October 6, 2011

The True Legacy of Steve

Like most people right now I’m over-idealizing Steve Jobs. I can’t help it. But, let’s face it. He wasn’t a saint. He didn’t cure diseases. And, apparently he could be brutal to employees, which I’m sure happens to anybody with an IQ fifty points above everyone else’s.

What impresses me most about Steve Jobs was that he managed to avoid The Road to Abilene. Steve never accepted the easily approved outcome for the sake of consensus. He was able to use both science and faith, intellect and intuition, and planning and hope to move forward. This is a remarkable skill that is pleasing to very few people during the process of creation. It’s a bit like a politician who is always upsetting his base, but continues to win elections. Most of us stand firmly on either the side of science/intellect/planning or faith/ intuition/hope convinced we are righteous. It is the true genius who lives easily in both worlds. That to me is legacy of Steve Jobs, as well as the eternal right to wear jeans as a CEO.

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October 2, 2011

Integrity, Or Why Soccer Isn’t that Bad.

I think I figured out why I hate soccer. It is the least goal-oriented sport involving an actual goal. Everyone seems to be moving with great effort to put the ball in the net, but it seems to happen about once a month. Yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the world can’t be entirely wrong. I believe the secret to their love of “football” is not irony, but rather that they enjoy the process of getting to the goal as much as the goal itself. I would argue that soccer is in fact entirely a process-oriented sport. Seen through this lens, one can begin to understand the appeal of the (Le?) Tour de France, Nascar, and even bowling (OK, maybe not bowling). It’s all about the journey, which brings me to the final dimension of Workability, that is

Integrity.

Across the course of my last several posts I’ve discussed the four other dimensions of Workability: Imagination, Intention, Involvement, and Investment. The lynch pin for all of these is Integrity. By Integrity, I don’t mean honesty, although that would be nice. What I mean is integrity in the sense of say a bicycle wheel, in which all of the spokes are perfectly balanced, or say the integrity of a nuclear power plant that doesn’t create a zombie apocalypse.

In terms of Workability, Integrity is the act of focusing on the process of Workability. Recursive, yes. Redundant, no. Here’s why. Simple, easily approved options have a terrible magnetism that short circuits our higher executive functions. They pass through completely unnoticed because they feel right, like the idea of finishing a whole bag of Doritos. By continually examining the how and why of decision-making (or Workability) during the course of a project, people keep their brains engaged.

Integrity is kept by asking these five questions along the way:

  1. Have we considered that today’s choices can be right, but different from yesterday’s correct choices. That is Imagination.
  2. Have we truly looked into the reasons behind people’s choices, and given them the benefit of the doubt. That is Intention.
  3. Have we included the right people in the process, and determined their appropriate “seat on the bus.” That is Involvement.
  4. Have we ensured that effort and output is in balance across the team. That is Investment.
  5. Have we focused on how we are arriving at decisions, as much as the decisions themselves. That is Integrity.

In asking these questions, we throw out the tried and true objectives of cohesion, teamwork, and cooperation, and replace them with a construct that brings people together on a journey with their eyes wide open.

I’ve always said it is just as hard to make great advertising as it is to create bad advertising. The same is true for movies, tag lines, new products, IPOs, logos, retail environments, or any other product of human collaboration. Good work does not come from hard work. Good work comes from high Workability. Good work means shifting gears, recalibrating the GPS, and being willing to head anywhere but the one place that welcomes all - The Road to Abilene.

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September 30, 2011

The Secret Calculus of Perceived Investment, Or the Gloop to Gloop Ratio.

Trapped in each of us is an emotional accountant keenly observing the people in our lives for tremblings of inequity. This mean spirited little troll evaluates each of our relationships, whether they be personal or professional, for a sense of balance and fairness.

The math is actually very simple: it’s about input to output. However, the numerator and denominator are not numerical, but rather the whole messy emotional, physical, monetary, spirtual, and cultural gloop of human existence. The balance our inner accountant seeks is that our gloop to goop ratio is equal to all those around us.

There is actually some real theory about this topic. It is called the Equity Theory of Motivation, first developed by John Stacey Adams in 1963, and it is behind the fourth dimension of Workability that I refer to as…wait for it…Investment.

