Working with a genius

15 Sep

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I have worked for a couple of people who could be termed geniuses. They are unique in the business world and like fire, often can’t be tamed.

Geniuses are innovators who continually change whatever it is their doing in their business, even when it would appear to us normal people that things were going well.

Geniuses are restless and highly inspiring.

They can also be maddeningly difficult. They do things that drive the process driven among us quite crazy. They can be downright demanding and sometimes over critical. I believe that Picasso wasn’t easy going. Look at his eyes.

But geniuses change things. They also take risks that can be un calculated.

How do we manage a genius (we manage both up and down?)

Can we tailor our personalities and expectations so that the future will come and we won’t go crazy in the process?

In the presence of real genius we do just that. It takes time.

But don’t worry … there’s not many around.

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Can you let go of the wheel?

13 Sep

Encourage disobedienceEncourage disobedience and other dangerous concepts

I came across a blog with an ebook attached entitled The Happy Manifesto written by Henry Stewart (manifesto@happy.co.uk.) It is about workplaces, people, processes, innovation and creativity. One section is entitled Encouraging disobedience, which got me thinking about a lot of the workplaces I have been and am involved in.  Which ones were ‘open’ and which ones ‘closed.’

In the west (as opposed to the east and eastern philosophy) we have been pre-occupied with HAPPINESS possibly because it is often a fleeting emotion and not at all about possessing ‘stuff,’ or prestige and power. HAPPINESS comes from within. Well that’s what I tell my son when he’s looking at the latest gaming device.

Encouraging disobedience is a powerful concept in workplaces if it’s embraced and understood. Translated into leadership, it’s about encouraging input and innovation, thoughts suggestions ideas. Workers at the coalface know their jobs and know how things can be done better. If they are in a micro-managed environment where things have always been done like this; where it’s silently frowned upon to re-invent the wheel, then it’s disobedience not to blindly obey.

Trusting your people and encouraging thought about new ways of doing business motivates people more than money.

Everyone wants to be loved, appreciated and recognised. That’s at least part of what makes people happy.

Advice to micro-managers: Let go of the wheel sometimes and hop in the backseat.

Then watch your people grow.

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Lessons in marketing from a window cleaner

10 Sep

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Almost everyday, when I’m driving, I stop at some major traffic lights. At these lights there’s a guy who washes windows for spare change. Half Aboriginal and half Italian, his name is Maurice and he’s a landmark. The first time I saw him I was amazed at his outfit; sometimes a pirate; sometimes a mad hatter … all kinds of get ups.

He decorates the poles the traffic lights are up on with teddy bears and christmas trees, always different depending on the season and what takes his fancy.

I told him that he was the best marketer I’d come across. He even hands out handwritten gift certificates. Maurice takes his business seriously and from the car horns beeping at him and drivers waving he’s very popular and well known. 

He told me once that the boss of a global mall chain said to him ‘If half my tenants were as good at marketing as you are …’

Maurice never stops. His business is micro, micro, but he doesn’t care. He runs it seriously, and he’s seriously good at it.

Running a small business is like riding a quarter horse. You steer them everyday.

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What’s Peking Duck got to do with great brands

8 Sep

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Many big cities have Chinatowns. City districts built around Chinese immigrants. It’s probably a huge generalisation to say that China and its people are traders. That business is hot wired somehow into the Chinese persona. I think there is some truth in it though.

As Eric Idle sings, “I like Chinese.” Take for example my favourite restaurant, here in Sydney’s Chinatown, BBQ King. It’s been operating ever since I was a kid and it’s hardly changed. It’s very successful with it’s steamy window display of ducks and pork and other things I’m not sure of.

BBQ King is also a late night haunt for chefs all across Sydney. It’s where the best go to eat.

But one thing … it’s never updated it’s look. It has the same vintage Chinese cafe feel with laminex tables and non-descript chairs. The owners haven’t put in any blonde wood (Danish modern) or anything at all chic. Why? It’s an original.

The food is amazing. The service swift (if a little unsmiling at times.) But the food is why I go there. It’s unfailingly good.

Refreshing brands when they need it can be valuable, but be cautious here!

We don’t want to alienate our good customers and we don’t want to lose the tradition and flavour a business has built up over the years just for the sake of change.

By the way, that’s sake not sake (japanese rice wine.)

