new ideas - Artful Thinkers

March 12, 2013June 13, 2017

Avoid Being Distracted by Shiny Pennies

A common challenge for business owners and executives is to avoid “tripping over shiny pennies.” What does that mean? It is the attraction and distraction of the newest, latest, greatest shiny object in our path.

We all seem to have a trained eye to spot the bright copper commodity at our feet, no matter where we are headed. The shine is overwhelming. We stop. We pick it up. We put it in our pocket. Then we declare our latest “find” to be lucky. A sign of great fortunes to come.

Shiny pennies reflect a fiery glow that is hard to avoid. Old pennies lack the shine and sleekness that keep our attention. They seem drab. They are tried and have traveled far, gathering dirt and grime along the way. They often find homes in jars, drawers and bottles. New pennies have power. We have willed the new penny with charm, a source of inspiration, as we traverse along the pathway of possibilities.

The penny is representative of all the ideas and opportunities that land in front of us, one right after the other. Every time we stop to evaluate a new idea, we are taking our attention away from our current plan of action.

Navigating through the countless opportunities, or shiny pennies, requires determined focus and unbridled commitment to a planned strategy.

Unfortunately, in business the sparkling object we stop and pick up is often worth exactly the minted value – ONE CENT. Consuming ourselves by the possibilities of what the perceived lucky penny might bring can actually cost a business many pennies, if not fortunes.

New is not to be avoided. New keeps us innovating and testing. The overwhelming desire to continually focus on the new penny in our pocket, can be a big distraction from working on the current business plan. Shiny pennies have a time and place. Some will need proper evaluation and careful consideration. If you are feeling consumed by all the shiny pennies, set a time in your day or week to focus on these new ideas. Plan for “new” within your plan. Budget the costs associated to testing the new ideas.

Apply the “penny test” in our course of evaluation. What is the real cost associated to adding this penny to the jar of other shiny pennies? Will you spend more in product development, sales and marketing? How will it change your business model? Is there an impact in supply chain and distribution? How will customer’s respond? Every new penny that you stop to pick up needs thorough testing and vetting, with an effective cost-benefit analysis. The amount of work to evaluate the penny is expensive, so not every penny is worthy of much attention.

Be cautious of the allure of the sleek and sparkly new. After all, it is just one cent – shiny or not. If you are always tripping over pennies, you might just fail to see the dollars falling from the sky.

“If had a penny for every strange look I’ve gotten from strangers on the street I’d have about 10 to 15 dollars, which is a lot when you’re dealing with pennies.” – Andy Samberg

Jamie Glass, President and CMO at Artful Thinkers

January 6, 2013

Think with Yes in Mind

One of the biggest challenges business leaders and entrepreneurs face is to keep an open mind to new ideas and other people’s suggestions. Employees, advisers and sales people all seem to have a new and improved way for growing, building, doing or fixing something.

Emails flood your inbox while proposals stack high on your desk. The company suggestion box stays filled with endless brainstorms. You solve one problem and then there are dozens of better, faster, cheaper ways you could solve the next. You can not ignore the influx. Nor should you.

Great leaders thrive on contributions of others, no matter the format or context. There is always the opportunity that one recommendation could save or make the company millions of dollars. A customer satisfaction survey could help you enhance your product. An employee recommendation could help you reduce cost on your next infrastructure project. A shareholder could enlighten you about a rewarding strategic partner opportunity.

Staying in a “yes” state of mind requires great skill and discipline. It requires you to be approachable, literally operating with an open door for easy access to anyone and everyone. You have to be focused and an expert listener. The presentation of a suggestion may be masked within a complaint or shared by someone that doesn’t regularly get an audience with the ultimate decision maker. You have to be able to decipher the hidden meaning. You have to be thinking yes this idea or information could make a difference.

When approached, if you are thinking yes you are open to possibilities. If you are thinking no, you are closed to suggestions and in the mindset of impossibilities. It is a dangerous position for the person at the helm to be closed to new approaches and ways of doing business. You will soon be on an island as others are discouraged from sharing information or guidance. You eliminate contact with those that can help you the most.

How do we get into thinking no all the time? It requires time to be in a “yes” mindset. Time is a precious commodity for leaders. We also have been trained to say no before we say yes. In fact, good salespeople are trained to overcome your no. Showing resistance when you are approached by a sales person is only a challenge. Sales people learn early in their careers that it is often seven no’s to get to the yes. Saying no only makes them more persistent. It is far easier to say yes! Yes, send me some information. Yes, tell me why you would recommend we adopt this idea.

