Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

Innovate to Execute

Skillful execution of the things that matter is one of the secrets in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  Innovation is a critical part of execution. 

There was an article on the Hasbro Game Division’s approach to innovation in Monday’s Wall Street Journal.  It seems that every Friday at lunchtime, game designers, marketing managers and other employees play board games in the cafeteria.  This is part of the Hasbro product development strategy.  The idea is help find ways to update its classic games and to create new ones.

I found this to be a pretty innovative way of going about product innovation.  Below, I’ve listed a few ideas I have about how you can make your business and the people you lead more innovative.

1. Intelligently match the right people with the right jobs in order to maximize their expertise and creative thinking skills. Making a good match requires that leaders have access to, and more importantly use, important information about employees and their preferences.  Good listening and observation skills are important here. People express over time what interests and excites them. Are you listening and watching?
2. Freedom to take different paths without censure. When people are free to approach their work the way they choose, innovation is more likely to result. This does not mean allowing total open-endedness or changing goals frequently or failing to define them clearly. That is a mismanagement of freedom.
3. Commitment of resources: Time and money can either support or kill innovation.  Some time pressures can heighten creativity. Organizations routinely kill innovation with fake deadlines or impossibly tight ones. This creates distrust, or burnout. Likewise, the lack of money to pursue alternative courses can quickly revert workplace processes to the status quo. Creativity takes time. Incubation periods are needed. And it takes some resources dedicated to the 'starts and fits' process usually involved in evolving innovative ideas.
4. Diversity in the work-group: To maximize the potential of innovation, leaders need to create teams with a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds. When people come together with diverse intellectual foundations and approaches to work, ideas often combine in exciting and useful ways. Leaders often make the mistake of putting similar people together. Their very homogeneity, however, does little to enhance expertise and creative thinking.
5. Effective incentives: To encourage ongoing creativity in thinking, leaders need to praise creative ideas and to acknowledge the effort and energy put forth by all who contribute insights to innovation and change -- even those ideas that are not put into practice. To sustain passion, the people you lead need to feel their work matters and is important.  Leaders need to allow ideas and discussion to flow freely, and to support certain experiential work that may not culminate in a successful end result. In an environment where fear of consequences overrides exploring new and innovative ideas, creativity is thwarted.
6. Organizational support: Innovation is enhanced when the entire organization – especially those leaders at the top support it. Leaders must ensure that information sharing and collaboration is the norm. Political problems and gossip take people's attention away from work. That sense of mutual purpose and excitement must be encouraged and supported. It can be killed by cliques and political factions, or the changeable whims of the leader. Often, the biggest hurdle to solving problems isn't ignorance -- it's access to the right information at the right time. Sometimes the sharing of information within organizations is not easy due to geographic distances, political squabbles, internal competition and bad incentive systems that hinder the spread of ideas.

If you put these six common sense ideas to work in your organization, you’ll be better at executing innovation in your organization and with the people you lead.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

More on Word of Mouth

In my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I argue that strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with important constituencies outside of your organization are a key to high performance.

Last week, I did two posts on relationships – prompted by an article I read in Fast Company by Andy Sernovitz, of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.  Today, I’d like to add to those posts.  As I mentioned in one of my posts last week, customers are the most important outside constituency of any organization.

Most people know that Jet Blue really screwed up with its customers on Valentine’s Day.  There was a snowstorm in New York, that created a mess for air travelers.  However, it was the worst for Jet Blue passengers.  One flight landed at JFK Airport, but passengers spent almost 11 hours on the plane before it got to the gate and they were allowed to deplane.  Eventually, Jet Blue ended up canceling more than 1,000 flights.

Jet Blue CEO David Neelman realized that this was a customer relationship nightmare.  However, Mr. Neelman had gone out of his way to apologize to customers – in e mails, in press conferences, on Jet Blue’s website – even on the Letterman show (that took some guts).  Jet Blue took ads in several major newspapers around the US in which Mr. Neelman wrote “We are sorry and embarrassed…Words cannot express how truly sorry we are for the anxiety, frustration and inconvenience that we caused.”

