Quiddity Higher Purpose Business, help for entrepreneurs, women in business, David Solomon

What Has My Biggest Lesson Been?

When I first pondered this question I thought “How can I possibly choose just one lesson from the thousands of major mistakes from which I’ve learned?” But then the answer became very clear very quickly – there is one which stands above all the others. And interestingly, it is the same lesson for both my personal and business life.

Life today is all about speed and fast action. The rate of change continues to accelerate, so we have to think, move and act faster and faster. But there are some things I have found it is much more appropriate to slow down.

The biggest mistakes I have made have been when I have not taken enough time to establish a trusting relationship before making a further “investment”. And the times I have taken the time, I have gotten it right.

Often when we meet a person for the first time we can be inspired (business) or infatuated (personal) and this can lead us to rush into an over-commitment. The ultimate result is very often a fizzle and/or no productivity.

From my experience, when I have taken the time to develop trust and loyalty before going for the “payoff” i.e. by building a substantive relationship, this has provided a very solid foundation for the future. And the productivity in the relationship follows.

Think of it like a courtship or an engagement. Sometimes it can happen in 5 minutes and sometimes it takes years. But the key lesson is that building the relationship first is the most important – whether it be with a life partner or a business partner.

People do business with each other when they like and trust each other.

Lessons About Business - From Music?? It’s Not What You Think!

The metaphor is obvious…

Everyone in a business needs to be on the same page, accurately following the same musical score, under the baton of a strong, focused leader (mission/vision + strategy + leadership).

Teams need to play together, listening to each other, harmonizing (teamwork + communication + synchronization).

People in a company of any size can also learn the art of creativity and innovation by opening up like a jazz musician i.e. letting the feeling flow, catching the spirit of play, finding the swing in work.

Clearly there is a lot to bring to the world of business from the world of music (and vice versa by the way). However, it also turns out that most of what really applies is the exact opposite of the conventional wisdom.

Leadership – dictatorial versus democratic?

Anyone with a basic knowledge of music performance would think that jazz combos are free and spontaneous, whereas symphony orchestras are dominated by autocratic conductors. Do those images correspond to reality? 

Well, unless you’ve been inside a jazz combo or an orchestra you just can’t know how they really work. 

For example, there is actually a very strong leader in the jazz group. For all the talk of openness and spontaneity, a jazz group can’t adopt the attitude of “we’re all equals here.” That’s because there is a need for vision and concept - and (in this scenario) only one person can effectively establish and define the musical vision.

Once you have this vision, your job as leader is to bring out the best in the people who are working with you. 

Yes, I do want my keyboard player to have as much input as possible – but only as long as it doesn’t bump into the overall vision I have for the performance. I need to communicate to her what my vision is, so the stuff she contributes fits it perfectly.

Just how collaborative are jazz combos really? 

Well, this really does depend on the leader, but in many groups the leader’s judgment is ultimate. They will talk with their musicians about how they see the song. Each song is like a little impromptu play. Usually it’s about 30 seconds of information – perhaps a chord sequence, a tempo, a mood, and a concept. They will then take that and spin it into a story for the next 8 or so minutes.

Within the context of that vision, individual players start to contribute their ideas. Everybody makes suggestions, they are discussed, and eventually the combo works it out. If there is a standoff, the leader makes the decision and everyone goes along with it. And occasionally the leader will have to say, “What you’re doing there doesn’t really work. Could you try something else?”

One of the greatest jazz leaders of all time was Miles Davis. Yet he had a reputation for being demanding, intimidating and eccentric. So why did the best jazz musicians (many of them stars themselves) love to play for him?

It was because he was the most creative and daring musician of them all. They wanted to play with Miles because they knew that he could get them to go places musically that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to go. He was strong enough to encourage them to do their best individual work and to meld them into a cohesive group.

Are you seeing the business connection yet?

Just like the conductor of any symphony orchestra? 

The general image is that the conductor is like a CEO who defines a vision and then makes sure everybody executes it appropriately. 

But there is a “dark side” of orchestras that most people don’t know about - a strange battle of wills between musicians in the orchestra and the conductor. 

It is very common for the members of the orchestra to constantly harass and challenge the conductor, doing anything they can (sometimes very childish things) to try to mess the conductor up. 

Whether you call this politics or gamesmanship, it seems like the musicians, having been disempowered because the conductor literally has all the control, then act defiantly, forcing the conductor to make them toe the line. The musicians can then abdicate themselves of any responsibility. 

You will hear things like “I just play (type/make/sell/etc.) whatever they give me” and “Every time I make a suggestion, nobody cares anyway, so why should I care?”

