Haruka Nishimatsu

There was an amazing interview on CNN recently with Haruka Nishimatsu, the CEO of JAL, Japan Airlines. The interview could have been a primer on how to be an ethical CEO who cares about his people and his company more than he cares about his own compensation. According to the report, when JAL slashed jobs and asked older employees to retire early, Nishimatsu cut every single one of his corporate perks, and then for three years running slashed his own pay. In 2007, he made about $90,000 U.S., less than what his pilots earn. In Japan, says Nishimatsu, there’s less of a pay gap between the top and the bottom. “We in Japan learned during the bubble economy that businesses who pursue money first fail. The business world has lost sight of this basic tenet of business ethics.”

The report also details Nishmatsu’s daily routine: “After his morning commute on the city bus, Haruka Nishimatsu heads into the office and gets busy at his desk with the rest of his Japan Airlines coworkers. At lunch, he lines up in the cafeteria and hopes lunch doesn’t get too cold as he waits to pay. Not exactly the glamorous life you’d expect from the CEO of one of the world’s top ten international airlines. ‘Is it so strange?’, asks Nishimatsu.”

Glenn Tilton

Now, consider Glenn Tilton, CEO of United Airlines. Tilton’s total compensation package is the highest in the airlines industry. In 2006, Tilton’s compensation alone exceeded $39.7 million ($38 million in stock and options) in a year the company emerged from bankruptcy and employees were forced to accept painful cuts. In 2007 Tilton was rewarded with $10.3 million and United has an additional plan called the “2008 Incentive Compensation Plan” to again lavishly reward failed decision making. Tilton’s compensation seem pretty excessive in light of his company’s poor performance and the impact of extreme inequity on the morale of the workforce.

Consider this too: Until recently, soaring oil prices were the alleged reason United decided to impose a $15 fee to check your first bag and a $25 fee to check a second bag on domestic flights. Even though oil prices have come back down, United’s baggage fees remain because they are boosting the airline’s dismal finances and moving customers to “a la carte” pricing — passengers pay for the services they use, whether it’s a sandwich bought on board, a checked bag or assistance from a telephone reservationist. United has said it expects to collect $275 million annually from the first- and second-bag fees.

As United Airlines is losing money, cutting their services, and asking you, the flying public, to pay for standard services, or a fee for 5 inches of leg room, Tilton is raking in a seriously inflated compensation package based on a poor performance record. Aside from the basic ethical and moral issues that this raises, on a deeper level think about what this does to morale at United Airlines. I mean, really, who would you rather work for: Nishimatsu or Tilton? Or better yet, who would respect more and work harder for?

The fact that Nishimatsu makes less than his employees is significant. That he takes the bus to work, has a simple office, eats lunch with his employees in the cafeteria, and has cut everyone of his executive perks is really significant. He’s one of them. He cares more about his employees than he does about money. How many CEO’s can say that? He’s also not a top down kind of manager. In his 2008 Greeting on the JAL website, Nishmatsu said:

Strengthening workplaces is not something that can be done entirely from the top down. Currently, an employee-proposed and led initiative called “JAL Tomorrow” is being carried out in order to create a vision for JAL’s future. By the end of fiscal 2007, Group employees had submitted 11,596 proposals and comments concerning the kind of company they want JAL to become, the kind of airline they want to work for. I was very surprised by the number of responses. It is fantastic that employees created their own initiative to help JAL become a company that will be more trusted by customers. The management team and I will continue to support this initiative in every way possible.

Compare that to United performance statistics since Tilton took over as CEO of United in 2002. Here are some stats from US Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report as reported by United Airlines on their own website:

• Capping their steady decline, United tied US Airways in calendar year 2006 for the highest number of complaints per passengers flown (1.36 per 100,000 system-wide enplanements).
• In the category of customer service problems, which the DOT defines as “rude or unhelpful employees, inadequate meals or cabin service, treatment of delayed passengers“, United holds the distinction of being the worst among the top-10 US carriers for 2004, 9th place in 2003 (Continental took 10th), tied America West for 9th place in 2002 (American took 10th).

And Tilton’s pilots aren’t in love with him either. This year, they went on an all out offensive to remove him from his position. Their main complaint: His excessive compensation package in light of his poor performance. They’ve started a website called Glenn Tilton Must Go. And this was the message they flew around United’s Chicago headquarters this past Labor Day:

Hmmm, not so great for United and Tilton. Nishimatsu is, in my mind, what a true leader should be. Inspiring, caring, fair, and most important, ethical. I’d work for him tomorrow.

