The Flexibility of the Human Mind

Posted on April 25, 2012 by admin

Go ahead and read the message below. I know you can.

Bleow is a xemapel of sjut hwo pweorflu the uhman nmid is

I cnduo’t bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.

The Real Paragraph

I couldn’t believe that I could actually understand what I was reading. Using the incredible power of the human brain, according to research at Cambridge University, it doesn’t matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be in the right place. The rest can be a total, mess and you can read it without a problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole. Amazing, huh? Yeah and I always thought spelling was important! See if your friends can read this too!

Tihs bcaeme vrial troghuh eiaml a cueolp of yreas bcak. Aodccring to caimbgdre uinseitvry it wsnat prat of tiehr atcual recraesh but was a good haox. Its a vrey ientestnirg ccenopt and hihgtlgihs jsut how flexlibe our midns can be.

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The Law of Category

Posted on March 20, 2012 by admin

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I would like to thank everyone who joined in on the conversation on twitter and Facebook this past week regarding the Law of Leadership. If you would like to join in on the conversations I can be found on twitter at @jdstewart and of course I you can friend me on Facebook as well. The conversations centered around is there any sense in being the market if you are not the first mover or innovator. The short answer is yes but since it requires more than 140 characters to explain. That is the subject of this weeks cast.

We learn the idea of being better early in life and it is continually re-enforced. Getting to the top by not doing something better but doing something new goes against so many core beliefs that is is difficult to except. We learn competition through sports. And the way you reach the championship is by being the best. So we try to reach the top by simply being better than everyone else. When we try to bring that understanding of competition to business and human nature it has limited success. We offer higher quality, faster deliver, greater variety, lower price. I mean, who would not want those things. But it is the first to market who grabs the mind share of the customer. That’s the law of leadership. But you can modify that law by defining a category or sector you are first in. You can gain a sizable market share by following the leader. And you can make a profit. There are companies who business plan is to always be a close follower. But if your goal is number 1 you need to innovate.

All of this begs the question what is creativity Creativity is seeing old things in a new ways. It is putting things or ideas together in a way they had not be put together before. As Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. But we can re-arrange the old things in new ways. That leads us to our next law. The law of Categories.

The law of leadership is modified by the law of category or as some refer to is a the niche. Let’s start off by re-examining a question I asked last week. Do you know who was first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic ocean? Most people do. Charles Lindberg. And the second question is, do you know the name of the second person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? You probably do not unless you listened to the last podcast. That person was Bert Hinkler. As you may remember Hinkler was a better pilot and navigator. He made the crossing in less time and used less fuel. But being better did not put him in the history books. No one knows who he is. Next question. Do you know who the third person was to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? I bet you do. But you don’t not them at the third person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. You know her as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Earhart. Amelia Earhart was still a first. She was first in a category she created. Being first in a category can be just as good as being first over all. You are still an original. This works well even if it is a made up category. For example Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Tito did not invent vodka. But prior to Titos there was no such category as handmade vodka. It simply did not exist! It was a made up category. They made it up simply to be number one in that category. Marketing genius! Any one who wants to compete with Titos in that category will be an also ran.

Innovation is not simply creating a new product or service. It is creating a new way to look at that new product or service. When Apple came out with the iPod, it created great stir in the electronics community. Why? It was simply a mp3 player. Mp3 players had been around for a long time. Apple created a new category itunes. None of the technology was new. The technologies of e-commerce and downloading content had been around a long time. Apple was not first in any of those technologies. Apple created a new category. A category that provided secure, trusted, legal method to distribution music and other mp3 content. While today mp3 stores are all over the internet. No one has even comes close to what Apple is doing. Apple owns the mp3 player market because the created a category of mp3 distribution. Of course there are other laws at play here but those are for another time.

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The Law of Leadership

Posted on March 13, 2012 by admin

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If you are like most business people you believe that in order to succeed, you have to convince your prospects that you offer a better service, or product. In other words you are competing in a me-too world. You are offering the same thing only your’s is better.

But if you really want to be successful offering a better product than your competitors does, is simply going about it the wrong way. Your prospects need to think of you, not simply as one of many, but in a class all by yourself. You have to be in a category where you are first. Simply being first, will usually make you number 1. The truth is, it is better to be first than to be better. Innovation will make you number 1. If all you are doing is implementing someone else’s idea, you have an up hill climb. Because no one remembers number 2.

