Reading the market

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

As an electronics enthusiast, I started tracking videotape recorders in 1956, when Ampex introduced its first unit, which sold for $50,000. By the early 1970s, the arc of enabling technology suggested the feasibility of a consumer device within five years. I told my family that we would purchase a video recorder as soon as there was one on the market that met three key requirements: color recording with built-in tuner, at least two hours per tape, and available for less than $1,000. (Early recorders were black-and-white without tuners, and most movies on TV were more than one hour but less than two.)

In 1976 I asked the local electronics store manager if he would sell me the Quasar “Great Time Machine” for $999. He said yes, and we became early adopters of VCR technology. At the time, Sony had introduced their Betamax VCR but its recording capacity was limited to one hour. The Quasar was our VCR through early 1980, after which we shifted to a VCR based on Panasonic’s four-hour, market-winning VHS format. (Curiously, the history of VCRs never mentions the Quasar or its unique technology.)

Every product balances four factors: quality, quantity, timeliness, and cost. I may have been more explicit than most people in articulating my VCR-buying criteria, but every consumer has a mix in mind that will lead them to purchasing a new product.

It appears that Panasonic studied the market and set a target for their engineers – selling price under $1,000, color with built-in tuner, four hours of recording time, and a release date that didn’t allow Sony to lock up the market. (Panasonic felt that a major part of their initial market would be sports fans recording televised games, which would require four hours of taping capacity.)

Whenever you develop new products for your market, make the four factors – quality, quantity, timeliness and cost — explicit to your development team. Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad tablet computer failed in part because it was too little, too late for the price point HP tried to maintain. The developers of the Apple iPad, on the other hand, learned from the myriad of early attempts such as 2001’s Microsoft’s tablet PC. They got inside the “firing box” with screen size, weight, memory, battery life, user interface, and application environment.

Over the next three to five years, what new products will your market and technology enable? Can you set a “firing box” for your development team that will lead to the creation of a winning product? “Reading” the market successfully is easier when your company has a solid strategic plan.

Answering these questions should be an essential part of your annual strategic planning process. Your senior team should be prioritizing today’s actions based on a clear visualization of what products and markets they want to be part of the company’s future within five years.

If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you from concept to tangible implementation, check out our service offerings online, contact us by email, or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complementary consultation to determine if you are ready for strategic planning and our program is right for you.

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Are you floating or navigating toward your goal?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

A squid fishing boat ended up off the western shore of Canada a year after the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Without anyone on board to navigate, it still crossed the Pacific intact, illustrating a paraphrase of an old saying, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any current will get you there.”

I’ve seen too many companies follow a strategy of drifting with the current in their market. They believe that as long as they focus on making payroll this month and not running out of cash this year, all will be fine. Companies with this strategy will survive as long as they are in a strong, growing market, on the principle that “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

However, as Warren Buffett observed, “You never know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out.” In 2008, the tide went out for many companies. Overnight, some firms saw revenues drop over 30%, and many a successful company ran aground. We also observed other companies that not only survived, they thrived, rebounded and took advantage of the recovery. The difference between these companies and those that ran aground was that the thriving companies were navigating toward a goal rather than simply allowing themselves to float with the current.

So, is your company floating or navigating? Do you know where your organization wants to be within five years? This is a question we always ask of senior executives as part of helping them to create and implement their strategic plan.

Often, the team doesn’t understand the question. The typical response goes something like this: “Well, if we continue to grow at the current pace we should be as large as …” I say, “No — how big do you WANT to be? I’m not asking for a forecast or a projection. I want you to visualize the future in a way that informs your daily decisions.” To continue our nautical metaphor, forecasting is standing on the stern of the boat (at the back), looking at where you’ve been and projecting where the current will take you. Visualizing the future is standing on the bow (at the front of the boat) and scanning the horizon to plan where you want to go.