Mr. Neelman also realized that apologies don’t cut it with people who sat on airplane on the tarmac for 11 hours.  “Words ring pretty hollow to people who were severely delayed on their vacations.”  So he created a “customers bill of rights” in which Jet Blue promises to give vouchers for future air travel to passengers who on delayed or canceled Jet Blue flights – when the circumstances are within the control of Jet blue. 

Through his actions, Mr. Neelman has demonstrated exceptional crisis management skills.  Al Lewis, business columnist for the Denver Post says:

• “At times like these, most airline executives hid beneath their desks and let their gate agents handle the angry mobs.  I can’t remember a single event that generated this much contrition from an airline executive – not even a plane crash.  Crisis communications experts predict that Neelman will be able to restore the reputation of his New York based airline.”

He probably will.  Mr. Neelman understands the power of word of mouth in building and maintaining positive customer relationships.  Yes, the people who were stranded on a plane for 11 hours will complain and tell their friends.  However, they will also tell their friends about the vouchers they received and the genuine caring of Jet Blue’s CEO. 

Jet Blue can’t afford many more problems like they had over the past couple of weeks, but they are going to get through this crisis pretty well.  Like Any Sernovitz says – “when the buzz goes sour, fix it right away”.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Avoid List-Corp.com Like the Plague

I don’t normally post consumer alerts, but yesterday something happened that was so egregious I can’t help myself.

In yesterday’s mail, I received a piece of correspondence from List-Corp.com, 1004 Brookhaven Road, PO Box 447, Franklin, KY 42135-0447; 270 586 8600 (phone), 270 586 8608 (fax). 

The correspondence was addressed to me at my business address.  At the top right hand corner of the corner of the page – which looks very much like an invoice – it says:  Remit to: PO Box 447, Franklin, KY 42135-0447.  It listed my www.BudBilanich.com website and said “Status: ACTIVE”.

I didn’t recall buying service from these people, so I called them.  The woman who answered the phone said, “that is not an invoice, it is a solicitation.”  And indeed it was – a solicitation designed to appear to be an invoice. 

After the phone call, and upon very close reading of the fine print, I did find these words: “This is not a bill, this is a solicitation, you are under no obligation to pay the amount stated unless you accept the offer.”

I realize that this statement probably meets legal disclosure requirements.  But meeting legal requirements is a far cry from meeting high ethical standards.  The statement I received from List-Corp.com looked suspiciously like an invoice.  In my opinion, List-Corp.com is using very devious means to get web site owners to sign up for a service that they neither need nor want – and this pisses me off! (excuse my language)

I think of myself as a pretty smart guy.  I have a Doctorate from Harvard (not that a Harvard degree always equates with being smart), and I almost was taken in by these people.  My first assumption was that this was something to do with my web hosting, and I almost pulled out my check book.  Shame on List-Corp.com.  Shame, shame, shame.

Two common sense points here: 1) If you receive correspondence from List-Corp.com, throw it away without opening it; 2) read all of your correspondence – especially those that appear to be invoices carefully.  Someone may be trying to trick you into buying something you don’t need nor want.

Sorry for the rant.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

More on Leaders Fixing Customer Problems

On Tuesday (February 20), I did a post on fixing customer problems – and doing it quickly.  I discussed Andy Sernovitz’ ideas.  If you didn’t read the post, Andy is the CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.  Andy understands both the upside – and downside -- potential of word of mouth.

I came across a real life story from one of my favorite companies here in Denver that enhances Andy’s point and the point I was making in my post on Tuesday.

La Petit Gourmet Catering was my favorite caterer in Denver.  I was always happy when I arrived at a party and saw their vans in front.  I knew I was in for a treat.  Jim O’Connor the owner, decided to close La Petit last week.  Not because of lack of sales, they did over $2 million last year; but because he was tired.  His family had been running the business since 1960.  Mr. O’Connor said he decided to close the business, rather than sell it, because he “wouldn’t want someone else making calls to his longtime clients”. 

However, I want to go back to 1992.  That year, several of La Petit Gourmet’s employees contracted hepatitis.  Over 5,600 guests at parties La Petit catered were potentially exposed to the disease.  He had to call all of the hosts and tell them that their guests should get gamma globulin shots. 

