Why is deep domain experience so valuable?

Why is deep domain experience so valuable?

Mar 15, 2019 | Communication, Leadership

As an old(ish) former senior exec sort of bloke, watching this crop of younger managers come through, I find myself disturbed.

It often seems that while they know the facts, and at an intellectual level, recognise the impact, they do not seem to understand them in any instinctive sort of way.

It is disturbing, particularly as I look forward in this country and cannot help but be pessimistic, and wonder where the general equivalent of the ‘corporate memory’ of Australia is hiding.

I grew up in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The social fabric of  the world was changing at a rate that arguably has not been matched since, or will again. Not the tech world, the one we inhabit daily. The music, to that time unquestioned social behaviour, our trust in the institutions, and Vietnam: a war my now grown children know almost nothing about, that changed everything.

Trying to articulate the difference between just knowing this stuff, and really understanding it is really hard, but try this, if you are now well into your 60’s.

Let it be. The Beatles

‘Close to you’. The Carpenters.

‘In the Summertime’. The Mixtures

‘Bridge over troubled waters’. Simon & Garfunkel

‘Looking out my back door’. Credence Clearwater

‘El Condor Pasa’. Simon Garfunkel

‘Up around the bend’. Credence Clearwater

‘Knock knock who’s there? Liv Maessen

‘Whole Lotta Love’.  Led Zeppelin

That is the top 10 singles in Australia in 1970. Throw in a few of the tracks that have a place in your personal history, to make the list 15 or so. On my list would be Leonard Cohens ‘Suzanne’.

Now, ask a 35 year old about the list, they will know some of the tracks, perhaps many, but it will be a list of songs, words on paper, perhaps even a tune, but there will not be a visceral connection.

They did not live through it, their understanding is intellectual, there is no emotional connection to their soul.

Having deep domain experience is the same thing, intuitive, visceral, extremely hard to articulate, but of immense value when harnessed.

 

Picture credit: New Yorker Magazine. (The second time I have used it).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is the difference between an Elevator Pitch and a Value Proposition, and when to use them?

What is the difference between an Elevator Pitch and a Value Proposition, and when to use them?

Mar 4, 2019 | Communication, Management

Good question, but the challenge seems to be overwhelming for some of those who most need to be clear on the differences, and when and how to use them.

I spent most of Thursday and Friday last week at the ‘Emergence‘ conference in Sydney, an event designed to boost the start-up scene in Sydney by bringing together investors, start-ups and industry experts. A similar event was held in Brisbane on Monday and Tuesday.

A terrific couple of days, with one significant blemish.

Most of the founders who had the opportunity to present to an audience of several hundred investors, and service providers of many types, blew it! Completely blew it.

Has nobody told these talented engineers and designers that you only get one chance to make a first impression?

The elevator pitch.

This is a very simple, compelling to your ideal customer, one sentence distillation of why  they should buy from you, or more often, just keep talking to you. It is not easy to craft, largely because in one sentence, you have to leave out a lot. Every stakeholder should be able to recite this in their sleep, and should do so at every opportunity when meeting people.  The purpose is to pique interest, and to extract the follow up questions, that can be answered by the delivery of the value proposition, which may lead to a further and deeper conversation.

I did not hear one compelling elevator pitch in the two days. Not one!

Use the elevator pitch when you have 30 seconds, any extra time you may be given is just a huge bonus not to be wasted.

The Value Proposition.

Your Value proposition is a more detailed articulation of why someone would engage in business with you. Still concise, focused, but designed to get to the core of who the product is designed to help,  how that will happen, and what results can be expected. You know the delivery has been successful when there are follow up questions that enable you to go into a bit more detail about the problem you are solving, and the beneficial outcomes of use.

Again, last week, there was an almost complete absence of a Value Proposition. In its place, we were given lists of names of notable people who were involved, how many degrees they had, what the technology entailed,  and some detailed project plans and milestones. In most cases, little that would encourage further engagement, although for a few, there was considerable value hidden amongst the verbiage, poor delivery, and technical jargon.

Use it when you have 15 minutes, along with a pitch deck that leaves the listener with no option but to be engaged. The best outcome to be achieved from such a line-up of consecutive pitches is that the audience remembers nothing but yours, and the individuals feel compelled to follow up!

If I was the organiser, it would be mandatory for those pitching to spend a bit of time with someone who could help them assemble their deck, and then get their message across. Either that, or hide the ego, and get someone with presentation expertise to do the preparation and delivery.

For all of that, the exercise was a great success, and warrants support from those with an interest in nurturing a successful start-up ecosystem, and that should be everybody.

Time can only be productive, or wasted. Which will it be?

Time can only be productive, or wasted. Which will it be?

Feb 27, 2019 | Customers, Marketing, Operations

Time is our only truly non renewable asset, and it is absolutely finite. Therefore it makes sense to use it as wisely as possible.

In a management context, in measuring a process, time has two dimensions.

  • Clock time. Start to finish, how long does a task take to go from one end of the process to another.
  • Event time. How long does it take to go through the activities necessary to complete the process.

