Sunday 27 January 2013

Too Long in One Place - Half Life Careers

Half-Life is the time it takes for radioactive material to lose half of its radioactivity. It's a little more complex than that , involving the transition of atomic particles, but it will serve as a blog definition.

The other important thing about half-life is that it is a long time. The numbers are really big. Just to make the point and if we take spent reactor fuel as an example, it will take around 6 million years for it to reach radioactivity levels that are the same as those found in the ambient environment. For the purists, I am using the European method of calculation and not the US one.

Put that into perspective with human history, where "homo - first attempt" has been around less than 3 million years and recorded history is even less than 6 thousand years.

So where do you put an individual on that timeline?

We have all heard of the notion that, if all the time since the origins of the Earth was expressed as a 24 hour clock, mankind would have arrived rather late on. And using that same approach and making a modern career 50 years (just to scare the Generation Y'ers and support the Hollanders), then an individual career lasts not very long at all!

How long? All correct answers submitted as comments below will show basic maths. All wrong ones will show lack of calculator skills. The fun will be seeing how many of us need multiple attempts.

Lets go just one step further to make my point. The average employee stays in their job for 4.4 years - meaning around 10 to 12 jobs in a career. For those born around the time I was, getting a job was about status and security. It seems those born between 1980 and 2000 will close to half that tenure and will seek experience in all its forms more than the material comforts my generation seemed to have sought. This behaviour is driven perhaps as much by a realisation that the safety nets once available to parents (health care etc) will not be available to them (so why bother to climb the conventional corporate ladder) as by their enjoying unprecedented access to a world of opportunities presented to them in an internet-enabled world.

Whilst such statistics often need to be taken with care, I have seen myself very different drivers emerging in those I have managed in the last 10 years. This Forbes article argues this is therefore a dangerous time for employers and offers advice to avoid the cliff and proffers some valuable guidance. Of the 3 "must do's" offered the one that resonates is the importance of listening and learning.

Companies locked into a culture may just find in their Generation Y hires the opportunity to break out of old ways. The basics of business seldom change but embracing new ways to do that business is one of the key ways to achieve success. These new ways and the next generation of consumers that provide them were likely born in the last 20 years.

One of the keys for companies is going to be how to make the most of these GenY employees as they "pass through" and that means creating a formalism to make this happen. But there's till some way to go! Enjoy the journey.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Telling Tales - Selling Yourself

One of the great things about being in marketing is getting paid (hopefully) for telling stories. Having the opportunity to imagine then deliver a narrative that helps clients and prospects to understand and support the value of a proposition is a rich career. There is something special about creating a campaign; getting the research done; thinking through the plot; the team; the hooks; the audience; the delivery medium; the measurement. The creative process is often a very satisfying journey.

I have been telling stories all my professional life. I suppose I used to tell tales as a youngster too but I am convinced they were always innocent - even if my wife's retelling of my "you can have two star signs" story has been made wicked by time. Astrology was a richly fertile field for starting new realtionships!

I have been engaged with the "office of the hat-stand" recently on the subject of my own story. Objective: How do I want to portray my new self to the old/new world?

I expected it to be a straightforward exercise. Just like at the old office. The only real difference is that I am positioning myself and not a product or set of ideas. Easy as sliding on ice. Use the same techniques as of old. Get the storyboard together; practice the pitch; refine; practice again and deliver that pitch perfectly.

DISCOVERY - easy as sliding on ice indeed. Fell flat on my face!

Sort of got a little muddled up between the chronology-centric and the skill/achievement based narrative (that's the kind way of putting it). Heck! I'm supposed to be expert at this. Selling something as close-up and personal as myself was tougher than I thought it would be. Tough when you are the delivery medium and that you don't want to seem insincere (for which read narcissistic) or even worse unconnected (for which read blase) to your own story. And it's hardly that it's not important.

It's pretty much under control now but I did want to share a few things that the hat-stand advised and a few others that have come to mind and then got incorporated. In the spirit of the best self-help titles, I have created a one-word mnemonic - R.A.P.P.O.R.T - apt maybe given that rapport is perhaps what we are mostly seeking? Many of these ideas are linked. All seemed important to me.

Relevant - It's not your life story. It's those parts of your story that will get your audience thinking you have something they (or their client) need. This means two things. Firstly, take time to try to find out the hot-buttons you need to press. Secondly, keep it to the point. And - avoid the "pipotron" - thank you Jeff Haden for the wise advice you outline (you can find Jeff here) and thanks to Andre Mechaly for the word "pipotron".

