Mason's Morning Minute

When Goals Are Confused

“Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. it is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers, and benefits for the stakeholders.” - Philip Kotler

“How do we monetize that?”

I’m hearing that statement more and more, and at one level, I think it’s great. I’m all for profitability and increasing revenue. But somehow we’ve confused the goal with the result. If we want to continue to have a prosperous industry, we’re going to need change how we’ve been thinking these last 10 years. Profit is what happens when you achieve your goal, not the goal itself.

We’ve been looking at “monetizing” everything since the beginning of the century, and perhaps it’s time to assess what’s happened, or as my friend Walter Sabo says, “How’s that working for you?” Is radio’s share of the advertising pie up or down? Have the rates in your market increased or decreased? Has your success come from increased revenue or decreased expenses.

So the way we “monetize” something is by making sure we’re providing a worthwhile service. It doesn’t have to do with our needs at all, it has to do with the need of the listeners and the clients. I think we might have forgotten that. Exceptional profits are the result of exceptional service.

Want to “monetize” your web site? Then quit throwing up dozens of boxy adds, and start delivering something exceptional on your web site. Want to increase your listener loyalty? Then quit putting money into 10th caller contests, and all the other attempts at manipulation that used to work but aren’t now. How about focusing so intensely on a felt need of your core target that you become a part of their lives?

The challenge is in our central nervous system. We’re so used to doing the same thing that we haven’t noticed that atrophy has started to set in on some of the outer extremities. We’re on our way to obsolesce because we’re so intent on driving by looking in the rear view mirror we don’t notice what’s up ahead.
It’s your choice you know. Doesn’t matter what level you’re at, you can either succeed or fail based on your own decisions. Even small changes can add up to larger changes, and those changes can total up to a more viable future.

What’s will you make your 2008 look like?

The Present Many Need But No One Will Want

"You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership."- Dwight Eisenhower, General of the Army and President of the USA

I’m facing this dilemma. I have a present I know a few people could use, but they’ll get mad if I give it to them. It’s a book called “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” by Marshall Goldsmith. It’s about how the technical skills that have taken you to a certain point on the leadership ladder suddenly become useless as you grow, and how people skills become more necessary. As Goldsmith says on the cover, “You work hard but there is something standing between you and the next level of achievement.” I’ve been reading the book, and I’ve already learned some of the small flaws that could get in my way. There was a time in the past when I really wish I’d had a book like this.

Yes, it’s a book about self-sabotage and learning new skills, but in my experience those who need it most are those that would be most offended if you give it to them. Maybe you know one of those people who just can’t motivate, but instead orders and demands. Someone who only worries about themselves, and not their people. You would probably face the same issue - give the book to them and take some abuse for it!
But maybe, just maybe, this is the best time of the year for them to get a book like this. I know for a fact you and I could enlist Santa Claus, who would be glad to deliver it for us. So the book just shows up, gift wrapped, leaning against their door when they get to work. You can get a used copy on Amazon.com for about $11.00, a pretty small price if they read some of it.

But wait, there’s more (as they say on TV).

If you’re not the only one who feels that way, maybe Santa would deliver two, or three or twelve copies of the book to the person show needs it. Right about then they’re going to think something might be going on, and that maybe that many people can’t be wrong. What if, when the demonstrate the annoying habit, a copy of the page(s) covering that habit were taped to the door throughout the year. Now we’ve become leadership freedom fighters, working tirelessly to get the message across.

So, if you’re facing one of those “tough” bosses, maybe you should let the Christmas spirit overcome you and give them a copy. Share the spirit, and share the message.

The View From Above

"You get a different view from the ground floor than from the corner office." – Alex Frankel, author “Punching In”

I remember when I worked in San Francisco I marveled at the tall buildings in the downtown area.  Seattle at that time didn’t have anything quite like them.  It was especially interesting during the foggy season, because the ground floors would be socked in with the fog, but the upper levels could still see up.

It probably seems like you could see more from the upper floor executive office than you could from the ground floor “workers” cubicles, but I wonder.  While the execs in those buildings could see up, they couldn’t’ really see down, where the commerce was taking place.  Even on clear days the higher levels had a perspective that made everything look smaller.

On the lower floors, where the activity of the business really happens, things get so foggy that at times you can’t see but a few feet in front of you.  However, even those few feet are better than the executive floors, where you look down and can’t see a thing.  No wonder it looks like everything is OK from above, when it’s chaotic on the ground floor.

The point to the story is that the vision of the people closest to the responsibility of “making it happen” often have a much better realistic view and perspective than those above looking down, and seeing nothing but fog.   The challenge is that those on the higher floors feel compelled to believe they know more than the peons on the ground floor.  It’s easy to say that sales has to grow when you don’t have to take into account that radios share of the advertising pie has shrunk, and that the upper level sales strategies of the past few years have driven the rate DOWN in most markets.

However high you are in your building, it might be a good idea to take the elevator to the ground floor and see what the perspective is from there.

Death By Bureaucracy

“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” - Thomas Sowell

Long weekends always give me plenty of opportunity to think, especially when caught in Thanksgiving Day traffic. It was supposed to be a simple one hour trip over to a friends house, but so many other people had the same idea that it became a three-hour journey. Like I said, plenty of time to think.

I get bored easily, so my ind jumps from one thing to another. Part of my thoughts had to do with an organization I work with that seems to be growing layers of bureaucracy quicker than gas prices are rising. I can now count five levels of management, and even the assistants are starting to get assistants. So I let my mind wander to what I know, and what I’ve read, and determined that we could reduce organizational layers to three levels:

Top Managers
Executive Managers
Self-managers

Yes, there is a trick to it: In order to accomplish this, you have to devolve authority to individuals and teams which have the resources to take decisions and responsibility. I guess that’s a really fancy way of saying you need to trust your people (after all, you hired them) to make good decisions based on the information and direction you’ve given them.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t have much of a chance, because it would cause productivity to go up, and make the business less dependent on the managers. Radio today is too bound to doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result.

Children In The Workplace

"If you treat employees like children, they will behave that way." - Margaret Heffernan, author, "The Naked Truth"

“I’m telling them everything is ok.  I’m telling them that morale is good.  Why don’t they listen?”

Those are the approximate words a GM uttered to me not long ago.  How do I tell them that she’s treating their employees the way we sometimes treat our children?  And how do I ask them to remember how they reacted to that kind of thing when they were children?

Maybe it’s because we only have two natural role models, the military and raising kids, but regularly get caught up in this “just do what I say” mentality, and when it doesn’t work, we think it’s the other persons fault.  We treat them like children, but at the same time we’re acting like children too.

When we take that “Do because I said so” approach, we’re treating them like children.  When we explain to our team what needs to happen and why, we’re treating them like valued collaborators.

