Jan 18, 2012 | Leadership, Management, Marketing
In the good old days of mass marketing, you could survive in a marketing role, even a senior one, with a pretty generic set of analytical, project management and people management skills.
That is no more, just as mass marketing is no more.
Markets have globalised and fragmented at the same time, consumer and customer behavior is no longer reasonably predictable across demographics, channels are evolving daily, communication options are now in the thousands, and information on product performance, price, features, availability, and so on, is everywhere.
The key marketing KPI is now curiosity.
Marketing people need to be prepared to go and see, to experiment, be brave, spend time at the coalface with consumers, and generally know far more than they had to in the past.
If I was recruiting to-day, Curiosity would be at the very top of my “must have” list.
Dec 21, 2011 | Leadership, Management, Operations
The best management tool available is amongst the cheapest, a pair of shoes.
Hierarchies are vertical, they filter and modify information as it goes up and down an organisation, but real things, those that customers pay for, get done in an organisation horizontally, and generally at lower levels, at the “coalface.” So, for someone at the top to really understand what is going on below, they must be where the action is, not in the boardroom.
In Lean parlance, a “Gemba walk”.
Get yourself a pair of shoes for Christmas.
Dec 20, 2011 | Collaboration, Leadership, Management
Meritocracy is about the best ideas, whereas democracy is about consensus, usually an average outcome.
In a democracy, those who manage to smooth the waters, and gain the average usually get ahead, but in a true meritocracy, those with the best ideas get listened to, and eventually get ahead.
Collaboration is often confused for democracy, everyone gets an equal turn, but in a collaboration that will win, only the best ideas survive the demanding, often aggressive review and decision making process that are core to success. It is this review that crashes most collaborations, because most people see them as democracies, not meritocracies brought together to identify and harvest the best ideas.
Sobering thought when you consider the challenges we face, economically and socially, to think that at best, we can have an average outcome.
Dec 16, 2011 | Customers, Management, Small business, Strategy
Being a supplier to FMCG retailers is really, really hard. The two gorillas are demanding, unreasonable, and often just plain stupid, at least that is a suppliers assessment. If you asked the retailers, they would just be doing their jobs, maximising the revenue and margin returns from their shelf-space, minimising their costs, and competing aggressively for access to the consumers wallets.
It is just a matter of perspective, but whilst the customer is not always right, they remain the customer, and if you want to serve them, it is you, the supplier who must adapt or die.
The current pressures on SME food industry manufacturers, a high $A, the retailers push into housebrands, difficulties in funding working capital, skills shortages particularly in regional areas where many of them are situated, and promotional costs, are pushing many to the wall. The long term impact of these changes appear to be all bad for the economy, as food security, balance of payments, regional jobs and skills, and having a manufacturing base from which to innovate, are all compromised. However, there is not much joy in complaining, clearly the various governments do not care, or are more engaged in important debates like gay marriage, and spending our money on sectional interests who seem to have a few votes, so we have to address the problems ourselves.
Manufacturing, let alone food industry manufacturing no longer even warrants a seat around the cabinet table, clearly we are on our own, so we adapt or die, and many will die, the few who successfully adapt will be very good indeed.
Dec 15, 2011 | Collaboration, Management, OE, Social Media
Ronald Coase was first to recognise and articulate the economic relationship between individuals and the co-coordinating structures necessary to organise the work of individuals, coining the term “Transaction costs” in his 1937 essay “The nature of the firm”
Coase in his original paper set up the theoretical framework for the huge cost reductions now possible, enabled by the tools of the web 2.0, which are gathering momentum at a huge rate.
What he did not spend too much time thinking about, because it was not relevant at the time, were the costs imposed by a redundant status quo. Cultures of organisations often require that costs to be absorbed simply because the operating environment has not evolved sufficiently to allow the collaboration tools now available to be used to their potential, leaving co-ordinating overheads to do the work now possible with a mouse, and a bit of nouse.
The possible competitive advantage to organisations, particularly ones with widespread operations is huge, as most of the competition will have trouble making the leap.
Let them pay the cost of yesterday, you have the opportunity to grab the future in recognising the power of the new collaboration tools.
Dec 14, 2011 | Management, Personal Rant
Busy, busy, busy, everyone is too busy to do anything important.
We have had a reshuffle of the federal cabinet, busy people, dedicating limited time to gay marriage and other such important matters, a client of mine is so busy some the basic management stuff simply does not get done, and most large organisations I see are so busy reviewing and planning that there is little time left for doing.
Three simple rules to get more done:
- Keep it simple
- Be prepared to fail sometimes
- Have a go.
In a lovely juxtaposition last night, there was a rerun on one of the digital channels of the “Yes Minister” episode dealing with a rumoured reshuffle, and Minister Hacker reviewing his options. Very close to the current bone.
Stop being busy, and to borrow the phrase, “just do it”
