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SOB Business Cafe 08-20-10

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

PR Squared
Andrea had been with us for 3 years, and in that brief amount of time — since she was a rockstar — she climbed the ranks from quiet, mousy intern to Senior Account Executive.

Web Worker Daily
Is there an area of your life or business where you just can’t seem to get a grip? You try and try, but can never seem to fix it.

Riding on Dragons
For years I believed something I was told by experts that now appears to be wrong. Which brings up lots of questions.

Pick the Brain
Have you ever wondered why some people are able to weather financial upheaval without breaking a sweat and have confidence to spare when it comes to taking risks such as starting their own business or taking a year off to travel without an enormous safety net?

Servant of Chaos
So, it is with some joy I came across Heather LeFevre’s Planner Survey for 2010. It covers the industry from top to tail – sharing details of salaries, roles, locations and so on. It captures what planners think of their jobs, why they stay, why they go – and who they think is doing the best work. It also lists a bunch of people who the community rate – not because they are famous, but because they get on with the challenge of producing good work.

Related ala carte selections include

Barry Moltz
Congratulations Barry!

over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Don’t miss a great hire – be careful what you ask for

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by Patty Azzarello

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Creative Thinking vs. Job Skills

This a story I first read about 15 years ago in an airline magazine. If you google “baramoter story” you’ll find mixed opinions on the source of it, but it a great story worth sharing.

Solve this problem…

This was a science class and there was a homework problem which was the following:

If you needed to find out the height of a tall building using only a barometer, how would you do it?

The “correct” answer involved measuring the air pressure at the top of the building and on the ground, and using the difference in air pressure to calculate the height of the building.  Kids that used that approach and got the math right were marked correct and given full credit.

But there were two other answers that stood out to me, that the teacher marked wrong, with no credit.

I would have marked these correct and given these two students a job!

The first “wrong” answer:

One student said he would take the barometer to the top of the building, drop it off, count how many seconds it takes to hit the ground, and calculate the height based on the time of the fall.

This is probably at least as accurate an answer as using the air pressure based approach.

The second “wrong” answer – even better!

This student said, I would find the general manager of the building and say to him. “If you tell me how tall this building is, I will give you this barometer.”  – Fantastic!

Not only did this solution meet the requirements of solving the problem, it was likely to give a far more accurate answer than the correct answer based on air pressure!

What a shame these two students were marked wrong. These are precisely the kind of creative thinking skills that help people solve important problems when the by-the-book way does not work.

Be careful what you ask for

I have made many hiring mistakes by looking for job skills — by keeping my interview only to the spec of what needed to be done by the person in the next 6-12 months.

People would come in with very impressive experience and just the right skills to do the job that needed to be done right now.  These hires are so tempting because you can see how they will immediately take some pain away.

But, what about when the job changes?

But more often than not, when the world changes around them, they get stuck.  They don’t adapt easily.  They need to find another job that matches their skills vs. being able to step up to do the new job that needs to be done.

Hire Fast Learners

The most valuable hires are the ones that can do the job today, but also can learn and adapt. You are far more likely to hire a star if you ask questions that get at how the person thinks, and hire creative thinkers that are fast learners.

In your interview process you need to try and assess how much potential the person has to learn, and judge how fast they will grow.  People with the most room for growth and the most acceleration (smarts and ambition) are your best hires.

This approach is valuable from hiring summer interns, to top executives.  I have used it at every level, once I learned that sticking to the job spec doesn’t work very well.

Some approaches…

1. Puzzles: Actually give someone a puzzle to solve.  Some people will get annoyed and refuse to engage,  some will give up very quickly, and others will visibly start thinking and working it out.  They will tell you how they are thinking about approaching the problem.  They will ask you more questions about it. Hire the person who is doing something with the problem.

2. Stories: Ask for stories about how the world was different when they first got into a job compared to how it is now.  What did they think needed to be done?  What new ideas did they come up with?  What changes did they drive?  If they just did the job as-is for a few years, and did not grow the responsibility or usefulness of their role, they are not a top hire.

3. Actual Problems: Tell them a situation that you are facing that needs a solution.  Ask them to talk through how they would approach it.  The ones that say, I don’t know yet, I’d need to get into the job first, are not your top people.  The ones that ask a bunch more questions and say, of course I’d need to listen and learn more, but from what I know right now this is what I think… and start offering insights, have stronger creative thinking skills.

What clever interview techniques have you used to get the best hires?

