CAPE COD — Yes, it’s not fair to spend a week or two here every few years and make some big assumptions.  So let’s just call these some observations.  Asides. 

As always, you can be quickly impressed with the core ‘brand’ of America.  It’s a patriotism that is remarkable for a country that is so young [...]]]>  

CAPE COD — Yes, it’s not fair to spend a week or two here every few years and make some big assumptions.  So let’s just call these some observations.  Asides. 

As always, you can be quickly impressed with the core ‘brand’ of America.  It’s a patriotism that is remarkable for a country that is so young and so disparate.  We’ve seen school teachers singing God Bless America at baseball games, flags draped from every surface and people who are so secure in where and who they are that all other worried seem to drop away.

But America is changing.  The core is constantly moving.  And the country and the people in it seem to also have an in-built ability to accept and quickly adapt to change.

Here are a few examples:

1. The end of the newspaper

It really makes me sad to say, but they’re dying.  Even the New York Times, which I have long looked forward to like a healthy, meaty salad of good things that I often didn’t know I enjoyed.  It’s got nothing much in it anymore.  And in a world where I want everyone to know more about current events, the NYT is writing about topics that even I can’t get excited about.

My own hometown paper went from 7 days a week to 6 last week.  It’s basically an advertising circular.

2. Politics is boring

I hate to say that too.  But it is.  The issues that America is grappling with are not that exciting.  Healthcare.  A foreign war.  The radicalisation of the media and the political parties.  There’s only so much you can read about it.

So it seems to be changing.  Local, quiet activism — where many national and state politicians are coming from — is the order of the day.  There’s less name-calling and more action.  And it’s working.

3. Subsidised lifestyles

It’s impossible for any foreigner (except one from the Middle East) to pass a petrol station here and not be amazed at the cost of gas.  It’s less than half that of London.  And even UK prices are subsidised.

Quality schools, public transport, and social services are all better than most Americans recognise.  You can hear seemingly normal people here talk about the ‘creeping socialism’ in America.  Like a monster under the bed.  But in many ways America invented a new, commercial socialism years and years ago, and has been refining the model ever since.

4. Common ground on the environment

Americans don’t like their heroes to be pious in any way.  So Al Gore will never be sainted in this lifetime.  But America has taken environmentalism to it’s heart.  It’s not something that you paint as extreme anymore.  No one is saying the Gulf of Mexico is okay.  People are buying cleaner cars.

You can get a $15,000 fine for littering on the local roads.  By my calculation you could get the same fine if you were caught driving at roughly 1,510 miles per hours.

Hmm.

5. Integration and adaptation

It’s easy to be dismissive say that America is a melting pot and therefore no cultures survive.  But that’s rubbish.  It is clear that there is a functional common ground of language and culture.  But it’s not legislation that drives that.  It’s size and force of will.

There is every kind of person in America.  Every culture.  Every language… even every kind of pasta.  So you can’t get a decent Tikka Masala or french baguette… but you can get amazing films, wines, sports equipment, books and anything else that the world might produce… including proper tortillas.

We can learn from America, just as America learns from those who come here.

When it comes to change management America knows what the goal is.  They know the change path.  they recognise a burning platform and they mobilise themselves to get there.

It works.

/df

PICCADILLY — My dad used to say that sometimes you had to wait for a few parishioners to die before you could make changes to the church.

It was typical of his kind of wry sense of the ridiculous.  But that doesn’t make it any less true.  It is a great truism that people have to [...]]]>

PICCADILLY — My dad used to say that sometimes you had to wait for a few parishioners to die before you could make changes to the church.

It was typical of his kind of wry sense of the ridiculous.  But that doesn’t make it any less true.  It is a great truism that people have to be able to adapt, or no progress can be made.

Looking today at the speculated new list of England players for World Cup 2014 (did you think we wouldn’t start talking about it yet?!), they’re almost all new.  As they should be.

I remember the shock when The Dreaded Sven brought in a whole new generation and shipped out the old.  But, bless him, it worked.

And then you have work situations:

• The newly merged company boss who wants to know why they can’t just use his old company’s ways

• The head of department who wants to turn her team upside down, but doesn’t want to upset anyone

• The process of replacing the unhappy employee that looks for the same kind of person for the same kind of job

• The business that can’t serve it’s clients and wants a contractor to do it at no loss of revenue

• The organisation that cannot change so they have brought in consultants, and won’t let them change anything

It’s perhaps symptomatic of the way people are.  We know the medicine, we just regularly ‘forget’ to take it.