Here is a quick example. Who was the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? Charles Lindbergh. Now, who was the second person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? That one is a little harder. It was Bert Hinkler. Hinkler was the better pilot. He made the crossing in less time and expended less fuel. But no one remembers Bert Hinkler. Being better did not make him number 1. It only made him another one.

The law of leadership applies to any product, any service any brand. Do you know the name of the first College in America. You can substitute the most well know and make a good guess. Most people would say Harvard, which is also the name of the first College in America. Do you know the name of the second College in America? William and Mary, which is only slightly better known than Bert Hinkler.

Which came first Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola was the first and is still the leader in the cola wars.

Growing up almost every soft drink was a coke. The only question was did you want a grape coke or an orange coke. Everything was a Coke because Coca-Cola was the first. In fact it wasn’t until the last few years that I stopped calling all soda pop cokes. But I still call all cola’s Cokes. I don’t care if it is a Pepsi, a RC or the generic anything else it is a Coke. Coke has become the generic name for all colas.

My mother claims Pepsi-Cola is the superior product. Even if that is true (a point we disagree upon) Coke was first and remains the leader.

In spite of all the evidence to the contrary businesses continue to try to be a better followers than innovators. The leading brand in any category is almost always the first. People tend to stick with what they’ve got. You don’t change spouses simply because you come across someone a little better. (Thank goodness or my wife would have left me long ago.) It is just easier to stay with the familiar. The law of leadership applies to everything. Chrysler was the first to come out with the mini-van. Almost every manufacturer of automobiles make min vans. Yet over half of all minivans sold in the United States are built by Chrysler.

One reason the first brand tends to maintain it leadership is the name often becomes generic. I make a Xerox copy. I do not make a Sharp or a Kodak copy. People ask for Scotch Tape not cellophane tape, a Kleenex not a facial tissue, a Band-aid rather than a … Well I don’t know what the generic of a band aid would even be.

If you think simply being better will take you to the top, you are ignoring both history and human nature. Innovation is the fastest and quickest way to succeed. You can not lead by following.

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Dealing with Unfair Criticism

Posted on February 13, 2012 by admin

Responding calmly and rationally to unwarranted criticism

Recently I was leading a discussion over how to teach fairly some complicated concepts. When all of a sudden the individual on my left burst out in anger with accusations about my motives which were completely untrue. All eyes were on me. What would I say? How would I react? I am proud to say I followed the step below and came out of the assault unscathed.

You may have experienced something similar. Maybe you gave a presentation at work, outlining a new marketing plan, or an idea for a new product. You think all is going well when one of the participants delivers a scathing critique. Each point you believe is either completely incorrect or a simple misunderstanding of your position. Everyone one now looking at you. What will you say? How will you react?

How you react in these situations have a tremendous impact on your career and relationships not only with the one who has attacked you but, if there are witnesses, every one who witnesses the attack and everyone who hear about the exchange.

When you are unjustly criticized emotions run high and therefore it is not the best idea to trust your instincts. Your initial reaction has the largest impact on how things will turn out. It alone has the ability to make things better or worse. Here is my recommendation on how to fight against the urge to strike out.

1: Remain calm
The most important thing to do is remain calm. Remaining calm and respectful, particularly if the other party does not, will help defuse the situation and can even rally support. Give the impression of taking the comments thoughtfully and respectfully. Even if they are blatantly false. Ask why does this person thinks you are such and such or you have done such and such. Regardless of how off base and vicious the attack, the attacker believes they are justified in the attack. Try to find out why?

When we receive negative criticism anger or feelings of inadequacy well up in us. If we expressing these emotions we only dig ourselves a deeper into a hole from which we may not be able to crawl. Have your response be courtesy and take the higher ground. So just pause, taking couple of deep, quiet breaths through your nose will help calm you down.

2: Asked to have the point repeated or clarified
Give yourself some time to think. You do not have to develop a response on the spot. One way to get some time is simply to calmly repeat the criticism back to the individual in your own words. And then ask if you understand correctly. Make eye contact and in a non-aggressive non-threatening tone, say: “So, if I understand your correctly you’re saying…,” and put his criticisms in your words. The goal is to take the focus off of personalities, and place it on the issue at hand.

