Most Valuable Business Insights: 6-10

After having read and reviewed so many business books, I now share brief comments about what I consider to be the 25 most valuable  business insights and the books in which they are either introduced or (one man’s opinion) best explained. Here are second five:

6. Customer Evangelism: Satisfaction is determined per transaction; loyalty is determined by sustainable satisfaction; zealotry occurs only when customers say “Yes!” to this question posed by Fred Reicheld: “Would you strongly recommend us to a friend, neighbor, or colleague?”

Best Sources: Fred Reichheld’s The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth and Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force co-authored by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba.

7. EDNA: This is an acronym I devised long ago when I began to teach English at Kent School in Connecticut.

Exposition (i.e. expose, reveal, open up, reveal) explains with information.
Description makes vivid with compelling images.
Narration explains a sequence and/or tells a story
Argumentation convinces with logic and/or evidence

Effective communication relies on mastery of one or more of these four.

Best Sources: Robert B. Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition) and Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High co-authored by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

8. Employee Engagement: Recent research indicates that, on average, less than 30% of a workforce in the U.S. is actively and positively engaged. The others are either passively engaged (i.e. mailing it in) or actively disengaged (subversive and toxic). Increase active and positive engagement by (a) convincing workers that they and what they do are appreciated, (b) making crystal clear what expectations of them are and how their performance will be measured, (c) earning and sustaining their trust and respect by setting an with what you say (both verbally and non-verbally) and with what you do.

Best Sources: Freedom, Inc.: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to Higher Productivity, Profits, and Growth co-authored by Brian M. Carney and Isaac Getz, Simon Sinek’s Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Edward M. Hallowell’s Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People, and The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win co-authored by Dave Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich.

9. Innovation: In essence, innovation achieves improvement of what already exists and that could include almost anything (e.g. an idea, assumption, theory and strategy as well as a product, process, or behavior). Almost anything can be improved and almost anyone can do that by embracing that challenge and pursuing that opportunity.

Best Sources: Tom Kelley’s The Idea of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation (both co-authored with Jonathan Littman) as well as Steve Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation and Henry Chesbrough’s Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology

10. Lean: The concept of “less is more” can be dated back at least to ancient Greece. In a business context, its core concept is elimination of whatever is wasteful such as a production process that consumes too much time and effort as well as raw materials, one that results in omissions, duplications, redundancies, and flaws. Albert Einstein probably said it best: “Make everything as simple as possible…but no simpler.”

Best Sources: James Womack’s Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated and Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers Can Create Value and Wealth Together, both co-authored with Daniel T. Jones

Note: You may also wish to check out Most Valuable Business Insights: 1-5.

Lessons to be learned from Pixar about a “creative culture”

How to encourage risk taking within a “try, learn, and try again” culture?

Here is my take on what Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson learned during a lengthy and probing study of the Pixar culture:

1. Celebrate failure with the same intensity as you celebrate success. View each setback as a precious learning opportunity.

2. Become a “prototype junky.” There is no project too big [or too small] to conduct a real-world test of it within a few weeks.

3. Develop your own “skunk works” within the organization. [click here.], At least form a small group and enable it to meet regularly to brainstorm how best to answer questions, solve problems, and respond to unmet needs…especially those identified by past and current customers.

4. Dream BIG. Ask team members to think of ten over-the-top, outlandish, eccentric, far-out, wacky, unheard-of, unorthodox ideas for a project.

Note: In the most innovative organizations (such as IDEO, Nike, Apple, and yes, Pixar), two quite different approaches are taken: generate lots of what Jobs calls “an insanely great idea” and then decide what to do with them, or, tackle an especially serious problem with a totally open mind.

5. Don’t cry poor. The best new ideas tend to be produced by groups whose members are world-class scroungers. External limits and constraints tend to inspire original thinking and below-the-radar initiatives.

6. Planning is OK but do not allow the process to be a distraction from achieving the desired objective. Beware of meetings and considerations devoted to “planning to plan.” General George Patton once said, “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan next week.”

7. Each project is a “work in progress” so establish a planning center (perhaps online) where evidence of progress is on display. Grab low-hanging fruit” ASAP and celebrate completion of “baby steps” to reassure everyone that progress really is being made.

8. Forget about lengthy meetings, reports, analyses, etc. What’s happening NOW? Why is it happening? What more needs to be done? Who will do it? Everyone involved must have a sense of urgency. John Wooden said it best: “Be quick but don’t rush.”

