The Dog Days and the Top Dog

Here’s a quick read you’ll like.  It’s perfect for what frequently are called “the dog days of summer.” Makes it a good time to talk about another dog: the “top dog,” and his or her role in driving successful Strategy Execution.

It’s an interesting post with good suggestions, yet, at core, based on a common (and major) misconception.  The author implies that CEOs (the “Top Dogs” referenced earlier) have the option of "relegating" (strange choice of word. Does he mean delegating?) strategy execution.  Not true - at least, not if the CEO wants to succeed.

How Smart Leaders Translate Strategy into Execution

http://bit.ly/MAThZU

One can use others to support the execution process.  The CEO must own and lead.

I’d be happy to talk through why CEO’s (or whoever the Top Dog is in the organization executing the strategy) have to own Strategy Execution, should you like. It’s one of the core principles at RedZone.

Enjoy your “dog days.”  Stay cool.  Let’s speak soon.

2 Bad Experiences and a Question

Quick hits as we get to the end of a busy and eventful year.

Gogo and Delta: Two terrible customer service experiences in one day

Terrible experience #1:  Gogo is a (potentially) great new service, if you haven't had the chance to try it.  Wifi in flight, allowing access to everything Internet: email, web, company portals.  But this week's experiences really have me wondering.  (Hmm, how do I do share this quickly?).

Try this:  Gogo sells its service.  People who need it, buy it.  Like me.  This month, in conjunction with Google to promote Chrome, Google's browser, Gogo is giving away the service free.  All month.  

Guess what.  That means customers who have paid for the service can't use it.  Limited bandwidth; shortened sessions.  Even worse - so overloaded, you can't even get on line.  Imagine how that makes a paying customer feel.  So, time that I expected to use productively got wasted.  Risked deadlines, delayed communications with important customers.  Great execution, guys (please, don't miss the sarcasm).

Terrible experience #2:  This one borders on unethical and perhaps even illegal.  Late last evening, I got on Delta.com to book a flight New Year's weekend.  I searched on the site and found a $169 r/t fare.  Great!  I enter in my daughter's information (I was already logged in), hit enter, put in payment information (it was quick, as my credit card is stored on the site), hit enter and - Presto! - No, not booked tickets.  A message from Delta that, in the three minutes since I searched and selected the flights, the fare had changed from $169 to $285 per ticket (what!?!?!).  Yep, over $100 increase while I was in the middle of booking and after Delta had shown me that the fare was available.  Of course, I discarded those tickets and started again.  Guess what?  THE SAME THING HAPPENED TWO MORE TIMES!  Found a fare (they kept inching higher and higher), went to book it, and - Whammo!  What a scam.  What terrible customer service!

No, I don't cut them any slack for "limited capacity."  Ticketmaster has figured it out.  Ticketmaster has a clock in the lower corner of the page.  Finish this page in x minutes or lose the seat.  It goes, different times on  each page as the transaction progresses, until the tickets are bought.  Don't tell me Delta couldn't do the same thing and protect the integrity of its searches, its ticket prices, and its reputation.  

No, I'm afraid we are seeing more and more of the companies who think they are too (pick one:) big/smart/innovative/exciting/important to fail.  I wonder what history will say about that.

The Observation...

...has nothing to do with bad customer service, but the recent deal to extend unemployment benefits.  I'm all for protecting and taking care of each other - really.  I'm pretty darn liberal that way.  But, can't we ask people to do something for the money?  So, there aren't jobs in private industry right now.  Aren't there things that people could do to help?  Can't there be programs established so the money doesn't just go for nothing?  Who knows, maybe some people would look a little harder for work if even unemployment benefits came with working hours requirements.  Isn't that what created the WPA?

There Is No Try

The best insights may come from the most unlikely places.  

This morning, on a National Public Radio show that I rarely hear, was a conversation about fortune cookies.  (Did you know that fortune cookies are Japanese in origin, not Chinese?)  As part of the conversation, the author mentioned that the source of many fortune cookie sayings, in the early 1900's, was Confuscious.   Made up and inaccurate sayings, yes, but attributed to Confuscious.  

One hundred years later, a more relevant source was needed.  Who is it? Yoda.  Yes, George Lucas's/Luke Skywalker's Yoda.

So, as I prepared to turn off the car and walk into the Men's Breakfast, I heard this reference.  In many ways, it reduces the entire science of Strategy Execution to eleven words (click here to get the quote directly from the Jedi master himself):

 

"No. Try not. Do or do not.  There is no try."

Simple, direct, and oh, so right.  Successful Strategy Execution has nothing to do with effort or good intentions.  Yes, there are times when effort and desire may be as if not more important than results.  But rarely in Strategy Execution.  In Strategy Execution, it is about results.  Reaching your true goals.

I had not realized, before this morning, that Yoda was a Strategy Execution master as well as a Jedi one.  But it is now so obvious:

• Sponsorship & Consequences:  "Always two there are, a master and an apprentice."
  
• Realistic Communications: Luke: "I'm not afraid."  Yoda: "Ohh... you will be, you will be."
  
• Commitment: "A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind."
  
• Clarity of Vision & Focus on the True Goal: "If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."
  

Strategy Execution is a discipline.  It requires commitment, leadership, a realistic understanding of the challenges, clarity of vision, a focus on achieving the ultimate goal - and unwillingness to accept anything less.  

When executing a critical business strategy, Yoda knows:  "Do. Or do not.  There is no try."

Thank you, master.

It's Time to Finish the Job.

Welcome to 2009. Sitting at my desk a few days before the end of 2008, I find myself fully and unapologetically looking forward to the start of 2009.

I won't spend much time dwelling on 2008. The press and the holiday parties have that responsibility well in hand. My conclusions fall in line with others:

• The economy is bad and will get worse before it gets better;
• Consumers don't have money to spend. We will continue to see the impact in housing, automotive, and retail which, in turn, will impact nearly every other industry;
• We're in a downward spiral that will require significant government intervention and spending to break.

Yet, for all the negative news, I go into the new year remarkably optimistic. I'm not being a polyanna, nor ignoring facts. I continue to believe, however, in the ambition, drive, dedication, and determination of us.

RedZone Consulting is all about helping organizations "reach (their) true goals." To do so, we use a structured process, a methodology. And a critically important part of that process is at the very end. We call the activities: "Finishing the Job." It's a set of activities that you don't see in most (if any) other methodologies. And the concept behind "Finishing the Job" is what makes me optimistic about 2009.

You know the story. The first 80% is the easiest. The last 20% is the tough part. That's the "red zone" - the 20 yards before the end zone. But getting into the red zone isn't the goal. It's getting into the end zone. It's scoring. It's winning the game. It's finishing the job.

We use "Finishing the Job" in our methodology as a reminder, as an opportunity to revisit and confirm our original goals. And, if those goals are still valid, to re-focus our efforts on achieving those goals.

"Finishing the Job" is something we (collectively) do. Sometimes we need prodding or reminding. Thus, the activities in the RedZone framework. But, when reminded, we rarely say, "naw, I don't want to do that..." We get up and we finish the job. We get it done.

Consider 2008 our reminder. 2008 was the wake up call. 2008 was the kick in the pants.

So we head into 2009. Heads high. Determined. Focused. It's time to finish the job. It's time to get through the red zone to the end zone. It's time to score. It's time to win.

Happy New Year. Now, let's get it done.