If you find yourself with what seems like a childish reaction from your people, maybe you should look to see if you’re treating them like children!

Going To The Moon

“Never tell people how to do things.  Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” General George S. Patton

I remember, in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy called for the nation to put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.  We were all so proud, motivated and inspired, and had no doubt we were going to land a man on the moon.  That speech has become a shining example of goal setting, but it’s also a great example of delegation.

JFK told us what he wanted to see happen, when it should be completed by, and why it was important.  He didn’t lay out the details or facts, but he did make us want to see it happen.  If that speech were given today, would contain detailed information on how the task should be done too.   Under the “I can do it better than anyone else so do it my way” theory, any motivation and ownership would have been removed.

Kennedy knew better than to say, “Here’s how I want it done.”  He wanted the whole nation to take ownership of this dream, so he left the “how” to the people that had to do it.  It was an amazing feat of strategy too, since the technology to land a man on the moon didn’t even exist when he made the speech.

Why do we keep looking to hire bright, experienced people, and then not let them use their God given talents to our benefit?  Are we really that afraid that someone else will take the credit, or it won’t be done well.  I have to tell you, if you have people who can’t do things well, it’s either because you haven’t explained it thoroughly, or you’ve hired a dolt.  And if you’ve hired a C student, all the explanation of how to do it in the world won’t help.

So when you delegate, if you explain the end result you’re looking for, and when it needs to be done, in a motivating way, you may see some spectacular results.  Conversely, when you tell people exactly how to do something, they’ll do it, but you won’t see any innovation or good surprises.

Making The Possible Impossible

“Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible.” – Javier Pascual Salcedo

When I was in the Navy we all worked hard to earn the green “E” award for Command & Control excellence.  Seeing that on the ship let everyone know we had our act together.  We were very proud of having earned the award.  Sometimes I think there should be something like that for business.

I was in a meeting yesterday where one of the points of discussion was how to make the little speaker icon on a web site larger.  Seems it takes several weeks for something like this to happen, because it has to be put on IT’s schedule and then worked into the priorities.  At another station we’re discussing a new innovation, and are bogged down in the number people who have to sign off and put their special “tweak” to it.  There’s a good chance other, more speedy organizations will beat us to this one.  It’s the proverbial tail wagging the dog.

Yes, you need rules, roles, and procedures to keep a business from falling into chaos, but when do these rules, roles and procedures stop being effective, and instead become a Dilbert cartoon?  The quick answer: When the two prime functions of a radio station, programming and sales, stop being the priority, replaced by bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy can take over an organization and retard it’s progress.  The real reason for business is to “make something happen,” but the reason for bureaucracy is to control what’s happening.  That’s because bureaucracy doesn’t understand strategy, only control. Bureaucracy is concerned with efficiency, but there is no green “E” for efficiency.  If anything, the green “E” is for effectiveness, and that’s what we forget sometimes.

I will always err on the side of effective over efficient.  My job is to make things happen, and bureaucracy sometimes stands in the way.  I guess I’m a Nike fan – you know, “Just Do It.” 

Does it seem to take forever to get simple things done at your station?  Are there so many people that have to sign off on something that sometimes you miss the opportunity altogether?  If so, then you have the bureaucracy monster in control.  The organization is more interested in “doing things right” than “doing the right thing.”

Where do you find yourself?  Are you doing things right, or are you doing the right thing?

Radio Pick Up Sticks

“Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.” - Henry Steele Commager

Sometimes radio is like the kids game “Pick Up Sticks.”  You might remember the idea was to pull one stick at a time from the pile, without collapsing it.  If it collapsed, you lost.

How is this like radio?  Well, a successful station is made up of interlocking “sticks,” in  the form of people and brand DNA.  You can probably pull the “night voice tracker” stick from the pile without hit crashing down.  But what happens when a successful station loses a PD or GSM?

That happened a couple of years ago, at one of the stations I was involved with.  The station had come from far behind to rank consistently in the top 5 in it’s target.  Making it more challenging, it was a Classic Hits station up against a Clear Channel heritage Classic Rock station.

About three years into the stable success, the GSM realized the ownership wasn’t ever going to give him more responsibility, and even looked down on the station that had beaten it’s sister for years.  So he decided to go off on his own and start an agency.

And the pick up sticks came crashing down.

It’s my contention that successful stations die from within, not owning to outside competitive pressures.  The people inside the station play pick up sticks with their success.  Things at this station got progressively worse.  They couldn’t find a sales manager as good, the sales people got lazy and demotivated, and when sales people become lazy or demotivated, they start complaining and look for “freshening.”  So, while the ratings and rankings remained stable, sales were off dramatically.  Naturally, the sales department decided programming wasn’t doing it’s job.  That’s another of my “Principles Of Radio Failure,” trying to solve a sales problem with a programming decision, but that’s a story for another time.

The end result was that ownership felt it was time for a change, and all that change came in programming.  Unbelievably, they returned to their game of pick up sticks to remove others from the team that had built the success.

The moral of the story is that change is not always good.  Yes, this from a person with the title “Change Agent.”  Change for change sake at a successful station causes failure.  Change because of misdirected blame causes failure.  When dealing with change, you have to look at it from the perspective of goals and position.  A struggling station will need more change, and a successful one less.  Which doesn’t mean a successful stations can fail to grow, it just means you have to remember pick up sticks, and make sure you don’t pull out the wrong one.

WHere's It Being Done?

“You go to a Broadway show producer and you say you have an idea for a great new play, you know the actors, story line, set design...it's great.  The producer says to you, ‘that is a great idea, I would love to do it but I can't touch it, it's been done before.’

You go to a Television producer and you say, Mr. Kelly, I have a great idea for a new show. It's got this story arc, these actors, this setting, it'll be a big hit. The producer agrees with you and says it is a terrific idea but he can't touch it because it's been done in Australia, it's been done before.

You go to a radio programming executive and you say, I have an idea for a hot new format. It's got this type of music, this production, these slogans and a new approach for the hosts. The PD looks out the window, starts sweating and says, ‘Oh yea, who else is doing it?’"

A story by Walter Sabo

It would be funny, if it weren’t so true.  We are an industry of copiers, who want to make sure it worked somewhere else, before we do it ourselves, under the mistaken theory that if it works in Peoria, it will work in San Diego.  We are NOT an industry inclined toward developing unique strategic concepts. 

Remember the movie “Multiplicity?”  It starred Michael Keaton as someone with too much to do and too little time to do it in.  So he had himself cloned.  The first one was OK, but then the clones began cloning themselves, and things got very strange.  We’re a little like that too.  We clone the clone, and then wonder why it doesn’t work.  So eventually word starts going around that “Jack doesn’t work anymore.”  Forget that Jack might not work in that market, or that your clone doesn’t have the strategic premise of the format down.

