The task is everything, not why.

“The task is everything, not why.” – Swiss Proverb

Is this proverb true or false?

FALSE:  There are lots of reasons why tasks are subject to larger questions about purpose and strategy.  Many organizations have run operational excellence programs only to find that they became more efficient and effective at the wrong things.  They literally sped up their demise by getting better at losing money.  On a personal front, it has been shown time and time again that if employees feel connected to the purpose of the business, they are more loyal, more productive, and are more effective sharing the company’s mission and values to customers.

TRUE: In a world that is obsessed with purpose, it is interesting to think about the dignity of tasks.  Years ago when most lived an agrarian life, the “why” of work was obvious.  You worked to feed and protect your family and tribe.  Human kind has served kings, countries, institutions, and the pleasure of others.  We have served at the pleasure of presidents and of Mother Nature herself.  Tomes have been writing about finding the divine in the mundane tasks of life.  Elias Cairo, the fearless leader of Portland’s charcuterie Olympia Provisions, said it this way.  "If you focus on the tasks, you fall in love with what you do.  And if you fall in love with what you do, it’s why you live."

In your experience, is the proverb true or false?  Or can you, too, debate both sides?

Technology

"Technology, when well-implemented, endows us with super powers." - Samuel Hulick

Jennifer Davis Interviews with Output PDX

Jennifer Davis shares about Planar System's recent successes and about her work with Marathon Scholars in an interview with Hayley Platt on Output PDX. 

Jennifer to Judge the AMA PDX Max Awards

American Marketing Association’s Portland Chapter Max Awards 2016 are underway and Jennifer will be judging the projects to determine the most talented and exceptional marketers in the Portland area. 

The submission window is open until August 26th and they welcome agency submissions in a variety of categories ranging from print to social, from branding to video, from email to integrated campaigns.  The awards will be announced in September.  Nominate your projects at http://ama-pdx.org/maxawards/.

I am joined on the judging panel by industry luminaries Kerry McClenahan, Tore Gustafson, Simon Tam, Bill Piwonka, and Lisa Williams.

What Color Are Your Glasses?

The other day I heard that in the ancient world the most important ideas were documented in poetry and today our important ideas are captured in spreadsheets.  Although not complete accurate, it is thought-provoking.  What important ideas, passions, or world views are wrapped in the allure of facts and figures and presented as data?  I have long contended that a spreadsheet was an exceptional tool for writing fiction.   Not that people mean harm or to mislead, but each time you have to complete a cell you are making a host of assumptions.  To use the vocabulary of Excel, every number in every cell is filtered.  Filtered by your point of view.

It is the time of year when people are wearing sun glasses.  Where I am from in Oregon, we might be even more sensitive after enduring (ahem, enjoying) months of overcast skies.  And each one of our chooses lenses to wear – both literally and figuratively – to view the world.  Some people wear rose-tinted glasses and see the world as friendly and optimistic (and boy, do we need more of those people in our modern world).  Others see it shaded gray.  Others buy specialty lenses that highlight colors or shapes, like the glasses one can buy for golfing that help the ball stand out on the green. 

An interesting thing happens when you wear glasses for a while: you no longer can see the tint.  Your eyes adjust and the world takes on the colors and meaning that you’d expect.  You know the sky is blue, even if your glasses tinge it green.

Our ability to characterize and categorize input (to know what data is important) and to adjust our perceptions to our world view (like our eyes adjusting to tinted lenses), is part of what makes us human.  And this humanity can make us blind to data that doesn’t fit into our table cleanly or points of view that differ from our own. 

I was working on a financial projection spreadsheet recently (that became even more convincing, I must say, because it was accompanied by a PowerPoint slide deck complete with infographic images and charts from a research analyst) and was reminded the power of the lens. 

When you are working on a presentation, you start by asking what you want the “take away” to be.  What do you want your audience or reader to understand better because of the presentation you are giving?  What decision do you want them to make?  And although it is proper presentation planning, that desired outcome begins its work of filtering and coloring the work of the presentation.  To avoid one-sided analysis, I sought alternative input and ended up putting in a few slides that presented an alternative view.  A different way to look at the issue at hand.  To open the door for discussion.  To guard against too narrow thinking.   And to document assumptions.

It was a hard thing to do: to get away from the data and the analysis far enough to see a different picture, to take in different input, to identify what had been “thrown away” to make the clean and compelling point.  But it proved to be valuable and, in the end, will lead to a better outcome. 

