The Politics of Change

Change is in the air. That is to say, the Cherry Blossoms are predicted to bloom early in Washington this year.

Depending on your political view you might see it as Mother Nature’s bunting on display in celebration of Sunday night’s historic Health Care vote.

Or the end of the world.

It depends on your perspective.

Which is true of all change. In single owner businesses. Or growing governments. The politics of change is inherent to every upheaval of the status quo.

As a species we are driven towards and repelled by change in almost equal measure.

Our base DNA compels us to evolve. From primordial sludge to sentient beings. The underlying message of change or perish having been cellularly imprinted on us. A trait which has seen us take giant steps at light speed. We dismiss it now, but Lindbergh first crossed the Atlantic only 42 years before Armstrong walked on the moon.

42 years. A rate of evolution that suggests the iPad is simply a precursor to implants.

Technology has always had an advantage in that respect. It’s easier to provide a demonstration for one thing. Seeing the future is a lot safer than imagining it for many people.
 
For the politics of change also encompasses a Dark Art. Fear. That there is danger outside the cave we have built. That the known, dark and damp as it might be, is safer than the unknown.

Fear manifests itself in a variety of forms. Some unconscious. Some by design. And the larger the organization, the greater the certainty that it is fear has brought them to a place they now don’t want to be.

That we are still fearful is why we as a species are still here. That we are what we are, is evidence that we overcome it every day.

It is a fight great organizations take on with conscious commitment. By staring down the closed and the proprietary actor, and embracing the transparent and the authentic.

It has never been easier to discern authenticity. For today the internet records everything. Every word, every tweet, every utterance. Today we can measure intent against action. Thesis against reality. Say one thing and do another and we will know.

The onlyquestion now is whether we are prepared to do something about it.

Empathetically. For no matter how well presented, fear is an attempt to protect our own weakness. And no one judges those more harshly than we do ourselves.

But consistently. Because to ignore it or placate in others is to adopt it as our own guiding force.

A decision that leads us in only one direction.

And to one inevitable conclusion.

Philosphical Friday: Words of Winston

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm” 

Winston Churchill

The Business Brain

We see stuck businesses everywhere.

Owners that have followed instincts into alleyways. And for whom banging their heads against walls is now their only strategy for escape.

The result of which is business brain damage.

For which there is hope. And help.

For years, conventional science has believed that the brain is formed by our early experiences and then fixed. Thereafter, we were told, our brain’s capabilities begin to slowly diminish. And if damaged, through illness or injury, can never be repaired.

This is not true.

A recent book by Norman Doidge, MD called The Brain That Changes Itself explains that, in fact, our brains are constantly evolving.

And that the pathways between its neurons react to experiences. And compete with each other for attention.

Which means that stroke victims, supported by newly emerging forms of therapy, can recover significant use of motor skills previously thought permanently lost.

The method requires restricting the use of the healthy limb, and focusing intensively on developing recovery of the lost capability, measuring initial progress in tiny fractions of success.

The brain, prevented from following its natural pathways, and encouraged through repetitive and committed effort, begins to form new neural pathways.

The keys being focus and intensity.

The brain of a company works in the same way.

No surprise since every company is a reflection of its leaders.

And which provides a map to the method most likely to create new capabilities within any business.

1. Identifying and eliminating forces that distract from the effort. Naysayers and the distractions of unproductive opportunities being the two most common.

2. Committing urgently and fully to solving the problem. Too much opportunity is wasted by companies trying to partially solve too many problems at once.

The first step to change is to decide you want to.

The second is to change. Even if imperceptibly at first.

The third is to do it again. Immediately.

And the fourth is to resist the temptation to take the easy way out and go back to the old way.

So now we know we can do what we want, the challenge is not defining what to do.

It’s defining what we want.

Why. How. Now.

"Life’s What Happens To You While You’re Busy Making Other Plans"

John Lennon’s timeless line from the song “Beautiful Boy” came to mind the other day in a conversation with a prospective client.

We make too many plans.

With the result being that we talk too much. And live too little.

