tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77959022024-03-08T00:57:45.812-08:00Take Control Of Your...Thoughts relating to how you can redefine issues, markets, products, services or yourself so you can take control of your destinyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.comBlogger505125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-34220920914477950752014-11-19T09:27:00.005-08:002014-11-19T09:27:52.360-08:00The inside story off how transformational leadership created “Broadband”Most people are wrong. “Broadband” has not been around forever. It was first introduced to
the public at the beginning of 1997. Most people do not realize that the
word still has no formal definition in the way it is used most often
today. Fewer still realize the part that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
played in it. This discusses how I, as Chief Marketing Officer of
MediaOne/US West, popularized it, and how I have codified the thinking
process so that experts can apply it to their business.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I
had many years of, in retrospect, relevant, but seemingly unconnected
at the time, experience. CompuServe had been founded in 1969, and I
became a user in 1984 when I bought a Radio Shack TRS 100 laptop
computer, which came with a free one month trial subscription. I became a
customer. I later advised CompuServe in the late 1980s when it faced
attack from AOL, but it refused to recognize that the company was at
risk. Management kept on saying “the people who know, use CompuServe,
while the masses use AOL” – the kiss of death for CompuServe, of course.
I had also advised AT&T, Sprint and Deutsche Telekom in
telecommunications and GTE on its “Main Street” interactive video trial.
So, having experienced the best in voice, video and data, I was well
aware of the potential power of convergence.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
When I
joined Continental Cablevision in 1996 as CMO, as it was about to be
acquired by US West for $10.8 Billion, I knew the company faced many
challenges. Amos Hostetter, the founder and Chairman of the company,
whose baby it was, had just sold it to US West Media Group, whose CEO,
Chuck Lillis, had a vision to transform the company into a multi-pronged
communications company - convergence. He needed the company’s
fiber-optic network, the most extensive in the country then, but still
in the process of being fully built out. At that time, Cable companies
provided around 50 analog video channels, and no one even thought of
them as Internet access or Phone providers. Yet the technology was on
us, but the plans for commercialization were not. In the first few
months of my tenure, I developed specific plans for hundreds of digital
video channels with new content, high speed Internet access (when most
consumers had 57.6 kbps dial up modems), and IP telephony. Consumer
research told us that the claims were not believable – “50X current
speeds, you’re nuts.” Nor were they seen as relevant. Most consumers
used the Internet only for email, and saw no benefit in reading emails
50 times faster. There were no online videos, which only became possible
with the introduction of High-speed data, and consumers did not
understand why they would want them. Yet we enabled Netflix and many of
the services we take for granted.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We had the
additional disadvantage that most people hated their cable company. I
remember well that I was visiting our Jacksonville office and while I
was there, the Jacksonville Jaguars were playing the Denver Broncos in
the playoffs. At a critical stage, there was a cable outage in the cable
feed and several important minutes were lost to local viewers. On my
way out, at Jacksonville airport, the security screeners realized for
whom I worked from the logo on my carry-on, and put me through so many
extra screenings that I missed my flight!<br />
<br />
<br />
This
meant that we had to move away from the name “Continental Cablevision”
to one that screamed “convergence.” We could not just be a cable company
any more and have any credibility. US West had been using the MediaOne
name in Atlanta, and research showed that it would be a powerful way to
signify that we could offer voice, video and data. A new logo was
designed that symbolized that we offered an enormous pipe into the home,
and we “only” had a “promise” to develop. The “O” in the logo was
designed to represent a pipe carrying the new services to the home.<br />
<br />
<br />
So,
initially, we were offering something that few saw the need for, used
new technology, and for which no products existed that would fully use
its capabilities. The biggest challenge was to create an overriding
theme and way to manage the “How,” the “when” as well as the “what.”