So whether your best ideas are captured in poetry or in spreadsheets, it is important to remember that your best ideas might be improved, if you take off your glasses.

This article was first posted on LinkedIn Pulse. 

Exhausted Genius

“I’m exhausted. But the success is glorious.” – Albert Einstein, after presenting his decade-long quest on the theory of relativity, November 1915

Artificial Intelligence Might Not Be Artificial

Elon Musk is afraid of artificial intelligence. He supposes that when the robots take over they might make us housecats. Or maybe we already are? 

Recode Decode's podcast interview with the co-founders of Numenta suggests that fears about artificial intelligence are wrong. 

My Thoughts on Politics

“Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words! 
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you! 
Is that all you blighters can do?”

-          Lyrics from “Show me” from My Fair Lady

The Big Concern

"The biggest concern for any organization should be when their most passionate people become quiet." - Suresh Reddy Pellakuru

Five Things We Should Stop Doing

Often we get obsessed with new ideas, new technologies, and new initiatives that we can forget that a key part of strategy is what you are going to say “no” to. This applies to us individually, in our companies and as an industry.

So, what are five things that I think the AV industry should stop doing?

1. Holding onto the past

Those of us who have been in the industry for a while like to attend the InfoComm trade show and reconnect with old friends and colleagues. This is great and useful. However, we should avoid reminiscing to the point of distraction. We should not romanticize the “good old days.” There are a lot of exciting things going on today in the industry and in order to maintain our enthusiasm, we have to make sure we are not looking backward. We must contain our cynicism, approach innovation with open minds and be constantly advocating for our customers, who may not have our experience, but whose needs are real and fresh.

2. Caring more about the technology than our customers

All the manufacturers and brands in the AV industry are proud of their innovations. The news feed around InfoComm is always crowded with “new,” “never before,” “biggest,” “brightest” and “best.” But all of the speeds-and-feeds don’t matter at all if we are not solving problems for our customers and providing them real value. They don’t care about what adjectives we use to describe our innovations or our business. They care about their own business and they care that we care about their business.

3. Treating every customer the same

Most of us in the AV industry sell to multiple vertical markets and applications. For instance, in the display space customers’ needs for large-format displays or videowalls can span multiple vertical markets. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t provide tailored solutions for different market segments. Although some high-level specifications are applicable everywhere (for instance, inches diagonal, brightness, etc.), other features are uniquely suited for particular uses. As an example, our Planar UltraRes Series UHD/4K display has features that make it perfect for executive offices and conference rooms, where there is a need to switch between full-screen presentations and the view of multiple sources at once. I love to see customers stretching a desktop across the bottom two quadrants of the display and two other sources in the top two quadrants, like a broadcast news feed or a real-time corporate performance dashboard.

4. Hiring people who fit a stereotypical “AV” profile, instead of the profile of our customers

Closely related to #2 and #3, we have a real opportunity to be increasingly relevant to our clients. I mean no offense against the exceptional professionals in the market who are white, male and highly-technical, but the market is changing and the profile of the buyers is changing and we must adapt. Those making AV decisions are increasingly diverse teams. They want partners with technical capabilities, of course. They want partners with experience, naturally. And they want more. They want teamwork, exceptional communication, a willingness to partner with the design community, the ability to speak other languages (literally and figuratively) and a deep understanding of the needs they bring to the table. Our customers want the benefits of diversity, in background and perspective. People buy from people and having a diverse workforce is increasingly important. The work that the Women of InfoComm Network council is doing is a strong step in this direction. We all have a responsibility to think about this as we make hiring decisions and as we develop our employees.

5. Assuming that the pipeline of talent is someone else’s responsibility

We all know that the key to a successful enterprise is the quality of our employees, especially in a service-dominated industry like the AV integration space. They must have the winning balance of technical chops and customer empathy. It’s a hard combination to find and some of the necessary curiosities and abilities are difficult to teach. Most integrators have developed their own hiring practices over time (starting with friends and family, advertising in local communities, poaching from other local firms, etc). There is a huge on-the-job element to most jobs in the field, which is why CTS certification and other tools from InfoComm can prove useful as we develop employees. But taking this further, we all have a responsibility to not just provide job opportunities for those who are already qualified for the work, but to develop the pipeline of talent. This could include partnerships with placement offices at local community colleges and technical schools. This could include offering an internship program for college or high school students interested in display experience. This could include participating actively in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education in the local schools in your area (where your future employees are currently studying). It’s a responsibility we all share, to ensure that the talent pipeline for your business and the AV industry is strong into the future.

