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Money and Mouths

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

So I write a book for entrepreneurs based on the idea that small companies can simply and cheaply use techniques that innovation leaders routinely use at vast cost. Techniques like customer insight, branding, culture, business planning, risk management , team building.

If you know what you are doing and use the best of modern technology I say you can get great benefit from doing things that were thought to be out of reach for small companies.

So the Garlik guys say : "We need some video - a tutorial which shows customers how to get the best out of Datapatrol . It's really expensive to do it professionally but you are a bit of a video whizz aren't you? You say modern cameras and editing software let anybody produce a professional looking video for the web. Can you do it for us? It won't cost anything then will it."

Now it's true I've been playing with video (and it's predecessor 8mm cine film) for 50 years. And it's true that I bore everyone telling them how clever I've been getting all that onto terrabytes of hard disk so I can edit it all into Hollywood like epics .

But I gulped at being asked to do a professional looking video for something as important as Datapatrol - then someone pointed at find your lightbulb and murmured something about money and mouths and so we are off - Script, Camera, Lights, Action!

Sometimes business is so much fun. Watch this space to see the results.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy

Friday, July 11, 2008

The government is deeply unpopular and many put the blame on Gordon Brown and/or the global ecomony. I think there's more to it. I think there are finally many chickens coming home to roost.

There's the small stuff:

try getting a passport photo taken for a two year old (like my grandson) which meets the new regulations for size of face, position of eyes in the photo and expression What unthinking nitwit wrote those regulations?
And what about the guy asking permission to light a single candle in his fiance's birthday cake at the sumptuous new champagne bar at St Pancras and being told :
" Not without a risk assessment,which we can't do because our manager is on holiday and anyway you would probably find it too expensive because we would almost certainly need someone on standby with a fire extinguisher"

What have we done to deserve that!

Then there's the big stuff

Why do we spend so much money on getting management consultants to advise on public service reform and why do ministers take their advice so uncritically?

Either sin would get you sacked in a well managed company. Years ago we used to joke that a management consultant knew 100 ways of making love but had never had sex. There's more than an element of truth in that when it comes to management consultants in the public sector.

Why do we persist in investing in billion pound public sector computer systems when we know systems of that size almost always fail. Why don't we decentralise a bit and build lots of smaller systems - that normally works.

Why did we throw so much money so fast at the unreformed NHS? It wasn't as though the government wasn't warned. My own mantra for many years has been throwing money at a failing organisation or a failing project makes it fail faster and similar sentiments were expressed by many experts about the NHS at the time of the increased funding.

How has the government managed to demoralise morale in the NHS whilst increasing funding and salaries faster than ever before? (that takes talent!)

Why does government set so many meaningless and conflicting central targets then get surprised when people on the front line behave in strange ways trying to make sense of them?

Any one who has ever run a company would laugh out loud at the government's approach to target setting - if it wasn't so sad.

I could go on.. but it might need a book in itself.

The source of this madness ?

too much application of private sector theory to a public sector which is not driven by the private sector imperative of innovation, competition and economic value. It can't be - the public sector deals with areas whose value can't be measured economically in conventional terms.

far too much direction passed down from on high- nothing like enough left to the discretion of those who know what they are doing

political correctness and risk aversion gone way too far

Maybe we have to go deeper to find the real source.

Are all these rules, all this reliance on elitist advice and all this centralisation a symptom of lack of trust?

They don't trust us!

It certainly feels that way doesn't it?

And I'm immediately reminded of what traditional Buddhist wisdom says about those who don't trust others - that basically they don't trust themselves. Eventually we all agree with them- we agree they are not to be trusted. Sad isn't it?

Why is St Ives best restaurant so quiet?

Monday, June 23, 2008

I really like St Ives in Cornwall. I first went there in the 1960s and it's still relatively unspoilt and the stunning quality of the light still attracts numerous artists.

You can still sit in a restaurant on the edge of the sea watching them bring today's fresh catch straight off the boat into the kitchen whilst eating fresh crab and sipping white wine.

The walks along the coastal path are still stunning.

