Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

When you are on the other side of the table, there is no shortage of people willing to offer you their advice or opinions. By other side of the table, I am talking about being an "executive" sitting across from the "consultant." After being in consulting for over a decade, I'd always wondered how clients reacted when they were being pitched rates that never seemed to remotely cover the potential value delivered.  Now I know. Being on the other side of the table means that you consistently struggle with organizational constraints and the capability deficiencies that exists within your department. The question becomes how much you are willing to pay to push your way through those constraints and immediately fill those capability gaps.  Consultants offer just that.  They offer smart people (generally) with critical thinking skills (most of the time) that have a single focus (to get entrenched in your organization and continue to sell add-on work)-- [k...

The assumption that you make as you progress through business school is that you will graduate and go out into the world managing P and L statements, work with middle and senior managers, and make decisions informed by educated data analyses.  In reality, what you end up doing is dealing with a variety of personalities with personal agendas, doing business and managing people at all levels on the professionalism scale (or lack of a scale), and making decisions informed by biases and emotion. The most effective manager is the one that can cut through all the irrationality of people and make decisions based on limited information. No business book or elite business school curriculum can prepare you for that.  So instead of watching documentaries on Enron or talking about what you would do differently at the end of a Harvard Business Case Study-- do what's practical.  Watch Mean Girls . Discuss. Read Dr. Seuss's Yertle the Turtle . Discuss. Take a conflict manageme...

The problem with having a big guy as a customer is that you are exposed to big guy capabilities.  Big guys have access to capital.  Big guys have access to talent.  Big guys have all those things that you wish you had such as: The latest technology Access to resources High priced consultants offering free advice Talented people wanting to work for them Leverage  Benefits They also have all the things that you don't want: Political infighting Long decision making cycles Executive posturing An opportunity to waste away in a job and not make any real impact When you are a small guy, it's okay to have champagne tastes and aspirations.  However, you have to be practical on what capabilities you want to build based on what's in the bank (financially and people).  So before you start breaking out the Moët & Chandon Bicentenary Cuvée Dry Imperial 1943, start with the sparkling wine at Kroger.  It might just be go...

The best thing about being a decision maker is that you are the decision maker.  The worst thing about being a decision maker is that you are the decision maker. If you are mostly heart and less brain, making decisions about people's lives is excruciating. And then you remember that everyone is an adult. (You should still exercise that power with great caution though) If you are a business leader, you have to not only check your ego at the door, but your soul as well -- that's what the perception will be and you have to be able to live with that.  The worst thing you can be is indecisive. Indecisiveness leads to stalling. Stalling leads to a waffling. Waffling leads to a lack of credibility.  When you are a consultant, telling people what decision they should make is pretty d*mn easy.  But when you are the one actually making the decision, it's pretty d*mn hard.

Pick any topic and I'll find you a reference.  For example, if trust doesn't exist within your organization, I'll recommend reading The Speed of Trust.  If you feel that your company is organizationally unhealthy, I'll point you to The Advantage.  Employees don't seem motivated? Drive would be the perfect book to read to understand what really motivates people.  Unfortunately pointing others to books and references can only go so far.  What I got out of a book will definitely not be the same thing that you get out of a book.  So I run the risk of having my intentions ending up completely missed. The reason for this is that people have a different set of experiences that make up how they interpret the world -- so unless it's absolute math, what people read or what people take away from a book is always "subject" to interpretation.  In short, what I take away from a book will almost always be completely different than what you take away....

When the time comes to make a decision, pulling the trigger is either a quick response or a long drawn out period of analysis. If you are in a leadership position, the decisions that you make can make your life easier, or they can end up creating more work for yourself.  You obviously prefer the former to the latter.  If you pride yourself on good judgment, then making a decision based on gut feel is not a problem.  If you've made bad decisions in the past, the chance of going into a long period of analysis paralysis and pondering is extremely high.  What I've learned over time is that most every business decision isn't permanent- it's simply the decision you make at that moment. It's your call as to how you react to the consequences of that decision. A litmus test that I use is that the right decision will result in a sense of relief.  The wrong one usually sends you down the road of anxiety. It's the ones that leave you in limbo that you have t...