There was a clear need for a “magic ingredient” in the same way that
laundry detergents once used the “blue speckles.” It needed to be a term
that was not in wide use, but that could be used to explain the
benefits we offered. An intense search, in conjunction with our
advertising agency, Margeotes Ferttita, led us to one word –
“Broadband.” We had found only 15 uses of the word in the previous year
worldwide, and that was in technical wireless journals. As mentioned,
there is still no formal definition of it as applied to communications
other than radio.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Now this was neither easy nor
obvious. Many of my colleagues felt uncomfortable with it. Typical
conversations ran somewhat like this:<br />
<br />
Me: “We need to
create a “Magic ingredient” that no one really understands, but sounds
scientific enough to create believability for our claims.”<br />
<br />
Executive
Committee (in unison): “You must be crazy. No one will understand it,
and it will never work. Why should we bet the entire future of the
company on your plan?”<br />
<br />
Me: “We have to change the game
completely. We have to show people what they will be able to do with
this – video, voice and Internet – while giving them a reason to believe
us.”<br />
<br />
Executive Committee: “Even our own people won’t understand or believe it.”<br />
<br />
Me: “We have to create and execute an intensive program to train and educate all our own people.”<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I
must admit that neither I nor anyone else foresaw that the word would
catch on so strongly, that like “Aspirin” it would become almost
generic. We only encountered skepticism in the media that it would <strong>not</strong>
catch on, and that I was making a huge mistake. In fact, it
encapsulated everything that consumers came to understand that we were
going to offer. In no small part this was due to the extraordinary
advertising that our agency created. It has now become so commonplace
that few realize that it was introduced by an advertising campaign.
George Fertitta went on to become CEO of NYC, Inc., the entity that grew
New York tourism and business so successfully in the past decade.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Our
advertising agency was a strong believer, and so was I. I did convince
everyone, so I rebranded the company as “MediaOne,” and launched it,
with the new services and used the slogan, “This is Broadband. This is
the way.” <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Eachaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Broadband.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Broadband.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The
very first commercials in the world that mentioned “Broadband,”
featured a re-working of the CSN&Y song, “Our House.” Seventeen
years ago these were visionary commercials, offering a new view of the
world - one that came to pass today. These commercials can be seen at
the following link: <a href="http://youtu.be/eiCQtSArNwY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/eiCQtSArNwY</a> . Subsequent follow-up :30 commercials focused on specific aspects:<br />
<br />
Human Capacity: <a href="http://youtu.be/iWADKplUAkg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/iWADKplUAkg</a><br />
The Future Arrived: <a href="http://youtu.be/eJEGdgGpaWk" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/eJEGdgGpaWk</a><br />
House of the Future: <a href="http://youtu.be/oMit7Zxe6b0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/oMit7Zxe6b0</a><br />
Future Vision of House: <a href="http://youtu.be/vBuCi6o5164" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/vBuCi6o5164</a><br />
<br />
<br />
At
the time, the reaction was shock and disbelief in the business press
and from pundits. Many called me personally crazy, and that it would
never catch on. This umbrella term was so successful that it is now
globally and universally used. We were named “Marketer of the Year” in
the Cable industry. This was all accomplished in six months, with the
result that US West sold it two years later for $62 Billion, based on
subscriber value - a “turnaround” of a company that was not failing, but
that could have sunk into decline instead of into explosive value
growth. I still remember well, attending all the shoots and staying at
the editing studio in Manhattan well past midnight to approve the
commercials so that they could go on air immediately.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I
continue to preach that while most companies are “maintained,” often
even quite well, re-invention is the key to real value growth.
Leadership has to be transformational. The secrets to this are:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Having breadth of experience in multiple industries, technologies and customer/consumer populations.</li>
<li>Having the ability to tie together multiple strands of knowledge, as
I have done in many places, including Reliant Energy or Remedy
software.</li>
<li>Welcoming and embracing change with passion instead of fearing it.
This can be threatening to many as old knowledge becomes irrelevant and
new learning is essential.</li>
<li>Looking for optimization instead of step improvements, that are never transformative.</li>
</ol>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-59279672903895972902014-04-04T04:35:00.000-07:002014-04-04T04:35:40.493-07:00How "best place to work" could have helped GM avoid its problems.GM is only the latest company to get into trouble and struggle to get out of it. Preventing and dealing with a crisis is, however, not merely a PR problem. Really effective companies have a culture that makes getting into a crisis far less likely, and dealing with one, far easier. Companies that are principle driven, such as Mars, Inc, http://www.mars.com/global/about-mars/the-five-principles-of-mars.aspx are far less likely to get into trouble. We have found that one of the measurable attributes of such companies is that they qualify to get onto one or more "Best Places to Work" lists.<br />
<br />
We at Max Brand Equity http://maxbrandequity.com/ have found also that top executives do not know that companies that qualify for such lists achieve value growth at least twice that of peer group companies. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-28961884419127113322014-03-28T03:26:00.000-07:002014-03-28T03:26:46.122-07:00How to be a good networker - one key<div id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_76" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 18.6667px; font-style: normal;">
<br /><span id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_74"></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_81" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 18.6667px; font-style: normal;">
<span id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_74">Perhaps you know it, but there is one thing you do that few do - you
provide feedback on introductions - that make you much better than most.