Please share the great questions, puzzles, problems or other approaches you’ve used to learn more about your candidates’ creative thinking skills. I’d love to hear your ideas in the comment box.

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at The Azzarello Group Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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Be the ONLY: How to Claim Your Ground and Own It

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A Real Contribution

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Last week, Jeff Bezos announced plans to release a new-generation Kindle that will be even cheaper ($139) than the current generation, but will make only a few modest improvements in quality and performance. Even as analysts applauded the success of the Kindle thus far, they wondered why Bezos and his colleagues weren’t making the device much more functional, colorful, and powerful. In other words, why weren’t they taking the simple Kindle and enhancing it to go head-to-head with Apple’s iPad and other companies searching for an iPad killer?

To which Bezos offered a strategic insight about his business just as compelling as Andrea Guerra’s take on his business. “There are going to be 100 companies making LCD tablets,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “Why would we want to be [company] 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution.” — Bill Taylor, Do You Pass the Leadership Test, Harvard Business Review. Aug. 03, 2007

It was still the 20th Century when someone told me that I could count on these four words to always be true …

This too will change.

And since the 21st Century has arrived, those same four words have become a part of my daily reconnaissance.

Like Jeff Bezos and Bill Taylor, who wrote about him, I believe that being good at something is no longer an option. In this ever-shifting, high-noise environment, we

  • have to be the only and best at something
  • have to be the first trusted source
  • have to claim our ground and own it.

And this is more than 20th century specialization, it’s making a real contribution. It’s leadership focused to serve a distinct customer group with a clear solution. It’s irresistible service.

In the 20th century we had the advantage of geographic protection. People could only find sources as far as their shoes, their cars, and their catalogs would show them. Now the Internet has not only brought the world to their door, but Google is willing to sort it for them.

The Ground Rules to Claiming Your Ground

Apply what Jeff Bezos said to the massive opportunity that is today’s marketplace and it becomes obvious that our ideal customers are faced with overwhelming choices. The number of options for whatever anyone wants to purchase are outlandishly huge at every level: value, relationship, and cutting edge-luxury niches.

The leaders in the field have decided exactly which customers they are selling to and they signal their commitment to serving those customers on every level. Narrow your niche and you’ll still have a world of ideal customers, but you’ll be able to serve them.

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Every choice of text, image, offer, or even white space in the Apple Education website reflects their commitment to educators. That focus is key to becoming the first, trusted source to the ideal customers you want to serve. But before you can own that space you have to be able to name that space and claim it.

Three simple questions can help you identify a space that holds the best opportunity for your skill set and your brand. Let’s call them the Ground Rules.

  • Where do the rules of the game / industry / current trends favor you? Make your own game. Check where your skills cross your mission. Look for opportunities where they meet. The same computer can be positioned and packaged differently to meet the needs of a specific trend or group. We can do that too. Be the best, the most, the fastest, the only. Do you write the lightest code, offer the most unique design, or maybe tailor your service to each individual?
    Example: Let’s consider that last one. As technology moves us faster, people have less time to do what they used to do and less time to do things that are meaningful. Can you configure be the simplest, fastest solution and still an outstanding value? Can you do one outstanding thing for less cost in less time? Can you make that contribution easier, faster, more meaningful, more fun?
  • What ground works for you? Be obsessed with easy. Reach out to the customers you can reach easily. If you can’t reach the customers for your idea, partner with someone who can holds that ground …. or recongfigure your idea for the customers you can reach. Repurpose products you already have to attract new customers to you. Build for the customers who already love you.
    Example: Amazon started with readers and moved out from there. Apple moved into education by offering their computers to schools and grew new customers. Software companies extend their reach by partnering with computer companies who load their offer on new computers. Who has a list that serves the people you want to reach? Who is already within your reach now?
  • Where will you find the best rewards? Claim an audience and serve them. Don’t claim a tool meant for everyone. Tools don’t make relationships people do.
    Example: It’s better to claim service professionals moving online than to claim to sell a service to all small businesses. If you clearly claim a group, you can serve them well. They’ll tell their friends about you. Not everyone who buys a book on Amazon reads it. Some give books as gifts. Some use them to fill their book shelfs. Some intend to read and never do. It’s easier and more efficient to grow a clarified customer group than to try to grow a group from individuals who have nothing in common.
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Narrow your space to your ideal customer group and your unique expertise become clearer and more defined. It’s true. Show up with the skills, expertise, integrity, and competency and deliver on what you say you do.

