A tribute to Billy B...

I heard a song on the radio the other day and I was instantly reminded of Billy B*, as well as a time that was so professionally and personally fun. A while back, when business was flush with opportunity, daring, well run and not so burdened by the administrative and operating mechanisms that are prevalent in much of today's business frame work (a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away** it could be said), there was Billy B who was a part of this fabric; in sales administration and a jack of trades, he was indispensable to a small sales organization and I worked closely with him to deploy marketing initiatives through the sales channel. This is how I got to know him.

This story begins in a hospitality suite*** which, if you are familiar with them, is an oasis at the end of a long day... more often than not offering adult refreshments. It is here that one night Billy B stands up and starts to sing one of the most classic rock & roll songs ever written**** with great gusto, talent and engagement; so much so that his small audience is mesmerized. The next day saw us back to our world of sales and marketing.

Our next sales meeting inevitably led to the hospitality suite, where there were a few more people and of course memories of the previous meeting. This in turn led to Billy B serenading the group with song and great fun; it was here that someone suggested they would bring a guitar for next time (i). The next couple of years passed growing the business, the sales team and the hospitality suite - It was Billy B, two guitarists and someone on percussion using a table and every person who was attending the meeting (ii).

And then it happened, word came down that our next meeting would be a North American event and the hospitality suite would go international. This meeting was bigger and after all the activities there was the comfort of the hospitality suite, Billy B, the music and a slightly bigger crowd than in the past. The word of Billy B had started to spread. 

With the business growing rapidly there came a couple of watershed moments; the hospitality suite closed its doors to make way for a larger, more formal Sales Banquet and the band playing one time let Billy B and a couple of his "musicians" take the stage (it was at the end of the night and they didn't seem to have any issues). With most of the room empty by that time, Billy B started to sing, cheered on by his die-hard supporters (iii). Over the next four or five years the crowds got bigger at the end of the banquets, the participation greater and always, I mean always, Billy B would grace the stage engaging the crowd with his signature song. By the end, Billy B (in full costume with a full back up band) had 400 people dancing and singing along with him (iv). 

Change, that only true constant, found the business needs move in a new direction, as is the way with a sizeable merger and acquisition. With this, Billy B never had the opportunity to sing again... deep down though, he was all right with it as I can remember him saying "it's time for someone else to take the reins". No one ever did...we had moved past those times into new ones (v).

There is great nostalgia with writing this but it also struck me this is a wonderful illustration of a product life cycle, and if you want to get philosophical, how life works. Before anyone gets disheartened here, do remember that maturity can be extended through line extenders or continued refinement to stay relevant. More importantly, and never forget this... you can always just redevelop yourself and start the curve all over again. That is where the real fun and excitement is.

Billy B is retired now and I hope he is still singing.

gpe

Footnotes

• (i) Product development, viability and understanding market need.
• (ii) Product introduction, engagement with early adopters and an opportunity do optimize marketing message.
• (iii) Product growth and a time of great excitement.
• (iv) Product maturity and the height of opportunity.
• (v) Product decline due to changing markets, competition and substitutes. 

* I have changed Billy B's name a little but anyone who was there will know whom I am referring to and I expect they are smiling. 

** I am very excited about the next instalment of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

*** The hospitality suite is where the sales force would gather after the day's activities to meet, network, have drinks and bond - More often than not a hotel suite.

**** The song is Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. As I look back at this, there is know doubt it was the perfect anthem for the sales force. See lyrics below

Satisfaction Lyrics

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm driving in my car
And the man comes on the radio
He's tellin' me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to drive my imagination

I can't get no, oh no, no, no
A hey, hey, hey, that's what I say

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm watchin' my TV
And a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me

I can't get no, oh no, no, no
A hey, hey, hey, that's what I say

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no girl reaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm ridin' round the world
And I'm doin' this and I'm signing that
And I'm tryin' to make some girl
Who tells me baby better come back maybe next week
'Cause you see I'm on losing streak

I can't get no, oh no, no, no
A hey, hey, hey, that's what I say

I can't get no, I can't get no
I can't get no satisfaction, no satisfaction
No satisfaction, no satisfaction
I can't get no

Songwriters
Keith Richards;Mick Jagger

Execution... the first in a series of thoughts

"Plan your work and work your plan"... simple, pithy, insightful, and used around the world. If you are not doing this then what are you doing? 

But what if you are doing this with all the effort and gusto you have, and still everything goes terribly wrong — I mean horribly (just awfully) wrong. The sun will still rise the next day in the east as it always does and you will want to (or have to) figure out what went wrong.

You had a plan and you worked the plan... so what happened?" 

This is one of those "galvanizing topics" that pits those who plan strategically against those who execute tactically — it can be great fun to get popcorn and watch the bun fight, unless of course you are in the middle of it, and then it's not as much fun. I want to point out that when I say "went wrong" I am not suggesting measuring to perfection* but rather measured against targeted expectations. Now back to the question at hand — was it a "poor plan that was executed well or a great plan that was executed poorly?" 

To try and scratch at the answer to this and glean some understanding, I have a "little case study" to entertain us all.

A friend told me about the following and I have no doubt that it reflects a real situation—

A medium sized company wanted to launch a new product (a line extender). Prior to the launch date an informational YouTube video was launched which contained a call to action website address at the end (an important note to set the stage is the web page was not active). When marketing was informed they quickly activated the web page with a "Coming Soon" message. As part of the product launch, there was a sampling campaign that was highlighted on the new web page encouraging customers to request a sample. When a customer clicked on the request sample icon, the customer was taken to a page where there was no mention of the new product sample (or the ability to order one). Marketing was once again informed and two days later the web page was updated allowing the a customer to request a sample of the product and receive it once officially launched. This all happened one month before the official product launch (as god is my witness this is what I was told). It was also indicated to me that the product revenue following the official launch did not meet expectations.

