Reacting to Mainstream Media Articles

Posted on Monday, 19 March 2012 8:33 am by markpilip

The recent retraction by This American Life of the episode about Foxconn’s iPad factory working conditions demonstrates why my immediate reaction to stories published by the mainstream media is appropriate.

Wait.

Apple’s slow/no response to the original story turned out to be correct.

Unless there’s a huge problem–your service is down or people’s lives are in danger–immediate reaction to that piece on CNN or the article that shows up in a Google Alert isn’t warranted. Despite what your executives believe.

The situation is never as dire as that which is painted in the article, the facts are never fully disclosed and the timeline isn’t 100% correct. Also–and this is important–nobody cares about it as much as the echo chamber in your building would have you believe.

Take a moment to gather the facts. Get the full story (as a corporate communicator, this is sometimes the hardest part). Formulate a response. Go to sleep. Respond tomorrow. It will be OK.

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Why You’ll Fail to Have a Great Career: Passion

Posted on Wednesday, 14 March 2012 5:02 am by markpilip

Larry Smith, an economics professor at the University of Waterloo, tells a TED audience why they’ll fail to have a great career. It’s a funny and engaging talk. And it’s right.

Professor Smith gives a number of reasons why you won’t succeed. You might fail. You might look ridiculous. Others might criticize you because they don’t understand your ideas, or because you might not make any money. Or, or, or.

He warns us that there’s no such thing as a “good” career any more. There’s only great and interesting things to do or lowest-common-denominator jobs and careers. We’ve created a dumbbell job portfolio, where there’s no room for the middle, those average jobs for average people. Either you have a shot (minimal, even at that) of being in a career where you can join the 1% or you work at Starbucks. Everything else has either been outsourced to China–the cloud services provider for labor of all types–or soon will be.

However, the main reason you’ll fail is a lack of passion. It’s passion, as Professor Smith points out, that helps you expand your talent to the greatest degree. Not just “interest.”

The saddest thing that’s ever said and the thing that people over 80 regret the most?

If only I had…

Great career guidance.

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Nuked Highlight

Posted on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 12:13 pm by markpilip

I know that Robert Scoble called Highlight one of the potential winners of SxSW 2012, but I had to remove the app from my iPhone.

I had it running for one day and it ended up sucking down the battery so much that I had to put my phone on the charger on the drive home on Friday–and I even left work early at 6:00 pm. Not good. I’ll wait for another release. Maybe this one was doing locates too frequently. Still not giving up on it, but I’ll wait for more stable code.

More to come on SxSW winners and losers.

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Should Society Let Us Exist?

Posted on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 5:00 am by markpilip

When new CEOs are installed at companies, they’ll often set their agenda not by what they say, but by the questions they ask.

On becoming IBM’s CEO, Sam Palmisano only asked four questions in his first meeting. I think they’re brilliant and that his method of asking questions first is the approach we don’t see enough of. His questions are:

  1. Why would someone invest in us?
  2. Why would customers buy from us?
  3. Why would someone work here?
  4. Why would society allow us to operate?

It’s the last question that is the most important one and the one that underpins the other three. In fact, I believe that Mr. Palmisano could have simplified his list by just focusing on the last one. It’s a question that’s far too hard for most companies and most executives.  A shame, given what we now pay CEOs.

No, “so shareholders can make money” isn’t a good answer. That hasn’t been the right answer since robber baron capitalism. And the reason that business has to operate in such a heavily-regulated environment is the result of being unable to answer that question to the satisfaction of society.

Unfortunately, many managers (I won’t use the term “leader” here, because they’re not) refuse to acknowledge the wake their corporations can leave. There’s an impact to society in how you use natural resources. Or in the hiring practices you have. Or in your selection of outsourcing partners. All these things can have a negative or a positive impact on society, but you’ve got to think about them. Society has an obligation to act on the things that you forget to do.

The consideration only (or primarily) of the fiduciary responsibility to shareholders is what generates the unwanted regulation. Society, when it sees businesses acting only in self-interested ways, will react with regulations. The more self-interest exhibited,  the more regulation.

Ultimately, the corporation exists only because society allows it to exist through the laws that allow the formation and continued existence of those corporations. Ask GE what it was like to have to clean up the Hudson River after working only in a self-interested fashion for many years.

Why should society allow your company to exist? Does your CEO know the answer? If not, why?

Posted in Leadership, Organization, Strategy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Who Wins SxSW This Year?

Posted on Friday, 9 March 2012 6:41 am by markpilip

Unfortunately, I won’t be going to SxSW this year after having a great time and learning a lot there last year. But I’ll still be watching from afar to see what “wins” in 2012. Last year, GroupMe killed it (my group was using it to communicate and it worked very well) and Localmind also started to take off.

This year the smart money is on “people discovery” apps, with the handicappers picking Glancee and Highlight as the potential winners, with Highlight having the edge. I think these apps have a large amount of the ook factor. I’m not yet sure whether I want my phone buzzing when I’m within 50 feet of somebody that’s also running Highlight, nor am I sure I want some rando to know when I get near them. But I’ll give it a try and see.

Because I can’t load everything on my iPhone and still have room for the important stuff, I’ve gone with the odds and loaded Highlight. Now, I’m waiting for the first buzz, signifying a San Juan Capistrano-like return of the SxSW swallows from Austin.