Once you own your ground everyone else becomes a “knockoff.” You become the barrier to entry … the ONLY. There can be only one Cirque du Soleil, only one Mac, only one SOBCon – those who follow will be facsimiles.

Look around at the winners, they claimed their ground before they owned it. Amazon claimed the world’s readers before they captured that market and now they serve readers products of every sort … including a simple Kindle that will never compete with the iPad.

What space can you claim? What unique value will you deliver to the people you want as your ideal customers?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Worse than Pick Your Brainers: Meet the Network Rustling Cowboy

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Recently two folks I admire — Jason Falls and Gini Dietrich — have written some great thoughts on people who over stress a professional relationship by asking if they might “pick your brain.” If you’re a service professional — doctor, lawyer, social media practitioner — and you’re having this problem, follow those links; read the posts and the comments that they carry.

It’s those two posts that inspired this one.

Have a seat by the campfire and I’ll tell you a story of the cowboys who make the “pick your brain” folks look almost harmless — as if they’re merely apprentices to the people who write the bad PR bitches that keep showing up in our email inboxes. After all, so many of those “pick your brain” folks don’t realize they’re looking to learn at the expense of another.

The cowboys I’m thinking of are practiced at what they do.

Whoa Cowboy! We See You Trying to Rustle Our Netwworks?

Early this year, a cowboy rode into town. he took out his LinkedIn account, his email lists, and his telephone. He contacted people he never met immediately asking … asking everyone the same set of questions in about the same way and causing the same uncomfortable feeling in the people he contacted.

Cowboy’s First Phone Call

So the cowboy was efficient. He would bother to show much interest in the people he called and in fact, never started by asking them to participate in the event he was planning. When he called me, I let him talk for quite, asking questions about his event and how it worked and what he was looking for …

This is what the cowboy wanted from me.

  • Connections to my network to get speakers for his event.
  • Information on how to market to this city.
  • Access to my list even though he’d never met me.
  • Promotional help even though he made no offer of value in return.

I listened for about a half hour to be sure that he didn’t know a thing about me … other than I had a network in Chicago that might be worth tapping into.

I listened long enough to be sure that he never offered anything in return for what he was asking. Then I told him that I thought it was curious that he would be asking for my advice on his event and for access my network, but not being the least interested in who we are or how to return the value.

I called of few of my friends around the city and their stories were even more blatant than my own. I figure that might be because my friends are much nicer in situations like this than I am.

This cowboy wanted to rustle my network and we weren’t supposed to notice?

To Network Rustlers Everywhere

So, to cowboys out there everywhere, I’d like to say something clearly.

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Take this word from me …

The people in my network are people not cattle.
I value them. I trust them.
I hold their trust as priceless.
I don’t and won’t ever sell them or their time for your money or your promise of attention.
I might occasionally be stupid enough give away my expertise,
but don’t try stealing my friends’ time or expertise

I’ll call you on it.
If you’re using me to get to them, I know you’ll just use them too.

Compared to their trust, whatever you need is irrelevant.

So get along now little doggie. We don’t cotton to folks who rustle networks around here. Build your own network. Do your own homework. Make your own relationships in ways that build community.

I had such fun writing this.

Have you had experience with network rustling cowboys?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Five Things I’ve Learned During My Writing Journey

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By Terez Howard

I’ve been writing professionally for about 10 years, and the majority of those years were spent at the newspaper. I delved into blogging early this year, and I’ve learned a lot from this experience. These two writing avenues have taught me things about myself I didn’t even know.

I like writing on deadline.

When I first started writing for the newspaper, I was horrified when my editor threw me a breaking story that needed to be completed within a couple hours, so the story could appear in the same day’s newspaper. Now, I love that pressure. It might sound crazy, but I think the adrenaline rush helps me write better than ever, instead of agonizing over every word.

With blogging, I have yet to be on such a tight deadline. However, I’ve learned to not take five minutes over word choice. (Should I say choice or options?) When I blog, I try to be myself and just talk.

I don’t mind asking for help.

Working for the newspaper was a constant learning experience. Each and every day was different. When I was asked to cover a city council meeting when I usually covered Kiwanis Club meetings, I took the time to ask the regular reporter what to expect, what to listen for and what would make a newsworthy story.

As a novice to blogging, I researched how blogging was different from other writing and studied other blogs. I also asked and continue to ask more experienced bloggers for advice and direction. I don’t care if my questions seem stupid because I figure my questions can keep me from looking stupid.

I love to tell stories.

