Day 16: Acquired identities

In Frankfurt I had a conversation with a woman who once worked as a massage therapist in a brothel. She told me that there is a very subtle yet powerful competition amongst prostitutes expressed as ostentatious consumption. It seems that the more expensive the things you can buy, the more appealing you are as a product. And the more appealing you are as a product, the more expensive the things you can buy. This self perpetuating cycle will see women sleeping with upwards of ten men a day, securing that Gucci with that coochie.

Iaan, in his infinite wisdom once captured this succinctly: "the better you look, the more you'll see." (and the age old cliche: "don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want")
These purchased identities, that allow acceptance and access to desirable clubs, social groups and that promotion you so desperately need to pay your credit card debt, come at a very steep price. By modulating what we think others see as desirable, we often destroy what is authentic and unique; paradoxically killing the thing that makes us stand out and get attention. The catch is, by demonstrating that we are up to date with current trends we also show that we have social currency. Being 'in the know' denotes a social status that aligns a person with what is vital and dynamic. In the clubby world of CEO's, not being in on the latest fad is tantamount to social castration. But honestly, what is the price of the CEO d**k measuring contest (I have more twitter followers than you)?

In the large companies I worked for it was a bit of a game to see how quickly the new memes spread through the company (blue ocean, black swan and LOHA's none the less). A buzzword that the CEO stumbled upon in the latest HBR (or the golf course) could be seen in division head presentations within weeks... the country managers needed about a month or two to assimilate the new code. None of this of course has anything to do with the real behavior of the company or the resultant "real" strategy (action on the battlefield) that consumers experience as the "brand". The socialization of the memes simply demonstrates how well the structure and culture transmits information. What is the churn rate of jargon in your company?

The real question though is, like the prostitutes, what are these companies doing to themselves in the blind process of devouring the latest trends, fads and management 'wisdom'.  Authenticity actually carries far more value in the long run but as the oldest profession teaches, you just don't see as much action in play. Is there a way of re-expressing the value of integrity without it becoming a fad?

Day 15: A shark on the sofa

Hunting in the hinterland, the past two days have seen beautiful countryside and such exotic little villages as Dingolfing, Arzberg and Falkenberg. The hunt is inspired by my encounter with a shark earlier this week.

In evolutionary terms sharks, crocodiles and limpets are the supreme constants. As their ecological niche has remained unchanged, so has their form and habits. Need for innovation = 0. At Tegernsee I stayed in a family hotel that has been in business for about 120 years. They are still serving the same beer from the same brewery and offer the same view of the same mountains. Yes they do make some concessions in the name of offering home comforts away from home (as they always have), and they do change the sheets.
In stark contrast, a Pharma group were having an offsite at the hotel. The irony of innovation champions seeking a sense of their next step in a place that has not changed, was not lost on the hotel owner.
But this raises an interesting question, is there a fixed innovation rate for an industry or category? Do sharks get disrupted?
The constant debate about Moore’s law notwithstanding, the froth of media and telco industries seems to float on a constant sea where people’s other habits have not really changed that much.

Apps sell like hot cakes, yet we still prefer to spend time with other people (and the apps that help us do that, do better). Matt was kind enough to introduce me to the model that correlates information industry disruption to average bandwidth available at home. When the analogue “good” (newspaper, CD, DVD) becomes easily accessible as a “service” (streaming, on demand) the shark has bitten its tail. We meet the constant factor:

Do you know the average innovation rate for your category? What have you learnt from it? How are you spending against it? The old PEST control won’t save or threaten old crocodiles its seems.

Day 14: Shamans, charlatans and soothsayers

The daughter of a vietnamese soothsayer gave me an interesting insight about the dark arts. Karma is energy and as such cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be shifted or transmuted from one form into another. The energy always stays in balance. When her father realized this he stopped practicing the craft. The latent karma inherent in a pending death by car crash is simply shifted to another event or entity. In vietnam you can identify the really good soothsayers by missing limbs or physical disabilities brought about by the soothsayer absorbing the crises in others.

I wonder how many consultants are aware of a similar dynamic in their dark craft. Greg Clarke told me that there are in essence only three reasons a company hires a consultant: a. to get access to special knowledge, b. to reduce cost (outsource) and c. to shift risk. The last group are the most dangerous and you should charge more for them.

But there is something more sinister and destabilizing about this relationship between a client and their agent. In just about every conversation I had this week the same theme came up again and again; implementation support is the biggest market need right now. In so many cases the designers and innovators hired to help out are frustrated when great ideas are left in the boardroom and never see the light of day. The practical skills and ability to make actionable decisions along the way seem to be missing.