This article was originally posted by InfoComm International and was reposted by Rave Publications. 

In the News

Jennifer Davis was featured in an interview video by Display Week.

Talent Never Wears Out

"Talent never wears out. Make weakness irrelevant." - Peter Drucker

In the News

Jennifer Davis' podcast interview with David Haynes is featured on Sixteen:Nine.

Because of the Because

A study at Harvard, asked subjects to cut into a line of strangers waiting to make photocopies. When they asked simply if they could use the photocopier (saying “Excuse me. May I use the machine?” for instance), subjects were successful 60% of the time. However, when a reason beginning with the word “because” was added (“May I use the photocopier because I’m in a rush”), the request gained instant credibility, and compliance skyrocketed to 94%.

What’s more amazing, it didn’t seem to matter what the given reason was (“May I use the photocopier, because I need to make copies”), compliance remained at about the same level, 93%.

This is a lesson in persuasion that all of us can apply.  Giving people the benefit of an explanation makes us more influential.  I highly advise against giving a dumb or non-sensical reason (“I need to make copies, because I need to make copies”).  I imagine that would help your cause today, but hurt your credibility long term.  But giving people the courtesy of a reasonable and relevant “because” will make all the difference.

Your Job as a Leader

"Your job as a leader is to be right at the end of the meeting not at the beginning." - Art Gensler

In the News

Jennifer Davis' preview of what to expect at InfoComm 2016 from the June issue of Systems Contractor News.

Helping Hands

"Helping hands are happy hands." -Timber Jim Serrill

The Relationship Between Sight and Insight

Paying attention.  Looking at the data and patterns.  Facing the reality.  Drawing conclusions.  That is when insights happen.

Fear Less

English is a strange language.  Of that, there is no doubt or dispute.  The amalgamation and combination of various tongues and cultures have resulted in an ever-changing and nearly-impossible-to-codify language system that ranks among the most difficult to master.

I have been reminded of this recently when reflecting on the word: fearless.

There is a plaque in my office, created by a friend, that has this word written on the face.  She meant it as a compliment and a reminder.  She commented that she saw me as someone who fearlessly faced change, ambiguity, and challenge and created something remarkable as a result.  I am deeply humbled by this description.  I also know it was to serve as a reminder that I do my best when I bring my best, fearless self to the work at hand.  It has been my office for a while and having it there on the shelf, in the landscape of my periphery every day, is undoubtedly serving both her purposes.  I must admit, I leaves me with a bit of an imposter’s syndrome, because I know how many fears and doubts that I live with each day.  And I know I am not alone and that the word itself is part of the problem and possibly the solution.

But the word “fearless,” is often used to synonymously with fear-free.  “He ran fearlessly into the burning building to save the child,” the newspaper will report of the local hero.  “She has a fearless brush stroke,” they will sell of an artist’s boldness.  “He is fearless and just free-climbed Half Dome,” someone will remark about an athlete’s death-defying feats.  But any of these people will tell you that they have doubts.  They are not guaranteed success.  They have fears.  They are not fear-free, but rather they are overcoming their fears.  What does it truly mean to be fearless?

The answer might be hidden in the word itself.  The term “less” is a relative word.  It implies that it is less when compared to something else.  I am sure you can sting your eyes with “tearless” shampoo, but it is meant to imply a relative safety to other products on the market. We use words like seamless, matchless, baseless, careless, effortless, heartless, motionless, priceless, and thankless as if they are absolutes, but they are really descriptions of relation.  You can be seemingly tireless, but still get tired.  Tireless is what others observe, but the truth is far more nuanced.  The comparison you might make is between yourself and others or between yourself on different days and in different situations. 

In my experience, courage is not the anecdote of fear.  It is action.  Fear can be paralyzing, especially when combined with a vivid imagination, but the fearless face it down, give it a name, and move forward.  Not recklessly, but with calculated intention, identifying and mitigating risks.  To be fearless is just to strive to fear less than you did the day before and you do that with action.  Before long, you are accomplishing things never before possible.

We live in strange and scary times.  Unprecedented stress combined with new technologies bring the raw edges of humanity to the surface and the world stage.  If there was ever a time for fearlessness, the time is now.  

This article was published on LinkedIn Pulse. 

When is Brave not so Brave

"It's easier to be brave when you are not alone." -Amy Poehler, comedian, actor, best-selling author, and mother (who knows her share of terrifying situations)