Not to be on too big of a Japan vs. U.S. kick these days, but what do Japanese companies understand that American companies don’t? Last month I wrote about Toyota and their commitment to their employees. Now this interview with the JAL CEO surfaces a similar sentiment. If more executives would show more respect and caring for their employees and their companies like Nishimatsu has, maybe they wouldn’t be in the bad shape they’re in today.

If you missed the interview, here’s the complete video:

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The catch was that all of the participants except one were confederates of Dr. Asch. The confederates gave the correct answer for the first few trials, but then all began to give the incorrect answer in subsequent trials. Amazingly, the test subject began giving the same incorrect answers as the confederates. In fact, overall, after 18 trials, 36.8% of the answers given by the ‘real’ participants were incorrect, effectively conforming to the wrong answers given by the unanimous confederates. Only 25% never gave a false answer, therefore showing that 75% conformed at least once. The results show a surprisingly strong tendency to conform under group pressure, even in cases when the answer is clear.

How does this inform us? When we’re working on teams, we need to be cognizant of this study. We need to be vigilant against conformity and group steering. It can be extremely detrimental to continuous improvement. If one person on a team has an opinion that is different from every other team member, this tendency towards conformity may have a chilling effect on their ability to communicate a problem with the team. This applies to estimating as well. If teams estimate in an open manner, differing opinions can potentially be quashed. That’s why I believe planning poker is such an effective method for estimating with teams.

But, there is hope. Asch was very disturbed by the results of his experiment. He said, “That we have found the tendency to conformity in our society so strong… is a matter of concern. It raises questions about our ways of education and about the values that guide our conduct.” Some time later, Asch conducted his experiments again. This time, when every one of the confederates voted for the wrong answer, one stood up and said “That’s wrong!”. The test subject then easily identified the correct answer. Adding one supporting partner greatly diminished the power of the majority. Hope!

One voice of dissent enabled another to be heard. Is that all it takes on our teams, in our society to make a difference? One voice to say “That’s wrong”? I believe so. But I also believe that on a deeper level, we need to create environments on our teams, in our organizations, and in our society where people do not have to feel pressured to conform. People should be able to think freely and express their views without being hindered by the majority rule. This freedom to disagree is where all progress, creativity, and innovation comes from. I love the fact that the results show that the 25% of subjects who never gave wrong answers were not susceptible to conformity. That makes me very happy. There is hope that not everyone around us is likely to conform to the majority opinion.

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In addition to being a great cause, the (RED)WIRE site and the main (RED) site have some great design elements to check out.

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And those aren’t just some words slapped on a hotel brochure. The Benjamin has gone to extraordinary lengths to back up the guarantee of a good night’s rest in New York, “the city that never sleeps.”

Andy told me “The Benjamin sells a good night’s sleep, and we guarantee each guest’s comfort by providing anticipatory services, such as remembering a pillow preference and having it waiting in the room upon check-in. We’ve also implemented a number of innovative initiatives, including our Sleep Concierge, a 12-choice pillow menu, our sleep guarantee and a variety of other sleep-inducing amenities through room service and our Wellness Spa. We always provide caring and genuine service with an innkeeper’s mentality to make every guest feel like their comfort and needs are our top priority, and we center everything the hotel does around following through on these expectations.”

In fact, three days before a guest is scheduled to arrive, the staff advises him or her of the pillow menu so that the pillow will be in the room when the guest arrives. The menu is amazing. It offers guests a selection of 12 different types of pillows from which to choose: down, upper body, buckwheat, satin, hypo-allergenic, water-filled, Swedish memory, magnetic therapy, a jelly neckroll, a five-foot body cushion, sound, maternity and a special anti-snore pillow. In addition to the pillows, the hotel features The Benjamin Bed: a Serta mattress created exclusively for The Benjamin, covered with 100% Egyptian Cotton 400-plus thread count sheets by Anichini and a down-filled comforter with luxurious triple sheeting. (The pillows, sheets, and mattresses have become so popular that they are now offered for sale for guests who want to sleep as well at home as they do at The Benjamin!) Aromatherapy bathroom amenities help guests relax and prepare for bed. In addition to the luxurious sleep amenities, The Benjamin’s windows are double-glazed with argon gas between the panes to help keep rooms quiet and restful. If you’ve ever slept in a midtown Manhattan hotel, you know how important that is!