When you get hired in an executive / leadership / management capacity, it doesn't matter how many business books  you've read or online courses that you've taken.  Just be glad that you've read those books or taken those classes.   It's an entirely new ball game when you actually have to practice what's been written.  Culture, values, communication, purpose, motivation, conflict resolution-- all of it will hit you as fast Manny Pacquiao can jab.  And you better be ready to bob and weave hoping that you don't get knocked out.  As much as I have opined about what I would do if put in a situation where I could actually do it-- being faced with it is an entirely new reality.  Here's to the start of the journey. 

When are you leaving an environment that isn't a "fit," your initial instinct is to go to the exit interview with barrels loaded.  Does it feel good to get things off of your chest??  -- Yes.  Does the company you are leaving really care?? -- No.  I know because when I did an exit interview over the phone for one of the companies that I left, you could tell that the HR person was just going through standard protocol and taking notes.  The reality is that people leave companies all the time and if enough people leave, the reasons all become the same.  "All this company does is staff augmentation."  "I was duped during the recruiting process. You guys are just glorified order takers."  " The leaders in this organization aren't leading-- they're just making money off of all of us."  And the list goes on...  The problem with an exit interview is that you are going to go in with high emotion and the person you are interv...

"When tha sh*t goes down ya better be ready (When tha sh*t goes down)... -  Cypress Hill, When the Sh*t Goes Down Are you prepared to be successful at the next level?  If you are a consultant, have you done the right thing by working yourself out of multiple jobs while moving up the consulting hierarchy? If you are in management, have you improved and grown out of your position allowing for younger managers to come and fill in? If you are an executive, are you thinking about who will succeed you? The bottom line is that you need to be prepared to have someone competent and capable at the next level when you are about to move on. (See The Peter Principle for the antithesis of that statement.) Unfortunately, that preparation rarely happens.  It's like saying every pro basketball player would make a great head coach, general manager, or commentator.  We all know that this is not the case.  So make sure your plan to move to the next level includ...

It's the beginning of a new month and my goal of trying to publish a post every day came with mixed results.  Even though I managed to crank out 30 posts in 30 days, I wasn't able to do it consistently day after day.  Some days I had to write two in the same day.  Coming down the home stretch included getting three posts in within 48 hours.  June also included a 4 day vacation to the beach. I'm going to give myself props for getting through that weekend.  After going through the exercise, here is what I've learned: It's possible to be more productive. If you have a goal, you will find ways to meet it. I used  Hootlet  on multiple occasions to schedule the distribution of posts.  My quality incrementally improved. I still make the same grammatical errors, but I feel that by choosing a theme for each week, it was easier to focus on what to write.  The habit of writing happened. I read that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. May...

The world of management consulting is filled with great recommendations.  A conversation between a client and a consultant could typically go like this: Consultant: "We've done a thorough analysis and have developed a few recommendations to help you increase profitability. We have a few options for you to consider in order to help make the decision." [Consultant then goes on to list the options.] Client: [After listening to the options] "Those all sound great." [Client proceeds to poke holes in the analysis, presentation, and recommendations] "You know... what would the result be if we combined Option A and B and developed another option..."  In the world of consulting, a client will always turn Options A and B into an Option C. Why this happens, I have no idea. I guess it's the same as me telling you to bet black 10 and green 00 on the roulette table and you end up spreading over black 10 and black 11 in addition to green 0 and 00.  ...

I've been part of a few organizations that experienced growth at a rapid pace.  The growth was driven both organically and through acquisition.  What I noticed over time was that the spirit of the firm that I joined slowly deteriorated as the organization got bigger.   A tight community of partners that was easily accessible and personable to every practitioner became more bureaucratic.  There were more standards, more processes, more announcements of structure, and just more of everything you had to check off. Was it painful? Yes. But necessary nonetheless.  If you are of an entrepreneurial mindset, all of this "administration" will begin to get to you. And you may make the decision to go small. But here's the thing. The structure of a big organization will be subconsciously imprinted on your psyche and how you do work. It will surface as soon as you join a smaller company in the form of head scratching moments. I had one leader cal...

