don’t have (or can’t find the) time to do …” is misplaced. We all have to make time to do what is important.

If you are spending your time beating up a problem – why it happened, who was to blame, what could have been done differently, etc. – you are wasting your precious thought resources on something that won’t move you forward. I don’t mean to say ignore the causes of problems; certainly you want to make sure you don’t end up down this road again. But if there are problems in your world (business, personal, family), meet them head on, solve the problem and keep moving.

The opportunities you miss when focusing on the problems are unlikely to return. Are you using your precious thought-cycles to evaluate how to maximize an opportunity like entering a new or emerging market, building the product enhancement that will launch you into the future, getting in front of your next big customer with the right solution for their future? Or are you stuck in why so-and-so did such-and-such or how am I going to get Joe over there to back off so I can just do my job?

One other thing I notice about opportunities and problems: It seems that problems are often internally-focused or related to things that are difficult to control (for instance, the economy). Opportunities seem to be largely externally-focused or customer-focused. This is not universally true, but when I find myself thinking about problems, they are often about people and personalities, or about macro-issues that are well beyond my control. It goes back to the root of the Plan B Philosophy idea – there are some things about our world that aren’t changeable (or as I say, “sometimes the laws of physics still apply”) but you have to adapt to world as it is while keeping your focus on your vision. We can all adapt to a changing environment – by minimizing whatever problems are out there and then going back to work on the opportunity that had us in the business to begin with.

To be clear, getting control of your thought time, calendar, schedule and to-do list is not easy (you can ask my wife about my level of balance, which is often a bit out of control). It is even harder to focus on the important, not just the urgent – especially when there are many things that seem both important and urgent! I have a few rituals to try and do this that I thought I would share.

One thing I do is to occasionally take a mental “agenda” with me when I run. There are certainly those times when I want my mind just to drift or take in a beautiful day, but I will often take an idea or opportunity that I haven’t had a chance to digest with me on my run. My mind wanders in and out of the opportunity thinking about possible strategies and tactics. I don’t always find the solution, but usually I have a better idea of the issues and where I need to focus my thoughts. (Sometimes I come up with an amazing brilliant idea only to forget it by the end of the run!)

Another tactic is spending time at what I used to call my “west office.” The coffee shop down the street from our old building is a place that I can put my headphones and spend a few hours in the morning focusing on the couple things on my to-do list that take uninterrupted time (like writing a blog post). It is segregated from my house, my work and most of the world. Airplanes are another place I often find this time. Wi-Fi Internet access on airplanes is a mixed bag for me – while it can help with productivity, it also has provided a mechanism to lose one of the only places in the world that was truly unreachable and allowed me to work on those “big rock” projects.

My tactics work for me … they might not work for you. The important thing is to find the time and place to spend time working on the opportunities in your life. The problems are always there. Like my Roundtable colleague, deal with them as soon as you can and then move on to the opportunities.

And a request: share your ideas in the comments section on how you make the time to work on the opportunities and big projects in your world. Your input may not work for everyone, but one idea could change someone’s life. Make a few moments right now to share your ideas. By doing it, you will also remind yourself on how you break away and focus on the opportunities in your life.

Happy Sidd Finch Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:01:00 +0000

While I usually do not participate in April Fools' Day capers, I always remember the Sports Illustrated article about Sidd Finch, the Mets phenom pitcher who was deciding between a life as a pitcher or as a French horn player. If you read the story - check out the first letter of the opening and what it spells ("He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga - and his future in baseball."). Likely one of the best April Fools' pranks of all time (the SI issue was published on 4/1). All the better because it lasted through the April 15 edition when they finally announced it was a hoax - after announcing on 4/8 that Finch was retiring. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119283/index.htm

I laugh about the story as I think back to me as a young boy reading this and wondering what a buddlist pitcher who learned throwing in the Himalayas was really like. But then I think about what it means to create something that really endures - even if it is a bit silly like this story and an April Fools' joke. George Plimpton, the author, had a few of these and enough daring to create more than a piece of literature - more like a part of our history, something that endures.

There is no question in my perspective that this was a stroke of creative genius (you can have your own view, but the reactions of readers in a pre-Internet world when they realized it was a hoax are classic). On today, April 1, will you create genius or mediocrity? Not a joke, just a thought.

Why Getting Fired Was Probably One of the Best Things Ever to Happen to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:00:00 +0000

No one likes losing their job, even less getting fired. But I have to say getting fired was probably the best thing ever to happen to me.

Thankfully, this happened nearly 30 years ago, not today! I think the story is worth telling to think about how we work in our business and with our customers in the “real world.”

