Good To Great

I have just read the Jim Collins big seller – Good To Great. A few people in marketing , Norwich business people and MBA colleagues, have mentioned the book to me.

I was surprised when I finished reading the book that there is actually quite a lot of criticism about the book. It is true that some of the conclusions such as the benefits of level five leadership are not spelt out in great detail. What exactly is a level 5 leader? Then there is the fact that many of the companies cited as “Great”…….. are no longer even “good” or even in existence in some cases!

But I actually really really rate the book. It is easy to read and easy to understand, and personally I intuitively understood even the conclusions with less clarity such as the Level 5 Leader. The most compelling outtake from the book to me, is the importance of getting the right people to buy into your vision. Jim Collins uses the analogy of a bus…… get the right people on the bus, then let them work out where they should sit, then you can work out where you can go! It may sound strange, or perhaps obvious, but that conclusion helped me to crystallise my thoughts on a number of projects I have worked on in the past and am currently engaged in.

Below I have summarised the books conclusions:-

- Level 5 Leadership: Leaders who are humble, but driven to do what’s best for the company.

- First Who, Then What: Get the right people on the bus, then figure out where to go. Finding the right people and trying them out in different positions.

- Confront the Brutal Facts: Confront the brutal truth of the situation, yet at the same time, never give up hope.

- Hedgehog Concept: Three overlapping circles: What makes you money? What could you be best in the world at? and What lights your fire?

- Culture of Discipline: Being able to stay entirely focused in a changing, challenging environment

- Technology Accelerators: Using technology to accelerate growth, within the three circles of the hedgehog concept.

- The Flywheel: The additive effect of many small initiatives; they act on each other like compound interest.

As a marketing consultant in Norwich I get involved in some of these areas more than others, but I do think they are a robust set of principles to at least influence business management.

Is it ethical to charge for CMS when it is driven by WordPress?

Over the last couple of years I have learnt a lot about building web-sites and seo techniques to raise the profile of a web-site once you have it. One of the most important factors is content and keeping that content fresh. With this in mind I can see why people would want a web-site that has its own content management system so that they can regularly update information, add news, and fresh content as and when they have it. This all seems sensible to me.

I personally love using WordPress. It is very flexible in terms of layout, what you can add, how you can adjust images, the look and feel of posts, and then on the more technical side how you can optimise posts for seo purposes and for easy navigation within your site. It’s also very easy to use and requires no technical knowledge. Another thing that is great about WordPress is that it is FREE, or open source and people call it. You can host a blog on the WordPress web-site in which case the domain name will be yourdomain.wordpress, or you can download the software and install it on your server. Once you have done that you can even receive updates without having to do any technical stuff at all.

The reason why I mention this is that recently I have noticed several software developers offering low cost web-sites which have a full content management system. When I look at these, I realise that actually what they are offering, is a slightly customised front end to WordPress (which is free). Now if a company says “we take free / open source software called WordPress – design a front end for you – and there you have a web-site” and charges a price accordingly I think this is fair and transparent. But what about if a company uses WordPress, changes its name to something different, and then charges you a price, is that fair or transparent?

Open source software is often cutting edge and able to give as good a solution as expensive software. The people who write the software and develop it are not motivated by cash, but by having the credibility of saying “I wrote this, and look how many people are using it”. I do think that the people who have created this kind of software, perhaps without earning a salary for doing so, deserve a fair deal and recognition for their work. So, if your content management system looks like this, then it is almost certainly WordPress.

If everyone knows this, then I think you are probably using a great product, but if you haven’t been told this, perhaps you should ask your web-developer why not? And if you are buying a new web-site, don’t be afraid to ask, what am I paying for, who has done this, where does it come from, and why?

Freakonomics!

I have just finished reading Freakonomics. What a thought provoking and interesting read. When I first became interested in Marketing professionally I did dabble a little in economics and this book reminded me what a fascinating subject it really is. The writers describe economics as the study of incentives: how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. It asks the question, what is the precise incentive needed to trigger an exchange between two people? And the scary thing is that the incentive required may not always be what you think it is. By looking at a wide range of topics (including gun crime, sumo wrestlers, education, and the naming of children amongst other things) some unusual comparisons, and some clever contexts, the book demonstrates how deeply you have to look at things to truly understand the correct incentive to offer up to make something happen.

The book is fun in places, but difficult reading in others, perhaps because there is a side of human nature which is disappointing to us all. Easy to read and very thought provoking…. I recommend!