Consultants often don’t help.  They make money with the format in a box concept, which is easier for them, and easier for the station.  My partner, John Frost, and I face that every day, with stations that don’t understand that their strategy has to be uniquely fitted about their Brand DNA.   The worst, however, are the PD’s and GM’s who foster cloning by buying up the newest national idea to “see if it works” in their market.  They feel secure, because they have an answer to the question, “Who else is doing it?”

It’s all about the strategy you’re using, and copying someone else isn’t strategic, it’s tactical.  A strategy doesn’t come in a box.  A strategy is unique to you.  Only when your architecture focuses on the unique elements of your brand, and you focus the entire station on those unique elements, will you have a strategy.  It’s more difficult and a lot more work, but the payoff is huge, because of the number of clones in your market.

But then again, maybe I’m wrong, after all, who else is doing it?

More fishing

With just over 4,000 subscribers to this email, I get a lot of interesting comments.  This is one from long-time broadcaster Bill Taylor, that I thought deserved repeating:

"I don't always get to read your emails. They come in as part of the hoard of stuff I could do without. But when I do, I always find them interesting.

We as professional broadcasters assume we know more about this business then our listeners do. They know what they like, But that is subject to change. I understand, Todd Storz, Once said. "People don't know what they like, they like what they know". Ask today's broadcaster who Todd Storz was and you'll get a blank stare. As a person who started in this business in 1954 I have seen a lot of changes in "what they know". We have been a very creative bunch.  Those who couldn't create copied. I was blessed with working with some of the great minds in our business. For the most part they’re all gone.

Some couldn't handle Cheap Channel, some got on drugs, some just got too old (us old farts have a problem, we know when we're being lied to) and some simply died.

My station was 20 years old April 1st of this year. I built it. The most painful thing I've ever had to do was put it all on the hard drive. We're still live in the morning. And it is this three hours that keeps me in the business. I've never made any money running this place.  It has been an expensive hobby.

But let's get back to the listeners.  The key is to fulfill an emotional need. If it's nothing more that a sound in the back ground because they can't handle silence. I’ve found that listeners in rare moments when they drop their guard and answer questions, I can learn something from anybody who listens to our competition or us. I believe the basic ingredient is simply, someone who cares. Getting down to "their level" is very humbling.

Fishing is big business in these parts, We have the biggest lake in the state on our back door. They spend big bucks at Wal-Mart looking for the best lures, and get up early. Today's corp broadcasters don’t want to spend money on fancy lures, they want us to go out in the back yard and dig up worms. (they’re free). I've only got about 3 more years and if I live it, I'll sell this place, hit the road and  see if I can recognize markets I once worked. The good part is, I have been truly blessed by this business. Lucky Me.

Thank you Jesus."

Thank you Bill.  Sometimes, when digging for worms, we forget how blessed we are.  But wouldn't it be great if we could get back to working on fancy, effective lures for our fishing?

Looking For Fish In All The Wrong Places

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

This paragraph appeared in a recent email I received.

"I don't have any confidence ... because they've tried to re-launch the brand three times," says one analyst, who's been rather disappointed with the latest ads. "Wireless customers care about quality of voice service." And there's Sprint, promoting the speed by which data travels across the network. "Customers don't care about the speed," he says. "They want to know the phone works when they make a call, and the new ads do nothing to change that strategy."

Now, I admit to the weakness of seeing radio in everything I see, so with that qualification, let me say that we’re just as guilty as Sprint. We’re often promoting something that’s either meaningless or irrelevant to the listener.

One excuse is that we’re just in a habit loop of doing over and over the same things we’ve done before. We promote the “best variety” without ever making it relevant to the listener, and then wonder how the station with 150 songs in its library beat us. We promise to not talk over the intros only to find that, while listeners don’t necessarily like it, it’s not a key criterion in their decision-making. We promise not to play the same song more that once during the weekday, and then wind up playing songs that aren’t the listeners’ favorite.

We get into this mess because we want simple answers to simple questions, so we ask questions of the listener that they can’t really answer. So they tell us what they think we want to hear, or just make something up. Like the fisherman Thoreau is talking about, we sometimes don’t understand it’s not the fish we’re after. It’s time to stop thinking about the listener as a conquest, and instead think about them as a relationship. That’s when we’ll find out what they really want.

Living Life Every Day

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi

I attended a funeral yesterday. One of my co-workers died while he was at work, unexpectedly and quickly. I could go on and tell you what a great guy he was, and he was, but that’s not the point. The point is something the Pastor said during the funeral, about living each day to the fullest.

I bring this up because, being a radio person, I can sometimes get so focused on the day-to-day details that I forget to dream. When I look ahead I see another day just like today, with too much to do and too little time to do it in. Or as the philosopher Peter Noone once said, “Second verse, same as the first.”

But that’s not really me. That’s the “me” I become under stress, not the “me” I am naturally. I love to dream big dreams, and plan big plans. I just forget to sometimes, trying to get through the day. That ever happen to you?

We’re engineered to need vision, to want dreams, to be inspired. That’s the way God wants us. We all should be chasing our dreams every day, not just focused on the operational day-to-day. We’re in charge of our own life, whomever provides our paycheck.

Good Enough Isn't

“The conundrum for companies is that good products or services aren’t enough.” – Chip and Dan Heath, Authors

There’s an old Chinese proverb that suggests: “May you live in interesting times.”  It’s one of those double-edged ideas, you know, when you say something nice to people but it has a different meaning.  To some, it’s a Chinese curse, meant to say something about you having challenges all your life.

Our challenge is that good enough isn’t.  Playing the right music, and having a good morning show has somehow become the price of admission instead of the benchmark for success.  The way people view things has changed dramatically, and it’s hard to keep up.  We’re measured on customer service by Disney standards and customer engagement by Starbucks standards.  That’s a big job.

It means a future of constant evolution, where your station can’t be static, but has to be consistent.   I think it means a time where things beyond the playlist and morning show will be the cause of success or failure. 

I spent some time traveling with Greg Stielstra, author of Pyromarketing recently, and hearing him talk about becoming involved in listener conversations, and asking people to become evangelists for the station puts a whole new perspective which new song to add, and where in the hour the breaks should be.

Could the success or failure of your radio station lie in your ability to create a positive experience for listeners?  Could it be that the best songs to play are those that are top testers, but are also the ones to add to the experience?  Could it be that what the DJ’s say on-air will be more about the listener experience, and less about the radio station experience.

We’re living in interesting times alright, and fortunately a few forward thinking broadcasters are preparing for that future now.  They know they’re living in interesting times, and they’re excited about it!

I’ve heard it said that there are three kinds of people; those that make it happen, those than notice something is happening, and those who wonder what’s happening.  Which are you?  Which do you want to be?