Finale : Simply put, the primary role of the conductor, the jazz ensemble leader or the CEO, is to take responsibility for implementing the strategic direction of the organisation. The key method to achieve this is generally by working with their team members to develop and oversee the culture, values, motivation and subsequently, the performances.

Whichever leadership approach is used - be it autocratic, benevolent dictatorship, or purely democratic – it is the buy-in of the team members to the vision and values that will ensure a sparkling performance.

The Queen is Dead. Long Live the Queen!

No, this isn’t a blog about Madonna, Lady Gaga, or even Michael Jackson or Elvis. This is an article about the humble USP or Unique Selling Proposition.

The original idea of the USP was that each product or service taken to market should have a specific benefit that was unique to it (hence making it as discernibly different from its competitors as possible).

This benefit needed to be a compelling proposition so that it could move many people to buy the product or service. And when done well, this proposition could be captured by a memorable phrase or line. Do you remember these?

When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight – Federal Express
Melts in your mouth, not in your hand – M&M’s
We try harder – Avis
The Fresh Food People – Woolworths

So what is the problem with a USP? Well, there are several, but the most obvious is that a USP only takes into consideration the perspective of the product, service, company, or individual about which it refers. This is soooo 1970’s. More specifically, there is no consideration of the customer’s perspective!

So if the USP is dead, what is the alternative? Well, here are a few to consider:

POD = Point Of Difference
ESP = Emotional Selling Proposition
TSP = Tribal Selling Proposition
CVP = Customer Value Proposition
UVP = Unique Value Proposition
CVP = Compelling Value Proposition
UPV = Unique Perceived Value

CVP - Customer Value Proposition or Compelling Value Proposition is what most people will talk about nowadays (just note the power in those words!)

The key take-away message is that we have moved away from the narcissistic perspective of the USP, to understand that the audience – specifically their desires, their needs, their likes and dislikes – are what we need to be addressing!

You may well have heard of a particular radio station that everybody listens to 24/7. Don’t believe me? It’s radio station WII-FM – which stands for “What’s In It For Me?”

Whenever you communicate with another person – any form of communication – they have this little WII-FM filter that interrupts your message. And if you can’t answer the question to the filter’s satisfaction – you won’t cut through!

This is why I personally prefer UPV – Unique Perceived Value – as it clearly acknowledges that it is the customer’s perception of your unique value – the value they acknowledge when they look through their filters – that is what counts.  
 
Let’s face it, with a few exceptions, most clients don’t care that much about you - other than what you can do for them (WII-FM). What they are interested in is what can you do that will help them win more business, cut their costs, save them time, be more efficient, deliver a better result, provide better service and make more money. They want to know how you can help them with their value
proposition.

And the way to make a Value Proposition compelling? That’s simple.

• Make it real and tangible - not just a memorable line.

• You must believe in it totally, walk the talk and do what you say you stand for.

• It should be a declarative statement of intent, belief, action, and a promise to the customer.

The most important thing is to internalise your Compelling Value Proposition, embrace it, live it, and (if relevant) make sure your staff understand it and are empowered to act accordingly.

And the easiest and most powerful way I know to do this is to ensure that your CVP serves your higher purpose!

If you’d like a copy of my complimentary ebook A Simple Guide to Creating a Compelling Value Proposition please shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to send you a one.

Creativity , Innovation, Marketing and the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead wasn’t a band I grew up with, but I have read a great deal about their contrarian approach to marketing themselves. You see, many (if not all) of their marketing innovations seem to spur from doing the opposite of what other bands (and record labels) were doing at the time.

It may not be all that obvious, but the Grateful Dead actually pioneered many of the social media and inbound marketing concepts that businesses in all industries use today on the web. The internet has merely served as a catalyst to support its growth, scale and reduce the cost of entry. Their approach cultivated an extremely dedicated fan base of “Deadheads”, who often followed the band from concert to concert for literally years. Who wouldn’t want loyal customers like that?

They made a series of important choices to separate themselves from everyone in their industry, making difficult decisions that were very unpopular – except with their fans! For example, they allowed concert attendees to tape shows and distribute them to other fans for free. They also created special tickets and access for fans.

By taking these (then) radical actions, the Grateful Dead succeeded in building a loyal, word-of-mouth network of fans powered by free music. They understood that it was about the experience that the music provided instead of strictly the music itself.

Today’s successful companies have shifted their marketing focus away from outbound promotion of products and features, to create a demand at the top of the “marketing funnel” through a content strategy that focuses on the problems, needs and education of customers.  