Even though I always ask people to let me know how they got on, most do
not. I make a lot of introductions, including several yesterday and
giving me feedback is a good thing for them:</span></div>
<ol id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_105">
<li id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_104"><span id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_74">It's polite</span></li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_104"><span id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_74">I'm curious</span></li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_104"><span id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_74">I know more so that I can make further introductions</span></li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_104"><span id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_74">I know who is unhelpful and I can not introduce anyone else to them</span></li>
</ol>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_38_1396000734874_170" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 18.6667px; font-style: normal;">
For
example. someone who never gives me feedback afterwards on the
introductions I make for her misses opportunities for new introductions. There are people I have been
making a few introductions a year for over many years, and someone who
never gives feedback is losing out. You don't have to push, just make it easy for me to think of people you might like to meet.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-71799225129745338162014-03-18T04:28:00.001-07:002014-03-18T04:44:29.856-07:00What was it like in Houston, energy capital, during deregulation? How is it applicable elsewhere?In the late 1990s, energy deregulation was seen as the solution to rising energy prices. As a result, while regulation was not completely lifted, there was to be freedom to compete on price and geography. As President of Reliant Energy's Retail Business I had an inside seat from within the third largest combination utilities in the world. It was a heady atmosphere in Houston at the time. Consultants and lawyers were making $ millions assisting most of Houston's energy companies devise plans to prosper in the new environment. Outsiders who had succeeded in other rapidly changing industries were brought in to bring new thinking. The dining clubs of Houston were full of people making deals over lunch, from top executives at the Petroleum Club (where I was a member) on the top floor of the Exxon Building, other top executives and politicians at the Coronado Club, and more lunching in the fading elegance of the Houston Club (Houston's oldest, from the 19th century) and attending evening events at the River Oaks Country Club. You could see Dick Cheney or Ken Lay, comfortable in the company of their peers. Now, any change in rules represents great opportunity, as well as great danger. I brought to that a record of success in transforming the cable, Internet and phone by introducing the first "Broadband" service a year or so before. It is not unlike, part way through a soccer game, it suddenly changing to basketball - except you may be able to influence the rules of the new game! My success in building the most profitable deregulated business without feeling the need to resort to the tactics of our cross-town rival, Enron, was the result of much analysis, experience and thought. The company pioneered a number of activities, many of which can be applied to any changing business or network based one.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-38468210893516963092014-02-27T08:28:00.002-08:002014-02-27T08:32:07.007-08:00Will Silicon Valley ever grow up?Silicon Valley is dominated by companies that are innovative, fast growing, ambitious and intense. They face the need to be efficient, keep growing and stay ahead of newer competitors. Yet, these challenges have been faced by companies for hundreds of years. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harley Procter had to overcome them long ago. They did. Procter and Gamble is over 180 years old. Ford Motor is almost 100 years old. Many companies in Silicon Valley act as though they are the first organizations to have to deal with these old issues in Management. They tend to spend much effort and relatively little time (shooting from the hip) in re-inventing the wheel. So you get stupid interview questions such as: "how many golf balls fit inside an airliner?" Decision and implementation processes are not thought through and are sometimes ill conceived. Executives at all levels in many companies have not experienced being in a more mature, effective company. There are exceptions, such as Intuit, of course, but too many are unlikely to last a fraction as long as P&G.<br />
<br />
Yet, until Silicon Valley does develop some maturity and balance, there will continue to be cycles, poor predictability, and bubbles. The smart companies make sure that they hire experienced executives, even from outside the industry. They also make sure that they have the processes and thinking such as that required to get on a Best Place to Work list. http://www.optimalthinking.com/best-places-to-work.htmlAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-26003467700953447662014-02-11T11:37:00.001-08:002014-02-11T11:37:43.539-08:00When Westport, CT was the center of the Marketing WorldFollowing 14 years in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, Ralph Glendinning moved to Westport, CT in 1962 to start Glendinning Associates, the first Marketing Consulting firm in the World. Early clients included consumer giants like General Foods, <span class="refName">Lever Bros.