Imagine standing on the bow of the your boat, picking a point on the horizon and navigating to reach that port. Now imagine what happens when the senior team shares a common visualization of the goal the company is heading toward? What happens when the team’s daily decisions are based on everyone asking themselves, “Is this action consistent with reaching our goal? If not, what can I do to realign my actions — or our shared long-term goal?”

What happens is that individual decisions reinforce themselves, creating synergy. With a clear picture of their destination in mind, people quickly recognize every opportunity that can get them there quicker. Working back from the destination creates support for the investments in building the capabilities required to get there.

Strategic planning is as simple as determining where you are right now, where you want to go in the future, and what you need to focus on this year to navigate your way to the goal.

If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that helps you navigate from concept to tangible implementation, check out our services, contact us by email, or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complementary consultation to determine if our program is right for you and your organization is ready for the program.

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What strategic planners can learn from honeybees

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

New research on how honeybees choose a location for a new hive reveals a decision process that parallels how the most successful companies identify new markets to enter.

There is an ideal size for a new hive, according to an article by Carl Zimmer in the March 2012 issue of The Smithsonian Magazine (The-Secret-Life-of-Bees) It needs to be large enough to support the community of bees over the next few years. It also needs barriers to entry that can be defended from the inevitable competitors. These criteria are exactly the same for a company deciding to enter a new market.

Step one is when the hive decides it’s time to find a new location. That is the signal for some of the worker bees to start scouting potential locations. When a scout returns to the hive it “talks up” the potential location. (Bees communicate via the language of dance.) The better the potential of the new location the more enthusiastic the dance. “Enthusiasm translates into attention. An enthusiastic scout will inspire more bees to go check out her site. And when the second-wave scouts return, they persuade more scouts to investigate the better site.” This is very much like the way people share their enthusiasm for many things, ranging from new markets to new movies. Look, for example, at how people act on social media when they recommend things.

Multiple scouting parties return to the hive from multiple potential locations. Bees follow a natural process where early enthusiasm wanes as better opportunities are identified. This allows a swarm to avoid getting stuck in a bad decision. “Even when a mediocre site has attracted a lot of scouts, a single scout returning from a better one can cause the hive to change its collective mind.”

The more enthusiastic bees take action to squash the other’s dancing. Ultimately, a critical mass of enthusiastic bees ends up promoting the best location. “Once the scouts reach a quorum of 15 bees all dancing for the same location, they start to head-butt one another, silencing their own side so that the swarm can prepare to fly.” Once that critical mass is achieved, the hive “makes the decision,” all dancing stops, and the swarm then moves en masse to build a hive at the new location.

In the strategic planning meetings we facilitate for clients, we ask the team to visualize where they want their organization to be within five years. Quite often, that visualization includes a new market. Perhaps the company’s current market is recognized as not having sufficient growth potential. Perhaps the team anticipates that new technology or competitors will eliminate barriers to entry. If they want to have a thriving new market within five years, they need to start today with an action plan to identify and enter it within the next couple of years.

  • Just like the hive, the team needs to identify the size and defensibility of acceptable market “candidates.”
  • They need to send scouts out to identify potential new market candidates.
  • Each candidate market needs to generate a core of enthusiastic company supporters.
  • Just as important, there has to be a process to dampen enthusiasm for the less-than-optimum potentials.
  • Finally, there has to be a way to make the decision and fully commit, lest you spend the next five years scouting rather than building.

“One of the strengths of honeybees is that they share the same goal: finding a new home. People who come together in a democracy, however, may have competing interests. [Cornell biologist Thomas] Seeley advises that people should be made to feel that they are part of the decision-making group, so that their debates don’t become about destroying the enemy, but about finding a solution for everyone. ‘That sense of belonging can be nurtured,’ Seeley said. The more we fashion our democracies after honeybees, Seeley argues, the better off we’ll be.” The same dynamic comes into play when creating and implementing your strategic plan.

If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you from concept to tangible implementation, check out our service offerings online, contact us or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complimentary consultation to determine if you are ready for strategic planning and our program is right for you.