A Secret Of Motivation

“If you want to build a ship, then don't drum up men to gather wood, give orders, and divide the work. Rather, teach them to yearn for the far and endless sea.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and WWII hero

Isn’t an interesting that “motivation” has turned into yelling at people or telling them what to do and how to do it?  That not only isn’t motivation, but it stifles their ability to be creative about how they do it.

What de Saint-Exupery is suggesting is that you use words to create a picture, to motivate people to want the end goal, and then let them figure out how to reach the goal themselves.  That soft, sensitive guy General George S. Patton had similar thoughts when he suggested to his officers that they tell their troops what the goal is, and then let them figure out what to do.  As a fringe benefit, he suggested people would surprise you with their creativity and ingenuity.

Here’s another reason.  The more you let your team decide how to achieve the goal, the more motivated they’ll be.  And a team of fired-up individuals can change the world!

Time To Make Something Happen

A human being is only interesting if he's in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it. – Barbra Striesand

When I was general manager, we brought in someone who helped us let go of the past, and look to the future.  One lesson had to do with me, the GM, learning to play the Ukulele.  Now, those who know me will understand how “musically challenged” I am.  When my family gives requests, it’s that I not sing.

But I learned an important lesion, and that was science and practice is important, but in the end you have to let go and let your instincts take over.

What happened is that I spent weeks learning the chords on the Ukulele.   But then, when it came time to play for the department heads, I had to let go and just play, trusting what I’d learned.  Somehow it worked.

Success is like that.  There’s a time to rehearse and plan, and there’s a time to play.  The important difference was spending enough time to know what you’re doing, and then go ahead with it.  It’s about trusting yourself.  That doesn’t mean you can believe you can do anything, and not prepare.  I flew 95,000 miles last year, but that doesn’t make me a pilot.

But unless you trust and believe in yourself, all the preparation and rehearsal in the world won’t help.  We’re wired to make things happen, and when we don’t, it always catches up with us.

The Disease Of Me

“Michael, if you can't pass, you can't play.” - Coach Dean Smith to Michael Jordan in his freshman year at UNC

I think most of us would agree that Michael Jordan is a pretty good basketball player.  But Dean Smith, who helped mold his career, gave Michael an important lesson – it’s a team sport, not an individual sport.

Too bad more people in radio don’t “get it.”  I’ve talked about this malady, first coined by basketball coach Pat Riley in his book The Winner Within.  The Disease Of Me happens when a player, even captain of the team, thinks the success of the team is all because of them. 

When you're very successful it can become easy to slip into The Disease Of Me without knowing it.  One forgets or minimizes the contributions of other people on the team, and your own contributions become larger than life. It’s all because of me!  They couldn’t have done it without me!  Don’t they understand I’m the reason we’re successful.

I’ve seen it happen to talent, to GM’s and even to salespeople.  Funny, but while there is a honor for the most valuable player, everyone on the winning championship team gets a ring.

When I was GM of the station carrying thr Portland Trail Blazers I had the opportunity to learn a lot about how a team operates.  I noticed they all supported each other.  We all see the team reactions when one of the players makes a great three-point shot, but have you noticed how the team also supports the one who missed the shot with a pat on the back.

In radio all we remember are the good shots. We aren’t great at supporting each other on the missed shots.  Did I mention that Michael Jordan was also a leader in missed shots?

We've all been on those championship radio teams at one time or another.  It's important to remember it’s a team sport, and there are more players on the floor than just us.

19 February 2007

Psychopaths In The Workplace

“The psychopath has no allegiance to the company at all, just to self.”  Paul Babiak, psychologist

I was working on those of the projects embroiled with “the disease of me” when I saw this quote, and it got me thinking.  Consolidation has moved self-preservation and playing the political game to an art level, as everyone tries to dodge the next round of layoffs.  We’ve all known someone like this at some time or another, right?

But then I thought of the other side of that coin, and although I know it will get me in trouble with some big companies, it seems to be there are just as many of these psychopaths on the ownership path as there are at the station level.

When a company strips the talent off the station, and replaces it with simple voice tracking, when they eliminate marketing, or only produce research that fits their perspective, they’re acting just as pathologically.  It’s not possible to really care about the company if you strip it down just to increase the stock price, because you’re the major shareholder.

Then it struck me that this psychopathic behavior is probably creating more psychopaths at the local level, by forcing people to look at their own self-interest.  It’s well known in management and motivation circles that the current lack of loyalty to a company is a direct result of the company showing a lack of loyalty to their employees.

When more layoffs come it’s easy to think of those up the food chain by using a series of four letter words, but that may be unfair.  They may be completely legal with a mother and a father.  So don’t think of them in those kind of pejorative terms, instead just understand that they may simply be psychopathic.

Always Learning

“I don’t know everything, but I know I want to keep on learning.”  Jim Morris, baseball player from “The Rookie”

At church this Sunday we had Jim Morris, whose life was played out in the movie “The Rookie.”  He’s a very inspirational speaker, and if you ever get a chance to see him it’s well worth it.

When he spoke the quote above, it really got my attention, because that’s also one of the rare qualities of a great radio person.  The best ones I know are still in a constant learning mode, and realize, especially as time goes on, how much they don’t know.

If you’re like me you’re finding less and less time for learning, which can lead to a “hardening of the attitude,” one of the precursors to failure.  When any of us start acting like we know all there is to know, we’re in big trouble.  So now we have to work harder to find the time to learn new things.  And multi-tasking won’t help.

See, the truth is that we can tell ourselves we can multi-task, and learn while we do other things, but the truth is the human mind can only focus on one thing at a time.  Multi-tasking means the mind shifts from one thing at a time to another at a faster speed, but it doesn’t mean we can “learn” while we’re doing something else.  Learning take time, and it takes thought.

What would people say about you?  Would they say you already know everything you need, or that you are always searching for something new to help your remain successful?

6 February 2007

Activity vs. Accomplishment

"Accomplishment is easiest when we work the hardest, and it is hardest when we work the easiest." - Unknown

I don’t know about you, but I was really busy yesterday.  I was flying through details, attending meetings, having conferences and working on tasks.

The problem was that at the end of the day I hadn’t really accomplished much.  I’d fallen into that old trap of confusing activity with accomplishment.  I hadn’t prioritized well, and I lost sight of the big picture.

That’s true for radio stations too.  I know of a lot who are very active, tons of promotions, all kinds of marketing, and liners galore.  The problem is all that activity doesn’t accomplish anything either.  Only when you have a plan can you know how to apply your resources – time and money.

Otherwise we’re just jumping up and down and waving our arms just to make ourselves feel better.  I promise, I’ll do better today.