Act On Co2

I have recently completed all six of the University of East Anglia’s Low Carbon Economy courses (part of the Evolve programme). It is a very interesting area in so many different ways. For me there are several topics of great interest and which offer up learning’s for other aspects of business as well as dealing with Carbon Reduction.

1) How do you measure the impact of doing business?

Well is seems to have taken some time, but governments, universities, and power companies have all produced useful calculators to help businesses measure the amount of carbon they produce. Smart meters can help businesses understand when and how they are producing carbon across any resource they may be using.

The more challenging questions are really about at what point does one company’s carbon emission end and another start within a supply chain, and how can all businesses in a supply chain avoid double counting or no counting.

For example, if a business which makes timber doors, imports wood from another country, is the carbon emitted in the milling process the responsibility of the wood supplier, or the door manufacturer?

2) How can you incentivise business?

The easy answer is to tax, right? But sometimes taxing doesn’t work. Either the taxes are not high enough, people refuse to pay them on mass, people avoid them by moving, or people simply pay them and continue as they were.

Carbon trading and reduction schemes are being piloted in Europe, The States, and in South America. Starting with large companies, FTSE 100 in the UK with some exemptions, governments are providing greater incentives to businesses through a credit trading scheme. At first the credits were given away too freely in both volume and value, but this is recognised now and the market is maturing. Furthermore, governments can intervene and buy credits, taking them out of the market and forcing companies in the market to work harder.

It is not a perfect system and it is yet to deliver real results, but it is interesting and it is starting to work.

3) How can you incentivise the public?

Give them stuff for free, right? But sometimes that doesn’t work because if people don’t want something, it doesn’t matter what the price is, they just don’t want it.

So it isn’t about giving people things for free, it is about education. And that is bad news because education takes a long time, sometimes over several generations. Alongside education you need to give people opportunities. Better public transport, better ways to recycle, better cycle lanes, walk ways, smaller smart meters, wider availability of greener light bulbs, more web resources…… it all helps. My learning is that if you educate people and then provide them with opportunities to make decisions based on their own knowledge, they will change behaviour. But it takes time and it is expensive!

4) How do you manage the carbon cost of doing business?

Well just like with any business resources you have or have to buy.
- Cut waste, aim for zero!
- Use more efficient equipment
- Switch to less expensive equipment
- Capture, store, or offset the final costs

It is not easy, and it needs continual focus as with any cost reduction or cost management programme, but if you can get the business culture right along with understanding and consensus, it can be achieved.

5) When tackling a global problem, can countries work independently?

This is something I really wrestle with. How can we make a difference if when we cut back our emissions, other countries like China are actually increasing theirs? Are we actually reducing our carbon in the UK, or are we simply getting other countries to do more of polluting for us? On the other hand, you have to start somewhere, and if nobody did anything, where would we be? I think as a country Great Britain does take initiative in so many ways and by doing this we build skills and knowledge faster than those around us. If we can use those resources to build new businesses or industries in our own country and others, then we get a return which is of great value. The Low Carbon economy is coming, so we need to understand it, be a leader in the discussion, and demonstrate cutting edge thinking to build credibility.

We cannot solve this problem alone, but if we lead, others will follow.

6) What is the tipping point required to get serious action?

We don’t know the answer to that question yet. Our planet is being damaged and our climate is changing, but it is not significant enough or affecting enough of us to create global change. Something will happen that will immediately change people’s thoughts on a global basis but when or what it will be who knows. What I do know is that when humans want to, when they come together with a common purpose, they can do amazing things.

I have touched on many large issues in this post, so do feel free to get in touch if you would like to talk more about a particular point, or would like some more information.

What is leadership?

I heard a great quotation last week. You become a leader with great leadership qualities when you can see “the whole vision in glorious Technicolor!” I love this phrase because I think it sums up so neatly when a great leader is able to do. Something inspires them, excites them, makes them passionate, makes them focus, and then they are off. They move into a different “gear” because ignites those qualities in them. They do not rest until they have reached their goal, no matter how long it takes, and no matter what gets in the way.

When I think of great leaders, I think of Winston Churchill, Earnest Shackleton, Nelson Mandela, J F Kennedy, and Ghandi. What seems to unify all these great people, and all the other great leaders there are in life, is having that vision, sticking to it, relentlessly communicating it, and pursing it without compromise indefinitely.