</span>, <span class="refName">Ogilvy & Mather</span> and <span class="refName">H.J. Heinz</span>. David Ogilvy once wrote that "when it comes to sales promotion, <span class="refName">Ralph Glendinning</span> is a true genius."Glendinning became a powerhouse, with offices in London, Paris and Frankfurt. It also spawned many spin-offs in the Westport area, as well as copycats and other Marketing Service firms. The most successful spin-off company, Marketing Corporation of America, was founded by Jim McManus in 1971, and grew to be a behemoth of Marketing Services, with Strategy Consulting, Sales Promotion, Market Research, Advertising Agency, Couponing, and even a Venture Capital Arm. At the time of this article in 1982 http://www.inc.com/magazine/19830601/7217.html M.C.A. was still growing rapidly, and ended up also owning car dealerships, restaurants as well as the largest regional airline in the North-East. Just as Glendining had other spin-offs such as the Weston Group, Connecticut Consulting and New England Consulting, so M.C.A. had its own such as the Ryan Partnership, Main Street Partners and others. Quite separately, other Marketing service firms such as Greenfield Consulting, Clancy, Shulman and others, set up shop in the Westport area. Westport still has many Marketing services in the Area, but one could argue that the Hedge Funds and Private Equity firms have taken the pre-eminent position now.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-60665116336235772012014-02-10T09:57:00.002-08:002014-02-10T09:57:59.686-08:00Why are managers so bad at managing people? Becoming a "Best Place to Work."Survey after survey tell us that the No. 1 reason people leave their jobs (or hate them if they do not leave), is a bad manager.We also know that each year, 2 Million people leave their jobs. Are so many managers bad? The answer is certainly less. The fact is that little attention is given to training managers in being good at it - in fact, the odds are high that their manager is not good at it! While the number of people who have been academically trained in "Management" had grown dramatically in the past 60 years, the amount of practical, on-the-job training managers get has dropped. People management skills are more readily absorbed by on the job training than in an academic setting.<br />
<br />
Over the past twenty years, there has been growth in companies trying out for "Best Paces to Work" lists, but many companies do not know how to qualify. Training in this has only very recently become available and it is worth companies checking out the need for it: www.optimalthinking.com/best-places-to-work.htmlAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-25048188692155619892014-01-14T07:35:00.002-08:002014-01-14T07:35:39.131-08:00The Short sightedness of companies30 years ago it was routine for large and mid-sized companies to hire university graduates, train them and promote them. A few left, but that merely provided space to promote newer hires. In this way companies built a "bench" of trained, loyal people, who know how the company and industry worked.<br />
<br />
Today, more and more companies hire on contract so that even professional ranks are filled with "temp workers." This means that the company is filled with people who do not know it, are not trained and that forces the company to hire from outside for middle and senior management.<br />
<br />
From the point of view of the college graduate, a career become a hap-hazard progression, with all the onus for learning on their shoulders. The individual is on their own.<br />
<br />
Long-term this means that for a very few innovative self-starters, they may have more opportunities, but for most it means insecurity and little room for career growth. As they hit 50, it will become increasingly difficult to get hired and that, combined with later retirement benefits, will cause financial distress. While the issue of experienced executives over 50 looking for work has been an issue for some time, it will change as those looking for work do not have linear career paths. http://www.optimarketllc.com/pdf/Fired_at-50_GP_1-05-12.pdfAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-38223331782266204172013-12-09T11:42:00.001-08:002013-12-09T11:42:31.973-08:00Why can't people accept that they may have something to learn?I had a client who use to ignore everything anyone suggested unless it was something he already wanted to do. On one particular issue, where he had no experience at all, he had a very locked in point of view. I had tried to convince him to think differently, as had others. Then one day, after someone else tried to convince him, but failed, he turned to me and said,"everyone keeps on saying the same thing. I am looking for someone who will tell me that I am right." So, he saw the fact that everyone kept on telling him that he was wrong as evidence that no one but him had the right answer!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-90725036112902536612013-12-04T07:40:00.001-08:002013-12-04T07:40:44.817-08:00Closing the loop to make social media more effectiveSome people see relationships with "friends" or "connections" as one way only. They assume that they are so fascinating that everyone else will read their posts and that they do not need to reciprocate or show that they reciprocate. In order to cement relationships better, unless you are an entertainment or political rockstar, you should note and "like" or "share" other people's posts. This is immensely flattering and will encourage others to read what you have to say. Relationships should not be one way only and closing the loop in this way is valuable.