Tripped across a really good podcast today that honors Peter Drucker and it features Marshall Goldsmith, Frances Hesselbein, Tom Peters and David Maister. Very interesting stuff. Lots to learn in a conversation like this. You can listen in right here. Well worth the 80 minutes. Get a pad and a pen, something to sip on, and take it in.
Ok…I don’t know if you’ve seen Bono’s acceptance speech at the NAACP Image Awards, but this is clearly an incandescent moment. I heard about it over at Leave It Behind and it is awesome. You’ve got to watch the whole clip. The last 30 seconds or so will defib your soul. They did mine.
Have you ever really thought about the things that you just can’t not do? Preparing for a meeting where I’ll only play a color commentator role…I warned the presenter that there are times when I have great difficulty not saying something that needs to be said. It’s just the way I’m wired. Can I control myself? Yeah…but not easily. Why? Because sometimes it is just the perfect moment to jump on board with a comment that is about something I’m REALLY passionate about! And the only way I can not say something is if I ducktape my mouth closed.
How about you? Are there things that you can’t not do? Steve Roesler has a great post today about the things that a person can’t not do. An interesting take.
I actually think there are things that an organization can’t not do. For the same reason. Just wired to contribute in that way. And to do anything else (or less) would be compromise.
Take a look at Steve’s post. Good stuff. He’s also got a really good prescription for action.
In the work I do I have a drawing that illustrates an important element of what might be thought of as Customer DNA. Here’s an example of it.
Before I go any further, let me say this: This is a church illustration that is totally true of other organizations. So hang with me and see how it applies to you!
What’s it mean? The idea is that the circle represents everyone who considers this particular church to be their church…even if they only attend on Easter. The square represents the really connected insiders. One of the important DNA markers for the really connected insider is that if something happens to one of them, someone else will know right away. Another marker is that there is someone who is helping to develop or coach them from a spiritual standpoint.
Now, here are a couple insights about the difference between the people who are in the square and those who are in the circle. First, if you ask the people in the square who are their 10 best friends, 8 or 9 of them will also be inside the square. Conversely, if you ask the people in the circle the same question, generally only 1 or 2 of their best friends will even be in the circle. This is a significant understanding about the way organizations operate. Think about the implications! Need a couple?
How does this apply to your organization? One way might be a different view of meeting the needs/wants of the 20% who are in the box. If you focus your customer service efforts there, you’ll certainly be taking care of the group that pays the bills. But, if you do that without a plan to help the 80% move further in from the edges…
I started thinking about this today after I read Valeria Maltoni’s post on the value of a happy customer. Obviously, she’s writing from the perspective of focusing the efforts of your sales force on the right customers. Interesting to think about how this applies across the missions or purposes of organizations.
One of the nuances in Jim Collin’s Good to Great and the Social Sectors is that his Hedgehog Concept gets an important tweak. Understandably, most non-profits hesitate when asked, "What drives your economic engine?" It’s not a question that really makes sense in the non-profit equation. In order to help the Hedgehog Concept make sense in the social sector, Collins reframed it. He wrote, "The third circle of the Hedgehog Concept shifts from being an economic engine to a resource engine.
The critical question is not ‘How much money do we make?’ but ‘How can we develop a sustainable resource engine to deliver superior performance relative to our mission?’"
In addition, he identified a way to determine whether your organization is really making a distinctive impact. It revolves around whether, "your organization makes such a unique contribution to the communities it touches and does its work with such unadulterated excellence that if it were to disappear, it would leave a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution on the planet?" Put simply, would anyone miss you?
Ever really thought through that question? I’m sure most of us have asked it. But have you ever really drilled down and thought about whether what you’re doing is something that would be truly missed?
Peter Drucker wrote that, "Every hospital, every school, every business, has to believe that what it is doing is an essential contribution on which all the others in the community depend in the last analysis (The Daily Drucker, February 9th)."
An essential contribution. Interesting choice of words. Drucker was beyond Collins. Can you see it? He’s not asking if you’d be missed. He’s asking if you’re essential. Like air or water.
Are you making an essential contribution? As in…if a community didn’t have your help, could the community survive? That would make for a very challenging goal. What about it? What would have to happen for you to be essential?
