The World Changed!

The original posting of this article is here.
Be sure to check on the current issue of Explode Your Paradigm here.

I had lunch with a friend from my “Spinning” class recently. He had worked as an engineer for RCA Records in the late 60’s / early 70’s. RCA paid for him to go to law school at night. He received a law degree from Indiana University in 1974 and went to work as a patent counsel for RCA & GE Consumer Electronics. In 1987 GE sold the consumer electronics division and the RCA brand to Thomson Consumer Electronics. He eventually rose to become the General Counsel at Thomson and had the opportunity to live and work at their Paris headquarters for 4 years. He left Thomson in 1997 and worked for a private law firm for 10 years retiring in 1998.

What a career and story. At one point in his career my friend was in charge of managing and licensing to others hundreds of RCA patents. I remember as a child there were few companies that could hold a candle to the innovative power of RCA. I can still remember the picture of Nipper the dog staring at the gramophone with the inscription “His Master’s Voice.”

As many of us know RCA is now a shell of what it once was. Under Thomson the brand faltered, quality suffered, and competition increased.

I asked my friend, “What happened. How could a brand and a company that defined innovation fall from grace?” He explained that during the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s the company invested heavily in videodisk technology that did not pan out. It also built a lot of me-too products. Sony, Panasonic and others were developing better products at a lower price point. Brand loyalty decreased. Market share decreased. The brand (and the consumer electronics department) entered a death spiral that it could not recover. A few years ago Thomson sold the brand and products to a Chinese company.

My friend said the world changed and RCA could not keep up.

A quote that is one of my favorites is “The only thing that is constant is change.” About the only thing we can guarantee is that the world will be a different place in 5 years. In some markets it may be totally different next year or next month. It is a given the world will change and we need to keep up or we’ll found ourselves on the outside looking in like RCA.

So what should we do? What can you do now to keep your company competitive?

My advice to many clients and potential clients is to ask how do you compete? Are you (or your company) known for innovation and innovative products and services or are you a fast follower competing on price? If your company is known for innovation you need to be constantly thinking of how you can improve your products and services. You need to ask what will happen if your competition can sell their product for 50% of your price and/or the key technology that you are using to differentiate our products becomes worthless. What would happen if your customers were able to buy from you (or your competition) in a totally different way (think shopping on-line vs. going to brick and mortar stores, or think automatic downloading of movies instead of going to a video store to rent them)? How would this affect your business? How would you compete? You need to brainstorm solutions. You need to plan for change.

Sometimes the more successful we are today that harder it is to plan for change. A common argument is why spend valuable resources to improve or replace something that is working? How can you fault an executive team that is growing sales and profit?

In many cases the best time to plan for change is when things are going well.

I can guarantee that the world will change. I also guarantee that innovators in your marketplace are planning for that change. How you respond is up to you. If you are or want to be known for innovation how much of your time and budget are you spending on defining and leading your market?

Will someone say in a few years that the world changed and you could not keep up?

Until next time - all the best!

RolandB

BizTown – the entrepreneurs of the future!

I had the opportunity recently to be a mentor at the Junior Achievement BizTown. For about a day I watched as 100 entrepreneurs created and ran a “town”. They came from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some came from families rich in financial wealth, others qualified for school lunch programs. Some were taking many of their classes in Spanish or French, others were Hispanic where English was their second language. What the students (the citizens) discovered was the joy of learning how business worked and how one business depended on others. They got along. They had fun. What I learned was that I can learn a lot about life from a group of 5th graders.

For those of you not familiar with BizTown it is a simulation where about 80-120 students run a town and all of the businesses that make the economy run. There are businesses that make and sell interesting things, there are banks that loan money to the businesses and collect interest on the loans, there is a power company that sells utilities, there is a newspaper company and sells advertisements and produces and sells an actual paper, there is a radio station with DJs that sells air time to businesses in the town for commercials, there is a post office (FedEx), a Steak and Shake restaurant where students can buy popcorn and soda, the Peyton Manning Wellness Center where students go for medical checkups and learn how to eat healthy, and a city hall where the mayor and police keep the peace. Each company has a payroll. Each company pays taxes. The employees are paid with checks, they pay income taxes, they cash their checks at the bank where they receive a small amount of cash and deposit the rest into their checking account. They use the checking account to pay for the interesting things sold at the retail stores.