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-29190621535891372542013-11-13T14:38:00.001-08:002013-11-13T14:38:11.846-08:00How many networkers really try to help those who help them?Each day I get a few emails or phone calls from people I may know, or more likely, have been referred to me by someone I know. Usually, they are asking for two or so hours of my time to meet and make introductions as they job hunt. Often they offer to buy me a cup of coffee or lunch. The reason it takes two hours is that I will have to drive to meet them and then drive back, rarely less than an hour, often more. The reality is that while I am happy to help people, I feel that they are not being considerate of my time. If I accepted every request, I would spend all my time helping job or business seekers. One way they can make it worth my time is to reciprocate.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, I met with someone for over an hour, but not once during that time did she ask me how she could help me. Even those who do ask the question, will rarely dig deep enough to really help. If someone genuinely wants to reciprocate and help those whom they ask for help, they will try to understand you as much as they can. They will try to learn what you do and test out if introductions will help by making a few suggestions and asking how they are on or off target. They will regard helping you as an obligation on their part.<br />
<br />
Test yourself and think back to the last time you asked someone else for help. How much help did you give them?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-51449375165994954542013-10-22T09:49:00.000-07:002013-10-22T09:49:14.735-07:00Data vs. InsightData or Information are often mistaken for insight. The reality is that insight can come from data, but much data is either not analyzed at all, mis-analyzed or is simply overhelming. Currently, with the advent of "Big Data" (which must have Volume; Velocity, and Variety, to qualify), we are in danger of being overwhelmed. This is so much so that many people put a lot of effort into eliminating or cutting back most data so that what is left is easy to understand.<br />
<br />
This can be dangerous, as in order to identify the exception, you have to deeply undestand the norm. The human visual cortex is still the best tool for doing this. In simply driving down the road, we see, absorb and analyze millions of data points. We need to start using tools that can replicate this in business and science.<br />
<br />
Such tools are beginning to exist. An example is Synerscope software which does not eliminate data, but by putting all on one screen allows identification of deviant processes very efectively.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-15621121205302647522013-07-02T20:21:00.001-07:002013-07-02T20:21:02.533-07:00Global Transfer of success is hardMost attempts on the part of businesses to expand to other countries fail. Probably one of the biggest reason is to underestimate the difficulty and the differences between the two countries. Having done this for over 40 years, I know that it calls for not merely country knowledge, but a sensitivity that allows learning. Of course, beyond this, there are mechanical reasons such as distances, laws, raw material supplies, availability of logistics capabilities and more. Many people who have only worked in one country are not aware of possible differences and do not ask the right questions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-79918332483408099852013-05-13T11:01:00.001-07:002013-05-13T11:01:32.865-07:00Impact of the Cyprus bailout on people there<span style="font-family: inherit;">The terms of the Cyprus bailout were unprecedented. In exchange for a €10 billion emergency aid package, Cyprus in March
agreed to E.U. demands to effectively confiscate up to 60 percent of any
depositor’s holdings above €100,000 held in two of the country’s
largest banks, Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank. Now Germany claimed that this was to penalize the money launderers who had contributed to the crisis (itself questionable). As a result of this, many businesses have been plunged into immediate bankruptcy. They cannot pay suppliers, salaries, rents or running costs. Schools and hospitals are running out of money, farms cannot buy feed for animals and the country is being plunged into misery and a financial situation that will take up to ten years to recover from. Private citizens had wired money in to close on houses, only to see most of it disappear before the sale could close. Lawyers holding money in escrow have seen the money vanish while still being liable to pay their clients.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There has never been a bailout like this, and had the terms been applied to a larger country, it could have led to global chaos. It is as much of a "punish the innocent and uninvolved" plan as one that hits the mark of hurting the guilty.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-14163669730591908612013-05-13T03:47:00.002-07:002013-05-13T03:47:59.255-07:00Travels in CyprusI recently returned from Cyprus, where the banking crisis continues. While people have been hurt by having their bank accounts raided, businesses, schools, hospitals have been hurt even more. Driving in Cyprus, around 20-25% of shops are shuttered, many probably permanently. Yet, if the purpose was to eliminate Russian money laundering through Cyprus, I still saw 747s from Russia arriving at Paphos's tiny airport.<br />
<br />
I also spent some time in Turkish occupied North Cyprus, which only Turkey recognizes (and subsidizes). Long poorer than the rest of Cyprus, it shows signs of pulling ahead. Cars are newer, commercial and residential development is moving fast. My forecast is that in ten years, the North will be wealthier and more separate from the South. Whereas in the South, virtually everyone speaks excellent English, in the North few and fewer do.<br />
<br />