I've just returned from a few days there and I'm puzzled. According to the guides there are about 6 really good restaurants in St Ives. This year and last I've sampled them all - three of them twice. In my opinion , one is outstanding, one is very good, one is good and the others I wouldn't go back to.

Five of the six were busy this year. The outstanding one was quiet. It's not the most expensive and it's not in the worst position.

Here's what a guide has to say about it:

The whole feel of St. Andrews Bistro just sets you up for a good meal. The bohemian selection of Objets d'Art, the antique tables and mismatched chairs, the huge black board reminiscent of the whole gastro pub movement. The candles, the greeting and of course the food. A well thought out menu of modern Brit classics with a hint of the Middle East. What an evocative mixture .

I loved the food there and I loved the ambience even though it was quiet.

If it was in Camberwell it would be famous and packed. It's possible it hasn't got the right product for the St Ives customer but I don't think so. Looking around the Alba (the very good restauarant) you could see and hear people who you thought would love the St Andrews.

No the product is perfectly aligned with the audience and the delivery is superb- what a pity the young guys who are running it do all of that hard stuff so well and don't pay any attention to the easy stuff. A little bit of attention to brand , marketing and promotion would do wonders.

Here's a couple of clues;

1.Of the dozen of so St Ives guides I looked at it gets into two - the other restauarants are in them all.

2.Of the six St Ives restaurants I'm talking about it alone doesn't have a web site- come on guys your sort of customers are going to want check out your website!

The times they are a changin'

Monday, May 26, 2008

We had a lot of family staying over the weekend. When they had gone I amused myself by browsing some old family videos. The ones I looked at were from the 1960s.

We have about 50 years of cine film and video- all now converted and sitting on terrabytes of computer storage. Some of it is even editted. It spans five generations of the family and I find it a constant source of interest.

But I hadn't been back to the 1960s for a long time. Something remarkable happened around 1963. In 1962 the world as I had filmed it looked like TV footage you now see of the 1930s , 40s and 50s. In 1963 there seemed to be a fundamental transition: everything had changed - cars, buildings , people , clothes - suddenly recognisably modern and Bob Dylan was on the record player singing The Times They are a Changin'.

I cast my mind back to what was happening then:

a new generation (the baby boomers) , quite unlike any before it was growing up and beginning to impact business and culture
a new young American President , quite unlike any before him had created a new vision for the American people and was putting a man on the moon

Now in 2008 , 45 years later, we seem to be on the verge of another fundamental transition. The factors that have powered up economic growth and personal well being since the 1960s are apparently reversing. The pundits say we have seen the end of cheap and plentiful food, energy, travel and credit.

A new generation (the digital generation) quite unlike any before it is growing up and beginning to impact business and culture - fuelled by the continuation of plentiful and cheap consumer technology and digital information, entertainment and communication.

A new young American politician quite unlike any before him and with a new vision for a new age has a great shot at the presidency. The papers are calling him the Facebook politician. His style and vision is echoed by a young conservative leader in the UK.

As Dylan said - Your old road is rapidly agin' .

Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'

We've seen web 2.0, we talk about customers 2.0 , sometimes we think about Business 2.0 , but I wonder what World 2.0 will look like?

The Crowd Goes Wild!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Go and see the Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward in Old Compton Street.

"The Crowd Goes Wild" was the headline in the New York Times when it opened and it's an understatement.
When you walk out of the Jersey Boys you will feel better than when you walked in - even if you were feeling great when you walked in.

It is simply stunning.
The music which I had barely noticed in the 60s , seems to have grown in power over the years and is attracting us ageing boomers and the youngsters alike.

Not only that but this story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons will give you a few glimpses into what it's like creating a new business - if you know what you are looking for.

Here are just a few quotes from the show that will resonate with anyone who has read my book :

"You guys will get nowhere until you decide what you stand for and find yourself a name people can relate to" - Producer talking to the band when they were struggling to get a first record launched (See Chapter 7 to read about how brand is really about what you stand for)

"It's like a f****** roller coaster" Frankie Valli , talking about the ups and downs of becoming and remaining successful. (See Chapter 2 - to read about the roller coaster ride of putting a new idea into the world) )

"That Gaudio- he's got his head so far in the future he can't see what's happening under his feet " : Band realist Nick Massi talking about the band strategist, song writer and visionery Bob Gaudio (see chapter 9 - to read why visionery leadership can sometimes slip into delusion about today) .