Life’s going to happen regardless of whether you’re talking. Or doing.

So here’s a three step process to make sure the talking stops and the doing begins.

1. Decide why you’re doing what you’re doing. Money? Family? Legacy?

2. Describe how you need to change what you’re doing to achieve those ends.

3. Act.

Why. How. Now.

Words to live by.

The Power of Simplicity. 20x.

Simon Mainwaring, the marketing and social media guru, tweeted a link the other day to 20 unique and creative logo designs.

In a world added to each day by a new technologcal marvel, it is too easy to assume that all original thought comes attached to a piece of code or a microprocessor.

Simon's tweet, and the compilation put together at Toxel.com demonstrate three things.

1. Technology connects us in new and increasingly powerful ways


2. What it connects us to is more important than how


3. The most powerful connections are the result of simple truths and shared experiences

In support of which I offer you a representative sample of the logos from the Toxel collection. I encourage you to look at the entire set, complete with individual accreditation to the designers and companies in question.

Proof, if we needed it, that there is as much value in innovation as invention.

And further incentive to relentlessly challenge how we look at our own businesses.

A Week’s Worth of Mistakes: # 5 - The Dilution Of Distraction

Ideas are cheap. The cost of this blog for instance is a few moments of your time. Paid as you go. A mutually agreeable arrangement.

At latest count, there are well over 150 million blogs. To which 900,000 new posts have been added in the latest 24 hours. A rich idea pool from which to draw. And does not take into account books, magazines, newspapers, television, radio, websites, art, apps, conversation. Or personal inspiration.

What you do with ideas, whatever their source, determines many aspects of your business. And your life.

In a world in which everything is possible, and most information is always available, we are not deprived of new possibilities.

But increasingly I am aware, through my own experience and that of others, that exploration and investment in the possible is best guided by an understanding of what we are trying to achieve. A definition that can and should evolve. But through conscious choice. Rather than the endless opportunism of interesting investigation.

Otherwise, we spend our lives in a pool of diluted distraction.

Exploring everywhere.

And arriving nowhere.

A Week’s Worth of Mistakes: # 4 - Lost Leverage

When we built our first office in the mid 90s, we knew nothing. About construction. About negotiation. And especially about leverage.

In any commercial space build-out there are usually three participants. The renter, the landlord and the general contractor.

The landlord will often press to have “his people” do the work. Doing so is death by a thousand cuts. Usually of your standards. Followed by your will to live. Rent rebates being no substitute for functioning air conditioning in the dog days of summer.

We had avoided this fate and had brought in our own GC. The work took six months, twenty percent longer than promised and cost twenty percent more. Typical in all regards. We know now.

Towards the end of the project things started to get tense, and disagreements between the GC and the landlord’s electrician had become hourly events.

There are twenty three steps between deciding you want an outlet in a room and being able to plug in a toaster that toasts. They are all required if the biggest issue you face each morning is to be bagel or muffin.

Our nascent business depended on technology. A million dollars worth, give or take. And having the right kind of power in the right kind of places was a fundamental assumption of our business plan. A poor assumption we discovered. In the end, we withheld payment from the GC, who placed a lien on the building for the landlord’s failure to comply with the contracted scope of work.

The landlord, rattled from arrogance for the first time in a year-long negotiation and construction process, came cap in hand to us and agreed to correct everything they had previously denied responsibility for. In return we agreed to settle with the GC.

We accepted the deal, signed the revised agreement, and went to the GC with the happy news.

Did I mention we signed the agreement? An act also known as giving away your leverage.

Because now, instead of sitting on the top of the pyramid of power in which the chain of non-compliance sat beneath us, we had unwittingly made ourselves the fulcrum. We were now responsible for settling with the GC. We were now responsible for getting the work finished.

The GC, rather than lifting the lien, decided that he now had issues with various other aspects of the scope of work, and demanded payment for areas we had assumed were settled.

Never assume. Particularly during construction.

