Emory’s Peter Topping has just started blogging at EmoryLeadership.org.
His blog is about leadership and it discontents… Here’s his POV:
“I work with managerial leaders every day. My emphasis is on helping them find ways to enhance their leadership effectiveness incrementally – based upon their current leadership context.
“My purpose in offering this blog is to engage in dialog about how to do that at the highest possible level – what are the optimal ways to enable individuals to be better managerial leaders?”
Advice to Women who would be CEOs: “Stay away from HR”
Another blurb in Fortune caught my eye:
Why aren’t there more female CEOs? Interestingly, that question (Nov. 14) inspired many more comments from men than from women, and plenty of them echoed this one, from Henrik S.: “When a man in a high position fails, the reason people give is never ‘because he’s a man.’ Imagine, for example, how different the press coverage would have been if Michael Eisner had been Michelle Eisner.” Most correspondents passed along advice for young female go-getters. The consensus: More women need to major in the sciences and engineering, go to business school, and, as one reader put it, “stay away from jobs in soft support-staff areas like HR, which don’t usually lead to the top no matter who (male or female) is doing them.”
It is a sad fact that women are just not getting to the top.
The culprit in my view is cultural inertia coupled with myopic vision in the boardroom.
See also: “Leadership in Your Midst: Tapping the Hidden Strengths of Minority Executives” by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Carolyn Buck Luce, and Cornel West (yes, that Cornel West).
Here’s the article abstract:
All companies value leadership–some of them enough to invest dearly in cultivating it. But few management teams seem to value one engine of leadership development that is right under their noses, churning out the kind of talent they need most. It’s the complicated, overburdened but very rich lives of their minority managers. Minority professionals–particularly women of color–are called upon inordinately to lend their skills and guidance to activities outside their jobs. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, who heads the Center for Work-Life Policy, and her co-authors, Carolyn Buck Luce of Ernst & Young and Cornel West of Princeton, present new research on the extent to which minority professionals take on community service and other responsibilities outside the workplace and more than their share of recruiting, mentoring, and committee work within the workplace. These invisible lives, argue the authors, can be a source of competitive strength if companies can learn to recognize and further cultivate the cultural capital they represent. But it’s hard to convince minority professionals that their employer respects and values their off-hours responsibilities. A lack of trust keeps many people from revealing much about their personal lives. The authors outline four ways companies can leverage hidden skills: Develop a new level of awareness of minority professionals’ invisible lives; appreciate the outsize burdens these professionals carry and try to lighten them; build trust by putting teeth into diversity goals; and, to finish the job of leadership development, help minorities reflect on their off-hours experiences, extract and generalize the lessons, and apply what’s been learned in other settings.
Frankly, it’s even worse than this. Most companies (not just in the US) are still run by paternalistic, chauvinistic and yes, racist, management. I’ll blog about this soon.
In the meantime, stay away from HR, PR, and Accounting- if you want to get to the top, that is.
Andy Grove: “Engage and then plan…”
Harvard’s Richard Tedlow tells us the Andy Grove story in Fortune:
“At Intel he (Andy) fostered a culture in which “knowledge power” would trump “position power.” Anyone could challenge anyone else’s idea, so long as it was about the idea and not the person–and so long as you were ready for the demand “Prove it.” That required data. Without data, an idea was only a story–a representation of reality and thus subject to distortion.”
An example? How Grove managed his prostrate cancer treatment:
“…when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1995, Grove found himself in the position of most patients: frightened, disoriented, and entirely reliant on the advice of doctors. Their advice was straightforward: Surgery was the best option, and that was pretty much all there was to it.
“Was it, though? It took very little to discover that there was much, much more to it. There were alternatives to surgery. No surgeon advised him to take them seriously. But the expert opinions, Grove soon determined, were just that–opinions, based on little if any hard data. Data did exist. What Grove found most shocking is that no one had done the hard work of pulling it together. Plainly, Grove would have to do it himself.
“The patient, in effect, became his own doctor.”
and-
“What Grove found most appalling, in the end, was the utter fixity of belief among doctors who failed to separate knowledge from conventional wisdom. Even the doctor who carried out Grove’s procedure was captive to it. “If you had what I have, what would you do?” Grove asked him at one point. The doctor said he’d probably have surgery. Confounded, Grove later asked why. The doctor thought about it. “You know,” Grove remembers him saying, “all through medical training, they drummed into us that the gold standard for prostate cancer is surgery. I guess that still shapes my thinking.”
On technology and strategy:
“His (Grove’s) speech was a strong statement about strategy. Understanding comes from action. So “be quick and dirty,” he said. “Engage and then plan. And get it better. Revolutions in our industry in our lifetime have taken place using exactly this formula. The best example is the IBM PC”–created on the fly by a team in Boca Raton.”