"That is not going to work" - all the industry experts telling Gaudio to forget about what what turned out to be his greatest song and the one that cemented the band's financial success ("Can't take my eyes off you"). ( See Chapter 3 to read why many big ideas get that reaction from experts)

I also noticed that the band really took off when it passed from being led by Tommy de Vito to becoming a partnership between Valli and Gaudio. (Chapter 5 - why VCs invest in entrepreneurs who come in pairs)

As the boys sing memorably a few times in the show:

Oh what a night!

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours

Friday, May 9, 2008

The official book launch is imminent. There have been some books available from late April and some reviews published already but the major bookshops should all be stocked by Monday and the marketing and PR campaign really starts then .

Writing a book is like giving birth to a new company -definitely worth a party and a few drinks, even if you have no idea what is going to happen next.

I think my best moment in writing the book was being sent a link by the Apple PR guys to a video of Steve Jobs chatting to Bill Gates.

I watched a bemused Bill listen to Steve saying

..the answer to most of life's questions is contained in a Bob Dylan song (Actually Steve added ..or a Beatles song, but I'm choosing to ignore that) .

Just in case there is any sad person reading this who doesn't know who the great man is:

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet. Dylan was included in TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and in 2004, he was ranked #2 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2008, Dylan was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

As ever Dylan has penned a line to match all occasions and in this case I've borrowed the title of this post from one of his songs. My dream in writing the book and putting this web site together is to inspire would be entrepreneurs and innovators to stop dreaming and get on with it , and to provide them with some insights and advice that lets them aim high, be ambitious, and think big.

The book is aimed at people looking to start a new company. Particularly those who have ambitions for a creating company whose value can be measured in the tens of millions at least and who realise they probably need some sort of venture funding to help them get there (probably angel funding to start with). People who would have been inspired by Innocent Drinks where a bunch of young guys with no resources started in a kitchen and with one dose of angel funding built a £300m international company,which is still growing fast.

It can be done and it's not down to luck.

The book also contains useful information for would be innovators in large companies. The web site and particularly the forum is aimed at both entrepeneurs and innovators. So come on join me in my dream and I'll see if I can help you with yours.

If all that's too much , just listen to Dylan:

The innovators anthem : It's all over now baby blue

The entrepreneurs anthem : It's all right ma I'm only bleeding

And the leaders anthem : Love minus zero/no limit

All of these are on my favourite album of all time:

Bringing It All Back Home

More on how Dylan's lyrics provide insight and inspiration to me in future posts.

Don't drop me!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

With Ideo CEO Tim Brown at MIT

My two year old grandson has taken to mixing in the odd "Don't drop me!" along with his usual whoops of delight if I pick him up and whirl him about a bit.

I was reminded of that this week when I ran (with Tim Brown CEO of innovation leaders IDEO) a two hour seminar at a mid careeer MBA course at MIT in Boston. We were talking about how innovation is increasingly applied across an entire customer experience not just product features and performance.

The key principle here is that any new product or service which is to be successful has to address real human needs (rational and emotional) , which are currently not being fully met. (Chapter 4 of my book covers how to come up with products and services like this. )

Anyway at MIT I was talking about the market research results we got after the first few months of Firstdirect - which broadly concluded that "Firstdirect consistently exceeds its customers expectations". That's the prize you get by meeting both rational needs (in this case 24/7 banking) and emotional needs (in this case feeling valued and looking smart). Exceeding expectations generates economic value in greater customer loyalty and lower customer acquistion costs as the word gets out.

One of the students asked a great question - "don't you just raise the bar when you exceed expectations - isn't it better just to meet expectations?"

That made me think .

And what I think is this - raising the bar puts a bigger gap between you and the competition which is always a good thing. You may have to keep innovating to maintain the gap - but that's normal. What is absolutely critical however is that once you have raised the bar you musn't let standards slip. You really disappoint customers that way and they will hate you for it.

Once you've got them whooping with delight because you have picked them up and are whirling them around , remember that in the back of their heads is a little voice saying "don't drop me!"