November 2008 Archives

Between a pebble and a hard place

By Steven Feinberg on November 25, 2008 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender, was old and ugly and fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal.

The cunning money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the matter. He would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven.

2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven.

3) If she refused, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag.

Now, imagine you were standing in the field. What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Under careful analysis we can see there are three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

What would you recommend to the girl to do? Well, here is what she did ....

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. 'Oh, how clumsy of me,' she said. 'But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.' Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed she had picked the white one.

The girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an advantageous one.

As we approach Thanksgiving, with our economic turmoil that seem to place us between a rock and a hard place remember it might only require a pebble game to win.

The Disadvantge(s) of Across the Board Cost Cutting

By Steven Feinberg on November 24, 2008 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Cost savings is sound business. We shouldn't argue that point. But executive cost cutting may be going overboard and it may not be their fault.

Every executive I've partnered with has consistently said there is always fat, and on an ongoing basis we should find ways to do more with less. No brainer. The economic shock has managers cutting across the board. Is that wise or otherwise?

Throwing good money after bad practices is what you want to cut. But you don't want to let the GM finance people design the cars. They've actually done that in the past, cut costs and no one bought the cars. Saving money is not the game. Making cars that make money is the game winner.

Our economy works because of cash flow. If everyone or enough people take their money out of the flow it not only reduces the existing cash flow, it makes it harder to rebound. Fear takes hold and accentuates the original problem.

Structurally there are some fundamental shifts that must be made. I think the new Obama administration has an economic team that is sharp enough (pragmatists rather than ideologues) to reduce the rate of the fall and build confidence to get people and companies into the game again. That's step one. The next step is the time frame. How long will it take and how will you respond in the meantime?

20% cuts across the board will provide expense controls. Even in academia, department heads and program heads are being asked to simply cut. But from where? If you want to drive more business, cutting marketing and sales seems like a counterproductive practice, unless you don't think you have new customers. The innovators will create value, the Advantage-Makes will spot the opportunities.

CFO's are the keeper of the cost control levers. They know their job, and the great ones are particularly skilled at managing the ROI. The problems is short term controls that manage cash flow now, but reduce or worse miss opportunities that pay for themselves over time.

Too many company executives are inadvertently contributing to their own pain by playing duck and cover. Again this might not be there fault given that they won't get beat up for following orders. Take for example a client who typically get a 3% response rate from a marketing campaign to the Fortune 100 CEO's. If they took the usual route they'd play duck and cover, and be glad they achieved the 3%, who could fault them. But on the other hand, working with the Advantage-Making principles we devised a campaign that actually achieved a 30% response rate.

From 3% to 30%. Which result would you pay for? And more importantly you must invest in your people who are Advantage-Makers. Not all people operate the same. This is akin to the old 80/20 rule. Your stars will shine now.

The disadvantage of cost cutting with Advantage-Makers is treating everyone equally. It's really important to consider what is an expense that can be cut and what looks like an expense that is actually an investment and will keep both the Advantage-Makers in your company and your company in the money.

Getting rid of 'dead wood' whether people who aren't rowing with you, or processes that are logjams, or organizational practices that are redundant or create role conflict, or products and services that don't produce are all solid cost cutting practices. But please be careful of playing duck and cover, rather than creating advantages that generate cash flow and revenue.

Why do some leaders win and some lose in tough times?

By Steven Feinberg on November 17, 2008 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In these recessionary times there are leaders who always meet their numbers, do more with less, and despite this crazy economy are able to compete and come out on top. There are a few key reasons why the big winners are consistently successful, and its worth knowing how the big winners do it.

I've been studying these people, Advantage-Makers, for decades, and have figured out that they do it by asking a few simple questions that no one else asks. I’ve began the discussion of questions in the previous blog, let’s take it another step forward.

The first question for Advantage-Makers is that they question the givens.

For example, FedEx CEO Fred Smith's, hub and spoke system questioned the routine of how packages should be transported. How did he think that sending packages in the middle of the night to Tennessee and then distributing to the rest of the country would work? It earned him a "C" grade in his graduate school class. The professor never consulted for him. But FedEx is guaranteed overnight delivery and as we know a huge success.