When I asked Andy about The Benjamin’s edgecrafted marketing strategy, he told me “We realized that the number one productivity tool for today’s travelers wasn’t a laptop or Blackberry – it’s a good night’s sleep. The Benjamin is an innovator in the hospitality industry by recognizing that niche and being the first hotel to offer a 12-choice pillow menu and an on-staff Sleep Concierge to satisfy guest’s needs for a perfect night’s sleep.” He went on to say that “We are continually educating our staff so all associates know the latest sleep tips and breaking research in the sleep industry. Sleep intertwines throughout the whole culture at The Benjamin – from the sleep-inducing food we serve to the in-room soothing amenities and services we offer to the soothing sounds and smells that are infused throughout the property.”

I love that Andy said “Sleep intertwines throughout the whole culture at The Benjamin”. Culture, in addition to the unique services offered, is what seems to set The Benjamin apart. And that culture includes listening not only to their guests, but to their staff as well. “As an organization, it’s our culture to include our staff in all new ideas and innovations that we bring into The Benjamin,” Andy said. “We talk to our associates about what ideas they might have that we could implement so everyone is involved in the continuing development of the hotel and shares the responsibility to make sure it comes to fruition. As an example, when we introduce a new pillow, everyone has a chance to test it so they learn what the benefits are in case a guest asks them to recommend something for a specific ailment The Benjamin staff prides itself on the satisfaction scores we receive from past guests, and we are always working as a team to make sure we are continuing to raise those scores across the board.” Key point: Continuous improvement through teamwork and collaboration.

The Benjamin also actively collects feedback from their guests through one-on-one discussions and by hosting weekly managers’ receptions. No “How did we do?” cards here. They also put outside focus groups together for new ideas, and have staff meetings twice a month to talk about the future of The Benjamin. They discuss not only what’s happening inside The Benjamin, but also what other hotel companies are doing and how the hospitality industry is developing overall.

Now that’s edgecraft! That’s setting yourself up to be remarkable. A lot of hotels offer a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee”, but how many go to the lengths that The Benjamin does to actually make sure that their guests are satisfied. If you’re going to offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee to your customers, think about what The Benjamin does and ask yourself “Am I offering just words and hoping for the best, or am I actively doing something to make sure my customers are satisfied 100%?”

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Hot Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman

From The NY Times: The litany of dangers has been told many times before, but Mr. Friedman’s voice is compelling and will be widely heard…Heads will be nodding across airport lounges, as readers absorb Mr. Friedman’s common sense about how America and the world are dangerously addicted to cheap fossil fuels while we recklessly use the atmosphere as a dumping ground for carbon dioxide.

Chris’ note: Friedman rocks again. Best business book I read this year. If you like this kind of reading, check out T. Boone Pickens’ Energy plan video as well.

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam

From BN.com: The Back Of The Napkin proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

Chris’ note: A great book. It changed the way I think and communicate ideas to others. Along with the next two books by Bert Decker and Garr Reynolds, they made a huge impact on my world this year.

You’ve Got to be Believed to Be Heard by Bert Decker

From the publisher: Effective communication is essential in business and in everyday life. The most powerful communicators reach not just our minds but our hearts: They win our trust. You can learn to impress and persuade other people by following Bert Decker’s program in You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard.

Chris’ note: I took Bert Decker’s course and he sent me his book to review. Amazing results and a great and informative book.

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds

Nancy Duarte, CEO, Duarte Design: “Garr is a beacon of hope for frustrated audiences everywhere. His design philosophy and fundamental principles bring life to messages and can invigorate careers. His principles of simplicity are as much a journey of the soul as they are restraint of the mouse.”

Chris’ note: The book I’d been waiting for for a long time. If more people read this and use the Zen principles of design Garr espouses the world will be a much better place…well, at least boring lectures and conferences might be a bit better anyway!

Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte

From Amazon.com: Millions of presentations and billions of slides have been produced — and most of them miss the mark. slide:ology will challenge your traditional approach to creating slides by teaching you how to be a visual thinker. And it will help your career by creating momentum for your cause.

Chris’ note: Add this to your library along with Presentation Zen and You’ve Got to be Believed to Be Heard and won’t go wrong in a presentation ever again!

The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

From the publisher: Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”

Chris’ note: Great biography. Informative, inspiring and very well written.