Looking at the soothsayer wisdom I would venture that the consulting model itself creates this need. By separating the client team of a company from the innovation process the employees lack the insight, interest and passion to drive the idea to fruition. All of the energy created by the discovery and creation process is left with the consultants, burnishing their polished plaques. The emotional bond between creator and its Pygmalion walks out the door as the engagement ends. Or as Susanne put it: "Sometimes you get lucky and one or two people actually 'get it.' They are the ones who put in the effort to drive the idea through."

I don't think anything important was ever invented 9 to 5. The subconscious gnawing that gets you up at 3am to noodle and shape a new concept is essential to taking a business to fresh terrain. This personal investment is essential to overcome corporate dissent and the conflict inherent in change. The stereotypical image of the entrepreneur who irrationally follows a dream to overcome all hurdles to success illustrates this. By outsourcing this effort and emotional commitment a company implicitly gives away their ability to access its energy. Perhaps consultants should pay their clients for the privilege of feeling like fresh parents all the time.

Day 13: Hitler was a call centre agent

Recently when Volker and Dina tried to explain the dynamics of second world war to their son he gave this wonderful insight. In his world, call centre agents are truly horrible people who keep bombarding you with unwanted propaganda. As a young child growing up in Germany today, never directly exposed to any form of violence, this must be the closest thing to horror.
My take on it is that he may well be onto something. A young Hitler growing up today as a struggling artist would most probably be working in a call centre to support himself. Every day the world is spared such horrors because modern living standards and the leveling of the world is making it harder for personality cults to ferment real political action. Somehow "Outliers" + "Black Swan" = "Hitler is a call centre agent."

If we look at the Occupy movement, or any general uprising over the last years for that matter, the striking attribute is the absence of galvanizing charismatic leaders. The diffuse, unclear general sense of discontent does not find a lightning rod in one handy man (or woman). If anything the togetherness and sense of unvoiced belonging is the real galvanizing force. A quality that is felt, and everyone finds a different way to express it in their words.

This reminds me of an experience I had at a rave many years ago in South Africa. The whole crowd was blissing out and dancing with joy. A few people tried to cause trouble and their anger was apparent. In some way the dancing crowd acted like a giant organism expunging the negative elements and maintaining the feeling at the core. No rules, no words, just a dynamic shift in collective energy. If your friends don't dance then they ain't no friends of mine, as they say. The collective sense of belonging is a quality that is felt, not a rules based system. And definitely not a leader dependent system. Steven Fry may have more than a million followers but won't be able to whip them into a rage.

Our twitter-web holon of awareness does not allow one point of view, or one way of seeing things to dominate. (Except if you are part of the american political machine in which case you still believe that one 'man' can fix the problem and one point of view explains the truth) The fragmented media landscape and excessive ability for competing messages to reach even the most isolated communities means the myopia needed to believe unconditionally that you are right, cannot be sustained. We have to accept a constant shift in the landscape, yet be true to ourselves in whatever comes up. The power vacuums in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt et al have not degenerated into chaos just because CNN couldn't find the fast talking king of the sound byte to elevate into popular focus.

Is this indicating a shift in the way we organize around work as well? It used to be "plan the work, then work the plan," where smart experts could foresee exactly was was needed. This assumes that the future is constant and knowable when the plan gets written. It reduces the power and influence of people acting in a dynamic reality where crashes happen and new insight brings the plan to naught. The misplaced trust, that CEO's and charismatic leaders can understand and guide the complexity of a large organism, is becoming really aparant as CEO tenure shrinks to all time lows. What is the new model of leadership? What can we learn about purpose based systems that self organize and deliver momentum without clarity? In a world where we can safely relegate dictators to call centre jobs, we can elevate the value of every job to a meaningful contribution.

Day 12: When the mountain comes to you

How many times do you have to walk a specific way for it to become a path? Through repetition our feet find the comfortable certainty that we won’t get lost, won’t stumble on unexpected stones and see exactly what everyone has seen before us.

It seems to be so deeply imbedded in our culture that we don’t even challenge the corporate planning grooves we are in. The repeated mantras and regurgitated sales figures that equate rear view mirror driving. These corporate social habits are aimed more at building approval and consensus than elaborating on the options in a landscape filled with black swans.

If the process of strategy creation is to be successful it needs to transcend documents and become a dance of socialization. The strategy gets repeated again and again through countless meetings at countless levels of the company. And why? Because through repetition we hope that it will become the truth. Even though we know that the future is unknowable, we still hold onto the idea that we can capture and project the future in our PowerPoints.