I was not there but as an observer and taking the story at face value, I think it is fair to say this was a bit of an "execution shit show". I can only speculate on the reasons (and hey, why not)?

• In all of this there was no thought or consideration to the customer, particularly with developing expectations that could not be met.

• It seems there was no coordinated rollout plan integrating the various communication channels and activities.

• There seems to be no operational process (or governance) in place to ensure activities stay controlled (and within expectations).

• Quite possibly this reflects a fragmented marketing function with different agendas.

I will go out on a limb here and say that the execution of the new product was "sub optimal". I do suspect that someone, somewhere, had some more "choice words" (at least I would hope so).

Now back to the aforementioned bun fight 

I think those who strategically determined the need for the new product launch have every right to throw the buns a little harder in this situation — but there is something hidden in this tale, that will never be discovered. How do we know that the new product wasn't destined to be a dud; all that time and those resources wasted because there was no market interest? Simply wasting time and resources because of an irrelevant line extender... this we will never know.

It is said that ruthlessly effective execution is needed to be successful (as well as differentiating) in an ever-growing competitive environment. 

I would also suggest that optimizing your ability to execute is imperative for determining if your strategic direction hits the mark, needs course correction, or a complete overhaul. Since strategy is reliant on effective execution, the burden falls on those who execute and those who manage execution. It is also easier to start with optimizing your ability to execute effectively, as more often than not, it consists of internal variables making control and measurement easier**.

I have been doing this long enough to know when "an idea" will just not work, but in that same breath, I also know to keep my mouth shut until I can say that execution was optimal. 

Then I pick up a bun.

iamgpe

* Perfection: something to be chased but never obtained.

** Optimizing execution is relatively easier, because most aspects are within your control such as process, resources, training, governance, and with shorter timeframes it allows for effective measurement against KPIs (Key performance Indicators). Strategy tends to have a broader macro perspective with longer time frames that are influenced by both internal and external parameters.

Along came "awareness"...

The following is the original and the rewrite can be found by clicking here

About mid way through this prose you will ask "where the hell is he going with this?"... you will have to be patient but we will get there*.

Ok, anyone who knows a German Scientist please raise your hand? Well I do... she is quite brilliant, lovely and is everything that you would expect that comes with having a PhD in geophysics - Intelligent, exact, disciplined, intellectually challenging... wait, did I say exact?

A number of blogs ago, I offered some thoughts as to how the smart phone had done away with the value of having "knowledge for knowledge's sake" (A Samurai and his Smartphone). To this post she offered some comments and I shall quote in part, "...being a smartassy scientist, I have to state here that one should never (really never!) confuse knowledge with information. And in my opinion you are talking here rather about information than about knowledge. It's the access to an almost boundless amount of information that characterizes todays life..."(sic).  She was of course correct and I very much appreciate her thoughts!

In my defence, as lame as it was, I told her that it was "artistic license" on my part, as the root of knowledge is "know" and therefore if you know something it is by extension knowledge - Deep down though, I said to myself, "damn I should have used the word information". I will be the first to say I feel that I learn from my mistakes, so I have done some "smartphone research" and the definitions of information and knowledge are as follows:

• Information is that which informs, i.e. that from which knowledge and data can be derived 
• Knowledge is an understanding of someone or something.

So technically speaking, I should have said the SmartPhone did away with the importance of having information, facts and figures in your head... it's all about knowledge. 

As I worked through this situation of loose language and artistic licence, it got me to thinking that "Knowledge for knowledge's sake" might as well be brought into question. What about that old saying, "You don't know what you don't know" - How do you know that you don't have knowledge? How can you gather information to build the knowledge that you may not be aware of in the first place?

And so along comes awareness - 

• Awareness is knowing that something (such as a situation, condition, or problem) exists

The magic word for me in the definition of awareness is the word "exists". It is the understanding that something exists that leads to gathering the information that "knowledge" can be developed from.  Awareness, knowledge and information... the triad is complete and the world is now a better place. With "awareness" thrown into the semantical mix I feel a little obliged to discuss it somewhat. (I know... it's just getting better isn't it?)

When looking at these three words I think it's fair to say that the importance of information, although the building blocks of knowledge, has been minimized with the advent of the internet and that the focus really lies with knowledge and awareness. So what's more important to have? The ideal answer is to say both, but in the real world it is of course, "it depends". Like almost everything, it depends on context; awareness may be more important in one situation and knowledge in another... and remember knowledge can be acquired from awareness given enough time. In a practical sense you want knowledge when you need to "do something" and awareness when you want to "determine what to do". Awareness leads to better understanding of a situation, as well as solution and opportunity development whereas Knowledge leads to better execution of plans and ideas. 

Ultimately knowledge is a specialized form of awareness and in a simplistic sense it all starts with being aware. It is here where I smile to myself as the next obvious question is, "where does awareness come from?"  Oh that's easy - Curiosity, And that leads to everything. Curiosity leads to awareness which in turn leads to knowledge. The more of one, leads to the more of another**. 

So be curious***. Be it yourself or within your teams; it leads to broader awareness and ultimately knowledge. Search out the curious, particularly if you need to look at your situation and the world differently. 

I bet you didn't see that coming.

gpe

* I will be very surprised if you could have ever guessed we would end up at curiosity.

** I have no data to support the ratios of "curiosity to awareness to knowledge" or aspects of diminishing returns but on a day to day basis it's safe to say if you are curious about something and have a smart phone you almost instantaneously have a working understanding and knowledge.

*** this will be a topic for much further discussion