There is this notion of finding your calling or purpose that is probably lingering in your mind.  For the majority of us, we go through life saying, "I have no idea what I want to do with my life."  We get caught up in what we think people want us to do or what makes sense because of how it will appear to others. We start to make money and then realize we have to continue making money in order to sustain our lifestyle.  Fast forward a few decades and then all kinds of x-life crises start to hit us. I'm really no different.  If my parents hadn't of told me what to do when I graduated college, I would probably still be living at home trying to figure it out.  Instead, they prepared me enough so that I could earn a reasonable income while I did try to figure things out.  And on that journey, here are a three books that I found have helped. (Don't worry.. What Color is Your Parachute is not one of them.)  Awaken The Giant Within - by ...

If you are a leader going into a f*cked up situation, it's going to be easy to generate a list of things that need fixing.  I was watching a video of an interview with Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and she talked about what to do if you are a senior leader inheriting a tumultuous situation. One of the things she said was to focus on the things that are going right and double down on those things.  The things that are going wrong will always be there.  However, you want to have complete confidence that what's going right continues to go right and that your employees recognize that you recognize that there are positive things occurring. Meg Whitman is also known for a style of management that includes asking the right questions to get others to arrive at the answer that they need to. Questions such as, "What are we trying to accomplish?" or "Do we understand the problem? " or "What does this do for the customer?"  The majority of ...

Putting a mentoring or apprenticeship program in place is always a great idea.  The opportunity to study and grow under someone that has been where you are and is where you want to be will be the first piece of advice that any coach or professional development guru will give you.  For example, when I expressed interest in becoming an executive coach, I started to understand the industry and I asked people that were in it what their experiences were like.  I met a lot of life coaches during my due diligence. In addition, there were a lot of people wanting to sell me coaching certifications. I found a lot of people that were willing to help-- but finding one to mentor me -- not so much.  The reason is that there is a deeper connection between a mentor and the one being mentored.  I mean, I could want Tony Robbins to be my mentor, but if there isn't a personal connection, then neither one of us will want to be in the relationship.  Mentoring is a...

"We'll put it in the appendix." Those are the words that tell you that you have way too many slides.  Our feeling of wanting to keep everything inhibits us from telling the core of a story.  As soon as you realize that content needs to go to an Appendix, keep that content going into the trash can.  It will be accessible if someone really needs it.  Presentations are different from leave behinds which are different from supplementary reading material.  If you are writing a book, put in an Appendix.  If you are authoring a research paper, put in an Appendix. But if you are creating a presentation, distill the content to its core messages.  Nobody reads the appendix.   [ht] Fix Your Really Bad PowerPoint 

When you are in work purgatory you either accept where you are, devise a number of exit strategies, or work on yourself.  If you're going through hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill For me, I chose to work on myself. I took every self-assessment that I knew. I think that I even took Myers-Briggs again.  Tony Robbins made a nice chunk of change off of me. I spent a lot of time reading books and taking courses as if I were going to run a business or start one some day.  It may not be now, or it may not be never, but you have to believe this quote from Paolo Coelho in  The Alchemist ,  "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." So if you are in work Hades, then do what's right for you.  The worst thing you can do is get caught up in blaming everything else, but you. And I say that because that's what I first did.

Last year I went through this entire Design Thinking immersion period. I took a Stanford Webinar.  I watched a 60 Minutes segment about  IDEO . I watched any TED Talk around product design or that involved anyone with design expertise.  I'm pretty sure that I even took a couple of Coursera courses.  When I die, I hope that I'm reincarnated as a living organism somewhere in Stanford's d.School. A common misconception that people have is that great design is associated with creativity.  If you don't have a creative bone in your body, then you cannot come up cool designs.  That's not true.  Both creativity and design can be a habit and process respectively. You just need to embrace it and dive into the areas head first. (That's what I'm going to tell myself anyway) Here are some resources to get your journey started.  Creative Confidence  by Tom and David Kelley Change by Design  by Tim Brown How...