There’s more… Read the article >>
Kawasaki: Top 11 Lies of Entrepreneurs
Here’s a great post from Guy Kawasaki on the lies entrepreneurs tell, and sometimes actually believe:
I get pitched dozens of times every year, and every pitch contains at least three or four of these lies. I provide them not because I believe I can increase the level of honesty of entrepreneurs as much as to help entrepreneurs come up with new lies. At least new lies indicate a modicum of creativity!
1. “Our projections are conservative.”
2. “Gartner says our market will be $50 billion in 2010.”
3. “Boeing is going to sign our purchase order next week.”
4. “Key employees are set to join us as soon as we get funded.”
5. “No one is doing what we’re doing.”
6. “No one can do what we’re doing.”
7. “Hurry because several other venture capital firms are interested.”
8. “Oracle is too big/dumb/slow to be a threat.”
9. “We have a proven management team.”
10. “Patents make our product defensible.”
11. “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”
Read the full post here >>
Disclosure: I have to say I’m guilty of #8 🙂
Book Value Deal: Jimmy Carter + Doug Smith
If you’re interested in values and business sustainability, you should check out this double book deal on Amazon.com. For the rest of this month, you can buy On Value and Values by Doug Smith together with Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter and save $20.76…
See the details on Doug Smith’s site >>
Soccer Fun on Google Video
Soccer is the global attention magnet.
Don’t believe it? Check out Google Video: one of the most popular clips is this one. I’ve watched it twice already. Henry, Roberto Carlos, Beckham, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Ziddane – you name ’em!
See this clip as well (it ends with Maradona’s infamous “hand-of-God” goal against England)… and this, and this!
Google – you have a winner!
Jakob Nielsen: Google, Yahoo are Leeches!
Usability guru Jakob Nielsen says: “search engines extract too much of the Web’s value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content.”
And: “In the long run, every time companies increase the value of their online businesses, they end up handing over all that added value to the search engines. Any gain is temporary; once competing sites improve their profit-per-visitor enough to increase their search bids, they’ll drive up everybody’s cost of traffic.”
According to Nielsen, “liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors.”
What does he mean? He means that companies need to focus on search engines for initial acquisition, but then bring them directly to the site- i.e. keep ’em coming back for more.
Again, his words: “The question is: How can websites devote more of their budgets to keeping customers, rather than simply advertising for new visitors?”
Nielsen offers the following suggestions:
– Email newsletters
– Request marketing
– Affiliate programs
– Newsfeeds
– Stick your URL onto any physical product you sell
– A hardware component that’s hardwired to connect to your site’s service
– Mobile features
I have a powerful answer: ’tis double loop marketing!
Read Nielesen’s post >>
Bonus: an interview I did with Jakob Nielsen years ago now…
Wild Rumor: Ballmer Out, Clinton In @Microsoft
This one is so wierd, it could be true. Andy Abramson says that Bill Clinton will replace Ballmer, or perhaps get on the board. I believe it’ll be the latter.
Why? Because Bill Clinton can’t focus on just one thing. After all, he’s gotta fight AIDS, help with the Tsunami+Katrina recovery, build a sustainable energy strategy for the US, get Hilary ready to run for President, his Global Initiative, and his Small Business Initiative… and that’s just in the a.m.
See what I mean? No way he’s going to waste his time as president of Microsoft.
That said, he’ll do great on the board. He can go up against Al Gore who’s on the board at Apple. Frankly, I see Bechtel hiring him as an advisor before Microsoft. Now would that be ironic.
Besides, look for Google to hire him away from Microsoft! 🙂
Bill Gates Worries about Big Blue, not Google
“The biggest company in the computer industry by far is IBM. They have the four times the employees that I have, way more revenues than I have. IBM has always been our biggest competitor. The press just doesn’t like to write about IBM,” said Gates in an interview on Wednesday ahead of his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas…
Wait till the Google-Desktop takes over MS-Office.
What’s Google-Desktop? It’s how Google will take over your PC via the web. Fits in nicely with a $100 PC don’t you think?
What does a web-based desktop look like? Take a look at this.
OK, I admit it has a ways to go, but I know Google will do this right. They’re going to add an “open-office” component to the web-desktop. You’ll be able to do your word-processing, your spreadsheets, your presentations, your email, your calendar, your RSS subscriptions, your blog, your IM, your VOIP, your video-conferencing, your downloading, your podcasts, your news, your search, and your shopping all at Google.com. That’s going to be the real Google Pack!
And that’s why AOL went with Google, not Microsoft.
Microsoft will become a B2B software company, and yes, IBM will be the biggest competitor in that space.
Getting Your IT Nerds to Innovate
Few studies have studied adoption of IS innovations by IS development (ISD) organizations. I just found a study that does.