More to come!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-11795311000993814232013-05-03T20:40:00.000-07:002013-05-03T20:40:02.215-07:00Why do people not understand that lead generation is a key part of salesNot recognizing the need for lead generation comes from a naive view of selling. Sales is not simply a transactional process where a buyer, who has spent the time to understand all the options, investigated each thoroughly, then makes a completely rational decision. Rather, it is a messy process, where many decision makers in a company, each with superficial knowledge of the options, make a subjective decision based on a brief and rarely complete trial, in a situation of having little time available. The final tie-breaker is trust, and sometimes it can be the biggest factor. Lead generation efforts are essential to complete these fully.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-26907588633897426882013-04-01T04:11:00.000-07:002013-04-01T04:11:04.786-07:00Start-ups rely on executionPeople often assume that once you have the idea, all is plain sailing. Yet many failed start-ups were based on good ideas (which often succeed in other hands). What made Facebook succeed where Friendster and Tribe did not, or LinkedIn where eCademy or Ryze did not, was the right execution. This does not mean that all went smoothly. A lot of scrambling went into the success, and a lot of quick recovery from mistakes. Yet, all too often, execution is underestimated and the value of the idea is over-estimated.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-44410731786447573802013-03-22T17:13:00.002-07:002013-03-22T17:13:44.397-07:00You don't have to be crazy to found a start up, but it helps
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As H.G. Wells said, “all progress is
made by unreasonable men.” Of course, he was wrong. There are many unreasonable
women! Each year, in the USA alone, there are over 100,000 start-ups. Only about
10,000 get any outside funding at all and only about 1,000 get VC funding. The
biggest VCs only fund low single digits per year, and the small ones may only
fund any every other year or less often. Even of those funded by VCs, about 50
will become real businesses, and probably fewer than 5 will pay back the
investment in the multiples they hope for. So, almost all founders waste years
on the business and lose a lot of money. A very few make a fortune, a few more
make a living.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nevertheless, were it not for such
people, the country would not progress and grow. Fortune 500 companies, in
aggregate, are job destroyers. It is the medium sized and small companies that
grow employment and advance technology available to the market. Even the best
corporate labs have only a small proportion of the technology they generate
commercialized. So the country, and the world, needs start-ups to sustain our
growing population, even at the cost of dashed dreams and bankrupt
entrepreneurs. But why do intelligent people found businesses if the ods are so
intimidating?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps, it is, as they say about
lottery tickets, “you can’t win unless you buy a ticket.” That is probably one
of the reasons, but there are others. Firstly, most founders do not know how
slim the chances of success are. Secondly, they have an idea that they totally
and passionately believe in. They usually over-estimate the quality of the
idea, but it is still normally a good idea. Thirdly, they assume that both
selling and getting investors will be easier than it is (after all, it is
self-evidently, a brilliant idea).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a result of this, founders can be
unreasonable managers and partners. They are so convinced of the rightness of
the idea that they do not accept anything that is at odds with their own vision.
Now there are founders who are very different, but a balance is important.
There are ten key guidelines that can make the success of a start up more
likely. These are:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>A team of equals is more likely to succeed than
a single founder. There is a lot of work to do and rarely can one person alone
do it all. Furthermore, it shows that the founder(s) can work with other
people, and the idea is good enough to get several people believing in it
enough to put their lives on the line.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Having a defined target market. If the business
cannot narrowly define its market, it cannot optimize its product, its message,
its pricing and its distribution channels.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Solving a recognized problem in a new way. If
the target market does not and never does, recognize a problem, then however
technically brilliant the product or service, it cannot succeed.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Openness to new input. Often founders are so
monomaniacal that they keep on with a plan even when they get new input or
experience problems. While constantly changing is harmful, openness to change
is essential.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Too much focus on product vs. acquisition of
customers. Getting customers is key, as a source of revenue, but also it
enables easier funding and continuous product improvement. Paying customers
give better product feedback than ones that are trying it for free. Balance
spending against sales and marketing with spending on programmers.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Having too little money. It takes a lot of time
to get funding, and if the founder does not get 12-18 months of money, then the
he or she can spend all of his or her time chasing money.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Spending too much money on the wrong things.