Dancing With Opportunity

Opportunity dances with those on the dance floor. - Unknown

Being a “change agent,” I’m aware of the opportunity that lies in every change in our lives.  What’s going to happen to radio in the next few years is a great example of that.  HD, if it happens, gives us the opportunity for more varied formats.  Internet radio offers the opportunity for unparalleled two-way programming.  WiMax offers the opportunity for Internet radio to become as mobile as terrestrial radio.

The challenge is that many broadcasters are so invested in the traditional “push programming” that they are going to miss the train, and become the electronic version of the buggy whip manufacturers.

Everyone knows there’s a lot of change happening right now.  One of the perks of my job is being able to keep an eye on what’s going on, and projecting that ahead to the future.  Everyone knows there is some kind of opportunity, like there is in all change.  But only the brave few are already out on the dance floor, everyone else is standing on the side of the dance floor, watching the other side, like we did in junior high.

What about you?  Are you going to get onto the dance floor to take up the dance with opportunity, or are you going to keep standing on the sidelines until someone else beats you to the dance?

Lifes Balancing Act

"Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some." - Robert Fulghum, author

Happy New Year!  It’s that wonderful time of the year that we all look ahead to what we want to do and be, and make a new years resolution to that effect.  CNN tells me the most popular resolution this year will be to balance work and home lives, followed by dieting.  Both of them are great resolutions, but the balance of work and home lives is certainly the most important.

We’re all made up of a mixture of logic and creativity.  Now, I would never say radio people are obsessed with their work, and sacrifice family and home to succeed at work, but that was certainly the case with me.  It was only when I realized that spending time with my family, and actually having a home life, made me more productive that I began to work at balance.

Huh?

How can spending time away from work make you more productive at work?  Because if you let the work obsession take over your life you may forget that your listeners live in a completely different world.  They’re not concerned about your clocks, or whether you put a sweeper or a live break at :17.  Unless you spend time in the real world, their world, you won’t be able to understand what’s important to them.  Without that, if you live in a closed-in world of radio, you won’t be able to communicate and entertain, as you should.

God gave us full, robust lives, but it’s up to us to live them.  So as Fulghum says, take a little time to think, learn, draw, dance and play along with your work in 2007.

Don't Blame The iPod

"The amplitude and velocity of change is such that companies are more at risk." —Paul A. Laudicina, author, "World Out of Balance"

I just finished reading an email from a radio person about not promoting the iPod.  Don’t give it away, don’t mention it, and don’t recognize it.  Instead we should be promoting our own benefits and giving away “radio friendly” things like a computer you can stream on.

Is it possible to agree and disagree with someone at the same time? 

We should be promoting our strongest benefits, but it take a “if I close my eyes no one will see me” approach of ignoring the technology around us that’s being adopted by our listeners doesn’t make a lot of sense.

<begin rant>
This kind of thinking is the disease of the industry.  We are looking outside of the industry to help explain the problems we have inside the industry.  The concept seems to be that we’ve been instrumental in the popularity of the iPod, completely overlooking the sociological changes happening around us.  The iPod is popular with some kinds of people because they can control the playlist, not because we’re promoting it.  The iPod is going to maintain success irrespective of what we do…or don’t do.

We’ve forgotten that the listener is a consumer of things other than radio.  There is a thing called “life” that comes into the picture, no matter what we want to think.  We’ve focused on eliminating negatives, on some odd thing called “shareholder value,” and the needs of the client, but we’ve acted as if the listener were ours, and ours alone.  It’s we who opened the door for the iPod, by loading up with a ridiculous amount of commercials, and making radio sound bland and uninteresting.  Then we expect that additional channels of HD blandness will rescue the industry.  Sorry, I’d rather not drink that Kool-Aid.

Want to see radio grow again?  Then be magnetic!  Be so awesome and remarkable that people are drawn to the station.  Understand that the listener is first, and your needs second.  Be entertaining.  Scrap the meaningless slogans of the past and start building a radio brand.  Train talent how to connect with and engage the listener.  Stop the idiotic thinking that if we simply do a “shuffle weekend” we’re going to gain cool points.
<end of rant>

Above all, stop blaming someone or something else.  It’s not their fault.  We’re responsible for the mess we’re in right now, and we’re responsible for getting ourselves out of it.   It doesn’t have anything to do with the iPod or TV, it has to do with what we are, and aren’t doing, ourselves.

Let's Take A Chance

"Finding good creative talent is the hardest problem." — Jim O'Mahony, head of Saatchi and Saatchi's Asian Pacific region

Let me ask you a question.  If you found a candidate for a job at your radio station who seemed to have every single requirement, and more, but had a checkered track record, what would you do?  If you found out that person had a drinking problem in the past, but didn’t show any signs of it now, and he’d admitted it to you, would you hire him?  What if management expressed concern because of his past problem?

I’m always talking about taking chances, and the above scenario was the best “chancy” decision I made, when I hired Mike Phillips for an airshift in my first PD job.  Not only was he an outstanding human being and co-worker, he truly fit the company rules of hiring someone better than myself, and he took over as PD when I moved up to Seattle.  Mike took an already station and strengthened the depth of its success like I’d never seen before.  He amassed many successes in his career after that.

This was on my mind because Mike died yesterday.  Walter Sabo noted that Mike was a very unique person as a program director, because he retired voluntarily while he was still very successful, and he actually had money in the bank.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about how it’s impossible to find good talent, and it’s true.  But it’s also true that we’ve become a very cautious industry where the perfect employee is the one who shows up on time and doesn’t cause you any trouble.  Unfortunately, those people with a few blemishes on their resume are often the ones that become the biggest stars.  Sometimes you have found the great talent, but you’re afraid to take a chance on them.  You don’t want to take on the additional headache and ego baggage.  So you hire someone who is good, but not necessarily fabulous, and you don’t see the growth you desire.

This is a plug for the Mike Phillips’ of this generation, who were driven to excess by their passion for what they were doing, but have the kind of quirky mind that becomes a magnet for listeners.  There’s probably someone out there who sounds terrific and seems very creative, but you’re worried about taking that chance.  Don’t worry, act.  Take a chance.  Hire them.  Get them “on the bus” as soon as possible, because they might be the missing ingredient that will propel your success.

It might be the most important chance you ever take.

Steve Jobs For Radio President

“A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.” - Steve Jobs, computer guy

I wonder what a radio company operated by Steve Jobs would be like?  If we were to follow Wall Street common wisdom, someone should be suggesting Steve Jobs take over some of radios mega companies, based on stock pricing alone.  Apple has gone from 47.87 a share to 86.40 a share in the past year.  Clear Channel has gone from 27.17 to 33.44, in the same time period.

I don’t understand it.  Apple computers are usually more expensive than PC’s.  Yet they have a smaller market share.  Apple computer owners are usually rabid fans, while everyone loves to poke at Microsoft.  Yet we can’t even remember what rate integrity is, and our share of the advertising dollar keeps shrinking

What would happen, do you think, if radio decided that putting a great “product” on the air was more important than downsizing?  What would happen if radio group owners were as passionate about their stations as Jobs is about his company?  What would happen if broadcasters started looking at what the people in the audience really want, as Jobs does with the iPod, instead of trying to force something on them they don’t want, such as HD radio?