This all happens between 9:30 AM and 2:00 PM. Each day a different group of students enjoy the opportunity at the facility. A group of five JA staff make sure the town “runs” correctly. Adult mentor volunteers assist in each business to answer questions. The student citizens make the decisions, do the legwork, sweat a bit and have a lot of fun.

The day I was there we had students from the International School, Saint Phillip Neri and Saint Anthony. Most of the citizens were in 5th grade. Over the previous few weeks each student had filled out a resume and had interviewed for the job they wanted. Each business had a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) along with 4-6 supporting roles. Each student had a job description so they knew what was expected of them before arriving.

Our citizens came from much different backgrounds. The International School of Indiana is a private school in Indianapolis. According to their website http://www.isind.org/ the yearly tuition is $13,050 per year. Students pick a language track in either Spanish or French and learn most of their coursework in that language. Saint Anthony is an inner city school supported by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The average family income is $14,000 per year. Approximately 90% of the student body is Hispanic and most of the students qualify for free school lunches. Very few of the students pay tuition. What I found fascinating and encouraging was that all of the student/citizens regardless of what school they were from participated as equal members. They all worked hard, they communicated, and the system worked.

I’m sure many of the students learned a lot about business, about teamwork, about leadership and a few life skills like how to balance a checkbook. What I experienced as a mentor was how well the students got along, how well the students were prepared by their teachers for the day’s activities, how well they performed in their roles, how hard they worked, and in many ways how once they understood the rules they policed themselves. I learned that our youth when given the opportunity rise to the occasion.

As a marketer I am often the champion for the voice of the customer. The following are the top 10 reasons for BizTown as recorded in JA BizTown Newspaper by the citizen staff.
1. It is fun.
2. You learn how to be an adult.
3. You learn how to do jobs.
4. You learn how to control money.
5. You learn how to write checks.
6. You learn how to balance a checkbook.
7. You learn how to handle breaks.
8. You learn different jobs.
9. You get to spend money and shop.

….. and the final reason

10. You get two paychecks!

What is the value to this adult volunteer of experiencing entrepreneurial spirit in a group of 5th grade students – Priceless!

If you have an interest please consider making an investment in the future by giving some of your time and/or your financial treasure to support a good cause like JA BizTown. It is worth the effort.

Until next time - All the best!

RolandB

Do it with passion!

I was having lunch with a friend of mine last week. She and her team had written an article documenting a clinical trial we had sponsored. We succeeded in getting the piece published in a reputable peer reviewed journal. The response was positive and one of the authors was invited to present the paper at the annual meeting of a key doctor group. Both events have generated considerable press coverage. All-in-all a very successful project.

We were talking about things we did right. At one point she said many people in her office were impressed by the passion I had for the project. She said it was contagious. They performed better which got others to perform better.

I paused, smiled and thanked her for the comment. Afterward I got to thinking our project succeeded where others had not been as successful. If having a positive attitude was one small piece in its overall success I’ll take it.

I choose to wake up on most days and be excited about what I’m doing. I also like to work with others that feel the same way. Unfortunately there are lots of people out there that don’t feel the same way. I recently came across an article that summarized a survey of over 7,500 employees and interviews with 40 HR and line managers on employee engagement. The report found that 19% of those interviewed are completely disengaged, and 13% are disillusioned and at risk for becoming disengaged. A disengaged employee is an energy “taker” who uses energy and takes motivation down with them. If these statistics are correct and you have a team of 6 members there is a good chance that 2 of them may be dragging you and your team down.

Surround yourself with “Tiggers”
So what do you do? Mindy Grossman, Chief Executive of HSN Inc. was profiled in an article in the NY Times recently. In the article she said
“There are a number of things that are really important to me. One … is that you only hire Tiggers. You don’t hire Eeyores. It doesn’t mean they have to be loud, but I need energy-givers and I have to get a feeling that this person is going to be able to inspire people. Are they going to be optimistic about where they’re going? Are they going to attract people who are like that?”

Unfortunately most of the time we may not get to choose the members or our team. We make the best with what we have.

Make a difference
We do choose every day how we look at challenges and how we treat others. If we treat each other with respect, if we have passion about what we are doing and what our team can achieve my feeling is that the energy spreads. We create “Tiggers” around us.

Leadership begins with you. You choose how you will be perceived by your team. Are you concentrating on the positive? Are you shooting for the stars?

Do everything with passion! You may be surprised with what your team will come up with.

Until next time – all the best!

RolandB




Image: Tigger photo