A key part of the new marketing model is to give away valuable information or sample product / services for free, so as to attract a larger base of prospective customers (after “experiencing” the product / service / approach / expertise of the company), and with a percentage of them willing to pay for a premium product or service. This approach is at the core of inbound marketing and describes the cutting edge of business development strategies for many businesses today.

This is why the more enlightened music artists are only too happy to give away their music for free, as they know they’ll make it all back (and more) on ticket and merchandise sales (assuming they are good enough to attract an appreciative audience of course).

The Grateful Dead were innovators in many areas. They played for the love of the music and their payback came later. They cultivated their tribe with free downloads, counter culture branding, great community and giving their fans what they wanted.

But this is more than just an interesting reminiscence…

For all business owners and CEOs, the most important leadership quality for success in business is now considered to be creativity – somewhat surprisingly even outweighing integrity in recent surveys.

Creative leaders are more prepared to break with the status quo of industry, enterprise and revenue models, and they are much more likely to rate innovation as a “crucial capability.”

As epitomised by the grateful Dead in the 1960’s.

Only the Strong Survive

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade…

It’s not how many times you get knocked down that is important, it’s how many times you get back up again…

When the going gets tough, the tough get going…

How many times have you heard the above quotes? 10? 100? 1,000?  

Heck, they even made the last one into a hit song that was used as the soundtrack in the movie blockbuster “The Jewel Of The Nile”!

So just how much “truth” is in a “truism” like these ones?

And why are these particular truisms important from a business context?

Let’s turn the spotlight on Brooke Shields to see…

“The truth is that I have never written myself off, and I think that is the most important part of the whole puzzle. I never allow myself to be stopped.”

After commencing her profession performing life under the direction of her mother when she was just 11 months old, Brooke Shields has survived an industry that is notorious for chewing up and spitting out its young stars.

Written off and ridiculed, Shields has survived the child star label and the kinds of setbacks that could sink even the most motivated of stars: battles with a stage mother who dominated her formative years, the early exposure to fame and prodigious fortune, a film career that tanked, being mauled by the critics, controversy, troubled relationships, and a very public descent into postpartum depression.

Born in 1965, Brooke’s first appearance was in an Ivory Soap commercial in 1966. Modeling before she could walk, for over 25 years Brooke was a constant feature in print and television ads. She appeared on the front cover of Vogue, becoming, at 14, its youngest ever cover girl. But as indicated, it wasn’t all a bed of roses for her.

1978 saw her star in Pretty Baby, in which the barely adolescent Brooke was cast as a child prostitute. It created a blaze of controversy and public protest due to the subject matter and nudity. Audiences were scandalized. Two years later similar controversy erupted over her role in The Blue Lagoon, (this time leading to a Congressional inquiry!), which was later eclipsed when she became the provocative jeans model that would “let nothing come between me and my Calvins”.

Shields was an international star, but at times her fame was due more to the controversies surrounding her than the quality of her work, and she found it almost impossible to be taken seriously as an actress. But unlike many of today’s “celebrities” who crave notoriety more than recognition for the quality of their work, this wasn’t good enough for Shields.

So she studied for a degree in French literature at Princeton University and eventually headed for the bright lights of Broadway. There she started to turn in the kind of performances that had critics searching for superlatives, and fans queuing up for more. She stunned audiences with her acting, singing, and dancing when she was cast against type as tough-as-nails Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies in the mid-nineties revival of Grease.

Her guest appearance on Friends, which aired on Super Bowl Sunday, was edgy and unrestrained - one of the most remarkable performances of her career. It was this performance that led to the hit series in which she starred, Suddenly Susan. Gary Dontzig, former executive producer of the show said in an interview with The New York Times, “She was just so funny. She took chances no one would have expected.”

After two Golden Globe nominations, Brooke decided to take more control of her destiny and fired her mother as her manager. During this time she married tennis ace Andre Agassi, but within two years the relationship had collapsed. Then her close friend and cast member David Strickland committed suicide. A short while later Suddenly Susan had run its natural course.

But the always inventive Shields was not to be beaten. In 2001 she delivered a barnstorming performance as Sally Bowles in the long-running Broadway revival of Cabaret. She also received glowing reviews for her portrayal of a lesbian who has a baby with her lover in the TV movie What Makes a Family, and in 2004 took the lead in a revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town where she was again cast against type.

But her personal life and the list of celebrity boyfriends she enjoyed was still fodder to the feeding trough of the tabloid press. In 2001 she married and concentrated on trying to have a family, struggling for more than two years to conceive - eventually giving birth to her first daughter, Rowan.