When you put the criticism in your own words, do so accurately, do not over state you case. Simply reword the point to the best of your ability. If he claims your proposal will not bring the results you are claiming. Do not say “So what you are saying is this will destroy the company.” Exaggerating the criticism will make you appear defensive and looking for a fight – rather than being the cool, calm and rational one.

If you do not understand the point or can not make the connects your assailant is making. Simply asking for more information can help A simple question,”Can you tell me more,” works wonders. If what is being said is truly ridiculous. He may sudden realize he is in an untenable situation.

The goal is to take the focus off of you and your reaction and put it on the his criticisms.

3: Examine both perspectives
The goal is not to have either one of you leave bloody and beaten the goal is to identify and address the issue. So once you have taken the focus off of the personalities place the focus squarely on the issue at hand. This is a good time to open a real discussion of the critique. Depending on the situation you can start off with phrases like: “I can see how you might get that idea, I probably haven’t properly explained that;” “I understand what you are saying and that is why…;” “That an interesting perspective. I understand how you feel.” The idea is to establish a rapport  and showing respect is key even if you have not been shown any. Once you have demonstrated respect give him the opportunity to return the favor.

4: Politely Move on
Even in the best of worlds with the best of tactics, things do not always work out like we would like to have them work out. You can have executed the first three steps flawlessly and you are at an impasse. You have remained calm and demonstrated respect, as you reworded the criticism in your own words. You have calmly and without shame shown you understand their perspective. Even after all this your critic holds firm. This is time for a graceful exit. You can say some thing like: “That’s certainly something to think about going forward;” “I appreciate the feedback;” “We definitely aught to consider that in the next version.” You have just positioned yourself as someone who is genuinely trying to do the best job possible. It also places the focus on the future actions and allow you to move on.

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Fixing Communication Problems in the Workplace

Posted on January 17, 2012 by admin

Just because we speak the same language does not mean we understand what we each other is saying. Let me give an example from my childhood. When I was in the 5th grade, I had a teacher try to teach us about rocks and geology. For a project everyone in the class had to build a rock collection. One day, I found a rock but could not identify it. So I asked my teacher what it was. She said, “It’s nice. Keep it.”

I did not understand. “OK, but what is it?”

“It’s nice. Keep it.”

“But what is it?”

The rest of the class started laughing.

She was starting to get exasperated, “It nice. Keep it!”

I too was frustrated. I understood it was a nice rock. And she wanted me to keep it. That meant I needed to put it in my rock collection. I also knew my collection would be marked down if every rock was not labelled. I thought maybe I could just throw it away. But she had already seen it and told me to keep it. So I could not just throw it away. I was stuck. So I asked again even more emphatically, “But what is it?”

She finally reached the conclusion I was not going to get it. She said, “Just keep it.” And walked away.

Later I realized she was saying, “gneiss,” not “nice.” Both are pronounced the same.

This is a classic example of saying what you mean but not communicating. Simply repeating the same words to each other was not helping us communicate. It simply created frustration.

Language is an imperfect tool. Just because something it is plainly stated does not mean it is plainly understood. And without understanding there is no communication.

Problems in communication are costly to any business or enterprise. Without efficient communication, your company expends time, and money, which could and should be used for more productive activities, fixing problems. I am going to share a technique that has worked well for me in avoiding communication problems.

A few years ago I had a friend who could not understand why he would have these long conversations with his boss and agree on a course of action. He would then execute what was agreed upon only to later have another discussion with his boss as to why what was agreed to was not done. The problem was while there was agreement there was not understanding. There was no true communication. Here is what I suggested to my friend that solved the problem. At strategic moments in the conversation when understanding is important repeat back what you understood the other person to say. This needs to be done in your own words with your interpretation of what was said, not simply what was said,  What you are trying to do is communicate the meaning of what was said.

I cannot tell you how many times this techniques has saved my bacon. When I start working with a new person my conversation goes something like this. “Let me tell you what I heard you say. I am not saying this is what you said, simply what I understood you to say….”

Give it a try. I think you will be delighted with the results.

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