Actionable - It's not just what you've done. It's also how you did it. So many new hires fail because the fit is wrong and not because the skill-set is lacking (Forbes). Finding the right way to sell your style as strongly as your capability is critical. Be honest too. It will save everyone time downstream. Truth will out.

Posture - WOW! This does matter. "Slouching is Ouching". Sit up and be attentive. Show them you want to be there.

Pick up the Signs - We all know the truism that most communication is supposedly non-verbal - so take care to pick up the interest signs positive and negative and adjust your story accordingly. Some signs are easier to see than others but keep your senses tuned, even when in full-flow.

Optimism - Be positive in your story-telling. Who wants to hire a misery?

Remember Me - Be memorable. Work on a couple of facts that will keep you in mind long after you have left. I had considered fire-eating as a hobby but on reflection that would have put up the "key-person insurance" premium in that super start-up I would like to join. Try here, if you would still like to try (DISCLAIMER).

Tease - I think it was P.T Barnum who said you should have an audience leave the Big Top wanting more. Satisfied but wanting more. Timing is everything. Know what you want to say. Say it and then STOP. Nothing worse than bad bagpipe droning, (apologies to my father-in-law who is an excellent piper).

A bit long for me - but perhaps it will be useful - even as an aide-memoire. And if you want more, more Tales from the Cabinet coming soon.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Deep and Crisp and Even Playing Field

Today, we have been blessed with the gift of the first real snows of winter. I use the word blessed because, leaving aside all the inconvenience it can cause to an unprepared neighbourhood (like ours), there is something magical about the effect newly-fallen snow has.

The once-ugly becomes beautiful and the once noisy becomes silent. Our garden is a case in point. A big mound of earth, waiting to be moved when the "time is right, but not just now" (dixit man with red digger since mid-December) has been transformed from a blight to a magical hill or at least a beautiful mound! The digger is silenced.


The school bus that disturbs the quiet has been gently muted, even if the children passengers are obviously disappointed still to have to attend school, with all that snowballing waiting to be tackled.

All in all, a jolly good day. Except, the need to rush to the dentist to have a tooth fixed. But all's well now - even if a bit numb before the soreness kicks in.

Yesterday was a good day too, spent in the company of my furniture. You will recall, I have been given a French cabinet to help with my transition to something new. I have made much in previous posts of the gift I now have of the time to consider whether I want to pitch myself back into much the same as I have done before or embark on a new journey. Understand, what I used to do was great and I did make a contribution to some of the best stuff the tech industry has done in a long while. I am proud of that and the job only remains half done still - so much fun and contribution still to be had.

So where am I, coming into 2013? My sessions yesterday were a true touchstone. I still need to do some refining but I am realising that the reason I stayed in tech so long was the fact it was always new. It never stood still long enough to catch its breath. For every innovation coming from NA, something a little more special escaped from APAC and vice versa. Apple is all we hear of but Samsung still rules.

So I am staying in tech, but I want to do it in a different way. It's a crying shame that Europe lags. It is not acceptable that we can still educate the best, give birth to some of the coolest ideas and yet lose that excellence to others. I am not protectionist. Talent needs to thrive wherever it can. Genius needs to find its home in places where it is cherished not spurned.

It's brilliant to see new funding models emerging - some of the stuff falling from the sky is magical - that weird Pebble watch at CES. Not just the fact it made it, but the fact it was kickstarted (sic) with the "help of humanity". These models will maybe challenge the VC status quo, daring again to venture where Angels once feared to tread.

But all this new money aside, we need more work in establishing ways in which these hatchlings can learn the skills to manage growth, sales, marketing, distribution and that whole process of growing up in business and delivering what everyone from the end customer to the board needs. That stuff can be taught early.

No use in having the best apps platform in the world - cool watch or not - if you can't find a way to get the best in the world wanting to develop for it and finding a way to make it worthwhile for everyone to want to bother. It's not just the money. Kudos, fame and even just a good feeling have their role to play. Great to see a young French company help to lead the way - bravo Aldebaran.

Who's job is this? Do we leave it to Darwinian theory or do we give evolution a helping hand? I'm up for the supportive approach. If Europe wants to keep its finest, it needs to act collectively. And it's not just Europe. It's the job of local politicians, industry and education too.

What seems like a small, random tooth kindness can snowball with unexpected results!

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Feng Shoot and Dim Son

China piqued my interest yesterday. I love China, having long been busy with Chinese business and even serving on the board of a Chinese company for a while. But it was something, at first glance more light-hearted, that caught my eye.