Adams proposes that efforts and rewards, or inputs and outputs, are finely monitored by each of us in the workplace. Fairness is obtained when your perceived ratio of inputs to outputs is equal to others. When it is in balance we achieve Workability. When it is off, the system breaks down, resentment surfaces, motivation wanes, and we begin to suspect our coworkers of hiding automatic weapons under trench coats. We’re talkin’ ugly time. (See Dane Cook’s Creepy Guy at Work on how to handle this.)

When this universal human ratio is out of whack the reason can be as simple as time investments from different parties being off, or as gargantuan as getting stuck with a junior team when the agency sold you on a senior team. (I know you’re thinking who would ever do that.)

Keeping the balance is easier using the language of Workability. In my experience, projects fail because difficult conversations are avoided for too long. Shifting the conversation to maintaining Workability through equal and appropriate investment by all is more likely to generate positive outcomes than slow burning anger. Granted, I enjoy as much as the next guy the high of self-righteousness that comes from feeling I’m putting more in than anyone else, but when you start looking for bulky coats in your closet as a way to hide an RPG it’s time to address Workability head on.

There’s something about Abilene that makes everyone wanna pack heat.

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September 28, 2011

Customer Service for Sinners

 

My wife lost her wallet in the Whole Foods parking lot. We’ve all been through the drill. Steps are retraced. Cars are turned inside out. Accusations are made. Divorce papers are filed. And, then the realization occurs: “I’m going to have to call all my damn credit card companies for replacements.”

As the inquisitor said to the heretic: “This is gonna sting a little.”

In this small moment of intense need, personal loss, and marital and financial discord, financial service brands have an opportunity to score some easy big points. Get the cards back in our slippery hands fast, free, and simply.

Here’s how they performed:

Bank of America: Grade C-

  • Terrible voice recognition
  • 7 minute hold time
  • Empathy level – Like a wooden indian
  • Replacement time – 5 to 7 days offered
  • After begging, they put it on “rush” (not overnight), and then “waived” the fee

Citi: Grade B

  • Iffy voice recognition
  • 4 minute hold time
  • Empathy level – Academy Award Winning
  • Replacement time – 5 to 7 days offered
  • After begging, they sent it overnight

American Express: Grade A-

  • Better voice recognition than my children
  • 1 minute hold time
  • Empathy level – Culturally appropriate amounts for an Indian call center
  • Replacement time – Overnight (no begging required)

Customer service in financial services almost always feels like a guided tour of downtown Abilene. American Express did an excellent of job of seeing this transaction as a moment to shine rather than an opportunity to implement a byzantine system of rules and procedures. Well done.

The silver lining in all of this of course is that shopping at Whole Foods virtually emptied her wallet anyway.

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September 25, 2011

The 7 Personalities of Great Meetings – Or, Who to Keep on the Bus.

Thanks to Jim Collins, whom I mentioned in my last post, we have an excellent metaphor for the Involvement dimension of Workability. Look at your team building process as having three choices. Avoid them at your own peril and enjoy lunch in Abilene.

  1. Who should be on the bus?
  2. Who should get off the bus?
  3. Where should people sit on the bus?

Here I focus on who you should keep on the bus:

The Writer

Every organization has a person who is belittled as the grammar cop, or is secretly the go-to person for reviews and rewrites. This word magician usually has a copy of “Eat’s, Shoots, and Leaves,” on his desk and has recommended it to you, while you responded politely that you’ll have to “check it out.” David Ogilvy said great writers make great strategists. Strangely, most don’t know this about themselves. Pull in The Writer, and apply his mental muscles to the problem at hand. You’ll unleash an inner Sun Tzu. There is a reason war is an art.

The Recovered Anal-Retentive

OCD is not funny. Anal-Retentiveness is. Because…well, you know. Don’t make me say it. Anyway, the Recovered Anal-Retentive is the list-maker, the planner, the human Filofax, the pert chart junkie who admits to loving going to Staples more than the movies. It is important they are recovered, because this conscientious cog has to be at the enlightened stage of his disease in which he realizes that planning is not the end, but a means. Nonetheless, he loves seeing all the parts of a plan come together, and is invaluable in actually making progress. Fair warning: you won’t want to go out on Saturday night with this guy, but you’ll never want to be without him on any project.