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The consultant’s bar … high energy, high empathy

4 Sep

Consultants barI work with a guy who enjoys a ‘big’ background in consulting. I often see him munching on a chocolate bar. We laugh about it. The Consultant’s Bar! High energy. High empathy.

Consultants often work on multiple projects. They need energy and focus as well as a knack of transposing themselves into different business environments and cultures.

Skilled consultants hit the ground running and understand what they need to do and who they need to consult with.

Like a researcher or investigative journalist, consultants go to the right people. These people are sometimes called Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) who are skilled in their particular fields. Those fields can be as different as engineering is to fashion design. As science is to fast food. As recruitment is to recreation.

  1. A consultant must first know who to go to.
  2. They must establish rapport as quickly as possible.
  3. Know what questions to ask.
  4. Keep the channels open

This takes preparation, empathy and listening skills.

Dr Samuel Johnson said “What doth please thee mightily, do strike out.” Forget pre-conceptions and gut feelings.

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Who is my customer

3 Sep

I met a young designer who created ‘mood boards’ for a global US fashion/apparel business. Mood boards are about colours and fabrics and accessories such as buttons etc. The fashion designers stock in trade and the fashion buyer’s guide to new season’s offerings. She told me that this company had an ‘ideal’ customer.

The ideal customer was a 30 something professional single male with a Golden Retriever dog. Sounds awfully simplistic doesn’t it?

If you think about it in target segmentation terms it says a lot in one small description.

Single = money to spend (lifestyle)

Professional = high earner/well educated (demographics)

Male = gender (demographics)

Golden Retriever dog = outdoorsy/sporty/casual

Whether you believe that your customers can be segmented as easily as this, try it.

Visualise your ideal customer/s.

And build on it from there.

The key to success in business in knowing who your customers are (and how they might change!)

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Newsletters that tell stories

3 Sep

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Newsletters like this one from advanced anaesthesia specialists are a great way to differentiate, take ‘thought’ leadership within a category, build your brand, promote your business and sell, which after all, is the ultimate goal for any business … to make a profit!

Here’s the thing … newsletters must have some news not just a bunch of products. Newsletters tell stories.

Great … let’s do it.

Here’s the other thing … who cares?

Question: Do you understand who your customers are? Do you know what they think, hope for and need?

The rise of Social Media illustrates the fact that everyone wants to be loved, admired, supported and recognised.

Effective business communications 1st take customers seriously. They add content that tells stories customers want to read and that’s not always about product x or service y.

Newsletters like all marketing communications must have been through the so what test. Try some in house research. Involve your team. Ask your customers!

Create newsletters that hit the spot!

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It’s lonely at the top

2 Sep

CEO’s, business owners and managers have to do a lot of things ‘in’ their jobs.

Leading is just one of them.

To be a leader a person must be someone that inspires people on a daily basis whilst taking care of business everyday. A quick nod to Elvis here!

Add to that the skill of acquiring a ‘helicopter view’ of the relevance of the products and services offered to the marketplace in a fast paced global environment.

A leader must understand his/her people and what makes them tick and possibly hardest of all … understand themselves. Almost Zen-like, this is known as mindfulness. It takes skill to master it, but once mastered it is the difference between real leaders and line managers.

Leaders build teams that perform. They inspire creativity and innovation even when it’s dangerous. Leaders look for better ways of doing things, building resilience and optimism.

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Staring at a blank page

2 Sep

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I found this piece of paper in a file and it got me wondering. Writers sometimes get writer’s block. They can’t get started. And often the harder they try the more blank they become.

In George Plimpton’s fascinating Paris Review series, a number of famous writers were interviewed about their techniques. This was about how do you write everyday with the kids screaming, your wife leaving, a revolucion going on, a 1st book best seller to better.

Amazingly enough some writers copy out tracts of the bible to get started, some sharpen pencils, others still drink a lot and smoke endless cigarettes (a different era I suppose.) The issue is how do you get started?

It can be a problem for people in business to get fresh ideas or even an accurate idea of what their business actually does for their customers. It’s also difficult to get noticed in the crowded cyber world where attention spans are short and customers can shop around and read reviews online.

It takes a fresh pair of eyes to do that. Daily regeneration and a childlike curiosity of life which when you think about it is quite amazing.

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Rodie – King of Content

2 Sep

King of content 230813

“When I have an idea, I turn down the flame, as if it were a little alcohol stove, as low as it will go. Then it explodes and that is my idea.” Hemingway.

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