/df

TCR — What did you make of the football banner photo above?  I took it last night at the Europa Cup Final in Hamburg.

I found it quite amusing when I saw it. Because I think it plays on all our worries about social inclusion and the language that we use.

What do you think it means?

Here’s [...]]]>

TCR — What did you make of the football banner photo above?  I took it last night at the Europa Cup Final in Hamburg.

I found it quite amusing when I saw it. Because I think it plays on all our worries about social inclusion and the language that we use.

What do you think it means?

Here’s the story: One of the teams that was playing in the European football event was my modest local Fulham Football Club (FFC, for short). In the fairly basic approach to nicknames that football teams often use, Fulham refer to themselves as the Whites.  This is simply because their most common jersey is a white one.  (Down the street my other local, Chelsea is called… the Blues.)

One of yesterday’s unsung stars is a midfielder called Dickson Etuhu.  You can see him in many of the sad looking wire photos today.  He’s a Nigerian.   John Pantsil is from neighbouring Ghana.  So there is a strong West African contingent in the Fulham team.

Do you get the banner now?

What does it say to those who don’t know the story?  Something quite different, no doubt.

Context is what we call this.  Explaining the back story.  Examining what you know that others might not — and telling them.

In business we don’t do this enough.  In health and safety it often costs lives. In broader business it can ruin reputations and cost lots of money.

Putting decisions, policies, news and results into context allows everyone a fair chance to understand how they came about.

Sometimes it’s hard to do.  But that’s no excuse for not doing it.

/df

REGENT ST — My dad used to tell us that in Canada there was no obligatory military service, so everyone should work for the government for at least two years.

All of my siblings did.  My brother and I in federal politics and my sister in universities, for local government and running architecture associations in western [...]]]>

REGENT ST — My dad used to tell us that in Canada there was no obligatory military service, so everyone should work for the government for at least two years.

All of my siblings did.  My brother and I in federal politics and my sister in universities, for local government and running architecture associations in western Canada.  My brother was chief of staff to a Prime Minister.  I was less successful, but had an office in the Canadian Parliament Buildings that had been the entire Ministry of Finance at the time of Confederation.

If nothing else it gives you a better understanding of what public service is all about.  Why people do it and what difficulties there are in making it work.

I came to the conclusion that politicians need a rare and equal balance of:

1. optimistic desire that the world can be changed, and
2. egotism to believe that they can do it.

However, there are a myriad of ways that people can work in the public sector these days. And I am not sure we are taking advantage of that enough.  There are not enough people who really know what it is about.  And there are fewer still who think they will find pride and power in the public sector.

That’s wrong. 

There ought to be more people fighting for the fewer public sector jobs in our countries.

We need more, better bureaucrats.

Think about how well ‘less regulation’ has worked?  And the clear fact that governments will have to be smaller in the future, but better regulation is required.

Clearly good brains are needed.

/df

OLD BOND STREET — It still doesn’t feel like business is in any great position to be lecturing politicians.  There’s never been much patience for it.  And I think if more bankers has made it to civics class we wouldn’t be in this mess.

But business certainly knows more about M&A (mergers and acquisitions) than the [...]]]>

OLD BOND STREET — It still doesn’t feel like business is in any great position to be lecturing politicians.  There’s never been much patience for it.  And I think if more bankers has made it to civics class we wouldn’t be in this mess.

But business certainly knows more about M&A (mergers and acquisitions) than the political classes do.

We’ve been communicating M&A over two centuries now (did you see what I did there?) and businesses do not dare say things that our politicians seem happy to say.

Like:

• Our approach is sound the other guy’s is not
• There’s nothing we can learn from our future colleagues
• No need to explain anything, people will understand when it happens
• If this doesn’t work out we can just try something else
• Etc.

There is a lot of work that goes into making partnerships succeed.  Regardless of how many people may want them to fail, or be resistant to them, sometimes partnerships are the only way to move forward and grow.  Sometimes we don’t get to choose.  Sometimes we have to just get on with it.

/df

TCR — My mother’s maiden name was Young. And her sister’s called Carol. So, I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but I feel quite proprietary about Carl Jung.

