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Posts Tagged ‘business’

You Need to be Good at Killing Things …

03 Mar

Companies are all about building things, not destroying them. When your company is growing, you add lots of things to build the company: employees, investors, products, features, meetings, benefits, processes, reports, code, and more.


Homer

While it does not come natural for a company (or any organization) to toss things out, every so often you need to look at everything and focus on getting rid of things that are no longer needed, important, or helping the company grow.


Timing is also important.  Recognizing and throwing out things is hard enough, but doing so early truly difficult. The biggest flaw of most CEOs (including myself) is that they don’t kill things fast enough (or ever).


Maybe every company over a certain size should have a CKO – a Chief Killing Officer.   That person’s entire job would be to look at everything the company does and try to kill it.


Being able to kill things early is essential to the long-term growth and success of any company. But recognizing that you should be searching for things to kill is the first step to building a better company.


… Read On


My Thanks To ‘Marta’ and Blog Summation DOT Net

 
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Posted in business

 

Does Management Ability Improve With Age?

10 May

We would love to hear from you as well …

Does Management Ability Improve With Age?

Passed on – with thanks to : The Corner Office from BNet

 
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Posted in future.of.work, management, retirement

 

Virgin v American Airlines

10 May

… customer focus … customer first … the customer is always right … been doing some thinking based on real experiences …

Virgin

Yes – I am pro Virgin – but here is the reason – customer centricity. And it isn’t taken lightly.

I flew with American Airlines last year …

  • they delayed a flight – so we would have missed a connection
  • i took another flight – at big cost – to make the second leg of the trip (still with American).
  • they lost my luggage andit did not arrive for over three days
  • as a result we had to buy clothes etc
  • in the end the bags only arrived because we went back to the airport and hunted the luggage down
  • when we found it – we removed it from the lockers – without any identification
  • we left the airport – without any identification – with our bags
  • we got calls up to nearly a month later asking if we had our bags – and i so – to let them know – and if we didn’t – let them know …. that is they had no idea where our bags were
  • when we added it all up – we were out of pocket to the tune of well over $1,000
  • all this seperate to the fact that our bags travelled independantly to ourselves on a plane in this post 911 world (which AA assure me is allowed. is it ? (how many of you have been delayed on flights while bags were removed because a passenger hadn’t rurned up … what are the rules ?)I wrote to complain – I got an offer of 10,000 airmiles – which was credited to my account. Which didn’t seem to me to be right – so I wrote a personal, physical letter (note that emails, contact info etc is not available for these people) to
  • G. J. Arpey – Chairman, President and CEO, AMR Corp. and American Airlines
  • P. M. Bowler – President and CEO, American Eagle Airlines
  • D. P. Garton – VP, Marketing, AMR Corp. and American Airlines
  • I. D. Goren – SVP, Customer Relationship Marketing & Reservations, American Airlines
  • C. S. Kreeger – SVP, International, American Airlines… suggesting that this was not reasonable.Two months, Four Months, Six Months … nearly a year later – not a single response. Nothing. Nada. From anyone.Compare and ContrastVirgin – earlier this year had an AV problem on their plane. Everybody in the cabin – everybody – was given a claim form where you got to choose how you would like to be compensated for the ‘inconvenience’ – I chose – get this – 10,000 airmiles – and I didn’t even ask !! (And even my viewing pleasure wasn’t an issue – I turned my head and watched another screen) !!

    Customer Centricity ?

    Guess who I fly with – a lot.
    Guess who I will absolutely not fly with again if I have any say in the matter ?
    Guess who I will never recommend – to anyone – ever ?
    Guess who cares ?
    Guess who doesn’t ?

    •  
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    Posted in business, customers, service

     

    Apple v British Government

    10 May

    … customer focus … customer first … the customer is always right … been doing some thinking based on real experiences …

    Apple

    Yes – I am pro Apple – but here is the reason – customer centricity. And it isn’t taken lightly.

    I have been a proud user of Apple since the IPOD was launched – back in the days it ONLY integrated with a Mac – so I bought one of those as well. The point of this post is not to wax lyrical on the beauty of all things Mac. No. I am going to talk about the problems I have had with the Mac – to date – 4 significant problems. And every single time – it was fixed in less than 24 hours.

    I am prompted to write because today I have an alternative view. That is how others handle issues …

    Detail available for anyone that wants it – but last Christmas, I made one of those photo books for a friend. When it arrived, on time, it was perfect – EXCEPT that HMRC / The British Post Office has taken it upon themselves to charge me VAT (that Apple had already collected from me) and – get this – a handling charge, which as far as I can see is a charge I pay to them for charging me the VAT that they shoudldn’t have charged me to begin with.

