Friday Reflections

Son, you went there. But you still have not been there.

Point to Ponder:

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and know the place for the first time. - T.S. Eliot.

Story Line:

This morning I ran into an old colleague. Over a cup of coffee, he told me a recent incidence with his teenage son who is going to France for an extended period of studies and cultural experience. When they first talked about going to France, his son told him, “Dad, I have already been there (he meant a few days of prior vacation)” His dad told him, “Son, you went there. But you still have not been there.”

This deep meaning wisdom of the ages that my colleague shared made me think about incidences from my career and life. Here are a few:

1. Our US based company sent a few of us for an expatriate assignment to Manila. One of our colleagues ate hamburgers or steak & fries for his meals every day of the year for the entire three years (except on rare occasions when we had customer visit and had to go to local cuisines). He hung around only with other expatriates and did not show much interest in the local culture.

2. Having seen a very impressive resume of a “Process Engineer” we called him for an interview. When inquiring deeper in the interview, we found that he had not “Processed” anything himself even once. Operators were processing the material, technicians were doing measurements and this fellow was doing analysis (excellent one to his credit) of the data that was coming out of the printer. He had no clue how the equipment operated or even once experienced processing himself. As my boss Joe Z told us “He has a lot of years of experience as a Data Analyst. And he is very good at that part. But he is not a process engineer. I need someone who likes to be on the production floor.”

3. During the bus tour of Europe, one tourist constantly kept criticizing local people, their habits and even the historic places we visited. He also kept comparing things in different countries with things back home and had many arguments with the tour manager. Instead of enjoying NOW, he wasted his precious time and great opportunity to understand and appreciate the richness of the local cultures. Yes, he was in Europe. But he has not really been to Europe.

Reflections:

A few years ago, just after checking in the hotel in Japan with my family, I suggested that we go to Maharaja (an Indian restaurant) for dinner. A very strong and unanimous protest from the rest forced me to go to a Japanese restaurant. It had the best Sushi and local Japanese varieties I have ever eaten.

The very first time I visited a supplier and wrote a trip report, my boss Jim Boyd asked, “How much of this information did you collect in conference rooms vs. from direct observation from manufacturing floor and other work areas?” And that was a major turning point in my career. The year was 1981.

You can take a horse to water but you cannot make him drink

"Even when opportunity knocks a person still has to get up off his/her seat and open the door."

Story Line:

The first time I heard the expression "you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink" was in 1991 from my former boss Bob Miller. He was answering an employee question in an open forum, "Why aren't people making use of the training/development opportunities and some excellent ideas that were offered to them?"

This phenomenon isn't limited to the corporate world. Dennis Waitley talks about one tribe of people in his book, 'Psychology of Winning'.  Premature death amongst people in that tribe was increasing, and  research had proven that it was due to a new type of insect that had developed in that area. These tribespeople were offered new homes in a different area, but decided to stay at the same place anyway ... and continued to face premature deaths.

Another example: a businessman took his seven employees out for a walk in a mall for three successive days. Along the way, on all three walks, they found some garbage on the floor in different areas of the mall. Two of them did not even notice it, one complained that it should not be there in the first place, another started talking about the possible root cause, fifth one complained about the garbage cleaning service, and sixth one started to clean it up. The seventh one, while helping the sixth guy in cleaning looked at the businessman and said, "Here is our opportunity. It seems that the current vendor of cleaning services is not doing the job. We can offer better cleaning service to the mall."

Yes indeed, a very simple story ... but this was a real good test by that businessman.

Here is an incidence just from this morning that goes even further. A guy I was talking to told me about the mentoring program that his department had started. He was assigned a mentor from another group. This guy told me that he is learning new things from the mentor, plans to establish relationships in mentor's ecosystem and additionally he took this opportunity to show his mentor different products and services that his department was offering. This horse (guy) is not only drinking water (learning new skills from his mentor) but also offering his water (sales of his products/services) to other horses (creating potential customers). That is: going to do one thing (drink water) and coming back with three(water, juice and wine)

Reflection:

In real life, opportunity comes in many forms: offered by friends, well wishers, superiors and good organizations. But that is as far as they can go. In final analysis, it is you who are ultimately responsible for making use of the opportunity.

Quality means never having to say you are sorry

"In any relationship, business or personal, Quality means never having to say you are sorry." - Anand Shah, October 1987.