Apparently researchers observed ten factors explaining radical innovation.
Seven factors were internal or organizational factors of which four characterize a configuration of capabilities that promote radical innovation within the firm. These four are: 1) Depth of Knowledge Resources; 2) Specialists; 3) Diversity of Knowledge; 4) Related Assets. The remaining three internal factors relate to features of processes where these capabilities are mobilized in ways that promote radical innovation. These three are: 5) Intra-firm Structural Linkages; 6) Experimentation; and 7) Technological Opportunism.
In addition to the seven organizational (internal) factors, three additional environmental (external) factors predict radical innovation within ISD organizations: 8) Environmental Dynamism; 9) Unit Autonomy; and 10) Adopters’ IT Strategic Congruence.
Read the report >>
Michael Porter: The Relationship between Innovation & Living Standards
During the 1990s, Americans found a way to do what seemed no longer possible — grow the economy, create jobs, and increase the standard of living, without driving up inflation. Much of the credit goes to the nation’s ability to develop and commercialize new technology. The result: one of the most robust periods of economic expansion and prosperity of the past century.
Today, the nation is experiencing an economic downturn. While fiscal and monetary policies pump dollars into the economy to boost the level of activity, innovation infuses the economy with growth-incubating new ideas, new products, services, and technologies. National policies and national investment choices have much to do with the growth and capacity of the American economy. For innovation, however, the real locus of innovation is at the regional level. The vitality of the U.S. economy then depends on creating innovation and competitiveness at the regional level.
In healthy regions, competitiveness and innovation are concentrated in clusters, or interrelated industries, in which the region specializes. The nation’s ability to produce high-value products and services that support high wage jobs depends on the creation and strengthening of these regional hubs of competitiveness and innovation.
Led by our buddy Michael Porter, the “Clusters of Innovation Initiative” examined five regions around the country: Atlanta, Pittsburgh, the Research Triangle, San Diego and Wichita.
One key point: “Growth is not the same as prosperity. Growth is only desirable if the standard of living of citizens rises. High growth per se often leads to a rising cost of living that erodes prosperity and degrades natural resources and physical infrastructure that support quality of life.”
My question: are there virtual innovation clusters out there as well? Clusters tied by purpose, but not geography? Is there a way to create and strengthen a virtual innovation cluster?
Read the report, and let’s talk >>
Googlespace Update: Video-On-Demand
Let’s see, what is Google’s innovation rate? One new service per month, per week?
Today we’ll see Google-Video and Google-Wallet. CBS is in on the deal with Google. So is the NBA.
Will Google go after the World Cup? If they do, it’s goodbye, Yahoo!
Another interesting day in Googlespace…
Piper Jaffray on Google: Target Price = $600
We believe the stock will hold its multiple a year from now for the following reasons:
• Given the company’s performance, market share gain, and the pipeline of new
products, we believe outperformance is still very likely;
• We expect the global search market to grow by 41% in 2006 and maintain a
CAGR of 37% over the next five years;
• We expect Google to continue to gain market share in 2006. In 2005, the
company gained an additional 5% market share in the U.S. alone;
• Google’s brand continued to gain strength as the release of new innovative
products such as Google Maps and Gmail enhanced the consumer’s Internet
experience;
• Google’s innovations are fueling an impressive pipeline of new initiatives
particularly Google’s Ad Network and Google Base, which should become
notable revenue generators by the end of 2006;
• Expectations for Google most likely remain conservative – we note that we have
raised our forward estimates every quarter of 2005 from our 2006 net revenue
estimate of $4.7B before Google’s Q1 reporting to our current estimate of $8.8B,
an increase of more than 87% since April;
• Despite being the most talked about stock of 2005, GOOG remains significantly
less widely owned than other key technology names and has yet to be added to
the S&P 500.
While the stock may have its ups and downs throughout the year, we believe it will
reach $600 by the end of 2006 and we prefer to have one 12-month price target
rather than raise it every quarter.
The above factors are leading us to raise our one-year price target to $600, sharply higher than our previous $445 target, but based on fundamentally the same reasoning taken one year further out. Our previous target of $445, which GOOG exceeded briefly in intra-day trading in mid-December, was based on 50x our proforma 2006 EPS estimate. Our new price target, which we feel is attainable by GOOG 12 months from now, is based on 50x our 2007 proforma EPS estimate. Although such a high multiple may seem aggressive, we believe that given Google’s dominant position in an already large yet still rapidly growing market, its phenomenal brand power, and its status as a technology leader justifies such a valuation. Also, importantly, it’s likely 2007 estimates will come up throughout the year, as we have seen this pattern for 2006 estimates play out in 2005. As such, we believe the ending multiple will be well below 50x.