The GC refused to complete the project or remove the lien until his issues were resolved. The landlord reminded us of the agreement requiring us to settle with the GC and have the lien removed. Our lawyer reminded us of the terms of the lease and the first day rent was due. Our newly hired staff reminded us their paychecks were due. And our clients. Actually, we didn’t have any clients. Because there was nowhere for them to be clients.

Between a rock and a hard place choose the rock. It hurts more. But is over faster. And time is your greatest asset.

We paid the GC, who finished the work and we opened our office.

The cost of signing the Agreement with the landlord before we had used our leverage with the GC? About $200,000.

You have leverage in every negotiation. Exercising it requires two things.

Recognizing what it is.

And understanding when to use it.

A Week’s Worth of Mistakes: # 3 - The Temptation of Price

I watch buyers of services haggle over prices almost every day. A fanatical fixation on fiscal fine tuning.  

The result of which is the buyer saves some money. The seller feels worth less. And the process is constantly measured by both to ensure the output is worth the price.

An exercise in defining the bare minimum.

In any negotiation, price is only one reference point. The other is value.

A focus that motivates both parties to work on creating more.

It is the difference between negotiating a price. And negotiating a deal.

A difference that recognizes that profit is only minimally affected by how well you save your money.

But massively affected by how well you use it.

A Week’s Worth of Mistakes: # 2 - Accepting Circumstances

Circumstances are a siren’s call to disaster. Temporary temptations that rip the hulls from ambition.

But circumstances are never substantive. Blow on them with intent and they change form in ways that seem unimaginable to begin with.

You can recognize them by words such as 'before', 'because', 'always' and 'must'.

They show their face when you introduce the question 'why'.

And fly screaming into the night when you say 'what if' with conviction.

The conviction that comes from recognizing that our journey is of our own making.

And that the path lies where we lay it.

Not where others decide.

A Week’s Worth of Mistakes: # 1 - The Narcotic Effect of Short Term Success

I’m writing this week about a series of mistakes that we are beginning to see regularly.

In each case, the action is well intentioned. But the effect is the opposite of that hoped for. Or worse, intended.

Mistake #1 we call the Narcotic Effect of Short Term Success.

Being busy feels successful. Reassurance and then validation that our efforts are succeeding and our capabilities are being recognized. Both individually and organizationally.

But as the narcotic effect of feeling successful takes hold we are rendered intellectually unconscious, our business decisions those of zombies. Repeated because they make us feel good. Not because they are taking us where we want to go.

The opportunity cost of which is the time and energy that could have been applied to building the future we want.

A recent National Small Business Survey revealed that eighty percent of the companies participating were not clear about their goals. A number that is consistent with our experience of organizations big and small.

Clearly understanding why you are doing what you are doing is a fundamental and necessary first step to achieving success.

However you define success.

A process that involves an honest assessment about what is really important to you and the legacy you want to leave behind.

None of which has much to do with how in demand you are today.

A truth you will recognize if you try to remember whether or not you were busy last March 1st.

And how little it matters if you can’t.

Can. Do.

I walked past a homeless man last night. Chris and I were on our way to shop for dinner.  A brief interlude of being husband and wife at a time of intense professional focus and opportunity.

He was sitting on the still damp sidewalk leaning against the wall that separates Starbucks and the dry cleaners - an example of retail location management that I hope is an indicator of somebody’s ability to turn strategy into real estate reality.   

As we passed he reached out towards us and mumbled something. “Can you help me out?”

There are some people that ask for money that appear to me to be using it as a way to pass the time. They are both diffident and menacing. A difficult combination to express in the few seconds it takes for the exchange to take place. Dressed too well. Disinterested too quickly. They leave you with a feeling of relief as they fade into the immediate past.

This man was not one of those. This man sat on cold, wet concrete and looked up with anxiety in his face. This man was dressed in newspapers.

These were not newspapers he had wrapped around him at random. These were newspapers he had made carefully and artfully into clothing. These were newspapers whose purpose had reached new heights through this man’s endeavor. These were newspapers that told you more about the man than any study of his history could have revealed in an hour of conversation.