    I called one of the two numbers I was given when I complained. Oh yes … when the other department lets us know that they will recompense you – they will contact us – and we will issue that payment to you.

    The second call reveals that I need to send a letter to some address in Coventry. Do they have an email address – yes – and I quote ‘Craig’ … it is “so backlogged that it isn’t worth doing.” So I have to send a letter to Coventry – and eventually someone will examine my request, make a decsion and if it is found to be an error (which – by Craig’s admission – could well be the case – they will send me the £3.11 (no kidding … three pounds and eleven pence). In parralel they will then let the other department know that the eight pounds can also be refunded. This will I assume be through a check of some kind … who knows.

    I flagged the issue to Apple – because I have other books that I want to buy and send as gifts – but do not want to have recipients garner a tax for receiving a gift ….

    I emailed them – concept.

    In less than 12 hours I knew that all the monies that the government want to charge me will be refunded by Apple AND the original delivery charges as well. SORTED ! And it was. Customer Centricty. And it hasn’t happened on subsequent orders either.

    The government of course make it hard in the hope that I won’t go ahead and claim – multiply my 11 quid by all the people that get caught up in this – well – more steaks for Gordon and Mandy I assume. Life is too short – for most of us. But surely it has to end. Isn’t this another stealth tax ?

     
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    Posted in apple, business, customers

     

    It’s Not About The Software Anymore

    15 Apr

    Now here’s a little ‘doo hickey’ that I picked up this morning. Bottom line – right on …

    “Value, in the form of enhancement and improvement of their business, is what the customers want to buy, not code. To deliver on that new product requires a manufacturer that knows how to design, produce, brand and deliver a relationship of mutual profitability to both parties, something worth maintaining over the long haul. That can only be done when relationship-thinking is embedded in the DNA of every department and member of the company.”

    Read The Full Article – It’s Not About The Software Anymore – Here

    It’s an old message, I would argue that is never been about the technology, and has always been about the customer – and the customer’s customer.

    That is is about the shifting power base from producer efficient supply chains to customer effective demand networks.

    Of course – in the past – focussing on a ‘technology edge’ could overcome shortcomings in that knowledge, and often it did, but – finally – the tipping point has been reached. To have good, efficient, technology that works, is efficient, keeps costs down, allows a customer to understand their customer …. in fact whatever it is that the technology does … that’s table stakes. It’s what you do, how you do it, who your team are – all that people and associated knowledge stuff that companies are (re) discovering – across the virtual corporation and into the virtual networks – that’s what counts.

    To a large extent, that shift has been lead and demonstrated by the ‘social network’ phenomena – but really isn’t one of the SN benefits that the customer has now been given a voice. Of course the single customer always had a voice. And occasionally a business listened. But now the enterprises cannot turn off the cacophony of millions of networked customers. They shouldn’t. But having heard – what do they do ?

    The rules have changed – again.

    Todays’ winners are about understanding, implementing, driving customer focussed business. Of course – everyone says that don’t they ? But how many implement it ? Make it happen ? That is the real difference.

    Passed on – with thanks to : SandHill.com

     
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    Posted in article, business, social.network, software, technology

     

    Cisco Buys Pure Figital (Flip Video) For $590 Million

    19 Mar

    It all makes sense to me … and in case you haven’t got one already … get one !

    Cisco Buys Pure Figital (Flip Video) For $590 Million

    Pure Digital will become part of Cisco%u2019s consumer business group, which includes Linksys home routers and set-top boxes from its acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta. Cisco is calling the Flip cameras a new form of %u201Cvisual networking,%u201D whatever that means. In reality, the Flip is built for the YouTube generation. It is designed to take videos and immediately upload the to the Web. (Its output is a handy USB stick that flips open and plugs in directly to a computer). In other words, it is a device that encourages activities that consume a lot of bandwidth. As a networking company, Cisco wants you to use as much bandwidth as possible.

     
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    Posted in business, news, social.network, technology

     

    Are Global Brands Too Important To Be Hyperlinked ?

    16 Mar

    Leon Benjamin posted the following thought to Twitter – and hence to Facebook.

    “You know you’re a global brand when people don’t bother hyperlinking to you on blog posts coz’ everyone knows where to find you. Thoughts?”

    I started to write a response – and then ran out of space.

    So here goes …

    I think we should flip it – as to WHO links and who doesn’t …

    When a new social network is small, nascient, getting going – the early users are likely early adopters – been around the block a few times with other apps, know the expected behaviours, the etiquette etc – this includes hyperlinking – even for famous big names – the hyperlinks are there.