9. Assume authority and do whatever must be done and done NOW. If appropriate, ask for forgiveness later. That said, be sure to do your homework, consider all the possible implications and consequences, and be prepared to explain later why the initiative you took had risks but the decision to make it was rigorously thought-through and prudent. Also be fully prepared to explained what of value was learned, especially if action was unsuccessful.

I highly recommend Capodagli and Jackson’s Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground, published by McGraw-Hill (2010).

The best books on brainstorming, idea generation, etc.? Check out these two:

The Idea of Innovation
The Ten Faces of Innovation
Thomas Kelley

If you need additional assistance:

A Knock on the Side of the Head
A Kick in the Seat of the Pants
Roger Von Oech

Cracking Creativity
Thinkertoys (Second Edition)
Michael Michalko

Jump Start Your Brain
Doug Hall

Six Thinking Hats
Edward De Bono

Q #54: Which exercises do you recommend for brainstorming?

In this series, Bob Morris poses a key question and then responds to it with material from one or more of the business books he has reviewed for Amazon and Borders.

Here’s an exercise (inspired by Edward de Bono’s ideas) which will work very well with those who have been required to read de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats prior to getting together to brainstorm. Buy several of those delightful Dr. Seuss hats (at least one of each of the six different colors, more if needed) and keep the hats out of sight until everyone is seated. Review the agenda. Review what de Bono says about what each color represents. Then distribute the Dr. Seuss hats, making certain that at least one person is wearing a hat of each color. Proceed with the discussion, chaired by a person wearing a Blue or White hat. It is imperative that whoever wears a Black hat, for example, be consistently negative and argumentative whereas whoever wears a Yellow must be consistently positive and supportive. After about 15-20 minutes, have each person change to a different colored hat. Resume discussion. Thanks to de Bono and (yes) to Dr. Seuss, you can expect to have an especially enjoyable as well as productive session.

In a previous Q&A (#53), I identified several ways to ruin a brainstorm session. One of the most common is “homogenous” group membership. Wearing several hats of different colors and making each participant think according to the color of hat worn will ensure a variety and diversity of points of view.

In my opinion, the best sources for information and advice about brainstorming include two books by Thomas Kelley, The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation. Also, Gerald Sindell’s The Genius Machine, Michael Michalko’s Thinkpak, Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Doug Hall’s Jump Start Your Business Brain, and Paul Sloane’s The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills.

Comments, questions, requests, or suggestions? Please share them. They will be most welcome and I thank you for them. Best regards, Bob

Q #53: What are some of the most effective ways to ruin a brainstorming session?

In this series, Bob Morris poses a key question and then responds to it with material from one or more of the business books he has reviewed for Amazon and Borders.

According to the experts, these are among the most effective:

1. The CEO or some other C-level executive chairs the session. The discussion requires a facilitator who is totally neutral, whose sole purpose is to keep the discussion moving along in an orderly, unhurried fashion. Preferably someone who has mastered the Socratic method of asking questions, not making statements.

2. There are no clear objectives and “ground rules.” At the outset, there should be a problem to solve, a question to answer, or a new opportunity to pursue. In other words, an ultimate “destination.” Otherwise, the discussion will resemble an aerosol spray of opinions.

3. The group membership is “homogenous.” The best brainstorming sessions resemble a “crucible” to which an idea is subjected to scrutiny by quite different backgrounds, perspectives, values, and temperaments. Only the best ideas survive but not until all ideas have been shared.

4. Allowing early criticism. In the spirit of “the only dumb question is the one not asked,” everyone involved should agree that “the only bad idea is the one not shared.” All ideas should be welcomed without criticism until everyone has had a chance to respond with questions or comments.

5. Settling for only a few ideas. In fact, the most productive brainstorm sessions generate lots of bad ideas to get one OK idea, lots of OK ideas to get one excellent idea, and lots of excellent ideas to get what Steve Jobs characterizes as an “insanely great” idea.

6. No follow-through. If there is no follow-through, why have the session? See #2.

In my opinion, the best sources for information and advice about brainstorming include two books by Thomas Kelley, The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation. Also, Gerald Sindell’s The Genius Machine, Michael Michalko’s Thinkpak, Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, Doug Hall’s Jump Start Your Business Brain, and Paul Sloane’s The Leader’s Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills.

Comments, questions, requests, or suggestions? Please share them. They will be most welcome and I thank you for them. Best regards, Bob