Always thinking yes before no does not mean that you implement every suggestion. In fact, with being so open and approachable, it will be easier to discern what should be put on the list of possibilities.

Never limit what you can accomplish by thinking no before you think yes. Maybe, just maybe, it will change how you and your business accomplishes all your goals and objectives in the coming year.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” ― Gandhi

Jamie Glass, CMO & President of Artful Thinkers and Managing Director of Sales & Marketing Practice at CKS Advisors.

November 18, 2012

Letting Go of Old School Business

We are working in an agile, lean, bootstrapping world. We are delivering big data globally, in nanoseconds. We manage and run businesses 24/7 with on demand expectations from customers, employees and vendors.

Are you operating your business in modern times or like it is the 70′s, 80′s, 90′s or even the last decade? Your established ways of doing business may be holding you back. You may be out of touch with what can move your business forward now. It is time to let the “old school” business practices go and embrace progress.

Aged leadership techniques for running businesses that worked 20 and 30 years ago are great for television dramas, but not for motivating others to help you create a thriving organization. Managing from top down with authority and control is counter productive to collaboration and innovation. Dictatorial bosses are not respected today. Confrontation and intimidation were once seen as ways to “control the population” of workers. Today, it is misguided and creates resentment, all barriers to inspiring others to come together to solve problems and flourish in the workplace. Is your leadership style up-to-date?

Work environments that are open develop greater trust and equality in mission. The millennial workforce is community driven, with a sense that you do well by doing good. Parents and institutions work hard to instill the values of sharing. It is expected to carry over to the workplace. Openness and freedom of expression are as important as basic rewards and even compensation. Younger generations will work hard, but old carrot and stick approaches are less appealing than basic respect and the feelings they experience by doing good work.

Retro is cool for clothing and design. It doesn’t appeal to where people want to spend a good portion of their day. Are you keeping up with the times? Are the visual clues in your office showing you are fresh with new ideas or stuck in generations past? Is your desk cluttered with paper files, stacks of business cards or even shelves loaded with management and leadership books that were promoted two decades ago?

Here are some clues that you may be stuck in your old school business ways.

Micro-management feels good. No one wants to be controlled by the overlord. If you are running the numbers every morning, watching arrival times and wondering how to squeeze out another ounce of productivity, it is time to refocus your energy. Today, results and outcomes move businesses ahead of their competition. Align your team with organizational goals and expectations. Celebrate accomplishments.

Dress code policy is a regular meeting topic. Ties and nylons are bygones as standard office attire. Loosen up! You want people to be comfortable when they are working hard. Innovators want to collaborate with peers, not be addressed by the “suit” in the room. Do you represent yourself as an equal that inspires others or someone that dresses to impress? If your employees are impressed, it is because you empower and motivate them.

You love your big executive suite. Big offices represent old austerity days. Everyone knows you earn the big bucks with your title. The expansive office gives the impression you are unreachable and untouchable. It does not increase your cool factor. If you have spent a big budget on office decor, it shows your priority. How about an office ping pong table, an employee lounge or creative think tank room? Big offices exclude you from working with your team.

If you have a time clock on the wall, you are truly old school. There may be legal reasons you may need to track or “clock” hours; however, time clocks bolted on the wall give the impression you are still operating in the industrial world. Computer software can be set up on any standing office computer or tablet and help you remove the visual of ancestral ways of tracking every second of work time.

Your technology budget for 2013 has a large line item for new desktop computers. Laptops, tablets, smartphones are how productive people operate today. Information available via online “secured” vaults and in the cloud storage provides convenience to vital documents and programs. Carry-on computing gives you freedom and accessibility to work from any where at any time. Times are changing and desktops are definitely old school.

Are you still using out of office notes? Throw the pink slips away. It’s not new, it is called voicemail. Use it. Return the calls left for you. It reflects your follow-through and respect for others. Better yet, encourage your team to find you via text and call you on your mobile device. Make it easy to be in touch.

There may be financial, legal and security reasons that you can not leave all your old school ways of doing business behind. Make sure that there really is a reason for holding on to the older ways you conduct business. If the only reason you are using old school business techniques or tools is inability or lack of interest to change, you will be left behind. Your employees see it. Your customers know it. Your vendors and suppliers are pained by it. It’s time to move into the new school of doing business.

Today is apps and accessibility, cooperation and alliances, nanoseconds and responsiveness. Being a progressive in business creates more opportunities for growth, in people, profits and productivity. Let the old go and go anew. You might like the results.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. – Benjamin Franklin

By Jamie Glass, CMO & President of Artful Thinkers and Managing Director of Sales & Marketing Practice at CKS Advisors.