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich

From The Washington Post: This compact, meaty volume ought to be on the reading list of every candidate for national office — House, Senate or the White House — in November’s elections. In an age of cant and baloney, Andrew Bacevich offers a bracing slap of reality. He confronts fundamental questions that Americans have been avoiding since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, first of all: What is the sole superpower’s proper role in the world?

Chris’ note: A powerful read written by a retired army colonel that is an indictment of American selfishness and how it has led us to the point we are at now. Hope you have thick skin when you read this!

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

From Amazon.com: Now that he’s gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the “self-made man,” he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don’t arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.” Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, “some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky.”

Chris’ note: Gladwell has done it again. Another excellent book from one of my favorite authors. Check out Malcolm himself talking about his latest book here.

Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition by Guy Kawasaki

From the publisher: In Silicon Valley slang, a “bozo explosion” is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, “If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partner has become a verb, and strategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don’t make sense” . . . it’s time for a reality check.

Chris’ note: Aside from Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki is one of the top people that have influenced my thinking and my writing. Guy sent me his book to read earlier this month and I couldn’t wait to read it!  It didn’t disappoint.  He’s continued his tradition of flat out saying it like it is and that’s what I love about Guy. Awesome dude and great book! Check out Guy talking about his latest book here.

And last but most certainly not least Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

From Publisher’s Weekly: Short on pages but long on repetition, this newest book by Godin (Purple Cow) argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong.

Chris’ note: What can I say? I mean, my blog’s name is a direct homage to Seth! The guy is awesome and so is his latest books. Just buy it, it’s worth it. And if you don’t want to buy it, download the audiobook for FREE from Audible.com.

And a few of my favorite non-business books this past year:

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

From BN.com: Although the title of Haruki Murakami’s memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, gives you a fairly clear idea of the book’s subject matter, the choice of running as a subject for Murakami, who is better known for his novels and short stories than for his participation in the Boston Marathon (seven times), calls for some explanation. So, in the foreword to the book, Murakami explains: “I’m not trying here to give advice like, ‘Okay everybody — let’s run every day to stay healthy!’ Instead, this is a book in which I’ve gathered my thoughts about what running has meant to me as a person. Just a book in which I ponder various things and think out loud.”

Chris note: One of my favorite authors of fiction wrote a great memoir of one of my life’s love’s: running! It doesn’t get much better than this. After reading so many of his books, it’s the first time I feel like I got the chance to “know” the author. Great stuff. And if you’re over 40 like me, it’s really inspirational!

More Information Than You Require by John Hodgman

From Amazon.com: While writer and former literary agent John Hodgman had a considerable cult following before the publication of his first book, The Areas of My Expertise, the exact moment when Hodgmania hit fever pitch can be traced to his November 16, 2005, appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, when a “Famous Minor Television Personality” was born. Since then he has welcomed a new level of visibility as the Resident Expert on The Daily Show, appearing as the PC in the ubiquitous “Get a Mac” ads, and in bit roles in movies and on TV, so the world should be primed to embrace More Information Than You Require, Book Two in his Compendium of Complete World Knowledge (or, as it says on the cover, “New Ferret, Same Old Con”). Fun facts, bizarre trivia, and oddball photos (”Figure 51: Jane Addams, Pre-Antlers”) are crammed into every corner of the page with extended riffs on How to Tell the Future Using a Pig’s Spleen, What to Expect While Serving as a Juror, Gambling (”Sure Thing Number Three: Star Wars Slots”), How to Deal With Some Common Infestations, and of course, How to Be Famous.

Chris’ note: Yes, I’m a huge Daily Show fan and John Hodgman is hysterical. This book is filled with some of the funniest stuff you’ll read this year! Kept me in stitches.

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

From Publisher’s Weekly: The much-anticipated third book in Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle continues to rely heavily on classic fantasy tropes. The novel launches with magician and Dragon Rider Eragon, his cousin Roran and the dragon Saphira on a quest to rescue Roran’s betrothed. The cousins soon split up, and Roran undergoes his own series of heroic tests, culminating in a well-choreographed and intense fight against an Urgal (a ram-human hybrid). Eragon, at the same time, encounters treacherous dwarves, undergoes even more training with the elf Oromis and gains a magical sword suitable for a Dragon Rider.

Chris’ note: I’ve loved this entire series so far. For a young writer, Paolini is really gifted. His worlds are rich and mysterious and his characters are well-developed. A thick book, but a quick read. Worth the time.

Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman

From Publisher’s Weekly: Various American evangelicals have claimed the founding fathers as believing and practicing Protestants who intended America to be a Christian nation. Secularists, on the other hand, see in the same historical record evidence that the founders were often Deists at best. Both views are grossly oversimplified, argues Waldman, cofounder and editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com. In this engaging, well-researched study, Waldman focuses on the five founding fathers who had the most influence on religion’s role in the state—Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Adams and Madison—and untangles their complex legacy. They were certainly diverse in religiosity, with Jefferson a self-diagnosed heretic, for instance, and Washington a churchgoing Anglican who was silent on points of doctrine and refrained from taking communion. All, however, were committed to the creation of religious freedom in the new nation. Waldman deserves kudos for systematically debunking popular myths: America was not primarily settled by people seeking religious freedom; the separation of church and state did not result from the activism of secularists, but, paradoxically, from the efforts of 18th-century evangelicals; and the American Revolution was as much a reaction against European theocracy as a struggle for economic or political freedom. Waldman produces a thoughtful and remarkably balanced account of religion in early America.

Chris’ note: I first heard Steven Waldman on Fresh Air on NPR. Not only is he a great speaker, he is a great researcher and writer. Glad someone finally tackled this divisive topic and dispelled some long held misconceptions.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

From Amazon.com: A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave–”Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”–wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

Chris’ note: I can’t say enough good things about this book. To be super brief: Sobering yet life affirming! No two ways about this one, you have to read this now!

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

From BN.com: The Wordy Shipmates is New York Times-bestselling author Sarah Vowell’s exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill”-a shining example, a “city that cannot be hid.” To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means-and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the philosophical, spiritual, and moral ancestors of our nation? What Vowell discovers is something far different from what their uptight shoe-buckles-and-corn reputation might suggest. The people she finds are highly literate, deeply principled, and surprisingly feisty. Their story is filled with pamphlet feuds, witty courtroom dramas, and bloody vengeance.

Chris’ note: Sarah Vowell has an incredible way of making history fun to read about. I’ve read just about everything she’s ever written and it’s all really good. She’s witty, funny, sarcastic, and brilliant.

A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover’s Dream by Ferenc Máté

From BN.com: In this intimate and uproarious story, two daring New Yorkers convert an ancient, abandoned farm into a world-renowned winery. This highly entertaining tale of how two dreamers struggle and thrive in idyllic Tuscany will enrich the lives of travelers and wine lovers alike.

Chris’ note: Much better than Under the Tuscan Sun!

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A bit about Beaujolais Nouveau. The wine is made from grapes that were still on the vine just three short months ago (hence the “nouveau” or “new” label). It’s fruity, it’s light, and it goes really well with holiday meals, especially turkey. It’s made from 100% gamay grapes from the Burgundy region in France. It’s a relatively inexpensive wine, usually selling for about $10.00 U.S. per bottle. But, truth be told, Beaujolais Nouveau is actually the lowest wine in the Beaujolais hierarchy. I’m not a wine snob, that’s just the truth. It was historically a low volume wine and was not highly regarded by most wine experts. So how did this lowly wine become so popular and inspire such a frenzy on the third Thursday of November?

A little history lesson in Beaujolais Nouveau. In France, Beaujolais Nouveau was originally produced so that local wine-growers and their friends could celebrate the end of the Beaujolais harvest. Until World War II, it was sold for local consumption only. In 1951, the French government relaxed their distribution laws and set an official release date of November 15 for the young Beaujolais and declared it Beaujolais Nouveau. In the early 1970’s, George DuBouef saw some big marketing potential in Beaujolais Nouveau. It was an accessible and easy drinking wine that most people could enjoy. But he saw more than that. He saw a way to clear lots of ordinary wine at a good profit, very close to the time it was harvested. It was a great cash flow equation. So, in the 1970’s, DuBouef helped start a race to deliver the first bottles of Nouveau to Paris. It generated a ton of buzz and attention and became a national event. In time, the buzz spread to the U.S. and the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau became a heralded event. In 1985, DuBouef and others had the release date changed to the third Thursday in November, just 1 week before the American Thanksgiving holiday. This whipped up the frenzy even further and helped make Nouveau become THE wine to serve at holiday dinners in the U.S. In fact, the Washington Post has stated that “because Beaujolais Nouveau is released annually on the third Thursday of November — exactly one week before Thanksgiving — the two have become as inextricably linked as Champagne and New Year’s Eve.” DuBouef and several other notable Beaujolais negociants have since promoted Beaujolais Day heavily, creating what is probably the biggest one-day marketing event in the wine world.