HD sounds better, no doubt about it.  But boring programming that sounds better isn’t going to help us any.  Raise your hand if you think classic AAA is going to revive the industry.

Have we forgotten how to be remarkable?  We were pretty good at it once, but somewhere we went from there to trying to trick listeners with Armitron watches, and then on to management by spreadsheet.  You know, there’s nothing remarkable about a spreadsheet, no matter what it produces.

I think we’ve forgotten the prime rule of radio, that profit, BCF and shareholder value is what happens as a result of producing remarkable radio, not the end goal itself.  As long as the figures themselves drive those radio they’ll have a hard time recovering.

Disclaimer:  This article was written on a MacBook Pro.

Making The Right Decision

"Leadership is about doing the right thing, not the easy thing." —Michael Volkema, chairman, Herman Miller

It’s easy to not make a decision, because then you’re not responsible for anything.  No one can hold you responsible, and you can always say, “See, I told you it wouldn’t work.”  When you make a decision you’re going to be held responsible and accountable for that decision,  No wiggle room.  Unfortunately strategy is one of those things people would rather talk about instead of deciding on.

That’s my goal for today, to help a radio station team build a strategic plan that will guide them to success. It means finding a consensus in the decision.

If your strategy is truly unique, it has to be built on a foundation of how the listeners already see you.  How your listeners see you is much more important than how you see yourself, or how you want to see yourself.  So the decision isn’t easy, and neither is consensus.  In order to serve the listeners, you have to give up your personal agenda and fashion something that makes sense to them, not you.

It’ll also be difficult because no one understands the term “consensus.”  It doesn’t mean you’ll let me put my agenda in if I let you put your agenda in.  It doesn’t mean you can shove what you want down someone else’s throat because you’re the boss, not if you really want to have everyone on fire about achieving the strategy. 

Some of the descriptions of consensus that reside on the web include:

• A consensual agreement or win-win outcome of collaborative problem-solving and conflict resolution. A consensus implies that debate has taken place, the solution is generally accepted rather than a grudging compromise, and that agreement is deep-rooted enough that it can stand for some time without need to revisit the issue.
• General agreement in principle. Does not imply total agreement or unanimous assent.
• A method of making decisions through which a group strives to reach substantial, though not necessarily unanimous, agreement on matters of overall direction and policy which can be supported by all.

That last one is from a Catholic Archdiocese.  Man, you mean they’re ahead of most radio stations!  How embarrassing for us.

We’ll come out of the room today with a great strategic plan largely because of that understanding of consensus.  It doesn’t mean negotiating a wimpy agreement that everyone can agree on.  It doesn’t mean, “the one strategy everyone at work can agree on.”  It means agreeing to agree on the right strategy simply because it is the right strategy.  My part is simple, I make sure they achieve consensus and make sure they’re making decisions.  No easy routes today, because if we take the easy way today, everything in the future will be much more difficult.

How are you doing at building consensus at the station?  Do you have a team where everyone is working toward the same shared goal, or a collection of individuals all looking to get their agenda satisfied?

The Failure Of Wall Street Radio

"It's old thinking to imagine that you can hold on to a business model and outsmart the consumer. You can't." - Lorraine Bolsinger, VP ecomagination, GE

Let’s look at the facts.  Since consolidation too hold in 1999:

• Radio revenue is off 5%.  Not up, off 5% in total.
• Radio listening is trending down
• The price of a share of stock is down, sometimes significantly
• In the past weeks two Wall Street Pundits have declared that radio is not an industry well suited to the stock market

One could argue that radio is more “efficient” than it was pre-1999, but if you look closely you’ll see it’s not more efficient at all.  There are fewer people doing more work, and that’s what the big companies would like to call efficient.  I guess they missed the business experts who talk about the value of being effective being more important than being effective.

But this isn’t a rant about the “good old days.”  We can’t go back to where we were pre-consolidation because things have changed too much.  But staying on our present course won’t change where we’re headed.  I’ve been told that doing the same things over and over, and expecting a different result than what you’ve been getting, is a sign of mental illness.

Let me tell you what I see: If we continue on our present course we’ll bring the radio industry to its knees in search of a way to put more money into the pockets of the big company leadership.  Forget “shareholder value,” that’s a joke.  The largest shareholders in these companies are the leadership themselves, so it’s really a case of “I’ve got mine, have you got yours?”

Your stations real shareholders are, and have always been, the listeners.  Clients use you to communicate with those listeners, and the better you entertain and communicate, the more money you’ll make.

The only question left is when the big companies will realize that holding onto the Wall Street business model, and hoping to outsmart the listener with “new” innovations, like HD radio, is a failing strategy.

The Race To The Bottom

“Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards--and living up to them--is a better way to profit. Not to mention a better way to make your day worth all the effort you put into it.” – Seth Godin

Here it is Monday morning, and we’re all ready to head back to work.  It was a pretty nice weekend here, 75-85 degrees instead of the 95-100 we’ve been having.  Over the weekend I found this list on Seth Godin’s blog, and found it hilarious:

“Top ways to defend the status quo

1. "That will never work."
   2. "... That said, the labor laws make it difficult for us to do a lot of the suggestions [you] put out. And we do live in a lawsuit oriented society.""
   3. "Can you show me some research that demonstrates that this will work?"
   4. "Well, if you had some real-world experience, then you would understand."
   5. "I don't think our customers will go for that, and without them we'd never be able to afford to try this."
   6. "It's fantastic, but the salesforce won't like it."
   7. "The salesforce is willing to give it a try, but [major retailer] won't stock it."
   8. "There are government regulations and this won't be permitted."
   9. "Well, this might work for other people, but I think we'll stick with what we've got."
  10. "We'll let someone else prove it works... it won't take long to catch up."
  11. "Our team doesn't have the technical chops to do this."
  12. "Maybe in the next budget cycle."
  13. "We need to finish this initiative first."
  14. "It's been done before."
  15. "It's never been done before."
  16. "We'll get back to you on this."
  17. "We're already doing it."

All quotes actually overheard, or read on blogs/comments about actual good ideas.”

Then I read it again, and thought about radio while I did, and it wasn’t funny any more.  IT became a list of things I’d heard recently.  That’s why some of them are in bold, because I’ve heard them too.  They are one sentence explanations for radios race to the bottom.

My personal favorite is number 10.  We are an industry rife with the idea that we’ll just copy someone else.  But that’s not the point.  The point is that each of us has probably said something like one of the above too.  It’s comfortable to just deal with what we know, what we’ve become expert at, and ignore anything that challenges it.