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Why you need face-to-face meetings

Posted on May 2, 2012 by

I recently participated in a five-hour videoconference. In so many respects, the technology was amazing. We had participants from across the US who only had to step into their office at work or at home to join the meeting. I could watch everyone’s face in split screen, albeit in relatively low resolution. No one had to waste a day or two traveling. No one had to spend the night sleeping on a hotel bed, eating hotel room service. No one had to dip into their travel budget. What wasn’t to like?

However, as I reflected on the meeting, I remembered an old joke about doctors. “How did the operation go?” one doctor asked his colleague.

“Oh, the operation went well,” the surgeon replied.

“How is the patient doing?” was the follow-up question.

“Oh, he died, but the operation was a great success.”

The meeting held via videoconference didn’t succeed in helping the participants reach a greater understanding; in fact, it failed in its truth-seeking objective. The participants didn’t leave with any greater insights than the preconceptions they had coming into the meeting. When all was said and done, audio and low-resolution video doesn’t communicate nearly enough information.
 
In the April issue of Pacific Standard, PACIFIC*STANDARD Clifford Nass notes some of the issues with relying on non-physical communication such as Facebook. “The human brain is built to unconsciously detect remarkably small changes in other people’s smile and frown muscles, pupil size (larger pupils indicate happiness), wrinkles around the eyes (genuine smiles have them, but false smiles don’t), skin color (faces get pale with fear and red with rage), eyebrow movement (arching indicates puzzlement), pitch (happy is higher-pitched), volume (loud is more excited), speech rate (rapid can indicate fear), and posture (tight bodies and downward head indicate sadness).” There is an absence of these cues from the text-based interaction typical of the Web, and we don’t get the full effect of these cues from a videoconference, either.
 
In the high-stakes strategic planning meetings that we facilitate, we always specify a u-shaped table or a conference table arrangement. This enables people to watch and “listen” to all the non-verbal clues of their fellow teammates. We also ask everyone to put their wireless devices, cell phones and iPads into airplane mode. That’s because you can’t really listen when your eyes are focused on the latest email or tweet.

Strategic planning meetings are a truth-seeking investment to optimize the quality, quantity, and timeliness of decisions. Engaged attendees participating in face-to-face interactions can better catch the verbal and non-verbal cues from their colleagues. The more they learn and understand, the better they will be able to apply it to their thinking and planning — and the better the decisions that come out of the strategic planning meeting.
 
If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you from concept to tangible implementation, check out our service offerings online, contact us or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complimentary consultation to determine if you are ready for strategic planning and our program is right for you.

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Smartphones, iPads, multitasking and not really “being there”

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

When I was ten, I asked my dad why we didn’t have a telephone like all the other kids’ families had. I remember his answer to this day. “If we had a phone, people would just call us.” My dad also didn’t believe in car radios. When I asked him why our car didn’t have a radio, he said: “It would be a distraction.”

Time and culture moved on and we did get a telephone and every car came with a radio whether you wanted one or not. I felt, like most children, that my dad must have been clueless, and I delighted in the laughter generated whenever I related the telephone story.

But as I think about it now, our new phone had a profound effect on our lives. Within a year, it had trained us to suspend WHATEVER we were doing to immediately respond to its ring. Without conscious thought, answering the phone became the most important thing in our lives. Just like Pavlov’s famous dog, we interrupted dinner, family discussions and homework to respond to the telephone’s bell.

This conditioning continued in the workplace. It didn’t matter what I was working on or who I was talking to — when the phone rang it became the most important thing. If I had someone in my office when the phone rang, they had to wait until I finished. Worse yet, even if I was making a presentation to a customer or reviewing a sensitive issue with my boss, when their office phone rang, I had to wait and then attempt to re-establish momentum when they hung up.

We ALL had been conditioned to believe that it was disrespectful to not respond immediately to that ring. I remember thinking about how disrespectful it was to the people who were forced to wait for me to get off the phone. How much time was wasted on re-establishing focus and flow on whatever was interrupted? That was the price we paid for being responsible, responsive and ring-centric. This behavior was what society demanded, what business etiquette required and what everyone expected, no matter what the costs.