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IPad 3 Launch Predictions

Posted on Wednesday, 7 March 2012 7:00 am by markpilip

Apple launches the iPad 3, or iPad HD. My predictions for today’s launch event:

It will be faster
The screen will be better
It will have a camera with better resolution
Some people will declare this product a “disappointment”
Some people will speculate whether Tim Cook has the right stuff to follow Jobs

I’ll post later this week or the weekend to let you know how I did and to discuss the absurdity of making predictions. Have fun watching the event!

Posted in Predictions | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

If You’re Going Out of Business Anyway…

Posted on Tuesday, 6 March 2012 10:07 am by markpilip

Why wouldn’t you try to stop it? The answer in the newspaper industry, at least according to Mathew Ingram in GigaOM yesterday is culture. The newspaper industry has been circling the drain as the shift to free/cheap classified advertising has ravaged a key revenue stream and the inability to keep valuable content behind the paywall has enabled more nimble competitors to monetize make money with the content.

The fear, which is common to all companies/industries that are facing the choice of cannibalizing their model or being eaten alive, is that their strategic direction might be wrong and the decisions might hasten the inevitable.

So you’re in battle, pinned down and outnumbered. No reinforcements are on the way. Sitting in place will definitely get you killed, although it might take a bit. The correct action is fire and movement. That means taking tactical action right now, even though it might result in your demise.  Even if there’s a 90% chance your tactical solution will fail, there’s a 100% chance of failure if you do nothing.

What’s the solution that will save newspapers as a source of quality journalism? I have no idea, but I do know that doing nothing will result in the ultimate failure of what used to be called print.

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Reading a Culture Through Bureaucracy

Posted on Monday, 5 March 2012 10:53 am by markpilip

You can tell a lot about the corporate culture of a company by how aggressive the SG&A functions are.

Do you get “escalated” (a favorite bureaucratic term, used only at large, inefficient companies) on when you:

  • Neglect to fill out some administrivia like a time sheet?
  • Procure a service from the best vendor, instead of the one on the officially permitted list?
  • Miss an accrual for some thousand dollar invoice?

Usually that escalation is couched in the form of some vague SOX or SEC threat, sometimes with links to the official policy page buried on some intranet (and which hasn’t been updated in three years).

If that’s happening to you,  you’ve got a culture where process and bureaucracy carries almost as much importance as making and selling goods and services. But what to do about it? A couple of ideas:

  • Ask the SG&A folks putting out the rules to share the rationale. There are, after all, very valid SOX/SEC reasons why some things have to be done a certain way, like it or not. Sometimes, though, they realize the rules make no sense and will change their process before they have to explain it.
  • Offer to help streamline the process. Usually the bureaucratic overhead bothers the SG&A team and they tend not to get the development and technology resources they need to make things smoother. Sometimes just a little help is all that’s needed.
  • Personal attention. Nobody (I believe) started out their career wanting to implement and administer a bunch of trivial policies. The folks who do the SG&A functions usually only catch negative feedback from their sales and product teams. Give them a few minutes of time to discuss the situation. In my experience, the personal touch smoothes over the communication issues.

And if the above doesn’t help, you need to ask yourself how much of your precious time and attention you want to devote to bureaucracy. Then act accordingly.

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Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Lied To

Posted on Sunday, 4 March 2012 11:11 am by markpilip

Salespeople and product managers get lied to by prospects because the prospect fears their judgement will be questioned. Or so posits Seth Godin.

I believe Seth is correct. How many times, when dealing with a salesperson selling a product you’ve decided not to buy, do you receive the following responses:

  • Did you consider that my product does X+1, while the product you’ve selected only does X?
  • Analysts have proven that the Total Cost of Ownership is 10% lower with my product. Would you like me to forward the study?
  • We’re in the Gartner/Forrester/Yankee/SomeGuyWithABlog magic quadrant and that product isn’t.
  • Are you sure your company/boss wants to take that risk?
  • I respect your judgement, but let me… [tell you why you were all wrong]
  • How was the decision made, so I can help you unmake it?
  • Can I talk to your boss about this?

All the above usually come from some “overcoming objections” training that the offending salesperson has taken. And all of the rejoinders are based on one key assumption.

You have bad judgement.

None of us ever wants to hear that, even when we know we made the right decision. Yet when the salesperson falls back on those “overcoming objections” responses, they are judging us with incomplete information.   And being judged unfairly is very painful to us.

So we lie about what we did to avoid the possibility of being unfairly judged. Now communication breaks down.

How will the salesperson or product manager ever know the real reason their product wasn’t selected, so that they can do better? How will that commercial relationship work the next time the prospective customer has a need?

What can you do? First, as I believe, assume goodwill. Start with telling the truth about the choice:

I simply changed my mind.

In my judgement, the other thing was better.

It didn’t feel right.

The other price was better.

I don’t know. I just don’t trust you.

Let the chips fall where they may. Even if the other person doesn’t agree with your decision, they can at least respect your honesty.

Takeaway. Don’t like being lied to? Don’t second guess others’ judgement. It’s easier in the long run.

Posted in Communications | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Don’t Ask Permission

Posted on Monday, 27 February 2012 1:11 pm by markpilip

Indicate your intent instead.  Simon Sinek tells the story of a top U.S. Navy submarine commander who made one very simple change–sharing intention instead of asking permission–to improve the performance of his ship and crew.

This subtle change is really important. It allows the employee/team member/crew member to take ownership and initiative and publicly declare their intent to accomplish a goal. It also doesn’t undermine the authority of the leader. The leader can, when appropriate, not agree to the intended action and provide the appropriate alternative.

I learned a similar version “UNODIR” (unless otherwise directed) from Richard Marcinko.

Takeaway: I intend to keep taking action, UNODIR.

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