The magical tool that makes us believe it will be so, is the response and recognition we get from our peers and superiors in the firm. A nod, a smile, a wink. And so, like the mountain paths, our strategies become well worn synapse free flows towards destiny. How many companies have gone back to validate their planning process against results? Very few. How many use this insight to improve the merry little dance? Fewer still! The fact is that most people will hold onto the bias that if we all feel good about the numbers they are OK to proceed against. The same way we felt good about the numbers last year, and the year before.

So as the ground on which these paths are etched shifts over time, the same strategy that has become folklore in the firm can sign the death march of the lemmings. Can strategy really be reduced to the simplest way to get to point B from point OK? How do we avoid ossification of corporate curiosity to ensure that strategy becomes more spontaneous and fluid? More like surfing, less like military marches. Using the seismic shifts as waves of inspiration to cut a new course.

Day 11: The end of job descriptions

Seems you can't escape getting into a build mindset when you arrive in Germany. It feels like I am starting to drift from discovery to synthesis without getting really lost. Not that the day wasn't inspirational. The baggage carousel sofa in Arlanda was quite well done irony. I was particularly intrigued by the little cables that held the fake suitcases in place. Just a pity that everyone is too conditioned by the "don't sit on the moving belt" signs to actually take part in the art!

More interestingly though, Bjørn Borg is running a Bjørn <3 John campaign. Isn't it fantastic that such an old rivalry can still sell shorts? Real emotion and authentic struggle just connects and keeps us fascinated, long after a winner or looser is chosen. I wonder if in 20 years there will be an underwear campaign which has "Goldman Sachs <3 Occupy Wall street?" Unfiltered emotion is far too rare a commodity to waste on the fleeting moments of real conflict.  

As a child I joined the water rescue squad (for a weekend). It turns out they spend 99% of their time drinking beer and getting a suntan. When I asked them why they did it, the answer was: "the accidents." The exceptional moments, the instant that redefines, in high drama the way we view our life and the contribution we make. The business model for the 99%

This really got me thinking about how we should or could view work to make more sense of why we spend so much time at it. Barry Schwartz put it so well in his loss of wisdom talk. Wouldn't it be so much more effective we did away with job descriptions all together and ask every employee to do a "mini/individual business plan"? Having a clear and well understood plan of how your individual contribution connects with the overall organizational mission would do away with a lot of politics. As the entrepreneur in charge of your career, you will have the responsibility to identify the resources you need, the channels you could use and the key market segment for your services and offering. The job description is dead, long live the individual business plan!

Day 10: Sub-rosa and the footprint engineers

So Stockholm draws to a close and the jet engines are warming up for Munich! From one spired and gothic christmas card setting to another. I hope the gluehwein stands are up.
How lucky to run into Fredrik this afternoon. Over dinner we had a great chat and invented the word "impact engineers": the people who finely craft the entire footprint of an idea; the emotional extent of engagement (not to be confused with sapient nitro's idea engineers).
By shifting the focus from what goes into a value proposition, to what comes out of it (the footprint), you begin to appreciate all manner of avenues and emotional connections that can be made. Spinning out into the social and community imprints that are caused by products, services or simply connections around ideals, we begin to see the need for a more holistic understanding of how an idea becomes cultural currency.

This holistic view makes the concept of secrecy almost redundant. VC's and angel investors have long refused to sign NDA's when they discuss business plans with start-ups. Besides the cumulative value they get from seeing all the competitive ideas, the fact is that an idea really has no value until it is connected to people who actually do something with it. If your company is aligned around what you are trying to achieve, your team will succeed if they are more strongly bonded to making the idea happen. A competitor cannot copy the DNA of your crew's passion.

Further illustrating the point Fredrik told me about the famous Arwin poker parties in Stockholm. The burst of software successes coming out of the vodka belt owes at least part of its momentum to these events. Over smokey games of poker, competitors talk freely about their businesses ideas, challenges and needs with direct competitors. This is a truly advanced way of understanding dynamic competition (or the 90's buzzword co-optation). Historically the most successful case of competing this way, was the textile industry of Perugia (here is a really fat dissertation on the subject). In Italy, local families invest in technology that is shared with their direct competitors (who reciprocate with other high tech investments which is also shared). This reduces the overall need for investment as redundancy is eliminated through cooperative trade. The business success is not secured through some patent or secret business plan, it is secured by your ability to actually do something. And to consistently keep doing it. The ability to connect people with outcomes is the only sustainable competitive advantage.
The sub-rosa Stockholm industry shindigs fuel the debate and build a large idea imprint. If your competition begins to chase the same dream, your business value will increase. It is time for footprint engineers to come forward and build momentum through engagement, leaving isolation to the people who are overly confident that their ideas will save them.