Global sales of Beaujolais Nouveau reached a peak at 62 million bottles in 1998, making Beaujolais Nouveau one of France’s best-selling wines ever. And, instead of being a wine sold only for local consumption, Beaujolais Nouveau is now exported to over 107 countries worldwide. DuBoeuf, the man behind the magic of Beaujolais, has led the way and is by and far the leader in Beaujolais sales. It’s been an incredible ride for a simple wine and for Georges DuBoeuf thanks to some serious edgecraft marketing. So, marketing frenzy or not, I’m heading out today to pick up a few bottles of Georges DuBoeuf’s 2008 Beaujolais Nouveau for my family’s Thanksgiving Day celebration…it’s become sort of a tradition for us. Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!

For more info on Beaujolais Nouveau, check out the Beaujolais Nouveau website here.

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I believe that the qualities that I described above for startups are what make many of them successful. And almost more importantly, I think it’s what makes them fun and exciting to work at. So many startups have charismatic leaders who have a really clear and focused vision for the company. They need to; they can’t afford to waste time working on things that don’t get them to their goal quickly. And energy. There is is so much energy at a startup because everyone is really committed to making this thing work. They wouldn’t be there otherwise. Many talented people who work at startups could easily work at a big corporation making better salaries. But there is a certain energy at startups that really bright people seem to thrive on. Maybe it’s the thrill of survival?

But, aside from the obvious two differentiators I’ve mentioned above, I think that small teams, Beginner’s Mind, and the Art of the Possible are really the driving forces behind the energy and excitement at most successful startups. Small teams are essential as they take the focus off of process and put it on teams delivering value quickly. And within small teams, without bureaucratic processes to bog down innovation, the Beginner’s Mind can really thrive.

Garr Reynolds of Presentation Zen fame says “like a child, one who approaches life with a beginner’s mind is fresh, enthusiastic, and open to the vast possibilities of ideas and solutions before them”. Garr goes on to expound that “when you approach a new challenge as a true beginner (even if you’re a seasoned adult), you need not be saddled with fear of failure or of making mistakes.” I believe that large corporations really struggle with this. They’re afraid to fail and thus, they close off the Beginners Mind and start to stifle innovation with processes that discourage and avoid failure. Startups, however, thrive on the possibility of failure. Most people who are serial entrepreneurs have failed numerous times before they had that big breakthrough success. Successful startups allow for failure as a learning tool. If it didn’t work this time around, let’s fix it and try again. Inspect and adapt doesn’t work if you don’t allow for failures.

The Art of the Possible is the other critical component that I think successful startups understand. Anything is possible. They are not constrained by preconceived notions, processes or policies. If something isn’t working well in the organization, they can change it. No worries. No issues. They believe anything is possible and embrace the change that this kind of thinking encourages. Without an acceptance of the Art of the Possible, organizations stagnate and do things because “That’s the way we’ve always done it, we can’t change that!”.

So my advice to you is this: Act like a startup! It’s not as hard as you think it is. Adopting agile practices helps get you there quickly. But you don’t need to use agile to get there. Make an effort to have a clear established vision that everyone in your organization understands and works towards. In fact, let the vision come from the organization and it’ll be even more powerful! Use the buy-in to that vision to promote and sustain energetic employees. Do everything you can to treat people right and keep that energy level high. Break your organization into small teams so that they can focus on the work at hand and can easily discover and tackle organizational challenges without big overarching policies, processes, or hierarchies getting in the way. And more than anything, approach everything you do with the Beginner’s Mind and always, always, always implore the Art of the Possible!

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When it comes to organizations and team work, nothing is more important to success than communication. If your organization or team is is striving for continuous improvement, it’s imperative that really rich communication occurs between all team members, from top to bottom and everywhere in between. So why, if this is such an important practice for the success of organizations, do most of us choose to put some of the most important impediments to our success into emails or Wikis? Sure, we transfer the information that something is wrong and needs to be corrected. But that’s all we do, transfer information. Emails, Tweets, Wikis, and SharePoint don’t help us move others to action. Action, not information, is what moves us toward continuous improvement and success. And nothing moves people to action more than the spoken word.