I was startled. Not by his situation, which is all too common on the streets of New York these days. But by his solution. And I wanted to help.

I reached into my pocket and felt a few coins. Insufficient either to help him significantly or reward him appropriately, his need and his artistry both vying for attention in my conscience.

“Do you have any cash on you,” I asked Chris.

She shook her head. “You were buying my dinner, remember?”

I did. And my wallet was safely tucked away underneath two layers of coat and jacket. And it was cold.

“I’ll give him something on the way back. We’ll only be ten minutes.” I smiled at him as I withdrew my hand from my pocket. “We’ll be back,” I said.

The line at the take-out counter was a little longer than I expected, and we stopped into another shop along the way that we had walked past for two years without venturing inside. The image of the newspaper man strayed into my mind, and I felt for the bills that I had stuffed in my pocket at the register.

It had started to rain, softly and without menace, but I was glad for the weather-proof shell and rubber soled boots I was wearing. And as I stood on the street corner, waiting for the light to change, I wondered what it would be like to wear newspapers for clothes. Wondered whether he had learned the skill from someone else. Wondered how often he  had to replace them. Wondered which papers worked best. Wondered what he will do if we really do start to get all our news electronically. I’m a fan of the iPad, but as a way to keep warm, it leaves a lot to be desired.

As the light changed and the mass of people on either side of 23rd street began their journeys towards the middle the crowd parted just enough for me to see the wall where he had been sitting.

It was empty. He was gone.

Suddenly the money rolled up in my hand felt like newspaper. And utterly useless. Its purpose taken away. I stopped for a moment as we reached Starbucks and looked inside, hoping to see him sitting in a chair. With or without a laptop. I wouldn’t have minded either way.

Chis went into the dry cleaners and asked about their drop off hours for this morning. The warmth of the dryers and the smell of the chemicals rolled into the night like excited children on Halloween.

I looked across 6th Avenue, and then back the way we came. There were people everywhere. Clothed. And invisible.

As we walked the final two blocks home I wondered why I hadn’t taken the time to follow my instinct when I first saw him.

Why I had thought that to put off an action now would give me an equal opportunity to carry it out later. Why I had assumed that circumstances wouldn’t change. That my plan would fit everyone else’s plan.

There is a difference between intent and action.

It is called opportunity.

And we miss them every single day.

Selling Nothing

I wrote a blog for Boards Magazine last week. Typically I keep my writing for them separate from this blog. However, Dennis Ryan wrote a post yesterday that picked up one of the thoughts from a slightly different perspective, and made me think it would be valuable to link them together.

The underlying theme to both pieces is that how we value something depends on many things.

One of which is not whether it actually exsts.

A thought to ponder as you think about how to improve your business.

Dennis' post is here.

My post from Boards is here.

Or here.

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Make a product. Provide a service. Exchange them for money.

The foundations of commerce.

Except on the web. Where new definitions of value are throwing traditional models under the bus.

In 2009, Lady Gaga sold more digital music than any other artist. 15.3 million tracks. She also gave away hundreds of millions more. On MySpace alone her songs were played 321.5 million times. All for free.

Today, many see her business model as a blueprint for the future. Give away the music and sell concert tickets, merchandise and anything else that the artist’s brand associates with. In Lady Gaga’s case this includes Polaroid and Estee Lauder. The high rent district indeed.

The magazine and newspaper industries, by comparison, look like scruffy kids playing stick ball in a derelict neighborhood. If you’re wondering what print real estate is worth these days pick up a copy of Time and feel for yourself. A business illness created by the willingness of those industries to jump in to the digital revolution before they understood what it meant to them. And proof that innovation is a kissing cousin to professional suicide if you don’t understand what makes your business valuable to your customers.

After all, what any of us are willing to pay for something is defined by two criteria. Its price. And our perception of its value.

When the price is zero, are we really going to argue the seller is wrong? That they have underestimated the value of what they are selling. More likely is that we will come to believe that our perception of its value was misinformed. That in the future we should expect more for less. Else we be taken for fools.