Mr. O’Connor dealt with this problem in a straightforward manner.  According to Al Lewis, business columnist for the Denver Post, he was more upfront about the potential problem than his lawyers advised.  He called a press conference for his office.  “I had coffee and rolls for them,” he said “not from our place, because they wouldn’t have eaten that.  I went through $3.5 million in insurance money and another half million in personal cash, but we kept the business open.”

Mr. Lewis says “O’Connor became a model for crisis communications, speaking to groups across the country.”  Mr. O’Connor understood the idea of word of mouth.  He used it to turn a potentially devastating situation into a positive one.  I’m sure Andy Sernovitz would agree.

One last thing about the power of word of mouth... 

Joseph Nacchio is the former CEO of Qwest.  Currently, he is preparing to face trial on insider trading charges.  La Petit catered an event for him once.  Mr. O’Connor, who had only good things to say about almost all of his clients, says this about Mr. Nacchio. 

• “None of our staff liked him.  He was a rude man…Few chairman show such behavior.  Even fewer wealthy people act that way.  Most people know how to treat service people”. 

Not exactly the type of thing one who is preparing to face criminal charges wants to read about himself in the paper.

The common sense point here is simple.  Deal with problems in a straightforward manner.  You might take your lumps in the short term, but you’ll prosper in the long run.  And secondly, be nice. 

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Don't Limit Yourself

I came across an interesting article on www.ReTransformation.com on how your unconscious mind runs your life.  I particularly liked what the author had to say about limiting beliefs, so I am posting parts of the article here.

Leaders Fix Customer Problems -- and They Do It Fast!

Mutually beneficial relationships with important constituencies outside of your organization is one the secrets in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  Customers are your most important constituency.

The March 2007 issue of Fast Company had an interesting feature on Andy Sernovitz, CEO , Word of Mouth Marketing Association.  I read the article, because I was (and am) interested in how to generate more buzz for my business.  There were several good tips on buzz marketing. 

You’ll have to read the article to get them, because I want to focus on Mr. Sernovitz’ answer to the question: “What happens when the buzz goes sour?”  This goes to the heart of building and maintaining strong, long term relationships with your customers.

Here is what Mr. Sernovitz has to say:

• • “Get an enthusiastic junior employee to search for your company on blogs and message boards.  Have him or her find everyone who is unhappy.  Then offer to make it right -- or at least apologize.  Post a comment ‘I’m really sorry we screwed up on this.   If you want to talk, here’s our e mail address.’  Just one junior person out there making people happy is a great use of his or her hourly wage.”

Right on Andy Sernovitz!  You get it.  We all make mistakes.  However, in today’s digital world, mistakes and problems that one person experiences, are often seen by millions because unhappy customers are using the internet more and more to tell their stories. 

The common sense point here – regardless of whether you are doing it via the internet, or over the phone is “respond to unhappy customers.  Do whatever you can to fix their problem.  At worst, you will avoid negative buzz.  At best, you might generate some positive buzz of your own.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Motivational Leadership

Committed and engaged employees are one of the secrets I present in my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  Effective leaders are motivational leaders.  The people they lead are committed and engaged.  The February 2007 edition of The Motivational Manager has an interesting piece on the characteristics of a Motivational Leaders. 

Characteristics of Motivational Leaders

·        Motivational leaders are a good fit with their company.

·        Motivational leaders are good at relationship building.

·        Motivational leaders are good team players.

·        Motivational leaders use their time wisely.

·        Motivational leaders have a strong work ethic.

·        Motivational leaders are principled, but flexible.

·        Motivational leaders are analytical thinkers.

·        Motivational leaders are decisive.

·        Motivational leaders are good coaches and mentors.

·        Motivational leaders help the people around them feel better and, more importantly, do better.

The ten characteristics separate motivational leaders from the rest of the pack.  Leaders who demonstrate them are more likely to do a better job of creating a committed and engaged work than those who don’t.