Storyline (Part 1 of a Three-Part series):

In the late '80s, a small semiconductor chipset company based in Northern California was acquired by a much larger company in the South. It so happened that both companies had one common customer, a very large Italian computer manufacturer.

A few weeks after the acquisition, the CEO of the large company was visiting the Italian customer. To his surprise, the customer executives expressed concern about the quality of his company's products, the item that was not on the original agenda. Thinking that it must be from his newly acquired company, the CEO assured the customer that he was going to pay immediate attention to the matter ... until the customer people explained that they were not happy with the quality of products from his other divisions, and extremely pleased with the quality from the acquired company.

Alarmed and delighted, the CEO sent asked his communications people to interview the small company's employees for the upcoming issue of their magazine.

When questioned, "What does quality mean to you as an employee?", the small company person replied, "In any relationship, business or personal, Quality means never having to say you are sorry."

He elaborated, "We are a small company trying to establish ourselves in the market. As you know, it is very hard to get inside customer's door in the first place and if we do, even one 'Sorry' situation can cause our demise. Our thinking is that we do not want to get into such situations in the first place so we are extra vigilant in all aspects (product, service, communication, internal relationships as well) of business."

Alarmed by the corporate wide exposure the small conquered company was getting in the magazine, the conqueror (the acquiring big company) sent a team of "benchmarking experts" to find out if there was any substance behind such a "Philosophical Vision".

NEXT WEEK: What "the experts" found.
Week After: "Power of Story Telling" and association technique

One of the most dangerous requests: "Give me honest feedback."

“Feedback is a gift” - Craig Brown

Once upon a time, in the early part of their careers, two rookies from a semiconductor supplier were involved in a major annual review with one of their company's largest customers. 

The head of the customer crew that had descended upon their facility was very impressed with the presentation that these rookies had given in the morning, and invited them to join him for lunch.  During this short break, they immediately established a good level of rapport and trust.

At the end of the day, back in the conference room, the customers wrapped-up as usual with feedback about their supplier’s performance.  Unusually, this time, the head of the customer crew asked the rookies directly, "Please give us honest feedback about how we are doing?"

This was a surprise for these rookies, who were momentarily taken aback.  However, since they were impressed by the humility and commitment to improvement that the customer was demonstrating, the rookies enthusiastically started delivering "Honest Feedback" about their customer.

As this feedback progressed, one of the rookies noticed that the other seven members (managers, engineers, a quality guy and some buyers) of the customer crew were constantly interrupting and explaining that things had to be that way because of the nature of their business and elegance of their technology. Also the faces of those magnificent seven seemed to be getting pinker and pinker. The rookies couldn’t figure out whether their faces were flushing with joy, or with something else.

Two days later, the rookies were summoned into their Boss’ Boss office. Their own boss was also present; and both those gentlemen’s faces looked pink and red, just like the faces of the seven customer folks two days earlier.  The big boss said that he had to field several calls from upset customer people. "What did you do?"

The rookies said, "The customer V.P. asked for honest feedback. So we gave him many improvement ideas and told him what other companies did better."

The bosses, faces still red, could not contain the laughter; even though it seemed that they really did not want to do that. The big boss said, "Honest, but not that honest!" Then he said (kind of admiringly), "Get the hell out of here."

Upon hearing about the episode, some senior employees were convinced that there would soon be a going-away party for the rookies.

Sequel: 
A week later, the rookies were again summoned in to the big boss’s office. The customer V.P. had sent two boxes for the rookies. Each box contained one tie pin representing his company’s products; one was a model of fighter jet F15 and the other was a model of the fighter jet F18. I think one of the rookies may still have the tie pin in a safe deposit box.

Reflection:
A feedback is a Gift. And that "Gift" deserves a gift for the person who gives you that "Gift."

Who are you working for after all?

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer.

Storyline:

Once upon a time, during a corporate training seminar on creativity, a wise old teacher asked his students: “How many of you here are working for someone else?” Everyone raised their hand.

Then the instructor said, "Let's ponder this from a different point of view. Instead of considering yourself an employee, what if you consider yourself as the owner of a business; and this business is what you are doing in your current job? How would you manage your 'job' then?"

The eager students responded with a few good points to ponder:

1. A business can not survive long without continuous improvement, and without introducing new products and services. If my job is my business, I have to keep on learning new skills to increase my value.
   
   
2. If my job were my own business, anyone who receives my work output is no longer a fellow employee; he/she is my customer.  I cannot expect to survive long without happy customers.
   