The BBC featured a story concerning a Chinese father - Mr Feng - who seemingly hired on-line assassins to kill his son's avatar in multi-player games. World of Warcraft was the offending title - perhaps somewhat ironic given the origin of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

At one level, this parental intervention may seem laudable. After all, we want the best for our children and keeping them out of harm's way is a profound duty. All Mr Feng wanted to do was to stop his "dim" son spending endless hours on-line. I know. I have been there.

At another level - actually at most levels - it's very concerning. I am not sure there can ever be a clear dividing line when parental caring oversteps to become something more sinister. But this does cross that line, wherever you draw it. An old boss told me once that, whilst some situations might be hard to call, bad stuff always looks like bad stuff, because it is bad stuff!

This story came hot on the heals of another talking of a New Year censorship dispute at the Chinese Southern Weekly. How can you ever reconcile freedom of expression as a human right with the emergence of a nation, still struggling with the balancing act of those freedoms and stability?

These stories are linked. One is micro. The other macro. Both address the issues of the challenge of change.

I have seen China become the new world power it is over the last 20 years. I remember joining missions in and out of China introducing Chinese business people and leaders to what happened in faraway kingdoms. Those small successes and failures are best kept to boardrooms and dinner tables. One thing that I did learn though was that it is unwise ever to jump to conclusions where China is concerned. It is seldom as it seems.

The good news is that a compromise is seemingly close that allows face to be maintained - warm porridge is coming from the Beijing News. According to The Global Times things might be settling down but there is a recognition that it's difficult to achieve the balance - referring to "walking a difficult tightrope". Indeed.

Freedoms need to be non-negotiable and China has a long journey ahead still but I do recall, from some of those shows all visiting dignitaries once had to witness,  that the Chinese are gifted as acrobats. Let's hope so.

And as for Mr Feng - he needs to eat an harmonious bowl of warm congee porridge of reconciliation with his son.

Sunday 6 January 2013

New (World) Year - Old W(h)ines

My son invited me to a wine tasting just before Christmas. It was a typical student thing - pay 5 pounds at the door, drink all you can and, if you do buy something, the 5 pounds is taken off your order. I should have known better but it was Christmas and I might well have found something I liked.

Well, I did; tasting in moderation and spending around a hundred pounds on half a dozen bottles of an Italian Valpolicella (am I the only one who remembers this once as a cheap tipple?) and a boutique gin by a company more famed for its potato crisps. I left poorer - sober and happy.

The happiness lasted a day; that is until I passed through the Channel Tunnel store in Folkestone. That same gin on offer at 35% less. A scandal. My misery continued when I checked out the price of the wine online. This time a slightly less annoying 30%. I attend a few tastings a year, not expecting to find many real bargains but certainly not expecting to be taken advantage of. My son offered little sympathy reminding me someone had to subsidise the many students who attended. Fair point.

My last tasting with that company. The end of a relationship before it had begun.

2012 dawned with a new lexicon in customer relationship management. Intimacy and Experience now prefaced Management as our new lingua franca. That Relationship word seemed to have lost its lustre. We saw Service Providers across the spectrum scramble to recruit leaders from other industries who seemingly knew how to manage intimacy and experience better than they did. Every second Linked-In Banner or pushed job advertisement seemed to scream out for these rare people. Impact analysis anyone?

It's been a little quieter lately. I have even heard of some of these new hires who have headed back to more familiar industries. What went wrong? Is it that the Service Provider industry is still "too hard to fix"? I think not. Is it unwilling or unable to raise its game? Again, a solid NO. Were these new gurus just emperors in new clothes? Perhaps, some were but many were not.

Making a company Truly Client Aware (TCA a new candidate TLA) is a transformational journey. It takes inspirational leadership but so much more. A company that is TCA just knows, in all that it does, how to work with and delight its clients. It takes hard work and an alignment of core systems and behaviours with stakeholder ambitions. It takes time and there is no quick fix. Any action can have a strong and unpredictable  reaction. It's not only in Chaos Theory that we need to be always on our guard. Amazonian butterflies have much to answer for!

I have served my apprenticeship in the CRM solutions' business and, especially in the lightening age of social media, where brands can live and die frighteningly quickly, becoming TCA is what it's now all about. Smart companies will maintain their focus, even when the going gets tough.

I marked the New Year with a Martini made with that special Gin. Shaken by being gouged but stirred into wanting to work with others on how to manage the journey, and that is likely to begin with claiming back the Relationship word. After all, relationships grow with moments of sharing, listening and occasionally surprising. Thank You, Mr Bond.

Happy New Year.