It’s been a week since the Port-au-Prince earthquake and images streaming in are helping us to grasp the region’s boundless misery and desperation. Hundreds of thousands have perished, and despite our best efforts, more will die and suffer for myriad reasons including the inability to deliver relief where it’s needed.
Despite the gut-wrenching news, it’s heartening to learn that determined, inventive people are finding ways to alleviate the suffering and, in some cases, save lives.
One of the more interesting stories is about an open-source project called Ushahidi which takes its name from the Swahili word for “testimony”. The software, developed during the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, enables text messages to be mapped by time and location. Anyone with an internet connection, regardless of the device they use to access it, can send a text message, an image or an email. Ushahidi can also store data offline for later synchronization.
One of the more satisfying experiences at year’s end is reaching out to clients, partners and colleagues to thank them for their business and their stalwart support. It’s even sweeter this time while reflecting on an entire decade going back to the early days of my business.
So, then…let us reflect together for a while, consider what matters, what really matters, and then in our wonderfully separate ways, fare forward together. ~ James Hollis
Look Back
It’s the season to reflect on a year that’s winding down before we turn the page. It feels right to look back on the year. What interesting times these are! Tom Friedman describes this as a period marked by the collision of two forces, the Great Recession and the Great Inflection – referring to the rise of cheap, plentiful technology.
The good news is that the economy is forcing us to adopt new tools more rapidly, accelerating business innovation. But, more tools bring more “noise”, and decibel levels are soaring. Noise distracts us from focusing on what’s important and we seem to be suffering from a collective case of “focus-deficit disorder”. I think it’s hampering our performance.
I say this as an unrepentant geek who loves technology as much as anyone. Like so many of my peers, I have slavish attraction to small, shiny objects and the applications they run. And for the most part, I can endure the noise they make, but I wonder about the impact all the noise is having.
Complaining about the incessant noise has become a national pastime. At a holiday party last week, a friend confided that she seldom has time for talking with her kids, let alone her clients. “I’m on a treadmill,” she admitted. “And, I can’t slow it down long enough to hop off”.
Who among us can’t relate? At times, the noise is deafening.
It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. -Lev Grossman, Time Magazine
The Urge to Connect
History shows that that when robust tools serve a powerful human drive, revolutionary changes occur. That’s happening now as social media enable people to satisfy their primal urge to connect with each another. Social media are ubiquitous, cheap, and accessible, and their widespread use is having a profound impact on business.
While the technology is grabbing the headlines, the more interesting story is how people around the world are using social media. They’re fulfilling their desire to connect with each other, forming communities in the process. The communities function like virtual beehives — amorphous, dynamic structures where members coalesce to share information.
Smart companies recognize the commercial value of communities. They treat community members more like stakeholders than consumers. Instead of broadcasting their messages at them, they engage followers in dialogue. In time, followers can be converted to evangelists. In a hyper-connected world, evangelism carries messages fast and far, boosting the value of the brand.
The Wall Street Journal/MIT Sloan Management Review published a disturbing paper on why Western companies are failing to transform the Bottom of the Pyramid into a booming consumer market. The author argues that the base of the world’s economic pyramid – where people live on $2 a day or less – isn’t panning out as a market because potential consumers “haven’t been conditioned to think that the products being offered are something one would even buy.”
To support his argument, he cites the case of PUR, a low-cost water purification system developed by Procter & Gamble. The product provides the obvious benefit of affordable clean water where the risks of drinking contaminated water are high. But curiously, PUR* achieved low market penetration rates in test markets.
Why would consumers reject a product as salient as PUR? The author contends that Western companies simply haven’t created demand among low income consumers. “Companies must create markets—new lifestyles—among poor consumers,” he insists. His prescription is that Western businesses need to do a better job “conditioning” low-income people to be better consumers. Really?