Finally she was a mum, but all was not well as she found herself sliding into despair. She chronicled it all in her book, Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression. It was an extraordinarily candid account of the crippling depression she suffered after Rowan’s birth.

Recovery was a long process, evidence of the severity of the condition, and it involved therapy and medication. She did not shy away from the horrific moments, and by bravely making her most private battles public she helped raise awareness of a condition that mothers had been uncomfortable talking about through fear or shame. Shields’ second daughter, Grier, was born 3 years later.

Professionally she has since enjoyed guest starring roles in a number of TV shows and the lead in Lipstick Jungle (not a ratings winner and the series was cancelled after just two seasons). She also had a children’s book published.

It could be said that Brook Shields has had a life of many disappointments, but these have not fazed a star who arguably has suffered more career setbacks than most. She acknowledges that her sometimes troubled past has shaped her, but it has not defined her. She has beaten the depression that nearly destroyed her life, and blossomed into a fine and charismatic actress who is still sought after by TV, movie, and theatre producers.

One final quote from her:
“Don’t waste a minute not being happy.  If one window closes, run to the new window - or break down a door.”

Brooke Shields’ story shows that even those we think have gifted or privileged lives have their own share of challenges to face. 

So how is this relevant to you and your business?

Well, no business owner could deny that being in business is full of challenges – relating to staff, the marketplace, financial, technological, production etc., etc., etc.

But of course, you already know that it’s how you react to these challenges, and to your circumstances, that makes all the difference. You also know that “your attitude will determine your altitude” and that you should “never give up!”

More truisms? And is a truism just a tired cliché? Or is it a fact?

One definition of a truism is a truth that is so obvious or self-evident, as to be hardly worth mentioning.

Yet sometimes we all need a reminder of the basics, don’t we?

“The Jewe l Of The Nile” starred Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner & Danny
DeVito, 1985. Song performed by Billy Ocean. For younger readers, it was re-recorded in 1999 by Boyzone – Here is a link for the fabulous video - it will make you smile.

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQz-gccETLE&feature=related
Written by Wayne Braithwaite, Willy Head, Barry Eastmond, Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Billy Ocean. Aided by a video featuring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito as lip-synching backup singers. The song became a major international hit. The Irish boy band Boyzone recorded a cover version for the 1999 Comic Relief telethon. Their version was also a smash hit sold over 670,000 copies. Their video included Graham Norton, Jo Brand, Phil Jupitus, Mel Smith, Harry Hill and the cast of Emmerdale.

www.quidditybusiness.com.au

How transparent are you?

I can’t actually remember when it was I first heard about Cirque de Soleil, but I’m pretty sure I first saw them when they toured Australia with Alegria in about 2001. I also remember thinking as I paid (what felt like a small fortune at the time) for tickets for my family of five “This had better be worth it!”

However, from the moment I spotted the Grand Chapiteau in the distance I knew that my experience would be different from any previous circus - in fact any previous  show – that I had ever been to see.

As we walked down the carefully laid out paths my excitement was palpable and building. My nerve endings were literally tingling as the sound of the music of the show played over the PA system and evocative images surrounded us.
 
As we entered the Grand Chapiteau my breath was taken away at the sheer size of the audience, the magnificence of the stage and all of the rigging. The mood was already established by the lighting and the handful of performers in the audience teasing them with a “prologue” of interaction.

And then the lights went down and the music started…

Just a short time later I was sitting in one of the front sections, about 3 rows back, with my mouth open and my heart singing. I was completely entranced and captivated, lost in the emotion and the experience, and frankly, oblivious to the rest of the world. I sat there literally hugging myself in delight at what was unfolding in front of me. My imagination had been captured…

It was right there and then that I first saw why “show business” had 2 words – there was the show, and there was the business.

After the show, as we walked down the carefully laid out path through the  merchandise section where some of the performers where signing autographs, I also had the insight you have heard me pronounce many times since - that every performance is a business, and of course, every business is a performance.

Recently I watched a documentary about the making of Corteo – Cirque Du Soleil’s 15th show. And it struck me as I watched the doco, that even though they were opening the curtains and letting me peek behind them into the show - to see the awkward beginnings, the things that didn’t work, the difficulties they had, the personality conflicts, the  individual frailties, the temper tantrums, the long slow process of building and pulling it all together, and even the technical failure during
the premiere that led to a 45 minute delay in the middle of the performance – I didn’t feel any less warm about them. In fact, I felt even closer, as if I had become part of their fraternity.