The fundamental difference between a good strategy and a bad one lies in an understanding of your people's capabilities and potential. Strategies are great on slides in PowerPoint decks.  Unfortunately, the guys that put together the pretty presentations are probably not great at execution.  The entire success of your strategy depends on how you manage the knowledge and experience gap between the guys that developed the strategy and the people executing it.  Let's try an example.  The doctor recommends to you that you lose 20 pounds.  What's your strategy to get there?  If you are an active person / former athlete, then recommending P90X, Insanity, T25, Orange Theory, Crossfit, or some kind of other high intensity type of program is not a bad recommendation.  But it you've never played sports in your life, then all of the above are "bad strategies." I've worked in a lot of companies where the strategy set forth doesn't match what the ...

I am an avid soccer player -- in my mind.  I grew up playing the sport. Had aspirations of making the National team. I love watching the sport on television.  If I could spend my money on anything, it would be any soccer jersey that I deem awesome. Linda Hill  describes innovation as producing things that are new and useful.  I think a lot of times, we associate innovation with something that has to blow your mind.  If you were to ask me if something like  Trusox  blew my mind, I would say 'no.'  However, is it brilliant? I would say, "yes!"  I remember as a kid not being very happy with how any soccer sock felt in the foot area. I would have much rather worn a regular athletic sock that fit so that my foot wouldn't slip around in my boot (i.e. soccer cleat).  Somebody was brilliant enough to cut the foot off of a soccer sock, and put pads on the foot to reduce slippage.  Seriously?? That's brilliant. You just have...

I have a tendency to start business strategy books and not finish them.  A latest victim of mine was  Playing to Win  by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin.  I'm relatively sure that I got halfway through the framework and was distracted by a chipmunk or squirrel.  Anyway, the book is one of the most practical ones that you'll read. The authors refer to strategy as the answer to these 5 questions: What is our winning aspiration? Where will we play?  How will we win? What capabilities must we have?  What management systems are required?  There are case studies and a myriad of examples to provide color commentary for how these questions were applied and answered.  So before you go trying to immerse yourself in Raynor and Porter, read this one first. It will require less caffeine. 

If you stay in consulting long enough, you begin to think that you know everything and can do anything.  It's because consultants are paid to solve problems in unfamiliar environments and at some point along the way, they'll figure it out.  Work across enough industries and solve enough business problems the consultant generalist knows enough to be dangerous about anything.  Imagine if primary physicians thought like this... "Hey-- I noticed that you've been having severe headaches... did you know that I can do brain surgery?"    A common mistake I see consultants make when making a shift from a big firm to a smaller one is that they think that all the big firm collateral and resources come with them. When you work for a big firm, there is a kind of transference that occurs where what you did as part of a leveraged and larger team is all of a sudden something you take complete credit for.  Sold $14 MM worth of engagements in a year? "Yeah, that...

A former Director at a major consulting firm that I worked with told me to never talk in absolutes.  Example: "If you follow and execute these three things, your EBITDA will increase $40.2 MM."  Another example: "Based on our analysis, you could close down 3 locations."  For both of those examples, the numbers were absolute. Consultants are good (and are paid for) providing options or strategic alternatives.  That makes sense because consultants want the executive or client to ultimately make the decision. After all, it's an industry leader's job to make decisions.  That's what he / she does.  Here's the thing though. As Raynor says in  The Strategy Paradox "strategies with the greatest possibility of success also have the greatest possibility of failure."  So think about that. As much as you pay for strategy advice and a list of options and possible scenarios that could play out, you have a 50/50 chance of ANY of them wor...

Many times it's easy to get so caught up in what the competition is doing. You can get caught in it so much that you forget to work on your own game.   At the very least, be aware of what your competition is doing, but focus on what differentiates you or your company from the competition.  It's the whole notion of competitive advantage.  Or, as Porter would say of competitive advantage, "a difference in relative price or relative costs that arises because of differences in the activities being performed." I remember talking to the head of a consulting firm where he talked to me about who and who wasn't a direct competitor.  To me, it didn't matter what he thought. The marketplace grouped his firm and the other firms that he didn't consider direct competition in the same bucket.  And that's point #2. Ask your customers who the competition is and what those companies do well. Then decide if that's how you want to compete.  Using a NBA ...

