Mistakes get made. How a leader reacts to mistakes has a long term effect on her group.
An over reaction can suck all of the initiative out of a team in a mere moment- initiative and creativity you may have spent months or years trying to build up.
Before one reacts, assess what the appropriate response is. Then dial it back. You will probably get more from less.
Peter
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Details
My work mobile was recently switched to an iPhone. Can't comprehend why Apple is able to charge the premium they do? Usability.
It's a little detail like this: If you are listening to music on headphones and a call comes in, the music doesn't stop, it ramps down in volume. When you answer, it pauses, and once you have finished your call, restarts and slowly ramps up to the previous volume. They didn't have to build it that way. The audio could have just stopped and started.
Someone at Apple sat and thought about how a user would experience a transition like that, then asked for a few extra lines of code to make the transition seem more integrated, more designed, rather than just a transition between two functions.
The list of things the iPhone doesn't do is long. But the things is does do it does really, really well. Thus the difference in price.
Peter
It's a little detail like this: If you are listening to music on headphones and a call comes in, the music doesn't stop, it ramps down in volume. When you answer, it pauses, and once you have finished your call, restarts and slowly ramps up to the previous volume. They didn't have to build it that way. The audio could have just stopped and started.
Someone at Apple sat and thought about how a user would experience a transition like that, then asked for a few extra lines of code to make the transition seem more integrated, more designed, rather than just a transition between two functions.
The list of things the iPhone doesn't do is long. But the things is does do it does really, really well. Thus the difference in price.
Peter
Monday, October 11, 2010
Priorities
Who decides what should be your priority- you or others?
Are the priorities focused on moving the organization forward, improving workflows, increasing value to the customer and the firm? Or just getting things done so you can move on the next thing to get it done?
When you manage by the crisis of the moment, everything starts to look like a crisis, and nobody is thinking about where the firm is going long term.
Peter
Are the priorities focused on moving the organization forward, improving workflows, increasing value to the customer and the firm? Or just getting things done so you can move on the next thing to get it done?
When you manage by the crisis of the moment, everything starts to look like a crisis, and nobody is thinking about where the firm is going long term.
Peter
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Outcomes
There is nothing wrong with designing a workflow with multiple fail points if the fail points help create products with high margins.
But don't act surprised when the fail points eventually fail. They will. That's why they are called fail points.
You have two choices:
A: Tolerate the high failure rate and enjoy the high margins.
B: Lower the failure rate and accept lower margins.
You can't have both. They are usually diametrically opposed.
Peter
But don't act surprised when the fail points eventually fail. They will. That's why they are called fail points.
You have two choices:
A: Tolerate the high failure rate and enjoy the high margins.
B: Lower the failure rate and accept lower margins.
You can't have both. They are usually diametrically opposed.
Peter
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ruts
Being creatures of habit can limit our ability to think creatively.
If you are a part of a standing, regular meeting, try sitting in a different seat, preferably one normally occupied by someone else. Enjoy the awkwardness when that person enters.
If its your meeting, insist that everyone sit in a different chair each time. Don't let anyone get to comfortable with the status quo, in either the meeting or the office in general.
The status quo is your enemy.
Peter
If you are a part of a standing, regular meeting, try sitting in a different seat, preferably one normally occupied by someone else. Enjoy the awkwardness when that person enters.
If its your meeting, insist that everyone sit in a different chair each time. Don't let anyone get to comfortable with the status quo, in either the meeting or the office in general.
The status quo is your enemy.
Peter
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Self-Identification
The US government is proposing a streamlined fuel economy sticker for new cars which would include a big graphic grade of each specific model: A, B, C and D.
Auto marketers could easily use this grade in their ads, conveying so much information in a tiny visual space. Picture a Prius "wrapped" with an "A" sticker. place it in the corner of every print and TV ad. You get my drift.
There would also be a market for window stickers of the grade your car gets, mostly "A" stickers, the automotive equivalent of "My Kid is an Honor Student".
You could also do a brisk trade in "D" stickers for those who are proud of how much fuel they use. You know the type.
Two self-selecting groups of car buyers, easily labeled by letters.
Time to make some stickers.
Peter
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Initiative
Everyone has had to work on a project that was a bad idea from the start. But since the Bad Idea was championed by Someone Important, the group had to spend time and money to prove it was a bad idea.
Perhaps there was a kernel of a good idea within it that could be sorted from he ashes of failure, but that's an expensive way to get to the Good Idea.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Good Idea that you are afraid to try because it hasn't "Gone Through Channels" or "Been Reviewed by the Idea Committee".
Do it anyway. Be your own champion. Even if it doesn't work out, you will be setting yourself apart as someone who is willing to take the right kind of risks, and they are the people who get promoted.
Peter
Perhaps there was a kernel of a good idea within it that could be sorted from he ashes of failure, but that's an expensive way to get to the Good Idea.
On the other end of the spectrum is the Good Idea that you are afraid to try because it hasn't "Gone Through Channels" or "Been Reviewed by the Idea Committee".
Do it anyway. Be your own champion. Even if it doesn't work out, you will be setting yourself apart as someone who is willing to take the right kind of risks, and they are the people who get promoted.
Peter
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