When I was in 5th grade I really wanted a new red 10-speed Schwinn bicycle. For a variety of reasons, most of them economic, some of them to motivate me, my parents said that the only way I was going to get the bike was if I earned the money to buy it. So I went off around the neighborhood selling my lawn-mowing services, with an average price of $5 per lawn. The venture was successful, and soon I had 5-10 lawns that I mowed on a weekly basis. At the end of the first summer, I was able to buy the bicycle.

And I continued on mowing lawns. One of my most profitable customers was Mr. Pancake, who lived on the street behind us. He was older and was connected to an oxygen tank most of the time, but he was very fastidious on the appearance of his house and lawn. He paid me $10 per week, but I had to bag the grass and trim the edges EVERY WEEK.

It was a great gig for a kid my age – he was my best paying customer, his lawn wasn’t that big and unlike some people, he wanted the lawn mowed every week, not just when the grass got to a certain length. And then I got lazy and took my good fortune for granted. I cut corners. Sometimes, I didn’t trim all the edges. My bagging skills weren’t always up to the best standard and the trash bag would fall over, spilling grass on the driveway, which he would have to pick up.

After one such relatively poor performance, Mr. Pancake called our house. This was unusual and he asked me to come over. He then proceeded to show me where I hadn’t met his standards. The fence line wasn’t trimmed. The bag had fallen over and spilled. And he would no longer be needing my services. I was panicked. I had never been fired. I tried to pick up the grass in the driveway and put it back in the bag the right way. I said I would go get my trimmer now and finish it up correctly. He said that I had my chances and had I CHOSEN not to do the job, even though he thought he had been fair in reminding me a number of times.

I was devastated. But in retrospect, that lesson has stuck with me for three decades, when many conversations have come and gone. It is a part of who I am and why I insist on attention to details.

So do I suggest that you fire your team members to teach them a lesson? No… well not always.

The important lesson is that I took my best customer for granted. He seemed loyal and I was in a hurry to get to the next job. I missed the little signs that he had given me (likely a few big signs that went right over my head). I rationalized that I would spend a little extra time next week.

In building and growing a business, we can sometimes take for granted our most loyal customers to go after the next piece of new business or try and satisfy the hard-to-please customer. When we do this, we often forget about the customer that helped us launch the business or has stayed with us through thick and thin. Maybe we cut the corner on them, because “they’ll understand.” Mr. Pancake taught me a lesson that each time we have a chance to serve someone, that is a gift we should not take for granted.

Now in time, I kept calling Mr. Pancake to see how he was and occasionally stopping by. By the end of the summer he gave me a second chance. I never took his business for granted again and worked even harder to earn back his trust. It took me twice as long to win his business and trust back as it had to win it in the first place. But in this case, getting fired was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Again, Now is the Time to Do Something!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:11:00 +0000

Sorry for my absence during the past couple of weeks (have you missed me?) It's amazing what happens when our professional lives get busy and then you look up and realize you've missed your last two scheduled posts!

Thought I would share my blog post for the Credit Union Times after the big credit union Governmental Affairs Conference that happened in late February / early March. Embedded in this blog are my thoughts on how the credit union industry needs to keep moving forward and do something today. There's a message even for those not in the credit union or financial services industry. Like many businesses, it's easy for us to hope things get back to normal in financial services. The reality from my perspective is that we are in the new normal and our ability to succeed is dependent on our ability to navigate the waters of change while keeping our focus on the vision.

http://www.cutimes.com/2011/03/15/again-now-is-the-time-to-re-evaluate-product-poten

Happy reading and stay focused on the future, even as the forces of change can continue to push us all off of the vision.

Are you Playing Work?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:00:00 +0000

You get up in the morning and put on the suit and tie. Grab a cup of coffee on the way to the office. Settle into your desk chair, fire up your computer, check your regular websites and answer email. The 9 am status meeting comes next, followed by back-to-back project meetings. Answer a bit more email and then it’s time for lunch. After a bite to eat, it's back to the desk to answer some emails, review a proposal for the new project, update the business case spreadsheet, hit the 3 pm staff meeting and then wind down the day. When you get home, you loosen the tie and say, “Wow, what a busy day!”

We’ve all had days like this. When meetings string into other meetings and your email inbox looks like the backup of planes at O’Hare Airport. At the end of the day, you’re not really sure what you accomplished, but it sure was busy. I call this phenomenon Playing Work. Just like my 4 year-old daughter Meredith likes to dress up and play house or have a tea party, we can all fall into the trap of playing work – going through the motions, but not focusing on what really needs to be done for our future. We get dressed up in our business clothes and our briefcase. We drive to the office and find our desk with a well equipped computer and phone. Everything is as it should be, and yet it’s easy to miss the fundamental of what we do – serve customers, create value, solve problems and take advantages of opportunities.