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September 19, 2011

The Seven Personalities of Bad Meetings – Or, How to Ride the Magic Bus

Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus

I want it, I want it, I want it…(You can’t have it!)

Think how much you’ll save…(You can’t have it!)]

I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it … (You can’t have it!)

- Magic Bus, The Who, 1965

The Road to Abilene, that is the path that a group decides to travel, but no individual in their right mind would choose, can be avoided through Workability.  It is a concept that I’m almost done explaining (I promise), which has an important dimension called Involvement. Simply put: Getting the right people in the room is essential to sanity and success.

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September 17, 2011

How to Start a Meeting: Workability, Chaos Theory, and Imagination

A man steps on a butterfly during a brief time travel safari to the Jurassic period, and changes the course of human history (Ray Bradbury, “The Sound of Thunder,” 1952.) This is a fundamental tenet of Chaos Theory that the end state is VERY sensitive to initial conditions. It is directly applicable to group work and the first secret to staying off the road to Abilene.

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September 13, 2011

Cowboy Up – How to Understand Positive Intentions without Feelin’ Icky.

I never met a man I didn’t like.”

William “Will” Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935), American cowboy, comedian, humorist, actor, and social commentator.

I swear this quote has baffled me since the first time I heard it. We were at Will Rogers State Park, and I was 10. I asked my father how it was possible that a man could like everybody, and then ran down a list of people that Will Rogers couldn’t possibly like. I suggested Ms. Pearlman my third grade teacher, The Joker, Benedict Arnold (I thought that would get him), and even the neighbor with the huge mole on her chin that hated our dogs. I couldn’t break him. Dad said Will would have found something right in all of them. Hmmmm. Food for thought.  I believe now, it all comes down to understanding intentions. Besides my father and Cowboys are rarely wrong.

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September 5, 2011

Workability – The Antidote to Abilene

Thanks to a long time friend, I almost joined a cult. Well, not exactly a cult, but it was a reboot of EST from the 70’s, called the Landmark Forum. Three hundred people were shamed by a very charismatic speaker for wanting to leave to go to the bathroom. She said, “You can go to the bathroom if you want to, but the benefits of the program would not be available to you.” Seriously. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my supply of NASA space diapers. Though, to be fair(ish), the goal of Landmark is to help people get over themselves and lead a more authentic life, but their method was not for me.

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August 4, 2008

The Abilene Paradox

Why does corporate idiocy sometimes feel like one of those things you just have to get used to, like mimes and gravity? How is it that normal, well-educated, well-meaning corporate citizens act like terrorists within their own organization? It’s the equivalent of an auto-immune disorder for companies.

The answer goes back to a low-budget short film I saw in business school (when the earth’s crust was still cooling) on the Abilene Paradox, a concept introduced by Jerry Harvey on the perils of groupthink. The parable goes something like this:

In Coleman, Texas, on one of the hottest days of the year, a family is happily playing dominos on their porch. The father-in-law (of course it’s the father-in-law) suggests they all get up and go 53 miles to Abilene for a meal. The group gets in a classic american rear-wheel drive oven, otherwise known as Buick without air conditioning, and starts the trip from hell. (Truth be told, it probably wasn’t a Buick, but the story seems hotter this way.)

Several hours and 106 miles later, they’ve had one of the worst experiences of their lives, including a crummy meal. The paradox is that they all come to realize that no one, as an individual, actually wanted to suffer through Dante’s inferno. They each thought that’s what the group wanted and followed. Death by committee. In the branding business, the road to Abilene is all too familiar. It is wide and welcoming.

To quote David Ogilvy,

“Search the parks in all the cities. You’ll find no statues to committees.”

The advice I give is simple. Have the conversation that is not being had. Tim Ferris, one of my heroes put it this way:

“The quality of one’s life is directly related to one’s willingness to have difficult conversations.”

The quality of an organization is directly related to its own ability to have difficult conversations, as well. Ask yourself this everyday:

“Am I on the road to Abilene?”

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