We believe Google is an iconic company that, like Microsoft and eBay before it, has defined a new and vital industry. Such market leading technology companies have traditionally traded with peak valuations in the 50x-60x range. EBAY, for example, has traded between 38x and 158x its one-year forward earnings estimate since 2000 with an average forward multiple of 70x. Even excluding the bubble years of pre-2001, eBay had maintained a multiple generally above 55x. Currently the other leading Internet companies, Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon trade at an average of 45x 2006 proforma EPS estimates, with Google only slightly higher than average at 47x (and notably below Amazon’s multiple of 52x). We believe that over the next year as Google’s lead in search and online advertising becomes even more apparent and its growth far exceeds its closest comparables (we predict GOOG will grow revenue by 52% in 2006 while YHOO, EBAY, and AMZN will only grow by 27%, 34%, and 19%, respectively), investors, who may be inclined to take some profit now given GOOG’s gains in 2005, will increase their holdings of Google.
Read the full report on Battelle’s site >>
Goldman Sachs’ Environmental Policy Framework
Do you believe this:
Goldman Sachs believes that a healthy environment is necessary for the well-being of
society, our people and our business, and is the foundation for a sustainable and strong
economy.
Goldman Sachs recognizes that diverse, healthy natural resources – fresh water, oceans,
air, forests, grasslands, and agro-systems – are a critical component of social and
sustainable economic development. Forests are particularly important for the
environment and biodiversity. They are vital to water and air quality, and help regulate
climates. Forests are home to thousands of wildlife species, and, at the same time,
represent a natural source of timber. The key challenge for society is to manage the
competing human demands on land, soil and vegetation without undermining crucial
ecosystem functions.
We take seriously our responsibility for environmental stewardship and believe that as a
leading global financial institution we should play a constructive role in helping to
address the challenges facing the environment. To that end, we will work to ensure that
our people, capital and ideas are used to help find effective market-based solutions to
address climate change, ecosystem degradation and other critical environmental issues,
and we will seek to create new business opportunities that benefit the environment. We
will work to identify policy measures that are creative, meaningful and provide real
solutions to environmental problems while recognizing the importance of economic
growth in contributing to the alleviation of poverty. In pursuing these objectives we will
not stray from our central business objective of creating long-term value for our
shareholders and serving the long-term interests of our clients.
Go GS! Make sure you practice what you preach…
Read the full text here >>
Clicks and Conversion Rates in 2005
I just read a Brian Eisenberg article in which he says:
“Depending on whom you ask, average conversion rates are between 2 and 4 percent. By today’s standards, you get bragging rights and the full dose of hero treatment if you can maintain a conversion rate of 5 percent or above. You have deity-like status if your conversion rate approaches double digits. the world’s finest players sport double-digit conversion rates of somewhere around 12-14 percent.
“Of course, I’m referencing top-line conversion: Tthe number of visitors who take the macro action you want them to divided by the total number of site visitors.Aa double-digit conversion rate seems unimaginable to some, but experience demonstrates it’s certainly possible. We’ve seen it happen time and again.”
The funny thing is I have a client, who for some reason, is unimpressed by a 44% conversion rate I’ve gotten for them over the past year. Some months it went down to 39%, in other months it was up as high as 53%. I’m not kidding. And the client still doesn’t understand how amazing this is.
What’s amazing about Double Loop Marketing is just how effective it can be. For instance, my record-breaking conversion rate was 98% for an offer on a landing page from John Hagel and JSB. Now granted, JH3 and JSB are smart people, and when they give away something for free, it’s not difficult to see that they’d have a great conversion rate. That said, 98%?!! I’m still in shock over that one.
This year I’ve resolved to publish a book on the power of Double Loop Marketing, with a few, real-life case studies comparing traditional online marketing approaches with Double Loop Marketing tactics. God and the devil are both in the details, as they say. John Hagel’s has committed to writing the foreword for the book, so I think that itself will make the book worth reading 🙂
Another Service in Googlespace
Google keeps on introducing micro-services. Here’s one I find very, very interesting: Blogger Web Comments for Firefox.
Despite the geek-inspired name of the service, it’s another brilliant move. Here’s how it works:
As you visit any given page in Firefox, a comment panel featuring blog posts linking to this page will appear on the bottom right of your browser. Clicking on any of the entries will open that blog post in a new tab. You can toggle between the compact and extended comment lists, or even hide the panel completely. To bring it back, just click the icon or the icon in the lower right corner of your browser and select “View comments.” When there are lots of comments, you can click on the “Show lots more…” link, which will open a new tab in your browser with all Google Blog Search results.
Pretty nifty, ha?
Of course, to add your own comments on the page you’re on, you’ll need to have a Blogger account.
What it does for Google is take it one giant step further into the social-networking-wisdom-of-crowds space. And they didn’t have to acquire anyone to do it.