The common sense point here is simple.  If you have the responsibility for selecting and developing leaders, keep them in mind.  Potential leaders need not be skilled in all ten characteristics when you promote them, but they should be skilled in most of them, and have the ability to quickly develop the others.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Some Leadership Humor

A little leadership humor today.  Afterall, it is Friday. 

The February 2007 issue of The Motivational Manager includes a list of the most unusual excuses leaders have heard from the people they lead for taking a day off.

• “I was poisoned by my mother in law.”
• “I have really bad hiccups.”
• “I blew my nose so hard that I threw my back out.”
• “My mother’s in jail.”
• “My dog swallowed my bus pass.”
• “A skunk got into my house and sprayed all my uniforms.”
• “My wife is pregnant and I have the same symptoms.”
• “A buffalo that escaped from the game preserve charges me every time I try to get to my car.”
• “I’m locked in a bathroom stall, and there is no one around to get me out.”  (This call was made on a cell phone.)
• “I got drunk and tried to snowboard off my roof and broke my leg.”
• “My wife won’t let me come to work, because I have too many chores to do around the house.”
• “Last night, one of the walls of my house fell in.”
• "I was walking to work and got hit by a bus.”
• “My horses got loose and ran down the highway.  I have to get them back.”
• "I’m too sad to come in.”

Regardless of the reason, effective leaders always have a conversation with the people they lead who are absent when they return to work.  These leaders know that it is important to remind the people they lead that they count on them to be at work when they are scheduled to work. 

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Great Leaders Know How to Say "Good Job"

Great leaders know the importance of complimenting the people they lead.  In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I make the point that effective leaders do everything they can to help the people they lead become engaged and committed to their organization. 

Praise is an effective way of engaging people the people you lead and getting their commitment.  A recent issue of Team Management Briefings included an article entitled 21 Ways to Say “Well Done”.  I like these ideas, so I’m posting them here.

Leadership Training Begins at Home

Monday’s Wall Street Journal had an article, Raising Women to be Leaders, about the Sullivan sisters – Denise, Maggie, Colleen and Andrea – four women who are senior executives. 

“It is rare for four brothers to achieve such levels of success.  The fact that they are sisters is striking.  Half of all managers in the US are female, but most are stuck in midlevel staff jobs.  In senior posts, men outnumber women by almost six to one,” the article pointed out.  It continues, “The Sullivan sisters, as they were known growing up, beat these odds, in large part because of their upbringing.  Their father, an AT&T executive, wanted to share everything he knew about business with his girls.  Their mother taught them that ambition is a part of femininity."

Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan’s “leadership training program” is one that many companies should consider emulating.

• Mr. Sullivan brought home models of the Princess Trimline phone when it was being developed to teach his daughters about marketing.
• Mr. Sullivan took his daughters to the office decades prior to the advent of “take your daughters to work day”.
• Mr. Sullivan had his daughters learn to set and reach goals early in their lives.
• Mr. Sullivan had his daughters read at least one book a week, and then write a report on it.
• Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan woke the family at 6:00 every morning to exercise together. 
• Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan expected their daughters to choose activities they liked – and to excel in them.  “Aim high, and if you don’t get what you want, analyze what went wrong and try again,” they said.
• Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan expected their daughters to earn their allowance by doing household chores.  When they became teenagers, the daughters were expected them to get part time jobs.

All of these things – learning the nuts and bolts of business, goal setting, reading to expand one’s mind, keeping physically fit, learning from failure, taking responsibility – that Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan did as they raised their children, are a great start on the design of a leadership training from which any company would benefit.

By the way, the Sullivan Sisters are all doing pretty well for themselves.  Denise Sullivan Morrison is President of Campbell Soup USA.  Maggie Sullivan Wilderotter is Chairman and CEO of Citizens Communication Co.  Colleen Sullivan Bastkowski is a regional VP of Sales for Expedia.  Andrea Sullivan Doelling is now devoting her time to equestrian competition, but was Senior VP of Sales for AT&T Wireless.

The common sense point here – it’s never too early to learn how to lead.  If you’re a leader or a business owner and you weren’t lucky enough to hire a Sullivan Sister, get on the ball and do whatever it takes to develop your people into leaders.  The sooner you start, the better.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming a success in your life and career.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.