For me, if you want to be a great leader you must possess these qualities. Perhaps you don’t have them all the time, and in all circumstances, but for a particular project or cause, something is ignited that brings those qualities to the front of the persons mind. I don’t think you can teach someone to be a great leader but I think you can provide the opportunities and environment for leadership to naturally flourish. I think anyone can become a great leader, but they need to find the cause that brings it out of them!

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Build A Brand In 30 Days

I have just started reading Simon Middleton’s book – Build A Brand In 30 Days. I met Simon a few weeks ago when he gave a presentation to my Common Purpose team in Norwich. By coincidence I met him on the train the following morning, and again in the evening at his book launch in Waterstones. Simon is a great communicator and is able to really inject enthusiasm and passion into his discussions and presentations about branding. That ability to really capture the attention and imagination of an audience is such a great gift to have.

I have only read the first three chapters of the book, but I like the easy to read style and language, and the relevant examples that make it easy to translate his ideas into story’s people know and can relate to.

Personally I am not sure that you can build a brand in 30 days – even if they are spread over a longer time period. That is because I don’t think one person can build a brand. I think brands are built by consumers, consumers who pester customers to buy on their behalf – even if that is just another part of their own conscience, and customers who demand more from their brands. Perhaps more products, features and benefits, perhaps better packaging design, perhaps better language or tone of voice which suits them, or perhaps a simple demand that the brand pulls itself together! The greater the enthusiasm with which consumers and customer do this, the more powerful your brand is. I have been privileged enough to manage some great brands – but I never thought I owned them or built them. I did some stuff to keep them in good shape, to keep them engaging with their audiences, and to keep them relevant. Perhaps I did help in some small way to build them, but I was only a small part of an architectural team, the people who did the building were the guys how bought the products, who emailed me when my products weren’t quite good enough, who mentioned the irritations in something that wasn’t quite right, who said when they did or didn’t like our advertising, and who pointed out when a competitor was better than us.

I like Simon’s book and thoroughly recommend it, and I shall be writing more about it from a different perspective in a couple of weeks, but if you don’t own a brand (apart from you own – watch out, this is going to be Simon’s next book!) you can still help to build one. Choose the product you love – enthuse about it to your friends, find out more about it and how you can help it to grow…. what do you get in return? A small emotional stakeholding in something that as it grows and you see it appearing in more places you will be proud of!

A News Room In Norwich

On the last but one day of my Common Purpose course I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to visit a news desk for a local TV broadcaster. It was a great opportunity to get behind the scenes of how a story can become news and news can become a television broadcast. The first things I noticed were 1) the energy of the team, their enthusiasm and excitement, and 2) the audience’s natural scepticism and negative perception towards the media.

The process of making news is interesting. Information comes into a news room from all kinds of sources, about all kinds of things (business, politics, economics, marketing, Norwich, Norfolk, the UK, celebrations, people, history, etc etc), sometimes by investigation, sometimes by a third party, and sometimes just through observation. News can come from twitter, from a press release, from a phone call or email, or from a spokesperson. Every potential piece needs to be assessed and this is where the editing and production team have such an important role. They must consider if the piece is newsworthy to the audience, have they got the relevant facts and figures, the different perspectives of the story, and where does it fit into the programme format. Above all the editing team and producers must seek to protect the integrity of their programme and reporting, perhaps even their brand.

In any business this would be challenging. In most of the businesses I work with information typically comes from the same familiar sources in the same format – the source and format of information received by a news reporting organisation is rarely the same. If this doesn’t make the challenge big enough, you often have only a few hours to pull your entire product or presentation together. Again, in the typical businesses I work with, a presentation would take some weeks to build and the information that underpins it would have been analysed for several months.

Whatever you may think of the media in the UK, I think we should at least acknowledge the great accomplishment that is a news at six, or a news at ten, every day, every week. It’s never late – it’s never not half an hour, and there is usually something of interest in there somewhere!!!!

Rebrand or Reposition?

Perhaps it is just one of those coincidences, but recently I have heard a lot of people talking about Rebranding. “We’re about to rebrand”, “We’ve just rebranded”, “We’re going through a rebrand” or my favourite “We rebranded a year ago, but it was a disaster so now are going to do it again”!!

I am always very worried when I hear the phrase rebrand because I think it is nearly always misused and should be considered very very seriously before any business undertakes such a thing. To be really clear, I am not even sure that you can rebrand. I think you can redesign the expression of your brand, and I think you can reposition your brand, and you may do either of these things for perfectly valid reasons, but you cannot rebrand. You can throw your existing brand away and start again – but I am not sure the agencies that seem to be recommending a rebrand would recommend that with such enthusiasm and confidence.