Today, after over forty years of business experience (twenty of which have been devoted to facilitating team communication, focus and implementation), my eyes have been opened to the damage that such conditioning can cause. Distracted driving can lead to accidents. Distracted management can crash your company. Thanks to technological advances, the distractions are legion: smartphones, iPads, laptop computers and pagers, to name but a few.

Putting all devices into “airplane mode” is one the first rules I establish in any strategic planning meeting I facilitate. It isn’t good enough to put a phone on “vibrate,” since we are all conditioned to respond when the device “buzzes” us.

As the sales guru Tom Searcy wrote in one of his newsletters, “I watch 20-somethings thumbing texts, half-processing in a meeting, missing the critical issues, inflections and side-glances that tell all of the context to a comment or silence. Instant Messaging, FaceBook and constant access kill the awareness of nuance necessary for winning when selling. Pros listen at the cell-level, down to their DNA.”

Distraction is the enemy of successful selling, thinking … and strategic planning. Focus is essential to having a successful strategic planning meeting and to creating a meaningful, actionable strategic plan. (You may find that not everyone CAN turn their devices off. Their jobs may have been engineered to be so “hands-on” that their department can’t function without their real-time availability. Fixing that issue is a subject for a future blog.)

If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you from concept to tangible implementation, check out our service offerings online, contact us or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complimentary consultation to determine if you are ready for strategic planning and our program is right for you.

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Perhaps it is time to declare a crisis

Posted on July 19, 2011 by

When there is a major problem, what signals do your actions send to your employees?

What do you do when things are going dramatically worse than planned?  Merely hoping that things will get better is pretty risky.  Many of our clients have hit an icy patch, finding themselves in a situation with results far below expectations.  When one recently found themselves with sales dramatically below budget, they did two things.  First, the entire team drilled down to make sure they understood where they were and why.  As is often the case, there was no one reason but a confluence of events — a weakening market, an underperforming new business development effort, and too many dumb mistakes in handling the initial orders from the new customers they did attract.

Second, they declared a formal crisis.  Declaring a crisis while the company was still profitable may seem extremem but why risk waiting?  The biggest effect of shifting to crisis mode was to focus on making sure they were following up daily on tactical actions.  Each morning started with a 10-15 minute huddle to clarify exactly what they were doing today to bring in more business, what jobs were VIP-status and required additional attention to make sure they were performed flawlessly.  The mere act of meeting daily communicated to the entire company the need to focus on bringing in and retaining business. A happy side effect was the immediate improvement in cross-departmental communications and teamwork.

One of the overreaching goals of planning is to identify potential crisis points and take action today to prevent them from occurring. Preventing a crisis is by far the best approach. Organizations that are constantly fighting fires seldom reach their potential.

It’s easier to identify potential crisis points if you have a clear visualization of where your company is going. For a pragmatic take on how to develop, refine, and implement that visualization, review the first two chapters I wrote in the Business Expert Guide to Small Business Success.

If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you from concept to tangible implementation, check our our services, contact us or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complimentary consultation to determine if our program is right for you and you are right for the program.

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Harry Potter and the power of vision

Posted on July 15, 2011 by

Mary and I have just gotten back from viewing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two. We have read, and re-read all seven books. We have listened to the Stephen Fry audio books over and over again. We have watched the interviews with J.K. Rowling and enjoyed every aspect of the series.

J.K. created a visualization of the future. She painted a picture of where she wanted to be in the future. Rather than start with today’s issues, she visualized the entire arc of the series. She wrote down the entire story line complete with the final sentence of the final book. She then worked backwards, focusing on matching her vision against the reality of where she was at the moment she started. (She had no reliable source of income, a child to support, no publisher, and nothing written to even market to a publisher.)