Learn more about Google’s product development process >>
Abramoff, Business Ethics, and Peter Drucker on Decision-Making
Find me an honest politician, and I will spare this world. We looked everywhere, but could not find an honest politician.
I’m kidding here, but just barely.
“Abramoff is the central figure in what could become the biggest congressional corruption scandal in generations,” writes the Washington Post.
And today there’s another story: apparently “the U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.”
And:
“Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham, the congressman’s former chief of staff and the organizer of the U.S. Family Network, said Buckham told them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives. Abramoff had been working closely with two such Russian energy executives on their Washington agenda, and the lobbyist and Buckham had helped organize a 1997 Moscow visit by DeLay (R-Tex.).”
“The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to influence DeLay’s vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy.”
Everyone knows how corrupt politicians are. These days, it seems worse than ever.
But now we are looking at the Enronization of Business, all business.
If competitive advantage is gained through “bribes,” then why should business ever play straight?
Is corruption the core-competence of successful businesses? What happened to the rule of law?
From Exxon to Wal-mart, businesses have lost their way. In their hurry to boost shareholder value, they are destroying their brands and their future.
They are playing in Box 1 and ignoring Box 3.
So why is this happening? Why are so many smart businesses (and politicians) being so dumb?
The answer comes to us from the late Peter Drucker:
Drucker tells us this story about Alfred P. Sloan Jr. who is reported to have said at a meeting of one of the GM top committees, “Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here.” When everyone around the table nodded in assent, Sloan says: “Then I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.”
Drucker’s point is that “unless one has considered alternatives, one has a closed mind.” Decision-making for Drucker is best only if based on the clash of conflicting views, the dialogue between different points of view, and the choice between different judgements.”
The first rule of decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.
Alas, few business leaders or politicians tolerate dissent in their ranks. In fact, they work hard to eliminate nay-sayers.
And that is the root cause of all this corruption. Not money, but bad choices, bad decisions. OK- perhaps it is money after all.
Vijay Govindarajan on Strategy & Getting a Global Mindset
Where American education excels is in critical thinking, imagination, creativity and unstructured problem solving. People from India, and also China and Japan, have the basic skills drilled into them, “and when they acquire the knowledge taught at American business schools, the combination is dynamite.”
That’s Vijay Govindarajan (VG) explaining how East meets West and increasingly how West will have to meet the East.
Govindarajan has taught more than 3,000 students in his 20-year career at Tuck, and he has specific advice for the area’s high school students: “Learn languages, they open up your mind to different possibilities. Take courses in public speaking to build your level of confidence. Really focus on education, especially science, math and technology, and travel,” he said.
Is travel education? VG seems to think it is.
Read this article and listen to this audio interview on strategy.
Note his Box 1-2-3 freamework. According to VG, strategy is a competition for the future, not the present.
Box 1: Manage the Present
Box 2: Selectively Forget the Past
Box 3: Create the Future
Most companies are stuck in the present- Box 1. They spend their time in Box 1 and think they’re doing strategy.
It’s about continuous improvement (linear performance) vs. breakout performance (non-linear). Listen to his example about Hasbro- the family entertainment company. Who has time to play Monopoly for a half a day?
Again, listen to this interview. What happens when children go older younger– a non-linear shift in Hasbro’s market. By focusing on the tweens- learn how Hasbro creates a whole new business with Video Now… Box-3 thinking.
Roots and chains… Fertilize your roots, but break your chains.
Nice language from VG. But how do you re-invent Monopoly?
What about Kodak? VG tells us why Nokia and HP are the biggest player in digital cameras.
How can companies succeed in strategic innovation? See Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators: From Idea to Execution
How to Create Dysfunctional Teams
From The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
Strategy for Overcoming:
• Identify and discuss individual strengths and weaknesses
• Spend considerable time in face-to-face meetings and working sessions
Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
Strategy for Overcoming:
• Acknowledge that conflict is required for productive meetings
• Understand individual team member’s natural conflict styles, and
establish common ground rules for engaging in conflict
Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
Strategy for Overcoming:
• Review commitments at the end of each meeting to ensure all team
members are aligned
• Adopt a “disagree and commit” mentality—make sure all team
members are committed regardless of initial disagreements
Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
Strategy for Overcoming:
• Explicitly communicate goals and standards of behavior
• Regularly discuss performance versus goals and standards
Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results
Strategy for Overcoming:
• Keep the team focused on tangible group goals
• Reward individuals based on team goals and collective success
Makes sense, right? It’s not quite so simple.
A manager in a large Fortune 500 company once gave everyone on the team (yours truly included) a copy of “Who Moved My Gouda?” as a substitute for addressing the real issues affecting performance. Was I inspired or what?
Message to management: do not go out and buy copies of a book for your team and expect to solve anything.
