Welcome
Welcome to the Foresight Newsletter, a free monthly publication of Prevoyance Group Inc. This newsletter shares tips for high performance IT organizations and observations that we hope will prove informative and enjoyable.
Please note that subscribers to the newsletter are the first to receive each new edition. The newsletter is sent to email subscribers on the 1st of each month, and appears on the website on the 15th of each month. You can subscribe in under 10 seconds. We hate SPAM as much as you do, and we do not sell or rent your name to any party.
Contents
CONTENTS
Foresight is published by the Prevoyance Group, and this month contains four sections:
Work
Life
Heard in the Hallways
Travels with Patrick
Work
Get a consultant within a fifteen mile radius and you will likely hear the term “change management,” along with old bromides like “the only constant is change.” You might also be subjected to a discussion of how humans naturally fear change and are unwilling to adapt to a new order unless carefully “managed” through some involved and complex methodology or army of consulting resources.
This view is misguided for the majority of the population. While few of us want dramatic and upsetting change every day of our lives, a similarly small number want to live in stagnation, having one day mirror the last. Rather than fearing change, or being naturally resistant to change, we seek to do what is in our best interest. When our self-interest dictates a particular course, we can overcome the most massive obstacles. Rather than requiring some external body to “manage” our change, we barrel through every roadblock and shove aside every adversity. Human experience is littered with people who have done everything from parachute out of airplanes at 90 years old, to losing significant amounts of weight merely because their interests aligned with these goals, and they embraced whatever changes were required to push them towards accomplishing them.
In any organization, an unwillingness to change is generally due to a lack of compelling self-interest rather than some nefarious combination of ignorance, antipathy and spite. The sales force that refuses to adopt that wonderful new system you deployed likely can find little benefit to their self-interest in tickling their laptops rather than generating new sales, unless you incentivize them through commissions, recognition or some other personal appeal. Similarly that fancy new organizational structure you spent months developing will likely be met with a yawn unless you demonstrate to the affected parties that it will make their lives easier, allow them to be more effective, or result in their repositioning or dismissal (the “nuclear option” of appeal to self-interest is always self-preservation). Note that this appeal has nothing to do with the usual trappings of corporate change management efforts. Training classes, “lunch and learns,” and flowery emails sent to everyone in the company do little to shift the needle of self-interest. Rather than appealing to communal good or mercurial concepts like “improved earnings performance” align everyone’s self-interest with the objectives of your project and “change management” will be a thing of the past.
Life
It is easy to lament what seems to be an extreme lack of customer service in nearly every experience, from dealing with doctors and lawyers, to the surly clerk at a local convenience store. What continues to amaze me however, is when what should be a baseline expectation is surrounded by neon lights in an attempt to impress customers. Hurriedly passing through an airport recently, I stopped by a fast food chain for a quick bite and noticed a large picture of a juicy hamburger, with “100% BEEF” proudly displayed in bold type below the golden bun. While the picture has been far from the battered sandwich that actually arrives since the dawn of fast food, rather than impressing me with the 100% claim I was forced to wonder what kind of meat I had been eating in the preceding years, and what prompted a company known worldwide for its hamburgers to only now decide that 100% beef was the appropriate composition for a beef burger.
These types of claims abound, from mystery meat to flight attendants claiming that they are there “primarily for your safety rather than your comfort.” Certainly they play a key role in the case of an emergency, but I would imagine many of them will go an entire career without encountering any duties beyond servicing customers. While it is laudable to train for the rare emergency, using that as an excuse to shirk the other 99.999% of your job is borderline criminal.
The silver lining of this race to the bottom is that it is ever easier to excel. The pleasant customer service representative with a modicum of sympathy towards the caller’s problems instantly soothes an irate caller, just as the rare flight attendant who actually seems to enjoy his or her job and offers a smile and extra pillow, instead of a scowl and extra rules and regulations engenders lasting brand loyalty that no million dollar marketing campaign ever will.
The same applies to our own personal “brand.” In tough times the impulse is to hide under a proverbial rock, or lambast others for your perceived woes. While others verbally assault everyone from politicians to CEOs, staying above the fray or taking responsibility creates a breath of fresh air in the dank basement of “it’s not my fault.” While the masses shout from the rooftops that they offer “100% beef,” quietly present the finest filet and the contrast will be unmistakable.
Heard in the Hallways
There is a fantastic radio show featuring Wynton Marsalis called “The Swing Seat” that I try to catch every week. In each episode, Mr. Marsalis features a particular jazz musician, movement or region, playing several songs and providing commentary, concluding the show with an up and coming jazz act, where they play a few songs and Marsalis discusses their performance with the musicians.
Mr. Marsalis has a low and slightly gritty voice that practically oozes cool, and his passion leaps out of the radio, his enthusiasm and diction nearly as engaging as his trumpet playing. The aural experience is combined with an ability to deconstruct complex musical topics, and in conversations with the visiting musicians the accomplished trumpeter will ask why they played a certain way, than ask for quick examples to illustrate different potential musical decisions. Mr. Marsalis’ voice and unbridled zeal for what he is describing seem like they could make a recitation of the periodic table fresh and engaging.
Aside from learning a bit about Jazz, Mr. Marsalis’ program serves as a weekly reminder that enthusiasm for the topic under discussion is nearly as important as the topic itself. Combine this zeal with extensive subject matter knowledge, a knack for deconstructing the complex into terms a layman can understand and an ounce of cool, and your audience cannot help but be affected by whatever message you are trying to deliver.
Travels with Patrick
I arrived in Hong Kong last night after the long flight from the US, jet lagged but happy to have a day in a new city before I head to a client site in mainland China. The bellman took me to my room, and the first thing I noticed walking in was the impressive glass bathroom. The sink and countertop were all glass, and there was a glass window where the mirror would normally be, looking into the room and the large window overlooking Victoria Harbor.
The latter instantly stole my gaze and I walked into the room and stood by the window, admiring Hong Kong’s amazing skyline. Myriad skyscrapers were accented by neon trim and many augmented with huge electronic billboards hawking everything from casinos to Chinese brands I had never heard of. After tipping the bellhop and sending him on his way I took a few more minutes to stare at this futuristic city.
In the midst of my reverie, I began to notice the creeping odor of a man who has sat in an airplane seat for 17 hours and decided to clean up. Turning from the window, I was amazed to find another glass sink in the bedroom. A bit odd perhaps, but the Chinese seem to be efficient in many things and perhaps saving five paces by installing a bedroom sink was one of those areas. I strode to the sink, hand outstretched for the faucet, and received a nasty surprise when I smashed my head and hand into the impeccably clean glass window between the bathroom and bedroom.