Knowing where she wanted to end up in the future, she identified where she had to change the status quo in the present. These became her strategic goals. She created action steps focused on executing those strategic goals. J.K. completed a version of the first book, found a publisher, accepted the need to adjust her brand from Jo to J.K., and acquired the essential element of any successful business — customers. Lots and lots of customers, a.k.a. readers. To assist in turning her vision into reality, she teamed up with excellent partners.

Success with each book provided the resources to move closer and faster to her ultimate goals. As the years progressed her vision grew to include not only the books, but movies and even a theme park.

In the word of the philosopher Yogi Berra, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”

Too often companies let fate take them to their destination. Sometimes it’s a good place. Often, not so good a place. Myrna Associates is all about facilitating the company process of turning vision into reality. It almost doesn’t matter what that vision is, as long as it is clear, understood by everyone who can help you get there, and informs the tactical actions you and your team are executing today, this week, this quarter, and this year.

If you want to convert the concept of strategic planning into reality, take a look at our process at myrna.com. Clients have tagged it “Myrna magic.” To arrange for a complimentary consultation to determine if the program is right for you and you are right for the program, contact us, or call us (800)207-8192.

Either way — good luck with your planning!

p.s. We loved the final movie!

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The most valuable asset you have is your team

Posted on May 31, 2011 by

Over the course of my career, I’ve seen many CEOs who underutilize their teams. This letter, written in response to a New York Times article, recently caught my attention. The author’s management insight is not limited to the medical profession.

To the Editor:

There are some medical issues I wish we could end once and for all. As Theresa Brown wrote, doctor superiority, especially at the expense of nurses and other staff, is one of them.

The best doctors I know consider themselves part of a team and use the team’s knowledge to the advantage of the patient. They think “patient first” and draw on the experience of nurses, laboratory technicians and other medical professionals. The patient receives the doctor’s best treatment advice based on the collective knowledge of the team.

Doctors who accept only their own counsel are putting ego before medicine, possibly at the expense of the patient. Hospital care should be based on collective wisdom to reach the best treatment plan. Nurses, doctors and all highly trained medical professionals each have a role to play, each of which is invaluable to the patient.

HERBERT PARDES
President and Chief Executive
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
New York, May 9, 2011

Remember that your company’s most valuable asset is your team — don’t let your executive ego or thoughts of “I know best” get in the way of looking at all the pieces of the puzzle before you make a crucial decision. For more on strategic planning that lets you work through issues like this, review the first two chapters I wrote in the Business Expert Guide to Small Business Success. If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that sets your strategy and launches its implementation, contact us (800) 207-8192 or johnw@myrna.com

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The next big thing could be in front of your face

Posted on May 27, 2011 by

My wife Mary and I love seasoning our food with black pepper. When I was growing up, I concluded that my mother considered black pepper an exotic spice, since I never saw her use it. We always had salt and pepper shakers on the table, but the salt shaker was the only one that ever had to be refilled. Mary opened my eyes to a whole range of spices. including freshly ground black pepper. As common as freshly ground black pepper was in our food, it wasn’t until we got a battery-operated electric pepper grinder as a gift that I really got onboard. I started to enthusiastically apply pepper when I grilled salmon and chicken wings. Our electric pepper grinder was great but wasn’t perfect. It had a small capacity for peppercorns, with a small refill hole that always led to spilled peppercorns all over the floor. The grinder held a charge for just a frustratingly short period of time, often losing power before we finished food preparation.

Then we discovered the ultimate grinder. It had a large capacity with an extra-large opening for refilling. It uses a lithium battery, like the one used in laptops and the iPhone. Fill it up, charge it up and you can use it for weeks before needing to refill or recharge it again. I find myself using 40% more ground pepper when I grill, enhancing an already great eating experience. Further, the grinder has an LED lamp that illuminates the food as I season it. This has become one of our favorite kitchen utensils. (In fact, I’d love to tell you how to get hold of this pepper grinder we love so much, but I can’t give you any information but the name, PepperMills Supreme Model 2000 Satin Nickel. It must have been designed by an engineer because there is no product name, manufacturer name, or web site location to be found on the product. Great engineering but lousy marketing!)