It might take a bank 3 days to process your loan application, clock time, but the event time may only be the few minutes it takes to check your credit history, current income and automatically calculate your ability to repay the loan. Event time.

In most cases, customers are only aware of the clock time, and when it extends beyond what they think is reasonable, they become cranky with you.

The difference between the two is the opportunity for improvement, and to ensure customers only get cranky with your competitors.

 

The problem with politics

The problem with politics

Feb 22, 2019 | Governance, Leadership, Personal Rant

We are facing two elections here in NSW, one for the state government, and then federal almost immediately following.

What a mess we are in, disengagement, distrust, cynicism on the part of the electorate, and flatulent promises and claims by the body politic.

The problem is trust.

There is none.

When I apply what I have learnt in 45 years of commercial life to this problem of trust in politics, I come up with a few simple observations.

Lack of strategic clarity.

There is no consistency between the claims and stated objectives of each of the parties and the experience of those who will be voting. The same party cannot even get their messages consistent between the state and federal levels of the parties, so why on earth do they think we, the electorate will believe their conflicting, fatuous and hyperbolic messages.

No accountability.

As a director of several companies, there are rules that apply that demand truth be told to shareholders. Clearly these rules do not apply to politicians as they talk to their stakeholders, we, the electorate. I would be dragged into court if I told the sort of porkies, used facts selectively and out of context, and generally failed to answer any question in a substantive manner,  the way politicians do as routine. They take credit for good things over which they had no influence, and blame the others  for any outcome that can be painted as poor. They are simply unaccountable for their promises, there is no sanctions on them beyond the cliché about the ballot box being the ultimate sanction.

We feel scammed every day as a result.

Governance, where is it?

The governance of government, and political processes generally, leaves a lot to be desired. It is appropriate that there are rules about the manner in which public money is spent. However, when the rules get in the way of common sense and equity, while leaving gaping holes through which the scammers can swim, it can be seen as a system that favours those in the know, at the expense of the rest of us. It is also the case that when  you regulate something, by definition, behaviour not captured by the regulations is OK, irrespective of the morality of the behaviour.  This can be clearly seen in the case of the financial services cesspool uncovered by Royal Commissioner Hayne. 

To be fair, public governance is a massive task of strategic and moral leadership,  and there are bound to be missteps, but we need to be better than we are, by a mile.

As a final observation, these people cannot govern themselves, why is it then so strange that we do  not trust them with the wider task of governing the rest of us?

Absence of cross functional collaboration.

When it is clear that the right hand does not know  what the left is doing, and seemingly does not care, why would we trust either? This not only applies to the functions of any individual government, but to each of the three levels we are burdened with, overlaid by the federated structure of states we are left with from colonial times.

We could not design a model better able to stuff up just about everything they touch if we tried!

The only antidote to all of the above is leadership. The sort of leadership  that takes responsibility, offers a compelling vision of the future and articulates a credible path towards it, is prepared to take difficult decisions and argue the logic publicly, then lives to be accountable for it all.

Pity there is so little of that going around.

 

Cartoon header credit: Again, Hugh McLeod at gaping void nails it!

 

‘Brand Conversations’ are usually just a marketers wet dream.

‘Brand Conversations’ are usually just a marketers wet dream.

Feb 20, 2019 | Branding, Customers, Marketing

 

Brand loyalty and frequency of purchase,  are not the same thing, although we seem to act most often as if they were.

Sometimes we marketers believe our own bullshit, not recognising we are usually delusional, or at least subject to a severe case of confirmation bias.

When was the last time you actually came across a customer who was so loyal, they wanted to ‘have a conversation’ with your brand?

Perhaps they were just shopping around and wanted a ‘conversation’?

Never, right?

Yet the term is used often as we indulge ourselves in developing marketing collateral.

Frequency of purchase, read loyalty, can be the result of many things, awareness, market share, delivering better distribution, price, shelf position in a supermarket, big advertising budgets, and so on.

Only when you significantly increase the price, and some customers stick like glue, or  go from retailer A to retailer B for the single reason of being able to buy your product, do you have real loyalty. Even then, it is likely that rare, wonderful customer could not be bothered having a conversation with your brand, at the risk of the men in white coats carrying them off.

Even the exceptional brands, Apple is one, IBM used to be another, a deli in Flemington, Sydney, is another, known to a relative few who simply would  not go anywhere else, do not have conversations. 

Nobody in their right mind tries to have conversations with these brands.

They do have conversations with employees of the companies that own them, as they seek information, pricing, availability of spares, after sales service, and all the rest of the things we need, but nobody has a conversation with the brand.

Except in the mind of marketing dreamers.

They have conversations with people, your employees, their friends, and friends of their friends, people they meet in supermarkets and service facilities, the list goes on.

The real key is to ensure that when your brand is spoken about, in whatever context, people are telling others of the value delivered, the problems solved, and that it ‘delivers’.

Forget the frills, jargon, and self delusion, it is a tough world out there, and your product needs to perform as promised, then people will talk about you.

Header cartoon credit: Tom Gauld New Scientist.