Asking for What You Want

All of us have cause to feel hurt, overlooked, or disrespected from time to time.  Finding ways to handle that graciously while maintaining our self-respect and poise can be a challenge for even the most self-confident of the bunch.  In the heat of the moment, when you feel attacked or dismissed, it is hard to muster the courage to take back the energy and the power.  Sometimes you need a cheat to help get you there.

In Amy Poehler’s recent book, the comedian talks about her winning strategy in these situations.  “This is the part where you apologize to me,” she says.  “You screwed up and this is where you make me feel better about it.”  And then wait for the response.

She describes using this technique on bosses, co-workers, and even the rude concierge at a hotel, who might need a “this is the part of the evening where the concierge helps me” kind of reminder.  “Act like they are an actor who has forgotten which part they are playing,” she continues.  “It brings the attention back to them and gives you a minute to calm down so that you don’t do something silly like burst into tears or break their stupid glasses.”  

I think I might try this the next time that I am asked to wait too long, have my awesome idea interrupted, or want to ask for something in a disarming way.  

Let’s try it now.  This is the part of the blog post, where you leave a comment.  

Love Sometimes Masquerades as Work

I have a stitchery, which was a wedding present, which reads “Love is a choice and a commitment.  It takes a lifetime of giving and receiving.”  

Sometimes love gets up in the middle of the night to comfort a sick child.  Sometime love travels great distances and solves seemingly impossible problems to resolve a customer problem under deadline.  Sometimes love looks like dirty work.  

Although it is not popular in western culture to discuss, sometimes love looks like duty.   Duty, administered thoughtfully, purposefully, and with heart, can be loving.

A Grateful, Easy Feeling

"Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life." - Christiane Northrup, MD

Interview Questions to Find Your Rock Star Marketing Executive

You are looking to grow your business and your executive team.  You want to add another voice at the table to represent strategic marketing.  Communications and brand are becoming more important and you want the organization to be more thoughtful and integrated in your approach.  You want to add some diversity to your executive team, in which finance and operations are heavily represented.  Perhaps this is your first CMO role and you want to hire right.

You have worked your network, promoted a job and possibly even hired a recruiter to broaden and deepen your search.  You have a list of key candidates who might be perfect for your new role.  You know, as we all do, that interviews are horrible for assessing talent and fit, but that is the tool you have at your disposal, so you plan to use it to its fullest potential. 
Here are five questions you should ask in an interview and what to listen for to help you find the rock star marketing executive who can help take your organization to the next level.

1. What was your first professional “win” in marketing and what made it successful?
   I am a big believer that how you do anything is how you do everything (which is a tenet of the Effective Interviewing curriculum that I highly recommend).  Making someone go back to their memory banks, reaching back early in their career (or even college), tells you a lot about how they approach problems, find resources, and how they assess their own strengths.  For this question, listen for the role that they played, how they measured success (was it a feeling or data), and how those same patterns show up in their later successes.
2. What is on your dashboard?
   Assuming they have done similar work in the past and that is why you are considering them for your open position, ask them how they measured success in their last role.  Listen for metrics that are not activities based (ie, number of campaigns, shows, or product launches), but results based (ie, sales-qualified leads, conversion rates, opportunities, coverage, etc).  Listen for a mix of qualitative and quantitative. Ideally, they would have financial measures that relate to revenue and profit generation, not just budget management.  And if you want to inquire as to their technical skills on some of the marketing systems that might be deployed, ask about how the metrics were set-up and delivered.
3. What marketing metric should be on the CEO dashboard?
   This question helps you get a sense of how the person believes their work should be measured and how collaborative they will likely be with you and others on the staff.  They should be able to provide you with a few key metrics that are measurable and meaningful to the business.  Not just benchmark metrics like marketing spend as a percentage of revenue, which are useful, but not terribly actionable.  Each business might call for different metrics, so listen for the logic behind the answer and probe into that if anything is unclear.
4. What do you consider best practices for building a winning team and how have you deployed those successfully in the past?
   In any executive role, one of the key measures of success is how well they can recruit, empower, motivate, develop, and retain high-performing teams.  This question allows the candidate to talk about their previous teams.  If they are not specific in their answers, be sure to press them on where they found their key performers in the past, how they developed them, and how they delegated authority and responsibility over time.  You should also listen for how they describe the teamwork among the executive team – your direct reports – which are critical for the company’s success.  Patrick Lencioni in his book The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, talks about the importance of having a first team that is your peers, not simply focusing on teamwork within functions or groups.  As a member of the executive team, it is critical that your CMO understands their first team responsibilities and knows how to team up and build trust among their peers.
5. From what you have learned about our company and industry, where are the most impactful points of leverage in our business?
   This question requires the candidate to put on their management consultant hat and it tests their situational analysis skills, as well as the research they did prior to the interview.  Do they understand your business well enough (or ones like it) to identify a few things that would be of key importance to the business.  This is also a place where they could reference your financial reports (if those are public or provided) and provide you their analysis of the leverage points in the business model. 