   
3. The most important business relations are personal ones. When I go to meetings or conferences, it is not only to discuss the subject at hand, but also to build new relationships that can open up new opportunities.
   
   
4. Since this is my own business, I must seize new opportunities outside of my current job description.  Instead of "this is not my job", the predominant thought becomes "this is my moment to grow the business."
   
   
5. Since money comes from my wallet, every minute of time matters, and every cent of spending goes to the bottom line. I can’t afford to waste precious time debating irrelevant issues, postpone important decisions, or defer responsibility to someone else.
   
   
6. My attitude changes from "This is just a job" to "This is my livelihood".  Since my performance is judged by my customers/investors in the value chain, I have to offer them the best return on investment ... or I cease to exsist!
   
   

Reflection:

If you take this attitude about your job, a whole new world opens up. Your sense of security and confidence builds: because you are continuously growing, trying new things, meeting many people, building relationships, and improving your business acumen.

It's no longer just work, it becomes your way of life; and you will come to realize that the world is very big, and there will always be room at the top for your talents.

A Desk is a Dangerous Place to View the World ...

"A desk (and a conference room) are dangerous places to view (manage) the world." - John Le Carre.

Once upon a time, 32 people from one manufacturing company had gathered in a conference room for an emergency meeting, because a product for a major customer had a serious manufacturing defect.  Many meetings had already taken place between the employees of the company, all without resolution. By now, tension was high, and the customer was getting increasingly irritated with the delay.

Intense arguments were going on between all the people who had gathered for the occasion. The record keeper was frantically trying to keep up with the heated discussions, and the timekeeper was desperately alerting the participants to stay focused on the agenda. After patiently listening to the discussions, one new entrant to the scene interrupted and asked three questions:

1. How many of you have visited the customer and seen the problem first hand?

2. How many of you are representing the manufacturing area where the problem is occurring? 

3. Of the rest of you, how many have ever seen the exposed glass lid (the defect in question)?

He then excused the rest of the people from the room (including the record keeper and time keeper). There were only 7 people left in the room out of the original 32.  Less than an hour later, decisions were made, and the problem was effectively resolved.

(Footnote: That new entrant went on to become a very successful CEO)

Reflection: In his acceptance speech for 1995 American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, Steven Spielberg said, "One cannot create the great work of art unless he/she has felt/experienced it in some way."  Such is also true when creating a good design, excellent product or useful software or solving manufacturing and customer issues.

Sequel: After hearing the above quote, "A desk….dangerous place to view….", one zealous manager decided to take immediate action. Instead of the normal practice of having phone meetings with representatives of overseas companies from conference rooms in the USA, he flew all the way down to Japan for a “first hand investigation”. He summoned the manufacturers to join him in the hotel conference room for meetings and had dialogues across Japanese desks instead of US desks. (But he failed to go to the actual manufacturing facilities.)

Last I heard, we get paid for making things possible...

Ability is what you are capable of doing, motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.  - Lou Holtz.

Storyline:

Early in my career, one boss gave me sage advice: “Companies hire us to make things possible, not to report why things are not possible”. Throughout my career, I have seen many examples of people who do not stop for the “impossible”.  Here is one such story:

You don’t have the right degree.

Many years ago, while looking for a person to manage our business systems, we interviewed a young man who had just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in business. Knowing fully well that he did not have a degree in Computer Science, as was normally required; we took into account the fact that he was a computer fanatic from the age of eight and displayed tremendous enthusiasm to tackle new challenges. It was a risk, but the interview team felt that it was worth it.

You can’t get onto the corporate roadmap.

During the first month, he noticed that our small group needed some key applications, but was told that it was impossible to get on the corporate group’s roadmap. So he decided to learn programming himself. Instead of going to a full semester course with a fee of $3,600 that others had done, he bought a book for $32 and got started on the basics.

We don’t have the budget.

Then came the second hurdle. We did not have the budget for the server to host our applications. He found out that a local IT department had recently upgraded some systems and had put the old ones in the warehouse. He got one for free. In the process, he made friends with the technician who provided invaluable support, and who was later himself promoted into new roles.

The customers hate dealing with IT.

His customers were used to support groups that measured their success by the number of tools delivered, instead of tracking if it had solved the customer’s real needs.  As a refreshing change, he patiently listened to various internal customer/user groups’ needs and then focused on delivering solutions rather than just systems and tools.  Customer satisfaction had never been higher.