Fancy offices do not matter, people can work from home if needed, as long as
there are people who can make or deliver the product and people working on
sales and marketing.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Choose the right location. Not all locations are
created equal. Too many founders pick a location because they live there, or
want to. Just because it’s a big city, it may still be wrong – Chicago or
Dallas is almost always a mistake for a start up in technology or fashion. You
need a culture that is start up friendly and that has an infrastructure to
support you. For example, investors would rather invest locally than have to
get on a plane to attend a board meeting.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Make all your early people feel like founders.
They will have a stake in the success of the business rather than just being
employees there for a salary.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Make
sure that you and all on the team make this a serious, energetic effort. You
can’t play with a start up on the side and expect that it will work. Too many
people are dilettantes for years and even if it is a good idea, they drift for
so long that they fail, still having spent lots of money and time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, if you have an idea, go for it. Recognize that it is
hard, but the potential rewards are great. Do all that you need to do to
maximize your chances of success, and balance some insanity with intelligence.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-61903404874095125942013-01-11T05:21:00.002-08:002013-01-11T05:21:53.467-08:00The purpose of a startup..Peter DruckerPeter Drucker famously said that the "purpose of a business is to create a customer. Often people forget. They come to believe that the purpose of their business is to build a product, grow an organization, get funded, or create an efficient supply chain. While these may be essential means to an end, the end is always to create customers. If too much effort and money is spent on the intervening steps, then too little will be spent on Sales & Marketing. This is often the case in start-up where founders can believe that the product speaks for itself, it will become successful through word of mouth or viral efforts, and will need little formal advertising or selling. Particularly today, many talk about avoiding product categories that require a lot of of Sales & Marketing. However, experience tell us that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Nothing will substitute for the tried and tested. Trade Shows and mailing lists are not glamorous compared to a Twitter account, or a partnership with a high profile company, but working the basics is essential for success. What Peter Drucker said half a century ago still holds true.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-85937536902553919872012-12-08T09:54:00.000-08:002012-12-08T09:54:02.712-08:00Sherlock Holmes - Big Data analystIt has been recognized that the reason why Sherlock Holmes was so effective was that he observed and remembered everything. As such, he had access to an enormous data base. However, memory and observation alone are not enough. His strength was that he could access the data and put together apparently unconnected strands to create solutions. This was far from the concept of data mining. He had no idea of what he was looking for and no preconceptions of what he would find. He used patterns to identify those that were anomalies. This is the principle by which the future generation of Big Data analysis, such as Synerscope, will work. Pour in vast amounts of data, and simply by observing unusual or unexpected patterns, the user, not someone with an advanced degree in data analysis, can draw conclusions fast and easily.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-28003397946053721432012-09-24T13:38:00.001-07:002012-09-24T13:38:03.287-07:00Why do Americans Have difficulty in Europe?One of the major barriers is regarding Europeans as a homogeneous block. In addition to language there are many cultural differences. These cover how and what people eat, how they relate socially, and how they work. This is one of the many reasons why Greece is in trouble and Germany is prospering. Whether you are doing business there, practicing diplomacy or simply being a tourist, recognizing the differences is essential.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-39113969148248761672012-09-03T07:52:00.001-07:002012-09-03T07:52:29.989-07:00Why do Europeans have difficulty in the US?The biggest cause why Europeans of all nationalities have problems is their lack of visceral understanding of scale. While European think a two hour flight is a long one, Americans will routinely take five hour flights for a meeting. However, beyond distance it also applies to money and networks. While $1 million in Europe is a lot to, say, fund a start-up, in the US it is almost insignificant. It takes Billions of $ to fund a Presidential run, and millions even for a local election. Beyond that the scale of networks and connections is also enormous. If you know 1,000 people in the Netherlands, you can reach most decision makers. Even the UK, five times larger than the Netherlands, can be covered by a relatively small number of contacts. The US, five times larger than the UK, dwarfs any difficulty in reaching decision makers there. Even, incidentally, countries with huge populations such as India and China, have a small concentration of decision makers. They went to a small number of schools and universities. In the UK, there are 114 universities, in the US over 4,000, so the "old school tie" is less of a power connection, though an Ivy League educations still helps with connections.<br />
<br />