These questions get to the heart of what you want in a marketing executive.  You want someone who knows their stuff from a marketing perspective and can lead the function with the capabilities, credibility, and confidence you need for the investments you are making.  But you also want someone who is an effective member of your executive staff and can help you lead the business to new heights. 

This article was originally published on The CEO Magazine. 

The Long Play

I learned recently that the research firm SRI employed researchers that developed the hyperlink and many of the conventions that we use today on websites and other digital interfaces.  And the same team pioneered some machine intelligence, AI, and voice recognition developments that were behind Apple’s Siri application.  It struck me as ironic that over the decades, this group sought to undo its own work.  You don’t have to click on anything, if you can just speak to your devices.

Planar, now a Leyard company, has a history of this kind of cannibalization.  We make our own products obsolete regularly.  The Planar® LookThru™ OLED transparent display addressed many limitations of previous offerings and has essentially replaced the Planar® LookThru™ LCD offering.  We have single displays that are larger than 2x2 array of tiled video wall products, making this style of display easier to specify and install than previous generations.  We add features into products that used to require separate purchases or third-party equipment.  You have to look no further than the latest version of the Planar® UltraRes™ display to see how much image processing, scaling, and control we have built into the product, especially once you consider the free iOS or Android UltraRes App.  As the bezels have been shrinking on LCD tiled video wall displays, like the award-winning Clarity® Matrix™, we have also introduced cutting-edge, fine-pitch LED technology that is truly seamless (see Planar® DirectLight™ or the Leyard® TVH or TW series).

Innovation companies that last are ones that aren’t afraid to kill their best product lines with a new idea.  To stay relevant, I heard someone say recently, you need to be prepared to run a different company every few years.  In the fast-moving space of display technologies, flexibility is a requirement.  Planar has been innovating for over 30 years and Leyard for over 20.  It’s a testament to our shared commitment to the long play.

Don’t preoccupy yourself. Occupy yourself.

Good advice.  Stay busy with what you can do.  Don’t worry about what you can’t control or influence.

Set Goals

"Set goals for the things you can control. In my case, I can't control the marks from the judges, but I can control how I train every day, and I can control my performance." - Claire Carver-Dias, Canadian Olympic Medalist in synchronized swimming

In the News

It was a pleasure to chat with Gary Kayye in the Rants and rAVes podcast about the upcoming Integrated System Europe (ISE) conference next week.  #ISE2017

Rediscovery

“Grandma, you have to see this new show that we found on Netflix.  I think you’d really like it!” my son told my Mom.  “Really?  What is it?” replied my Mom, intrigued. “It’s a show about a Dad and his son and his crazy co-workers in this small town.  It’s really funny and doesn’t have bad language,” he continues.  “You’ve probably never heard of it,” he adds.  “It’s called the Andy Griffith Show.”

This conversation really occurred in my house last year, when my kids thought they had discovered this show which ran 8 seasons in the 1960s.  They were shocked to learn that their grandma already knew about the show.  In fact, she had watched it every week when it was broadcast, first in black and white and then in color.  My kids “discovered” Andy Griffith like Columbus “discovered” the new world or the world “discovered” TED talks over the past few years.  Things around for decades, centuries, or even millennia get rediscovered when new technology makes it possible.

My kids would have never watched Andy Griffith without NetFlix serving up suggestions.  Columbus would have never discovered America without the help of ships and navigation technologies (however flawed they were).  TED would have never extended beyond an event for 1,200 people in Canada each year, if it weren’t for the ability to stream video online, which extended the platform of the events and the “ideas worth sharing” to multiple continents and cultures.

What old things are worth discovering again?  What technology innovation will be required to make that discovery possible?

What You Leave Behind

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone, but what is woven into the lives of others." - Pericles

Saying No for the Right Reasons

“To build the relationship with your clients for the long term,” said Flavia Sparacino from SensingPlaces at a recent conference, “you may need to say ‘no’.”

4 Ways Digital Signage Can Turn Your Brand into a Cult Following

I am humbled to work with the great editorial team at American Business Journals to share some insights on digital signage marketing.

In today’s hyper-competitive world, it’s not enough to offer up the right products and services in the hope that people will seek them out.

As the business consultant and blogger Peter Evans-Greenwood has pointed out, you must make your business a community hub or a religion. Otherwise, you resign yourself to being a commodity. 

