It’s something of a litany – at times I felt a bit exhausted by the long list of examples and case-studies. And I may be old fashioned but personally I prefer chapters in a book.
But that’s a minor niggle. As a survey of the field at this moment it seems pretty complete.
Because of the breadth there’s not much scope to go into details on business models. But I liked the clear overall message of how business works in the new world order; and that platforms, for example, are the way to go. That is so right, and so well explained.
It’s a rather intellectual book, perhaps. I definitely don’t mean deep or difficult. I just mean not a very emotional book. Many of the issues that arise, such as trust, for example, are surely rooted in emotion? Personally, I’d like to see more exploration of these themes in terms of “affect” and not just “effect”. Maybe someone else has written that book.
I was mildly amused by a comment overheard on twitter the other day. One G20 protestor to another “How do we know which ones are the bankers?” Answer: “They’re the ones wearing jeans”.
This reminded me of a minor turning point in my life some years ago: coming out of Temple tube station on a visit to London I was struck by the fact that all the men seemed to be wearing ties. All around me, men (and some women) in black shoes, smart suits and ties.
I was suddenly transported back to my school days – the men suddenly seemed like school boys, pouring and up and down the staircases, carrying their homework home in their briefcases.
Off to the next lesson. Eager to please.
Semioticians would probably talk of the meaning behind these symbols and others that appear in central business districts the world over, such as the architecture of the buildings themselves. What do the sharp creases in trousers and buildings alike signify? Why is it all so shiny?
They might also ask what it means when someone reportedly waves a £10 note out of a bank window at marchers. Just what did that mean?
I wrote the other day of the dangers of over-confidence and not knowing what I didn’t know.
Knowing what we know and what we don’t know seems to me a core competency. How else can we start to move forward and explore and learn?
So I was very encouraged to come across the RSA‘s Opening Minds programme.
The programme has been running some years, and is now being used by more than 200 schools. It’s aim is to encourage schools to teach “real world” skills including Learning, Relating to People, Citizenship, Managing Situations, and Managing Information.
“how to learn”, “to enjoy and love learning for its own sake and as part of understanding themselves” (Learning)
“how to develop other people”, “managing personal and emotional relationships” (Relating to People)
“how society, government and business work”, “an understanding of ethics and values” (Citizenship)
“how to manage risk and uncertainty” (Managing Situations)
“the importance of reflecting and applying critical judgement” (Managing Information).
The last few don’t seem to have been taught at any of the schools that our bankers went to.
And they all would help with running most businesses, I believe. So all power to the RSA for this programme. You can read about how to get involved here.
A colleague, Mick Landmann, introduced me to the great Ken Robinson, a very funny speaker and holder of strong views on education. Last night, I watched him talk about his latest book, the Element, which is about the importance of having a passion for what you do in life.
If we follow our passions, Robinson argues, we are so much more motivated to do our work, are so much better at it, and we can achieve, much, much more.
He also made very clear the link between the problems we face in running up against resource constraints (land, water, oil etc) and the importance of following that passion. His suggestion is that for us, as a society, to find a way out of these problems it’s essential that all of us do what we are most passionate about.
The logic, I guess, is that these problems are so difficult that they require all of our individual and collective power to overcome them. Only by fully tapping into our passions can we access that power.
For me, this is where business comes in. I have been asking myself again recently, thanks to Simon Conroy, what business is. For me, business, when all is said and done, is a sandpit, a place to experiment, that allows people to be their best. To tap into that passion.
Sure, business can generate money. It provides employment. But much more importantly it clearly identifies problems and opportunities. Such problems, opportunities and the resulting solutions are meat and potatoes to someone with passion.
With passion people will work the long days, take the risks, and overcome the fears (facing conflict, for example) needed to solve the most difficult of problems, tackle the most inspiring of opportunities, and come up with the most creative solutions.
And through that work, become whatever they can become.
“Win-win” is a rather over-used term. But if at the same time as developing ourselves, we solve some of our hardest and most challenging problems, I can’t help thinking that is a real win-win.
One of the programmes I most hate on the radio is Any Questions on BBC Radio 4. Of course, I don’t really hate it. I hate it only in the sense that I enjoy listening to it so that I get many opportunities to loudly prounounce “What an idiot!”.