When I worked for the newspaper, I grew to enjoy telling someone else’s story. I felt like I was getting important information into the ears of the public. Feature stories were the best because they featured a person or group, who made some accomplishment or had an interesting story to tell. We can learn a great deal from simple stories.

I once got to write a story about the hometown bakery owner who used to be the manager for Wild Cherry. You know, “Play That Funky Music White Boy.” It was so fun to write!

When I blog, I try to tell stories. Most of the times, these stories are my own, and I have to remember that these stories have a point. Have you ever found yourself writing about something that happened to you only to get to the end and wonder what point you were trying to make?

Newspaper office or home office?

This one’s a draw. I think I like my home office more than my desk at the newspaper. At home, I can write whenever I have a spare moment, which is great with my rambunctious toddler. On the other hand, it can be difficult to jump on my computer to just check my e-mail with an active little girl tugging on my arm.

At the office, I had a set period of time from 8 to 4 every day to do my work. I got the job done. But I also had a lot of down time.

It’s not for the money.

Anyone who has ever worked for a newspaper, unless it’s a very huge paper, does not work for the money. A high school graduate, not a college graduate, could have easily earned what I did somewhere else. I stayed with the newspaper as long as I did because I enjoyed the work, writing people’s stories and being in an office full of wonderful people.

I blog because I love to write. Yes, I want to earn money with it, but I’m not looking to get rich. I’m not saying that you cannot earn a substantial income from blogging because I know it can be done. I just don’t want to.

What have you learned from blogging?

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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Get Your Out-of-Whack Back in Whack Again!

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Whack Your Process Models Back Into Shape

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As I remember the number is 10% change, but when I say that people say it’s probably more like 20%. I tried looking up the research and I couldn’t find it. But the actual percentage doesn’t matter … because the effect is clear when tell you the effect of the change.

If you change the personnel on your team by 10%, all of your process models fall apart.

Go ahead tell me, it’s really 20% (you know who you are). Like I said the number doesn’t matter. The change does.

Think about it.

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If you’re used to working alone and you’ve added one person to the project, you’ve changed by more by 100%. If you’ve had three people on the team and one leaves, you’ve cut your team by 33.33%.

Things like this happen all of the time. We add new people. People move to new roles. People leave for other jobs in other places. Volunteers and others hide out in caves or disappear into open spaces.

Yet we keep working in the same order, thinking the process is the same process. Except now, the process is out of whack, broken, and discombobulated. This happens to entrepreneurs and huge corporate teams. Are you there?

Twelve Signs that Your Project or Process Is Out of Whack

Here are 12 signs that your project or process is woefully out of whack:

  1. The next step doesn’t seem clearly visible.
  2. No one knows who to invite to which meeting.
  3. Emails are flying like crazy, but don’t seem to be helping.
  4. The people to keep in the loop seems to shift from everyone. That advisor group you might rely on has become undefinable.
  5. Your work seems to have too many moving parts.
  6. Your project doesn’t have enough brains, hands, or eyes to get done right, well, and on time.
  7. Procrastination is looking like a good thing.
  8. Moving forward would be easy if you could pinpoint which way that might be.
  9. You might have lots of resources, but don’t know how to get them working.
  10. When someone asks, “How can I help?” Your answer is a blank stare.
  11. Success isn’t feeling like an option.
  12. You spend more time talking about how to get the work done, than actually working on the project.

Recognize any of that? Let’s that whack back into things.

Get That Out-of-Whack Back in Whack Again!

Execution and productivity are a natural result of great process. A great process model takes advantage of your skills and minimizes the time it takes move things.

Stop. Redefine your process. An hour or two getting the process model right will speed communication, trust, and the quality of work exponentially.

If all of your models are out of whack do this for one typical project, then adjust the model as you move forward.

Here are some questions to get to the right process model.

  • What will the finished work look like?
  • Who does the finished work depend on?
  • Who are the key people who belong on the communication and command team? How can we keep that to key people who inform others who work them?
  • Who’s accountable for what pieces when?
  • How will the work get passed from one stage / team to another?
  • In what ways can the process flex? In what ways must folks check in before changing the process?
  • What tools will be used to communicate changes, issues, news, and updates?
  • Who will update the status of the project and how will that be done?

Whether you’re a team of one or a team of 30, a process that is back in whack saves time in decision making, improves communication, saves resources, lowers costs, and stops details and fires from running / ruining projects. Your confidence and trust in your work will grow as the process model takes shape and folks around you will see the progress as competence, power, and expertise.

How will you firm up your process models?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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