Value is a delicate balance. One that readers of Boards are involved with articulating every day. Choose this versus that because...? Take your pick. It works better, looks better, feels better, defines you better, is priced better.

Indeed, every piece of marketing ever created has been an articulation of value. A statement I invite you to challenge.

The problem comes when we ourselves undermine our own value proposition by letting others define what our stuff is worth. As 41 production companies who signed the P&G Preferred Vendors agreement recently discovered when P&G then hired someone else to shoot their Winter Olympics opening Anthem spot.

Or by giving away our stuff for free without a plan to make money on the back end. A problem that some in the print industries are now trying to correct.

Subscribers to The Wall Street Journal are mostly unwilling to pay for the newspaper’s web-based version. Since a lot of it has always been free, they don’t see why they should now pay for the rest.

By contrast, few have an issue paying an additional fee for the smartphone version of the Journal.

Because they were never told they could have it for free.

The perversity of this is that we expect that the medium in which the Wall Street Journal works best - desktops and laptops, complete with screen sizes and bandwidth that optimize the experience - should cost nothing.

But reduce the type to 4pt helvetica, and the download speed to the vagaries of AT&T and Verizon’s wireless networks, and we’re only too willing to add $4.99 a month to our bill.

A definition of value based entirely on perception.

Indeed value is so much about perception that if we limit our own company’s pricing structure to simply cost plus profit, we define ourselves as a commodity based business long before our customers see us that way.

Enduring business models are based instead on the understanding that people make buying decisions that are subjective. That is, as consumers we are motivated as much by how a purchase makes us feel as by an analysis of how efficiently it fills a need.

Which explains why in 2009, in the midst of economic catastrophe, U.S. consumers spent more than $1 billion on virtual goods and services.

Virtual, as in they don’t exist. Except in online worlds. Like FooPets, where you pay to adopt and care for a virtual pet. http://www.foopets.com/

FooPets has four million members. And is adding 20,000 new members a day.

Which is great news for Purina.

After all, they sell bags of virtual Purina Puppy Chow for $3.

That’s three real dollars. For digital dog food. Eaten by digital dogs.

So the next time you wonder why your customers want to pay you less, consider this.

Is it their perception of the value of what you’re selling that’s the problem.

Or yours?

Philosophical Friday: From Average to Exceptional

The differences between average, great and once in a decade companies are many.

But they are summed up by a Benjamin Franklin quote that is often abbreviated and adapted to include only the first two thoughts.

It is the third that changes the nature of the business you are building. And the life you are leading.

"Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn."

Benjamin Franklin

Consultancy in Action

A potential client asked me yesterday what I mean by Plan The Last Day First. Rather than give her our well honed explanation I pointed her at yesterday's post on Jerry Solomon’s blog.

We don’t disclose our work with our clients unless they choose to do so. So everything here is information that Jerry or his partner Mindy Goldberg have already openly discussed on Jerry’s blog  or on our website.

When we first met Mindy, Jerry and Jeff Preiss they were engaged in a process of redefining their partnership. A process that challenges the most self-effacing and self-aware by demanding that you compare your value with that of other human beings.

Conversations about better or worse anything quickly become emotional. Add to that the financial stakes of sharing the ownership of a business and you get, as Jerry described it, a recipe for impasse.

They hired us to help. We were able to do so. And the impasse was resolved.

Which is part one of the story.

Part two manifested itself in Jerry’s blog yesterday.

We believe that the best companies are built from passion, and towards a purpose.

Most business owners depend heavily on the passion part of the equation. And spend little time defining where they want to end up.

Which seems to miss the opportunity to apply one of the few constants in the life of an entrepreneur. The absolute inevitability that there will be an end.

Some entrepreneurs love what they do so much that they want to die doing it. Others want to capitalize on their success by selling their business one day. In either case, leaving behind a legacy of all the effort, thought and personal investment becomes increasingly important to owners over time.

Many business owners treat the end as an issue to be avoided until their own enthusiasm starts to wane. By which time their ability to affect their own outcome lies somewhere between limited and non-existent. We see this particularly in creative companies, whose founders have a difficult time separating their own value from that of the business.