Starting up a business is the biggest challenge.

When, after 5 years with us, he left to pursue his own venture, the stamp on his exit paper read “Eligible for Re-hire” (as soon as he is available.) I expect these same qualities will help to overcome the next level of obstacles in starting up two businesses destined for success.

Reflection:

In the words of one my mentors, “The difference between a very successful person and not-so-successful one; between a 5 figure and 7 figure income is not in the technical or content knowledge. It is given that you need that. The key differentiation is in how you carry yourself with respect to attitude, relationships, communication, commitments…

Customers of different industries were asked: "Why did you stop trading with a company?"

Source: Boardroom report, as published in Mortgage Banking magazine (June, 1987). From my collections

Story Line: The above survey was done over 20 years ago, but the underlying key message about customer orientation holds true 20 years later. Here are a few real life experiences from two industries:

1. Just a month ago, there was a conference in a five star hotel, attended by people from many companies around the globe. During the lunch break, I joined visitors from another company on their dining table. Noticing that there was no napkin in my dining spot, I requested the waiter to bring me one. The waiter replied, “Sir, there is a napkin on another table (pointing at that table). Why don’t you move there?” Everyone on our table was stunned. I even got a guilty feeling that it must be me until the visitors shared their similar encounter at the breakfast time.

2. In 1985, the company I was working for made a change in the process (called marking) that printed our company name and product identification on the top side of our plastic packages. We had moved from white ink marking (printing) to laser marking (etching) process.

On one summer Saturday morning, some members of our Laser Mark team (Engineering and Quality Managers.) received phone calls from none other than the CEO of the company. During his visit to a major customer on the previous day, he had witnessed first the legibility problem on the laser marked plastic packages supplied by our company.

After informing his managers about the problem, the CEO patiently listened to their explanation about the merits of the laser mark process and how it had resulted in substantial increase in the output; in our quest to be "The World Class Manufacturer". The managers emphasized that the manufacturing group had bought magnifying glasses to read laser marks and the benefits of output increase had far outweighed the cost of magnifying glasses. One of the managers even offered to call the customer and assist him in procuring magnifying glasses.

The CEO, in his normal soft voice, told his managers, "Effective solutions do not create problems for customers. The previous process of Ink Mark created perfectly legible prints and it was OK with the customer. Our process change had slowed the customer's manufacturing line and he should not have to buy magnifying glasses to compensate for poor quality of our laser marking." The awakened team spent next few months to improve laser mark legibility.

Reflection: So many times, people make decisions based on what is good for them and fail to understand the impact on the customer. My collection book is full of many such real life experiences. In most cases, customers had made a choice to stay with or choose a supplier that was easy to work with. This was particularly important in industries which were pushing the envelope every day to create breakthroughs and innovation.

Where are they now? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of the computer industry

Points to Ponder:

“There is at least one point in the history of any company (or an individual) when you have to change dramatically to rise to the next level of performance. Miss that moment - and you start to decline."
   - Andy Grove, the man whose microchips changed the world and its economy.

“Change before you have to”
   - Jack Welch, the chief architect of GE’s transformation (1980-99)

Story Line: Where are they now? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of the computer industry.

In 1960s there were 8 large computer companies. The largest of them, IBM, was called Snow White and the others were called the Seven Dwarfs. These seven dwarfs were: Burroughs, NCR, Control Data Corporation, Univac, RCA, Honeywell and General Electric.

Only three of the eight; IBM, GE and Honeywell; are still around. Of these three, the former dwarf, General Electric has gone on to become the world’s second largest market capitalization company (Behind Exxon); and fetches revenue of $163 billion. Founded in 1878, GE has survived and thrived in three different centuries, in a world, where average half life of companies is 40 years.

So what is the secret of longevity? In a few words: Constantly reinventing itself and transforming company culture with the times. A lot has been written about GE’s transformation under the leadership of Jack Welch’s from 1980-1999.

Reflections: from Jack Welch’s teachings

An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Willingness to change is strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while.

The world will not belong to 'managers' or those who can make the numbers dance. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders – people who not only have enormous amounts of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.

The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important – and then get out of their way while they do it.

My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.

Globalization has changed us into a company that searches the world, not just to sell or to source, but to find intellectual capital – the world's best talents and greatest ideas.

Control your own destiny or someone else will.