Lots of organizations want to build a world-class "x", where x can be a functional area, a player in a specific industry, or ability to do some "thing ." It's like saying that you want to become a world-class athlete.  But what exactly does that mean?  The short answer is that it means that you want to be able to compete at a world-class level in [pick any sport.] Unfortunately, before I decide to become world-class at anything, I have to 1.) pick the sport; and 2.) be realistic about my ability to become world-class. Many organizations are not realistic about their capabilities and as a result, the gap becomes strategy and execution is too large to overcome.  So strategy tip #1 is to be realistic about your capabilities and if you want to be great,  make the investment-- in talent, in systems, in time and attention.    For more a more articulate version of what I'm talking about, go to the link below.    http://www.strategyand.pw...

I'm fascinated with the aura of business strategy. (House of Lies only perpetuates this fascination) On my bookshelf I have: The Boston Consulting Group On Strategy The Lords of Strategy On my iPad I have: The Strategy Paradox In Search of Excellence Understanding Michael Porter I also read  McKinsey Quarterly and Strategy + Business as often as I can. Business strategy in my mind lives mostly in the theoretical and not so much in the practical. Once it comes into the practical, it's called "operations."  What I've learned over my career is that no matter how much data you analyze, how many models you produce, and how quality your recommendations are to improve overall business profitability - a strategy is a a bet.  Successful strategists help you make good bets. Make enough of them and you are an executive hero.  Make too many bad bets and unless you are a CEO, you're banished to the phantom zone for a while. (In business, nothing is e...

A long time ago, a Partner introduced me to TED by sending out a TED Talk via email.  I watched it and instantly got hooked. It went into my rotation of things to keep on top of as I browsed the Internet searching for a purpose.   I like watching them because the provide different points of view and the speakers are fantastic.  I hope to learn a thing or two about public speaking if I watch enough of them.  Thankfully, as TED has evolved, they've started to curate their own content.  As luck would have it, there is a playlist for "How to tell a story." Check them out.  Maybe at least one of the talks will help you with your storytelling skills. Note: I missed a day and am trying to make up for it. It unfortunately kills my goal of trying to publish every day. But I'm still on track to do 30 posts in 30 days.

What is your source of inspiration for the work that you do?  Is it the people that you work with?  Is it the actual work that you do?   Is it specific purpose or goal that you are trying to fulfill or accomplish?  For many of us, we start out inspired when it comes to doing or creating -- and then something happens.  "Poof!" The inspiration disappears.  Inspiration comes from being present and being engaged with the environment and the people around you.  It comes from reading books. It comes from listening to podcasts. It comes from listening to your favorite music. It comes from continuing to grow yourself.  It may even come from quotes on social media--- or maybe not.  If you start to lose interest or find that your work is waning, search hard for a source of inspiration.  It will get you through the rough patches.

Who remembers the Mike Myers SNL skit Simon ?  (For an introduction, or refresher click the link ) Somewhere along the way of becoming an adult, we've stopped communicating visually. If you look at Mike Myers in that SNL skit, he's doing the most basic form of effective communication-- combining pictures with a story.  PowerPoint slides with bullets. Carefully formatted Word documents. Long emails that are grammatically challenged. These are the things that dominate our business communication.  And you wonder why business people complain how horrible communication usually is within the company... In Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley which is a book that I read a while back on my Design Thinking binge, he writes a section on Drawing Confidence. In that section, he refers to Dan Roam who is a visual thinker. This is a guy that can basically wake up your right brain if you choose to awaken it. (Click on his name to see what he's about) An effective way to f...