How much is this in contrast with “regular” business practice? I mean, we can’t let our clients see our secrets or our weaknesses can we? How would they feel about us if they knew we weren’t perfect?

When I was in executive search I remember the Managing Partner of the firm saying to me that we had to maintain the secrecy of what we did – that we couldn’t let our clients see what was inside our executive search “black box”. If we did, and they saw what we did and how we did it, the mystery would go and we couldn’t charge our high fees.

Really? Surely the skill and discretion applied to the activity is what is paramount, as well as the results.

I remember as a child watching a donut machine in operation. I saw the dough being mixed, the donut being squeezed out into the hot oil, flipped over mid-way to ensure even cooking, then removed from the oil and sent along a conveyer for dusting with sugar. Even though all of this was done automatically, I didn’t feel that the value of the donut was diminished and I was happy to buy one.

What is there to lose by being open rather than secretive? I believe that by pulling back the curtain to your business, by giving your clients and prospective clients more information about what you do, by engaging them in your processes, that you have a lot more to gain than to lose.

At the very least it will help your relationship with your clients. And that can’t be a bad thing, can it?

Women Forging the Future

I came across the following from Elizabeth Debold, Senior Editor of EnlightenNext magazine in an email promoting a virtual seminar they are holding, and I thought it was worth passing on. In part, it helps explains why I work with women to build Higher Purpose Businesses.

“When every woman learns to listen without fear to the voice inside her instead of smothering it, it may lead - perhaps even more surely than rockets into space—to the next step in human evolution.”

A powerful quote, isn’t it? It’s from an article that Betty Freidan (author and founder of the National Organization for Women) wrote for Good Housekeeping magazine FIFTY years ago - in 1960! She was writing to all of the educated, smart women who found themselves strangely frustrated and dissatisfied with their expected roles of wife and mother - and had no other life options.

Today we can’t say that - educated Western women have more freedom of choice than any women in history. The path of marriage and children that defined women’s identities and fulfilled their essential purpose for thousands of years but is now merely one option among many. 

But the vague sense that something isn’t quite right still persists with so many of us - even though we may have it all or have made powerful choices in our lives, so often we feel that something is still missing and we are still craving a deeper fulfillment.

Interestingly, research shows that as a gender, women are less happy today than their foremothers were before the 1960’s revolution. Whilst they have gained options, they have not necessarily found a new essential purpose that puts wind in their sails, empowering them to reach higher and challenge limits, to evolve who they are, and to become creative agents of lasting change.

Why? In a nutshell: while women have broken through one glass ceiling after another, the new frontier is busting the glass ceilings inside ourselves that trap our spirit, our sense of purpose and our deepest passion for and trust in life.

 Building a Higher Purpose Business is one of the many options open to women (and men!) to help achieve this.

If you are interested in finding out more about the seminar, here is the link: Women Forging the Future—Two Days of Myth Busting, Soul Strengthening, and Ecstatic Liberation (November 13 & 14, 2010) (FYI, I have no affiliation with them other than being a subscriber to the magazine)

Lessons for business from Hollywood

Making a feature film is an almighty endeavour. Here is a short (and incomplete!) list of the various components that have to be taken into account:

Accounts, Art, Camera, Casting, Catering, Continuity, Construction, Costume, Direction, Distribution, Editing, Exhibition, Financing, Hair & Makeup, Health & Safety, Lighting, Locations, Music, Performing, Post Production, Production, Props, Publicity, Stills, Script, Sound, Transport, etc.

Whew!

So with all this complexity, how does a film get made? Conceptually it’s actually pretty easy…

A production company uses the concept of outsourcing in a very efficient manner.

Specifically, they hire in experts and specialists in their respective fields who contribute their skills to the film - under the direction of a highly skilled project manager (the producer) and a highly creative architect of the vision for the end product (the Director).

Could 1 person make a film? Sure, but it would probably take forever.

In sport, a decathlete is a highly skilled, all-round athlete. But the individual champion in each of the events would beat the decathlete in a 1:1 competition every time.

Why? Because they are better overall athletes?

No – it’s because they are specialists and bring efficiencies to their sport.

It’s just the same with making a film.

And it’s just the same with running a business.

In your business you should be the Producer, and maybe the Director as well. But to also be the Director of Photography, Art Director, Stunt Co-ordinator, Casting
Agent, Sound Director, Make-up Artist and so on is clearly not logical.

It is important to focus on your core competency and your highest value-add to your business.

This is sensible time allocation.

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