The brilliant idea of bringing together people into a setting where whatever they say is bound to cause offence to other participants or those in the audience pre-dates reality TV by many, many years of course. And it’s really entertaining in a true sense: it’s diverting and holds my attention.
Yesterday’s episode was set in Londonderry, Northern Ireland and inevitably some of the discussion was about the political situation. In particular the recent comments by Martin McGuinness describing dissident republicans as “traitors” came up.
Someone made the point that language is important, and so it is. And so is the context in which language is spoken.
The word traitor sits in a historical, political and broader context. Just as dissident does. Just as Ireland does. Or any other term we use.
That context affects the way meaning is drawn from the word.
I know little about Northern Ireland. But it seemed positive to me that the speakers seemed to be agreeing that, in 2009, the context has changed.
And that probably as a result of the “peace process” there is a new way of looking at the world which is held by the majority of people. In that context, the words traitor and dissident and even terrorist mean quite different things from what they did in the past.
Agreement amongst the participants of a panel show perhaps doesn’t create quite the kind of entertainment the editors are seeking. So the conversation moved on.
But I was struck by how much business in 2009 needs a new context. Our language needs updating, of course. But for me, meaning is what counts. And it is often context that determines meaning.
I commented on an Umair Haque post on the Harvard Business site earlier in the week. Umair seemed frustrated that some people are just disguising old (really old) business models in the language of the new. He’s quite right of course. Just changing the words and calling it “Business 2.0” doesn’t change anything.
The shift to Business 2.0, or whatever you want to call it, is a contextual shift. It’s a change in the way we look at the world. A shift in the principles that underpin why we do business, what it is for. These are things we don’t often talk about in business – we’re usually far too busy discussing the how.
But to achieve the kind of seismic shift that has been achieved in Northern Ireland’s politics, we’ll surely need as deep and as far reaching a discussion as has been held there. And with all that is going on in the economy and the wider world isn’t it just a brilliant time to be having this discussion?
Umair is just one of the many people showing the way; all strength to him. I’d love to hear of more like him.
Another good post from Rosabeth Moss Kanter. She says it much better than I can where big companies are concerned.
Now let’s try to find some SME examples. Which small and medium-sized companies have been investing in getting their Mission straight and have benefitted from it – even in this downturn?
Who beyond the usual suspects has been trying to add real value. Here’s last year’s FastCompany list. I wonder who will make it this year?
Some friends dropped in yesterday and put me in mind of Edward Tufte, the great information designer.
For me, he’s a great example of a challenger. I love his image of Stalin presenting to the troops using PowerPoint, strikingly satirizing the totalitarian impact of the software.
And his suggestion that PowerPoint was implicated in the fatal decisions about the Columbia space shuttle can’t have been easy. As he points out “the Columbia Accident Investigation Board found that the distinctive cognitive style of PowerPoint reinforced the hierarchical filtering and biases of the NASA bureacracy”.
Of couse, the CAIB itself agreed: “as information gets passed up an organization hierarchy, from people who do analysis to mid-level managers to high-level leadership, key explanations and supporting information are filtered out. In this context, it is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation.”
But I still think it was a brave thing to do – it’s not easy to go against the tide. And yes PowerPoint is still widely used, even worshipped in government and banks (sorry I meant business circles) alike. Are our choices of communication tools another thing that contributes to our seeming ability to fool ourselves about very serious matters?
By the way, Tufte’s wonderful books seem now to be available at very much more affordable prices. Go get ’em.
The failure of the social bookmarking company Ma.gnolia because of database corruption made me think about the dangers of reinventing the wheel.
This won’t be the first business (or the last) to fail because of lost data.
The video of Larry Halff (the founder) explaining what happened shows plenty of contrition. Larry admits he made mistakes and I admire the focus he places on the lessons he has learned.
But maybe the biggest lesson might be to be more open to things that other people have already learnt – in this case over 50 or more years of IT and software development. The primary mistake the company made seems to have been very basic – not testing a backup worked before it was needed.