I think the real key to teams working well is a sense of shared purpose. Of course, results matter… which is why we all need to study the secrets of successful strategy execution >>
Capturing Attention Data
When you pay attention to something (and when you ignore something), data is created. This “attention data” is a valuable resource that reflects your interests, your activities and your values, and it serves as a proxy for your attention.
I like the AttentionTrust.org model of rights:
Property
You own your attention and can store it wherever you wish. You have CONTROL.
Mobility
You can securely move your attention wherever you want whenever you want to. You have the ability to TRANSFER your attention.
Economy
You can pay attention to whomever you wish and receive value in return. Your attention has WORTH.
Transparency
You can see exactly how your attention is being used. You can DECIDE who you trust.
This is what Google should have done if they were serious about their vision: “Don’t Be Evil.”
Get a Global Mindset, Will Ya?
How do you go about getting a global mindset? That’s a hot topic these days in B-school land…
Aside from learning Hindi and Mandarin and watching soccer on the spanish channel, you could read this book Managing With a Global Mindset
Kidding aside, the best way to get a global mindset is to travel, especially when you are young. Go East!
See globalprovince.com as well.
Tom Davenport: “Was Drucker Wrong?”
If improving knowledge worker productivity is so important, why aren’t more companies doing something about it?
Tom Davenport seeks an answer in this fun post on the BabsonKnowledge blog >>
SBA Incompetence
Doug Smith says: “Getting something — anything — wrong 85% of the time demands extreme “Brownie/FEMA” like incompetence — incompetence on a scale that, seriously, shreds the use of the word ‘administration’. ”
In this case, he’s talking about the Small Business Administration.
Apparently 85% of small businesses that got disaster recovery loans for 9/11 were not impacted by 9/11 in the first place.
Asks Smith: “Are you or anyone you know aware of any program or business or initiative that failed in its purpose and objectives 85% of the time?”
Read all about it >>
MBA Blowback? The Chinese B-School
B-School’s are booming in China, says BusinessWeek:
“For U.S. companies, the emergence of China’s new managerial class has positive and negative implications. For those seeking to penetrate China’s massive market of 1.3 billion people, the graduates of the nation’s new MBA programs will supply a steady stream of local talent with in-depth knowledge of China, something their Western managers can’t provide. But as Western management ideas take root in the nation’s corner offices, multinationals could find themselves confronting a newly powerful adversary: Chinese companies suddenly in possession of the management knowhow needed to go head to head with global giants. Those same ideas — about efficiency, productivity, profitability, and growth — hold vast potential to ignite China’s already blistering economy, raise living standards, and transform the nation from a low-cost manufacturing center to a make-or-break battleground for the global economy.”
Read the full article: China’s B-School Boom
Is this the MBA Blowback? Read JH3 and JSB’s paper on “Innovation Blowback” to see where I’m coming from.
By contrast, in a BW article earlier this year, here’s what they reported about US B-Schools:
“In 2005, just 19% of full-time programs in the U.S. reported an increase in application volume, down from 21% in 2004 and 84% in 2002, when applications reached an all-time high.”
The news for US B-schools just keeps getting worse. A study from the Graduate Management Admission Council shows applications to full-time U.S. MBA programs down for the third consecutive year.
A tale of two empires? One going up, one down? Or is the world just getting flatter?
Mars vs. Venus: How Men and Women Use the Internet
Here are some highlights from a new report from Pew Internet and American Life which shows how men’s and women’s use of the internet has changed over time.
The percentage of women using the internet still lags slightly behind the percentage of men. Women under 30 and black women outpace their male peers. However, older women trail dramatically behind older men.
Men are slightly more intense internet users than women. Men log on more often, spend more time online, and are more likely to be broadband users.
In most categories of internet activity, more men than women are participants, but women are catching up.
More than men, women are enthusiastic online communicators, and they use email in a more robust way. Women are more likely than men to use email to write to friends and family about a variety of topics: sharing news and worries, planning events, forwarding jokes and funny stories. Women are more likely to feel satisfied with the role email plays in their lives, especially when it comes to nurturing their relationships. And women include a wider range of topics and activities in their personal emails. Men use email more than women to communicate with various kinds of organizations.
More online men than women perform online transactions. Men and women are equally likely to use the internet to buy products and take part in online banking, but men are more likely to use the internet to pay bills, participate in auctions, trade stocks and bonds, and pay for digital content.
Men are more avid consumers than women of online information. Men look for information on a wider variety of topics and issues than women do.
Men are more likely than women to use the internet as a destination for recreation. Men are more likely to: gather material for their hobbies, read online for pleasure, take informal classes, participate in sports fantasy leagues, download music and videos, remix files, and listen to radio.
Men are more interested than women in technology, and they are also more tech savvy.