    As the Social Networks grow, the noobies appear. And – as a ‘nooby’, the inevitable question – who (in the case of Twitter) do I follow ? who (in the case of Facebook) should be my friend ? – and so on.

    Two things then happen

    1) As time marches on the new people that join start to lose the core understandings, rules and etiquette of the original early adopters – forget – don’t know – aren’t as knowledgeable/ schooled in the finer points etc

    2) The higher up the brand / success tree a brand / user is … the more likely the ‘uninitiated’ will be following – so a higher proportion of no hyper linking will be occurring.

    Thus my suggestion would be to flip the research.

    I contend that the less aware a user is of the etiquette – the more likely they are not to hyperlink – and the more likely to follow big names.

    @stephenfry and britney (i am sorry – I don’t know her ‘@’ off the top of my head – are sitting there on twitter with hundreds of thousands of followers – out of however many millions of twitterers there are.

    I am betting that a lot of those followers are ‘noobies’ – just think of some of mr frys’s frustrations posted to twitter …

    @PTPayne What!!!!??? Have you read nothing I’ve posted in the last 24 hours???
    8:56 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck in reply to PTPayne

    It’s not instantaneous. You tweet ONCE ONLY, including the string #followmestephen After hours/days/weeks you’ll see me added to your list
    8:55 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck

    Sigh. So many of you just don’t get hashtags and aren’t using them. It’s so simple. I’m afriad I can’t follow anyone who doesn’t do it right
    8:30 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck

    .. and I can’t find it now – but a cracker a few weeks ago when he blacked out his image – I paraphrase :
    ” really – it would only take you a scroll down the page to answer that question for yourself”

    Bottom line – all of the above is fully laced with 100% opinion – and no absolute data – but to me it makes sense.

    I’d welcome a debate.

     
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    Posted in advertising, brand, business, thoughts.from.the.web

     

    Should CEOs Facebook And Twitter ?

    16 Mar

    ‘Yes’ says Forbes … me I am not so sure.

    Yes their companies should. Yes they need to understand how this new world works. And I totally agree with @mariasipka – asking ‘what is youtube’ – is definitely not acceptable. But they themselves use Twitter ? Methinks not yet.

    Seemingly Forbes agrees …. on Twitter at least @steveforbes does not exist @forbes (and coincidentally @stephenforbes) have 5 followers, no posts and is following no one – at least at this time of writing.

    Comments ?

    Yes, CEOs Should Facebook And Twitter – Forbes.com

     
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    Posted in brand, business, new.media, social.network, technology

     

    10 Fortune 500 Companies That Started With Next to Nothing

    09 Mar

    In this world that seems to be collapsing around us – a little high spot …

    10 Fortune 500 Companies That Started With Next to Nothing

    Further on from the original posting, we see a series of comments – my one would be are they all American companies because the writer is American – or are there no other similar success stories elsewhere in the world ?

    My thanks to : Business Pundit.

     
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    Posted in business, enterprise, innovation, link

     

    Innovation – according to Guy

    09 Mar

    Just found this locked up in my blog softWare ‘PENDING’ .. thought I should actually post it! Bottom line – Mr. Kawasaki talking about innovation.

    In his words:


    “Don’t be afraid to polarize people.” For radio, he said, an attempt to please everyone will only “create mediocrity.”

    The full monty …


    SAN JOSE — February 9, 2009: Guy Kawasaki — an original Mac “evangelist” in the ’80s and now Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures — opened Radio Ink’s Convergence ’09 with a keynote that focused on innovation: what it is and how to get it. He said, “True innovation occurs not when it’s motivated by the desire to make money, but the desire to make meaning — that is, to make the world a better place.”
    Kawasaki said most of the entrepreneurs who come to him and say their primary motivation is to make money end up with failing companies because they attract employees with the wrong motivation. He asked attendees, “How do you take the radio business and make people’s lives better? That is the true foundation of innovation.”

    Kawasaki noted that most businesses define themselves by what they make today rather than sufficiently broadly, and urged attendees to jump past radio’s current “curve of local transmitters broadcasting 30s and 60s for local advertisers.:
    He recommended that companies seek a two- or three-word “mantra” instead of a mission statement and said innovators should be guided by the idea of “Don’t worry, be crappy” — that is, understand that a valuable innovation will be so much better than what came before that it won’t matter if it’s not perfect out of the box. But then, he said, the innovator must be willing to open his or her mind to ideas for improvements — which can be the most difficult step.
    Kawasaki also said to radio specifically, “Don’t be afraid to polarize people.” For radio, he said, an attempt to please everyone will only “create mediocrity.”

    … with thanks to : Radio Ink Magazine, for the source.

     
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    Posted in brand, business, innovation, quote, thoughts.from.the.web

     
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