I’ve been reading Bert Decker’s book You’ve Got to be Believed to Be Heard. It’s a fabulous book, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should. In his book, Bert asserts that the written word is the information channel and speaking is the action channel. According to Bert:

Speaking is like a multichannel Surround Sound experience, in which dozens of channels simultaneously feed information to the human mind. These various channels communicate a richly textured, multilayered message from speaker to listener. These channels consist of :

• Posture
• Facial expression
• Energy level
• Eye communication
• Vocal inflection
• Vocal intonation
• Volume
• Gestures and other physical actions
• And more

All of these non-verbal cues help transfer not just the information of the narrative, but the emotion and urgency of the message. They do so more effectively than any number of !!!’s or URGENT’s in an email can ever do. And it’s this emotion, this passion, this energy of verbal communication that motivates and persuades others to action. When you come to understand this basic premise, you then understand why communication, VERBAL communication, is essential to the success and improvement of any organization. Success and improvement require action, not just information. It requires that people in the organization are motivated to action to do the things that need to be done to improve the organization and their products.

I’ve written about the different levels of richness associated with different communication mediums, and I’ve also provided a list of tools to help distributed teams communicate more effectively, and I hope they’ve helped. But, please don’t misconstrue the message about the use of these tools for communications. Tools are good second alternatives for transferring information. But, when you need to transfer emotion and move people to action, don’t rely on tools for communication. Remember how to talk to each other and remember that face-to-face communication is the real power behind the most successful organizations and teams. So, the next time you find an impediment that needs to be removed for your team to be more effective, don’t send an email to your manager about the problem. Walk into his or her office and use your verbal skills to persuade him or her that something needs to be done, now. Move him or her to action today!!!

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Learn from the Smart People

MIT Open Courseware: MIT OpenCourseWare is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. They’ve also started a video lecture series and ew courses will be available every week. Join the smart people here.

University of Oxford Lecture Podcasts: Amazing lectures from some of the greatest minds in the world. To hear some incredible speakers, click here.

The Do Lectures: Get some inspiration from incredible speakers and presenters at The Do Lectures. Do something today here.

Webinars

Today, November 21, 9:00 AM PST: How to Use FaceBook for Business

Welcome to a world of conversations and relationships. Facebook is not an evil time-waster, a community just for college students, or something scary or irrelevant for marketers – even you B2B folks. Facebook is a tool (a social utility, as they would say) for connecting people with those around them. And, as with any social media tool, marketers have an opportunity to use Facebook to expand their online footprint and engage with customers directly. Join this free webinar to learn how to get started using Facebook to market your business.

Today, November 21, 10:00 AM PST: Effective Agile Product Management Through Automation

Presented by Christina Noren, Vice President of Product Management at Splunk. Sometimes it seems that agile development is an end run around effective product planning and market analysis. It also can undermine product positioning and roadmapping. Yet the benefits of a more responsive and productive product development team are too significant to ignore. Learn how the Splunk product management team is automating the Pragmatic Marketing Framework to feed continuous market-driven priorities into an agile development process, and then leveraging this automation for continuous communication back to its user community, customers and field organization.

Wednesday, December 10 and December 17, 10:00 AM PST: Agile in Turbulent Times

A Two-Part Webinar Series Learn how to quantify the benefits of Agile practices including faster time to market, increased productivity and higher quality. Find out where to expect significant cost savings and revenue increases, and get a toolkit for making the economic case for Agile adoption. If you’re worried about your company’s viability, your team’s success or your own job security, you won’t want to miss this webinar series.

Thursday, December 11, 8:00 AM PST: Agile Requirements: Not an Oxymoron

Traditional approaches of requirements seem to contradict how agile teams might approach requirements. Misconceptions abound about how agile projects develop requirements and whether they even do analysis. In practice, agile projects use requirements as the basis for planning, development and delivering business value. In this Webinar, requirements expert and agile coach Ellen Gottesdiener will describe how agile and requirements combine to form a sound and sensible union.

Live Symbian Event

Thursday, December 4, The Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California: Innovation in Action

For the first time the Symbian Partner Event (SPE) opens its doors not only to Symbian partners, but also to mobile developers, handset manufacturers, network operators, the Open Source Community and members of the press. Whether you are new to mobile or an experienced Symbian developer, SPE has something for everyone.

And finally, another free Seth Godin ebook…

Download The Tribes Q&A ebook here.