Any of you play golf? Jack Nicklaus, renown golf legend, was asked to design a golf course for the Caymen Islands. One catch. The Island is too small for standard golf courses. He didn’t ask golfers to change there swing, the given he questioned was the ball. He changed the ball so it wouldn’t travel as far. Just the opposite of what was expected. Maybe they just yell 2 when they hit it awry. Never the less, they play golf on the Caymen Islands.

Which brings us to the next question. George Prince, CEO of Synectics, an innovation firm, asked, “What is the anomaly here?” That is, what is unexpected that seems to be pushing forth. This attention to what isn’t expected has earned the company millions and produced millions more for their clientele including many in the Fortune 500.

A national Science foundation code breaker and scientist, asks,

“What am I not supposed to notice here?” As we talked at a restaurant he pointed to a series of ceiling chandeliers that were hanging above us. He described his thought process beginning with the notion, “What is attempting to distract my attention.” He pointed out that the chandeliers were attached about 30 feet above, and we weren’t supposed to notice how high the real ceiling was. Our attention was drawn to the light fixture and light, not the ceiling height. If most patrons had looked at the ceiling the restaurant would not have much clientele.

My friend and colleague, George Silverman, Word-of-Mouth Marketer, asks, “What is obvious that is missing here?” It is his contention that in this information-overloaded marketplace, the product with the easiest decision path tends to win. He works with companies to make their customers decisions easier. His question, “What is obvious that is missing here?” leads him to systematically eliminate the most important bottlenecks and provide customers with exactly what they need when they need it.

My advantage-making question is, “How am I taking this ‘situation’ and making it what it could be? It drives counterintuitive solutions that have generated millions of dollars of profitability, created advantages that to others don’t even appear to exist and consistently enabled leaders and their teams to compete more effectively than others and gain credibility others lack. The key is to look for possibility, and shift your vantage point, rather than follow the expected procedure.

Other advantage-Makers have asked, “What is the real driving force, the leverage in this situation? By using this question the path of least resistance was found in a major negotiation that had been overlooked.

Once you ask the question you sort for answers, if you are doing it right the usual answers will be background while foreground will be the new unexpected solution. Just as Fred Smith’s hub and spoke delivery system and JacK Nicklaus’s golf ball for the Cayman Island sized golf course demonstrated. Real world unexpected advantages.

The difference between the managers who survive and those who fail is their ability to create advantages every day with employees, customers and vendors.  60% of daily advantage opportunities are overlooked and missed by struggling managers, who, surprisingly, seldom ask, "What else should I do?", or "What am I missing".  

Are you providing the daily advantages to employees, customers and vendors that are that are hidden in plain sight? If not, you might want to start paying attention to both what is given, the anomalies and then questioning the givens.

In times of recession, not knowing how to shift will lead to failure

By Steven Feinberg on November 16, 2008 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Not all leaders are Advantage-Makers. Leaders with the penetrating insight and sound judgment of an Advantage-Maker are able to turn situations to their best possible advantage, create superior outcomes in the face of constraints, and guard against the designs of their competitors.

Are you ready to take your Advantage-Making ability to the next level?

Many managers wait too long or in this recession play duck and cover. And worse, they repeat what they know instead of shifting. This is a surprising and unfortunate conclusion about failing companies and failing executives. In times of disruption, they rely upon the same strategy they used to succeed in the past.

In my book, The Advantage-Makers, I point out that Advantage-Makers are originators. Their impulse is original. To originate requires a shift. In a practical sense, new products and services aren't introduced every day, but your capacity for fresh thinking exists every day.

Advantage-Making is not as much creativity, as it is Shifting

Will you engage in strategic shifts when you encounter challenges? In essence, the code of the Advantage-Makers is based upon shifts ---- more specifically shifting time, interactions, perceptions and structures. Therefore, at your core, have you deliberately cultivated the capacity to shift?