The problem is that we’re in a world of constant. rapid change, and world where “Beta” is the norm.  If we don’t keep changing we won’t keep up, and playing catch up forever.  I’d like to try to help.  The rest of the week we’ll take a daily look at four trends that are changing our life, and what they mean to those of us in radio.

Wanna Be Like Mike?

Michael, if you can't pass, you can't play.  - Coach Dean Smith to Michael Jordan in his freshman year at UNC

Michael Jordan definitely learned this lesson from Dean Smith.  He’s an amazing athlete, but he’s also an amazing team player.  How easy would it be for him to take all the credit for what happened with the Chicago Bulls while he was on the team.  But instead he tended to give the credit, not take it.

It’s just the opposite of that new lawyer show with James Woods, where he says “There is no teamwork in I,” as a clever play on a well-known quote.

Which runs your radio station?  Are your management people more like Michael Jordan, or more like the James Woods character?  Radio has always been a business of mavericks, and there was a time when their flamboyance helped produce creativity and entertainment.  They stood out as leaders because they really were leading, creating and producing.  We still love the maverick story, but unfortunately so many corporate and general management people are very much like the James Woods character.  They’ve got all the answers, and you don’t. 

These people remind me of another quote from a basketball player, Jason Kidd.  When he was being drafted to the Dallas Mavericks Kidd was quoted as saying “We’re going to turn this team around 360 degrees.”  That’s the kind of thinking that seems to permeate upper level management.  Even though the Wall Street model hasn’t produced expected results for anyone but the owners, they’re still in there issuing orders and firing people who disagree, dead set on turning the business around 360 degrees.  They all think they’re Michael Jordan’s, but they’re really more like Kevin Duckworth.  Some spectacular results occasionally, but never up to expectations.

No wonder a recent comparison showed the “unaligned” stations in the nation producing more cash flow than the huge Wall Street companies.  These “rebel alliance” stations out-produce the Wall Street gang because them know they can’t do it alone, and need a good team around them.  That’s why you see top five stations like KKPT-FM and KABZ-FM in Little Rock, KHTQ-FM in Spokane, KCMS-FM in Seattle outperforming their “evil empire” brethren. 

You can start a revolution in your own department if you want.  You can make sure you share credit with the rest of your team, and be Michael Jackson, or you can be like the James Woods character, irrespective of ownership or format.

You've Got Mail. And You Have A Problem

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem. - Theodore Rubin

How nice to come back to your computer after an afternoon out and find you have 100 unanswered email!  OK, after I go through and take out the ones wanting to make me look younger, earn extra money and make me more of a man, if you know what I mean, there are 63.  I have to run my Spam protector at a lower setting because so many people don’t think about what they put in the subject line, or are named “Richard.”

I read an interesting article on the airplane from Minneapolis back to Sacramento day before yesterday.  It describes how many problems the explosive use of email has caused.  Not just Spam, but unexpected challenges as well.

First off, there’s the habit of using email instead of going to meet with the other person.  Even within the same office it’s not unusual to find people emailing to someone five doors down.  There’s a growing concern that we’re reducing human contact.  All of us has either sent an email, or received an email, that was written in a much more harsh tone than what that person would do in person.  There’s no intonation or facial expression in an email, so it’s much easier to misinterpret the email.  Or, the sender became another person for a minute, saying something in email the way they never would face to face.
The second major challenge businesses are having is wasting time.  How many times have you replied to an email requesting you at a meeting, to which you replied “I’ll be there,” and the other person responds with “Great.”  Or someone who thinks they’re Robin Williams tries to regale you with their sense of humor?   Then there’s my favorite, where what some has to say is so important that they CC half of Northern America.

But the third problem may be the most important one: Studies have shown that email is keeping us back from making a decision as quickly as we would face to face.  It’s too easy to respond with more questions, and then forward it to someone else to see what they think.  All while the question goes unanswered, and the clock keeps ticking.  In a face to face meeting questions are asked and answered right away, and the decision comes more quickly.

Some more innovative businesses have created “Email Free Friday,” where you must conduct all business in the same office face to face, and within the country via the telephone.  You have to interact directly with a human unless they’re out of the country.  Those who have tried this see quick results and decisions being reached more quickly.  They’re seeing a business that’s more productive overall, and more sensitive to the human element.

OK, for the ex-jocks in the group, yes I do realize I’m sending this in email form.  But that’s the appropriate way to communicate something to a large group of people that requires no response or action on the other end. 

What’s your station or organization like?  Finding some of these challenges infecting you?  Well, Friday is only four days away!

The Asset Value Of People

I'm a reader, including many good on-line columns. One of the ones I appreciate it "From The Corner Office" by Greater Media President Peter Smyth. I thought I'd share the most recent one with you here:

"Employees: How to Preserve Your Most Important Asset

Hello everyone. I hope you are doing well.

This month, I wanted to discuss the importance of people in an organization.

I've heard over and over that the talent pool is drying up, both for sales and programming.

I, for one, don't believe it. There are bright, motivated people out there who are looking to make their mark. But numbers of them will pass over or leave a career in radio. Why is that and who's to blame? Maybe we ought to look at how we treat our employees. Radio companies will never succeed as long as they are looking in the rear view mirror when it comes to talent.

I've often said that radio is a simple business except for the people. It's the people who can screw stuff up, make wrong decisions, or not see opportunities right in front of them. Staff issues can be frustrating to any manager. It's easy to fall into the manager's lament that if he/she just had better staff, they'd be doing so much better.

But what about the other side of that coin? What about every manager's obligation to the people who work for and with them? Yes, there are both written and unwritten rules about management's conduct toward the people who are supposed to actually do the work. We all know the obvious ones, such as preventing discrimination and harassment, but what about some of the more affirmative obligations? Here's a short but important list:

* Attracting and retaining top talent

* Supporting career development and motivation

* Ensuring that employees feel valued and respected

A few comments on each of these rules are in order.

We always read that candidates for a position ought to be of sterling experience and reputation. We're always trying to hire Mother Theresa. But the proof is in the performance of the person who takes the spot. There's always some excuse, but there's never a good excuse for bringing onto the staff someone who will not contribute in a measurable way to move the station or department forward.

Managers often fall into the trap of not hiring people who are "too smart" or "too aggressive". That's a direct reflection on the insecurity of the manager, and will, sooner or later, reduce the station's effectiveness in the marketplace. Another potential mistake is hiring the friend or acquaintance just because they are a known quantity, even if they may not be the best candidate for the job. More management blinders at work.

We managers are not compensated to create the most comfortable environment, nor are we paid to create a team of clones who all think alike. We are obligated to assess what our real market needs are, and to do everything in our power to fulfill them. That may mean going outside our comfort zone, or the comfort zone of our staff, but it should be clear to all involved that the motivation and expectation behind those recruitment campaigns is to bring us someone who will shake up the place. Change can be good; in fact it can be the best thing if it keeps all of us sharp and aggressive.