However, it is the ability of an owner to ultimately make themselves irrelevant to the success of the company that creates the most dynamic future for any business. By empowering the employees left behind. Increasing dramatically the value the business has to potential buyers, or a new generation of owners. And ensuring the DNA of its founders lives on in the soul of a business long after they have ceased to be its daily heartbeat.

In Jerry’s blog yesterday he describes the decision to hire Lisa Margulis as his replacement as, “a conscious choice on whether to remain a life style business or build a company that lasts beyond the partners.”

This is the essence of Plan The Last Day First.

And the key word is conscious.

Every business owner makes a choice about the future of their company every day. Many times they don't recognize it as such. But in all aspects of life, the absence of a conscious decision to do something is an unconscious decision not to.

Deciding to take control of your future requires that you be willing to give up some control of the present. By involving others and helping them to grow. A win-win on a thousand levels.

I don’t know Lisa personally. But I suspect that she will enjoy working at Epoch a great deal.

Both because it is a company filled with extraordinarily talented, inquisitive, genuine people.

And because its owners are building a business that is committed as much to her future as it is theirs.

Philosophical Friday: Paid To Do vs Paid To Learn

If we agree that we get paid because of what we do.

And if we believe that we can do more when we know more.

Shouldn't we work where the emphasis is to teach.

And then use that to increase what they can afford to pay.

Management By Fear

On Christmas Eve I wrote that I have no religion. My approach is to try and do the right thing for the right reason. Generally it has served me well.

It is an approach I take to my assessment of politics. Which causes me to have no political affiliation. I am neither Democrat or Republican. Labor or Conservative. Overall I try to keep it simple.

I believe in fiscal pragmatism. Investing in the future is critical. But eventually every loan comes due. And it’s your responsibility to make sure you have a way to pay it back.

I believe in social compassion. I have lived in a country with national health care. And for all its inadequacies, it has prevented and cured unfathomable amounts of pain and suffering. A reasonable standard by which to measure any system.

I would have voted for Thatcher. Twice. Reagan. At least once. And Kennedy. I did vote for Obama. And would do so again. Change takes time. And someone prepared to fight for it. Though a plan helps.

I was not a fan of either George Bush. The former was out of time with a rapidly changing world. The latter lacks intellectual curiosity. As someone said to me once, he had no interest in governing. And that made him susceptible to manipulation.

I believe that divisiveness eventually comes back to hurt the divider. I hold the Clintons responsible for creating the political divide that engulfs this country when Hilary started talking about ‘vast right wing conspiracies.’ I hold Karl Rove responsible for turning it into a governmental strategy in which the goal is 50+1 majorities.

I don’t think I would have voted for Clinton or Gore. I’m not sure what Bill Clinton believes in. I’m not sure he does either. And Al Gore is not a leader. I believe in leadership.

I believe in the power of positive thought and action. I would much rather create than destroy. I look first for what’s working rather than what’s not.

I believe always that there are two sides to every story. Every story. Even when the story is Tom Tancredo’s. I think his anger must come from somewhere very, very personal.

I believe that whatever your political leaning it’s important to watch Fox News and MSNBC. I believe the BBC still offers the most objective coverage of the news and I’m grateful to the web for giving me access to it.

I believe that Sarah Palin’s success is a direct reflection of the fear in this country. And the personal anguish of many people. I believe I would not recommend her to any of my clients as a receptionist given her limited memory.

I believe that most of us are motivated by fear more than we want to admit. Even to ourselves.

I believe that whether you are running a country, a business or a department, you will create more of everything that you define as important if you do whatever you can to minimize people’s fear.

I believe people that use fear as a foundation of their management strategy can win in the short term.

But never in the long run.

Body Found in Landing Gear of JFK to Tokyo Flight

As a headline in yesterday’s news this falls somewhere between tragic and absurd.