The wooden pepper mill was invented in 1842 with virtually no change in design since. An engineer — one with a love of pepper, I suspect — must have asked himself how he could apply 21st century technology to create a superior solution. He did and the Myrna family is the better for it.

A recent New York Times article discussed how a biomechanical engineer got to thinking about rib spreaders. Surgeons perform two million operations a year using a tool that hasn’t really changed since 1936. Utilizing 21st century technology and advances in bioengineering knowledge, he has developed a tool that has the promise of all but eliminating the painful side effects of that ubiquitous procedure. Dramatically fewer broken ribs, torn ligaments, and nerve damage will lead to quicker recovery times for patients, with fewer serious complications like pneumonia.

The opportunities for innovation are hiding in plain sight. For example, I have a new scanner/printer that scans in 4 seconds using digital camera technology. I use SuperFocus glasses that enable me focus on my computer screen or the horizon without the limitations of trifocals.

Take a fresh look around your company and ask yourself how you could perform a task more productively using a tool or process that wasn’t conceivable 30, 20, or even 5 years ago. (There is a ten-fold improvement in semiconductor chip performance every five years. That alone creates entirely new technology possibilities every five years.) The new product the can fuel your company’s next five years of growth may be right in front of you!

Of course, it’s easier to identify innovation like this if you have a clear visualization of where your company is going. For a pragmatic take on how to develop, refine, and implement that visualization, review the first two chapters I wrote in the Business Expert Guide to Small Business Success.

If you’re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that sets your strategy — including your approach to innovation — and launches its implementation, give us a call.

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Today's youth don't have the same values as I did

Posted on April 26, 2011 by

Jack, the CEO of one of my client companies, was complaining that people today don’t have the same values as he did. “Why, when I was a kid I had two paper routes. How many of today’s kids have the equivalent?”

I suggested that he was an exceptional person in his peer group. I asked him how many of his other childhood friends had two paper routes. “I don’t remember,” he said. Well, I asked, how many papers were there in your town when you were growing up? “Two,” he answered, one morning and one evening.” Well I suggested, since there were only two papers and he had the routes for both of them, there couldn’t have been anyone else who had two.

In every generation there are the 20% of people who are the top players. And 20% of those 20%, i.e. 4%, who are exceptional, platinum-level people like Jack. I believe that there is more to the story, however.

I believe that when it comes to employees, the best strategy is to only hire people who have the right attitude and aptitude. Even when that person doesn’t currently have the skills and experience, they will quickly gain them. Aptitude is relatively clear. If you don’t have the gray matter to grasp concepts and learn, no amount of effort will get you there. Attitude is another matter.

Attitude is largely shaped by the community you’ve been in. If your parents and peers told you that the secret to success is figuring out how to escape responsibility, avoid work, and do as little as possible — you will. When your enter the workforce, you will behave based on that attitude. If, on the other hand, your first manager set a different set of expectations and identified a different set of behaviors, you will likely align with those behaviors.

An employee will align with the “correct” behaviors, that is, if they truly want to succeed. Telling an employee to “man up” and be a good employee isn’t enough. Even having good role models growing up isn’t always enough. The manager has to provide some specific coaching as well as be a role model.

My son Adam and I wrote a pragmatic little book for the motivated, albeit clueless, employee on how to win the workplace race. Adam began his journey of self-discovery after a failed business startup. He had not fully developed the proper attitude to be a successful worker and manager, so he could not weed out those with the incorrect aptitude, nor could he provide the proper example of attitude for his employees to follow. He and I used those experiences and what he learned in the process to create a pragmatic book to motivate the willing employee on how to develop the right attitude to succeed in the “rat race.” “Winning the Rat/Workplace Race.” is available on Amazon.com. Take a look — the best strategic plan in the world will go nowhere without the right people to implement it.

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