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• Fix it now: The effort to fix a defect as soon as your developer types the wrong code is pressing Ctrl-Z (UNDO!). Cost is essentially ZERO. And if you’re pair programming, you’re very likely to catch the defect at this point.
• We’ll fix it next week: The cost of fixing a defect one week after it happens is a fix on the incorrect code, plus the time refactoring one week of code developed on top of the bad code. Probably not too much, we’re talking about a few hours max.
• We’ll fix it at the end of our iteration: The cost of fixing the defect after a two-week iteration is probably about twice as much as after one week. Cost is up to one day.
• Don’t worry, we’ll get to it later, we don’t have enough QA budget for it now: Here we are 6 months later at the release date. The cost of fixing one error in the code is now exponential if you have to refactor 6 months of code based on the initial defect. Cost: Potentially HUGE!

Now, imagine you’re one of the bean-counting managers when it’s time to release the buggy software. Here’s your argument: “What! We have a ton of fixes to do? Marketing already ran the ads announcing the release date! We have to beat Foo, Inc. to market on this or we’re dead in the water! Plus, it’s going to cost us way too much to fix everything now! We have no choice, release it now, we’ll fix it later”

Fast forward to your customers using your new buggy software. They’re disappointed. They start ripping your product (and maybe even you) on their blogs. Word gets out, your stuff sucks! You do your best to put out patches and service packs. It doesn’t matter, word of mouth has spread the bad news, your product still sucks!

Now ask yourself, was it worth it. Releasing low quality software based on the argument above makes no sense. Your company probably lost market share to Foo, Inc. even though you beat them to release because of the bad press. And you still had to spend the money to fix the defects through patches and service packs. By now, you’re probably way in the hole, much worse than if you had taken the time and money to fix the defect when it happened or very shortly thereafter. I’ve already made the argument for the value of pair programming and continuous QA/testing, but it’s worth repeating. Spend the money, spend the time, use your resources and build defect free software NOW! The longer you wait, the more it costs. And you may end up releasing buggy software intentionally, and that’s the worst thing you can do.  Maybe David Rice, author of Geekonomics: The Real Cost of Insecure Software, hit it on the head in his interview with PRI: We should start taxing buggy software.  That would do the trick!

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So, we worked through getting this little fun fixed and EdgeHopper was back up and running…for about 20 minutes. Then I started getting getting Tweets about a 503 error that looked like this:

My host was unable to handle the traffic on a shared server. They were gracious enough to move EdgeHopper to another server for a while and that fixed the problem (Thanks Bluehost!).

So, why is this relevant to you? Well, in less than 3 hours from the time GST posted the link on Reddit, EdgeHopper.com experienced in excess of 350,000 hits, even with all the interruptions in service! This was because the link on Reddit moved into the top 3 on their “What’s Hot” list. Wired.com also picked up on it and it made into Wired’s top 3 Hottest Web Links (mostly because it’s based on Reddit’s list).  By the end of the day, just this one single post had been linked to and referred to by 317 other websites and blogs mostly because of what you see in the image below:

These numbers are super relevant to you. Not because my blog had a good day…that’s completely irrelevant.  Because they emphasize the value and power of social media to you, your blog, your company, whatever! If you do something that people find remarkable, timely, relevant, etc., and someone else uses word of mouth to spread the goodness around, you win! This is the power of word of mouth. The traffic my blog experienced in 3 hours was about 100 times what it usually is thanks not only to some compelling content, but more because of someone that I don’t know talking it up. And, the sheer number of inbound links suggests that people who read the post, told two people they knew, and they told two friends and they told two friends, and so on and so on and so on…(remember the old Breck Shampoo commercials?).  As I am writing this post, the Toyota/GM post already has just over 865,000 hits, 427 comments on Reddit.com, and 95 direct comments in less than 2 days (thanks to everyone who visited and commented)!  So, the next time you’re wondering about the power of word of mouth and social media, just remember this little post. Oh yeah, that, and make sure you get a hosting provider that can handle big traffic!

NOTE: If and when you get a day like EdgeHopper had on Monday, remember, you have a lot of work to do to sustain those numbers.  The day after my BIG day, I was back to just over 88,000 hits, a little more than 10% of the previous day’s traffic.  EpiBlogger has a great post on this he calls Digg: A Bloggers One Night Stand.  While big numbers are fun and exciting, sustaining them is hard work!

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