When we bring someone onto our payroll, we need to consider it the beginning of a relationship, not the end of a process. Talented people want to learn, they want to grow and they want to progress in their career.

Every manager needs to have a game plan for challenging every employee to grow...to stretch their talents and try new things. Whether it's trying something brand new, or taking a leadership position on an emerging project, employees are looking for that type of challenge. They also want to know when they've succeeded, and when they've come up short.

This simple task - clear, honest feedback- is one of the most common management failures in radio. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I believe it is possible to make time for a personalized, in depth, annual review for every employee who reports to you. In that review, the manager should provide a straightforward assessment by pointing out the accomplishments of the past months, and the areas for improvement and growth that you want the employee to work on.

Last, but certainly not least important, is the value we managers should place on our employees and the respect we need to accord them. It's amazing to me that cultures within our industry can continue in which people are treated like hired help by managers who have somehow been given all the answers by divine insight.

Tales of public flogging and humiliation should come from the Imperial British Navy of the 18th century, not from the radio industry in the 21st! Human beings deserve and demand the basic respect due them, whether they're the number 1 biller, or a part-timer trying to break into the business.

Each employee is a unique individual, with strengths and weaknesses and emotions. What sets managers apart from the non-managerial employees is not superior intellect or virtue, but rather simple, everyday experience. We've screwed up more than they have. And we managers need to remember that.

These are some very simple and self-evident principles for managers that will allow us as a company to say that we truly value our employees, and not have the claim ring hollow."

The value of your people, especially your on-air talent, will become critical in the coming years. Now would be a good time to start working on that, so that you don't wind up in the same garbage dump as the pets.com sock puppet in a few years.

Vision With A Capital V

“People are looking for a way to make a difference." — Paul Rice, CEO and Founder, TransFair

Does it come as a surprise to you that people all want to know their lives are meaningful? It isn’t to Starbucks. In a video I saw on the web John Moore from the Starbucks marketing team explained how they decided not to just create a “better” product, but to change the way people look at coffee. I’d say they succeeded.

What difference would it make to your team if you had a broader, more inspiring goal than to “increase shareholder value” or meet the cash-flow goals? Most people do need to feel like they’re a meaningful part of a bigger picture, and they’ll be more loyal and dedicated if they feel like they, personally, are making a difference,

Of course you can’t just fake it and say you’re “changing the face of radio entertainment” or something, and continue to hammer away about the budget, business as usual. That will do the exact opposite of what you want, demotivate and depress people around you. How about a radio station that wants to improve the way people feel at work. Or one that sets out to create a safe environment for you and your family?

Starbucks know a secret that some of used to understand. Profit is the by-product of a good radio station, not the end result. If you’re providing a real service that has an emotional connection, if you practice excellence instead of copying it, if you have a team of fired-up people on a mission, you’re going to create a lot more revenue than if you’re trying to make budget.

What’s your mission? Are you trying to change the world, or are you just making a buck?

Can You "See Clearly Now?"

"Artists are by nature entrepreneurs, they're just not called that. They have the ability to visualize something that doesn't exist, to look at a canvas and see a painting. Entrepreneurs do that. That's what makes them different from businesspeople. Businesspeople are essentially administrators. Entrepreneurs are by definition visionaries. Entrepreneurs and artists are interchangeable in many ways. The hip companies know that. — Bill Strickland, President and CEO, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild

The song “I Can See Clearly Now” has been urging us to create a vision since 1972.  For two minutes and fifty seconds we’re told why a vision is a good thing.

Are you a visionary?  I’ve heard people describe themselves that way, just before they started barking orders .  Some people confuse being a driver type personality with being a visionary.  If you look at it, it’s simple.  Being a visionary is all about having a vision.  Not a vision for increased profits, more cash flow or share holder value, but a vision for some big, something revolutionary, something that will rock the world, and perhaps even change it.

John Moore, who worked for Starbucks, says that they didn’t start out to create a brand, they set out to change the way the world looked at coffee.  Their vision was for something they call “the third place,” where people can gather with others, and enjoy a cup of coffee.  Or a latte.

Vision isn’t about a personality type, or getting things done, or doing things operationally.  It’s about painting a picture in the mind of your employees and teammates that’s so rich and inspiring that it’s almost tangible to them.  And people on fire with the emotion of a rich vision will always outdo the hard working people who are just doing a job.

What does it sound like when you talk to your people?  Are you simply discussing what to do, and when it’s due, or are you including your team in your vision, and better yet, imparting the vision to them so it becomes their vision too?

We're Past The Past

"Successful people let go of the past as quickly as they can." - Howard Morgan, leadership consultant

It’s easy to sometimes get bogged down in what you should have done, or a mistake you made, but it’s rarely productive.  You can’t do anything about the past, it can’t be changed.  But you can do something about the future, like promise yourself you won’t make that mistake again.

This thinking goes along with something I learned in school, that you can’t change the person you were, but you can change the person you want to be.  What picture do you hold in your head, one of the person of the past or present, or the one you want to be, the one you have control over, the person of the future?

The Mark Of A Leader

“A leader is most effective when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, his troops will feel they did it themselves.” – Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher

If I told you I’d share a leadership secret that would make you look brilliant in the eyes of your team, cause them to be more motivated than you’ve ever seen, and accomplish more than you’ve ever done before, would you be interested? Well I hope so, because I’m going to.

Give all the credit, and take all the blame.

This is one of the most difficult things a leader can do. It’s also one of the most courageous. Frequently we’re fearful of doing this, because it will make us look bad in the eyes of others. We have a natural instinct to do just the opposite – take the credit and give the blame. But, as Lao Tzu points out, an effective leader is there to motivate, lead, and support his “troops,” to such an extent that they think they did it themselves.

Sound crazy?

A true leader gives credit to his people because he knows he or she couldn’t have done it without those people. They also take the blame because they know that the buck truly does stop with them, and that ultimately it’s the top person who is accountable.

Yeah, I know, it’s tough, and I’ll admit I have trouble with it sometimes too. But I’ve also learned that this is a trait of the truly great leaders, the ones we’d follow into the fires of hell. So I guess it boils down to your goals. Do ybut want to be a mediocre manager, or a true leader?

Making a difference

“It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference.” – Tom Brokaw

I was reading my wife’s email over the long weekend, and thought I’d share this one with you.

“The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the e-mail straight through and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America. 

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winner for best actor and actress. 

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one: 

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with. 

Easier? 

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care.”

I wouldn't be where I am now if some people hadn't been making a difference, how about you?  So are you returning the favor? Are you just making a buck or are you making difference too?