Jung and Freud are also set to be the subject of a saucy film about their relationship with a Russian emigree. It will be out next [...]]]>

TCR — My mother’s maiden name was Young. And her sister’s called Carol. So, I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but I feel quite proprietary about Carl Jung.

Jung and Freud are also set to be the subject of a saucy film about their relationship with a Russian emigree. It will be out next spring and star Keira Knightley. So I’m sure we’ll all feel a but different about Carl and Sigmund soon.

Today though the subject is Carl Jung, leadership and communication.  Jung’s view on human behaviour, motivations and character types has been fully adopted into our world view.  Western societies (at least) just assume his views to be true. 

Which is remarkable when you consider how mad they were at the time.  And even how controversial Jung and Freud’s lives were seen to be even after they had died.  If you talk to business leaders about MBTI (as I don’t really like to do) or about the transition curve, performance management, reward, promotions, and the like they’ll often spout something about enlightened self-interest or leading with the need which all owe some debt of gratitude to my errant Swiss relative.

What radical ideas on business are we creating today that will be a commonly held belief by the time my grandchildren are retiring?

It’s worth thinking about.

/df

LONDON — There’s a great report out now from my old mates at Towers Watson.  It’s called the Global Worksforce Survey.  They do it every year, and it has lots of interesting stuff in it.

[Although don't be fooled into trying to order it from here -- you'll get a three year old one.]

The major news [...]]]>

LONDON — There’s a great report out now from my old mates at Towers Watson.  It’s called the Global Worksforce Survey.  They do it every year, and it has lots of interesting stuff in it.

[Although don't be fooled into trying to order it from here -- you'll get a three year old one.]

The major news headline seems to be that the recession has changed the way we see work. In particular, more than half of us want to work for one company for our whole life.

The irony is not completely lost on me, that the old Towers Perrin is announcing the end of the ‘job for life’, when they made my stay with them abruptly shorter about seven years ago.

They were a very good employer, and one I thought I would stay at for life — when I was doing any thinking.

Max Cauldwell, speaking for Towers Watson, explains that ‘the deal’ is now truly broken.  The Deal is the concept that you offer something to the business (your time, intelligence, etc.) and in return, they give you something back (pay, safety, etc.).  Towers, Mercer, Aon, and Hewitt, as well as all the other Human Resources consultancies, have been selling consulting on The Deal for about 30 years.  So that must be bad news for them.

But truthfully the deal has been broken for a long, long time.  Probably almost 30 years.

It’s not that employees don’t go into work every day hoping to be treated well and to have their long-term interests taking into account.  It’s just that no one really expects it anymore.

You might argue that it is a sad statement that that has happened.  And in places like France, as the state influence breaks down and jobs-for-life become harder to come by, they are seeing social unrest — with boss-napping.

‘Give me my job back, or the boss gets it!’

But it’s true.  None of us can reasonably expect to have a job for life.  And there’s quite a lot we can do about it:

• Manage our pensions better.
• Choose our companies for the work, the experience and the opportunities — not ‘nice people’.
• Demand more on your end of the deal.
• And so on…

What is most remarkable about the end of the job-for-life is that so few people and businesses have adjusted their style, processes and communications to take it into account.

After all, the job of Queen and Pope are both taken.

/df

DISTRICT LINE — I love the way that the mainstream of public discourse can so easily reject different approaches as silly.  I didn’t see the show on John Lewis last Wednesday — Inside John Lewis.  A friend of mine did though.  And he says they were painted as a bunch of numpties.  And a bunch of [...]]]>

DISTRICT LINE — I love the way that the mainstream of public discourse can so easily reject different approaches as silly.  I didn’t see the show on John Lewis last Wednesday — Inside John Lewis.  A friend of mine did though.  And he says they were painted as a bunch of numpties.  And a bunch of numpties who don’t know how they’ve got so lucky.  Which is ridiculous, obviously.

It is, right!?

You’re not so sure?

One of the great charms of Great Britain is the complexity of its history and the variety of narratives that can emerge.  In this century, so far, we are all committed to the Dickens narrative:

• We used to work in coal mines, our bosses were mean and nasty, but the world was worse,
• Then the benevolence of man created commercial enterprise — overseen by faceless gods in expensive shoes — who made everything right.

It’s a capitalist fairy tale that insists that the Corporation is what built Britain (and therefore the world).

But the truth is far less clean and consistent.  Companies like JLP and Cadbury and The Co-op did it very differently.  Their approach to business was closer to socialist than to our capitalist democracy.  And they succeeded.

