May 12, 2011 | Collaboration, Leadership, Management, Marketing
I have been surprised a couple of times recently when I realised that two B2B businesses I was working with really had no idea how their ultimate customers used the products they bought from us. In both cases the products were sold through distributors, whose paranoia about both parallel competition and losing the businesses to a slicker option, because the distribution grass is always greener, prevented them sharing information.
Both the clients concerned were spending significant resources dreaming up new products and technologies, considering process, distribution and marketing options, but were flying blind because they had no idea of what was happening currently in the labs of the final customers .
Asking them how prepared they would be to endorse a pilot putting the flaps on the plane down when he did not know how high they were now brought the obvious response, but where is the difference?
OK, you may not hit the dirt in any way other than commercially doing it in a business, but it is just as stupid.
Blind-flying appears to often be a result of the pressure of the “just do something” attitude, appear busy and stressed, and then boss will leave you alone, but doing anything without understanding the starting point is just plain dumb.
May 11, 2011 | Leadership, Personal Rant, Small business
Amidst all the blathering following the federal budget Tuesday night I have not seen one comment, political or otherwise that points out the crisis in manufacturing, particularly food industry related manufacturing.
Sure, lots of puff about how hard it is for exporters, but the terms of trade are better than any time in the last 140 years, so, by implication, how bad can it really be?
The food industry is now dominated by large firms, two retailers have a stranglehold, most of the products you buy are imported, and there is precious little manufacturing done here anymore. Australia is now a net importer of food, yes, a net importer, according to the AFGC State of the nation report 2010, try telling that story around the BBQ on Saturday, “they won’t believe you”
One of my clients, one of the few SME’s who have survived the onslaught of the last 20 years, yesterday missed out on a contract to supply one of the big two retailers on a housebrand contract, missed out does not describe it, his cost of production is just under the landed prices of competitive quotes. If you adjust for the exchange rate of two years ago, he may have won the business, but now!!!
The other side of the terms of trade is how cheaply stuff can be imported. OK for electronics, we do not manufacture them, but Food??. We are no longer self sufficient, and if this small bloke goes under, as most of the others have, 15 people in a modest sized country town lose their jobs, and he loses his house, super, and 30 years of effort. When the exchange rate goes back, after China and India slow down, as they will, and new mines in Africa and South America come on stream, it will be too late for him, and us.
But do you hear anything about this?, does anybody care? Judging by the blather, the answer is NO, or perhaps it is just too confronting a problem for the pollies to acknowledge until they get dragged screaming to it. Much easier to blather.
Update: June 11 2013.
Nothing has changed, Simplot anounced closures last week in Bathurst and Denvenport, Rosella went bust a few months ago, and a host of SME’s in the food industry are no more. In the wider economy, the mining investment boom has slowed right down, manufacturing is still in the crapper, and unlikely to find much succour in the $A being just below parity for the first time in several years. The headline example is Ford announcing last week the closure of local manufacturing, which galvanised the pollies to announce lots of “support” for the workforce, luckily heavily unionised, or they would get nothing, like the Fairfax journos shown the door a few months ago without a political peep.
Meanwhile, the Treasurer talks about the strong economy (well it is compared to Portugal) and almost full employment, but the statistical definition of “employed” is nonsence, meaning there is a huge weight of hidden underemployment around, and as a result nobody is spending. Nobody is taking up the NBN, even if they are the lucky few who are strategically located in a politically sensative spot, and may have the opportunity to do so, and the reluctance has nothing to do with asbestos. The speculation today has been all about the liklihood of Gillard still leading the labor party in September, let alone the country. The PM is in QLD, sprouting the “Gonski” Education reforms as the saviour, quoting numbers emerging from the modelling that has been done as the evidence of her committment, and we know how well that worked in several previous initiatives.
Can the labour party stop talking about itself?? We do not want to hear!
It really is Cloud Cuckoo land.
May 5, 2011 | Leadership, Management
Most of us tacitly understand that winning leadership styles differ depending on circumstances, that the bloke who was great at starting a business, and getting it running is not necessarily the one to lead it into maturity.
Most commentators on leadership have watched the comings and goings of Steve Jobs at Apple, and seen the relationship between success and the near death experience that occurred concurrent with his presence, and have at least read Andy Goves’s analysis in “Only the paranoid survive”.
The literature on leadership focuses on what Ben Horowitz calls “times of peace” but the “times of war” are what kills us.
Bens short post on Wartime CEO/Peacetime CEO sets the context of leadership in war and peace, I particularly like the comparison:
“Peacetime CEO sets big, hairy audacious goals. Wartime CEO is too busy fighting the enemy to read management books written by consultants who have never managed a fruit stand”, which is just so true!
Apr 10, 2011 | Collaboration, Leadership, Management
This note is being written on a plane, somewhere over Asia in the middle of a long flight to the UK to see a few who can contribute to my store of knowledge, and hopefully I to theirs.
It is a time of few distractions, the phone is off, nobody at the door, no meetings scheduled, email is off, just head-time.
Amongst the stuff put aside for such moments is this note from Paul Graham which I think highlights a basic challenge faced by “knowledge workers,” those of us whose contribution is measured by something other than volume of output, the time in attendance, and the appearance of “busy”. It is also a significant challenge for those who are supposed to lead us, rather than just manage our output.
So if you are a leader, I encourage you to apply my rule 1 of marketing: “see it from the other blokes perspective”, next time you find yourself feeling inclined to call a meeting that involves others who work to what Paul has called “makers time”.
Apr 7, 2011 | Collaboration, Leadership, Lean
Management structures have flattened and globalised at the same time, radically changing the way collaboration happens. Now virtual teams work across all sorts of boundaries, and have created a new set of challenges.
Traditional management simply does not work effectively, so new sets of behaviors are evolving to enable virtual teams to be managed, and to manage themselves. The tools all revolve around mutual obligation and trust, a recognition that the direct and control management style has outlived its usefulness, and it is the outcome of the team activity that is important, not necessarily the way you get there.
The foundation of successful self and virtually managed teams is a very solid framework of shared objective, collaborative behaviors, and stable processes that can be continuously improved. Sounds easy, but it is very hard, and takes a long termview and great leadership to achieve anything worthwhile.
Apr 7, 2011 | Leadership, Management
Management and leadership are not the same.
For years I have advocated this self evident truth, and occasionally something comes along to confirm, again, the essential truth that leaders lead, and managers just take care of the details.
Leadership in a tough place is often personified by individuals in the military, none I suspect better than Stan McChrystal former US commander in Afghanistan, who shares on TED.