Companies like Apple and Harley Davidson get this, and they’ve worked hard to create a cult following for their brands. How? They don’t just sell a product, but a lifestyle. And it’s a lifestyle that their customers deeply identify with and are eager to adopt.

Today’s digital signage can help your company move beyond product features by turning your brand into a lifestyle that has broad appeal. Digital signage is fresh, it’s immersive, and it’s a way to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. From eye-catching digital window displays to interactive brand activations, digital experiences in the built environment can extend your brand messaging.

Here are four ways digital signage can help create a cult following for your brand:

1. It enables you to stand out from the crowd. A key way to move your brand from commodity to religion is to set yourself apart from the competition. Digital signage, with its ability to scale to enormous dimensions, has a huge “wow” factor that helps you do just that. It captures people’s attention from a distance and draws them in, giving your brand a powerful way to create lasting impact.

2. It can help you tell your story. Successful brands don’t just sell products and services. They tell stories that capture the imagination of their customers. Digital signage provides an influential medium for telling stories that resonate. With its ability to engage, digital signage enables marketers not just educate their customers, but to inspire them. In fact, it’s the ideal medium for offering up stimulating content that captivates the customers you want to reach.

3. It engages your customers. Brands that develop a cult following are extremely adept at engaging their customers, which is the opportunity that digital signage offers. With advanced touchscreen technology, for example, digital signage allows multiple users to interact with your brand, obtaining the information that interests them without affecting other users. In addition, facial recognition software can be built into digital signage to detect the presence of a person, collect demographic data, and then serve up highly targeted content that captures their interest.

4. It has the ability to go viral. People want to belong, and they love to share the experiences that excite them. Digital signage offers the opportunity to develop highly unique content that draws customers in, and motivates them to share with others. By creating stimulating visual content, you’ll soon have people telling their friends, and your installation will become a “must see” experience that turns prospective customers into loyal brand enthusiasts.

Digital signage can be a powerful ally as you work to transform your brand from a commodity into a cult following.

The Best Quality to Look For in a Friend

"The best quality to look for in a friend is curiosity and a sense of humor." - Iris Apfel

It’s your career. You own it.

“Have the guts to own your career,” said Art Gensler, the founder of Gensler, the largest architecture firm in the world.  “Refuse to play the victim.  You have one life and what you do for a living makes up a large part of your time.  Make the most of it.  Make it joyful and rewarding.  Develop a sense of purpose for what you are doing.”

Learning Math as a Second Language

A lot has been written about the importance of getting girl’s into math and science.  I have spent a lot of time in the recent years writing about and advocating for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, especially for girls who are under-represented in these fields and careers.

I recently heard Hannah Fry’s TED talk on “The Mathematics of Love” which was funny and informative. Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer and physicist, said, “Mathemetics is the language in which God has written the universe.”  Hannah was applying this language to the study of dating practices, which made for interesting insights.

But if math is a language, those of us who primarily think and speak in English, German, or Chinese have a second language to learn to understand the mysteries of the universe or the mysteries of our own social calendars.

What if we taught math as if it were a second language?  We acknowledged that it required its own vocabulary and grammatic rules.  We acknowledged that with practice anyone could learn it, not just the privileged few that were “good at math” (whatever that means).

I wonder if this reframing would help discouraged 4th graders to pursue math even if it was difficult at first and 7th grade girls who were good at math to feel proud that they were mastering the language of the universe, not labeled as “geeks” or “nerds” among their peers.  

Be The Person Your Dog Thinks You Are

"Be the person your dog thinks you are." - Bert Jacobs, founder of Life is Good

Why you should wash your own dishes at work?

In his book, Art’s Principles, the founder of Gensler, Art Gensler recounts how important it is for employees to wash their own dirty dishes in the company cafeteria.

“It sends four key messages,” he wrote.

1. “You respect each other as teammates.”  
2. “You check your ego at the door when you come to work.”  No one is above doing the dishes.
3. It reinforces the start-to-finish mindset required for great service (important in all enterprises, especially service businesses).
4. “Every experience comes together to create what a potential or current clients thanks about your brand.  Your office is one big brand environment.”

These same principles apply to other things you might do at work.  If you volunteer for a committee to benefit employees (even though you aren’t in HR).  If you help straighten up a conference room at the end of the meeting (even if you are not whomever might do this if you didn’t and if you don’t know, find out)  If you take the time to write up some company success to share with employees so that they can learn about it and feel proud (even though you aren’t in marketing).  Taking the time to get to know everyone in the office and being interested in their careers (even though you aren’t the manager).  Introducing people you meet to your company and what makes you all great (even though you are not in sales).  

If everyone does things that aren't their job for the good of the group, then the group is good. 