On a human scale the tragedy is immense. For few of us can imagine the kind of desperation required to climb inside the undercarriage of a plane embarking on a 14 second flight, never mind one of 14 hours.

On every other level, it is absurd.

This is the industry that is so security conscious it insists that mothers drink their infants’ formula to ensure it is not explosive, requires we pull laptops out of bags by the millions, demands we place shoes separately on conveyor belts, and arrests anyone using language they deem threatening. Which they leave open to broad subjective interpretation.

As a country we have spent billions on increased security, considered racial profiling, and are now debating the morality versus security issues of full body scanners. We put two year old children on the no-fly list. Question anyone buying one-way tickets. And question them again if they buy them with cash. We are entitled to ask for private pat downs, but may not refuse them; a presumption of guilt over innocence.

All of this in order to prevent the desperate from getting on board.

Defeated by a single man, desperate enough to find another way.

A stark and tragic reminder that any system is only as good as its weakest link.

Which is usually much closer than we think.

Getting The Most From Your People

I’m always interested in how business owners and department heads manage the people that work for them.

Over time, I’ve discovered one approach is very common.

1. Define the job

2. Find someone to fill it

3. Wait for something to happen

This approach is then put into practice in a number of ways that look like pro-active management, but aren’t.

The most significant of which is the concept of regularly scheduled raises.

A practice which encourages management to be passive in guiding the development of each employee until the next date comes along. Or something goes wrong.

And ensures that your emerging stars will regularly surprise you with better offers from your competitors who aren’t restricted by a calendar in your HR department.

A better management approach also incorporates three elements.

1. A willingness to look first for people’s strengths.

2. Regular development reviews with each employee that are separated from compensation increases.

3. An organizational structure capable of adapting to the potential of individuals by providing tools that take care of the day to day needs of the business - reliably and instinctively.

People want to be paid fairly. But more than that, they want to be given a chance to fulfill their potential.

Putting practices in place that encourage managers to focus on helping them do so costs much less than losing a talented and trained employee.

And ensures that you are building your business on ever expanding strengths.

Gertie

This is Gertie.

She spent the first 14 years of her life in a crate in a puppy mill, giving birth to hundreds.

She spent the last 15 months at home with her family, Valerie and Valerie Rae.

Gertie died on Wednesday night.

Loved at last.

Which make her one of the lucky ones.

A definition of luck we need to change.

http://www.pawschicago.org

Godspeed Gertie.

We miss you so, so much.

Why The Kindle Is A Pocket Calculator

The first electronic calculator was built in 1961. It used vacuum tubes. And a lot of your desktop.

Twenty years later, credit card calculators were promotional giveaways on a par with wall calendars. And most people would have taken the calendar, so ubiquitous had portable maths become.

The Kindle hasn’t had a twenty year run. More like twenty months. And just as it began to move from the ‘Early Adopter’ to the ‘Early Majority’ phase, people are beginning to write its epitaph.

Too small. Too grey. Too late.

Courtesy of better technology created by a company with a plan.

I blush not at all at being an Apple evangelist. They are an extraordinary company in their ability to conceive, design and deliver.

Amazon, on the other hand, has struggled since its inception to differentiate strategically between ‘can’ and ‘should’. A shortcoming that required hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to discover that selling clicks to other vendors at 5 cents each is more profitable than building infrastructure and inventory.

The Kindle is a good product whose time has come and almost gone before it arrived.

A reactive creation by a reactive company.

As evidence I offer you this.

Apple’s iPad uses touch screen technology evolved from three years and 42.48 million units of experience with the iPhone. The iPad screen contains 1000 sensors over its 80 square inches. Anywhere you touch you’re in contact with six or seven.

Amazon’s response? Yesterday, they acquired a company called Touchco. A New York start-up that specializes in touchscreen technology.

Touchco has ‘roughly six employees’ and has yet to turn its technology into a commercial product.

I believe in technology, innovation and possibility. I believe David can beat Goliath on a regular basis these days. And I believe in dreams.

I also believe that if you own a Kindle, you should use it a lot between now and late April.

After that, it’s a doorstop.