STRATEGY CENTRAL

OK…it’s the Indiana Jones jungle. But it’s still a jungle! Good times in SoCal with an afternoon at Disneyland.

Been thinking about the environment?  I have to say I’ve found myself thinking about it more and more for the last year or so.  The problem is…it’s hard to know where to start if you want to begin reducing your own personal environmental impact!  Every where you turn you’re hearing some kind of message about the damaging effects of what we’re doing.  It’s tough to know what to do.

Terry’s got a good post today with a few suggestions that will move you in the right direction.  I signed up immediately for 41pounds.org.  Who wouldn’t like a slimmer mailbox!  Bobby’s got a good take too.  I took the Energy Star pledge.  You can too!  Now if I could get the Sparkletts back in the office so the bottled water palooza could end!

I’ve written a good bit about assumptions.  This is an important subject.  You may think you’re living in an assumption-free environment…but you’re not.  They’re there.  Apparently they’re in a kind of blind spot.

Kem Meyer’s got a great take today on testing assumptions.  Well worth a look.  Based on an interesting article  in Fast Company that is definitely worth reading.  Good stuff.

I’ve thought a lot over the years about how I’ve turned out the way I have.  For instance, I remember picking up a paperback copy of In Search of Excellence…but I don’t remember why.  I know I devoured it.  The thought of how it made sense in all I was doing is still a very vivid memory.  I’ve identified that as the beginning.  Don’t know how it happened.  But that’s where it started; my preoccupation with the way leadership, management, vision and change are integral to mission…whatever the mission…but especially ours.

Then, if you roll the videotape forward, there was a fascinating Jim Dethmer talk that I chanced to hear at a Willow conference in February of 1991.  Why I went to his breakout, I have no idea.  But I have no doubt that those 75 minutes altered the trajectory of my life.  Amazing.  Really can’t imagine how things would have turned out without hearing this talk.  Still holds up great after all these years.  See what you think.

Here’s part one:

Here’s part two:

How about this one from Gary Hamel’s Leading the Revolution;

"Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you’re on a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.  Of course, there are other strategies.  You can change riders.  You can get a committee to study the dead horse.  You can benchmark how other companies ride dead horses.  You can declare that it’s cheaper to feed a dead horse.  You can harness several dead horses together.  But after you’ve tried all these things, you’re still going to have to dismount (p. 55)."

When you think about your organization…to the extent that you have figured out what business you’re in and what you’re going to call success…are you stuck trying to meet basic expectations?  Or have you moved on to take a crack at understanding your customers’ desires?  Let’s just say, if you haven’t moved from simply trying to meet expectations to understanding desires, you’re probably only temporarily in the game.

If you want to be more than a temporary fix, you’ve got to get a handle on desires.  Love what Chip Conley has to say in Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow:

“Most
companies spend too much time just trying to achieve basic customer
satisfaction at the bottom of the pyramid. Purely creating customer satisfaction won’t necessarily tame your
customer’s tendency to wander in an increasingly promiscuous marketplace. Tapping into customers desires can be a means
of creating differentiation, which can be your cure in an increasingly
commoditized world. When customer’s
desires are met, they are substantially more likely to come back for more, and
tell others (p. 40-41).”

Where are you on this one?  There?  Moving in the direction?  Wondering what that big sucking sound is?

Sundown.  66 degrees.  63% humidity.  Rained Friday.  It does that here you know…just not very often.  Just said to my sister-in-law (visiting from Texas), "if God meant there to be hot, humid nights in October…"  To be honest, I didn’t know how to finish the sentence.  So glad to back in So Cal after 12 years in Houston. 

Fajitas on the grill.   Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over on the stereo.  Our own Tequila Sunrise…in a manner of speaking.  Good times.  Wish you were here.

Recently Walt Mossberg said that Steve Jobs told him:

"I’m more proud of the things we haven’t done at Apple than what we have done."

As we’ve talked about in the past, "The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do."  Michael Porter

Here’s the interview where Mossberg made the comment: Business Innovation Factory

I’ve talked before about 37signals and products like Backpack and Highrise.  Looks like there’s a really good reason for their success.  Check out founder Jason Fried’s comments at the third annual summit of the Business Innovation Factory (BIF-3)  When asked  how his company resists the fatal flaw of "bloatware" and "feature creep" Fried said,

“We are enemies of mediocrity.  And if you try to
make everyone happy with your products, you end up with mediocrity. Our
company has opinions, and we build products based on those opinions. We
need more opinionated companies.”

Sound like anything that is affecting your organization?

Thanks to the Mavericks at Work blog for the link to Fried’s comments.
   

Talk about beyond relevant.  Gotta love Erwin!

What he’s saying?  It’s true for everything.  The aim isn’t joining what already is.

By the way, tripped across the Erwin McManus video over at Church Video Ideas today.  Great new site.  Not exactly what it sounds like.  Well worth checking out for the links to some of the newest stuff happening.