So if you are getting feedback that your brand is becoming out of date, or tired, or slow to react, or boring, or out of touch, what should you do? A rebrand? NO! Listen to your customers and consumers, and ask what is wrong. If it is the product, work hard to update it. If it is the tone of voice of your brand, refine it and perhaps modernise it (do this only based on your customers feedback), if it is the look and feel of your packaging, consider updating the design. My point here is do not rebrand – the values of your brand should still hold true, but do consider improvements to the relevant areas of expression of your brand to keep it relevant and engaging to your audience. This is not a rebrand, or even a reposition – it is at best a refresh to the shell!

Alternatively you may be losing sales, your market may be shrinking, and even worse your share of market may be shrinking at the same time. Should we rebrand? NO! It will do absolutely nothing to improve the position you are in. I don’t want to look at all the possible scenarios which could be driving this unfortunate position in this post, but one may well be that your market is reaching the end of its natural life. A rebrand will not change that – a reposition may do though. A reposition is not about throwing your brand away, it is about making it relevant in a different context. Just as you dress differently when you go to work, when you go to see friends, or when you go to a wedding. People are always rebranding, by changing the style of language they use, the way they dress, the things they talk about. My favourite example of a reposition is Lucozade. When my grandparents were in their 70’s Lucozade was a drink for them, it gave them the extra energy they needed as they were getting older. Today I drink Lucozade, it gives me the energy I need when I go running or swimming. Lucozade has always been about giving energy, inspiring people to perform above their expected performance, but when older people realised they got more benefits from retiring early and playing in a park with their grand children than they did from drinking Lucozade, and as younger people appreciated the benefits of exercise and started to buy gym memberships, a reposition was needed – not the dreaded rebrand!

Collaborative Coaching

I like this phrase! I heard it a couple of weeks ago and started looking into the subject. The basic notion is a group of people convened to help someone tackle a problem. A group of people with different backgrounds and different skill sets, but all focused on helping someone solve a problem, move something forward, or answer a question. Where does the coaching come in? Well you don’t have to do it just once, the group can be reconvened at any time to review ideas, developments and progress, and secondly the group is asking open questions, without prejudice or preconception in order to give an independent view and perhaps provoke thoughts and feelings that would otherwise go unnoticed, undiscovered, and not considered in the journey.

As the opportunities for personal development get bigger and bigger the area of coaching is an interesting one. Quality is important; you must choose a coach that is right for you on many levels – perhaps intellectually, socially, and in experience, etc etc. Chemistry is important – you must be honest with your coach and feel comfortable to share anything and everything. I think a coach should be objective, impartial and balanced. I have often been sceptical of substituting reading and structured learning for these softer personal development tools, but I do think they can be a useful part of someone’s toolkit.

To find out more about the specific Norwich Business services I offer, visit my Saturday Kitchen page!

Sustainable Communities

Throughout the general election the national media has led us, or certainly me, to focus on national issues when trying to decide who to vote for. Now before I go any further I want to state that this is not a political blog, (it is about my thoughts as a Norwich marketing consultant) in fact I work hard to try and keep my personal views on politics away from the work I do as I think it can get in the way of positive working and collaboration. When trying to decide how to vote, there is so much coverage about the state of the country’s finances, the challenges in education, the state of our NHS, the need to deal with an aging population, and of course the sensitive subject of our foreign policy in the Middle East. With all this to consider, I find it easy to completely overlook the fact that actually you are not voting for a party to govern as a whole, or for the next Prime Minister, but for a local candidate to represent the community in West Minister, and work on behalf of constituents to improve the local environment for everyone. This means considering a completely different set of issues to decide who to vote for. There is local crime, concerns about street lights being turned off for half the night, the need for better local services for parents with young children, the still pressing issue of dualing the A11 and improving train transport links into London.

Last month I went to an event where I heard from a guest speaker from Inspire East. Inspire East have developed an interesting model demonstrating what they believe is necessary for a sustainable community and I think it is pretty comprehensive. Whilst the model can be used to build a new community or a new community based organisation, it can also be used to evaluate existing communities – and perhaps their strengths and weaknesses. By looking at the relative focus of each aspect of a community as they describe, one could draw conclusions about the culture and society of the community. Interesting stuff!

Although the model is primarily aimed at community development, I also think the model could be used as a template for the key considerations of a board in a business organisation. There are other models and papers that tackle the subject of an optimised board but this is a good start – and I like the colours!