Advantage-Making is a Craft

This is not a once-you-read-it-now-you're-done type of talent. Professional actors think of acting as a craft. Excelling in their craft requires learning specific distinctions to get into character. Musicians work on scales to keep their skills honed. Similarly, advantage-making is a craft that improves with practice.

Do the most with the hand dealt to you

While working with George Prince, CEO, of Synectics, we engaged in a research project to understand how to 'manage innovation with others.' One of the profound insights we discovered was each winning innovator had a p private question that drove their success. In George's case, his hidden question was, "Am I making this 'situation' what it could be?"

This questions orients and reveals an internal drive - an ambitious curiosity. George's strong intent and his way of operating had two tendencies. He would shift to different vantage points to view the issues - close up, helicopter view, people view, tech view etc, and he would imagine what those situations could be. In other words, he was generating a world of possibility. George's ongoing sensibilities was to make these possibilities practical, workable realities. Increasing the chances of spotting an opportunity begins with you exercising the craft.

Contrast George's approach with a CEO who made money on a single business proposition that he implemented. It worked---until the market changed and he couldn't change with it. A difference exists between those who are guided by an Advantage-Making question and those who have a one-time win. The CEO stopped looking for vantage points; his personal question was something like, "Is this working?" Similar to a thermostat, he wasn't thinking or considering anything that could be done.

So consider which approach will win more often

"How am I making this 'situation' what it could be?"

vs.

"Is this working?"

Furthermore, if your internal question is, "How will they use this against me?" it will narrow your focus, and make Advantage-Making more difficult for you. Each of us has a question, find out yours, it's determining your level of success. You may be repeating the same old strategy without knowing it.

Don't wait. Use the Advantage-Making question today (there are others, but try this one now). You have to do more with less. You can cut, and should, where you are not getting value. But across the board cutting is a 'duck and cover' strategy. The real problem with duck and cover is eventually you've ducked and covered so much you missed the fact that you are now the cut back.

Ask the wrong question, you'll get an answer, but the recession could turn into a personal depression.

If you absolutely had to make get more revenue, not just cut expenses, would you duck and cover?

The first step to your success in this recession is a question away.

Your future is on the line, ask the right questions.

Managing Interactions: How to Make Things Worse

By Steven Feinberg on November 10, 2008 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Managing interactions is imperative for more than just service businesses.

All companies, including high-tech and product companies, must manage interactions as well. Whether they are direct interpersonal contacts with the customer or the user interface on your computer.

Take Google. You interact with the company through your computer. Google's interface is simple, easy, fast and multiplies the value (search) to you. While the big engines are behind the scene, focus on the user interface has made the company.

Now let’s take a slightly different angle and consider your interactions with people.

During this time of crisis your people are nervous, how do you interact with them? Denial, false bravado or command presence? Every non-verbal move you make is creating an impression (think McCain Vs. Obama in that last debate). You're being watched, and your boss, colleagues and employees will either feel a sense of confidence or worry. Just take a look at the stock market after our politicians speak! Millions go up and down.

Leaders sometimes get confused, stressed, uncertain about how to deal with people issues. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Let me see if I can begin to help you here.

And yes, its ok to get help on this. Many of the brilliant leaders I’ve described in my book, The Advantage-Makers, collaborated, had mentors and were helped in managing interactions. It’s a huge leverage, and a small shift can make all the difference.

Remember all those late night conversations because of mishandled or misguided interaction in your relationship at work or closer to home. Wished you hadn’t said something, or had said it better?

In the midst of an economic downturn, worse than making your sticky situations stickier you, you are just the next communication away from missing an opportunity, bungling your influence with your team, putting yourself at a disadvantage that worsens your negotiation power or getting fired.

Stress, pressure or skipping a step has caused many to simply forget what it takes to create wealth, establish credibility and lasting success.Actually no one may have shown you how to manage interactions to consistently produce superior outcomes in the face of constraints. That’s what Advantage-Makers do, it places them in a different league.