The point of it all is not what I did today, but what did I accomplish for our long-term future? It’s not how busy I am, but where did I make a positive impact today? Were my actions today focused on the vision and what’s important, or was I distracted by all of the urgent tasks around me?

For most knowledge-based workers, our projects, meetings and email can distract us from the real work of serving customers and building value. It’s easy to have an internal focus that moves from meeting to meeting, email messages to business cases to reports. And at the end of the day, we can forget who really signs our paychecks – our customers.

I knew an entrepreneur who spent three days per week working “in” his business – doing the things that needed to be done to keep the lights on and the income flowing. The other two days each week he worked “on” the business – doing the things that were vitally important for the future but were easy to miss in the urgency of everyday life. I liked the focus.

Not everyone can take 40 percent of their week and work on the big picture things that will drive the ultimate success of the business. But everyone can refocus their efforts from “what I did” to “what was accomplished?” In your project meeting, change the focus from an internal perspective to an external, customer-focused one. Which emails are best not to waste brain space dealing with? Which reports could you stop asking for because they really don’t create any real value for you or your customers?

In the end, my opinion is that we need to stop Playing Work. We need to stop letting our efforts be dictated by the Tyranny of Outlook – if it is on my calendar or in my email box, I have to deal with it. Take an hour or two this next week and work on the one or two things that, if successful, would dramatically improve the customer experience or move your business/project/department forward. My experience is when you proactively refocus your efforts, you won’t say, “It was a busy day,” but instead, “I had a great day.”

Repost: Introduction to Plan B Philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Jeff Russell) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I received a number of comments of new readers that hadn't seen the first post from October 2010. I thought I would put it back out there to provide a framework for how Plan B Philosophy came to be. This is the original post. - Jeff

I live in a Craftsman bungalow built in 1919. The family we bought the house from about 10 years ago had lived there since the early 1940s. Needless to say it needed a bit of work. It turns out that I enjoy doing this type of remodeling, although I had never tackled a challenge like this.

My first project was the bathroom – I had remodeled a bathroom before, so I felt confident that it was within my skill set. Lisa and I picked out the tile, the fixtures and determined the floor plan. Then I tore into the walls. That was surprise number one – in addition to the plaster that I expected, the exterior wall was pure brick, the ceiling was layers of particle board and after my demolition I had a huge pile of rubble on the ground. And I was distraught. This was not what I bargained for. We had a vision of a beautiful bathroom that would begin our restoration of this great house. What I now had was a pile in the middle of the room.

What happened next is illustrative of many activities in our lives – even though most of them do not involve crow bars, hammers and power tools. I called my wife and said, “What do I do now? I don’t think I can put this back together.” Her answer was simple – “What’s the next thing you need to do to put it back together?” In business speak, how can we take the next step forward towards our vision – a beautiful bathroom – even though we encountered circumstances that we had not anticipated originally?

To a large extent, managing and growing a business in today’s world is a lot like my bathroom project. I had the personal skills and competencies to tackle this project. I had demonstrated success in a similar project – a previous bathroom remodel project. Yet that wasn’t enough – I found myself in a place that I hadn’t encountered before and couldn’t figure out the next step. There are surprises around every corner. Some of them are hidden beneath other surprises. Sometimes it feels like you have ripped down the walls and are now sitting with a pile of rubble in the middle of the room. What you do next as a leader is the most important thing. Some people call it adaptability or flexibility. Although these are components of success in today’s world, I think there are more than just those traits. I think it takes an entire way of thinking – something I have started to call the Plan B Philosophy.

The level of uncertainty today is greater today than in any other time during most of our lives. Change continues to move at a breakneck pace. In my business, financial services, we continue to get battered by the economy, regulation, new and revitalized competitors, in addition to the normal factors such as leadership, strategy and operational execution. The world is the same for all of our competitors as well – they face the same set of challenges, many of them that are a complete surprise. The question then becomes how do you react to this?

The Plan B Philosophy Blog will begin to propose a set of principles that leaders can use to adapt to changing circumstances. Some of these principles are ones that I have learned through more than a few scars. Some are ideas that my colleagues, associates and friends have demonstrated through their actions – both in the personal and professional world. My hope is that this way of thinking is infectious. There is an old saying that the Chinese character for crisis is made up of the characters for “danger” and the character for “opportunity.” We are clear about the danger in today’s economic environment. My hope for all of us is that we can stay true to our vision and focus on the opportunity.

I intend to post a couple of times per month with my thoughts on the changing business landscape. I welcome your questions, comments and even expressions of hostility. Feel free to pass this on to a colleague if you feel the urge - we could all use more adaptability, regardless of our role, industry or business.