It's More Fun to Love 'Em

"It's easier to accept others, than to change them. It's wiser to understand them, than to get angry. And most of the time, it's more fun to love 'em, than to leave 'em." -Susan Clark, founder of HeartSpark

The Memory of an Elephant

Elephants are known for being smart and for having great memories.  They earn this reputation in many ways, but I read recently a factoid about elephants that fascinated me.  Elephants leave the way they came in.  If they enter a valley from the north, they will leave through the same pass.   Perhaps it is because of their great memory or exceptional sense of direction, or it could be because they are smart enough to know what they can expect from that direction.  Or perhaps they are very risk adverse.

In any case, I think we are a lot like elephants.  We tend to come and go via well-worn paths, take the safe routes, and cover the same ground over and over before venturing a new way.  Memories make us nostalgic and nostalgia leads up to repeat history.

This could be great.  Or it could lead to missed opportunities and chances never taken.  

The Benefits of Procrastination

It is the 23rd of December and all over the US, holiday shoppers are out buying last minute gifts. It reminds me again of the pervasiveness of procrastination. 

I recently watched Ted Urban’s TED talk on procrastination (and highly recommend it). He describes that master procrastinators have in their brain a “rational decision maker” who would make logical time management decisions if it wasn’t for his pesky shipmate the “instant gratification monkey.” The Monkey finds endless distractions and is only frightened by one thing: the “panic monster.” The monster that reminds of looming deadlines or the impact of poor performance. His description of procrastination sounds like laziness, lame excuse making, or even attention deficit disorder. He ends his talk recounting the misery that is caused by procrastination, in his own life and that in people that he encounters around the shared topic of procrastination. 

And this negative view of procrastination is as prevalent as procrastination. We say “Now or Never” or “Time is Money.” Even the prolific Ben Franklin is said to have penned the popular proverb “Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Practical advice from an over-achiever, we think. We idolize those who save, plan ahead, and are prepared. We fear missing out or missing the train with slow decision making. There is a general view that people who are operating at higher levels of performance or efficiency avoid procrastinating. I have been taught in my personal and professional life that making fast decisions (and course correcting, if necessary) is infinitely better than acting slowly.

But, is that true?

Is procrastination a vice or is it a virtue?

Here are three reasons why procrastination could be the best approach.

1.     Tomorrow you will be smarter than you are today

Whether through more life experience, through the solicited advice of others, or with the revealing of new facts and information related to the decision, it is safe to assume that you will know more tomorrow than you do today and that might lead to a better decision. Of course, we can get stuck in the cleverly titled “analysis paralysis” loop where we never make a decision, but perhaps that is a risk you take when trying to be as prepared as possible to make the right decision.

2.     Tomorrow new options exist

When I see holiday shoppers out on Christmas Eve (and I see them because, well, I am often with them), I wonder why they procrastinated. They could be horrible at keeping secrets or perhaps they have been extremely busy. Or, they could have been waiting until payday or until a particular item they wanted was on sale. In other words, the options they would have had yesterday are not the same or as favorable as the ones they will have tomorrow. Tomorrow they will have money to spend and their dollars go further. Sometimes making decisions too early, like shopping ahead, can actually lead to worse decisions. In business, the new options available tomorrow might be access to capital, people to work on projects that are currently occupied elsewhere, or even the mind space to explore more creative alternatives that might not exist today. Waiting until tomorrow keeps your options open.

3.     Tomorrow you can implement better

Even if the direction you are heading or the decision you intend to make doesn’t change from day to day, the extra time might allow you to get more people involved or on-board with the decision. You can take time to solicit more feedback (see #1), and that has advantages beyond just getting more information. It can get key stakeholders aligned with the plan and committed to implement it. Not only that, fast decision makers rely heavily on mid-stream course correction to respond to new information or feedback. This can lead to rework, the need to communicate new directions, the whiplash that can happen in the organization of changing directions or priorities, and can lead to waste. “Haste makes waste” is often forgotten in the wake of our desire to move forward.

Overall, I am impatient when it comes to making decisions. I would rather decide, communicate a decision, and wring out the ambiguity in the organization (and risk acting hastily) than risk missing an opportunity or the productivity hits that come from delaying decisions. It requires a great deal of discipline for me to wait.

But sometimes waiting is best. Sometimes instead of making excuses to justify why we didn’t take action, we should coin some new proverbs like “tomorrow is option-filled” or “I will be smarter tomorrow” and stop making excuses. Sometimes procrastination is wise.

Or perhaps I am just trying to justify the fact that I waited until right before the holiday to publish my monthly article for LinkedIn Pulse? 

Have a warm and wonderful holiday season and as you think about setting goals for the new year, I hope you give yourself permission to procrastinate.

This article was originally posted on LinkedIn Pulse.