On a bad day most business folks look at managing interactions as soft stuff or fluff. Some people make the huge mistake of thinking this is just for beginners. But to the Aces of Influence, the Movers and Shakers, the Resilient and Winners amongst us know it separates them from the mere mortals who struggle to make ends meet.

After learning to strategically interact, one seasoned veteran, who booked millions of dollars of business exclaimed, I can’t believe how much I’ve been bungling these interactions. I didn’t realize it and I don’t have to.

The good news then is that it is something your can – and should – learn.
There is a system for doing that, quickly and with minimal pain, and with personal guidance of an expert.

And I don’t care how ‘interaction challenged’ you’ve been or feel you are, or think your company fails at. This is something you and your company can master. We can fix the hole in your ‘interaction bungling bucket’ right away. We could exchange the word ‘money’ for ‘interaction’, and we would be close to right. That would mean we will be fixing the hole in your ‘money bungling bucket’

Right now, let me begin to give you the foundation…for simply reading along.

There are 3 major ways you make sticky situations stickier.

1) Taking action when your shouldn’t

2) Not taking action when you should

3) Taking the wrong action

Too simple? Start applying it to real stuff that matters. Today identify moments of truth and consider

1) If you are taking action when you shouldn’t?
For example, are you pushing your viewpoint, pressing without being clear about what is really going on?
Are you becoming defensive when challenged?

2) If you are not taking action when you should?
For instance, not making the hard decisions can lead conflicts to fester and morale to deteriorate.
This cost a CEO his job, and I might add, it was appropriate, since his stubbornness was equaled only by his unwillingness to make the hard decisions that stalled all forward movement in the company.

Are you not checking expectations with your supplier?
While reviewing a client's past million dollar mistakes we found this exact problem, but it wasn't as obvious as it may sound. We found the root cause in his thinking that led him to make this error, when he realized his blind-spot he stopped making this mistake. He’s worth a lot more to the company now.

3) If you are taking the wrong action?
And this can be the place you need the most help.
Are you using a hatchet when you should be using a scalpel?
Are you trying to solve a leadership issue thinking it’s a technical problem?
Are you trying to overdo everything when really what you should be its simply doing the high leverage actions.

A COO of a high tech company was describing the supply chain in his business. As we talked he realized that there were too many interactions to manage. And further more, more relationships were not necessarily better. Rather, having a few really good relationships is what created huge leverage in terms of speed, ease and simplicity. Managing these interactions became a multiplier for the business.

Simple interaction tactics and strategies can really turn your upside down business right side up. They position your to be in a better place. If you think these simple interactions errors can’t happen to you or really hurt your business. Please its time to think again.

So, right now, in your business begin to manage interactions and if you do it right, you can increase your influence and the likelihood of people saying yes to your requests.

President Obama is an Advantage-Maker Leader

By Steven Feinberg on November 6, 2008 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Obama wins. Transforms the election process, and the country. Change has won.

Not just words. Obama is a game changer.

Hope took action, let's take an Advantage-Makers (the code of Advantage-Maker is non-partisan)

view of how he did it. Dreams have come true, but this is no ordinary dreamer, he's practical.

First, financing his campaign through small internet donors

Second, generating a huge grass roots movement, incredible word of mouth interactions from the bottom-up

Third, a 50 state campaign to expand the map, not the usual 18 states. This in itself changed the game.

Fourth, his command presence demonstrated during the economic melt down; steady, command over the issues

Fifth, ground game during the actual election, momentum management moving the voters:early voting and Nov 4th

Sixth, language. Obama's command over language enables him to influence perception, inspiring hope

Seventh, he got ahead, shifting time, anticipated the Iraq war mistake.

Eighth, economic meltdown is met w/Obama structural programs to get America to work, stabilizing the economy

Obama demonstrated all the elements of Advantage-Makers during the election.

Now we will see him apply it during his administration

Shifting time creates possibilities

Shifting interactions changes the game

Shifting perception influences outcomes

Shifting structures shapes behavior.

Keep your eye on how he shifts time, interactions, perceptions, and structures.

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