We read in Fast Company and other coffee-table management magazines that ABC Co offers free dog washing to employees who show up on a Sunday, or all you can drink from the booze cart on a Friday afternoon.  But when compared to the approach of a John Lewis Partnership or a Co-op that is as parsimonious and fatuous as could be.

Maybe John Lewis are not numpties.  Maybe they’ll still be here when the rest of us have folded up our tents.  Maybe we can learn something from them.

/df

Don’t invent symbolic events.  Just look out for them.

Some of us (consultants) will happily tell you that a symbolic event is tremendously important in [...]]]> KNIGHTSBRIDGE — We have worked on a couple of very prominent instances of this recently.  Indeed we’re doing one now.  And there’s one single message that has emerged as the most important:

Don’t invent symbolic events.  Just look out for them.

Some of us (consultants) will happily tell you that a symbolic event is tremendously important in sealing and unifying a great change. But what we often get wrong is how that event comes about. Let me give you two examples.

THE GOOD – Mandela and the Springboks.  I won’t belabour this, as it’s been all over the press with the Clint Eastwood film Invictus.  But essentially when the new black President put on the jersey of the traditionally all-white rugby team, the country could see old wounds beginning to heal.  It was good enough to turn into a film.  But it was a culmination of lots of hard work and it was a natural extension of the characters involved.

THE BAD – “Mission accomplished!” it said on the aircraft carrier where US President George W. Bush landed a fighter plane and swaggered down the runway.  And it wasn’t.  The mission wasn’t accomplished. He was nowhere near the scene of the mission.  He had learned to fly while sitting out the Vietnam War.  There was so much about it that smelled wrong that Americans don’t even like to talk about it today.

There is a great deal of work to be done to determine how to bring brands together and how to unify company cultures.  And most of that spade work is real hard graft.  Planning, studies, system changes, restructurings, communication, coordination, etc.

It is only when all that work is done and starting to take effect, and when real change is happening that events occur and/or opportunities emerge.

Don’t lead with it, don’t invent it, don’t force it.  It won’t come that way.

/df

NEAR CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — Yesterday I went kayaking through the salt-water mashes near the sea.  The pre-departure briefing, with two of my kids and I, included an explanation of the most dangerous animals in the river: not the alligators, not the sharks… but the oysters and their sharp shells.  They’ll “cut you to ribbons.”

So, [...]]]>

NEAR CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — Yesterday I went kayaking through the salt-water mashes near the sea.  The pre-departure briefing, with two of my kids and I, included an explanation of the most dangerous animals in the river: not the alligators, not the sharks… but the oysters and their sharp shells.  They’ll “cut you to ribbons.”

So, that’s unpleasant, I guess.  But not the stuff of nightmares.

Not like canoeing down the Zambezi river between Zimbabwe and Zambia that we did more than ten years ago.  There the risks were listed as:
1) Sunken trees — They’ll flip your boat
2) Hippos — chase you for fun and will bite off an arm or leg, but they’re herbivores at heart.
3) Crocodiles — a good size one for every 3 meters of coast, we were told.  They’ll eat you.  No doubt.

Right.  “Anyone ever canoed before?”

That was a scary trip.

But I’m not sure it was scarier than starting a business right into the headwinds of a recession.

No one starts a business without a strong belief they’ll succeed.  And you do get told about the alligators and hippos that you may see… but you assume you won’t.

I have been thinking about people on wages — like I was until recently. I know that they (you?) have worried about the randomness of their employers.  Will they toss me out?  Will I find another job? Etc.

And I think know that’s why we started this business.  We wanted to create a firm like the ones we consult to.  We wanted to make it as good as we want our clients to be.

Warren Buffet’s mate and the Vice-Chairman of his company, Charlie Munger, says that their firm invests quite simply in “management with integrity and talent.”

And that’s all we want to be.  Even in the past years and a bit of extreme business conditions we haven’t fired anyone. We have held firm on issues that we believe go to our integrity.  We have gratefully received the support of our friends. We have indulged the people who want us to fail.  We have avoided debt and tried to hold the line of work that we believe we can do better than anyone else.

It’s extreme.  It’s maybe even foolish. But hopefully it’s got integrity.  And that’s the best way to make it in this world.

I am told that.

And I am determined to make it true.

/df