Still, the data shows that men and women are more similar than different in their online lives, starting with their common appreciation of the internet’s strongest suit: efficiency. Both men and women approach with gusto online transactions that simplify their lives by saving time on such mundane tasks as buying tickets or paying bills.
Men and women also value the internet for a second strength, as a gateway to limitless vaults of information. Men reach farther and wider for topics, from getting financial information to political news. Along the way, they work search engines more aggressively, using engines more often and with more confidence than women.
Women are more likely to see the vast array of online information as a “glut” and to penetrate deeper into areas where they have the greatest interest, including health and religion. Women tend to treat information gathering online as a more textured and interactive process – one that includes gathering and exchanging information through support groups and personal email exchanges.
Read the complete report here >>
The Pre-Blog Era: Looking Back on Online Communities
Back in 2001, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that:
“Some 84% of Internet users have at one time or another contacted an online group. Tens of millions of Americans have joined communities after discovering them online. And many are using the Internet to join and participate in longstanding, traditional groups such as professional and trade associations. Furthermore, many Americans are using the Internet to intensify their connection to their local community.”
That was before the blogosphere took off. I wonder what it’s like now? If anyone has some data on this, please share if possible!
Read the full report here >>
Santa Goes Online: Record Holiday Sales for Online Retailers
Several online merchants reported record sales during the holiday shopping season, including online retail giant Amazon.com, which said popular items were iPod music players, video games, coats and jewelry.
Amazon said it had its best holiday sales season ever, with more than 108 million items ordered. The busiest day for the world’s largest online store was Monday, Dec. 12, when more than 3.6 million items were ordered, or 41 items per second. The most expensive item purchased during the period was a pair of diamond earrings worth $94,000.
A study from Nielsen/NetRatings, Goldman Sachs and Harris Interactive found that between Oct. 29 and Dec. 16 holiday online retail spending reached $25 billion, a 25 percent increase from the same period last year. Shoppers spent the most on clothing, followed by computers and hardware, consumer electronics, books and toys, and video games, the study found.
Read all about it >>
William Dunk: Systems on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown
Says Dunk:
“The world of broken systems is also a world of broken communication where citizens will have to be ingenious beyond belief to fight entropy. Broken systems turn ordinary citizens into guerilla fighters.”
Read Dunk’s brilliant “letter” here >>
Better yet, subscribe:
Simply send an email to join-globalprovince@lyris.globalprovince.com. Leave the subject field and the body of the email blank. You will automatically be subscribed to the Global Province.
Clayton Christensen: The Innovator’s Battle Plan
Here’s a quick look at a slice of Christensen’s book- Seeing What’s Next.
According to Christensen, the more interesting scenarios occur when there are asymmetries—important differences of motivation or skills. Asymmetries of motivation occur when one firm wants to do something that another firm specifically does not want to do. Asymmetries of skills occur when one firm’s strength is another firm’s weakness.
In this excerpt, he discusses three topics:
1. How asymmetries power the process of disruption
2. How to identify the company with the shield of asymmetric motivation and the sword of asymmetric skills on its side
3. How to identify circumstances in which a high-potential disruptive development will prove disappointing, ending in either a brutal fight or incumbent co-option
See also my archived interview with Clayton Christensen.
How Executives Waste Time Together
Thumbing through my “moth-eaten” (I use the phrase in jest) September 2004 issue of the Harvard Business Review, I stumbled across an article which made me raise my eyebrows.
The article makes the case that companies routinely squander their most valuable resource – the time of their top executives.
What was interesting about the article was the actual breakdown of how top management spends its time together in meetings.
The data was collected across 187 countries in a joint study by The Economist Intelligence Unit and a consulting company. Here’s what they found: out of the total time available for senior management meetings – 250 hours per year – managers spend on average:
62 hours on operating performance reviews
27 hours on crises of the moment
22 hours on administrative issues and policy
22 hours on workforce issues
18 hours on corporate governance
14 hours on financial policy
12 hours on investor communications and guidance
11 hours on team building
10 hours on succession planning
6 hours on litigation
6 hours on community service and social responsibility
3 hours on “other”
The total “nonstrategic” time per year is 213 (out of 250). Which means that in any given year, only 15% of meeting time is available for strategic issues. That’s 3 hours a month left for critical activities like strategy development and approval – at best.
And worst of all, they didn’t even mention golf!
Linking Strategy to Execution
One of these company’s got their strategy right, the other was not so lucky. Of course, it wasn’t luck…
Read this MercerMC commentary on strategic planning >>
Robots Easier to Talk to than Humans
“When answering the android’s questions…Japanese subjects were much more likely to look it in the eye than they were a real person.”