A long time ago in a former life, I was encouraged by one of my management consulting directors to do a presentation with a client at a big conference.  The topic was about the work that we did to spin off a separate entity in Europe and it would be good press for our Firm and our client.  With some great help and support, we worked the presentation and it was ready to go.  Big conference. Lots of interested practitioners in my professional field. Expenses paid to Denver. Go.  We showed up to the conference and our presentation was what I would call a mid-major one.  At this particular conference, there were a number of sessions that people could choose to go to. Ours didn't necessarily conflict with a big session so I was feeling pretty good.  We had one of the biggest rooms in the conference center.  You know how many people showed up?  I counted 10. And I think 5 of them actually worked at the conference center.  Either w...

Are people more interested in you or your story?  For example, what's more interesting upon an introduction? "Hi. My name is Perry and I'm a consultant that helps Fortune 500 companies."  Or, "Hello. My name is Perry and I work to understand problems at local Atlanta companies that I can help solve."  Which one is a better lead in to a story and will want you to hear more?   The thing about stories, whether it's about you or about some other experience, is that there is a degree of specificity that you want to resonate with the audience i n that moment.  If your story is good enough and hits the right emotion, then it becomes memorable long after you've gone.  Being memorable is important in sales, in giving advice, in influencing an audience, and in marketing your value proposition.  So tell me what your story is. I'd be interested to hear it. References: Reinventing You

Everyone has heard that the majority of our communication is nonverbal. Whether it's 60%, 70%, or 90% -- it really does not matter.  Just know that more of your communication is nonverbal than verbal- even if you are one of the most talkative people on the planet.  Unless you are very self-aware of how you are perceived in meetings or presentations, it's hard to recognize the type of vibe that you are communicating. And I would probably say that the majority of us are probably too self-involved to even recognize other people's nonverbal cues when we are in a business setting. After all, we are all worried about what other people think of us.  This means that we're focusing on direct eye contact,  our posture, our voice inflection, and whatever other presentation advice we've been given by outside help -- if we've been bold enough to get outside help. If you have not received outside help or are embarrassed to, yet you want to be an effective...

I am terrible at remembering jokes.  The only ones I can remotely remember are "knock knock" jokes.  There is also a joke that one of my co-workers told me about a lion marching through the jungle and running into an elephant. But other than that, I'm terrible at remembering jokes. What I've tried to get better at is an ability to tell stories-- which requires remembering experiences. I can tell you that remembering experiences is a little easier for me than remembering jokes - but not much. For those of you that read my blog posts (thank you), blogging has really helped me go back in time for some memories. As a result, I think that my ability to communicate in any business setting has improved.  The reason is that I can now relate my experiences to an issue, discussion, or problem that a client may have.  Stories are how we naturally communicate and remember important things. It's no wonder that status reports, scorecards, and dissertation emails ...

A friend of mine has a sticker on the back windshield of his nineteen ninety-something Honda Odyssey that says "Just Be Nice"  He inherited the sticker (came with the van) from his parents.  This is only funny because my friend's parents immigrated from Vietnam and if you are blessed enough to have been raised in an Asian household, even when your parents are being nice, they are yelling at you - moms more than dads of course.  In the context of leadership, I see many instances where people are given a title or more responsibility and all of a sudden the "you have permission to be a complete d*ck or b*tch" switch gets flipped.  Too many people believe that in order to assert a sense of authority, they have to stiffen up, forget they had a personality, and act like a complete [insert whatever derogatory word you want to here].  The irony of the situation is that as you move up through the ranks, in order to be an effective leader, you have to put more o...

Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss. Don't feel so bad about burping once in a while. 

I remember a while ago talking to a colleague about how awesome our work environment was at our employer at the time.  We talked (or complained depending on you you look at it) of the lack of leadership and I threw out the term "Level 5 Leadership."  It was at the point that I received a quizzical look from him and he was smart enough to ask me what that meant.  If you've read Good to Great , Jim Collins describes Level 5 as: "Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." In John Maxwell's The Five Levels of Leadership, he desribes Level 5 as the Pinnacle:   "People follow because of who you are and what you represent." The book Tribal Leadership by Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright describe an organization in Stage 5 as:  "... pure leadership, vision, and inspiration... Their language revolves around infinite potential and how the group is going to make history-- not to beat a...