Monthly Archives: February 2010

Odds and Ends Again

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Alan Weiss

On January 23rd I wrote here that Taylor Swift had the worst voice at the Haitian Telethon performance. In my opinion, she can’t sing, has no range, can’t hold a note. Well, on the Grammy Awards the other day she sounded like someone in pain, and even the forgiving insiders at the event reached the same conclusion. We have the dubious ability to create “celebrities” without competence.

Let me understand this: Unemployment declined in January, the market pulled itself back from a 170-point drop, some firms are deliberately taking smaller bonuses because of public heat, the use of corporate jets us up at the SuperBowl for the first time in three years, the housing market is experiencing gains—and a lot of pundits are still predicting gloom and doom. If the bad times are truly bad, and the good times are illusions or ephemeral, there’s a word for that: cynicism.

New Orleans is a great city, and they deserve the rallying point that is the Saints phenomenon. But over the last six games or so they’ve been more lucky than good, and luck won’t beat Payton Manning. I’m rooting for the Saints because it’s more fun (I’m really rooting for the commercials), but if the Saints don’t sack Manning, they can’t win.

An employee is sitting in a coffee shop drinking coffee and eating, while using his cell phone. He finishes, goes in the back, and ignores a waiting customer. I asked the owner why she doesn’t just give him her bank book and let him steal money more easily.

If “safe” congressional seats, such as Patrick Kennedy’s here in Rhode Island, are FINALLY going to be seriously contested (he’s in trouble in the early polls), it’s a victory for democracy no matter who ultimately wins. The last time I looked there was nothing about hereditary aristocracy in the Constitution, and George Washington politely declined to be named “king.”

The first episode of the final season of Lost, which was supposed to begin to provide answers, confused me more than all of last season combined. I’m beginning to root against everyone, especially the writers, whom I wish the smoke monster (AKA John Locke) would devour. But I only have three advanced degrees. Maybe they should speak more slowly for me….

The funny thing is, the way James Cameron directs, I could believe that Avatar actually happened, but not the Titanic.

Professional basketball is about as exciting as watching someone else play a pinball machine that has the “tilt” mechanism disabled. If I could have ignored the rules like that when I was in high school, I would have been all-state!

Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw is a rare example of a compilation of articles producing a wonderful book. The guy can write.

Consultants take note: Toyota is a good example of a bad practice—allowing cost controls to dominate your business. Their ignoring early warning signs is a throwback to the GM and Ford errors of decades ago. We have not heard the last of this sordid story.

I remember watching the incoming tide as a kid, hoping it wouldn’t reach my sand castle. I’m watching that blizzard in Washington, hoping it doesn’t reach New York, where I’m headed tomorrow for the grandchildren, SuperBowl, and a couple of days on the town.

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Mental Fitness

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Alan Weiss

We are all generally aware of the benefits of maintaining a health regimen. Some of us are more faithful than others, and it’s not an easy thing. I’m about to head for my personal trainer, and I’m less than excited by the prospect. (When I see people running vigorously down the road, I usually wonder who’s chasing them.)

Nevertheless, we need equivalent mental workouts. We need to stretch, increase our strength, build our stamina, and try to ensure that we’re in better shape than the week prior.

But too many solo practitioners fall prey to one of the worst downsides of being independent—they don’t talk to anyone but themselves. They get better and better at what they’re already good at (before my personal trainer, I used to do the same exercises at the same weights that I had already mastered and could easily complete). The books on the shelves are old, the methodology is writ in stone, the clients have become few and long-term, and the approaches are no longer contemporary.

We all need to work out mentally. We need to debate our approaches, learn what others are doing, be willing to consider changes to our regimen. Are we providing what’s best for our clients or “merely” what we’re already good at?

I’m constantly surprised by how stupid I was two weeks ago.

I try to engage every day. I’ve formed and am a member of a dozen or more communities. I teach and mentor and coach—activities which demand you stay on top of your craft and not only learn of, but contribute to, the state-of-the-art.

If you’re not stronger and don’t have more stamina than six months ago, your health regimen isn’t working too well. If you’re not smarter and able to provide more value than six months ago, your mental regimen isn’t working too well.

Maybe it’s time to get some guidance and lift some intellectual weight.

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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo – 2/01/10

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Chad Barr - Alan's Blog Implementer & Moderator

Alan’s Monday Morning Memo’s mission is to help readers to thrive.

February 01, 2010—Issue #20

This week’s focus point: What are your minimum and maximum objectives for an initiative, a meeting, a negotiation? (I call this “min/max.”) Unless you create your own expectations, you can’t calibrate your own progress. If you constantly surpass minimums, perhaps your goals are too modest. If you never meet maximums, you’re either underperforming or have unreasonable goals. Don’t rely on others’ feedback—create your own.

Monday Morning Perspective: Either you let your life slip away by not doing the things you want to do, or you get up and do them. — Carl Ally

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Some Simple Lists

Posted on February 2, 2010 by Alan Weiss

In my experience, about 85% of organizations attempting change of any sort are largely unsuccessful. Reasons:

• Fad
• HR sponsored or implemented
• Some manager’s pet project
• No long-term reinforcement
• No adjustments made for culture or beliefs
• No flexibility as conditions change
• No commitment (just compliance) from participants
• No results, just tasks

As consultants, we need to overcome those obstacles, and not fall victim to them. That means we should avoid:

• Non-buyers, unless they can introduce you to true buyers, and fairly quickly.
• Middlemen, such as brokers and agents, who claim they have contacts but you would work at their discretion.
• Trawler fishermen—those people who are issuing RFPs, inviting you to “meat market” auditions and casting calls, requesting you apply for inclusion in their conference (“We can waive your registration”).
• Meeting planners, who haven’t any clue about the buyer’s needs or any control over the budget.
• Human resource types who have no credibility, and pride themselves on extracting good deals from “vendors.”
• Purchasing people—the new “heavy hitters” after the economic chaos, with their sharpened pencils, eye shades, and myopic vision—who only see dollars and not results.

This is the marketing business. Hence, you must continually be:
• Attracting buyers via gravity
• Meeting with them
• Establishing trusting relationships
• Creating conceptual agreement
• Sending them proposals with options and definitive next steps
• Maintaining and nurturing the relationship once they are clients

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