Thoughts for your consideration… Old thoughts demanding renewed action TODAY!!!
Let’s see if we can get unstuck….. out of that BOX that most folks find themselves glued inside of! It’s killing you as you put out fires all day.
A privilege exists for me now, as I am linked to just my own perspectives and in sync with a few of the innovative thinkers in our space known as “selling”. That privilege is the ability to interact with a very wide client base both inside and outside of the technology arena. It is eye-opening to see firsthand the absolute sameness that exists and the “selling” battles that EVERYONE has, regardless of size, market, nationality, or even political nature. We are ALL facing the biggest challenge ever.
DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY THAT MATTER TO THOSE WE SERVE!
As the world churns today, supply chains are still a mess, in every industry. If you think semiconductors are hard to get, try finding plastic to make dashboards out of. Cardboard boxes are a pain to find like “you used to use”. Compromise is the KEY word in getting all that you need to keep a manufacturing line up and running, although probably at a reduced capacity.
Most people are just plain delighted to get back to as close to where we came from as they possibly can. And that includes the entire selling structure. We will accept a mixed mode work-from-home/office structure because we are told we should, and compromise our certainty that those that execute have a clearer understanding of reality than those that only manage. (last blog.. summary).
And the saddest thing of all is that in this time where serving with a difference is HUGELY impactful, about 95% of the clients that I talk to nowadays are quickly running BACKWARDS into “productville”. Web sites that once had a flavor of client-focused awareness have become great product sites of OLD. Some are spinning up “solution selling” as if it were new and unique. While in fact, it is old and ineffective today. But we are comfortable with it, so that makes it OK. We are all most comfortable in our well-worn pajamas and old slippers…. I have mine too, I get it! It’s just NOT that time to slide backward. There is a missing element that needs a renewed flame of inspiration and restatement.
Our business savior from “death by sameness” is not a new term, but a relook at how to best create….
INNOVATION!
And this is NOT about innovative products, as there really is no such thing these days. Heck even a really brand new, never been seen ever, absolutely killer product…. Takes about a week to clone from hundreds of different entities worldwide.
New products do not really make a difference!
However, new ideas can change the world!
The following quote comes from many different sources in various forms… here is my iteration!
It is NOT what we sell…. It IS what we DO… that makes an acknowledged difference with our clients and all those that we choose to serve.
It is NOT what we sell…. It IS what we DO… that matters!
The world’s products are all great, wonderful, meaningful, effective things of beauty to US. In reality, the differentiation in the minds of our clients between what WE sell, and what our COMPETITOR sells, is not significant enough to be seen and realized by our clients, if in fact there even is any at all in any case.
We make a difference with our clients when we help them see their world and THEIR own client’s world in new and different ways that enable them to gain perspectives that they did not have before. This enables our clients to serve their clients in ways that they had not considered before.
Products are good, and technology is great. We make a DIFFERENCE with our clients in ways that no one else will when we engage with our clients in INNOVATIVE THINKING.
INNOVATIVE THINKING does NOT require new innovative products or technology. It is NOT about the products! It is totally about the great 2-way conversations that you create, build, test, revise, plan for, and execute with your clients.
INNOVATIVE THINKING is the challenge that we all face as we wind our way out of the malaise that is the “old” come back to life… think Zombie movies “Night of the Living Dead (1968)”.
INNOVATIVE THINKING requires all of the tenants of CUSP…
INNOVATIVE THINKING can also be the catalyst to really old and ineffective practices like quotas and commissions as the time to implementation of client-created ideas in this vein can actually be a fraction of the time they would spend on creating and launching a new(?) product idea. Much faster return on EVERYONE'S behalf.
This old idea, reborn, is easy to grasp. It may need help from others like Dave Brock, Brent Adamson, or myself, to fine-tune and help you create. I suspect you will see both respond to this blog, so feel free to grab any of us by the virtual neck and get some time and attention.
OK, LET’S ROLL! On to INNOVATION!
It’s a difference-maker!
Mitch
Thoughts for your consideration….
Leadership or management….. and the issue of Work from WHERE?
Office or Home… is that the real question? Where to work, is important. Why work is MORE important. Let’s tackle all aspects of this. From my perspective and in MY opinion, of course.
In this perspective, leadership is vital. So what is the difference between the two styles of guiding people? Lots of specifics can be called out that make a difference in whether you are working for, or functioning as, a leader or a manager. Isolating one of them for this point of comparison may not be perfect, but will be practical.
Here is a view that is personal, may not be shared, and that is OK. Valuing everyone’s opinion and viewpoint is what we are all about as a people.
The distinction made here is that LEADING people is done from an enrollment mindset that establishes the values for all in the process, gains buy-in, and is in sync with functioning. Whereas MANAGING people is typically issuing directives, mandates, and “guidelines” that dictate the execution of people without many aims for true consensus.
Neither style is ALWAYS, and sometimes we all must morph a bit in either direction. BUT the subject of WFH vs WFO, seems to be much more polarized. Having moved outside of a single corporate environment has opened my eyes to multiple views not previously seen. For the most part, big corporate entities are taking a management style of a directive to where they want their teams to participate in support of the corporate initiatives. Some are very hard-nosed about “it’s time to come back to the office”. Others are seeming to offer a mixed mode of days in one place versus another, while still applying significant behind-the-scenes pressure to get everyone back “in the office”. Others, with their numbers dwindling, are genuinely open to employee choice.
It is very likely that corporate business is missing a chance of a lifetime to create a whole new wave of “lifetime employees”! How would we do that?
The underlying belief that has been voiced so often is that somehow critical corporate culture was created, grown, and enhanced by simply being under the same roof, surrounded by the same walls, and spending time in hallway and water cooler conversations.
While it does not mean that those elements don’t have value, the harsh reality is that there are an untold number of poorly run companies that have terrible corporate values that share all the roof and wall concepts along with literal and virtual water coolers. Roofs and walls do not make a great culture. People and MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP make culture in every case, good or bad. What is said is of value, what is DONE creates the truth. Plaques and posters espousing values and culture do NOT make it come true. You can post your guiding values and corporate culture wonderfulness on every wall and it will not matter if the “talk is not walked”.
So, where does this take us?
MY opinion is that we can get the best of all worlds if we enable them. We have to create thinking that enables team growth, cultural enhancement, and personal expansion, REGARDLESS of where any of our team resides and works. It takes creating different methods, different mindsets, and different thinking, INTENTIONALLY. Intentionally created culture means just that. Created on PURPOSE, with the enablement of each and every one of our team and their style and nature.
Maximizing human engagement is not magical. It needs CARING about the people. It needs UNDERSTANDING of how to empower each person. It needs the commitment to SERVING all of those around us, ENDLESSLY. All of that ON PURPOSE.
We can set a new standard of excellence by focusing on why and how we enable our teams instead of where they do their “work”.
It is possible to counter every single negative element that is thrown against the wall about working from home…we just need to change our thinking…again, to change our beliefs, to change our outcomes. It has been done, and the best in business will grasp this challenge and make a corporate ADVANTAGE out of it. This is the greatest opportunity we have ever had to really affect inclusion! Please don’t pass it up.
OK, LET’S ROLL! Inclusively!
Mitch