This handicaps Europeans when trying to do business, or deal with government in the US.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-22926787841731544552012-08-17T05:30:00.000-07:002012-08-17T05:30:39.242-07:00Why does TV glamorize lawyers over engineers?The US has an oversupply of lawyers, but a shortage of engineers. Being a lawyer is one of the most boring things you can do for most, while engineering can be exciting and interesting. Yet over many years, TV has shown the lawyers life as exciting, sexy and varied. The other night on "Suits" when someone received good LSAT results, it was greeted by the enthusiasm of someone winning big on a TV game show. "You're going to be a lawyer!" Yet life for lawyers is rarely any more exciting than for accountants. Engineering has more variety and challenge than law, yet I have yet to see a single TV program about engineers. I suspect that this has much to do with the current glut of lawyers and dearth of engineers.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-22759516513504028262012-07-09T05:32:00.000-07:002012-07-09T05:32:31.557-07:00Marketing seems Easy, but it’s not<style>
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Most functions in business are clearly difficult. Someone in
purchasing knows that Finance has an advanced and specialized skill set, so
does R&D or the legal department. Most people even know that they could not
be in Sales. However, most people think that Marketing is easy. Even some
marketers, the weak ones, think it is easy – they are a level of, as they say,
“unconscious incompetence.” I used to have a boss, a man with an operations
background, who loved package design, but who was almost totally color blind,
and did not understand why it would make any difference at all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often we are faced with a sort of mental
blindness that prevents others seeing why there is any value in training or
experience in marketing. The fact that much in Marketing is, or should be, data
driven, is hard enough, but many concepts are even tougher to understand. For
example, we glibly say, “sell the sizzle, not the steak,” or “talk benefits,
not features,” yet, so many people seem to find it difficult to tell the
difference, particularly those who are close to the product. </div>
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While I have written about being data driven in the past,
this post is going to concentrate on the non-quantitative aspects of marketing.
Four out of five advertisements, websites and social media campaigns fail to
address the primary needs of the target customer in a way that is meaningful to
them. They fail to be meaningful to the audience, differentiated in a way which
makes sense, and relevant to the needs of the target market. In addition, they
often pack in a laundry list of features, thus confusing the audience and
weakening the message. “Positioning is sacrifice” – it the options you leave
out that make the message so strong. These cannot be quantified, yet they are
critical and very difficult to sustain. So often, the CEO or CTO pushes for
something which weakens the message. In B2B it can be even more complex as
there may be many target audiences depending on the buying process in a
company. For enterprise software, for example, there are one million software
companies, of which one hundred thousand are trying to sell to any one large
corporation in a year. The large corporation may have one thousand software
products in use in the organization, and anything from 5 to 50 people
participate in the buying decision, most of whom can say “no,” but few can say
“yes.”</div>
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Quite a few years ago, as we were getting ready to launch
high speed data to consumers at US West, I had constant battles with the CTO. I
kept on tying to get him to listen to the customer, and he would keep on
telling me “I am the expert, not the customer, who has no knowledge of the
technology.” Explaining that understanding current problems and getting some
feedback to how it could be used, was of little use, until I tricked him into
listening to customers by inviting hi to dinner in what was the back room of a
focus group facility. He still kept on wanting to tell them how it worked
though!</div>
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While marketers do themselves a disservice by failing to be
sufficiently data driven, thus contributing to the short stay of CMOs in their
position, we do not do a good enough job of making clear some very simple
concepts, such a positioning, or added value. As a result, many non marketers
expect the new CMO to come in, sprinkle marketing pixie dust over the business
and make it fly! Disappointment is inevitable. Marketers have an ongoing
obligation to demonstrate how it works, and what has to be done to make it
effective.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795902.post-70769075396067591512012-06-13T11:22:00.001-07:002012-07-09T05:33:16.648-07:00Are doctors scientists?There is a process called the scientific method which is what scientists use. It is not based on deductive reasoning, which starts with one or more facts or suppositions and builds on them to form a conclusion. Nor is it based on inductive reasoning, which assembles all possible facts which are then analyzed to reach a conclusion. Scientists know that there are so many potential datapoints or experiments that can be done that it is inefficient and time consuming. So, they use the facts that they have to build a hypothesis, then carry out an experiment to confirm or refute it. If the latter occurs, they form a new hypothesis based on the new learning and test again, thus narrowing down to the correct conclusion or theory.<br />
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How often do we hear a doctor say, "I don't think that is likely, but let's test to rule it out?" This is the opposite of the scientific method and is dangerous. If you do not suffer in the way you are testing for, any positive result is likely to be a false positive. Testing should begin with the most likely. This suggests that doctors do not think like scientists.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12367655894840073669noreply@blogger.com0