Larry seems a very bright guy. But I wonder, if I had made the same mistake, what would have stopped me getting the help I needed? Over-confidence and thinking I knew what I was doing, probably. And more specifically, not knowing what I didn’t know.
And, perhaps, being afraid to find out.
Formal education doesn’t seem to do much to encourage us to admit what we don’t know. Assessment, for example, is all about proving what do know, not learning our limitations. But especially in uncertain times revealing the extent of our knowledge, however limited, is surely a powerful thing to do.
A wonderful post by the inestimable Rosabeth Moss Kanter – on the power of old ideas.
Suppressing ideas is an anathema to me. More examples immediately come to mind: of a hard disk manufacturer that had better technology but left it on the shelf while competitors with more open minds leapt ahead. Or of the Lego of old where according to Jake McKeeall ideas became unwelcome.
We need ideas NOW like never before. Let’s not suppress them.
In difficult times, as in good times, I think it’s important to focus on the basics. Perhaps more so.
What are the essentials for a sustainable business? I can feel a list coming on.
Firstly, be agreed on what you are trying to achieve. Knowing this can get you through the toughest times.
Secondly, believe in profit. I know this is a little controversial. Some will say it is obvious. Others will not like the idea of profit as essential.
Profit is such a emotional topic, although mostly we don’t admit that. For many it has a bad name. And on the other extreme, even those who seek it above all else might be feeling a little guilty about it now.
But for a business to be sustained, whether it has a social or a purely economic goal, profit is needed. Profit builds reserves. When reinvested it creates strength – primarily through skills and knowledge. Excess profit can be harmful. But reasonable profit, reinvested, is essential.
Beliefs about profit are often so deeply held they’re hard to shift. But unless everyone in your company shares a positive view of reasonable profit, then you really do have difficulties if you want your business to survive and meet its mission.
Thirdly, everyone involved has to have a can do/will do attitude. It’s easier to believe that if things get hard we can give up. But to succeed we have to believe there is a way to get through – even in the hardest times. And we have to believe that we, and we alone, control our progress.
This is somewhat related to understanding that fear is normal. Fear of meeting people. Fear of doing new things. Fear of failure. And most of all fear of change. Know that fear is normal, and you are part way to overcoming it. If you know it and admit it, then you can ask for help, as just one example.
Being open to learning more generally – not being afraid to look a fool, and being unafraid to duck difficult things – is part of the same skill.
I believe even the strongest among us are afraid of change. We all fear the new and unfamiliar. Some like to change the world; but few are brave enough to change themselves.
But in an ever-changing world, what could be a more essential attribute for a sustainable company or an individual?
Fourthly, do the right thing. This doesn’t mean moralising. It’s more of a felt sense. For me, it mainly means overcoming fear so you can move towards a bigger goal. It’s about knowing what that bigger goal is. And sometimes taking the time to check the goal, so that it doesn’t get too big for its boots.
It also means a sense of proportion in other ways. For most of us in the developed world, it means remembering how lucky we are even when things look bad. Most of our lives contain many good things. Remembering to be grateful for them helps keep everything in balance.
Fifthly, do what you say you will, most of the time. Avoid promising to others; but if you make promises to yourself, then keep them. It’s all too easy in times of uncertainty to let a fog settle over us. And that fog provides the perfect shield to hide away, to let things slip, to quietly drop promises – even the most important ones.
Holding on to and reinvigorating your vision is one way to dispel that fog. Another is simply not to let yourself or others off the hook.
One way we let ourselves off the hook is by failing to “bottom-out” things. To me, this means starting a conversation, but when it gets a little hard, giving up. It means failing to push through the mental pain barrier to get at the roots of a problem.
The antidote might be stopping and declaring a time-out, and admitting one is lost. With no idea which way to go.
Being right, knowledgeable and on the ball is so important to most of us that sometimes we’d rather let confusion reign than admit we are lost.
But if you are wandering around in a mist, you are unlikely to get out of it by just wandering around. You need to get a grip. Work out what you know and what you don’t. Assess your resources. Form a plan. And then move steadily forward.
Another way of saying this? Tell the truth. Not just any old truth. But THE truth. The truth that is true for you right now.
Conscious-Business.org.uk 