Information’s pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience. ~Clarence Day
Nearly every day, I work with colleagues who are eight or more time zones away. I’ve been doing this, with few interruptions, since the ‘80s. Back then, “geographically distributed” projects were run only by multinational corporations. Times have changed.
Global markets have become more interdependent, and collaboration across borders is now commonplace, even at smaller companies. Businesses know that they have to team up with companies in other regions to compete in the global “value creation” race*.
But a lot of companies struggle with this. In a June, 2009 survey by TMA World, 82% of respondents rated the performance of their company’s “global, virtual” teams as either ‘moderate’ or ‘poor’. Yet nearly all of those surveyed said that global teams were ‘very important’ to their organizations.
Over the last few weeks, my colleagues and I presented value propositions to separate audiences in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Clients in each of these markets face unique challenges and opportunities to be sure. Our offerings addressed their different needs, but our approach is fundamentally the same everywhere.
Our work consists of three steps:
1) Develop a better understanding of customer needs by getting closer to customers and engaging them wherever possible,
2) Use customer insights to continually improve offerings,
3) Deliver a customer experience that’s better than the rest.
The good news is that these steps apply to clients everywhere, despite cultural variations. The not-so-good news is that succeeding with these steps is almost impossible unless there is substantial buy-in at the highest level in an organization.
“The formula is simple and it’s reduced to four words every kid in the world knows: Tell me a story. It’s that easy.” -Don Hewitt
Last week, Don Hewitt, founder and long-time producer of 60 Minutes, died. He’ll be remembered, among other things, as an impresario who created one of TV’s most successful programs. There’s a potent lesson for all of us in his “storyline”.
Hewitt’s vision and instincts culminated in a new, highly successful form of entertainment known as the “news magazine”. As important as that accomplishment is, his greatest feat may be his proving that story-telling is the key to success, not only in TV, but in every medium. We, in business, have much to learn from Hewitt’s dogged pursuit of the story.
Several years ago, I discovered Laurence Gonzalez’s (’03) book, Deep Survival – Who Lives, Who Dies and Why about individuals surviving “do or die” situations. Recently, I glanced through it again thinking it might be helpful for business people grappling with the challenges of this economy. I couldn’t put it down. Now, I’m convinced of its value for anyone going through any kind of crisis.
Gonzalez studied hundreds of survival stories and presents many of them in his book. He shares tales of people surviving harrowing crashes and others lost in the wilderness. Fascinated by their travails, he ponders why some people make it, while others perish? What general lessons can we learn from how the survivors behaved?
Gonzalez finds that one of the key features “deep survivors” possess is the capacity to focus on “doing the next right thing”. Instead of becoming overwrought, survivors accept what’s happening earlier in the process and focus on extricating themselves. They reason, “Okay, I’m here. This is really happening. Now I’m going to do the next right thing…”
That principle seems straightforward, but grappling with reality during a crisis was harder for the non-survivors. Victims, overcome by fear, were less adept at accepting their situation.
Many victims are prone to hysteria, while others are immobilized. What differentiates “deep survivors” is their ability to convert their emotions to drive reasonable, helpful action.
Every service interaction, regardless of the market, presents a unique opportunity to build a lasting relationship.
Working in diverse, global markets has been a lifelong learning experience for me. One of the more interesting and unexpected insights I’ve gained is that the similarities between people outweigh the differences. We’re more the same than they we are different. I found this particularly striking while on a recent trip with stops in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Once the patina of culture is peeled away, people everywhere crave the same things — respect, appreciation and attachment. I call these “primal drivers” because they’re powerful, deep-seated, and universal. Once we satisfy them, we engender trust with customers and can then uncover their unmet needs. I think that’s where the real opportunity lies.
Over the coarse of the eighteenth century, the Gold Coast produced more than a million slaves, about 15 percent of the total shipped from West Africa… ~Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship
The first African-American President of the U.S. landed in Accra, Ghana last evening. His first trip to the Sub-Sahara has symbolic significance for many reasons. Many Africans believe that Barack Obama represents the ascendancy of Africa on a global stage, reversing the despair and hardship that’s plagued the continent during the post-colonial era. They hope that his visit will call attention to the steep challenges and promising opportunities the continent faces.