The Economist highlights the agenda behind Japan’s race to perfect their robots:
“Many workers from low-wage countries are eager to work in Japan. The Philippines, for example, has over 350,000 trained nurses, and has been pleading with Japan—which accepts only a token few—to let more in. Foreign pundits keep telling Japan to do itself a favour and make better use of cheap imported labour. But the consensus among Japanese is that visions of a future in which immigrant workers live harmoniously and unobtrusively in Japan are pure fancy. Making humanoid robots is clearly the simple and practical way to go.”
Ouch. Read the article here >.
The Amazon.com Work Process in Pictures
From BusinessWeek: See how the world’s largest online retailer ensures that gifts get delivered on one of the busiest shopping — and shipping — days of the year.
Here >>
UK Organic Food And Drink Market Now Worth £1Bn
Sales of organic food and drink have almost doubled to more than £1 billion in just five years, reveals a new report.
The organic market has mushroomed in value by 94 per cent between 2000 and 2005 to reach £1.2 billion this year, say consumer analysts Mintel. And they tip the blossoming organic sector to double in value again in just five years to be worth £2 billion by the year 2010.
Now – with organic products championed by TV chefs including Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein – just one-in-three (29 per cent) of British adults say that they never buy organic, down from some 37 per cent just two years ago.
The research also found that organic goods can no longer be seen as the preserve of affluent “foodies.”
Julie Sloan, Mintel’s senior market analyst, said: “Among those who have bought organic produce in the last 12 months, there is in fact surprisingly little difference between the better off ABs and those in the middle income C1 group.”
Go there to read more >>
Eric Schmidt’s 70 Percent Solution
In an interview in Business 2.0, Google’s CEO explains the magic behind Google’s success: 70/20/10.
What is 70/20/10? It’s how they spend their time at Google:
– 70 percent on the CORE BUSINESS (AdSense, AdWords, Google Search)
– 20 percent on RELATED PROJECTS (Froogle, Google Desktop, Google Local, Google News, Google Print, Google Stocks, Google Toolbar, Google Video)
– 10 percent on NEW BUSINESSES (Blogger, Google Mini, Google Movies, Google Reader, Google Talk, Google Wi-Fi, Picasa)
Here’s how Schmidt describes it:
“…how it works for management: We spend 70 percent of our time on core search and ads. We spend 20 percent on adjacent businesses, ones related to the core businesses in some interesting way. Examples of that would be Google News, Google Earth, and Google Local. And then 10 percent of our time should be on things that are truly new. An example there would be the Wi-Fi initiative — which I haven’t kept up with myself. God knows what they’ve done in the last week. I’ve been too busy on core search and ads.”
There are some more interesting things in the article. Read it here >>
For more on the Google R&D process, read my post: Google’s Product Development & Management Process Revealed >>
Prediction for 2006: Outsourcing the Lawyers
The legal profession in the US is about to be turned upside down. With American lawyers costing $300 an hour or more, Indian firms can cut bills by 75%.
Can’t be done? Don’t be sure- we’ve already outsourced our engineers, now it’s time for the lawyers. Like the engineering and construction firms before them, the big law firms will view this as a cost-cutting, “competitive” move.
See this article in the Economist >>
Oh, almost forgot, do you want fries with that?
Japan’s Recovery Lies through China: Knowledge@Wharton
Interesting set of articles in the latest Knowledge@Wharton. I was struck by this one: “One Road to Japan’s Recovery Lies through China.”
Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie outlines a Japanese theory that describes two major approaches to product architecture: modular and integral. An example of the modular approach to producing a personal computer would have each component designed and manufactured separately in plants around the world. “The integral approach is when all the individual pieces are designed together with [a high degree] of communication and simultaneous engineering.” He says Japan appears to excel at the more integrated approach, while the United States is more modular.
Following this theory, Japan should concentrate on products that benefit most from an integral approach, including automobiles. “Another example is video games,” says MacDuffie. “Unlike other kinds of software, the development of the story, the visuals and the music all have to be done in an integral fashion to end up with a game where everything works and the experience is also satisfying.”
Another professor – Adrian Tschoegl – concludes that “pretty soon, in the next two generations, most of the good ideas will come out of China and India.”
Read the article here >>
The Bean-Counters at CFO.com Give it Freedom
I just got an email from CFO.com; apparently the website is free again:
“After careful consideration and dialogue with our readers, we have decided to once again make CFO.com a completely free website. All current and archived content, including Buyer’s Guides, CFO magazine archives, Today in Finance, and more, is available to everyone at no charge.”
I could be mean and say their content wasn’t good enough, but instead I’ll say- “Welcome back to the advertising business-model!”
Pepsi Stock Tops Coke in Market Value
A landmark moment occurred this week in the cola wars. The value of Pepsi’s stock now exceeds that of arch-rival Coke. Scott Simon and New York Times business columnist Joe Nocera discuss the development in this NPR podcast.