Stillness, insight, and wisdom arise only when we can settle into being complete in this moment, without having to seek or hold on to or reject anything. ~Jon Kabat-Zinn
I recognize the value of mindfulness and have meditated intermittently since my college days. But often, I’ve placed my desire to succeed in the corporate world ahead of other interests. This book, by Michael Carroll, is a reminder to integrate mindfulness into all aspects of one’s life, including work.
If you use Twitter or any of the other social networking tools, you’re bound to notice how much people crave acceptance and appreciation. Twitter users are delighted when their posts are re-tweeted (re-quoted) or commented on by their followers.
It’s obvious that people like being shown appreciation, but there’s more to being appreciated than meets the eye. Social scientists say we’re hard-wired to respond powerfully to appreciation. In fact, the quest for acceptance and appreciation may be one of our stronger drivers.
When we’re validated by others, we’re inclined to bond with them. I call this the Validation Principle, and it’s one of the keys to building durable customer relationships.
My parents were both on Kastelorizo, a small Greek island that’s so remote it’s nicknamed “the last island”. Today, Father’s Day, I’m remembering my father and the sacrifices he made so that I could have a better life than he did.
His family had a flourishing shipping business, but their income dried up when political circumstances prohibited Greeks from doing business in neighboring Turkey. In pursuit of a better life, his parents uprooted him and his two sisters, and moved the family to Athens.
Those were tough times. The family endured a string of severe hardships. The Nazi occupation and devastating food shortages of the Second World War were followed by a brutal civil war that split the country apart. Mark Mazawer’s book, Inside Hitler’s Greece, describes the grinding experience of life in Greece during that time.
The notion of trust-building in business is gaining lots of attention these days. People crave trust more than ever before. In a world of complexity and uncertainty, where our vaunted institutions are faltering, consumers are drawn toward trustworthy brands, and away from those which are unreliable.
During uncertain times like these, having a trustworthy brand is a strong competitive advantage. Yet few companies intentionally take steps to engender trust. Organizations ought to instill trust in their brands with the same fervor that they pursue new business or cut costs.
You never know with these things when you’re trying something new what can happen. This is all experimental. ~Richard Branson
Over the years, there have been surprisingly few breakthroughs in the airline customer experience - until recently. Sir Richard Branson’s venture into the U.S. market, Virgin America, (VX) is redefining air travel by providing passengers with a fresh, distinctive on-board experience. The carrier is less than two years old but it’s quickly becoming a template for what’s possible in the future.
The choices VX is making demonstrate a “customer experience mindset” that’s all too rare in the industry. It’s evident that the VX team devoted their attention to passenger comfort and convenience. Features “baked in” to the customer experience include seats with power-outlets and USB ports. Cabins in their new A320s have soft mood lighting.
I’ve recently noticed a subtle but perceptible attitude shift among Americans working in foreign markets. My overseas colleagues are noticing, too. American business people, they say, are displaying more thoughtfulness than usual. U.S. companies operating overseas seem less inclined to approach global business as though its epicenter is in New York or Palo Alto.
It’s too soon to call this a new Zeitgeist, but change is in the air. The global economic crisis, which has its roots in the U.S., may be partially responsible. I think the new vibe is also influenced by Washington’s new tone in its approach to global affairs. As an American doing business abroad, this is promising.
Historically, many American firms have approached business from a decidedly ethnocentric perspective–more so than many of our European rivals. U.S. companies have missed opportunities as a result.
Things seem to be moving in a better direction now.
Gonzalez studied hundreds of survival stories and presents many of them in his book. He shares tales of people surviving harrowing crashes and others lost in the wilderness. Fascinated by their travails, he ponders why some people make it, while others perish? What general lessons can we learn from how the survivors behaved?
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